Vitamin D, crucial for bone health, is primarily synthesized through sun exposure and found in ce... more Vitamin D, crucial for bone health, is primarily synthesized through sun exposure and found in certain foods like liver, tuna, and salmon. Its deficiency is associated with various health issues, including mortality, skin diseases, heart conditions, cancer, and mental disorders. 1-8 The extensive expression of vitamin D receptors in organ systems has been implicated in the widespread systemic effects of vitamin D. 1,9 Lower serum vitamin D levels have been linked to mental disorders. 10,11 Mental disorders, encompassing elements like psychological distress and mood swings, are complex and often associated with depression, characterized by persistent sadness or lack of interest. 10,11 Research suggests a potential role of vitamin D in mental disorders, supported by the
Background: The human reward system has been extensively studied using neuroimaging. This bibliom... more Background: The human reward system has been extensively studied using neuroimaging. This bibliometric analysis aimed to determine the global trend in diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) and human reward research in terms of the number of documents, the most active countries and their collaborating countries, the top journals and institutions, the most prominent authors and most cited articles, and research hotspots. Methods: The research datasets were acquired from the Scopus database. The search terms used were 'reward' AND 'human' AND 'diffusion imaging' OR 'diffusion tensor imaging' OR 'diffusion MRI' OR 'diffusion-weighted imaging' OR 'tractography' in the abstract, article title and keywords. A total of 336 publications were analysed using Harzing's Publish or Perish and VOSviewer software. Results: The results revealed an upward trend in the number of publications with the highest number of articles in 2020 and 2022. Most publications were limited to countries, authors, and institutions in the USA, China and Europe. Bracht, Coenen, Wiest, Federspiel and Feng were among the top authors from Switzerland, Germany and the UK. Neuroimage, Neuroimage Clinical, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, Human Brain Mapping, and the Journal of Neuroscience were the top journals. Among the top articles, six were reviews and four were original articles, while
Postnatal depression is the commonest postpartum mood disorders, and is associated with significa... more Postnatal depression is the commonest postpartum mood disorders, and is associated with significant morbidities and mortalities. The prevalence varies with geographical regions, but observed to be highest during the early weeks after childbirth. Studies have observed the negative effect of postnatal depression on postpartum bonding. The aim of the study is to determine the prevalence of postnatal depression among Malay women in Kota Bharu and its associated factors as well as to investigate the relationship between postnatal depression and postpartum bonding. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 276 mothers attending their first postnatal checkup at 6 health clinics in Kota Bharu. Participants were given questionnaires of sociodemographic profile, the Malay version Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and the Malay version of Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire (PBQ). Data was analysed using correlation and multiple regression analysis. The prevalence of postnatal depression is 5.1 percent. The study also found positive correlation between postnatal depression and postpartum bonding (r=0.364, p-value<0.001). Multiple regression analysis showed that mode of delivery (Caesarean section) and perceived stress as predictors for postnatal depression.This study confirmed the result of previous studies on the inverse relationship between postnatal depression and postpartum bonding. Realizing how detrimental the effect of impaired bonding can be, mothers with the risks of developing postnatal depression should be screened and managed appropriately, at the earliest time possible.
Background: Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a rare autosomal dominant multisystem disease res... more Background: Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a rare autosomal dominant multisystem disease resulting from hyperactivation of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway. This study aimed to measure the quantitative impact of publications in TSC. Materials and methods: We analysed TSC literature obtained from the Scopus database using Bibliometrix R Package and VOSviewer software. Annual publication trends, most productive and collaborative authors/institutions/ countries, most cited articles, most popular journals and author's keywords were presented using standard bibliometric indicators. Results and discussion: A total of 5375 documents on TSC were published from 1960 to December 2020, with an increasing trend. The three primary contributing writers were Curatolo P, Kwiatkowski DJ, and Thiele EA, with the United States and its institutions being the largest contributor. The research identified two of the most referenced papers as TSC's seminal pieces. The top journals that published TSC research were medical journals, namely Journal of Child Neurology, Epilepsia, and Pediatric Neurology. mTOR inhibitor, everolimus, sirolimus, mTORC1, mTOR pathway, autophagy, inflammation, infant, intellectual disability, white matter, TSC-associated neuropsychiatric disorders, TOSCA and quality of life were relatively newer author's keywords and may indicate the future research hotspots in TSC research. Conclusion: Over the last few decades, TSC research has grown in importance, particularly in the field of clinical medicine. Therapeutic components targeting TSC-related pathways, the utilisation of TSC as disease models and long-term safety studies will be future research areas.
This review aims to perform a bibliometric analysis of the research related to brain-derived neur... more This review aims to perform a bibliometric analysis of the research related to brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in schizophrenia and offer suggestions for further work. Based on the keywords used, our study retrieved 335 documents for further analysis using a combination of three bibliometric techniques: co-word analysis, document co-citation analysis, and bibliographic coupling. A general rising trend in the number of publications was found in BDNF and schizophrenia research. Researchers from China and the United States have mostly researched BDNF and schizophrenia. Molecular Psychiatry is the most prestigious journal in the field of BDNF and schizophrenia research. The main topics and important research areas are cognition and the involvement of BDNF as a neurobiological marker (pathogenesis, therapy monitoring, and risk factors). Future research is anticipated to concentrate on relevant subjects, such as factors that affect BDNF levels or are connected to BDNF dysfunction in schizophrenia, as well as animal models of schizophrenia, in addition to cognition in schizophrenia.
Centella asiatica (L.) Urban (C. asiatica) is a medicinal plant that generates terpenes, phenols,... more Centella asiatica (L.) Urban (C. asiatica) is a medicinal plant that generates terpenes, phenols, vitamins, minerals, polyacetylene and fatty acids among other phyto-constituents. This review focuses on the bibliometric analysis of 1164 documents on C. asiatica that were retrieved from the Scopus database. Harzing Publish or Perish and VOSviewer were used for citation and network analyses. According to the bibliometric analysis, publications are on the rise, particularly in the fields of pharmacology, toxicology and pharmaceutics, medicine, biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology, agricultural and biological sciences, and chemistry. "Phytoremediation", "secondary metabolites", "Andrographis paniculata", and "cognitive impairment" are emerging areas for C. asiatica research. However, currently there is a lack of international collaboration in C. asiatica research among contributing countries. Researchers can utilise the findings cited in this reiew to locate potential collaborators, top authors, countries and documents.
Dreams are a common phenomenon people experience throughout their lives. So far, no validated que... more Dreams are a common phenomenon people experience throughout their lives. So far, no validated questionnaire has been available to assess the Malaysian population's dream experiences. One of the tools available to measure dream experience and attitude towards the dream is the Mannheim Dream Questionnaire (MADRE). Therefore, there is a need to validate the Malay version of simplified MADRE based on the Persian version to explore dream experiences among the local population and their associated factors. This study aims to validate the Malay version of MADRE (M-MADRE), which was adapted from the Persian Adaptation of Mannheim Dream Questionnaire. A cross-sectional study involving 412 participants from 18 years and above was conducted via an online questionnaire form from August 2020 until October 2020. M-MADRE was initially translated from the English-translated Persian Version of MADRE into the Malay Language using forward and backward translation procedures by a group of experts. The study started by quantifying content validity using Content Validation Index to ensure M-MADRE consists of content validity and is culturally appropriate for Malaysians. The finalized version of M-MADRE was pre-tested and coordinated on 31 participants. Study participants were instructed to complete the socio-demographic questionnaire and M-MADRE questionnaire. The final step was to analyze the data using SPSS version 26 and RStudio software for construct validity by performing exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, construct reliability, and test-retest reliability. In this study, the final model of M-MADRE mostly fits the data, which comprises 3 factors with 21 items, compared to the Persian Version of MADRE with 24 items and 6 factors. The findings revealed acceptable fit indices (RMSEA=0.062, CFI=0.936, TLI=0.927, SRMR=0.054), overall Cronbach's alpha is acceptable (0.86-0.93), and exhibit excellent test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.95). The study revealed that a 3-factor model with 21 items of the Malay Version Version of MADRE contains good psychometric properties. With this, the scale is proven valid and reliable in measuring the dream experiences Malaysians undergo and their attitude towards it.
Avocado's global acceptance has grown, resulting in expanding cultivation, agricultural developme... more Avocado's global acceptance has grown, resulting in expanding cultivation, agricultural development, and significant marketing efforts. Publicizing avocado also targets its by-products' nutritional and functional benefits. This is the first bibliometric analysis for avocado. It aims to provide a descriptive structure to identify collaborative patterns and emerging themes in avocado research. Based on the search string used in the article title, the study retrieved 2576 documents from the Scopus database for further analysis. For comparison, we separated the data into two study periods: 1916-2011 and 2012-2021. BibliometriX and VOSviewer software were used to examine the descriptive structure and collaborative patterns, as well as to create maps based on network data. When we compared the two study periods, we identified a changing pattern in descriptive structure, collaboration and research trends. Based on the identified emergent themes of the last decade, we propose that future research focuses on the functional and medicinal properties of avocado, postharvest management and its biological control, plant cultivars and diseases, and physicochemical properties of avocado and its byproducts. Further bibliographic support revealed that, in addition to the fruit pulp, non-edible parts of Persea americana (bark, leaves, peel, seeds, and stem), and oil have remarkable concentrations of bioactive compounds with potential biological activity for health benefits.
Objectives: This study aimed to profile the cognitive aging research landscape from 1956 to 2021.... more Objectives: This study aimed to profile the cognitive aging research landscape from 1956 to 2021. Methods: A total of 3698 documents were retrieved from the Scopus database for the bibliometric analysis and network visualization. By comparing each keyword's overall connection strength (centrality), frequency (density), and average year of publication (novelty) to the calculated median values acquired from the overlay view of the VOSviewer map, the enhanced strategic diagrams (ESDs) were constructed. Results: The findings showed an increasing trend in the number of publications. The United States leads the contributing countries in cognitive aging research. The scientific productivity pattern obeyed Lotkaās Law. The most productive researcher was Deary, I. J., with the highest number of publications. The collaborative index showed an increasing trend from 1980 onwards. The journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience is the most prestigious in the field of cognitive aging research. In Bradford core journals zone 1, the top 10 core journals of cognitive aging research provided more than half of the total articles (683, or 55.30 percent). Conclusions: For the next decades, the trending topics in cognitive aging research include functional connectivity, amyloid-beta (AĪ²), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), decision-making, compensation, frailty, gait speed, anxiety, mini-mental state examination (MMSE), hearing loss, obesity, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), lifestyle, nutrition, and D-galactose.
Blueberries, strawberries and raspberries are soft fruits marketed worldwide, with unique sensory... more Blueberries, strawberries and raspberries are soft fruits marketed worldwide, with unique sensory, nutritional and biological properties. This bibliometric comparative analysis aims to analyse the published scientific research in order to provide a valuable and important reference for berry growers, the fruit industry, health personnel and scientists in berry research communities. The Scopus database was utilised for bibliometric analysis of scientific articles on blueberry, raspberry and strawberry fruits published in English in the last decade (2012 to 2021). The publishing trends in blueberry, raspberry, and strawberry research were increased, with strawberry research showing the most significant increase. The top country and institutions researching the three berries were in the United States, followed by China. The top journal was Hortscience for blueberries and Scientia Horticulturae for raspberry and strawberry. The top authors were Drummond FA, Stoner GD and Peres NA for blueberry, raspberry and strawberry, respectively. The most frequent keywords concerning these berries were analyzed and clustered in thematic groups. Core keywords related to functional foods, medicinal properties, as well as fruit quality and gene expression themes were identified. Apart from medicinal and fruit quality themes, the biological control theme was also identified to be relevant in future research.
Recent interest in multiple sclerosis research warrants literature analysis to evaluate the curre... more Recent interest in multiple sclerosis research warrants literature analysis to evaluate the current state of the discipline and new research domains. This bibliometric review summarised the research trends and analysed research areas in multiple sclerosis over the last decade. The documents containing the term āmultiple sclerosisā in the article title were retrieved from the Scopus database. We used Harzingās Publish or Perish and VOSviewer for citation analysis and data visualisation, respectively. We found a total of 18,003 articles published in journals in the English language between 2012 and 2021. The emerging keywords identified utilising the enhanced strategic diagram were ācovid-19ā, āteriflunomideā, āclinical trialā, āmicrogliaā, āb cellsā, āmyelinā, ābrainā, āwhite matterā, āfunctional connectivityā, āpainā, āemploymentā, āhealth-related quality of lifeā, āmeta-analysisā and ācomorbidityā. This study demonstrates the tremendous growth of multiple sclerosis literature worldwide, which is expected to grow more than double during the next decade especially in the identified emerging topics
Introduction: Schizophrenia is a chronic mental illness with clusters of symptoms, including cogn... more Introduction: Schizophrenia is a chronic mental illness with clusters of symptoms, including cognitive impairment. This study aimed to explore the effect of Tualang Honey (TH) on cognitive domains, especially as it pertained to the verbal memory of schizophrenia patients. Method: This was a cross-sectional study involved 80 individuals, diagnosed with schizophrenia. The Malay Version Auditory Verbal Learning Test (MVAVLT) was used. Data were analysed using SPSS 20.0 software. Intention to treat analysis was applied. Result: A comparison of the total learning score at eight weeks between the two groups based on time effect and time-treatment interaction favoured TH group. Conclusion: This study concludes that by supplementing schizophrenia patients with 8-week of TH did improve total learning performance across domains in the immediate memory among patients with schizophrenia.
Background: Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) negatively ... more Background: Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) negatively impact the psychological well-being of patients and may relate to the emergence of anxiety and depression. Objective: The present study aimed to investigate the prevalence of anxiety and depression among patients with LUTS/BPH as well as to determine their correlations. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted from July to October 2019 on 153 LUTS/BPH patients under surgical outpatient follow-ups at Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). A set of self-administered questionnaires comprising the sociodemographic profile, International Prostate Symptoms Score (IPSS), and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) were used. Data were analysed using measures of frequency for the prevalence of anxiety and depression in LUTS/BPH and correlation analysis to study the relationship between them. Result: The study reported the prevalence of depression and anxiety at 27.5% and 15.0% respectively among patients with LUTS/BPH. There was positive correlation between severity of depression (r = 0.426, p-value < 0.001) and anxiety (r = 0.367, p-value < 0.001) with severity of LUTS/BPH. Conclusion: Depression and anxiety are prevalence among patients with LUTS/BPH in Hospital USM. There is also a positive correlation between the severity of depression and anxiety with severity of LUTS/BPH. Comorbidity of these conditions should draw the attention of both psychiatrists and urologists as well as enhance interdisciplinary treatment approach to improve the patient's psychological well-being.
Journal of Cellular Neuroscience and Oxidative Stress, 2021
While the pathological mechanism of Alzheimerās Disease (AD) is unclear, oxidative stress has bee... more While the pathological mechanism of Alzheimerās Disease (AD) is unclear, oxidative stress has been proposed to be one of its related theories, which can help to uncover the diseaseās pathological factors. This review aims to provide a quantitative description and data visualisation of AD and oxidative stress research from the literature obtained from the Scopus database. Based on the keywords used, which are related to AD and oxidative stress in the article title, 996 documents were retrieved for further analysis. Microsoft Excel, VOSviewer and Harzingās Publish or Perish were used to conduct the frequency analysis, data visualisation, and citation analysis. There is a continuous growth in the number of publications on research in AD and oxidative stress, starting from 1986 and spanning 35 years. The most cited article was āOxidative stress hypothesis in Alzheimer's diseaseā. The Journal of Alzheimer Disease published the most number of publications related to AD and oxidative stress, while the United States and its institutions were the main contributors. Our findings suggest that research on aetiopathology, biomarkers and neuroprotective agents for AD dominated this research field. Our bibliometric analysis provides distinct trends in AD and oxidative stress research in the last 35 years. Our findings highlight current hot topics related to biomarkers for screening and diagnosis of AD as well as neuroprotective agents used as disease-modifying therapies of AD.
Introduction: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has been widely accepted as among the most effectiv... more Introduction: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has been widely accepted as among the most effective therapeutic methods for major depressive disorder (MDD) or schizophrenia patients who show poor response to standard pharmacological treatment. One of the adverse effects of ECT which remains controversial is cognitive impairment. Methods: In this article, we review the available literature about pharmacological agents that could prevent the cognitive adverse effects of ECT. Results: Among the agents that have been shown to prevent cognitive adverse effects of ECT in humans include piracetam, naloxone, anesthetic agents, anticholinesterase drugs, memantine, thyroid hormones, and a combination of herbs. Conclusion: While preventing the cognitive adverse effects of ECT is currently not attainable, using pharmacological agents/ herbs have been found to confer beneficial effects in reducing cognitive impairment.
Background: Quality of life (QoL) is increasingly used to holistically evaluate bipolar disorder ... more Background: Quality of life (QoL) is increasingly used to holistically evaluate bipolar disorder treatment beyond symptomatic response. For that purpose, the condition-specific QoL scale is better than the generic QoL scales. To date, there is no available QoL scale specifically designed for bipolar disorder (BD) for the Malaysian population. Objective: This study aimed to translate into Malay and validate the Brief Quality of Life in Bipolar Disorder (QoL.BD) scale in the local population. Method: The Brief QoL.BD was translated into Malay using the standard forward and back-translation method. The translated version was then administered to 40 patients with bipolar disorder from the outpatient psychiatric clinic, Hospital USM. Result: The Brief QoL.BD (Malay) demonstrated a good psychometric property, i.e. good internal consistency (Cronbach alpha 0.92) and concurrent validity with WHOQOL-BREF (Malay) (r = 0.82). Conclusion: The Brief QoL.BD (Malay) is a feasible, reliable, and valid tool for the assessment of QoL in bipolar disorder among the local population.
Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Biology & Fisheries, 2021
The 100 most cited articles in zebrafish were published between 1990 and 2015, with 70% published... more The 100 most cited articles in zebrafish were published between 1990 and 2015, with 70% published after 2000. The most cited article received 7379 citations, while the least received only 405. The 100 most cited articles were published in 39 different journals with Development having the highest citations (n = 11,966) as well as the highest total publications (n=21). Eighteen authors listed four or more articles, while the USA was found to be the most prolific country, producing 81 articles, and having the most affiliated institutions and the top research funders. The most frequent keywords were āzebrafishā followed by āDanio rerioā, āblastulaā, ācleavageā, āembryogenesisā, āmesodermā, ānotochordā, and āsomitogenesisā. This bibliometric data render a historical perspective on the advancement of zebrafish research, and facilitate mapping potential authors, institutions and countries for future collaborations as well as important key topics for future research.
Background: Tualang honey (TH) has been shown to exert beneficial effects on learning and memory ... more Background: Tualang honey (TH) has been shown to exert beneficial effects on learning and memory function in various animal models. However, its learning and memory effects in lipopolysaccha-ride (LPS) rat model have not been elucidated. Objective: The present study aimed to investigate the cognitive-enhancing effects of TH and its meth-anolic fraction in comparison to the clinically approved N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist (memantine) using LPS rat model. Methods: A total of ninety male Sprague Dawley rats were divided into 5 groups: (i) control, (ii) untreated LPS (iii) LPS treated with 200 mg/kg TH, (iv) LPS treated with 150 mg/kg methanol fraction of TH (MTH) and (v) LPS treated with 10 mg/kg memantine. All treatments were administered intraperitone-ally once daily for 14 days. Morris water maze (MWM) and novel object recognition (NOR) tests were performed to assess spatial and recognition memory function. Results: The present study confirmed that LPS significantly impairs spatial and recognition memory and alone treatment with TH or MTH improved spatial and recognition memory comparable to memantine. Conclusion: Both TH and its methanolic fraction improved spatial and recognition memory of LPS rat model comparable to memantine. Thus, TH and its methanolic fraction have potential preventive-therapeutic effects for neurodegenerative diseases involving neuroinflammation.
Scientific research on honey has grown substantially over the past decades, accumulating more evi... more Scientific research on honey has grown substantially over the past decades, accumulating more evidence on its role in complementary and alternative medicine. We conducted a bibliometric analysis of honey research from 2011 to 2020 to see the trend of publications in this study area. Based on the keywords used, which are related to honey in the article title, the study retrieved 4,433 documents for further analysis. VOSviewer software was used to create maps based on network data of scientific publications displaying relationships among researchers, countries, and scientific journals. Author keywords were used to explore the co-occurrence of different terms connected to honey research. Results reveal close and strong interconnections between the top authors suggesting a considerable strong research link. The top country researching on honey was the United States, while the top journal was Food Chemistry. In terms of co-occurrence, the top author keywords were āhoneyā, āantioxidantā, āchemometricā, āManuka honeyā and āantibacterialā. These analyses of the existing work provide a valuable and important reference for researchers and practitioners in honey research communities.
Background: One of the substantial elements for mental health and social services now is to bring... more Background: One of the substantial elements for mental health and social services now is to bring patients with mental illness back to the community. Among the most established methods identified to achieve this target is via empowerment in the psychiatry rehabilitation service settings. Since there is no validated questionnaire available for the local population, there is a need to validate the Empowerment Scale (ES) so that research can be conducted to explore empowerment among patients with mental illness in Malaysia. Objectives: The study aims to validate the Malay Empowerment Scale (ES-M). Method: A cross-sectional study, involving 240 patients with mental illness, was conducted at MENTARI community mental health centres in East Coast Malaysia. The ES was initially translated into Malay using forward and back-translation procedures by a group of experts. Data were analysed for construct validity by performing confirmatory factor analysis. Reliability analysis was also done to measure internal consistency. Results: In this study, the final model of ES-M consisted of 4 factors with 23 items, compared to the original version that has 5 factors with 25 items. The finding revealed satisfactory fit indices (RMSEA=0.045, SRMR=0.049, CFI=0.923, TLI=0.913) and overall Cronbach alpha (Ī±=0.90). Conclusion: The study revealed, a 4-factor model with 23 items of the ES-M has satisfactory psychometric properties. The overall scale is valid and reliable to measure construct empowerment among patients with mental illness in Malaysia.
Vitamin D, crucial for bone health, is primarily synthesized through sun exposure and found in ce... more Vitamin D, crucial for bone health, is primarily synthesized through sun exposure and found in certain foods like liver, tuna, and salmon. Its deficiency is associated with various health issues, including mortality, skin diseases, heart conditions, cancer, and mental disorders. 1-8 The extensive expression of vitamin D receptors in organ systems has been implicated in the widespread systemic effects of vitamin D. 1,9 Lower serum vitamin D levels have been linked to mental disorders. 10,11 Mental disorders, encompassing elements like psychological distress and mood swings, are complex and often associated with depression, characterized by persistent sadness or lack of interest. 10,11 Research suggests a potential role of vitamin D in mental disorders, supported by the
Background: The human reward system has been extensively studied using neuroimaging. This bibliom... more Background: The human reward system has been extensively studied using neuroimaging. This bibliometric analysis aimed to determine the global trend in diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) and human reward research in terms of the number of documents, the most active countries and their collaborating countries, the top journals and institutions, the most prominent authors and most cited articles, and research hotspots. Methods: The research datasets were acquired from the Scopus database. The search terms used were 'reward' AND 'human' AND 'diffusion imaging' OR 'diffusion tensor imaging' OR 'diffusion MRI' OR 'diffusion-weighted imaging' OR 'tractography' in the abstract, article title and keywords. A total of 336 publications were analysed using Harzing's Publish or Perish and VOSviewer software. Results: The results revealed an upward trend in the number of publications with the highest number of articles in 2020 and 2022. Most publications were limited to countries, authors, and institutions in the USA, China and Europe. Bracht, Coenen, Wiest, Federspiel and Feng were among the top authors from Switzerland, Germany and the UK. Neuroimage, Neuroimage Clinical, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, Human Brain Mapping, and the Journal of Neuroscience were the top journals. Among the top articles, six were reviews and four were original articles, while
Postnatal depression is the commonest postpartum mood disorders, and is associated with significa... more Postnatal depression is the commonest postpartum mood disorders, and is associated with significant morbidities and mortalities. The prevalence varies with geographical regions, but observed to be highest during the early weeks after childbirth. Studies have observed the negative effect of postnatal depression on postpartum bonding. The aim of the study is to determine the prevalence of postnatal depression among Malay women in Kota Bharu and its associated factors as well as to investigate the relationship between postnatal depression and postpartum bonding. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 276 mothers attending their first postnatal checkup at 6 health clinics in Kota Bharu. Participants were given questionnaires of sociodemographic profile, the Malay version Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and the Malay version of Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire (PBQ). Data was analysed using correlation and multiple regression analysis. The prevalence of postnatal depression is 5.1 percent. The study also found positive correlation between postnatal depression and postpartum bonding (r=0.364, p-value<0.001). Multiple regression analysis showed that mode of delivery (Caesarean section) and perceived stress as predictors for postnatal depression.This study confirmed the result of previous studies on the inverse relationship between postnatal depression and postpartum bonding. Realizing how detrimental the effect of impaired bonding can be, mothers with the risks of developing postnatal depression should be screened and managed appropriately, at the earliest time possible.
Background: Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a rare autosomal dominant multisystem disease res... more Background: Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a rare autosomal dominant multisystem disease resulting from hyperactivation of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway. This study aimed to measure the quantitative impact of publications in TSC. Materials and methods: We analysed TSC literature obtained from the Scopus database using Bibliometrix R Package and VOSviewer software. Annual publication trends, most productive and collaborative authors/institutions/ countries, most cited articles, most popular journals and author's keywords were presented using standard bibliometric indicators. Results and discussion: A total of 5375 documents on TSC were published from 1960 to December 2020, with an increasing trend. The three primary contributing writers were Curatolo P, Kwiatkowski DJ, and Thiele EA, with the United States and its institutions being the largest contributor. The research identified two of the most referenced papers as TSC's seminal pieces. The top journals that published TSC research were medical journals, namely Journal of Child Neurology, Epilepsia, and Pediatric Neurology. mTOR inhibitor, everolimus, sirolimus, mTORC1, mTOR pathway, autophagy, inflammation, infant, intellectual disability, white matter, TSC-associated neuropsychiatric disorders, TOSCA and quality of life were relatively newer author's keywords and may indicate the future research hotspots in TSC research. Conclusion: Over the last few decades, TSC research has grown in importance, particularly in the field of clinical medicine. Therapeutic components targeting TSC-related pathways, the utilisation of TSC as disease models and long-term safety studies will be future research areas.
This review aims to perform a bibliometric analysis of the research related to brain-derived neur... more This review aims to perform a bibliometric analysis of the research related to brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in schizophrenia and offer suggestions for further work. Based on the keywords used, our study retrieved 335 documents for further analysis using a combination of three bibliometric techniques: co-word analysis, document co-citation analysis, and bibliographic coupling. A general rising trend in the number of publications was found in BDNF and schizophrenia research. Researchers from China and the United States have mostly researched BDNF and schizophrenia. Molecular Psychiatry is the most prestigious journal in the field of BDNF and schizophrenia research. The main topics and important research areas are cognition and the involvement of BDNF as a neurobiological marker (pathogenesis, therapy monitoring, and risk factors). Future research is anticipated to concentrate on relevant subjects, such as factors that affect BDNF levels or are connected to BDNF dysfunction in schizophrenia, as well as animal models of schizophrenia, in addition to cognition in schizophrenia.
Centella asiatica (L.) Urban (C. asiatica) is a medicinal plant that generates terpenes, phenols,... more Centella asiatica (L.) Urban (C. asiatica) is a medicinal plant that generates terpenes, phenols, vitamins, minerals, polyacetylene and fatty acids among other phyto-constituents. This review focuses on the bibliometric analysis of 1164 documents on C. asiatica that were retrieved from the Scopus database. Harzing Publish or Perish and VOSviewer were used for citation and network analyses. According to the bibliometric analysis, publications are on the rise, particularly in the fields of pharmacology, toxicology and pharmaceutics, medicine, biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology, agricultural and biological sciences, and chemistry. "Phytoremediation", "secondary metabolites", "Andrographis paniculata", and "cognitive impairment" are emerging areas for C. asiatica research. However, currently there is a lack of international collaboration in C. asiatica research among contributing countries. Researchers can utilise the findings cited in this reiew to locate potential collaborators, top authors, countries and documents.
Dreams are a common phenomenon people experience throughout their lives. So far, no validated que... more Dreams are a common phenomenon people experience throughout their lives. So far, no validated questionnaire has been available to assess the Malaysian population's dream experiences. One of the tools available to measure dream experience and attitude towards the dream is the Mannheim Dream Questionnaire (MADRE). Therefore, there is a need to validate the Malay version of simplified MADRE based on the Persian version to explore dream experiences among the local population and their associated factors. This study aims to validate the Malay version of MADRE (M-MADRE), which was adapted from the Persian Adaptation of Mannheim Dream Questionnaire. A cross-sectional study involving 412 participants from 18 years and above was conducted via an online questionnaire form from August 2020 until October 2020. M-MADRE was initially translated from the English-translated Persian Version of MADRE into the Malay Language using forward and backward translation procedures by a group of experts. The study started by quantifying content validity using Content Validation Index to ensure M-MADRE consists of content validity and is culturally appropriate for Malaysians. The finalized version of M-MADRE was pre-tested and coordinated on 31 participants. Study participants were instructed to complete the socio-demographic questionnaire and M-MADRE questionnaire. The final step was to analyze the data using SPSS version 26 and RStudio software for construct validity by performing exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, construct reliability, and test-retest reliability. In this study, the final model of M-MADRE mostly fits the data, which comprises 3 factors with 21 items, compared to the Persian Version of MADRE with 24 items and 6 factors. The findings revealed acceptable fit indices (RMSEA=0.062, CFI=0.936, TLI=0.927, SRMR=0.054), overall Cronbach's alpha is acceptable (0.86-0.93), and exhibit excellent test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.95). The study revealed that a 3-factor model with 21 items of the Malay Version Version of MADRE contains good psychometric properties. With this, the scale is proven valid and reliable in measuring the dream experiences Malaysians undergo and their attitude towards it.
Avocado's global acceptance has grown, resulting in expanding cultivation, agricultural developme... more Avocado's global acceptance has grown, resulting in expanding cultivation, agricultural development, and significant marketing efforts. Publicizing avocado also targets its by-products' nutritional and functional benefits. This is the first bibliometric analysis for avocado. It aims to provide a descriptive structure to identify collaborative patterns and emerging themes in avocado research. Based on the search string used in the article title, the study retrieved 2576 documents from the Scopus database for further analysis. For comparison, we separated the data into two study periods: 1916-2011 and 2012-2021. BibliometriX and VOSviewer software were used to examine the descriptive structure and collaborative patterns, as well as to create maps based on network data. When we compared the two study periods, we identified a changing pattern in descriptive structure, collaboration and research trends. Based on the identified emergent themes of the last decade, we propose that future research focuses on the functional and medicinal properties of avocado, postharvest management and its biological control, plant cultivars and diseases, and physicochemical properties of avocado and its byproducts. Further bibliographic support revealed that, in addition to the fruit pulp, non-edible parts of Persea americana (bark, leaves, peel, seeds, and stem), and oil have remarkable concentrations of bioactive compounds with potential biological activity for health benefits.
Objectives: This study aimed to profile the cognitive aging research landscape from 1956 to 2021.... more Objectives: This study aimed to profile the cognitive aging research landscape from 1956 to 2021. Methods: A total of 3698 documents were retrieved from the Scopus database for the bibliometric analysis and network visualization. By comparing each keyword's overall connection strength (centrality), frequency (density), and average year of publication (novelty) to the calculated median values acquired from the overlay view of the VOSviewer map, the enhanced strategic diagrams (ESDs) were constructed. Results: The findings showed an increasing trend in the number of publications. The United States leads the contributing countries in cognitive aging research. The scientific productivity pattern obeyed Lotkaās Law. The most productive researcher was Deary, I. J., with the highest number of publications. The collaborative index showed an increasing trend from 1980 onwards. The journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience is the most prestigious in the field of cognitive aging research. In Bradford core journals zone 1, the top 10 core journals of cognitive aging research provided more than half of the total articles (683, or 55.30 percent). Conclusions: For the next decades, the trending topics in cognitive aging research include functional connectivity, amyloid-beta (AĪ²), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), decision-making, compensation, frailty, gait speed, anxiety, mini-mental state examination (MMSE), hearing loss, obesity, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), lifestyle, nutrition, and D-galactose.
Blueberries, strawberries and raspberries are soft fruits marketed worldwide, with unique sensory... more Blueberries, strawberries and raspberries are soft fruits marketed worldwide, with unique sensory, nutritional and biological properties. This bibliometric comparative analysis aims to analyse the published scientific research in order to provide a valuable and important reference for berry growers, the fruit industry, health personnel and scientists in berry research communities. The Scopus database was utilised for bibliometric analysis of scientific articles on blueberry, raspberry and strawberry fruits published in English in the last decade (2012 to 2021). The publishing trends in blueberry, raspberry, and strawberry research were increased, with strawberry research showing the most significant increase. The top country and institutions researching the three berries were in the United States, followed by China. The top journal was Hortscience for blueberries and Scientia Horticulturae for raspberry and strawberry. The top authors were Drummond FA, Stoner GD and Peres NA for blueberry, raspberry and strawberry, respectively. The most frequent keywords concerning these berries were analyzed and clustered in thematic groups. Core keywords related to functional foods, medicinal properties, as well as fruit quality and gene expression themes were identified. Apart from medicinal and fruit quality themes, the biological control theme was also identified to be relevant in future research.
Recent interest in multiple sclerosis research warrants literature analysis to evaluate the curre... more Recent interest in multiple sclerosis research warrants literature analysis to evaluate the current state of the discipline and new research domains. This bibliometric review summarised the research trends and analysed research areas in multiple sclerosis over the last decade. The documents containing the term āmultiple sclerosisā in the article title were retrieved from the Scopus database. We used Harzingās Publish or Perish and VOSviewer for citation analysis and data visualisation, respectively. We found a total of 18,003 articles published in journals in the English language between 2012 and 2021. The emerging keywords identified utilising the enhanced strategic diagram were ācovid-19ā, āteriflunomideā, āclinical trialā, āmicrogliaā, āb cellsā, āmyelinā, ābrainā, āwhite matterā, āfunctional connectivityā, āpainā, āemploymentā, āhealth-related quality of lifeā, āmeta-analysisā and ācomorbidityā. This study demonstrates the tremendous growth of multiple sclerosis literature worldwide, which is expected to grow more than double during the next decade especially in the identified emerging topics
Introduction: Schizophrenia is a chronic mental illness with clusters of symptoms, including cogn... more Introduction: Schizophrenia is a chronic mental illness with clusters of symptoms, including cognitive impairment. This study aimed to explore the effect of Tualang Honey (TH) on cognitive domains, especially as it pertained to the verbal memory of schizophrenia patients. Method: This was a cross-sectional study involved 80 individuals, diagnosed with schizophrenia. The Malay Version Auditory Verbal Learning Test (MVAVLT) was used. Data were analysed using SPSS 20.0 software. Intention to treat analysis was applied. Result: A comparison of the total learning score at eight weeks between the two groups based on time effect and time-treatment interaction favoured TH group. Conclusion: This study concludes that by supplementing schizophrenia patients with 8-week of TH did improve total learning performance across domains in the immediate memory among patients with schizophrenia.
Background: Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) negatively ... more Background: Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) negatively impact the psychological well-being of patients and may relate to the emergence of anxiety and depression. Objective: The present study aimed to investigate the prevalence of anxiety and depression among patients with LUTS/BPH as well as to determine their correlations. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted from July to October 2019 on 153 LUTS/BPH patients under surgical outpatient follow-ups at Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). A set of self-administered questionnaires comprising the sociodemographic profile, International Prostate Symptoms Score (IPSS), and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) were used. Data were analysed using measures of frequency for the prevalence of anxiety and depression in LUTS/BPH and correlation analysis to study the relationship between them. Result: The study reported the prevalence of depression and anxiety at 27.5% and 15.0% respectively among patients with LUTS/BPH. There was positive correlation between severity of depression (r = 0.426, p-value < 0.001) and anxiety (r = 0.367, p-value < 0.001) with severity of LUTS/BPH. Conclusion: Depression and anxiety are prevalence among patients with LUTS/BPH in Hospital USM. There is also a positive correlation between the severity of depression and anxiety with severity of LUTS/BPH. Comorbidity of these conditions should draw the attention of both psychiatrists and urologists as well as enhance interdisciplinary treatment approach to improve the patient's psychological well-being.
Journal of Cellular Neuroscience and Oxidative Stress, 2021
While the pathological mechanism of Alzheimerās Disease (AD) is unclear, oxidative stress has bee... more While the pathological mechanism of Alzheimerās Disease (AD) is unclear, oxidative stress has been proposed to be one of its related theories, which can help to uncover the diseaseās pathological factors. This review aims to provide a quantitative description and data visualisation of AD and oxidative stress research from the literature obtained from the Scopus database. Based on the keywords used, which are related to AD and oxidative stress in the article title, 996 documents were retrieved for further analysis. Microsoft Excel, VOSviewer and Harzingās Publish or Perish were used to conduct the frequency analysis, data visualisation, and citation analysis. There is a continuous growth in the number of publications on research in AD and oxidative stress, starting from 1986 and spanning 35 years. The most cited article was āOxidative stress hypothesis in Alzheimer's diseaseā. The Journal of Alzheimer Disease published the most number of publications related to AD and oxidative stress, while the United States and its institutions were the main contributors. Our findings suggest that research on aetiopathology, biomarkers and neuroprotective agents for AD dominated this research field. Our bibliometric analysis provides distinct trends in AD and oxidative stress research in the last 35 years. Our findings highlight current hot topics related to biomarkers for screening and diagnosis of AD as well as neuroprotective agents used as disease-modifying therapies of AD.
Introduction: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has been widely accepted as among the most effectiv... more Introduction: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has been widely accepted as among the most effective therapeutic methods for major depressive disorder (MDD) or schizophrenia patients who show poor response to standard pharmacological treatment. One of the adverse effects of ECT which remains controversial is cognitive impairment. Methods: In this article, we review the available literature about pharmacological agents that could prevent the cognitive adverse effects of ECT. Results: Among the agents that have been shown to prevent cognitive adverse effects of ECT in humans include piracetam, naloxone, anesthetic agents, anticholinesterase drugs, memantine, thyroid hormones, and a combination of herbs. Conclusion: While preventing the cognitive adverse effects of ECT is currently not attainable, using pharmacological agents/ herbs have been found to confer beneficial effects in reducing cognitive impairment.
Background: Quality of life (QoL) is increasingly used to holistically evaluate bipolar disorder ... more Background: Quality of life (QoL) is increasingly used to holistically evaluate bipolar disorder treatment beyond symptomatic response. For that purpose, the condition-specific QoL scale is better than the generic QoL scales. To date, there is no available QoL scale specifically designed for bipolar disorder (BD) for the Malaysian population. Objective: This study aimed to translate into Malay and validate the Brief Quality of Life in Bipolar Disorder (QoL.BD) scale in the local population. Method: The Brief QoL.BD was translated into Malay using the standard forward and back-translation method. The translated version was then administered to 40 patients with bipolar disorder from the outpatient psychiatric clinic, Hospital USM. Result: The Brief QoL.BD (Malay) demonstrated a good psychometric property, i.e. good internal consistency (Cronbach alpha 0.92) and concurrent validity with WHOQOL-BREF (Malay) (r = 0.82). Conclusion: The Brief QoL.BD (Malay) is a feasible, reliable, and valid tool for the assessment of QoL in bipolar disorder among the local population.
Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Biology & Fisheries, 2021
The 100 most cited articles in zebrafish were published between 1990 and 2015, with 70% published... more The 100 most cited articles in zebrafish were published between 1990 and 2015, with 70% published after 2000. The most cited article received 7379 citations, while the least received only 405. The 100 most cited articles were published in 39 different journals with Development having the highest citations (n = 11,966) as well as the highest total publications (n=21). Eighteen authors listed four or more articles, while the USA was found to be the most prolific country, producing 81 articles, and having the most affiliated institutions and the top research funders. The most frequent keywords were āzebrafishā followed by āDanio rerioā, āblastulaā, ācleavageā, āembryogenesisā, āmesodermā, ānotochordā, and āsomitogenesisā. This bibliometric data render a historical perspective on the advancement of zebrafish research, and facilitate mapping potential authors, institutions and countries for future collaborations as well as important key topics for future research.
Background: Tualang honey (TH) has been shown to exert beneficial effects on learning and memory ... more Background: Tualang honey (TH) has been shown to exert beneficial effects on learning and memory function in various animal models. However, its learning and memory effects in lipopolysaccha-ride (LPS) rat model have not been elucidated. Objective: The present study aimed to investigate the cognitive-enhancing effects of TH and its meth-anolic fraction in comparison to the clinically approved N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist (memantine) using LPS rat model. Methods: A total of ninety male Sprague Dawley rats were divided into 5 groups: (i) control, (ii) untreated LPS (iii) LPS treated with 200 mg/kg TH, (iv) LPS treated with 150 mg/kg methanol fraction of TH (MTH) and (v) LPS treated with 10 mg/kg memantine. All treatments were administered intraperitone-ally once daily for 14 days. Morris water maze (MWM) and novel object recognition (NOR) tests were performed to assess spatial and recognition memory function. Results: The present study confirmed that LPS significantly impairs spatial and recognition memory and alone treatment with TH or MTH improved spatial and recognition memory comparable to memantine. Conclusion: Both TH and its methanolic fraction improved spatial and recognition memory of LPS rat model comparable to memantine. Thus, TH and its methanolic fraction have potential preventive-therapeutic effects for neurodegenerative diseases involving neuroinflammation.
Scientific research on honey has grown substantially over the past decades, accumulating more evi... more Scientific research on honey has grown substantially over the past decades, accumulating more evidence on its role in complementary and alternative medicine. We conducted a bibliometric analysis of honey research from 2011 to 2020 to see the trend of publications in this study area. Based on the keywords used, which are related to honey in the article title, the study retrieved 4,433 documents for further analysis. VOSviewer software was used to create maps based on network data of scientific publications displaying relationships among researchers, countries, and scientific journals. Author keywords were used to explore the co-occurrence of different terms connected to honey research. Results reveal close and strong interconnections between the top authors suggesting a considerable strong research link. The top country researching on honey was the United States, while the top journal was Food Chemistry. In terms of co-occurrence, the top author keywords were āhoneyā, āantioxidantā, āchemometricā, āManuka honeyā and āantibacterialā. These analyses of the existing work provide a valuable and important reference for researchers and practitioners in honey research communities.
Background: One of the substantial elements for mental health and social services now is to bring... more Background: One of the substantial elements for mental health and social services now is to bring patients with mental illness back to the community. Among the most established methods identified to achieve this target is via empowerment in the psychiatry rehabilitation service settings. Since there is no validated questionnaire available for the local population, there is a need to validate the Empowerment Scale (ES) so that research can be conducted to explore empowerment among patients with mental illness in Malaysia. Objectives: The study aims to validate the Malay Empowerment Scale (ES-M). Method: A cross-sectional study, involving 240 patients with mental illness, was conducted at MENTARI community mental health centres in East Coast Malaysia. The ES was initially translated into Malay using forward and back-translation procedures by a group of experts. Data were analysed for construct validity by performing confirmatory factor analysis. Reliability analysis was also done to measure internal consistency. Results: In this study, the final model of ES-M consisted of 4 factors with 23 items, compared to the original version that has 5 factors with 25 items. The finding revealed satisfactory fit indices (RMSEA=0.045, SRMR=0.049, CFI=0.923, TLI=0.913) and overall Cronbach alpha (Ī±=0.90). Conclusion: The study revealed, a 4-factor model with 23 items of the ES-M has satisfactory psychometric properties. The overall scale is valid and reliable to measure construct empowerment among patients with mental illness in Malaysia.
Melatonin, Neuroprotective Agents and Antidepressant Therapy, 2016
A majority of available antidepressant drugs produce unwanted negative effects on sleep. An ideal... more A majority of available antidepressant drugs produce unwanted negative effects on sleep. An ideal antidepressant should mitigate the symptoms of depression with improvement of sleep quality and efficiency. Agomelatine is one of the melatonergic analogues that acts specifically on MT1/MT2 melatonergic receptors and at the same time exhibits 5-HT2C antagonism. It also plays an important role in resetting the desynchronized circadian rhythms and disturbed sleep-wake cycles. It has been shown to be effective in a number of animal models of depression and clinical studies in patients with depressive disorders. Clinical studies undertaken on patients with major depressive disorders (MDD), bipolar depression, and seasonal affective disorder (SAD) have shown that agomelatine is clinically very effective in reducing depressive symptoms. It improved sleep efficiency and resynchronized the disrupted circadian rhythms in some studies. Agomelatine also manifests early onset of action with good tolerability and safety profile comparable to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) antidepressants. But unlike these drugs, agomelatine does not exhibit adverse effects like worsening of insomnia or sexual problems. Agomelatine stands as a unique choice in antidepressant therapy based upon its diversified actions on various parameters such as (a) improving sleep efficiency, (b) resynchronization of disrupted circadian systems, and (c) enhancing hippocampal dendritic maturation.
Melatonin, Neuroprotective Agents and Antidepressant Therapy, 2016
Melatonin, the hormone secreted by the pineal gland, plays an important role in sleep induction a... more Melatonin, the hormone secreted by the pineal gland, plays an important role in sleep induction and sleep maintenance. With the advancement of age, there is a decline in melatonin production, and elderly individuals often complain difficulties in sleep onset, maintenance of sleep-wake rhythm, and poor quality of sleep. Melatonin replacement therapy has been used for treating insomnias but it is not uniformly successful. With the synthesis of melatonergic agonist, ramelteon, a chronohypnotic drug with a higher affinity for MT1 and MT2 melatonergic receptors, treatment of insomnias has become easy, and many clinical studies have attested the efficacy of ramelteon in treating primary insomnia and secondary insomnias associated with neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders like autistic disorder. Melatonin has been implicated in the pathogenesis of delirium and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and has been tried for treatment of these disorders. Although found successful in treating these disorders, melatonergic agonist ramelteon is used for treating autistic disorder and delirium where the drug has been found effective in not only alleviating the sleep disorders but also the behavioral problems. A low or abnormal level of melatonin is suggested as one of the main reasons for the lack of communication skill and socialization which are the main symptoms of ASD. Ramelteon has been used for treating rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (RBD) also and is found to be effective in increasing sleep efficiency and reducing the intensity of behavioral symptoms of this disorder. As a chronohypnotic drug, ramelteon ameliorated the symptoms of jet lag by improving the nighttime sleep efficiency and daytime alertness.
Melatonin: Therapeutic value and Neuroprotection, 2014
Sleep disturbances are the most common complaint of the elderly and one of the most prevalent sym... more Sleep disturbances are the most common complaint of the elderly and one of the most prevalent symptoms of mental illness. The co-occurrence of disturbed sleep and disturbed mood also has been reported in a number of clinical studies in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD).
Melatonin and Melatonergic Drugs in Clinical Practice, 2014
The efficacy of melatonin in promoting and maintaining sleep has been demonstrated in most of the... more The efficacy of melatonin in promoting and maintaining sleep has been demonstrated in most of the clinical studies. However, because of its short half-life, its sustained effect in improving sleep quality could not be demonstrated uniformly in all the studies that have been undertaken so far. The development of slow-release melatonin preparation Circadin has been found effective in reducing sleep onset time and also for improving sleep quality. This was followed by the introduction of another melatonergic drug ramelteon, a melatonin receptor agonist that has high selectivity for MT 1 receptors than MT 2 receptors and therefore targets sleep onset more specifically than melatonin. Clinical trials undertaken in different countries of European region and Japan have conclusively demonstrated that ramelteon in various doses (from 4 to 32 mg/day) reduced sleep onset latency, increased total sleep time, and sleep effi ciency and quality in patients suffering from chronic insomnia. Besides acting as a sedative-hypnotic drug, ramelteon also demonstrated its ability as a drug with chronobiotic properties and has been found useful in resetting the disturbed circadian rhythms. The action of ramelteon in improving sleep effi ciency is dose independent and hence acts differently from melatonin. It has a promising value in treating patients with chronic insomnia as it does not have any of the adverse effects like next-day hangover and dependence associated with the usage of other conventional hypnotic drugs.
Melatonin and Melatonergic Drugs in Clinical Practice , 2014
Numerous clinical studies have shown that melatonin is involved in the
pathogenesis of mood disor... more Numerous clinical studies have shown that melatonin is involved in the pathogenesis of mood disorders like major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, and seasonal affective disorder or winter depression. Many clinical symptoms seen in depressive patients suggest that disturbances of sleep and circadian rhythms play an important role in the pathophysiology of mood disorders. Disturbances of sleep-wake rhythms and circadian rhythms are linked to malfunctioning of SCN-pineal-melatonin axis. As a rhythm regulating factor and as a hormone involved in the physiological regulation of sleep-wake rhythm, melatonin plays an important role in regulating sleep and circadian rhythm disturbances of mood disorders. Melatonin receptors, namely, MT 1 and MT 2 , are found expressed in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamic region, an area concerned with the regulation of various circadian rhythms and sleep-wake rhythm. Although pharmacotherapy of mood disorders has long been associated with the modulation of monoaminergic systems of neuronal circuits in different regions of the brain that are involved in the regulation of mood, attention has been paid in recent years for the development of drugs that can shift, reset, and stabilize the circadian rhythms and improve the quality of sleep. In this context agomelatine, a novel antidepressant with MT 1/MT 2 agonistic and 5-HT 2c antagonistic properties, has been introduced. Having proved its effi cacy as an effective antidepressant in various animal models of depression, agomelatine has been introduced as an antidepressant for treating patients with major depressive disorders in many European countries and also in the USA. Agomelatine has also been used for treating patients with bipolar disorder, winter depression, and anxiety disorder and has demonstrated its clinical effi cacy with rapid onset of action, comparable to other antidepressants like SSRIs and SNRIs. But unlike these drugs, agomelatine does not exhibit adverse side effects like worsening of insomnia or sexual problems, and hence, it is considered as an antidepressant of choice for effective treatment of mood disorders.
Melatonin and Melatonergic Drugs in Clinical Practice, 2014
Although the etiology of Parkinson's disease (PD) is not known, most patients with PD experience ... more Although the etiology of Parkinson's disease (PD) is not known, most patients with PD experience sleep-related problems like diffi culty in initiating and maintaining sleep, excessive daytime sleepiness, sleep fragmentation , and reductions in non-REM or REM sleep. Since melatonin and its analogues have sleep-promoting and sleep-wake rhythm-regulating actions, interest has been focused on the role of melatonin in PD. Interestingly use of melatonin in animal models of PD has shown that mel-atonin has been useful in improving the neurotoxic effects of administration of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP), rotenone,
Introduction: Autoimmune encephalitis has been reported to present with wide dimensions of neurop... more Introduction: Autoimmune encephalitis has been reported to present with wide dimensions of neuropsychiatric symptoms. Patients with predominantly psychiatric presentations may mask the underlying pathology. Case Report: Here we present a case of a 19-year old student with no known medical or psychiatry illness or family history of mental illness. She presented to the emergency department with attempts to harm herself which was preceded by depressive and psychotic symptoms, associated with hyperventilation episodes with twitching of hands and lips. Initial investigations including contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT) of the brain showed unremarkable results. She was initially diagnosed as schizophreniform disorder and treated with antipsychotics and electroconvulsive therapy. However, her condition further deteriorated in the ward. Results: Electroencephalogram (EEG) showed right hemispheric dysfunction indicating cortical dysfunction. The patient was treated as autoimmune encephalitis and immunosuppression with steroids and immunoglobulin were initiated. N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antibody turned out positive while other connective tissue screenings were negative. Second EEG showed improvement of right hemispheric slowing, but presence of sharp and spike over the left temporal region. Neuropsychological assessment showed severe intellectual, memory and executive impairment. While in the ward, the patient showed improvement. Pelvic ultrasound was unremarkable. There was an incidental finding of a breast lump, which was treated as a benign breast lesion. The patient was discharged well with low dose antipsychotics which subsequently stopped as she no longer has psychotic symptoms. Her cognition is improving during outpatient follow-ups. Conclusion: Organic causes of psychosis should be suspected in a patient who has no risk factors, atypical presentation and poor response to adequate antipsychotics.
Introduction: Cases of schizophrenia-like psychosis associated with ovarian tumors have been repo... more Introduction: Cases of schizophrenia-like psychosis associated with ovarian tumors have been reported in the current literature. The proposed mechanism is through excessive glutamate release determined by NMDAR (N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor) antibodies. Here we report a case of a 26-year-old lady, suffering from a psychotic disorder concomitant with a giant ovarian teratoma. The patient with no prior history of psychotic illness was brought to the Emergency Department in April 2019 with an acute onset of psychosis. She was observed to have hallucinatory as well as disorganized behavior and was neglecting her personal hygiene. Prior to this presentation, she has been referred to the gynecology team for ovarian cyst. However, she defaulted the follow-up.
Objectives: This study assesses the level of stigma among schizophrenia patients who received psy... more Objectives: This study assesses the level of stigma among schizophrenia patients who received psychosocial rehabilitation (PSR) in Kelantan and the association between stigma level with sociodemographic factors, clinical features, and function. Schizophrenia is the most disabling mental illness and highly stigmatized all over the world. Stigma itself can be divided into public stigma and personal stigma. The evolution of PSR development for people with severe mental illness in Malaysia started since the early 20th century which focused on helping individual patients through psychological, social and occupational techniques. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study where 90 schizophrenia patients attending PSR in Kelantan were assessed using the devaluation-discrimination scale (DDS), the brief psychiatric rating scale-extended version (BPRS-E) and the personal and social performance scale (PSP). The data was collected through simple random sampling and analyzed for the association between the level of stigma and associated factors through linear regression. Results: The stigma score was normally distributed. The mean score for the DDS was 2.70 (SD 0.388). Among the 90 patients, 59 (65.6%) had stigma scores above the midpoint and 31 (34.4%) scored below the mid-point. The results showed a significant association between stigma levels with age (P-value = 0.022) and depressive symptoms (P-value = 0.007). Conclusion: Perceived stigma among schizophrenia patients attending PSR in Kelantan is high and associated with age and depression. Further therapeutic intervention is needed to target personal stigma and depression such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or coping skill.
Objectives: Psychosocial rehabilitation is important for the recovery of patients with schizophre... more Objectives: Psychosocial rehabilitation is important for the recovery of patients with schizophrenia. Thus, this study was aimed to compare the psychosocial function of psychosocial rehabilitation attendees and non-attendees among patients with schizophrenia in Kelantan. Methods: This was a comparative cross-sectional study between psychosocial rehabilitation attendees and non-attendees of patients with schizophrenia. By using a simple random sampling technique, seventy participants were recruited in each group. The psychosocial function and psychopathology symptoms of all participants (n = 140) were rated with personal and social performance (PSP) scale and brief psychiatric rating scale-extended version (BPRS-E), respectively. Results: There was no significant difference in terms of age for both groups with mean age of attendees was 36.83 (SD = 10.73) and non-attendees was 39.07 (SD = 10.82). Total score of PSP in the attendees group was higher than the comparison group with significant difference (mean difference: 4.571 (95% CI: 0.607, 8.536), P-value < 0.001). It reflected that the attendees group had better psychosocial functioning. Both social useful activity and disturbing and aggressive behaviour domains were significantly different, in which the attendee's group showed lower PSP mean score with mean differences of 0.257 (95% CI: -0.055, 0.569) and 0.171 (95% CI: 0.016, 0.327), respectively with both P-value < 0.001. Lower PSP reflected that the group had a better psychosocial function. Conclusion: Psychosocial rehabilitation attendees significantly have better psychosocial function compared with non-attendees. Therefore, it is recommended that all patients with schizophrenia should attend psychosocial rehabilitation to have better psychosocial functions.
2nd BIMP-EAGA Regional Mental Health Conference, 2003
We are presenting a 53-year-old single, Chinese born Kelantanese from Kota Bharu with a diagnosis... more We are presenting a 53-year-old single, Chinese born Kelantanese from Kota Bharu with a diagnosis of Paranoid Schizophrenia for more than 25 years who is a graduate in Arts from Nanyang University.
This presentation is going to highlight (1 ) The influence of intelligence on the sophistication of delusions (2) The evolving erotomanic delusions (3) How the patient identifies the erotomanic object as a persecutor who appears in various disguises, in the form of letters as one of the means for communication.
Eliciting psychopathology through patient's writings is underutilized in daily psychiatric practice, which is dominated by undereducated, less privileged schizophrenic patients
Research Journal of Pharmacy and Technology (RJPT), 2017
Cognitive impairment in schizophrenia, including deficits in working memory, verbal learning and ... more Cognitive impairment in schizophrenia, including deficits in working memory, verbal learning and memory, predate the onset of frank psychosis and are stable throughout the the illness in most patients. Recently, tualang honey (TH) has been shown to improve immediate memory in postmenopausal women and rats. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of TH supplementation, on verbal learning and memory (VLM) in schizophrenia patients. A total of 80 schizophrenia patients in outpatient Psychiatric Clinic, Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kelantan were recruited between August to December 2014 and randomly assigned into two groups: TH (20 mg/d) and untreated control. Their VLM performances were assessed using the Malay version of the Auditory Verbal Learning Test (MVAVLT) before (week 0) and after (week 8) of intervention. Repeated measures analysis of covariance control for age, education and duration of illness was done using PASW version 20.0. A total of 28 subjects completed the study (TH group = 17, control group = 11). There were no significant differences in socio-demographic characteristics between the subjects in TH and control group except for the number of admission. The mean total learning and delayed recall within each group based on time were important for control with mean difference -4.18 (-7.63, -0.74), p=0.024 and -0.91 (-1.29,0.53), p < 0.01, respectively when controlled for covariate age, education and duration of illness. However, there were no significant differences in total learning and delayed recall scores between TH and control groups based on time even when controlled for covariate. Patient with schizophrenia who received TH supplementation for 8 weeks did not show significant improvement in the total learning (immediate memory/STM) and delayed recall (LTM) compared to control group.
International Conference On Guidance & Counseling, Human Resources and Human Development, 2015
Drinking alcohol becomes a trend when social fear becomes a threat. The relaxing effect of alcoho... more Drinking alcohol becomes a trend when social fear becomes a threat. The relaxing effect of alcohol on the central nervous system, its unconstrained and empowering effects of social impulses, and its perceived beneficial or recovery action on physical and emotional pain are often suggested as reasons why people begin and maintain their drinking behavior, despite knowing its abuse, potential side effects, and medium-to long-term ill effects on health. The purpose of this review is to address the role of drinking motives in predicting alcohol use among normal and socially anxious population and its mediating effect in the relationship between social anxiety and alcohol use. Variables analyzed included prevalence, gender, personality trait, drinking motives, and self-medication hypothesis. Through this paper, a brief understanding gained into how people with and without social anxiety caters their fear to events that challenges their social image. It is highly suggestible that social anxiety has a positive relationship with alcohol use; which mediated by drinking motives, particularly, social, conformity and coping motives. Self-medication hypothesis too were found to be playing a major role in predicting alcohol consumption, especially among people who were tending to drink to cope with unpleasant emotions both before and after the social events. It has been seen more common among women than their opposite sex as women react more intensely to emotional stimuli than men. Even though this review paper gave a unique glimpse on the association between social anxiety, drinking motives and alcohol use; the interaction between these variable with genders and alcohol-related components (as mentioned in the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test) are remaining complex and inconclusive. Future research is necessary to determine how this knowledge can be incorporated into prevention and intervention programs for the group at-risk. ______________________________________________________________________________
Tualang honey (TH) exhibits a number of pharmacological actions including antioxidant, anti-infla... more Tualang honey (TH) exhibits a number of pharmacological actions including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticonvulsant and cognitive enhancer. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of TH and its methanolic fraction (MTH) on the expression of proinflammatory cytokines and amyloid deposition in the hippocampus of systemic lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-injected rats. Sixty male Sprague Dawley rats were divided into 5 groups (n=12): (i) control rats, (ii) untreated LPS rats (5 mg/kg) (iii) LPS rats treated with TH 200 mg/kg, (iv) LPS rats treated with MTH 150 mg/kg and (v) LPS rats treated with memantine 10 mg/kg. All treatments were administered intraperitoneally once daily for 14 days. The rats were sacrificed and hippocampal tissues were carefully dissected out. Determination of proinflammatory cytokines expression and amyloid deposition in the hippocampus were carried out by immunohistochemistry staining method and ELISA, respectively. The COX-2 and TNF-Ī± expression, as well as amyloid deposition, were highest in untreated LPS rats compared to other experimental groups. TH and MTH significantly reduced the concentration of COX-2 and TNF-Ī± expression, as well as amyloid deposition in the hippocampus of LPS rats comparable to memantine group. In conclusion, the findings suggest that TH and MTH protect the hippocampus against LPS-induced neuroinflammation and amyloid deposition as effective as memantine.
Introduction: Psychosocial rehabilitation is important in managing chronic schizophrenia towards ... more Introduction: Psychosocial rehabilitation is important in managing chronic schizophrenia towards recovery. There are seven psychosocial rehabilitation (PSR) centres that are run by the local health centres and one community mental health centre (CMHC) in Kelantan. Each hospital with psychiatrists also runs psychosocial rehabilitation to improve patient's function. Objectives: To compare the sociodemographic profile of psychosocial rehabilitation attendees and non-attendees among patients with schizophrenia in Kelantan. Methodology: A comparative cross-sectional study was performed between two groups of schizophrenia patients who attended psychosocial rehabilitation and who did not. Seventy participants were recruited in each group using simple random sampling technique. Results: There was a significant difference in marital status between psychosocial rehabilitation attendees and non-attendees, ļ£ 2 (1) = 8.792, p<0.05. Other sociodemographic profiles were not significantly different between the groups. Conclusions: Sociodemographic profile of patients in both groups were similar except marital status. Marital status profile which was found to be statistically significantly different between the groups will be controlled in the intermediate analysis as one of the confounding factors in subsequent objective.
Oxidative stress is a common pathogenic factor in neurodegenerative diseases. The present study w... more Oxidative stress is a common pathogenic factor in neurodegenerative diseases. The present study was designed to investigate the protective effects of tualang honey (TH) and its methanolic fraction (MTH) against lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced oxidative stress in ratsā hippocampus. Thirty five male Sprague Dawley rats were divided into five groups of seven individuals (n = 7): (i) control rats, (ii) untreated LPS rats (5 mg/kg) (iii) LPS rats treated with TH 200 mg/kg, (iv) LPS rats treated with MTH 150 mg/kg and (v) LPS rats treated with memantine 10 mg/kg. All treatments were administered intraperitoneally once daily for 14 days. The rats were sacrificed and the hippocampus was carefully dissected out, homogenized and stored at -80C. Catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glutathione reductase (GPr), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels/activities were measured by using ELISA kits. Treatment with TH and MTH markedly reduced oxidative damage in ratsā hippocampus as evidence by restoration in the activities of antioxidant enzymes (CAT, GPx and GPr) and decreased in MDA level comparable to LPS rats treated with memantine (a control drug). However, no significant differences were detected in SOD level in all groups. As a conclusion, TH and MTH exert their protective effects against LPS-induced oxidative damage in ratsā hippocampus comparable to memantine.
Introduction: Hypoxia induces hippocampal damage. The effective natural therapeutic approach has ... more Introduction: Hypoxia induces hippocampal damage. The effective natural therapeutic approach has not been much investigated. Interestingly, our previous research team has found that Tualang honey improves hippocampal damage in ovariectomised rats. Objective: To investigate the efficacy of Tualang honey in amelioration of hypoxia-induced hippocampal damage in adult male Sprague-Dawley rats exposed to normobaric hypoxia. Methodology: The rats were divided into four groups (n=12 per group); i) Non-hypoxic treated with sucrose, ii) Non-hypoxic treated with Tualang honey, iii) Hypoxic treated with sucrose, and iv) Hypoxic treated with Tualang honey. Oral Tualang honey (0.2 g/kg body weight) and sucrose (1 mL of 7.9%) supplementations were given to the rats daily for 14 days. Then, the rats were subjected to ~11% continuous hypoxia for 7 days.The rats were anaesthetised with thiopental sodium (i.p. at a dose of 30 mg/kg body weight). The right hemispheres were fixed in 10% formalin for histological studies. The blood was collected from inferior vena cava and centrifuged. Elisa test was performed to detect the level of corticosterone in the serum. Results: The hypoxic rats treated with sucrose showed significant decrease in neuronal count and increase in corticosterone level (p<0.05) when compared to non-hypoxia sucrose treated groups. Significant increase in neuronal count and decrease in corticosterone level (p<0.05) were observed in hypoxic rats treated with Tualang honey when compared to sucrose treated rats. Conclusion: The results suggest that pre-treatment with Tualang honey has a therapeutic potential to protect against hypoxia-induced hippocampal damage possibly through its antioxidant properties.
Hypoxia decreases food intake and body weight and increases brain weight. The effect of tualang h... more Hypoxia decreases food intake and body weight and increases brain weight. The effect of tualang honey on these parameters after hypoxia exposure is not clear. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of tualang honey on food intake and brain and body weight in adult male Sprague-Dawley rats exposed to hypoxia. The rats were divided into four groups (n = 12 per group): i) Non-hypoxic treated with sucrose, ii) Non-hypoxic treated with tualang honey, iii) Hypoxic treated with sucrose, and iv) Hypoxic treated with tualang honey. The rats were treated with either 1 mL of 7.9% sucrose or 0.2 g/kg tualang honey orally for 2 weeks. Then, the rats were subjected to ~11% continuous hypoxia for 7 days. Body weight and food consumption of the rats were recorded at the end of each week throughout the experimental period. The rats were anaesthetised with thiopental sodium and brain samples were collected and weighed using digital analytical balance. The hypoxic rats treated with sucrose and honey showed more significant decrease in food intake and body weight (p < 0.05) compared to non-hypoxic sucrose treated groups. In addition, there was significant increase in brain weight (p < 0.05) in hypoxia treated sucrose group compared to non-hypoxia treated sucrose group. Interestingly, there was significant decrease in brain weight (p < 0.05) in hypoxia treated honey group compared to hypoxia treated sucrose group. tualang honey has a therapeutic potential to regulate food intake and body weight and decrease in increased brain weight-induced hypoxia is possibly through its antioxidant properties.
Hypoxia induces neuronal damage and the effect of tualang honey to ameliorate hypoxia-induced neu... more Hypoxia induces neuronal damage and the effect of tualang honey to ameliorate hypoxia-induced neuronal damage has never been studied. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of tualang honey on the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) morphology and cholinergic system in rats exposed to normobaric hypoxia. Forty-eight male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into four groups: (i) Sucrose-treated non-hypoxia, (ii) Sucrose-treated hypoxia, (iii) Tualang honey-treated non-hypoxia and (iv) Tualang honey-treated hypoxia. Oral sucrose (1 mL of 7.9%) and tualang honey (0.2 g/kg) were administered for 2 weeks prior to hypoxia. After 7 continuous days of exposure to hypoxia (~11%), the rats were sacrificed and the right and left hemispheres were separated. Histologic evaluation for right mPFC and ELISA estimation for acetylcholine (Ach) and acetylcholinesterase (AchE) for left hemispheres were conducted. Sucrose-treated hypoxic rats showed significant reduction in ACh and elevation in AChE concentrations in brain homogenates compared to sucrose-treated non- hypoxia groups. Interestingly, there were significant increase in ACh and decrease in AChE concentration among tualang honey-treated hypoxic rats compared to sucrose-treated hypoxic rats. In addition, there were decreased in neuronal counts in mPFC in sucrose-treated hypoxia group compared to sucrose-treated non-hypoxia groups. Tualang honey-treated hypoxia rats showed significant increase in neuronal count and preservation of morphology in mPFC compared to sucrose-treated hypoxia group. In conclusion, tualang honey can be used as an alternative treatment to protect against hypoxia-induced neuronal damage and the effect was possibly due to its cholinergic and antioxidant properties.
This study investigated the effects of Tualang honey on brain oxidative stress markers in adult m... more This study investigated the effects of Tualang honey on brain oxidative stress markers in adult male Sprague-Dawley rats exposed to hypoxia. The rats were divided into four groups (n=12 per group); i) non-hypoxic treated with sucrose, ii) non-hypoxic treated with Tualang honey, iii) hypoxic treated with sucrose, iv) hypoxic treated with Tualang honey. Oral Tualang honey (0.2 g/kg body weight) and sucrose (1 mL of 7.9%) supplementations were given to the rats daily for 14 days. Then, the rats were subjected to ~11% continuous hypoxia for 7 days. The rats were anaesthetised with thiopental sodium (i.p. at a dose of 30 mg/kg body weight). The left brain hemispheres were homogenised and centrifuged. The levels of oxidative stress markers in the brain homogenate were determined by ELISA methods. The hypoxic rats treated with sucrose showed a significant increase in malondialdehyde (MDA) level when compared to sucrose non-hypoxic and both honey-treated groups (p < 0.01). Significant increase in total antioxidant capacity (TAC), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and significant decrease in MDA were observed in honey-treated groups when compared to those treated with sucrose (p < 0.05). The results suggest that Tualang honey has antioxidant activities that can suppress hypoxia-induced brain oxidative stress.
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Papers by Zahiruddin Othman
Methods: A total of 3698 documents were retrieved from the Scopus database for the bibliometric analysis and network visualization. By comparing each keyword's overall connection strength (centrality), frequency (density), and average year of publication (novelty) to the calculated median values acquired from the overlay view of the VOSviewer map, the enhanced strategic diagrams (ESDs) were constructed.
Results: The findings showed an increasing trend in the number of publications. The United States leads the contributing countries in cognitive aging research. The scientific productivity pattern obeyed Lotkaās Law. The most productive researcher was Deary, I. J., with the highest number of publications. The collaborative index showed an increasing trend from 1980 onwards. The journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience is the most prestigious in the field of cognitive aging research. In Bradford core journals zone 1, the top 10 core journals of cognitive aging research provided more than half of the total articles (683, or 55.30 percent).
Conclusions: For the next decades, the trending topics in cognitive aging research include functional connectivity, amyloid-beta (AĪ²), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), decision-making, compensation, frailty, gait speed, anxiety, mini-mental state examination (MMSE), hearing loss, obesity, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), lifestyle, nutrition, and D-galactose.
Methods: A total of 3698 documents were retrieved from the Scopus database for the bibliometric analysis and network visualization. By comparing each keyword's overall connection strength (centrality), frequency (density), and average year of publication (novelty) to the calculated median values acquired from the overlay view of the VOSviewer map, the enhanced strategic diagrams (ESDs) were constructed.
Results: The findings showed an increasing trend in the number of publications. The United States leads the contributing countries in cognitive aging research. The scientific productivity pattern obeyed Lotkaās Law. The most productive researcher was Deary, I. J., with the highest number of publications. The collaborative index showed an increasing trend from 1980 onwards. The journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience is the most prestigious in the field of cognitive aging research. In Bradford core journals zone 1, the top 10 core journals of cognitive aging research provided more than half of the total articles (683, or 55.30 percent).
Conclusions: For the next decades, the trending topics in cognitive aging research include functional connectivity, amyloid-beta (AĪ²), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), decision-making, compensation, frailty, gait speed, anxiety, mini-mental state examination (MMSE), hearing loss, obesity, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), lifestyle, nutrition, and D-galactose.
pathogenesis of mood disorders like major depressive disorder, bipolar
disorder, and seasonal affective disorder or winter depression. Many clinical symptoms seen in depressive patients suggest that disturbances of sleep and circadian rhythms play an important role in the pathophysiology of mood disorders. Disturbances of sleep-wake rhythms and circadian rhythms are linked to malfunctioning of SCN-pineal-melatonin axis. As a rhythm regulating factor and as a hormone involved in the physiological regulation of sleep-wake rhythm, melatonin plays an important role in regulating sleep and circadian rhythm disturbances of mood disorders. Melatonin receptors, namely, MT 1 and MT 2 , are found expressed in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamic region, an area concerned with the regulation of various circadian rhythms and sleep-wake rhythm. Although pharmacotherapy of mood disorders has long been associated
with the modulation of monoaminergic systems of neuronal circuits in different regions of the brain that are involved in the regulation of mood,
attention has been paid in recent years for the development of drugs that
can shift, reset, and stabilize the circadian rhythms and improve the quality of sleep. In this context agomelatine, a novel antidepressant with MT 1/MT 2 agonistic and 5-HT 2c antagonistic properties, has been introduced. Having proved its effi cacy as an effective antidepressant in various animal models of depression, agomelatine has been introduced as an antidepressant for treating patients with major depressive disorders in many European countries and also in the USA. Agomelatine has also been used for treating patients with bipolar disorder, winter depression, and anxiety disorder and has demonstrated its clinical effi cacy with rapid onset of action, comparable to other antidepressants like SSRIs and SNRIs. But unlike these drugs, agomelatine does not exhibit adverse side effects like worsening of insomnia or sexual problems, and hence, it is considered as an antidepressant of choice for effective treatment of mood disorders.
Case Report: Here we present a case of a 19-year old student with no known medical or psychiatry illness or family history of mental illness. She presented to the emergency department with attempts to harm herself which was preceded by depressive and psychotic symptoms, associated with hyperventilation episodes with twitching of hands and lips. Initial investigations including contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT) of the brain showed unremarkable results. She was initially diagnosed as schizophreniform disorder and treated with antipsychotics and electroconvulsive therapy. However, her condition further deteriorated in the ward.
Results: Electroencephalogram (EEG) showed right hemispheric dysfunction indicating cortical dysfunction.
The patient was treated as autoimmune encephalitis and immunosuppression with steroids and immunoglobulin were initiated. N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antibody turned out positive while other connective tissue screenings were negative. Second EEG showed improvement of right hemispheric slowing, but presence of sharp and spike over the left temporal region. Neuropsychological assessment showed severe intellectual, memory and executive impairment. While in the ward, the patient showed improvement. Pelvic ultrasound was unremarkable. There was an incidental finding of a breast lump, which was treated as a benign breast lesion. The patient was discharged well with low dose antipsychotics which subsequently stopped as she no longer has psychotic symptoms. Her cognition is improving during outpatient follow-ups.
Conclusion: Organic causes of psychosis should be suspected in a patient who has no risk factors, atypical presentation and poor response to adequate antipsychotics.
Methods: This is a cross-sectional study where 90 schizophrenia patients attending PSR in Kelantan were assessed using the devaluation-discrimination scale (DDS), the brief psychiatric rating scale-extended version (BPRS-E) and the personal and social performance scale (PSP). The data was collected through simple random sampling and analyzed for the association between the level of stigma and associated factors through linear regression.
Results: The stigma score was normally distributed. The mean score for the DDS was 2.70 (SD 0.388). Among the 90 patients, 59 (65.6%) had stigma scores above the midpoint and 31 (34.4%) scored below the mid-point. The results showed a significant association between stigma levels with age (P-value = 0.022) and depressive symptoms (P-value = 0.007).
Conclusion: Perceived stigma among schizophrenia patients attending PSR in Kelantan is high and associated with age and depression. Further therapeutic intervention is needed to target personal stigma and depression such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or coping skill.
Methods: This was a comparative cross-sectional study between psychosocial rehabilitation attendees and non-attendees of patients with schizophrenia. By using a simple random sampling technique, seventy participants were recruited in each group. The psychosocial function and psychopathology symptoms of all participants (n = 140) were rated with personal and social performance (PSP) scale and brief psychiatric rating scale-extended version (BPRS-E), respectively.
Results: There was no significant difference in terms of age for both groups with mean age of attendees was 36.83 (SD = 10.73) and non-attendees was 39.07 (SD = 10.82). Total score of PSP in the attendees group was higher than the comparison group with significant difference (mean difference: 4.571 (95% CI: 0.607, 8.536), P-value < 0.001). It reflected that the attendees group had better psychosocial functioning. Both social useful activity and disturbing and aggressive behaviour domains were significantly different, in which the attendee's group showed lower PSP mean score with mean differences of 0.257 (95% CI: -0.055, 0.569) and 0.171 (95% CI: 0.016, 0.327), respectively with both P-value < 0.001. Lower PSP reflected that the group had a better psychosocial function.
Conclusion: Psychosocial rehabilitation attendees significantly have better psychosocial function compared with non-attendees. Therefore, it is recommended that all patients with schizophrenia should attend psychosocial rehabilitation to have better psychosocial functions.
This presentation is going to highlight
(1 ) The influence of intelligence on the sophistication of delusions
(2) The evolving erotomanic delusions
(3) How the patient identifies the erotomanic object as a persecutor who appears in various disguises, in the form of letters as one of the means for communication.
Eliciting psychopathology through patient's writings is underutilized in daily psychiatric practice, which is dominated by undereducated, less privileged schizophrenic patients
(0.2 g/kg body weight) and sucrose (1 mL of 7.9%) supplementations were given to the rats daily for 14 days. Then, the rats were subjected to ~11% continuous hypoxia for 7 days.The rats were anaesthetised with thiopental sodium (i.p. at a dose of 30 mg/kg body weight). The right hemispheres were fixed in 10% formalin for histological studies. The blood was collected from inferior vena cava and centrifuged. Elisa test was performed to detect the level of corticosterone in the serum. Results: The hypoxic rats treated with sucrose showed significant decrease in neuronal count and increase in corticosterone level (p<0.05) when compared to non-hypoxia sucrose treated groups. Significant increase in neuronal count and decrease in corticosterone level (p<0.05) were observed in hypoxic rats treated with Tualang honey when compared to sucrose treated rats. Conclusion: The results suggest that pre-treatment with Tualang honey has a therapeutic potential to protect against hypoxia-induced hippocampal damage possibly through its antioxidant properties.