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Objectives: To explore the Malaysian dental therapists' perceptions regarding the provisions concerning them in the new dental act and potential market changes, considering their current career motivations and expectations., Methods: Dental therapists from two major public dental organisations in the East-Peninsular Malaysia (n = 26) were invited to participate in an audiotaped semi-structured interview using a pre-tested topic-guide informed by workforce policy and research literature. The qualitative data were transcribed and analysed using Framework Analysis., Results: The research conducted with dental therapists (n = 26) identified four motivation domains namely 'altruism', 'personal and academic inspiration', 'profession characteristics' and 'career advising and social influences' as key factors motivating their choice of a professional career as dental therapists, influenced by work-life balance and financial stability. They were also aware of the new dental act and its potential implications, particularly regarding their future career expectations. The majority felt the necessity 'to improve their skills and knowledge' within the first 5 years as part of their short-term career plans. A few participants expressed a desire to 'pursue a higher level of education' and 'wished to join the private sector' in the long-term. They perceived the possibility of 'working in the private sector' to increase their income and believed that they did not require any additional training for such a transition., Conclusion: Malaysian dental therapists welcomed the changes in the new act, which allow them to work across sectors. Many perceived themselves as adequately motivated and equipped to transition to different work settings without requiring additional training., (© 2024 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Phenytoin, an antiepileptic drug, induces neurotoxicity and abnormal embryonic development and reduces spontaneous locomotor activity in fish. However, its effects on other endpoints remain unclear. Therefore, we investigated the effects of phenytoin on the swimming behavior and reproductive ability of Japanese medaka. Abnormalities in swimming behavior, such as imbalance, rotation, rollover, and vertical swimming, were observed. However, when phenytoin exposure was discontinued, the behavioral abnormality rates decreased. Phenytoin exposure also significantly reduced reproductive ability. By investigating reproduction-related gene expression of gnrh1, gnrh2, fshb, and lhb remained unchanged in males and females. In contrast, kiss1 expression was significantly suppressed due to phenytoin exposure in males and females. kiss2 expression was also significantly suppressed in females but not in males. We filmed videos to examine phenytoin exposure effects on sexual behavior. Females showed no interest in the male's courtship. As the kisspeptin 1 system controls sexual behavior in Japanese medaka, phenytoin exposure may have decreased kiss1 expression, which decreased female reproductive motivation; hence, they did not spawn eggs. This is the first study to show that phenytoin exposure induces behavioral abnormalities, and suppresses kiss1 expression and reproductive performance in Japanese medaka., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Studies were performed to investigate whether prior cisplatin-induced acute renal failure affords resistance to a second challenge with cisplatin in Sprague-Dawley rats. Both the increase in serum creatinine and tubular damage following a challenge with cisplatin (5 mg/kg, i. p.) were significantly less in rats which had received cisplatin (3 mg/kg, i. p.) 14 days prior to the rechallenge compared with the previously untreated animals. Attenuation of nephrotoxicity was more obvious in the histological index than in the increase in serum creatinine, and increase in serum creatinine concentration did not correlate with tubular necrosis. There were fewer tubular cells that expressed proliferating cell nuclear antigen in previously treated kidneys, suggesting that the enhanced regeneration of tubular cells plays a minor role in the decrease of tubular damage in kidneys recovering from prior acute renal failure. These findings suggest that rats recovering from previous acute renal failure are resistant to a second insult with cisplatin and that the attenuation of nephrotoxicity is more prominent in histological damage than in functional disturbance.