Baharudin Ibrahim

University of Malaya | UM · Department of Clinical Pharmacy & Pharmacy Practice

Endophytic Diaporthe is a fungal genus having an extensive distribution in plant hosts. It is known as a valuable source of bioactive metabolites with potent biological properties. In the present study, proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) coupled with multivariate analysis (MVA) was employed to discriminate the chemical profile of Diaporthe...

Schizophrenia and related disorders are severe mental illnesses characterized by profound disruptions in emotional processes, speech, behaviour, thinking, and sense of self. It, moreover, has specific antisuicidal and anti-aggressive properties. Clozapine is the most efficacious antipsychotic drug in treatment-resistant schizophrenia, mainly when o...

Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Background Although clopidogrel is the basic drug for antiplatelet therapy in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). However, loss of function (LOF) allelic variants located within the CYP2C19 gene may reduce the production of clopidogrel active metabolites and weaken the antiplatelet e...

Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Background Previous studies have shown that the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases is related to the patient's age and gender differences, but the effect of age on platelet function remains controversial. Platelet function should be tested and its efficacy correlates with the age of patien...

Introduction Anti-inflammatory reliever (AIR) with or without regular maintenance delivered through Turbuhaler® has been widely recommended in the GINA strategy document. These patients are not prescribed with additional reliever inhalers, but dependent on Turbuhaler® during acute asthma episodes. The peak inspiratory flow rate (PIFR) is crucial in...

Background Clopidogrel is an antiplatelet drug used to treat coronary artery disease (CAD) to reduce blood clotting by inhibiting platelet activity. However, many patients experience ischemic events due to changes in clopidogrel metabolism attributed to various genetic and non-genetic factors. CYP2C19 is one of the important genes responsible for t...

The global evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is known to all. The diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia is expected to worsen, and mortality will be higher when combined with myo-cardial injury (MI). The combination of novel coronavirus infections in patients with MI can cause confusion in diagnosis and assessment, with each condition exacerbating the...

Edible bird’s nests (EBNs) are vulnerable to adulteration due to their huge demand for traditional medicine and high market price. Presently, there are pressing needs to explore field-deployable rapid screening techniques to detect adulteration of EBNs. The objective of this study is to explore the feasibility of using a handheld near-infrared (VIS...

The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has become a major global health problem. COVID-19 is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) and exhibits pulmonary and extrapulmonary effects, including cardiovascular involvement. There are several attempts to identify drugs that could treat COVID-19. Moreover, many...

Background Warfarin is an anticoagulant with wide inter-individual variations in drug responses monitored based on the International Normalized Ratio (INR). It is commonly prescribed for atrial fibrillation (AF) and stroke. Oral anticoagulants (e.g., warfarin) reduce the risk of getting a stroke but increase the risk of hemorrhage. The proton nucle...

Background: Low-dose aspirin (LDA) is the backbone for secondary prevention of coronary artery disease, although limited by gastric toxicity. This study aimed to identify novel metabolites that could predict LDA-induced gastric toxicity using pharmacometabolomics. Methods: Pre-dosed urine samples were collected from male Sprague-Dawley rats. The ra...

DOI: 10.1002/jssc.202100068 The cover picture shows a surfactant‐assisted dispersive liquid‐liquid microextraction coupled with HPLC‐UV as a fast and simple method for simultaneous determination of clozapine and norclozapine in a small amount of plasma sample. The analytical performance of the method was acceptable with a wide linear dynamic range...

Clozapine is the drug of choice for treatment‐resistant schizophrenia. However, it is characterized by inter‐ and intraindividual variability in plasma concentrations and complex metabolism requiring drug monitoring. A surfactant‐assisted dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction method followed by high‐performance liquid chromatography–ultraviolet...

Background: Low-dose aspirin (LDA) is the backbone for secondary prevention of coronary artery disease, though limited by gastric toxicity. This study was aimed to identify novel metabolites that could predict LDA-induced gastric toxicity using pharmacometabolomics. Methods: Pre-dosed urine samples were collected from male Sprague-Dawley rats. The...

Endophytic fungi are microorganisms that colonize living plants’ tissues without causing any harm. They are known as a natural source of bioactive metabolites with diverse pharmacological functions. Many structurally different chemical metabolites were isolated from endophytic fungi. Recently, the increasing trends in human health problems and dise...

Background: Incomplete childhood immunization against communicable diseases is a major concern and vaccine hesitancy remains a hurdle to overcome in primary vaccination programs. This study was to examine the parents' vaccine knowledge, awareness and hesitancy in relation to their children's immunization status. Methods: A cross-sectional questi...

Background: The emergence of new technologies in the area of health information and communication helps pharmacists to check the safety of medications used via electronic prescribing. Objectives: The study aimed to identify the rate and types of problems with electronic prescriptions (e-prescriptions) that required pharmacist intervention at an inp...

Background: A new generation P2Y12 receptor inhibitor (ticagrelor) is recommended in current therapeutic guidelines to treat patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). However, it is unknown if ticagrelor is more effective than clopidogrel in elderly patients. Therefore, a systematic review was done to assess the effectiveness and safety of ticag...

Objectives A database comprising multivariate data in developing a model from nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis using human bio fluids are necessary to have reproducibility and reliability of the data. To achieve reproducibility of the data, standardised experiments, including internal standard and preservative used should be attained, espe...

As stingless bee honey (SBH) is gaining in popularity in the Malaysian market, it is now prone to adulteration. The higher price of SBH compared to floral honey has led to the use of unusual adulterants such as vinegar and even floral honey to mimic the unique taste and appearance of SBH. Since the current AOAC 998.12 method fails to detect these a...

Background: Guidance of antiplatelet therapy and compliance assessment is of great importance for patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and directly affects patients in the short and long term. P2Y12 receptor inhibitors are the main antiplatelet drugs to prevent clotting events for ACS patients. Ticagrelor is the first choice based on myocard...

Background Ticagrelor is an oral antiplatelet drug that can reversibly bind to the platelet P2Y12 receptor. Ticagrelor is metabolized mainly by CYP3A4 and produces a rapid blood concentration-dependent platelet inhibitory effect. Unlike other P2Y12 receptor antagonists, many clinical features of ticagrelor are not related to P2Y12 receptor antagoni...

N‐acetylcysteine (NAC) is an antidote to prevent acetaminophen (paracetamol‐APAP)‐induced acute liver injury (ALI). The 3‐bag licenced 20.25 hr standard regimen, and a 12 hr modified regimen, are used to treat APAP overdose. This study evaluated the redox thiol response and APAP metabolites, in patients with a single APAP overdose treated with eith...

Clopidogrel is a widely-used antiplatelet drug. It is important for the treatment and prevention of coronary heart disease. Clopidogrel can effectively reduce platelet activity and therefore reduce stent thrombosis. However, some patients still have ischemic events despite taking the clopidogrel due to the alteration in clopidogrel metabolism attri...

BackgroundA relentless flood of information accompanied the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. False news, conspiracy theories, and magical cures were shared with the general public at an alarming rate, which may lead to increased anxiety and stress levels and associated debilitating consequences.Objectives To measure the level of COVID-19...

Antiplatelet therapy can significantly reduce the risk of thrombotic events in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). International guidelines substantially recommend the use of P2Y12 receptor inhibitors such as clopidogrel, prasugrel, and ticagrelor after a percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS...

Abstract: Background: Ticagrelor is an antiplatelet administered orally and classified as cyclopentyltriazolopyrimidine, which binds inversely to P2Y12 receptors. Unlike prasugrel and clopidogrel, ticagrelor does not require metabolism activation. Thus, in theory, it lacks the variability seen with CYP polymorphisms and thus produces a more stable...

Background: Ticagrelor is an oral antiplatelet agent commonly used to inhibit P2Y12 receptors that bind to it inversely. It is classified as cyclopentyltriazolopyrimidine (CPTP). Unlike prasugrel and clopidogrel, ticagrelor does not require metabolism activation. Thus, in theory, it is less affected by the variability seen with CYP polymorphisms an...

Prior-to the COVID-19 outbreak, undergraduate PharmCare II Clerkship activities consisted of two phases. The first phase requires pharmacy students to clerk infectious disease and endocrine-related cases of patients admitted into wards at a teaching hospital, whilst in the second phase, the students are required to present the clerked cases in fron...

Objective: The Test of Adherence to Inhalers (TAI) is a validated self-reported questionnaire that can assess adherence to inhalers through patient self-report reliably. However, it was not available in Bahasa Melayu (BM) language, nor has it been validated for use in the Malaysian population. The study aimed, therefore, to translate the 10-item TA...

Background The effectiveness of home visits is well discussed for children with asthma, but limited in adults. Objective The present systematic review aims to investigate the potential role of home visits in improving outcomes among adult patients with asthma. Methods The systematic review was performed in line with the PRISMA statement. An exten...

Background and objective: Clozapine is a second-generation antipsychotic drug that is considered the most effective treatment for refractory schizophrenia. Several clozapine population pharmacokinetic models have been introduced in the last decades. Thus, a systematic review was performed (i) to compare published pharmacokinetics models and (ii) t...

Background Warfarin is prescribed as an oral anticoagulant to treat/prevent thromboembolism in conditions such as atrial fibrillation. As there is a narrow therapeutic window, treatment with warfarin is challenging. Pharmacometabonomics using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy may provide novel techniques for the identification of novel...

Abstract Background Substantial efforts are currently focused on investigating and developing new multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) drugs and diagnostic methods. In Yemen, however, the evaluation of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and the effect of current MDR-TB treatment on the QoL are commonly ignored. This study evaluated the HRQ...

Purpose: To assess the interim therapy outcomes of patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in Yemen. Methods: This study was performed in four major tuberculosis (TB) centers in Yemen, namely, Alhodidah, Taiz, Sana'a, and Aden. Data were collected between January 1, 2014 and December 31, 2016, and consistent methods were adopted to...

Background The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that Yemen has a high burden of drug resistance and a worrying shortage of implemented diagnostic methods and drug treatment regimens. Therefore, in this study, we evaluated the risk factors associated with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and explored the poor TB management in Ye...

Background Just like many nations, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) remains the principal cause of death for more than a decade in Malaysia. Among the CVDs, Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is the leading cause of such mortalities. In 2016, CAD accounted for 13.2% of all recorded deaths (162,201 deaths) in Malaysia. Low Dose Aspirin (LDA) is the corners...

OBJECTIVES: Low Dose Aspirin (LDA) is the cornerstone of secondary prevention in Coronary Artery Disease (CAD). Despite its established efficacy, it has a prime limitation arising from its gastric toxicity. The reason why some patients develop clinically significant toxicities while others develop no or minor toxicities is yet to be demystified. Th...

Dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) of clopidogrel and aspirin is crucial for coronary artery disease (CAD) patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). However, some patients may endure clopidogrel high on treatment platelets reactivity (HTPR) which may cause thromboembolic events. Clopidogrel HTPR is multifactorial with some genetic...

Background: Warfarin, an anticoagulant medication, has prescribed regularly despite of its bleeding tendency for the prevention and/or treatment of various thromboembolic conditions, such as deep vein thrombosis, and complications associated with atrial fibrillation, and myocardial infarction, but because of its narrow therapeutic window have a lo...

Highlights: • Clopidogrel HTPR is frequent among East Asians, regardless of using high LD. • CYP2C19*2 and obesity are associated with clopidogrel HTPR, however, genotyping doesn't predict HTPR efficiently. • Absence or possession of CYP2C19*2 doesn't make clopidogrel responsiveness or HTPR certain. • Haemoglobin and haematocrit interfere with the...

Clopidogrel high on treatment platelets reactivity (HTPR) has burdened achieving optimum therapeutic outcome. Although there are known genetic and non-genetic factors associated with clopidogrel HTPR, which explain in part clopidogrel HTPR, yet, great portion remains unknown, often hindering personalizing antiplatelet therapy. Nuclear magnetic reso...

A total of 33 crude palm oil samples were randomly collected from different regions in Malaysia. Stable carbon isotopic composition (δ¹³C) was determined using Flash 2000 elemental analyzer while hydrogen and oxygen isotopic compositions (δ²H and δ¹⁸O) were analyzed by Thermo Finnigan TC/EA, wherein both instruments were coupled to an isotope ratio...

Alcohol misuse is a ravaging public health and social problem. Its harm can affect the drinkers and the whole society. Alcohol-dependence is a phase of alcohol misuse in which the drinker consumes excessive amounts of alcohol and has a continuous urge to consume alcohol. Current methods of alcohol dependence diagnoses are questionnaires and some bi...

Dual antiplatelet therapy of aspirin and clopidogrel is pivotal for patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention. However, the variable platelets reactivity response to clopidogrel may lead to outcome failure and recurrence of cardiovascular events. Although many genetic and nongenetic factors are known, great portion of clopidogrel varia...

Abbreviations: TA: Tongkat Ali; LOD: limit of detection; LOQ: limit of quantification; HPLC-UV: high performance liquid chromatography-ultrviolet; PDA: photodiode array; NMR: nuclear magnetic resonance; FID: free induction decay; LC-MS: liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry; GC-MS: gas chromatography-mass spectrometry; HSQC: heteronuclear single...

Background: Alcohol use disorders (AUD) is a phase of alcohol misuse in which the drinker consumes excessive amount of alcohol and have a continuous urge to consume alcohol which may lead to various health complications. The current methods of alcohol use disorders diagnosis such as questionnaires and some biomarkers lack specificity and sensitivi...

Background: Alcohol-dependence (AD) is a ravaging public health and social problem. AD diagnosis depends on questionnaires and some biomarkers, which lack specificity and sensitivity, however, often leading to less precise diagnosis, as well as delaying treatment. This represents a great burden, not only on AD individuals but also on their familie...

Asthma is a major burden on global health care system which is encumbering all regions in the world. Several risk factors can induce and exacerbate asthma. Recent compelling evidences have associated metabolic syndrome with the incidence of asthma. The abdominal obesity, hypertension and insulin resistance are metabolic syndrome criteria which are...

Quassinoids, the major secondary metabolites of Eurycoma longifolia roots, improve male fertility. Hence, it is crucial to investigate their quantitative level in E. longifolia extracts. A profile was established to identify the primary metabolites and major quassinoids, and quantify quassinoids using external calibration curves. Furthermore, the m...

Background: Sore throats may be due to either viral or group A beta hemolytic streptococcus (GABHS) infections; but diagnosis of the etiology of a sore throat is difficult, often leading to unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions and consequent increases in bacterial resistance. Scoring symptoms using the McIsaac clinical decision rule can help physi...

The high priced cave edible bird's nest (EBN) has attracted unscrupulous EBN producers to adulterate EBN with lower priced house-farmed EBN due to the fact that both are almost indistinguishable by visual inspection. In the present study, major mineral contents such as calcium, sodium, magnesium and potassium of both EBN types were analysed using i...

Background: Cough is recognised as an important troublesome symptom in the diagnosis and monitoring of asthma. Asthma control is thought to be determined by the degree of airway inflammation and hyper-responsiveness but how these relate to cough frequency is unclear. Objective: To investigate the relationships between objective cough frequency,...

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Eurycoma longifolia (Tongkat Ali, TA) roots have been ethnically used as a remedy to boost male sexual desire, libido, energy and fertility. Aim of the study: The study evaluated the effect of TA extracts with different quassinoid levels on rats sperm count and examined corresponding post-treatment urinary metabol...

Warfarin is an anticoagulant agent used in the prevention and treatment of blood coagulation. Inaccurate dosing can lead to bleeding or blood clot due to its’ narrow therapeutic index. Determination of certain urine metabolites associated with warfarin use may help identify individuals with stable and unstable International Normalized Ratios (INR)....

Warfarin is an anticoagulant with wide inter-individual variation in drug response, monitored based on International Normalized Ratio (INR). The aim of this study is to determine the ability of plasma metabolites to distinguish individuals with different INR stability. Two groups of patients; stable INR (2-3) and unstable INR (<2 or >3), 44 patient...

Dengue is the most important human viral disease transmitted by arthropod vectors and over half of the world’s populations live in areas at risk of infection. The severity of the infection depends on the form of the disease, which can be symptomatic or asymptomatic. Currently there is neither specific treatment nor vaccine to tackle this emerging d...

The main clinical methods to diagnose Alcohol-dependence (AD) in clinical practice currently depends on AD assessment questionnaires and some biomarkers such as Carbohydrate-Deficient Transferrin (CDT) and Gamma Glutamyl Transferase (GGT). These two methods have been shown to lack specificity and sensitivity. Metabolomics technique by using nuclear...

Clopidogrel is an antiplatelet drug which is crucial for coronary artery disease (CAD) patients undergoing interventional angiographic procedure, particularly those with stent placement. However, clopidogrel use is hindered by patients' variable response. Patients with clopidogrel high on treatment platelets reactivity (HTPR) might have recurrence...

Background: This study utilized a validated combination of a COPD Population Screener (COPD-PS) questionnaire and a handheld spirometric device as a screening tool for patients at high risk of COPD, such as smokers. The study aimed to investigate and pilot the feasibility and application of this combined assessment, which we termed the "VitalQPlus...

The current methods of alcohol-dependence (AD) diagnosis are questionnaires and some biomarkers. However, both lack specificity and sensitivity. Metabolomics may provide a novel method for diagnosis of AD by using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR). The study aims to identify novel AD biomarkers in urine. Urine samples were collected fro...

Clopidogrel antiplatelet drug is limited by variable response among patients. This leads to poor patient outcome on treatment platelets reactivity (HTPR). Finding putative biomarkers of HTPR might aid to individualise antiplatelet therapy. Pharmacometabonomics metabolic finger printing (metabotyping) of urine samples using nuclear magnetic resonanc...