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The active role of bacteria in oncogenesis has long been a topic of debate. Although, it was speculated to be a transmissible cause of cancer as early as the 16th-century, yet the idea about the direct involvement of bacteria in cancer development has only been explored in recent decades. More recently, several studies have uncovered the mechanisms behind the carcinogenic potential of bacteria which are inflammation, immune evasion, pro-carcinogenic metabolite production, DNA damage and genomic instability. On the other side, the recent development on the understanding of tumor microenvironment and technological advancements has turned this enemy into an ally. Studies using bacteria for cancer treatment and detection have shown noticeable effects. Therapeutic abilities of bioengineered live bacteria such as high specificity, selective cytotoxicity to cancer cells, responsiveness to external signals and control after ingestion have helped to overcome the challenges faced by conventional cancer therapies and highlighted the bacterial based therapy as an ideal approach for cancer treatment. In this review, we have made an effort to compile substantial evidence to support the multidimensional role of bacteria in cancer. We have discussed the multifaceted role of bacteria in cancer by highlighting the wide impact of bacteria on different cancer types, their mechanisms of actions in inducing carcinogenicity, followed by the diagnostic and therapeutic potential of bacteria in cancers. Moreover, we have also highlighted the existing gaps in the knowledge of the association between bacteria and cancer as well as the limitation and advantage of bacteria-based therapies in cancer. A better understanding of these multidimensional roles of bacteria in cancer can open up the new doorways to develop early detection strategies, prevent cancer, and develop therapeutic tactics to cure this devastating disease.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the schools and universities around the globe, including Malaysia, were compelled to cease their operations and migrate to online teaching and learning environment. Along with this ‘forced approach’ to learning, the educators were faced with several barriers and challenges that need to be addressed. This paper intends to determine the challenges of teaching and learning Product Design courses in Malaysian universities using the online environment during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also highlights some of the strategies and initiatives adopted and adapted by the lecturers of this course in surmounting those challenges. Using a real-time video interview, data were collected from ten respondents from various faculties of Malaysian higher education institutions offering product design courses. The findings of the study point to a range of difficulties in teaching Product Design courses online, including the need for more delicate interactions to ensure efficiencies in teaching and learning design courses, as well as the evaluation methods to achieve design learning and design outcomes. © Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia, 2021.

The number of older patients is increasing on the transplant waiting list. Donation after circulatory death (DCD) kidney transplantation has increased, but there remains hesitancy in use of older DCD organs. The aim of this study was to evaluate outcomes of directing older DCD donor kidneys into older recipients. Methods Patients 60 years or older who received transplants from DCD donors 60 years or older, between February 2010 and January 2014, were identified from a prospectively maintained database. Results Over a 4-year period, 88 patients 60 years or older received DCD kidney transplants from donors 60 years or older. Of these 44 (55%) were 60 to 69 years old and 40 (45%) were 70 years or older. Median follow up was 63 months. Patient survival was 95% and 79% at 1 and 5 years, respectively, with a survival in those 70 years and older (69%) compared with those aged 60 to 69 (88%) years (P = .01). Censored for death graft survival was 94% and 80% at 1 and 5 years, respectively. Median estimated glomerular filtration rate at 12 months and 36 months was 36 mL/min (range, 11–70 mL/min) and 39.5 mL/min (range, 11–77 mL/min), respectively. Conclusions Older DCD kidneys, when transplanted into older recipients, result in good patient and graft survival and an acceptable graft function, especially considering their age. This represents a good use of this organ resource.

The present study aims at the concept of the IoTs (IoT) and its relation with the healthcare sector. Nowadays, IoT is the main focus of researchers and scientists while this concept illustrates the data stream generated from IoT devices in massive amounts like big data with a continuous stream that requires its proper handling. This study aims at the analytical processing of big datasets having a medical history of patients and their diseases. The data cleansing is applied before going through the analytics phase due to the existence of some noisy and missing data. The analytics of data identified that what events are happening while the mining approaches identified why and how events are happening. Together, both phases help in data analytics and mining. Finally, the analytics and visualization led to the decision making and its results depict the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed framework for data analytics in IoT

Background In living donor renal transplantation, surgeons traditionally prefer the left kidney for donation. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of the choice of laterality of donor nephrectomy on donor and recipient outcomes. Methods The data was obtained from the UK National Health Service Blood and Transplant (NHSBT). During the study period, 7919 donor nephrectomy and transplantation were carried out in 24 transplant centers. Of these procedures, 6407 (80.9%) were left and 1512 (19.1%) were right kidney donors. Results Right kidney donation was associated with higher incidence of surgical site infection in the donor. Recipient outcome was superior for left-sided kidneys in terms of immediate graft function, delayed graft function, graft loss within 30 days, and graft survival at 3 years, but not at 1 and 5 years. Open donor nephrectomy (n = 2396, 30.2%) was associated with higher rates of pneumothorax and hemorrhage, longer hospital stay, and inferior graft survival at 3 and 5 years compared with laparoscopic donor nephrectomy (n = 5523, 69.8%). Conclusions A right donor nephrectomy is associated with higher rate of wound infection in the donor and similar long-term graft outcomes in the recipients. Laparoscopic donor nephrectomy offers lower rate of major complications in the donor and a better overall graft survival.

This chapter argues that the framers of the 2030 Agenda for development have missed one of the most important goals, SDG18 (communication for all). It argues that without SDG18, it is difficult to achieve the targets set in the global goals because each of the SDGs requires an element of communication for development. As the COVID-19 pandemic indicates, the communication infrastructure available the world over served as the ‘ventilator’ that provided the needed life support for the global economy during the pandemic. Almost all institutions in many countries worked from home, and education and health activities were facilitated remotely. Major global events such as the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) and the annual meetings of multilateral development institutions were conducted virtually. The entire global population relied on the mass media for information and guidance on how to tackle the pandemic. The chapter therefore strongly supports a review of the SDGs by adding SDG18 to the list of the global goals. The chapter also discusses and provides an overview of each of the 17 SDGs agreed by the 193 UN member states.

The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and its impact on the rest of the world have drawn attention to the need to critically evaluate the possibility of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. At the heart of the drive to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Development is the need for deploying the tools of communication for development and social change. Despite the oversight of the UN to have a goal for communication in the SDGs, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that without effective communication infrastructure, managing fake news and infodemic, achieving development objectives would be a herculean task. This chapter therefore revisits the idea of communication for development in the age of COVID-19. It reviews the communication for development strategies proposed by development institutions such as the World Bank, WHO, UNICEF and IFRC and suggests a communication for development strategy that could be adopted in times of pandemics such as COVID-19. The chapter concludes by providing an overview of the rest of the chapters contained in The Palgrave Handbook of International Communication and Sustainable Development.

Among many challenges, exposure to aflatoxins, particularly aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), is one of the major concerns in poultry industry. AFB1 intoxication results in decreased meat/egg production, hepatotoxicity, nephrotoxicity, disturbance in gastrointestinal tract (GIT) and reproduction, immune suppression, and increased disease susceptibility. Selenium (Se) and zinc (Zn), in dietary supplementation, offer easy, cost-effective, and efficient ways to neutralize the toxic effect of AFB1. In the current review, we discussed the impact of AFB1 on poultry industry, its biotransformation, and organ-specific noxious effects, along with the action mechanism of AFB1-induced toxicity. Moreover, we explained the biological and detoxifying roles of Se and Zn in avian species as well as the protection mechanism of these two trace elements. Ultimately, we discussed the use of Se and Zn supplementation against AFB1-induced toxicity in poultry birds.

Breast cancer is one of the most common malignancies in women worldwide. In breast cancer, the cell proliferation rate is known to influence the cancer malignancy. Recent studies have shown that DNA replication initiation/licensing factors are involved in cancer cell proliferation as well as cancer cell migration and invasion. Licensing factors have also been reported as important prognostic markers in lung, prostrate, and bladder cancers. Here, we studied the role of MCM10, a novel licensing factor, in breast cancer progression. From the public database, NCBI, we investigated six independent breast cancer patient cohorts, totaling 1283 patients. We observed a significant association between high MCM10 mRNA expression with tumor grading and patients&rsquo, survival time. Most importantly, using breast cancer cohorts with available treatment information, we also demonstrated that a high level of MCM10 is associated with a better response to conventional treatment. Similarly, in in vitro studies, the expression level of MCM10 in breast cancer cell lines is significantly higher compared to paired normal breast epithelium cells. Knockdown of MCM10 expression in the cancer cell line showed significantly decreased tumorigenic properties such as cell proliferation, migration and anchorage independence. The MCF7 breast cancer cell line, after MCM10 expression knockdown, showed significantly decreased tumorigenic properties such as cell proliferation, migration, and anchorage independent growth. Mechanistically, MCM10 expression is observed to be regulated by an Estrogen Receptor (ER) signaling pathway, where its expression is suppressed by the inhibition of the ER or serum withdrawal. Our results suggest that MCM10 plays an important role in breast cancer progression and is a potential prognostic/predictive biomarker and therapeutic target for breast cancer patients.

Kidney transplants from young pediatric donors are uncommonly performed in the UK. Published literature of kidney transplant from donors weighing less than 5 kg is sparse. We present our initial experience of en bloc kidney transplantation (EKT) from donors weighing less than 20 kg, including neonatal donors. All recipients undergoing EKT from donors under 20 kg at our center from January 2005 to October 2016 were included. Donor and recipient details were recorded from a prospective database. Electronic patient records were examined for follow-up data. Of 30 EKTs included, 15 were from ≤5 kg donors and 15 from >5 kg donors (median weight 3.4 and 12.7 kg, respectively). One-year graft survival for ≤5 kg and >5 kg donors for EKT was 86.7% and 93.3% (P = 0.85), respectively. Progressive improvement in estimated GFR (eGFR) was noted in both donor categories through first-year posttransplant but in the ≤5 kg donor category significant improvement was seen at 12 months compared to 3 months after transplantation (median eGFR 37.3 vs 70.0 mL/min/1.73 m2 , P = 0.03). Two early graft losses were attributable to early vascular complications and one graft loss due to primary nonfunction. Our data show that kidney transplantation from such donors is a feasible option at centers with experience of EKT, albeit with increased risk of early graft loss.

Objective: So far no studies have been performed in Malaysia to look at association of diabetes mellitus (DM) with blood groups. We studied the association of ABO blood groups with DM type 2. Patients and methodology: It was a case control study conducted at Kepala Batas Hospital Batas, Penang, Malaysia in the year 2009, involving 70 patients with DM type 2 and 140 healthy controls. Ethical approval was obtained from Universiti Sains Malaysia. Blood samples were collected from the patients after consent. Samples were tested for ABO blood groups using ID-Card gel method. Results: Chi-square test results showed that there was an association between the ABO blood groups and DM type 2. It was found that A and O blood groups were negatively associated with DM type 2 (P

Using interviews conducted with Nigerian journalists, this article explores Nigerian journalists’ understandings of investigative journalism, and whether they use it to investigate the allegations of corruption scandals against various public offi ceholders. The results show that Nigerian journalists have a fair understanding of investigative journalism. However, they do not fully agree that it is being practiced. The results also show that clientelism is a feature of journalism practice, and one of the factors that impedes the practice of investigative journalism. The research has identified the challenges militating against the practice of investigating journalism in order to uncover the cases of corruption scandals. Such impediments include poor remuneration, bad working conditions, corruption within the media, and the relationship between publishers and politicians.

Prenatal diagnosis (PND) of β-thalassemia has been underutilized in Pakistan because of a number of social and economic factors. National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering Faisalabad in collaboration with Multan Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Radiotherapy Multan introduced free PND service for carrier couples of Multan district. Multan has a population of about 4 million. More than 170 couples registered for retrospective PND and in 2 years 105 PND were carried out through first trimester chorionic villus sampling. Almost 90% of these couples were unable to afford the cost of PND and would not have undergone the test as free service was not available. Monoplex and Multiplex Amplification Refractory Mutation System-polymerase chain reaction and genomic DNA sequencing were used for detection of IVS (intervening sequence)-I-5 (G-C), FSC (frameshift codon)-8/9 (+G), FSC-41/42 (-TTCT), IVS-I-1 (G-T), 619 bp deletion, and CD-15 (G-A) β-globin mutations. Eighty-one percent (85/105) couples analyzed were in a consanguineous marriage. Twenty-three fetuses were found homozygous mutant and all couples opted for discontinuation of affected pregnancies. More families are registering for PND after establishment of this free and accessible PND service.

This paper proposes a new design technique of a stable, low input impedance, high sensitivity, high gain and low-power Potentiostat using carbon nanotube FETs (CNTFETs) at 32 nm level that utilizes different input voltages for verifying voltage follower performance. The fully differential architecture suppresses the common mode interference. Extensive simulations have been performed to investigate the distribution of the power and delay of the CNTFET-based Potentiostat due to variations in the supply voltage and temperature of the CNTFETs. The CNTFET-based Potentiostat demonstrates that it tolerates the PVT (Process, Voltage, and Temperature) variations significantly better than its CMOS counterpart.

This manuscript reports and analyzes 12-CNTFET and GDI CNTFET based full adder implementation at 32 nm level. As figures of merit, stability, power dissipation and Power Delay Product (PDP) are considered for the best overall performance. Intensive HSPICE simulations have been performed to investigate the distribution of the power and delay of the CNTFET-based full adders. Both circuit has noticeable reduction in short current power consumption but in terms of comparison GDI CNTFET shows better performance in both power consumption and Power Delay Product (PDP) variations. The CNTFET-based One bit Full Adder cell demonstrates that it tolerates the PVT (Process, Voltage, and Temperature) variations significantly better than its CMOS counterpart.

This paper presents a novel design of a compact multi-valued inverter circuit using Carbon Nanotube Field effect Transistor (CNTFET). All simulations are done by using HSPICE model of CNTFET. The novelty of this paper is by using only one circuit all multi-valued output can be achieved than using three different CNTFET circuits or complex band-gap reference circuits to produce each reference voltage for precise output in case of CMOS implementation which are previously done. Also the same design implementation using MOSFETs with different threshold mask would increase higher process cost. It is widely considered that CNTFET possesses high fabrication feasibility and superior device performance than MOSFET. The extensive simulated results and performance bench-marking of the proposed design also show a significant reduction in power delay product (PDP) which aids over 50% faster speed than typical multi-valued inverter. Hence with this uniquely new design it is possible to accomplish simplicity, energy efficiency and of course reducing the chip area in modern ultra low power VLSI circuits.

Background Breast cancer is the commonest cancer affecting women world wide. Breast cancer is a leading cause of cancer related mortality in Asian countries. Management of breast cancer depends on several tumour-related and patient related factors. HER-2/neu over-expression has been associated with a poor prognosis in breast cancer. We assessed HER-2/neu over expression pattern in unselected breast cancer cases in terms of clinico-pathologic parameters to identify any associations between them. Methods Two hundred cases of breast cancer were evaluated at Advanced Medical and Dental Institute and Hospital Kepala Batas from 2002 to 2007. HER-2/neu status was confirmed in breast cancer tissues by immunohistochemistry. Immunohistochemical expression of HER-2/neu was evaluated according to the published scoring guidelines of the ‘HercepTest' (Dako, Carpinteria, CA). Data were analysed to identify any association between HER-2/neu and clinico-pathologic parameters. Results HER-2/neu over expression was found in 63 (31.5%) tumours out of 200. When assessed for various age groups no significant association was found. However, a high percentage (75%) of over-expression was noted in the 81-85 years age group. No association was found with different racial groups (Malay, Chinese and Indians), with lymph node status or with grade of tumour. However a positive association was observed with oestrogen receptor and progesterone receptor expression. Conclusion There was no association between HER- 2/neu over expression and age, race, lymph node status or tumor grade. However a positive association was found with oestrogen and progesterone receptor status. Index words: oestrogen receptors; progesterone receptors; HER-2/neu; breast carcinoma DOI: 10.4038/cmj.v55i1.1701 Ceylon Medical Journal Vol.55, No.1 March 2010 pp.9-13

Reliable knowledge about the contribution of various factors responsible for increasing agricultural production is indispensable for planning. This holds particularly for the fertilizer use, which has been recognized as one of the quickest and, perhaps, the cheapest means for increasing agricultural produc¬tion. In Pakistan the emphasis on planned development is gaining momentum and for this purpose more data and fuller information on fertilizer response are becoming increasingly essential. The Agricultural Research Stations in the country have been conducting experiments with a view to determining the extent to which the cropped yield may increase due to the application of fertilizer. But such experiments, because of their somewhat controlled nature in respect of certain factors, obviously can¬not tell us with a desired measure of accuracy as to what is actually happening at millions of private farms throughout the country. And, as such, the planning in this regard is apt to be wrong.

IntroductionInflammatory bowel disease is a chronic and relatively common disorder with heterogeneous presentation. Peak incidence occurs in the second and third decades of life. We present a patient with Crohn's disease whose first presentation was profuse bleeding/rectum following blunt abdominal trauma.presentation of caseA 29 year old previously healthy man presented one hour after sustaining relatively mild abdominal trauma, due to fall onto the ball during a rugby match. He complained of abdominal pain and one episode of large fresh rectal bleeding. He was pale and distressed with hypotension, tachycardia and abdominal guarding & fresh blood on digital rectal examination. With a provisional diagnosis of intestinal injury he was taken to theatre. Right hemi-colectomy was done for a thickened and inflamed segment of distal ileum, a large adjacent mesenteric haematoma & mesenteric lymph nodes and blood in distal bowel. Histology confirmed the features of Crohn's disease.discussionCrohn's disease is unusual cause of massive lower gastrointestinal bleeding occurring in 0.9–6% of patients. Rectal bleeding associated with diarrhoea is relatively more common than massive bleeding. The presence of Crohn's disease in young patients presenting like this is unlikely to be suspected and diagnosis could only be made after laparotomy.