Methods: Bedside instruments that can be used includes a measuring tape, compass, goniometer, inclinometer and cervical range of motion (CROM) instrument.
Discussion: Cervical flexion-extension, lateral flexion and rotation will be assessed with bedside instruments. This would aid in increasing accuracy and precision of objective measurement while conducting clinical examination to determine the cervical range of motion.
Methods: Proliferation and apoptosis studies of U-87 MG cells following stingless bee honey treatment were carried out using MTS assay and acridine orange/propidium iodide dual staining, respectively.
Results: Results demonstrated time and dose-dependent cytotoxicity using 0.625%, 1.25% and 10% stingless bee honey (P < 0.05). IC50 values were calculated using cells treated with 10% stingless bee honey. It was also observed that 10% stingless bee honey induced nuclear shrinkage, chromatin condensation and nucleus fragmentation, indicating that cellular changes were consistent with the apoptotic characteristics of the cells.
Conclusion: These data provide a good basis for further evaluation of the medicinal properties of stingless bee honey from Heterotrigona itama sp. This source of honey may serve as a potential therapy for malignant glioma.
Method: A retrospective review case records of patients who had undergone external ventricular drainage (EVD) for suspected meningitic hydropcephalus in Hospital Sultanah Aminah Johor Bahru (HSAJB), Johor, Malaysia.
Results: Fifty-one cases were analysed. Mean age of patients was 37.27 years old, with 64.7% of them was male. Univariate analysis revealed that the main parameters to determine CSF sterility were CSF glucose (95% CI, 0.852, 10.290, P = 0.001), CSF protein (CI 95%, 0.722, 14.898, P < 0.001), CSF gram stain (95% CI, 16.437, 0.877, P < 0.001 ) and CSF appearance ( 0.611, 6.362, P = 0.012). Multivariate analysis had proven that gram stain was the main parameter in the CSF analysis (CI 95%, 16.437, 0.029, P = 0.016). No significant differences in CSF results were observed from EVD and lumbar puncture.
Conclusion: The most significant parameter in CSF to determine infection was gram stain.
Methods: Embryonic day 18 (E-18) rat hippocampus neurons were cultured with poly-L-lysine coated glass coverslips. Following optimisation, KA (0.5 μM), a chemoconvulsant agent, was administered at three different time-points (30, 60 and 90 min) to induce seizure in rat hippocampal neuronal cell culture. We examined cell viability, neurite outgrowth density and immunoreactivity of the hippocampus neuron culture by measuring brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), γ-amino butyric acid A (GABAA) subunit α-1 (GABRA1), tyrosine receptor kinase B (TrkB), and inositol trisphosphate receptor (IP3R/IP3) levels.
Results: The results revealed significantly decreased and increased immunoreactivity changes in TrkB (a BDNF receptor) and IP3R, respectively, at 60 min time point.
Conclusion: The current findings suggest that TrkB and IP3 could have a neuroprotective role which could be a potential pharmacological target for anti-epilepsy drugs.
Methods: Using a pilocarpine-induced epileptic mouse model, sensory-motor and visual cortical slices were prepared, and the whole-cell patch clamp technique was used to record spontaneous inhibitory post-synaptic currents (sIPSCs).
Results: The primary finding was that the mean amplitude of sIPSC from the sensory-motor cortex increased significantly in epileptic mice when the recording pipette contained MK-801 compared to control mice, whereas the mean sIPSC frequency was not significantly different, indicating that post-synaptic mechanisms are involved. However, there was no significant pre-synaptic inhibition through preNMDARs in the acute brain slices from pilocarpine-induced epileptic mice.
Conclusion: In the acute case of epilepsy, a compensatory mechanism of post-synaptic inhibition, possibly from ambient GABA, was observed through changes in the amplitude without significant changes in the frequency of sIPSC compared to control mice. The role of preNMDAR-mediated inhibition in epileptogenesis during the chronic condition or in the juvenile stage warrants further investigation.
Methods: This is a retrospective study consisting of 199 patients with meningiomas who have been operated at the Kuala Lumpur General Hospital from January 2010-December 2014. They were categorised into skull base and non-skull base groups. Demography, tumour characteristics, and patient outcomes were analysed. Kaplan-Meier survival curves as well as Cox hazard univariable and multivariable regressions for the possible predictors of survival were analysed.
Results: 97.5% of the patients (n = 194) had WHO grade I meningioma and only five patients had WHO grade II meningioma. There was a female predominance (n = 134; 67.3%), with a male-to-female ratio of 1:2. Some 27.1 % patients had skull base meningiomas. Patients with skull base meningiomas had poorer outcomes and discharge conditions (n = 23; 42.6% P < 0.01), in addition to higher risk of incomplete resections (n = 34; 63% P < 0.01). Multivariate cox hazard regressions showed that the skull base meningioma group had four times the risk of death of the non-skull base group.
Conclusions: Symptomatic meningiomas can be curative if the tumour is completely removed. Our study has revealed that skull base meningiomas which were operated locally had higher rates of incomplete resection and poorer surgical outcomes as compared to the non-skull base group. Patients with skull base meningiomas had four times the risk of death vis-à-vis non-skull base ones. More local studies are needed to look into skull base meningiomas for the improvement of its surgical outcomes.