1. 30 mg kg-1 chlorpromazine (CPZ) depleted more than half of the tissue histamine from lungs, stomach, ileum and skin of the normal guinea-pigs. However, the drug increased the tissue histamine content in scorbutic animals. 2. In contrast, reserpine depleted histamine from the four tested tissues in both normal and scorbutic animals, except those in the lungs of the control animals. 3. Ascorbic acid only depleted histamine from the stomach and ileum. 4. A 24 hr period was the time limit for CPZ to deplete the histamine in all the four tested tissues. 5. Histamine partially or completely recovered in the tissues after the next 24 hr.
A case of actinomycosis occurring four years after the surgical removal of an impacted lower third molar is presented. The need for careful wound debridement and the use of antibiotics as a prophylactic measure is emphasized.
Disease patterns among outpatients seen at static and travelling dispensaries, as well as among hospital admissions and hospital deaths are compared between 1959 and 1974. While disease patterns of patients seen by travelling dispensaries show no change, patients seen by static dispensaries and hospital admissions in 1974 show a marked relative decline in infective and parasitic diseases and an increase in accidents, poisonings and violence. Causes of death in hospitals in 1974 were different, there being relative increases in diseases of early infancy, diseases of circulatory system, neoplasms, and accidents, poisonings, violence while infective and parasitic diseases, and diseases of the digestive system declined.
A 50-year-old male had an acute jejunogastric intussusception complicating a Bilroth 11 gastrectomy done 20 years previously for peptic ulcer. Preoperatively, the diagnosis was suspected from the plain abdominal radiograph which was subsequently confirmed by barium meal. The patient had an uneventful recovery following resection of the intussuscepted segment and an end-to-end anastomosis. Although rare, the condition is serious and should be recognised promptly and treated surgically. The diagnosis should always be considered in a patient who has had a previous gastrojejunostomy presented with a sudden onset of epigastric pain, bloody vomitus and epigastric mass.
Analysis of mothers' recall data collected in 1976-1977 by a probability survey in Peninsular Malaysia shows an association between breastfeeding up to six months of age and improved survival of infants throughout the first year of life. Inappropriate sample selection and inadequate control of confounding can introduce large biases in these analyses. The magnitude and direction of these biases are presented. Even when these biases are dealt with, unsupplemented breastfeeding appears more beneficial than supplemented breastfeeding. The younger the infant and the longer the breastfeeding, the greater the estimated benefits in terms of deaths averted. The use of powdered infant formula did not appear to offset the detrimental effects of early weaning and supplementation. The positive relationships found in these analyses between breastfeeding and survival are not due to death precluding or terminating breastfeeding. Nor are they likely to be due to a shift away from breastfeeding because of recent illness, which was also controlled in the analyses. Nor are they likely to be due to other factors that both increase mortality risk and shorten breastfeeding; when such factors are taken into account, the beneficial effects of breastfeeding become stronger and imply that, if there had been no breastfeeding in this sample, twice as many babies would have died after the first week of life.
Field observations were made on Coquillettidia crassipes during a study of Mansonia in a swamp forest ecotype in Tanjong Karang. There was an increase in abundance in July consistent with the increase in abundance of Mansonia and an increase in rainfall. The biting cycle showed a dramatic early peak during the period 1900-2000 hours. The probability of daily survival through one day for the first three gonotrophic cycles was 0.770, 0.722 and 0.759. Two of the 54 Cq. crassipes dissected were infective, with two and 25 L3 larvae of Brugia. Both subperiodic B. malayi and B. pahangi developed into L3 larvae in laboratory bred Cq. crassipes. The index of experimental infection was higher for B. pahangi. Mansonia bonneae and Ma. uniformis showed higher indices of experimental infection than Cq. crassipes for subperiodic B. malayi. It is concluded that in an endemic area with a high density of Cq. crassipes it could act as a secondary vector of Brugian filariasis.
Susceptibility tests were carried between 1987-1989 on Anopheles maculatus female adults collected from twelve different localities in Peninsular Malaysia to DDT. Mosquitoes collected from all localities except those from Kuala Berang, Trengganu state were found to be susceptible to DDT when tested with 4% impregnated paper. Several factors contributing to the lack of development of resistance despite many years of residual spraying in Peninsular Malaysia include exophily, exophagic and excito-repellency behaviour of An. maculatus and the inadequate spraying coverage of houses.
The populations of scrub typhus vector chiggers were compared in two developing oil palm areas, one 5 years old and the other 7 years old at the inception of the study. Both areas were located within the same oil palm scheme in central Peninsular Malaysia. Leptotrombidium (L.) deliense, a principal vector of scrub typhus in Malaysia, was found in reduced numbers in the older oil palm habitat. This reduction is attributed to changes in the microhabitat, specifically the elimination of grasses between the oil palm trees due to canopy shading and to cultural practices.
19,983 cases of diarrhoea throughout Sabah, Malaysia from January 1971 to December 1978 were bacteriologically examined for Shigella. A total of 241 Shigella isolates representing 9 serotypes were encountered. S. flexneri and S. sonnei accounted for 69.7% and 29.5% of the isolates respectively. S. flexneri type 2 was very common and comprised 47% of the flexneri strains. S. flexneri types 5.6 and Y were rarely found. Only two cases of S. boydii were isolated. S. dysenteriae was not encountered. Isolation rates ranged from 0.64% to 1.73% while the percentages or cases of diarrhoea bacteriologically examined in relation to the number notified range from 13.7 to 29.6. Kota Kinabalu. Tawau and Sandakan accounted for 50.6%. 21.2% and 8.2% of Shigella isolates respectively. However. no isolations were made from Lahad Datu, Semporna and Victoria [Labuan Island]. S. flexneri type 5 was only found in Sandakan while S. flexnert type Y was isolated from Kota Kinubulu. No S. Sonnel was found in Ranau and Tenom.
Demographic and drug abuse characteristics of 3,484 new drug abuse contacts presenting to the General Hospital, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia are reported. The large majority were heroin inhalers. They were different from the traditional Eastern opium inhalers and similar to Western heroin injectors in that they were young, male, single, and frequently unemployed. These features and the relative underrepresentation of Chinese suggest that the Chinese of this study did not learn narcotic abuse from opium-smoking relatives.
Caustic pulping of oil-palm frond-fiber strands was conducted following a central composite design using a two-level factorial plan involving three pulping variables (temperature: 160-180 degrees C, time: 1-2 h, alkali charge: 20-30% NaOH). Responses of pulp properties to the process variables were analyzed using a statistical software (DESIGN-EXPERT). The results indicated that frond-fiber strands could be pulped with ease to about 35-45% yield. Statistically, the reaction time was not a significant factor while the influences of the treatment temperature and caustic charge were in general significantly relative to the properties of the resultant pulps.
This is a preliminary cross-sectional study of 51 caregivers of older persons attending the Geriatric Clinic at an urban hospital in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A questionnaire helped determine how the duration of caregiving affects the outcome of caregiver burden. The short version of Zarit's Burden Interview (BI) allowed the burden level to be grouped as low or high burden. The duration of caregiving was also grouped into short (two or less years) or long (more than two years) durations. One third of the caregivers, 31% (16 out of 51) reported high burden and within this group 81%, (13 out of 16) are short duration caregivers. Majority of the longer duration caregivers, 88% (21 out of 24) reported low level of burden. This was a significant finding (p-value 0.008). The study also showed that a higher proportion of caregivers are employed, working in the private sector, and earn less than RM2,000 per month. However, these findings were not significantly associated with high burden. It is concluded that although this study showed low level of caregiver burden, shorter duration of caregiving is associated with higher level of burden and longer duration of caregiving is associated with lower level of burden.
Study site: Geriatric clinic, University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Fermentation of sugar by Saccharomyces cerevisiae, for production of ethanol in an immobilized cell reactor (ICR) was successfully carried out to improve the performance of the fermentation process. The fermentation set-up was comprised of a column packed with beads of immobilized cells. The immobilization of S. cerevisiae was simply performed by the enriched cells cultured media harvested at exponential growth phase. The fixed cell loaded ICR was carried out at initial stage of operation and the cell was entrapped by calcium alginate. The production of ethanol was steady after 24 h of operation. The concentration of ethanol was affected by the media flow rates and residence time distribution from 2 to 7 h. In addition, batch fermentation was carried out with 50 g/l glucose concentration. Subsequently, the ethanol productions and the reactor productivities of batch fermentation and immobilized cells were compared. In batch fermentation, sugar consumption and ethanol production obtained were 99.6% and 12.5% v/v after 27 h while in the ICR, 88.2% and 16.7% v/v were obtained with 6 h retention time. Nearly 5% ethanol production was achieved with high glucose concentration (150 g/l) at 6 h retention time. A yield of 38% was obtained with 150 g/l glucose. The yield was improved approximately 27% on ICR and a 24 h fermentation time was reduced to 7 h. The cell growth rate was based on the Monod rate equation. The kinetic constants (K(s) and mu(m)) of batch fermentation were 2.3 g/l and 0.35 g/lh, respectively. The maximum yield of biomass on substrate (Y(X-S)) and the maximum yield of product on substrate (Y(P-S)) in batch fermentations were 50.8% and 31.2% respectively. Productivity of the ICR were 1.3, 2.3, and 2.8 g/lh for 25, 35, 50 g/l of glucose concentration, respectively. The productivity of ethanol in batch fermentation with 50 g/l glucose was calculated as 0.29 g/lh. Maximum production of ethanol in ICR when compared to batch reactor has shown to increase approximately 10-fold. The performance of the two reactors was compared and a respective rate model was proposed. The present research has shown that high sugar concentration (150 g/l) in the ICR column was successfully converted to ethanol. The achieved results in ICR with high substrate concentration are promising for scale up operation. The proposed model can be used to design a lager scale ICR column for production of high ethanol concentration.
This report describes inquiries relating to poisoning cases which were received by the National Poison Centre of Malaysia from the years 1996 to 2000. The study utilized data from the NPC report forms. Only data relating to patient contact with a poison or chemical were included in the analysis. The poison centre received an average of 186 poisoning inquiries per year. Doctors remained the highest group of caller to the poison centre throughout the five-year period. Nearly 50% of all inquiries was regarding pesticide poisoning and this trend remained constant during the five-year period. Overall, the findings showed that poisoning inquiries relating to patient care were lower than in Japan and the United States.
Rhythmic flashing behavior of synchronous flashing fireflies from Malaysia and New Guinea was studied. The "circa second" firefly pacemaker has characteristics analogous to circadian rhythms, such as entrainment, phase shifting, limits of entrainment, fringe entrainment, and effects of the light:dark ratio on phase. The three species studied show different phase-response curves; a light pulse causes a large phase shift in one firefly species (Pteroptyx cribellata) but small phase shifts in others (Pteroptyx malaccae and Luciola pupilla). Comparative studies of the phase angle differences between the animal's flash and the flash of a controlled light source suggest at least two different mechanisms of attaining synchrony: 1) by cycle-to-cycle phase shifting of a stable oscillator; 2) by changing the underlying period (tau) of a variable oscillator.
The life cycle of 5 generations of Leptotrombidium (L.) fletcheri infected with Rickettsia tsutsugamushi and reared under ambient temperatures in Malaysia was presented and compared with a colony reared at a constant 27 degrees C (Neal and Barnett, 1961). In general our colony had a longer generation time (average of 54 days from engorged larvae to adult compared with 37 days) and produced fewer eggs (average of 127.9 compared with 900.0) than the comparison colony. Possible factors causing these differences are discussed.
PIP: To determine the acceptability, practicability, and popularity of Depo-Provera as an additional contraceptive method to be offered by the National Family Planning Board NFPB of Malaysia, 550 patients of Sungai Besar, Malaysia, who accepted the Depo-Provera injection method from the start of the injection program, February 23, 1968, until the cutoff date of December 31, 1969, were studied. At the cutoff date, 318 (58%) were still receiving regular injections at 3-month intervals. The remaining 232 women discontinued use of the injection. Of those who discontinued use, 176 (32%) were interviewed, while the other 56 women were lost to follow-up, due mainly to migration. Assuming that 1 injection would protect a woman from getting pregnant for a 3-month period, the retention rates at the end of 12 and 24 months were 63% and 41%. These continuation rates were fairly high and were as good as those for the oral pill, which is the main contraceptive method provided since the beginning of the operational service program of the NFPB in May 1967. Except for a small number of Indian women with a high rate of discontinuation there was not much difference in continuing the method between the Malays (60%) and the Chinese (56%). The younger age group of women seemed to have a higher proportion of discontinuation. The findings showed that amenorrhea (35%)most bothered the women who discontinued the injection method. Irregular bleeding (20%) and other medical side effects (11%) were the other main complaints that caused women to discontinue using the injection as a contraceptive method. It was concluded that Depo-Provera (150 mg) injected once every 3 months appears to be simple, acceptable, popular, and effective as a contraceptive method among women in a rural town in Malaysia.