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Aim: Despite the endemicity of typhoid in Kelantan, epidemiological data showing typhoid association to age, sex,ethnicity and district of patients is limited. This retrospective study investigated the statistical association of thesevariables from a retrieved registry.Methodology and results: Cross-tabulation using SPSS was used to analyze 1394 cases of confirmed typhoid patientsadmitted to various hospitals in Kelantan state over a six-year period. Fourteen age groups with a five-year rangeinterval were generated. There was a significant association between typhoid infection and sex of subjects, wherebyfemales were generally more susceptible than males. Ethnicity and district of typhoid patients did not show significantassociation.Conclusion, significance and impact of study: The observation of an increased number of typhoid cases with a malepredominance in the age group 5-14 and female predominance in the 20-60 age group calls for improved hygiene,continued public health education, together with better laboratory diagnostics to identify carriers, are some measures tocontrol this disease.

This document is a tribute to Professor Harald Fritzsch, a renowned physicist. The author recounts their personal interactions with Professor Fritzsch, including a conference in Singapore in 1978 and a conference celebrating the 80th birthday of Professor Murray Gell-Mann in 2010. The latter conference attracted many esteemed scientists, including three Nobel Laureates. The document also mentions that Professor Fritzsch played a significant role in organizing multiple conferences in Singapore between 2012 and 2018, which were important for promoting science in the region. The author expresses gratitude for Professor Fritzsch's contributions to the scientific community. [Extracted from the article]

The objective of this study was to develop an optimized assay forSalmonellaTyphi biofilm that mimics the environment of the gallbladder as an experimental model for chronic typhoid fever. Multi-factorial assays are difficult to optimize using traditional one-factor-at-a-time optimization methods. Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize six key variables involved inS. Typhi biofilm formation on cholesterol-coated polypropylene 96-well microtiter plates. The results showed that bile (1.22%), glucose (2%), cholesterol (0.05%) and potassium chloride (0.25%) were critical factors affecting the amount of biofilm produced, but agitation (275 rpm) and sodium chloride (0.5%) had antagonistic effects on each other. Under these optimum conditions the maximum OD reading for biofilm formation was 3.4 (λ600 nm), and the coefficients of variation for intra-plate and inter-plate assays were 3% (n = 20) and 5% (n = 8), respectively. These results showed that RSM is an effective approach for biofilm assay optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

New techniques in solid freeform fabrication (SFF) have prompted research into methods of manufacturing and controlling porosity. The strategy of this research is to integrate computer aided design (CAD) and the SFF technique of selective laser sintering (SLS) to fabricate porous polymeric matrix drug delivery devices (DDDs). This study focuses on the control of the porosity of a matrix by manipulating the SLS process parameters of laser beam power and scan speed. Methylene blue dye is used as a drug model to infiltrate the matrices via a degassing method; visual inspection of dye penetration into the matrices is carried out. Most notably, the laser power matrices show a two-stage penetration process. The matrices are sectioned along the XZ planes and viewed under scanning electron microscope (SEM). The morphologies of the samples reveal a general increase in channel widths as laser power decreases and scan speed increases. The fractional release profiles of the matrices are determined by allowing the dye to diffuse out in vitro within a controlled environment. The results show that laser power and scan speed matrices deliver the dye for 8-9 days and have an evenly distributed profile. Mercury porosimetry is used to analyse the porosity of the matrices. Laser power matrices show a linear relationship between porosity and variation in parameter values. However, the same relationship for scan speed matrices turns out to be rather inconsistent. Relationships between the SLS parameters and the experimental results are developed using the fractional release rate equation for the infinite slab porous matrix DDD as a basis for correlation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An ELISA has been developed for serum antibodies to streptococcal cell wall peptidoglycan-polysaccharide polymers (PG-GSP). A significantly increased prevalence of serum anti-PG-GSP antibody was found in juvenile chronic arthritis and both seropositive and seronegative rheumatoid arthritis (RA), compared with ankylosing spondylitis, systemic lupus erythematosus. myeloma and healthy controls. Anti-PG-GSP antibody was always of the IgG class and there was no correlation of anti-PG -GSP levels with C reactive protein, rheumatoid factor (RF) or anti-streptolysin O titres. There was no direct cross-reaction of RF with PG-GSP, nor did the presence of IgM-RF significantly Interfere with the assay. Examination of paired serum and synovial fluid samples offered no evidence for local production of anti-PG-GSP antibody in synovial tissue. These data are compatible with an increased systemic immunization by bacterial fragments in RA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Groups of BALB/c mice have been repeatedly immunized with sterile affinity-purified human rheumatoid factor (RF) preparations from high-titred seropositive rheumatoid arthritis sera. In all cases, there was an antibody response reactive with Streptococcus pyogenes cell wall peptidoglycan-polysaccharide (PG-PS) polymer in both immunodiffusion and ELISA. This antibody could be absorbed by either excess RF or PG-PS. but not by isolated human non-RF IgG or IgM preparations. Group of mice similarly immunized with non-RF IgG or IgM produced no significant anti-PG-PS antibody response compared with pre-immune sera. All immunogens lacked detectable PG-PS. Thus. anti-PG-PS antibody may he produced by RF immunization in the absence of PG-PS. This suggests some idiotypic complementarity between RF and anti-PG-PS antibodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]