This is the first report of the presence of potentially pathogenic FLA in used CCL from asymptomatic wearers in Thailand. Although there was satisfactory knowledge and practice of lens care use, the public should be aware of CCL contaminated with potentially pathogenic FLA that can directly or indirectly cause keratitis.

Naegleria fowleri is the causative agent of the fatal disease primary amebic meningoencephalitis. Detection of N. fowleri using conventional culture and biochemical-based assays is time-consuming and laborious, while molecular techniques, such as PCR, require laboratory skills and expensive equipment. We developed and evaluated a novel loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay targeting the virulence-related gene for N. fowleri. Time to results is about 90 min and amplification products were easily detected visually using hydroxy naphthol blue. The LAMP was highly specific after testing against related microorganisms and able to detect one trophozoite, as determined with spiked water and cerebrospinal fluid samples. The assay was then evaluated with a set of 80 water samples collected during the flooding crisis in Thailand in 2011, and 30 natural water samples from border areas of northern, eastern, western, and southern Thailand. N. fowleri was detected in 13 and 10 samples using LAMP and PCR, respectively, with a Kappa coefficient of 0.855. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a LAMP assay for N. fowleri. Due to its simplicity, speed, and high sensitivity, the LAMP method described here might be useful for quickly detecting and diagnosing N. fowleri in water and clinical samples, particularly in resource-poor settings.

Oily skin is a problem for a large number of people, especially in tropical countries. This condition results in comedones, inflammatory acne, and other aesthetic problems in the skin. Emblica (Phyllanthus emblica L.) has a number of benefits for the skin; for instance, there were some studies that suggested that emblica has skin whitening effects, and anti-collagenase and anti-elastase activities; however, its anti-sebum efficacy has not been reported.The objective of this research was to study the anti-sebum efficacy of emblica toner on facial skin. The toner base was formulated, accelerated stability was tested, and preferences were evaluated in 10 volunteers. The toner base with the highest preference score was mixed with emblica extract. Then, the toner base and emblica toners were assessed for skin irritation by a single patch test in 30 volunteers. The anti-sebum efficacy was conducted using the randomized, single-blind, placebo-controlled, split-face method with unwashed and only-washed skin positions added to the middle of the forehead in the same group of volunteers assessed by a skin sebum measurement, SebumScale®, at 1 h before the test, once after washing, and 1, 2, 3 and 4 h after applying the toners on forehead and cheek skin. The stable toner base with the highest preference (85.6 ± 1.8%) was mixed with 1%, 2%, and 3% emblica extract. The toners were stable and did not cause any skin irritation. The 3% emblica toner was chosen for efficacy evaluation. The casual sebum levels of the forehead skin and cheek skin were 66.66 ± 7.01 and 56.12 ± 7.75 µg/cm2, respectively. The sebum level of the unwashed skin position changed (5.0 ± 1.66%) insignificantly up to 4 h (p > 0.05). In comparison, the sebum level of the only-washed skin position was recovered to the casual sebum level (99.4 ± 1.23%) within 3 h. Furthermore, the anti-sebum efficacy of the emblica toner (23.5 ± 1.24%) was higher than that of the toner base (12.0 ± 1.52%) (p < 0.05). The anti-sebum efficacy of emblica toner on cheek skin (26.9 ± 1.78%) was higher than that on forehead skin (20.1 ± 1.34%) (p < 0.05). In summary, the model of evaluation of anti-sebum efficacy used in this study has been found to be practical, and the emblica toner is safe and has apparent anti-sebum efficacy on facial skin.

A number of loci related to the immune response are located on human chromosomal region 5q31-33, and polymorphisms in this region have been reported to be associated with autoimmune and infectious diseases. In Southeast Asian populations, no systematic survey with dense SNP markers has been performed for the 5q31-33 region. In this study, the LD and haplotype structures for a 472-kb region on 5q31 were investigated in a Thai population to provide useful information for association studies. In addition, the LD structure in Thais was compared with that of the CHB and JPT HapMap populations (CHB + JPT) to evaluate the transferability of tagging SNPs from CHB + JPT for Thais. We show that the minor allele frequency, pattern of LD block, and genetic structure in the 5q31-33 region were highly concordant between Thais and CHB + JPT. A high transferability of tagging SNPs from CHB + JPT for Thais was observed. Our results suggest that tagging SNPs from CHB + JPT (Northeast Asians) can efficiently capture common variants in Southeast Asians, and that the HapMap data are useful for association studies in Southeast Asian populations.