School children from 3 primary and 2 secondary schools in Sarawak were examined for the presence of gastrointestinal helminths. One primary school and 1 secondary school were located in a town (Serian), the other primary and secondary schools were in the countryside outside Serian. The intestinal helminths detected were Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura, Enterobius vermicularis and hookworm. Children from the rural schools had higher numbers of eggs in their faeces than those from the Serian schools. Children from the rural primary schools had higher number of eggs than those from the rural secondary school. The prevalence of Ascaris, Trichuris and hookworms in male and female and in primary and secondary school children was recorded.
This paper reviews the oral and dental lesions that are seen during pregnancy. Trimester approach should be adopted in the management of the pregnant patients. A good dental preventive programme is essential. The significance of prescribing fluoride supplements and the use of dental radiography during pregnancy is also briefly reviewed.
Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) has been associated with high mortality. Improved understanding of the pathophysiology, recognition of precipitating events and improved management has decreased the mortality over the years. Mechanical ventilation is still the corner stone of the management of the disease. It is well recognised that high tidal volumes and airway pressures increase the morbidity, hence the need to use alternative modes of ventilation like pressure control with or without inverse ratio ventilation. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation is still experimental and not easily available, whereas prone position to improve oxygenation is simple and inexpensive. The concept of pathological oxygen dependency and therapy aimed at supranormal values has failed to improve survival. Restricting the fluids to prevent further oedema formation in an already wet lung has improved the survival rate. Nitric oxide and surfactant have failed to produce desirable effect in large studies. Pharmacological support to inhibit inflammation with non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, antifungal agents, prostaglandin and corticosteroids have all failed. Interestingly corticosteroid rescue treatment in the late phase of ARDS has shown promise. Antiendotoxin and anticytokine studies which began with much enthusiasm is yet to produce desirable results.
The Malaysian Society of Anaesthesiologists published a document entitled "Recommendations for Standards of Monitoring during Anaesthesia and Recovery" in 1993. This paper examines the results of two surveys, carried out in 1995 and 1996 respectively; to determine compliance with published Monitoring Standards in Malaysian public and private hospitals. In the private sector, compliance with the recommended standards during anaesthesia varied greatly. Of the 28 government hospitals surveyed in 1996, compliance with monitoring standards during anaesthesia was almost 100%. Standards in recovery areas were less than ideal. The majority of anaesthesiologists thought that the current recommended standards were adequate.
A survey in 1996 of our female patients suggest that the three commonest causes of infertility were endometriosis, anovulation and idiopathic which comprises of about 70% of all the patients. In the male patients, sperm morphology evaluation by critical criteria showed that abnormal morphology was present in 71% while 87% of all the semen analysis were abnormal. The objective of this study was to assess the status of IUI before proceeding to formulate patient protocols for IVF in a tertiary infertility referral unit. A retrospective study of patients data was done from Jan 1995 to Dec 1996. Ovarian stimulation by clomiphene for anovulatory and idiopathic patients was performed on couples with at least one patent fallopian tube. Ovulation induction was by an intramuscular injection of 5000 i.u of HCG after follicular maturation. IUI was performed approximately 36-40 hours later. A total of 74 couples received 114 treatment cycles producing a total of 9 conceptions. The conception rate of IUI was therefore 7.89% per cycle and 12.16% per couple with the cumulative pregnancy rate of 28.21%. Associated success features of IUI found in this study were the age of the woman and the semen parameters of the husband.
Diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy prior to rupture is an arduous task even with the availability of many new investigative methods and imaging modalities. Above all, a high index of suspicion is necessary when dealing with women who present in early pregnancy with abdominal pain and vaginal bleeding. With the increased use of ovulation induction agents, the probability of heterotropic pregnancy should be kept in mind. The use of transvaginal ultrasonography (TVS) will help in earlier diagnosis because of its advantages over transabdominal ultrasonography (TAS).
The aim of this study was to determine if knowledge of both the serum HCV RNA and serum anti core IgM antibody status enabled one to predict the histological severity in chronic hepatitis C. We studied 45 female patients with chronic hepatitis C infection. The presence or absence of IgM antibodies to HCV and HCV RNA by PCR in each patient's serum was determined. Liver biopsies performed were scored according to a modified Desmet's histological activity index. Negative HCV RNA patients had least histological change. HCV RNA positive patients who were also IgM antibody positive had lower scores than their IgM negative counterparts. The grade of histological severity is more accurately predictable from knowledge of both the HCV RNA and IgM anti HCV status of the patient.
This study was the first assessment of a nationwide risk approach system to antenatal management introduced to Malaysia in 1989. Three rapid, record-based surveys on three different study groups were conducted to determine risk factor prevalence, accuracy of risk assignment, action after risk assignment and the relationship of risk level and place of delivery. The most frequent risk factors were short birth interval, high parity and first pregnancy. Accuracy of risk assignment was highest at the lowest levels of risk and poorest at the highest levels. Women at the lowest levels of risk were more likely to be seen by a doctor than women at highest risk. These was a trend to deliver in hospital, rather than at home, as level of risk increased; but many women at high risk still delivered at home. Recommendations are made on modifications to the system prior to future evaluation.
Sixty-three breath samples were collected from patients who underwent a 14C-urea breath test. Following ingestion of a radiolabelled 14C-labelled urea solution, breath samples containing 14C-labelled carbon dioxide were trapped in a solution containing hyamine hydroxide. Samples were then counted in a liquid scintillation counter. Breath samples were collected at 2, 15, 20, 25 and 30 minutes following ingestion of the urea solution. The presence or absence of Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection was determined on the basis of endoscopic biopsy tests which included culture, histological examination, rapid urease test and a gram stain of a fresh tissue smear. Thirty-two HP positive and 31 HP negative samples were collected. The mean counts at 15, 20, 12 and 30 minutes time points were: 4413, 4458, 4109 and 3795 dpm respectively for the positive samples and 1275, 877, 690 and 565 dpm respectively for the negative samples. Based on a cutoff value (mean of the negative samples + 3 standard deviations) for every time point, HP positive and negative samples could be clearly differentiated giving a sensitivity and specificity of 100%. The 14C-urea breath test is a reliable and convenient diagnostic test for H. pylori.