Browse publications by year: 2012

  1. A novel strategy for load balancing of distributed medical applications
    Logeswaran R, Chen LC
    J Med Syst, 2012 Apr;36(2):483-90.
    PMID: 20703702 DOI: 10.1007/s10916-010-9493-0
    Current trends in medicine, specifically in the electronic handling of medical applications, ranging from digital imaging, paperless hospital administration and electronic medical records, telemedicine, to computer-aided diagnosis, creates a burden on the network. Distributed Service Architectures, such as Intelligent Network (IN), Telecommunication Information Networking Architecture (TINA) and Open Service Access (OSA), are able to meet this new challenge. Distribution enables computational tasks to be spread among multiple processors; hence, performance is an important issue. This paper proposes a novel approach in load balancing, the Random Sender Initiated Algorithm, for distribution of tasks among several nodes sharing the same computational object (CO) instances in Distributed Service Architectures. Simulations illustrate that the proposed algorithm produces better network performance than the benchmark load balancing algorithms-the Random Node Selection Algorithm and the Shortest Queue Algorithm, especially under medium and heavily loaded conditions.
    MeSH terms: Algorithms; Computer Communication Networks/organization & administration; Computer Systems*; Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted; Humans; Medical Informatics Applications*; User-Computer Interface; Information Storage and Retrieval
  2. AMI screening using linguistic fuzzy rules
    Ainon RN, Bulgiba AM, Lahsasna A
    J Med Syst, 2012 Apr;36(2):463-73.
    PMID: 20703704 DOI: 10.1007/s10916-010-9491-2
    This paper aims at identifying the factors that would help to diagnose acute myocardial infarction (AMI) using data from an electronic medical record system (EMR) and then generating structure decisions in the form of linguistic fuzzy rules to help predict and understand the outcome of the diagnosis. Since there is a tradeoff in the fuzzy system between the accuracy which measures the capability of the system to predict the diagnosis of AMI and transparency which reflects its ability to describe the symptoms-diagnosis relation in an understandable way, the proposed fuzzy rules are designed in a such a way to find an appropriate balance between these two conflicting modeling objectives using multi-objective genetic algorithms. The main advantage of the generated linguistic fuzzy rules is their ability to describe the relation between the symptoms and the outcome of the diagnosis in an understandable way, close to human thinking and this feature may help doctors to understand the decision process of the fuzzy rules.
    MeSH terms: Acute Disease; Age Factors; Algorithms; Blood Pressure; Decision Support Techniques; Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted/methods*; Humans; Myocardial Infarction/diagnosis*; Myocardial Infarction/genetics; Myocardial Infarction/epidemiology; Pulse; Risk Factors; Sex Factors; Comorbidity; Fuzzy Logic*; Electronic Health Records*
  3. Factors associated with undernutrition among children in a rural district of Kelantan, Malaysia
    Cheah WL, Wan Muda WA, Mohd Hussin ZA, Thon CC
    Asia Pac J Public Health, 2012 Mar;24(2):330-42.
    PMID: 20833668 DOI: 10.1177/1010539510380737
    The aim of the study was to identify the factors associated with undernutrition indicators in children 5 years and younger in a rural community in Malaysia. A total of 295 children and their carers were selected from community clinics based on a multistage sampling method. Pretested questionnaire, anthropometric measurement, and dietary assessment were used for data collection. There was 69% stunting, 63.4% underweight, 40% wasting, and 26.8% with mid-upper-arm circumference (MUAC) for age below a z score of -2 among children. In all, 10 factors were found to be associated with different indicators of undernutrition. Age was the only factor that had association with all the undernutrition indicators. Total household income and total expenditure showed significant association with underweight. Birth weight was reported to have significant association with underweight, stunting, and low MUAC-for-age. The findings suggest that the factors of undernutrition were different for different indicators of undernutrition and thus give a more comprehensive picture on factors contributing to acute and chronic malnutrition.
    MeSH terms: Adult; Ambulatory Care Facilities; Child, Preschool; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Health Status Indicators*; Humans; Infant; Malaysia/epidemiology; Male; Middle Aged; Risk Factors; Rural Health*; Socioeconomic Factors; Child Nutrition Disorders/epidemiology*; Prevalence
  4. The Third National Health and Morbidity Survey: prevalence of obesity, and abdominal obesity among the Malaysian elderly population
    Suzana S, Kee CC, Jamaludin AR, Noor Safiza MN, Khor GL, Jamaiyah H, et al.
    Asia Pac J Public Health, 2012 Mar;24(2):318-29.
    PMID: 20833669 DOI: 10.1177/1010539510380736
    Obesity is an emerging public health threat in the elderly population in developing countries. Hence, the Third National Health and Morbidity Survey has assessed 4746 individuals aged 60 years and older recruited through a household survey to determine the prevalence of adiposity using body mass index and waist circumference. The national's prevalence of overweight and obesity in men was 29.2% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 27.2-31.3) and 7.4% (95% CI = 6.4-8.6), respectively. However, the prevalence decreased with age. The figures in women were 30.3% (95% CI = 28.5-32.1) and 13.8% (95% CI = 12.5-15.2), respectively. The prevalence of abdominal obesity was 21.4% (95%CI = 20.2-22.6), with 7.7% (95% CI = 6.7-9.0) in men and 33.4% (95% CI = 31.4-35.3) in women. Predictors of adiposity include the following: Malay and Indian ethnicity, higher education level, higher household income, from urban area, and being married. In conclusion, adiposity affects about one third of the Malaysian elderly population, especially those of the younger age group, women, and those with higher socioeconomic status.
    Study name: National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS-2006)
    MeSH terms: Aged; Female; Health Surveys*; Humans; Malaysia/epidemiology; Male; Middle Aged; Morbidity; Obesity/epidemiology*; Risk Factors; Body Mass Index; Prevalence; Waist Circumference; Obesity, Abdominal/epidemiology
  5. Analysis of infant cry through weighted linear prediction cepstral coefficients and Probabilistic Neural Network
    Hariharan M, Chee LS, Yaacob S
    J Med Syst, 2012 Jun;36(3):1309-15.
    PMID: 20844933 DOI: 10.1007/s10916-010-9591-z
    Acoustic analysis of infant cry signals has been proven to be an excellent tool in the area of automatic detection of pathological status of an infant. This paper investigates the application of parameter weighting for linear prediction cepstral coefficients (LPCCs) to provide the robust representation of infant cry signals. Three classes of infant cry signals were considered such as normal cry signals, cry signals from deaf babies and babies with asphyxia. A Probabilistic Neural Network (PNN) is suggested to classify the infant cry signals into normal and pathological cries. PNN is trained with different spread factor or smoothing parameter to obtain better classification accuracy. The experimental results demonstrate that the suggested features and classification algorithms give very promising classification accuracy of above 98% and it expounds that the suggested method can be used to help medical professionals for diagnosing pathological status of an infant from cry signals.
    MeSH terms: Acoustics*; Crying*; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Pattern Recognition, Automated/methods; Probability*; Linear Models; Neural Networks (Computer)*; Diagnostic Techniques and Procedures*
  6. Kenaf seed supercritical fluid extract reduces aberrant crypt foci formation in azoxymethane-induced rats
    Ghafar SA, Yazan LS, Tahir PM, Ismail M
    Exp. Toxicol. Pathol., 2012 Mar;64(3):247-51.
    PMID: 20869858 DOI: 10.1016/j.etp.2010.08.016
    Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus) a plant of the family Malvaceae, is a valuable fiber plant native to India and Africa. Kenaf seeds contain alpha-linolenic acid, phytosterol such as β-sitosterol, vitamin E and other antioxidants with chemopreventive properties. In the present study we examined the hypothesis that kenaf seed 'supercritical fluid extract' (SFE) extract could suppress the early colon carcinogenesis in vivo by virtue of its bioactive compounds. To accomplish this goal, 60 male rats were randomly assigned to 5 groups which were (1) negative control group [not induced with azoxymethane (AOM)]; (2) positive control group (induced with AOM but received no treatment); (3) group treated with 500 mg/kg kenaf seed SFE extract; (4) group treated with 1000 mg/kg kenaf seed SFE extract; (5) group treated with 1500 mg/kg kenaf seed SFE extract. At 7 weeks of age, all rats except the negative control group received 15 mg/kg of AOM injection subcutaneously once a week for 2 weeks. Rats were euthanized at 13 weeks of the experiment. Number of ACF (mean±SD) ranged from 84.4±4.43 to 179.5±12.78 in group 2, 3, 4, 5. ACF reductions compared with the untreated group were 45.3, 51.4 and 53.1% in rats fed with 500, 1000 and 1500 mg/kg body weight, respectively. There were no significant differences in weight gain among groups. Our finding indicates that kenaf seed SFE extract reduced AOM-induced ACF in Sprague-Dawley male rats.
    MeSH terms: Animals; Azoxymethane/toxicity; Carcinogens/toxicity; Colonic Neoplasms/chemically induced; Colonic Neoplasms/prevention & control*; Male; Phytotherapy/methods*; Plant Extracts/pharmacology*; Seeds/chemistry; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Rats; Aberrant Crypt Foci/chemically induced; Aberrant Crypt Foci/prevention & control*
  7. Metal-ceramic screw-retained implant fixed partial denture with intraoral luted framework to improve passive fit
    Baig MR, Gunaseelan R
    J Oral Implantol, 2012 Apr;38(2):149-53.
    PMID: 20932151 DOI: 10.1563/AAID-JOI-D-09-00089
    Passive fit of a long-span screw-retained implant prosthesis is an important criteria for the success of the restoration. This article describes a technique for fabricating a ceramometal implant fixed dental prosthesis (FDP) for a long-span partially edentulous situation by altering the conventional screw-retained design. The possibility of a passive fit is maximized by intraoral luting of the cast frame to milled abutments, and the potential framework distortion during fabrication is compensated to a major extent. Retrievability is ensured by screw retention of the prosthesis to the implants. Compared with conventional porcelain fused to metal screw-retained FDP, this prosthesis is relatively inexpensive to fabricate.
    MeSH terms: Cementation/methods; Composite Resins/chemistry; Dental Implantation, Endosseous; Dental Impression Technique; Dental Porcelain/chemistry*; Denture Design; Denture Retention/instrumentation*; Denture, Partial, Fixed*; Humans; Jaw Relation Record; Jaw, Edentulous, Partially/rehabilitation; Jaw, Edentulous, Partially/surgery; Maxilla/surgery; Dental Implants*; Metal Ceramic Alloys/chemistry*; Dental Marginal Adaptation*; Dental Prosthesis, Implant-Supported*; Resin Cements/chemistry; Torque; Dental Implant-Abutment Design
  8. Microwave modified non-crosslinked pectin films with modulated drug release
    Anuar NK, Wong TW, Taib MN
    Pharm Dev Technol, 2012 Jan-Feb;17(1):110-7.
    PMID: 20958167 DOI: 10.3109/10837450.2010.522584
    The effects of microwave on drug release properties of pectin films carrying sulfanilamide (SN-P), sulfathiazole (ST-P) and sulfamerazine (SM-P) of high to low aqueous solubilities were investigated. These films were prepared by solvent evaporation technique and treated by microwave at 80 W for 5-40 min. Their profiles of drug dissolution, drug content, matrix interaction and matrix crystallinity were determined by drug dissolution testing, drug content assay, differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffractometry and scanning electron microscopy techniques. Microwave induced an increase in matrix amorphousness but lower drug release propensity with a greater retardation extent in SN-P films, following a rise in strength of matrix interaction. A gain in amorphous structure does not necessarily increase the drug release of film. Microwave can possibly retard drug release of pectin film carrying water-soluble drug through modulating its state of matrix interaction.
    MeSH terms: Calorimetry, Differential Scanning; Carbohydrate Sequence; Chemistry, Pharmaceutical; Crystallization; Delayed-Action Preparations; Diffusion; Drug Carriers/chemistry; Excipients/radiation effects*; Excipients/chemistry*; Indicators and Reagents; Kinetics; Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; Microwaves; Molecular Sequence Data; Pectins/radiation effects*; Pectins/chemistry*; Solubility; Thermodynamics; X-Ray Diffraction; Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
  9. Cytochrome P450 3A4 genetic polymorphisms and post-operative fentanyl requirements
    Tan PC, Hassan SK, Mohamad NA, Gan SH
    J Clin Pharm Ther, 2012 Feb;37(1):100-4.
    PMID: 21128989 DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2710.2010.01232.x
    WHAT IS KNOWN AND OBJECTIVE: Interindividual variability in drug responses may be attributable to genetically determined alteration in enzyme activity. In this study, we investigated the association between cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) genetic polymorphisms and post-operative fentanyl requirements.

    METHODS: Patients (n = 94) scheduled for gynaecological laparotomy received i.v. fentanyl infusion (3 μg/kg/h) after induction of general anaesthesia. Post-operative fentanyl requirements were quantified by using a patient-controlled analgesia and the number of i.v. fentanyl rescue analgesia required were recorded. Pain control was assessed using visual analogue scores (VAS) and fentanyl's adverse effects were documented. CYP3A4*4, CYP3A4*5 and CYP3A4*18 alleles of cytochrome P450 3A4 were identified by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism. Differences in fentanyl requirements, VAS scores and adverse effects among the various genotypes were compared.

    RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: No CYP3A4*4 and CYP3A4*5 alleles were detected. Eighty-nine patients (94·7%) were wild-type, five (5·3%) were heterozygous and none was homozygous. No significant difference was demonstrated between the genotype groups in terms of fentanyl consumption, pain control and adverse effects.

    WHAT IS NEW AND CONCLUSION: CYP3A4*4 and CYP3A4*5 are rare in the Malaysian Malay population. Genetic polymorphism of CYP3A4*18 may not play an important role in influencing postoperative fentanyl requirements.

    MeSH terms: Adult; Analgesics, Opioid/administration & dosage; Analgesics, Opioid/therapeutic use*; Female; Fentanyl/administration & dosage; Fentanyl/therapeutic use*; Genotype; Humans; Infusions, Intravenous; Laparotomy/methods; Malaysia; Middle Aged; Pain Measurement; Pain, Postoperative/drug therapy*; Pain, Postoperative/enzymology; Polymorphism, Genetic; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; Gynecologic Surgical Procedures/methods; Analgesia, Patient-Controlled/methods; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Cytochrome P-450 CYP3A/genetics*
  10. Fulltext Supermarket revolution in Asia and emerging development strategies to include small farmers
    Reardon T, Timmer CP, Minten B
    Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 2012 Jul 31;109(31):12332-7.
    PMID: 21135250 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1003160108
    A "supermarket revolution" has occurred in developing countries in the past 2 decades. We focus on three specific issues that reflect the impact of this revolution, particularly in Asia: continuity in transformation, innovation in transformation, and unique development strategies. First, the record shows that the rapid growth observed in the early 2000s in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand has continued, and the "newcomers"--India and Vietnam--have grown even faster. Although foreign direct investment has been important, the roles of domestic conglomerates and even state investment have been significant and unique. Second, Asia's supermarket revolution has exhibited unique pathways of retail diffusion and procurement system change. There has been "precocious" penetration of rural towns by rural supermarkets and rural business hubs, emergence of penetration of fresh produce retail that took much longer to initiate in other regions, and emergence of Asian retail developing-country multinational chains. In procurement, a symbiosis between modern retail and the emerging and consolidating modern food processing and logistics sectors has arisen. Third, several approaches are being tried to link small farmers to supermarkets. Some are unique to Asia, for example assembling into a "hub" or "platform" or "park" the various companies and services that link farmers to modern markets. Other approaches relatively new to Asia are found elsewhere, especially in Latin America, including "bringing modern markets to farmers" by establishing collection centers and multipronged collection cum service provision arrangements, and forming market cooperatives and farmer companies to help small farmers access supermarkets.
    MeSH terms: Agriculture/economics*; Agriculture/trends*; Asia, Southeastern; China; Food Handling/economics; Humans; Social Planning*; Models, Economic*
  11. Prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its risk factors in adult Malaysians: results of a nationwide survey
    Mohamud WN, Ismail Aa, Khir AS, Ismail IS, Musa KI, Kadir KA, et al.
    Diabetes Res Clin Pract, 2012 04;96(1):91-7.
    PMID: 22553777 DOI: 10.1016/j.diabres.2011.11.020
    Aim: To report the national prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its risk factors among adult Malaysians (>18 years old) based on World Health Organization (WHO), the National Cholesterol Education Program Expert Panel III (ATP III), International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the 'Harmonized' criteria.Methods: A multi-stage stratified sampling method was used to select 4341 subjects from Peninsular and East Malaysia. Subjects underwent physical and clinical examinations.Results: Based on the WHO, ATP III, IDF and Harmonized definitions, the overall crude prevalences of MetS were 32.1, 34.3, 37.1 and 42.5%, respectively. Regardless of the criteria used, MetS was higher in urban areas, in females, in the Indian population and increased significantly with age. Risk factors also increased with age; abdominal obesity was most prevalent (57.4%), was higher in females (64.2%) and was highest in Indians (68.8%).Hypertension was higher in males (56.5%) and highest among Malays (52.2%). In contrast,the Chinese had the highest prevalence of hypertriglyceridemia (47.4%).Conclusions: Malaysia has a much higher prevalence of MetS compared with other Asian countries and, unless there is immediate intervention to reduce risk factors, this may pose serious implications on the country's healthcare costs and services.
    MeSH terms: Adult; Asia; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Humans; Malaysia/epidemiology; Male; Surveys and Questionnaires; Risk Factors; Prevalence; Metabolic Syndrome X/epidemiology*
  12. Comparison study of growth plate fusion using MRI versus plain radiographs as used in age determination for exclusion of overaged football players
    George J, Nagendran J, Azmi K
    Br J Sports Med, 2012 Mar;46(4):273-8.
    PMID: 21173009 DOI: 10.1136/bjsm.2010.074948
    MRI of distal radius fusion is currently being used in the U17 World Cup to exclude overaged players. Developing countries that cannot afford to perform MRI on their players are using plain radiographs based on the same MRI criteria of fusion.
    MeSH terms: Adolescent; Age Determination by Skeleton/methods*; Growth Plate/anatomy & histology*; Growth Plate/radiography; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Malaysia; Male; Prospective Studies; Radius/anatomy & histology*; Radius/radiography; Soccer*; Young Adult
  13. Evaluation of peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in myopic eyes by spectral-domain optical coherence tomography
    Mohammad Salih PA
    J Glaucoma, 2012 Jan;21(1):41-4.
    PMID: 21173707 DOI: 10.1097/IJG.0b013e3181fc8053
    To investigate the influence of myopia on peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness using Cirrus optical coherence tomography (OCT) in normal eyes.
    MeSH terms: Adult; Axons/pathology*; Female; Glaucoma/diagnosis; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Myopia/classification; Myopia/diagnosis*; Optic Disk/pathology*; Optic Nerve Diseases/diagnosis*; Retinal Ganglion Cells/pathology*; Risk Factors; Confounding Factors (Epidemiology); Tomography, Optical Coherence*; Young Adult
  14. Improved biliary detection and diagnosis through intelligent machine analysis
    Logeswaran R
    Comput Methods Programs Biomed, 2012 Sep;107(3):404-12.
    PMID: 21194781 DOI: 10.1016/j.cmpb.2010.12.002
    This paper reports on work undertaken to improve automated detection of bile ducts in magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) images, with the objective of conducting preliminary classification of the images for diagnosis. The proposed I-BDeDIMA (Improved Biliary Detection and Diagnosis through Intelligent Machine Analysis) scheme is a multi-stage framework consisting of successive phases of image normalization, denoising, structure identification, object labeling, feature selection and disease classification. A combination of multiresolution wavelet, dynamic intensity thresholding, segment-based region growing, region elimination, statistical analysis and neural networks, is used in this framework to achieve good structure detection and preliminary diagnosis. Tests conducted on over 200 clinical images with known diagnosis have shown promising results of over 90% accuracy. The scheme outperforms related work in the literature, making it a viable framework for computer-aided diagnosis of biliary diseases.
    MeSH terms: Algorithms; Artificial Intelligence; Automation; Bile Duct Diseases/diagnosis; Bile Duct Diseases/therapy; Biliary Tract/pathology*; Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted/methods; Humans; Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted/methods; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Medical Informatics/methods; Reproducibility of Results; Models, Statistical; Neural Networks (Computer); Cholangiopancreatography, Magnetic Resonance/methods*
  15. Polymyositis and dermatomyositis in Sarawak: a profile of patients treated in the Sarawak General Hospital
    Teh CL, Wong JS, Soo HH
    Rheumatol Int, 2012 Jan;32(1):265-8.
    PMID: 21243497 DOI: 10.1007/s00296-010-1745-2
    We performed a cross-sectional study of the demography, clinical and laboratory features of patients with polymyositis and dermatomyositis followed up in our centre from 2006 to 2009. There were 12 cases, with the majority of them (58.3%) being woman. They have a mean age of 57.8 years and mean disease duration of 11.83 (SD 9.92) months. Our patients comprised of multi-ethnic groups with predominantly Chinese (83.3%), Sarawak natives (8.3%) and Malays (8.3%). They have a mean lag time to diagnosis of 3.67 (SD 4.27) months. Nine (75%) patients had dermatomyositis and 3(25%) had polymyositis. The common clinical manifestations found in our patients were proximal myopathy (100%), neck weakness (33.3%), dysphagia (33.3%) and interstitial lung disease (33.3%). For the nine patients with dermatomyositis, the most common dermatological manifestations were shawl sign (88.9%) and V sign (88.9%). Muscle enzymes were raised in 91.7% of patients. Electromyographies were carried out in four patients, and only one of our patients had muscle biopsy. Only 41.7% of our patients have positive ANA. The majority received prednisolone (100%) and hydroxychloroquine (58.3%). Malignancy occurred in five (three nasopharyngeal carcinomas, one sigmoid colon cancer and one lung cancer) out of the nine dermatomyositis patients but none in the polymyositis group. The mortality rate in our group was 4(33.3%) over the 4-year period. This study demonstrated the rarity of PM/DM in our centre with considerable lag time to diagnosis in our patients. Despite lack of muscle biopsy in our centre, our centre achieved appropriate diagnosis and management of PM/DM.
    MeSH terms: Aged; Biopsy; Cross-Sectional Studies; Dermatomyositis/diagnosis; Dermatomyositis/drug therapy*; Dermatomyositis/epidemiology*; Electromyography; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Hospitals, General/statistics & numerical data*; Humans; Hydroxychloroquine/therapeutic use; Malaysia; Male; Middle Aged; Prednisolone/therapeutic use; Retrospective Studies; Time Factors; Prevalence; Polymyositis/diagnosis; Polymyositis/drug therapy*; Polymyositis/epidemiology*; Muscle, Skeletal/pathology; Antirheumatic Agents/therapeutic use*
  16. Classification of speech dysfluencies using LPC based parameterization techniques
    Hariharan M, Chee LS, Ai OC, Yaacob S
    J Med Syst, 2012 Jun;36(3):1821-30.
    PMID: 21249515 DOI: 10.1007/s10916-010-9641-6
    The goal of this paper is to discuss and compare three feature extraction methods: Linear Predictive Coefficients (LPC), Linear Prediction Cepstral Coefficients (LPCC) and Weighted Linear Prediction Cepstral Coefficients (WLPCC) for recognizing the stuttered events. Speech samples from the University College London Archive of Stuttered Speech (UCLASS) were used for our analysis. The stuttered events were identified through manual segmentation and were used for feature extraction. Two simple classifiers namely, k-nearest neighbour (kNN) and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) were employed for speech dysfluencies classification. Conventional validation method was used for testing the reliability of the classifier results. The study on the effect of different frame length, percentage of overlapping, value of ã in a first order pre-emphasizer and different order p were discussed. The speech dysfluencies classification accuracy was found to be improved by applying statistical normalization before feature extraction. The experimental investigation elucidated LPC, LPCC and WLPCC features can be used for identifying the stuttered events and WLPCC features slightly outperforms LPCC features and LPC features.
    MeSH terms: Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted*; Humans; Speech-Language Pathology/classification*; Models, Statistical
  17. The effects of simulated rainfall on immature population dynamics of Aedes albopictus and female oviposition
    Dieng H, Rahman GM, Abu Hassan A, Che Salmah MR, Satho T, Miake F, et al.
    Int J Biometeorol, 2012 Jan;56(1):113-20.
    PMID: 21267602 DOI: 10.1007/s00484-011-0402-0
    Larvae of Aedes albopictus Skuse typically inhabit natural and artificial containers. Since these larval habitats are replenished by rainfall, Ae. albopictus may experience increased loss of immature stages in areas with high levels of rainfall. In this study, we investigated the effects of rainfall and container water level on population density, and oviposition activity of Ae. albopictus. In field and laboratory experiments, we found that rainfall resulted in the flushing of breeding habitats. Excess rain negatively impacted larval and pupal retention, especially in small habitats. When filled with water to overflowing, container habitats were significantly repellent to ovipositing females. Taken together, these data suggest that rainfall triggers population loss of Ae. albopictus and related species through a direct detrimental effect (flushing out) and an indirect effect (ovipositional repellency).
    MeSH terms: Aedes/physiology*; Animals; Female; Larva; Oviposition; Population Dynamics; Pupa; Rain*
  18. Anti-inflammatory activity of the aqueous extract of ficus deltoidea
    Zakaria ZA, Hussain MK, Mohamad AS, Abdullah FC, Sulaiman MR
    Biol Res Nurs, 2012 Jan;14(1):90-7.
    PMID: 21278166 DOI: 10.1177/1099800410395378
    Ficus deltoidea (Family Moraceae) leaves have been used traditionally by the Malays to treat ailments such as wounds, sores, and rheumatism. The aim of the present study was to determine the anti-inflammatory activity of the aqueous extract of F. deltoidea leaf (FDA) using acute and chronic inflammatory models. FDA, in the doses of 30, 100, and 300 mg/kg, was administered intraperitoneally in rats (n = 6) before the animals were subjected to the carrageenan-induced paw edema test, cotton pellet-induced granuloma test, and formalin test. The first two tests represent acute and chronic models of inflammation, respectively. The first and second phases of the formalin test represent neurogenic pain and inflammatory-mediated pain, respectively; thus, only the second phase was measured in the present study. Results showed that FDA exerted significant (p < .05) anti-inflammatory activity in all assays, with dose-response effects seen in the paw edema and formalin tests. In conclusion, the leaf of F. deltoidea possesses anti-inflammatory activity against acute and chronic inflammatory responses and against pain-associated inflammatory response. These findings justify the traditional uses of F. deltoidea leaves for treatment of inflammatory-mediated ailments.
    MeSH terms: Animals; Anti-Inflammatory Agents/pharmacology*; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Male; Plant Extracts/pharmacology*; Water/chemistry; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Ficus/chemistry*; Rats
  19. Genetic variations in transcription factor 7-like 2 (TCF7L2) gene: association of TCF7L2 rs12255372(G/T) or rs7903146(C/T) with breast cancer risk and clinico-pathological parameters
    Naidu R, Yip CH, Taib NA
    Med Oncol, 2012 Jun;29(2):411-7.
    PMID: 21301999 DOI: 10.1007/s12032-011-9837-8
    The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the association between TCF7L2 rs12255372(G/T) or rs7903146(C/T) polymorphism and breast cancer risk, and clinico-pathologic characteristics of the patients. Genotyping of these polymorphisms was performed on 387 breast cancer patients and 252 normal and healthy women who had no history of any malignancy using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method in a hospital-based Malaysian population. The allele (P = 0.033) frequency of rs7903146 (T) polymorphism was significantly higher in the cancer patients than normal individuals. No significant association was demonstrated between CT (OR(adj) = 1.386; 95% CI, 0.985-1.949) or TT (OR(adj) = 1.579; 95% CI, 0.869-2.870) genotype and breast cancer risk. However, women who were carriers of T allele (OR(adj) = 1.316; 95% CI, 1.022-1.695) or T allele genotype (OR(adj) = 1.419; 95% CI, 1.027-1.960) showed significant increased risk of breast cancer. Women who were GT heterozygotes (OR(adj) = 1.329; 95% CI, 0.948-1.862) or TT homozygotes (OR(adj) = 1.574; 95% CI, 0.829-2.987), and carriers of T allele genotype (OR(adj) = 1.365; 95% CI, 0.989-1.883) or T allele (OR(adj) = 1.284; 95% CI, 0.995-1.657) were not associated with breast cancer risk. The rs7903146(T) allele genotype was significantly associated with nodal involvement (P = 0.003) but rs12255372 (T) allele genotype was not associated with the clinico-pathologic characteristics. In conclusion, our findings suggest that rs7903146 (T) variant may elevate the risk of breast cancer, thus could be a potential candidate for breast cancer susceptibility. The variant may also increase the metastatic potential of the tumor.
    MeSH terms: Adult; Breast/metabolism*; Breast/pathology; Breast Neoplasms/genetics*; Breast Neoplasms/metabolism; Breast Neoplasms/pathology*; Female; Genotype; Humans; Immunoenzyme Techniques; Middle Aged; Neoplasm Staging; Polymorphism, Genetic/genetics*; Prognosis; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; Risk Factors; Case-Control Studies; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast/genetics*; Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast/metabolism; Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast/pathology*; Transcription Factor 7-Like 2 Protein/genetics*; Transcription Factor 7-Like 2 Protein/metabolism; Neoplasm Grading
  20. Clinically important detection of infection as an 'incidental' finding during cancer staging using FDG-PET/CT
    Wong PS, Lau WF, Worth LJ, Thursky KA, Drummond E, Slavin MA, et al.
    Intern Med J, 2012 Feb;42(2):176-83.
    PMID: 21309995 DOI: 10.1111/j.1445-5994.2011.02450.x
    BACKGROUND:
    FDG-PET/CT is widely used in the management of a variety of malignancies with excellent overall accuracy, despite the potential for false positive results related to infection and inflammation.

    AIM:
      As cancer patients can develop clinically inapparent infections, we evaluated the prevalence and nature of incidental findings reported to be suggestive of infections that had been identified during clinical cancer staging with FDG-PET/CT.

    METHODS:
    The study involved a retrospective analysis of 60 patients managed primarily at our facility from a total of 121 cases identified as having possible infection on clinical reporting of more than 4500 cancer staging investigations performed during the calendar year of 2008.

    RESULTS:
    Occult infections were uncommon overall (≤1%), but most often because of pneumonia (31.6%), upper respiratory tract infections (21.1%) or wound infections (15.8%). Abnormal scans contributed to patients' management in 52.7% of cases. Two out of 13 patients whose scan abnormalities were not investigated further had worsening changes on repeated scan and one of these patients had clinical deterioration.

    CONCLUSIONS:
    In patients with FDG-PET/CT scans suggestive of infection and in whom a final diagnosis could be reached, the positive predictive value for FDG-PET/CT scans was 89% suggesting that abnormal scans indicative of infection should be investigated further in this population.
    MeSH terms: Adult; Aged; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Neoplasm Staging/methods*; Respiratory Tract Infections/epidemiology; Respiratory Tract Infections/radionuclide imaging*; Tomography, X-Ray Computed*; Wound Infection/epidemiology; Wound Infection/radionuclide imaging*; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18*; Incidental Findings*; Positron-Emission Tomography*; Young Adult; Multimodal Imaging/methods*
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