ABSTRACT
Single nucleotide polymorphism of brain derived neurotropic factor gene, also known as Val66Met or rs6562, wasfound to be linked to obesity. However, reports on the link between this gene variant and obesity in Caucasian andAsian populations are inconsistent. A meta-analysis was, therefore, performed to determine the association betweenVal66Met polymorphism and the risk of obesity. Electronic databases, including Embase, CINAHL, and PubMed,were searched for relevant studies published before November 2018. Random effects model was used to calculatethe pooled estimate based on the heterogeneity test results. Data were obtained from 11 studies involving 13,153individuals with obesity and 18,689 non-obese individuals. The overall estimated odds ratio did not support theproposed association (OR 0.9, 95% CI 0.793–1.136). Stratified analysis, however, showed that Val/Val genotype isassociated with increased risk of obesity among adults (OR 1.135, 95% CI 1.001–1.286) but associated with a reducedrisk among adolescents (OR 0.61, 95% CI = 0.376, 0.984). The results highlight the role of confounding factors thatneed to be addressed when making inference
ABSTRACT
Background: Multiple research articles were continuously emphasizing that constructive effects of empathy improve patient care. Medical professional bodies often talk that medical doctors need to be competent in clinical skills and empathetic. There was enormous demand from patients that doctors should be empathetic and motivate listeners. Therefore, medical educators became highly concern about the issue whether their students possess empathetic qualities. The Aim of the Study: To measure the empathy level among the medical students and to perform validation and reliability study of the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ). Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study among medical students of the Defence University of Malaysia to measure empathy level. The TEQ was utilized to collect data. The data were collected in early second half of 2017. The universal sampling method was adopted, and data were analyzed with IBM SPSS Software. Results: The current study population holds an average level of empathy. Female medical students had statistically significantly (P = 0.001) higher scores than their male friends. There no statistically significant differences observed in the TEQ score between the year of study (P = 0.948) and type of admission (P = 0.065). Conclusion: The current study respondents possess an average level of empathy. Educational intervention can be incorporated to enhance empathy level which sequentially promotes patient care.