Comparison between the Transcutaneous and Total Serum Bilirubin Measurement in Malay Neonates with Neonatal Jaundice.

Background: This study aims to investigate the reliability of the Dräger Jaundice Meter JM-105 for the screening of neonatal jaundice in Malay neonates. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in a university hospital involving 130 jaundiced neonates requiring serum bilirubin determination from day 2 to day 7 of life. Results: The mean total serum bilirubin (TSB) was 232 µmol/L, whereas the mean transcutaneous bilirubin (TcB) measured at the forehead and sternum were 222 µmol/L and 223 µmol/L, respectively. Further, TcB underestimates TSB with a mean difference of 10.10 µmol/L at the forehead and 9.27 µmol/L at the sternum. A positive linear relationship was observed between TSB with TcB forehead (r = 0.82) and TcB sternum (r = 0.80). A good discriminations ability was observed for both the TcB forehead (receiver operating characteristics [ROC] curve = 89.8%) and sternum (ROC curve = 89.7%) at a TSB level of 205 µmol/L. The sensitivity ranges from 84.4% to 85.3%, while the specificity ranges from 77.4% to 76.4%. Conclusion: Our study demonstrates a strong linear relationship and good diagnostic accuracy of TcB values compared to TSB values. To conclude, TcB measured at the forehead or sternum is a good alternative as a non-invasive screening tool for non-severe hyperbilirubinemia in Malay neonates.

Corrigendum: Food Allergy and Helicobacter pylori Infection: A Systematic Review.

[This corrects the article on p. 368 in vol. 7, PMID: 27047479.].

Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori cagA, babA2, and dupA genotypes and correlation with clinical outcome in Malaysian patients with dyspepsia.

BACKGROUND/AIM: The severity of disease outcome in dyspepsia has been attributed to Helicobacter pylori virulence genes. The aim of this study was to determine the distribution of H. pylori virulence genes (cagA, babA2, and dupA) and to determine whether or not there arises a significant correlation with clinical dyspepsia outcomes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: H. pylori genotypes cagA, babA2, and dupA were identified by polymerase chain reactions from gastric biopsy samples in 105 H. pylori-positive patients. RESULTS: The positive rates for cagA, babA2, and dupA genes in H. pylori dyspeptic patients were 69.5%, 41.0%, and 22.9%, respectivel cagA was more prevalent in Indians (39.7%), babA2 was more prevalent in Malays (39.5%), and dupA detection occurred more frequently in both Indians and Malays and at the same rate (37.5%). The Chinese inhabitants had the lowest prevalence of the three genes. Nonulcer disease patients had a significantly higher distribution of cagA (76.7%), babA2 (74.4%), and dupA (75.0%). There was no apparent association between these virulence genes and the clinical outcomes. CONCLUSION: The lower prevalence of these genes and variations among different ethnicities implies that the strains are geographically and ethnically dependent. None of the virulence genes were knowingly beneficial in predicting the clinical outcome of H. pylori infection in our subjects.

Deleted in Colorectal Cancer (DCC) gene polymorphism is associated with H. pylori infection among susceptible Malays from the north-eastern region of Peninsular Malaysia.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Using genome-wide case-control association approach, the current study aimed to determine whether genetic polymorphism(s) is/are associated with H. pylori infection among ethnic Malays from the north-eastern region of Peninsular Malaysia, a region with an exceptionally low prevalence for H. pylori infection and gastric cancer. METHODOLOGY: Twenty-three Malay subjects positive for H. pylori confirmed with urease test and histology were enrolled as "cases" and 37 subjects negative for H. pylori were "controls". Both groups were matched for age and environmental risks. Extracted DNA samples (QIAGEN, Germany) from the venous blood of study subjects were genotyped using the Human Mapping 50k xbal array (Affymetrix, USA). High throughput downstream analyses were then used to determine the significant SNP(s) associated with H. pylori infection. RESULTS: Out of 20,361 SNPs filtered using the genotype association test, the top 1% (203) significant SNPs were selected for functional enrichment analysis. Of the 15 "enriched" SNPs, the rs10502974 which was located within the intronic region of Deleted in Colorectal Cancer (DCC) gene was the SNP most significantly associated with H. pylori infection (p=0.00549). CONCLUSIONS: Ethnic Malays is genetically susceptible to H. pylori infection and is possibly mediated through a genetic variation in the DCC gene.

Towards understanding the low prevalence of Helicobacter pylori in Malays: genetic variants among Helicobacter pylori-negative ethnic Malays in the north-eastern region of Peninsular Malaysia and Han Chinese and South Indians.

OBJECTIVES: To identify gene polymorphisms that differ between Malays, Han Chinese and South Indians, and to identify candidate genes for the investigation of their role in protecting Malays from Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection. METHODS: Malay participants born and residing in Kelantan with a documented absence of H. pylori infection were studied. Venous blood was used for genotyping using the Affymetrix 50K Xba I kit. CEL files from 141 Han Chinese and 76 South Indians were analyzed to compare their allele frequency with that of the Malays using fixation index (FST ) calculation. The single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with the highest allele frequency (outliers) were then examined for their functional characteristics using F-SNP software and the Entrez Gene database. RESULTS: In all, 37 Malays were enrolled in the study; of whom 7 were excluded for low genotyping call rates. The average FST estimated from the genome-wide data were 0.038 (Malays in Kelantan vs the South Indians), 0.015 (Malays in Kelantan vs Han Chinese) and 0.066 (Han Chinese vs South Indians), respectively. The outlier gene variants present in Malays with functional characteristics were C7orf10 (FST 0.29988), TSTD2 (FST 0.43278), SMG7 (FST 0.29877) and XPA (FST 0.43393 and 0.43644). CONCLUSION: Genetic variants possibly related to protection against H. pylori infection in ethnic Malays from the north-eastern region of Peninsular Malaysia were identified for testing in subsequent trials among infected and uninfected Malays.