A review of acute childhood leukemia in the University Hospital, Kuala Lumpur reveals no significant differences in either the epidemiological or clinical features between Malaysian and Caucasian children. BCG does not appear to have conferred any protection against the occurrence of leukemia. With the introduction of total therapy 4 of 10 patients with good prognostic features and 3 of 15 patients with poor prognostic features have survived 3 years. Prognosis appears to correlate with adopted clinical criteria.
MeSH terms: Antineoplastic Agents/therapeutic use*; BCG Vaccine/pharmacology; Bone Marrow/pathology; Child; Child, Preschool; Drug Therapy, Combination; Female; Humans; Infant; Leukemia, Lymphoid/drug therapy*; Leukemia, Lymphoid/pathology; Leukemia, Lymphoid/prevention & control; Malaysia; Male; Prognosis; Remission, Spontaneous; Time Factors; European Continental Ancestry Group; Asian Continental Ancestry Group*
The two species of Sarcocystis--S. levinei and S. fusiformis from the water buffalo, Bubalus bubalis, show some ultrastructural similarities in their cyst wall and zoites. The zoites of both species are of about the same size, banana-shaped and have 22 subpellicular microtubules, numerous micronemes, eight rhoptries, a micropore in the region of the micronemes, an elongated mitochondrion, and a nucleus. S. levinei has 200--300 micronemes and S. fusiformis has about 400. The sarcocysts of both species are trabeculated and their cyst walls have cytophaneres containing annulated fibrils and coarse, electron dense granules. The cytophaneres of S. levinei are sloping, with irregular, wavy outlines, whereas S. fusiformis has the cauliflower-type of cytophaneres. This difference in the appearance of the cytophaneres, together with the difference in size of the sarcocysts and their definitive hosts, further confirms that S. levinei and S. fusiformis are two distinct species in the water buffalo.
MeSH terms: Attitude of Health Personnel; Community Health Services/manpower; Humans; Malaysia; Personnel, Hospital; Physician Assistants*; Surveys and Questionnaires; Rural Health*
This is a preliminary report of 46 sera tested for alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) by the Counter immuno-electrophoresis technique in which biopsies for histopathology were also submitted. In 42 cases the needle biopsy of the liver was available. The material was divided into two groups on the basis of AFP positive and AFP negative sera and their histological diagnosis. The overall positivity rate in proven Primary liver cell carcinoma was 64.2 per cent.
One hundred and thirty-two newly diagnosed Asian diabetic patients (39 Malay, 30 Chinese and 63 Indians) have been studied in Kuala Lumpur. The highest proportion of diabetic patients were Indian and the lowest were Chinese. Vascular complications were equally common in Asian diabetic patients as in Europeans; coronary heart disease was relatively more common in Indians and cerebral vascular disease in Chinese. Twenty percent of all Asian diabetic patients requiring admission to hospital also had coronary heart disease, 9% had cerebral vascular disease and 8% had gangrene or ulceration of the feet. In Kuala Lumpur, diabetes is a very important risk factor for coronary heart disease: 17% of all patients admitted to the General Hospital with coronary heart disease were already diabetic.
Body weight and nine body measurements were recorded on 79 mature Kedah-Kelantan cows at two locations. The Kedah-Kelantan is an indigenous cattle of Malaysia. A principal component analysis was used to study size and shape as indicated by the dependence structure among measurements. The total variation among measurements associated with the first principal component which was interpreted as a measure of general size was 40.8%. The second principal component contrasted cows tall at the withers, and deep at the chest with top line sloping downward and under line sloping upward from front to rear with those having less wither height and chest depth and straighter lines. This contrast accounted for 14.3% of the variation in body dimensions. The third principal component contrasted long, narrow, and deeper cows with a more compact type. This contrast accounted for 10.7% of the variation in body dimensions.
MeSH terms: Adaptation, Biological; Animals; Biometry; Body Composition; Body Weight*; Cattle/anatomy & histology*; Cattle/physiology; Female; Malaysia; Tropical Climate