Our previous study showed vitamin E deficiency in newborns (69.7%) and mothers at term (85.9%) when the ratio between serum vitamin E in mg/dl and total lipids in g/dl was used as an indicator of vitamin E status. This study was conducted to determine the human milk content of vitamin E. During the first 12 days of lactation milk vitamin E levels remained almost constant (day 1, 0.68 mg/dl; day 12, 0.65 mg/dl), milk total lipid levels increased daily (day 1, 1.11 g/dl; day 12, 3.60 g/dl), and the ratio between milk vitamin E and total lipids dropped steadily (day 1, 1.3; day 12, 0.2). In spite of this drop in vitamin E status, it is unlikely that vitamin E availability will be affected in neonates, because normal neonates absorb milk fats well and this ability increases with age.
In this study, the bacteriostatic effect of Piper betle and Psidium guajava extracts on selected early dental plaque bacteria was investigated based on changes in the doubling time (g) and specific growth rates (micro). Streptococcus sanguinis, Streptococcus mitis and Actinomyces sp. were cultured in Brain Heart Infusion (BHI) in the presence and absence of the extracts. The growth of bacteria was monitored periodically every 15 min over a period of 9 h to allow for a complete growth cycle. Growth profiles of the bacteria in the presence of the extracts were compared to those in the absence and deviation in the g and micro were determined and analyzed. It was found that the g and mu were affected by both extracts. At 4 mg mL(-1) of P. betle the g-values for S. sanguinis and S. mitis were increased by 12.0- and 10.4-fold, respectively (p < 0.05). At similar concentration P. guajava increased the g-value by 1.8- and 2.6 -fold, respectively (p < 0.05). The effect on Actinomyces sp. was observed at a much lower magnitude. It appears that P. betle and P. guajava extracts have bacteriostatic effect on the plaque bacteria by creating a stressed environment that had suppressed the growth and propagation of the cells. Within the context of the dental plaque, this would ensure the attainment of thin and healthy plaque. Thus, decoctions of these plants would be suitable if used in the control of dental plaque.
Morinda citrifolia, is a valuable medicinal plant with a wide range of therapeutic properties and extensive transformation study on this plant has yet been known. Present study was conducted to establish a simple and reliable transformation protocol for M. citrifolia utilising Agrobacterium tumefaciens via direct seed exposure. In this study, the seeds were processed by tips clipping and dried and subsequently incubated in inoculation medium. Four different parameters during the incubation such as incubation period, bacterial density, temperature and binary vectors harbouring beta-glucuronidase (GUS) gene (pBI121 and pGSA1131), were tested to examine its effect on transformation efficiency. The leaves from the treated and germinated seedlings were analysed via Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), histochemical assay of the GUS gene and reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR). Results of the study showed that Agrobacterium strain LBA4404 with optical density of 1.0 and 2 h incubation period were optimum for M. citrifolia transformation. It was found that various co-cultivation temperatures tested and type of vector used did not affect the transformation efficiency. The highest transformation efficiency for M. citrifolia direct seed transformation harbouring pBI121 and pGSA1131 was determined to be 96.8% with 2 h co-cultivation treatment and 80.4% when using bacterial density of 1.0, respectively. The transformation method can be applied for future characterization study of M. citrifolia.
Introduction: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a condition that includes the presence of a cluster of risk factors specific for cardiovascular disease (CVD). The criteria used to aid the diagnosis of MetS includes abdominal obesity, elevated triglycerides, low high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, hypertension or use of antihypertensive medication, elevated fasting blood glucose and other risk factors. Objective: This study aimed to determine the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) among postmenopausal women and its associated factors in a tertiary center in Malaysia Methods: This is a cross-sectional study done among 411 postmenopausal women attending Gynaecology clinic and Family Medicine clinic in a tertiary center in Malaysia. Socio demographic data, reproductive profile, menopausal profile and medical history were obtained. Then waist circumference (WC), weight, height and blood pressure (BP) were also recorded. A fasting blood sample was obtained for serum glucose and lipid profile determinations. Metabolic syndrome was defined according to the criteria of International Diabetes Federation. Results: The mean age of participants was 57.2 + 6.9 years. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 36.7%. The risk of MetS increased with the presence of obstetrics history of hypertension (HPT) (odds ratio (OR) 2.64, 95% (CI) 1.25-5.62), previous usage of contraception (odds ratio (OR) 1.56, 95% (CI) 1.02-2.42), family history of HPT (odds ratio (OR) 1.71, 95% (CI) 1.13-2.59) and obesity (odds ratio (OR) 2.59, 95% (CI) 1.08-6.23). Conclusion: There was a high prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in postmenopausal women seeking gynaecologic and primary health care in the tertiary center Malaysia. The associated factors of MetS include previous obstetrics history of HPT, family history of HPT and obesity.
The main purpose of this empirical study is to examine how perceived security and privacy, perceived usefulness, social norms and cost of communication impact acceptance of e-vendor among students. To examine these effects, the study employed university students. The sample size consisted to 200 students from Management and Science University, Shah Alam campus. Standardized instruments were used to measure the study variables and regression analysis was used to test these relationships. Results of the study revealed that all the variables has an impact on acceptance of e-vendor, with a variation on the strength of such impact. Security was the strongest predictor of the acceptance of e-vendor.
Introduction: Colorectal cancer is the second most common cause of death in women, and the third most common cause in men. The main treatments available following surgery are chemotherapy and radiotherapy which are not always effective and have side effects. Modern medicine aims to develop targeted cancer therapies that are efficient and cause less side effects to patients. However, this approach requires a thorough understanding of the molecular events that cause cancer cell to grow and divide in order to identify suitable targets. The process of translating the findings into clinical studies can be high cost and technically demanding. However, development of a tissue microarray (TMA), allows immunohistochemical (IHC) staining of multiple cases simultaneously, thereby greatly reducing costs and time. Methods: A TMA was produced from approximately 400 cases of colorectal cancer, along with collection of associated clinical and pathological data. Sections from the TMA were tested for quality by staining with haematoxylin and eosin (H & E), in addition to IHC markers to molecularly classify the colon cancers. Results: The cores from the 384 cases of cancer were successfully transferred to 18 recipient TMA blocks. H & E staining showed good morphological preservation of the cases, reflecting the tumour in the donor blocks. IHC testing was able to successfully classify cases into distinct molecular groupings. Conclusions: The development of a TMA of colorectal cancers provides a valuable tool for the efficient and subsequent molecular classification of colorectal cancer using immunohistochemistry.
ABSTRACT
Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of hypnosis 1) to reduce dental anxiety in periodontal patients, and
2) to increase periodontal patients’ compliance through the reduction of dental anxiety. Methods: This was a
randomized control trial of 22 patients (13 males, 9 females; 40.14 ± 19.59 years) who underwent non-surgical
periodontal therapy in the Postgraduate and Undergraduate Clinics. Patients were divided into the case, H,
(hypnosis; n=11) and controlled, N, (no hypnosis; n=11) groups, where patients’ dental anxiety level was assessed
twice for both groups using IDAF-4C+ during the first visit and the second visit. The compliance was evaluated
during the follow-up visit. Results: The result showed statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) in the H
group during the second visit indicating a reduction in dental anxiety as compared to N group. However, there
were no statistically significant differences (p > 0.05) in the pattern of reduction of blood pressure between both
case and control groups. Based on the heart rate, patients were found to be more relaxed with hypnotherapy
at the beginning of the treatment but halfway through, patients without hypnotherapy had a more significant
reduction in heart rate level. Conclusion: Hypnotic suggestions were found to help reduce patient’s fear and
anxiety. However, the compliance of the patients with or without hypnotherapy proved to have a similar outcome.
Introduction: The purpose of this study was to derive a modified equation for contact lens method (CLM) in
calculating post myopic laser refractive surgery corneal power. Methods: A total of 93 subjects who
underwent myopic laser refractive surgery at IIUM Eye Specialist Clinic were recruited. The accuracy of
postoperative corneal power using the standard CLM and newly-derived contact lens modified method
(CLMmod) were compared to the standard comparison method ; the historical method (HM). The CLMmod
equation was derived by adjusting postoperative corneal power of CLM according to amount of refractive
change. Results: The mean postoperative corneal power using standard CLM was significantly higher than
HM (mean difference: -0.24 D, p < 0.001). Fifty seven percent (n = 53 eyes) of the standard CLM results were
within ±0.50 D of HM results. The difference between postoperative corneal power using standard CLM and
HM increased significantly with the amount of refractive change (r = 0.835; p < 0.001). The mean
postoperative corneal power of CLMmod showed that there was no statistical significant difference compared
to the HM results (mean difference: 0.00 D, p= 0.964). Eighty eight percent (n = 82 eyes) of the CLMmod
results were within ±0.50 D of HM results with improvement of 31% from the standard CLM results.
Conclusion: The CLMmod equation provides more accurate calculation in determining post myopic laser
refractive surgery corneal power. In near future, this modified equation can be used as an alternative
equation to calculate postoperative corneal power when the preoperative data is unavailable.
Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) are efficient and clean power generation devices. Lowtemperature
SOFC (LTSOFC) has been developed since high-temperature SOFC (HTSOFC) is not
feasible to be commercialized due to cost. Lowering the operation temperature reduces its substantial
performance resulting from cathode polarization resistance and overpotential of cathode. The
development of composite cathodes regarding mixed ionic-electronic conductor (MIEC) and ceriabased
materials for LTSOFC minimizes the problems significantly and leads to an increase in
electrocatalytic activity for the occurrence of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Lanthanum-based
materials such as lanthanum strontium cobalt ferrite (La0.6Sr0.4Co0.2Fe0.8O3-δ) have been discovered
recently, which offer great compatibility with ceria-based electrolyte to be applied as composite
cathode materials for LTSOFC. Cell performance at lower operating temperature can be maintained
and further improved by enhancing the ORR. This paper reviews recent development of various ceriabased
composite cathodes especially related to the ceria-carbonate composite electrolytes for
LTSOFC. The influence of the addition of metallic elements such as silver (Ag), platinum (Pt) and
palladium (Pd) towards the electrochemical properties and performance of LSCF composite cathodes
are also discussed.
Introduction: The purpose of this study was to evaluate inter-session repeatability, inter-examiner
reproducibility and inter-device agreement of corneal power measurements from manual keratometer,
autokeratometer, topographer, Pentacam high resolution and IOLMaster. Methods: Two sets of mean
corneal power measurements (n=40) were compared for inter-session repeatability and inter-examiner
reproducibility in each instrument. Repeatability and reproducibility were evaluated by within-subject
standard deviation (Sw), coefficient of variation (COV) and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). A oneway
repeated measures analysis of variance was conducted to compare differences in the corneal power
between each instrument pair. The Bland and Altman analysis and Pearson’s correlation were employed to
assess agreement and determine strength of relationship between measurements. Results: There were no
significant differences in mean corneal power measurements between 2 different visits (p > 0.05). The Sw
and COV values between 2 visits were lower than 0.09 D and 0.20 % respectively. The ICCs were stronger
than 0.99 in all instruments. For reproducibility of each instrument, differences of the measurements
between 2 different examiners were also insignificant (p > 0.05). The Sw and COV values between 2
examiners were lower than 0.11 D and 0.23 % respectively. The ICCs were 0.99 and above in all instruments.
The 95% limit of agreement between instruments ranged from -0.29 to 1.13 D and the r-values were stronger
than 0.84. Conclusion: The corneal power measurements using these 5 instruments were repeatable and
reproducible. These instruments can also be used interchangeably, however the topographer should be used
with caution.
Tetanus may be mild, moderate, severe, or inevitably fatal. Our clinical experience suggests it may be classified as severe (or, maybe, inevitably fatal) when a tetanic spasm stops respiration. Ten patients with severe tetanus were treated by the total paralysis regime (T.P.R.), consisting of tracheostomy, curarization, and intermittent positiveor positive/negative-pressure respiration. Two of the patients were saved by T.P.R. and therefore only limited effectiveness can be claimed for the regime. In inevitably fatal cases survival can be prolonged by T.P.R. so that further effects of tetanus toxin emerge. Of these, the most important appears to be direct damage to the myocardium.
The present study aimed to elucidate the possible protective effects of Gelam honey on sperm quality and testis histology against infertility related problems. Control and treated groups of 4 - 5 weeks old male Sprague-Dawley rats were force-fed daily with 1.0 mL/100 g body weight of normal saline (0.9%) and Gelam honey, respectively. After 60 days of treatments, reproductive organs of the anesthetized rats were removed to assess sperm parameters and histology of testis. Sperm count of treated group was significantly higher (18.85±3.72×105/mL) than control group (17.05±3.12×105/mL) (p<0.05). Based on sperm morphology, treated group showed significantly higher percentage of normal sperm (96.83±0.03%) as compared to control group (94.87±0.01%) (p<0.01). Head and tail abnormalities sperm were also significantly reduced in the treated rats (p<0.05). The number of spermatogenic cells in testis of treated group were abundant as compared to control group. Seminiferous tubules of treated group were densely packed with spermatogenic cells with small lumen filled up with sperm tail. This study suggested that Gelam honey has the potential to increase the fertility of male rats by increasing sperm count and number of sperm with normal morphology.
A local study, a part of a multinational and multicenter study on the efficacy and safety of Buserelin was carried out for the treatment ofpelvic endometriosis using a standard protocol. 20 women diagnosed to have moderate to severe endometriosis by laparoscopy were recruited. The women were given 900 micrograms Buserelin acetate daily by intranasal spray for a fixed period of 6 months. 8aseline hormona/and biochemical parameters were taken prior to treatment and the parameters were repeated during each follow-up at weekly and monthly intervals. In addition. changes in
symptoms were monitored. A second look laparoscopy was performed at completion of therapy and patients were followed up for a further 6 months. There was 100 percent suppression of oestradiol levels dUring the 6 months treatment period. An improvement of implants according to AFS classification occured in all patients. One patient discontinued because of side effects. Restoration of cycles after completion of therapy occured within 7 weeks. There were 7 pregnancies (64%) in the first 6 months after treatment for those wanting pregnancies. During therapy, dysmenorrhoea, pelvic pain and dyspareunia improved ,considerably. Buserelin was proven to be effective in the management of pelvic endometriosis a.~d is well tolerated and safe.
The domestic demand for broiler meat is one of the highest in the Malaysian markets. The
industry requires continuous evaluation to identify the existing problems and improves its
competitive advantage. Thus, economic analysis of this sort will continue to update current
statistics on production cost, output and profitability. Following this, the study, therefore, aims
to assess the existing financial condition of farmers, marginal cost of production, total net
income and input-output ratio of broiler production in different regions in Peninsular Malaysia.
The study used multi-stage sampling in selecting 310 operators from Southern, Northern, East
Coast and Centeral regions. The analytical tools include descriptive statistics and farm budget.
The findings disclosed that the broiler farm incurs major cost from acquiring operating inputs
especially feed. The operations in the East Coast region was almost unprofitable for the reason
that feed conversion rate is more than 2 resulting in higher production cost. But the other three
regions indicate positive returns based on the estimated input-output ratios of 1:1.09, 1:1.17
and 1: 1.23 for Northern, Southern and Central regions, respectively.The study advocates for
both managerial and policy measures that will help cut the cost of production to attract more
investors and increase export.
In a computerized image analysis environment, the irregularity of a lesion border has been used to differentiate between malignant melanoma and other pigmented skin lesions. The accuracy of the automated lesion border detection is a significant step towards accurate classification at a later stage. In this paper, we propose the use of a combined Spline and B-spline in order to enhance the quality of dermoscopic images before segmentation. In this paper, morphological operations and median filter were used first to remove noise from the original image during pre-processing. Then we proceeded to adjust image RGB values to the optimal color channel (green channel). The combined Spline and B-spline method was subsequently adopted to enhance the image before segmentation. The lesion segmentation was completed based on threshold value empirically obtained using the optimal color channel. Finally, morphological operations were utilized to merge the smaller regions with the main lesion region. Improvement on the average segmentation accuracy was observed in the experimental results conducted on 70 dermoscopic images. The average accuracy of segmentation achieved in this paper was 97.21 % (where, the average sensitivity and specificity were 94 % and 98.05 % respectively).
We report a case of keratoacanthoma in a non-sun-exposed nasal vestibule of an 84-year-old man. He presented with a progressively growing left nasal mass that had been present for 8 months. Examination showed a non-tender protruding mass arising from medial vestibular wall of the left nostril. Histopathology indicated it was a keratoacanthoma. In an elderly patient with a history of a progressively growing mass in the nose, a differential diagnosis of malignancy should be ruled out, and histological conformation is essential. To our knowledge, only a very small number of cases of nasal vestibular keratoacanthoma have been reported.
Ewing sarcoma (ES)/ primitive neuroectodermal tumour (PNET) is an aggressive malignant neoplasm affecting mainly children and young adults. The tumour is included with other primitive neoplasms under the category of small round cell tumour. Cytokeratin expression in ES/PNET has been described in sporadic case reports as well as a few systemic series. We studied this feature in Malaysian patients diagnosed in University Malaya Medical Centre on the basis of typical morphology and immunohistochemical assays. Immunohistochemical staining for AE1/AE3 and MNF116 were performed in 43 cases. Cytokeratin was expressed in 17 cases (39.5%) in focal, intermediate or diffuse patterns. There was no significant association between cytokeratin immunoreactivity and the following parameters: patient age, sex, skeletal and extraskeletal primary location as well as primary, metastastic or recurrent tumours or chemotherapy treatment. A significant association between cytokeratin and neuron specific enolase (NSE) expression was demonstrated. Our study supports evidence of epithelial differentiation in ES/PNET and emphasizes that the expression of cytokeratin does not exclude ES/PNET in the differential diagnosis of small round cell tumours.