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The prevalence of stunting in Indonesian children under five years of age is about 20%. Chronic maternal malnutrition contributes to the risk of stunting by affecting global DNA methylation. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the levels of 5-methyl-cytosine (5mC), as a surrogate marker of global DNA methylation, in buccal swabs and its potential association with risk of stunting and cognitive performance. The levels of 5mC were measured using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence was used to measure cognitive functions. Buccal swab DNA samples and anthropometric data were collected from a total of 231 children aged zero to five years. In this cross-sectional cohort, the prevalence of stunting was 37% in 138 children aged zero to two years and 30% in 93 children aged > two years. The univariable analysis revealed that the levels of 5mC in buccal swab DNA were significantly lower in severely stunted children (median, 2.84; interquartile range [IQR], 2.39-4.62; P -value, 0.0314) and in children of a younger age (median, 2.81; IQR 2.53-4.62, P- value, 0.0001) than in normal (median, 3.75; IQR, 2.80-4.74) and older children (median, 4.01, IQR, 3.39-4.87), respectively. We also found that the average cognitive scores tended to be low in boys and stunted children, although the differences were not statistically significant. Furthermore, levels of 5mC found in buccal and mouthwash DNA were not associated with cognitive scores.

<b>Background and Objective:</b> Two Indonesian lactic acid bacteria of<i> L. plantarum </i>I IA-1A5 and <i>L. acidophilus </i>IIA-2B4 were previously isolated from beef with some functional probiotic properties. Nevertheless, the possibility of these strains to have anticancer activity remains unknown. Current study aimed to evaluate the inhibitory properties of intra-and extracellular protein extracts of these two strains against cervical cancer HeLa cells. <b>Materials and Methods:</b> The intracellular and extracellular proteins extract from <i>L. plantarum </i>IIA-1A5 and <i>L. acidophilus </i>IIA-2B4 were collected and designated as IP-LP, IP-LA, EP-LP and EP-LA, respectively. The effect of these extracts on the viability and morphology of HeLa cells were observed using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and confocal microscopy, respectively. <b>Results:</b> Both IP-LP and IP-LA inhibited HeLa cells in a concentration-dependent manner, with IC<sub>50</sub> values of 352.62 and 120.97 μg mL<sup>1</sup>, respectively. Meanwhile, the inhibition activity was also observed for EP-LP and EP-LA, <i>albeit</i> very low. The inhibition effect was also confirmed by morphological analysis under confocal electron microscopy which showed the changes in the cell shapes and numbers. <b>Conclusion:</b> Altogether, for the first time this study proposed that the probiotic isolated from Indonesian beef are promising to inhibit cancer cell lines.

Background: Defining the presence of BCR-ABL transcript in suspected myeloproliferative neoplasm is essential in establishing chronic myeloid leukemia. In the absence of BCR-ABL, the conventional diagnostic algorithm recommends JAK2 V617F mutation testing to support diagnosis of other MPN diseases such as polycythemia vera, essential thrombocythemia, and primary myelofibrosis. In certain cases of thrombocythemia, simultaneous upfront testing of both BCR-ABL and JAK2 may be desirable. We wanted to test the feasibility of multiplex detection of BCR-ABL transcript variants and JAK2 V617F mutation simultaneously using the reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)-based reverse dot-blot hybridization (RDB) method., Material and Methods: Separate biotinylated RT-PCR primers were designed to amplify specific BCR-ABL transcripts and JAK2 V617F mutant alleles. Specific hybridization of RT-PCR products with arrays of membrane-bound probes followed by colorimetric development would allow simultaneous visualization of BCR-ABL and/or JAK2 mutant transcripts in a given specimen. To validate the RDB method, we used cDNA specimens previously referred to our laboratory for routine clinical testing of BCR-ABL and/or JAK2., Results: The limit of detection or analytical sensitivity of the RDB method using cDNA specimens was 0.5% and 6.25% in detecting BCR-ABL and JAK2 mutant transcripts, respectively. The diagnostic specificity and sensitivity to detect BCR-ABL and JAK2 were 100% and 92.3% (N = 38); and 100% and 100% (N = 27), respectively. RDB also detected BCR-ABL transcripts in 22% of JAK2 V617F mutation-positive samples (N = 14)., Conclusions: RT-PCR RDB is a promising qualitative multiplex method to detect BCR-ABL and JAK2 mutant transcripts simultaneously., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)