Association between ABO Blood Groups and Severity of Dyspepsia in Gunungsitoli, Indonesia

Background@#Human blood groups may play a key role in various human diseases. An association has been found between ABO blood groups and both infectious and non-infectious diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and other organs. Dyspepsia is one of the most common encountered gastrointestinal complaints. @*Aims@#To investigate the association between ABO blood groups and severity of dyspepsia symptoms in a specific ethnic group. @*Study Design@#Cross-sectional study. @*Methods@#Consecutive adult Nias tribe dyspepsia outpatients in the General District Hospital, Gunungsitoli Nias,Indonesia, were interviewed using a structured questionnaire between May–June 2018. The severity of dyspepsia was assessed with the Porto Alegre Dyspeptic Symptoms Questionnaire (PADYQ) scoring instrument. ABO blood groups were determined by a standard direct agglutination test. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy was performed in all participants. Data were statistically analyzed using statistical software. P value less than 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. @*Results@#Of 66 patients, 54.5% were males, with median age of 47 years (range, 23–67). Majority of the participants had blood group O (48.5%). The most encountered dyspepsia symptom was epigastric pain (66.7%). Participants with blood group type B had significantly more severe dyspepsia symptoms based on total PADYQ score (p=0.017). Participants with blood group type O were more prone to epigastric pain (p=0.015), while blood group type B to bloating (p=0.01) and early satiation (p=0.02). @*Conclusion@#In outpatients from the Nias tribe with dyspepsia, those with blood group type B had more severe dyspepsia symptoms.

PCSK9 inhibitory activity of marine-derived compounds, aaptaminoids, and benzamide originated from Aaptos aaptos and Acanthaster planci as a potential treatment for atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disorder of the vasculature and one of the underlying causes of cardiovasculardiseases. Numerous preventative and therapeutic approaches are being explored to limit the morbidity and mortalityof this disease. Nevertheless, some of the treatments cost greatly and contributed to various side effects; for example,statin therapy is associated with substantial residual cardiovascular risk as well as issues such as tolerability and patientdependent efficacy. Currently, proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitor has been attractinginterests in the drug discovery of atherosclerosis treatment, but ezetimibe, a successful PCSK9 inhibitor, is an expensivemonoclonal antibody. Thus, exploring new PCSK9 inhibitors is crucial in overcoming this constraint. In the previouswork, aaptaminoids and methyl benzoate were isolated from marine sponges Aaptos aaptos and Acanthaster planci,respectively. These compounds enhance the transcription of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma(PPARγ) in the luciferase assay. PPARγ agonist was hypothesized to inhibit the expression of the PCSK9 gene becausethe former is a transcription factor toward the latter. The synthesis of three aaptaminoids and 11 methyl benzoatederivative was carried out to address its potential as a PCSK9 inhibitor. The structure of the synthesized compound waselucidated using nuclear magnetic resonance spectral and electron impact mass spectral data. The PCSK9 inhibitoryactivities were determined by luciferase assay. Four aaptaminoids, such as aaptamine, N1,N4-bisbenzylaaptamine,N4-[(3,4,5-trimethoxy)benzyl]aaptamine, and N1-[(3,4,5-trimethoxy)benzyl]aaptamine, and one benzamide derivative,N-(2,3-dihydro-1H-inden-2-yl)-2-methoxybenzamide, were found to inhibit the expression of PCSK9 gene.

Addition Of Adipose Derived Stem Cell To Beta Tricalcium Phosphate and Human Cancellous Bone for Craniofacial Bone Tissue Engineering: An In Vitro Study

@#Introduction: Autologous bone graft remains the method of choice for correction of osseous defects despite its shortcomings related to its limited availability, donor side effects and post-surgical potential complications of the recipient. It is imperative to develop more innovative substitute that offers little to no adverse effects. We aimed to assess the impact of addition human adiposed derived stem cell to Beta tricalcium phosphate (βTCP) and human cancellous bone in vitro. Methods: Experimental study was carried out in vitro, where βTCP and human cancellous freeze-dried bone graft were seeded onto a 24-well microplate (each well containing 2x106 hADSCs). A colorimetric assay (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide/MTT) was carried out for three days using the second passage of hADSCs to calculate the cell viability using ELISA reader at optical density (OD) 590nm. Results: MTT Assay showed that the percentage of viable cells in both groups were more than 70%, of which the βTCP showed significantly higher percentage than cancellous bone groups. Conclusion: This study proved that the addition of human adipose derived stem cell to βTCP and human cancellous bone in vitro is harmless and significantly improve cell viability in vitro.

Serum Ferritin Levels: A Potential Biomarker to Represent Child-Turcotte-Pugh Score among Decompensated Liver Cirrhosis Patients

@#Background: Liver cirrhosis and the child-Turcotte-Pugh (CTP) score are inseparable entities in liver disease. CTP score is largely known as the mortality and prognosis predictor. Nevertheless, ferritin emerges as a simple biomarker related to prognosis. The study aimed to determine whether there was a significant correlation between serum ferritin levels and CTP score. Methods: The study analysed 54 decompensated liver cirrhotic patients including 17 females and 37 males between May 2016 and May 2017 at the Haji Adam Malik General Hospital, Medan, Indonesia. Ferritin levels were, then, divided into trichotomous cut-off value (< 200 ng/ mL, n = 22; 200–400 ng/mL, n = 5; and > 400 ng/mL, n = 27). Data was analysed using SPSS version 12.0 (continuous variables were assessed by the Kruskal-Wallis test and Chi-square test was used for categorical variables). In addition, Spearman correlation test was used to determine any significant correlation between ferritin levels and CTP score. Results: Based on data analysis, gender and CTP score were related to higher ferritin levels (P = 0.002 and P = 0.018, respectively). Furthermore, a significant correlation between serum ferritin levels and CTP score was obtained in to moderate degree (P = 0.000; r = 0.487). Conclusions: There might be a significant role of serum ferritin levels in predicting mortality and prognosis among decompensated liver cirrhosis patients but it still needs further attention.

The patterns of breast-feeding and their effect on the time of resumption of menses.

The percentage of mother who had full/exclusive breast-feeding for four months after birth are 50%, and only less than 15% continued full/exclusive breast-feeding for up to the first six months afier birth. The mean duration of full/exclusive breast-feeding is 3.3 months. The median time of the resumption of menses in this study is 186 days (CI: 177-195 days). The median time of resumption of menses significantly associated with both the mean duration of full/exclusive breast-feeding and the average suckling frequency. The longer the mean duration of full/exclusive breast-feeding and the more the average of suckling frequency, the longer the median time of resumption of menses. The median time of resumption of menses in respondent who practiced full/exclusive breast-feeding up to three and more than three months are 149 (CI: 121-177) and 199 (CI: 186-212) days, respectively. And in the mothers who breast fed their infant for up to six times and more than 6 times per day the median time of resumption of menses are 125 (CI: 90-160) and 191 (CI: 181-201) days, respectively.