Methods: We used diffusion MRI and probabilistic tractography to identify the putative white matter connectivity in the brains of 10 CP patients. We tracked the corticospinal tract (CST) of the patients' upper and lower limbs and calculated the white matter connectivity, as indexed by streamlines representing the probability of connection of the CST.
Results: Our results show that diffusion MRI with probabilistic tractography, while having some relation with the clinical diagnosis of CP, reveals a high degree of individual variation in the streamlines representing the CST for upper and lower limbs.
Conclusion: Diffusion MRI with probabilistic tractography provides the state of connectivity from lesioned areas to other parts of the brain and is potentially beneficial to be used as an adjunct to the clinical management of CP, providing a means to monitor intervention outcomes.
METHODS: Doctors from multiple disciplines in a general hospital were invited to complete a 39-item self-reported questionnaire between November 2020 and December 2020. Each question was based on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree; 5 = strongly agree). 'Agree' and 'strongly agree' were considered correct or positive responses, except for nine questions worded in the opposite direction. Associations between variables were confirmed using Pearson's chi-squared and Fisher's exact tests.
RESULTS: Most respondents were house officers (206/321; 64.2%) with less than two years of service, followed by medical officers (68/321; 21.2%) and specialists (47/321; 14.6%). Only 7.2% of the respondents had received formal palliative care training before the study. Of the respondents, 73.5% were aware of the World Health Organization (WHO) analgaesic ladder, 60.7% were correct on oral morphine as the first line for moderate to severe cancer pain treatment and 91.9% knew the need to add rescue morphine for breakthrough pain. Additionally, 34.0% (P < 0.001) perceived morphine use caused addiction, 57.9% (n = 186) expressed fear of respiratory depression and 18.3% of medical officers and specialists perceived limited access and a maximum dose to prescribe. There was a significant difference in knowledge and perception between junior doctors and senior clinicians. The majority strongly agreed and agreed that there were inadequate training opportunities in cancer pain management.
CONCLUSION: Inconsistent knowledge and negative perceptions of cancer pain management among doctors were demonstrated in this study.
Methods: 'Youth' was defined as a person aged between 15 and 24 years, while 'pornography' refers to any material that depicts sexual activity or erotic behaviour. The development phase consisted of a literature review, an expert panel review, face validation and a pre-test. Fifty college students from a randomly selected higher learning institutions were invited to participate in the pilot test, whereas 150 and 198 different students from the same institutions participated in exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), respectively.
Results: EFA suggested a five-factor solution with factor loadings ranging from 0.449 to 0.891 and a Cronbach's alpha ranging from 0.904 to 0.966. The CFA of the attitude questions also proved a good fitting model with good fit indices: comparative fit index (CFI) robust = 0.907; Tucker-Lewis fit index (TLI) robust = 0.901; root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) robust = 0.073; standardised root mean square residual (SRMR) = 0.060. The factor loadings ranged from 0.544 to 0.906, whereas the Raykov's rho ranged from 0.886 - 0.974.
Conclusion: Based on EFA and CFA, the attitude sections of the newly developed Malay version of the PORQUE were found to be psychometrically valid.
Methods: A series of videos were shot, which involved the eye, ear, vestibular system, cerebellar, proprioceptive sense and gait examination. These videos, conducted in Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) School of Medical Sciences, will be first in Malaysia and will highlight the proper technique and rapport with patients and essential points of each examination. There will be summary at the end of each examination on how to report findings which is a common weakness among students.
Conclusion: We hope that students and junior doctors could be apply these methods in their daily assessment of dizzy patients and ultimately, reach an accurate diagnosis.