SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Faculty of Dentistry, Melaka-Manipal Medical College among 3(rd) and 4(th) year BDS students. A total of 145 dental students, who consented, participate in the study. Students were divided into 14 groups. Nine online sessions followed by nine face-to-face discussions were held. Each session addressed topics related to oral lesions and orofacial pain with pharmacological applications. After each week, students were asked to reflect on blended learning. On completion of 9 weeks, reflections were collected and analyzed.
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Qualitative analysis was done using thematic analysis model suggested by Braun and Clarke.
RESULTS: The four main themes were identified, namely, merits of blended learning, skill in writing prescription for oral diseases, dosages of drugs, and identification of strengths and weakness. In general, the participants had a positive feedback regarding blended learning. Students felt more confident in drug selection and prescription writing. They could recollect the doses better after the online and face-to-face sessions. Most interestingly, the students reflected that they are able to identify their strength and weakness after the blended learning sessions.
CONCLUSIONS: Blended learning module was successfully implemented for reinforcing dental pharmacology. The results obtained in this study enable us to plan future comparative studies to know the effectiveness of blended learning in dental pharmacology.
METHODS: Patients diagnosed with a single lumbar herniated intervertebral disc (HIVD) refractory to conservative management but not willing for immediate surgery were selected for a prospective nonrandomized comparative study. An SNRB was administered as a therapeutic alternative using the AP subpedicular approach in one group (n = 25; mean age, 45 ± 5.4 years) and the oblique Scotty dog subpedicular approach in the other group (n = 22; mean age, 43.8 ± 4.7 years). Results were compared in terms of the duration of the procedure, the number of C-arm exposures, accuracy, pain relief, functional outcome and the duration of relief.
RESULTS: Our results suggest that the oblique Scotty dog subpedicular approach took a significantly longer duration (p = 0.02) and a greater number of C-arm exposures (p = 0.001). But, its accuracy of needle placement was 95.5% compared to only 72% using the AP subpedicular approach (p = 0.03). There was no significant difference in terms of clinical outcomes between these approaches.
CONCLUSIONS: The AP subpedicular approach was simple and facile, but the oblique Scotty dog subpedicular approach was more accurate. However, a brief window period of pain relief was achieved irrespective of the approaching technique used.
METHOD: This is a cross-sectional study of schoolchildren aged 9-15 years based in Kuala Langat, a rural district located in the south-west of the Malaysian state of Selangor. Schoolchildren were selected randomly and given questionnaires to fill in. This was followed by interview with the children on the same day by one of the authors (CCMB) to ensure consistency of response. Recurrent abdominal pain was defined as 'at least three episodes of abdominal pain, severe enough to affect their activities over a period longer than three months' [1]. The children were also asked to answer either 'yes' or 'no' to whether they had experienced various life events in the previous year.
RESULTS: A sample of 1462 schoolchildren (722 boys and 740 girls) aged between 9 and 15 years were included in the study. There were 768 Malays, 393 Chinese and 301 Indians. Of these 1462 children, 161 (11.0%) had recurrent abdominal pain. On performing multiple logistic regression analysis, two life events were significantly associated with recurrent abdominal pain: death of a family member (P = 0.008; odds ratio 0.61, 95% CI 0.43-0.88) and a change in occupation of an immediate family member (P = 0.003; odds ratio 0.53, 95% CI 0.35-0.81).
CONCLUSION: This study suggests that recurrent abdominal pain in children is associated with recent stressful life events in the children's lives.
METHODOLOGY: Twenty-four children referred consecutively to the University of Malaya Medical Centre who fulfilled Apley's criteria (at least three episodes of abdominal pain severe enough to affect normal activity over a period longer than 3 months) were tested for lactase deficiency using a pocket breath test analyser (BreatH2 meter; Europa Scientific, Cheshire, England). Lactulose was used to check for hydrogen-producing capacity.
RESULTS: There were 14 males and 10 females in the study, consisting of five Malays, 14 Chinese and five Indians. Mean age was 9.9 years. Seventeen of the 24 children (70.8%) with recurrent abdominal pain who underwent the breath hydrogen test had a positive result. In those with a negative result, subsequent lactulose administration resulted in a positive rise in breath hydrogen. None of the 24 children developed abdominal pain during the test. All the Indian subjects, 71.4% of the Chinese subjects and 40% of the Malay subjects with recurrent abdominal pain had lactase deficiency. The proportion of boys and girls with lactase deficiency was similar (71.4 vs 70.0%, respectively). There was no significant difference between lactase sufficient and deficient children with recurrent abdominal pain with regard to sex, age, ethnic group and clinical features. Following a lactose-free diet, none of the children in the breath hydrogen positive and negative groups reported any appreciable difference in pain symptoms.
CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of lactase deficiency among this group of Malaysian children with recurrent abdominal pain was high, but lactase deficiency did not appear to play an important role in causing the symptoms.
Results: The findings showed piano players have a higher NDI, lower CVA, and RSP when compared with the non-piano players at a statistically significant level of p-value <0.05.
Objective: Playing-related musculoskeletal disorders (PRMSD) are a common problem for the pianist. The poor upper body ergonomics influences the natural positioning of the neck and shoulders, which involves forward head posture (FHP) and rounded shoulder posture (RSP). This misaligned position could produce a sensation of pain over the upper body, which affects the piano player and computer users with similar ergonomic posture. Recently, photogrammetry methods are commonly applied in a clinical setting to assess posture. The goal of this research is to compare the upper body playing-related muscu-loskeletal disorders between the piano and the non-piano players by applying photogrammetry.
Materials and Methods: This causal-comparative study includes 70 participants with 35 piano and 35 non-piano players. The participant's FHP was assessed using a digitized photo to record the Craniovertebral angle (CVA) with the support of Kinovea software. Besides, digital Vernier Calliper used to assess the scapular index on the RSP and Neck disability indices (NDI) used to measure neck pain and functional disability of the participants.
Objective: This study examined research productivity of NSAIDs in Malaysia.
Materials and Methods: This bibliometric study included all published research articles on NSAIDs from 1979 to 2018, which were conducted in Malaysia. The search databases such as Google Scholar, PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Scopus were used. Search terms included NSAIDs and specific drug names such as ibuprofen, celecoxib, and naproxen. Growth of publication, authorship pattern, citation analysis, journal index, type of studies, and geographical distribution of institutions publishing articles on NSAIDs were measured.
Results: Overall, 111 articles were retrieved from 1979 to 2018. The annual productivity of articles throughout the study fluctuated in which the highest productivity was in 2018, 12.61% (n = 14). Majority of articles were multiple authored, 99.10% (n = 109), and University of Science Malaysia (USM) produced the highest number of articles (30 articles). Most of the articles were International Scientific Indexing-indexed, 52.25% (n = 58), and the main issue studied in most of the articles was the drug formulation of NSAIDs.
Conclusion: The growth of NSAID research in Malaysia was slow, and the majority of research involved laboratory studies. Clinical studies evaluating the clinical outcomes of NSAIDs in patients, particularly using large healthcare databases are still lacking.