ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND@#Platelet-rich plasma (PRP), a blood-based product containing platelets and growth factors, is being utilized to treat numerous non-hemostatic disorders. Studies have explored the use of PRP to provide rapid repair, healing, and recovery from various injuries; some studies mentioned the effectiveness of PRP as compared with other forms of treatment like the use of hyaluronic acid. Commercially available PRP systems are available now, and each varies from one another depending on how it is prepared, thus causing variations in platelet concentration and growth factor content. These variations also implicated different therapeutic applications. @*METHODS@#The paper reviews the various applications of PRP, including factors to consider before using PRP therapy, and provides an extensive list of PRP applications. @*RESULTS@#The administration of PRP as a standalone treatment or as a co-therapy results in observed positive outcomes.However, there is a lack of standardization for PRP preparation, increasing the risks for heterogeneity and bias amongst results. @*CONCLUSION@#The use of PRP is indeed an option for regenerative therapy, but more research is needed before it can fully be recommended as a primary treatment modality.
ABSTRACT
Objective@#This study aims to enhance the capacity of dengue prediction by investigating the relationship of dengue incidence with climate and environmental factors in the Mekong Delta region (MDR) of Viet Nam by using remote sensing data.@*Methods@#To produce monthly data sets for each province, we extracted and aggregated precipitation data from the Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation project and land surface temperatures and normalized difference vegetation indexes from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer satellite observations. Monthly data sets from 2000 to 2016 were used to construct autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models to predict dengue incidence for 12 provinces across the study region. @*Results@#The final models were able to predict dengue incidence from January to December 2016 that concurred with the observation that dengue epidemics occur mostly in rainy seasons. As a result, the obtained model presents a good fit at a regional level with the correlation value of 0.65 between predicted and reported dengue cases; nevertheless, its performance declines at the subregional scale. @*Conclusion@#We demonstrated the use of remote sensing data in time-series to develop a model of dengue incidence in the MDR of Viet Nam. Results indicated that this approach could be an effective method to predict regional dengue incidence and its trends.
ABSTRACT
@#Peripheral blood smear microscopy still remains the gold standard for diagnosing malaria and trypanosomiasis. Microscopy is a labor-intensive process and requires great amount of skill to accomplish. Even though cheap and easy to perform, it still has several limitations. This hinders the microscopist in identifying protozoan structure or differentiating species from one another. Considering these factors in the performance of microscopic examination, it is crucial to identify new strategies for parasite identification and species differentiation. Innovations in clinical enzymology, immunodiagnostics, and molecular technology would be of help in resolving the problem. This study mainly focused on the possible role of clinical enzymes in malaria and trypanosomiasis diagnosis. Enzymes play a vital role in parasite physiology and metabolism. They enable the parasite to survive inside the living host by initiating different metabolic cycles. These enzymes can either be expressed on the surface of the protozoa or excreted in the extracellular environment. Lactate dehydrogenase, aldolase, and glutamate dehydrogenase were the significant enzymes associated with pathogenic Plasmodium spp. Other malarial enzymes were also identified but further validation is still required to establish their use as diagnostic biomarkers. Whereas, the enzyme matrix metalloproteinase was identified as significant for diagnosing and differentiating Trypanosoma spp. Analysis of these enzymes can be used as alternative means for microscopy in parasite identification and differentiation. Application of these enzymes as immunologic markers in various diagnostic test kits should be further evaluated.