Anti-Wolbachia therapy for onchocerciasis & lymphatic filariasis: Current perspectives

Onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis (LF) are human filarial diseases belonging to the group of neglected tropical diseases, leading to permanent and long-term disability in infected individuals in the endemic countries such as Africa and India. Microfilaricidal drugs such as ivermectin and albendazole have been used as the standard therapy in filariasis, although their efficacy in eliminating the diseases is not fully established. Anti-Wolbachia therapy employs antibiotics and is a promising approach showing potent macrofilaricidal activity and also prevents embryogenesis. This has translated to clinical benefits resulting in successful eradication of microfilarial burden, thus averting the risk of adverse events from target species as well as those due to co-infection with loiasis. Doxycycline shows potential as an anti-Wolbachia treatment, leading to the death of adult parasitic worms. It is readily available, cheap and safe to use in adult non-pregnant patients. Besides doxycycline, several other potential antibiotics are also being investigated for the treatment of LF and onchocerciasis. This review aims to discuss and summarise recent developments in the use of anti-Wolbachia drugs to treat onchocerciasis and LF.

Balloon catheter sinuplasty for chronic rhinosinusitis: feasibility and impact on quality of life

To evaluate the outcome of balloon sinuplasty for patients with chronic rhinosinusitis [CRS] and its impact on patients' symptom and quality of life scoring The study included 35 patients with mean age of 34.1 +/- 4.4 years. All patients underwent complete otorhinolaryngological examination and endoscopic staging according to Lund and Kennedy endoscopic score. CT scans of paranasal sinuses were assessed according to Lund-Mackay scale. All patients underwent symptoms and quality of life assessment using Sino Nasal Outcome Test-20 [SNOT-20]. All patients underwent balloon catheter sinuplasty under guide of fiberoptic nasal endoscope. Patients were assessed at three and six months after dilatation for SNOT-20 score. Intraoperative catheter insertion and advancement was accomplished successfully in 26 patients with a procedural success rate of 92.9% and the other two patients were shifted to FESS and were excluded of follow-up. No intraoperative or postoperative complications were encountered. Intraoperative bleeding was minimal and controllable without the need for nasal packing and all patients were discharged once they were ready for. All patients showed progressive improvement of SNOT-20 scoring that showed significant improvement at 3-months and 6-months follow-up evaluation compared to baseline score with significantly lower scores determined at 6-months compared versus 3-months. Balloon catheter sinuplasty is a feasible, safe and effective therapeutic modality for CRS associated with significant improvement of patients' quality of life and could be managed as one-day surgical procedure

insight on the prevalence of body weight disturbance among children with otitis media with effusion

To evaluate the frequency of variant constitutional parameters among children of primary school age and had otitis media with effusion [OME]. The present study was assigned to include 100 children of primary school age with manifestations of OME and underwent myringotomy and insertion of Grommet's tube for middle ear aeration. All patients underwent preoperative determination of age, gender, weight [kg] and height [cm] and body mass index [BMI]. Obesity was defined according to the percentile of BMI adjusted for age and gender and for comparative purposes; enrolled patients were stratified according to BMI percentile strata within each age-stratum and gender frequencies. The study included 100 patients; 54 males and 46 females with a mean age of 8.7 +/- 1.8; range: 6-12 years and mean BMI of 27.2 +/- 4.5; range: 17.7-35.5 kg/m2. Twenty-six patients had average healthy weight, 20 patients were at risk of being over-weight, 23 patients were over-weight and 31 were obese. Twenty-three of patients aged 6-8 years [57.5%], 17 patients aged >8-10 years [47.5%] and 11 patients older than >10 years [57.2%] were average weight or at risk of being over-weight with non-significant between age strata. Similarly, the percentages of over-weight and obese patients showed nonsignificant difference between age strata. Patients' distribution according to gender showed significantly higher percentage of females in obese patients compared to those had average weight or at risk of being over-weight and non-significantly compared to over-weight patients. Average weight patients showed higher percentage of males that was significant compared to over-weight patients and non-significant compared to those at risk of being over-weight. There is a relationship between obesity and OME in children of primary school age and this was age or sex-independent and could be attributed to obesity-associated disturbed immune milieu or to affection of taste sensation

Prospects of plasma immersion ion implantation and deposition (PIlI & D) in the biomaterials field in Malaysia and south East Asia

One of the emerging technologies in the area of plasma processing is plasma immersion ion implantation (PSII). The paper addresses the merits offered by the PSII technique especially in the area of biomaterial processing. Worldwide development status as well as the drive towards commercial applications is elaborated in an attempt to draw the attention to the importance of the process for Malaysia as well as south East Asia.

Plasma pharmacokinetics of morphine after epidural and intermuscular administration in children

Morphine concentrations were measured by high performance liquidchromatography with electrochemical detector in plasma of children injectedprior to the operation of hypospadias repair, with morphine sulfate eitherepidurally [50 ug/kg] or intramuscularly [0.1 mg/kg]. After administration,plasma morphine levels began to rise until reached its maximum value after 10min. While in intramuscular administration, the maximum plasma morphinelevels occurred after 5 min. post-injection and a similar disappearance ofplasma morphine was observed and extended for more than 240 min. In a comparison, there is significant decrease in maximum plasma morphine concentration [Cp max], absorption rate constant [Ka], volume of distribution [Vd] and terminal half-life [t 1/2] for children epidurally administered less than intramuscularly administered, while a high significant elevation of timemaximum concentration [t max] was observed in the former route. These datademonstrated the analgesic effectiveness of epidural morphine as compared withintramuscular morphine