Experiences of women who underwent induced lactation: A literature review

@#Objective: This article aims to review the literature published over the past five decades related to the experiences of women who have undergone induced lactation. Methods: A comprehensive electronic search was conducted using PubMed, the Library of Congress, Google Scholar, SAGE, and ScienceDirect. The following search keywords were used: adoptive breastfeeding, induced lactation, non-puerperal lactation, extraordinary breastfeeding, and milk kinship. The search was restricted to articles written in English and published from 1956 to 2019. All study designs were included except for practice protocols. Results: A total of 50 articles about induced lactation were retrieved. Of these, 17 articles identified the experiences of women who underwent induced lactation. The articles included original papers (n=7), reviews (n=5), and case reports (n=5). Four articles were specifically related to Malaysia, and the others were international. These 17 articles concerning the experiences of women who induced lactation will be reviewed based on four themes related to inducing lactation: (a) understanding women’s perception of satisfaction, (b) emotional aspects, (c) enabling factors, and (d) challenges. Conclusion: Identifying a total of only 17 articles on induced lactation published over the last 53 years suggests that the subject is understudied. This review provides emerging knowledge regarding the experiences of women who have induced lactation in terms of satisfaction, emotions, enabling factors and challenges related to inducing lactation.

Enhanced production of short-peptide tagged Ss3a recombinant protein as a novel potential biomarker for strongyloidiasis

@#Strongyloidiasis is a mysterious yet important parasitic disease that is hard to diagnose. While microscopic examination remains a “controversial” gold standard method, improved diagnosis is achieved through confirmatory assays with serological and/or molecular diagnostic approaches. In the current serodiagnosis of strongyloidiasis, recombinant proteins have been adopted in place of the use of native parasite antigens, although the availability of diagnostically potential proteins are still limited. Here, we introduce a novel Strongyloides recombinant protein that is uniquely attached to two different short peptide tags as a potential diagnostic biomarker for serodiagnosis of strongyloidiasis, namely lysine (7K) and aspartic acid (7D). The work presented focus on improving the yield and purity of the previously unexpressed recombinant protein. Preliminary diagnostic evaluation of the recombinant favors Ss3a7K protein owing to its higher antigenicity performance with 80% sensitivity and 100% specificity, respectively.

Molecular detection and screening of Wolbachia infections in tropical bed bugs Cimex hemipterus (Hemiptera: Cimicidae) from Peninsular Malaysia populations

Aims@#Wolbachia is an endosymbiont and a Gram-negative genus bacterium which has received the spotlight in the field of research studies due to its multiple capabilities to affect it hosts, including the bed bugs (Hemiptera: Cimcidae). While most investigations concentrated on the common bed bugs (Cimex lectularius), no published studies have yet to be done on molecular screenings of Wolbachia associated with tropical bed bugs (C. hemipterus). The present study was undertaken to screen Wolbachia infection from tropical bed bugs from Peninsular Malaysia. @*Methodology and results@#We attempted to screen and characterize Wolbachia infections in tropical bed bugs from 22 different localities throughout Peninsular Malaysia using a molecular approach; multiple Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) assays with four sets of primer sequences. @*Conclusion, significance and impact of study@#Our findings yielded negative results of Wolbachia infections and, therefore, further confirmed that all bed bug samples from all localities in Peninsular Malaysia are free from Wolbachia infections. Our findings also suggested that the prevalence of Wolbachia in tropical bed bug populations in Peninsular Malaysia is very unlikely.

Autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation among lymphoproliferative disease patients: factors influencing engraftment

Objectives: Autologous peripheral blood stem cells transplantation [APBSCT] is a therapeutic option which can be used in various hematological, neoplastic disorders including lymphoproliferative disease [LPD]. Differences in patient populations and treatment modalities in different transplant centers mean it is important to improve the knowledge of the different factors affecting engraftment after APBSCT for the success of this procedure. We sought to determine the factors influencing neutrophil and platelet engraftment after APBSCT in patients with LPD

Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of 70 patients with LPD [35 with lymphoma and 35 with multiple myeloma] who had undergone APBSCT between January 2008 and December 2016. Data obtained included disease type, treatment, and stem cell characteristics. Kaplan-Meier analysis was performed for probabilities of neutrophil and platelet engraftment occurred and was compared by the log-rank test. The multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression model was used for the analysis of potential independent factors influencing engraftment. A p-value < 0.050 was considered statistically significant

Results: Most patients were ethnic Malay, the median age at transplantation was 49.5 years. Neutrophil and platelet engraftment occurred in a median time of 18 [range 4–65] and 17 [range 6–66] days, respectively. The majority of patients showed engraftment with 65 [92.9%] and 63 [90.0%] showing neutrophil and platelet engraftment, respectively. We observed significant differences between neutrophil engraftment and patient's weight [< 60/>/= 60 kg], stage of disease at diagnosis, number of previous chemotherapy cycles [< 8/>/= 8], and pre-transplant radiotherapy. While for platelet engraftment, we found significant differences with gender, patient's weight [< 60/>/= 60 kg], pre-transplant radiotherapy, and CD34+ dosage [< 5.0/>/= 5.0 × 106/kg and < 7.0/>/= 7.0 × 106/kg]. The stage of disease at diagnosis [p = 0.012] and pre-transplant radiotherapy [p = 0.025] were found to be independent factors for neutrophil engraftment whereas patient's weight [< 60/>/= 60 kg, p = 0.017], age at transplantation [< 50/>/= 50 years, p = 0.038], and CD34+ dosage [< 7.0/>/= 7.0 × 106/kg, p = 0.002] were found to be independent factors for platelet engraftment

Conclusions: Patients with LPD who presented at an early stage and with no history of radiotherapy had faster neutrophil engraftment after APBSCT, while a younger age at transplantation with a higher dose of CD34+ cells may predict faster platelet engraftment. However, additional studies are necessary for better understanding of engraftment kinetics to improve the success of APBSCT