Summarization is a process to select important information from a source text. Summarizing strategies are the core cognitive processes in summarization activity. Since summarization can be important as a tool to improve comprehension, it has attracted interest of teachers for teaching summary writing through direct instruction. To do this, they need to review and assess the students' summaries and these tasks are very time-consuming. Thus, a computer-assisted assessment can be used to help teachers to conduct this task more effectively.
A 34-year-old patient with a swelling over the upper eyelid for nearly 1 year was seen in our clinic. The history, examination and investigations were suggestive of a benign lacrimal gland tumor. The tumor and lacrimal gland were resected. Subsequent histopathological examination revealed the tumor was a primary ductal adenocarcinoma of the lacrimal gland. This is a very rare tumor with less than half a dozen cases reported so far. This case report is being presented to highlight an unusual presentation of this rare malignancy.
This study aims to develop two alternate forms for Malay version of Auditory Verbal Learning Test (MAVLT) and to determine their equivalency and practice effect. Ninety healthy volunteers were subjected to the following neuropsychological tests at baseline, and at one month interval according to their assigned group; group 1 (MAVLT - MAVLT), group 2 (MAVLT - Alternate Form 1 - Alternate Form 1), and group 3 (MAVLT - Alternate Form 2 - Alternate Form 2). There were no significant difference in the mean score of all the trials at baseline among the three groups, and most of the mean score of trials between MAVLT and Alternate Form 1, and between MAVLT and Alternate Form 2. There was significant improvement in the mean score of each trial when the same form was used repeatedly at the interval of one month. However, there was no significant improvement in the mean score of each trial when the Alternate Form 2 was used during repeated neuropsychological testing. The MAVLT is a reliable instrument for repeated neuropsychological testing as long as alternate forms are used. The Alternate Form 2 showed better equivalency to MAVLT and less practice effects.
Several criteria have been used to stratify acute kidney injury (AKI) in dengue infection and have resulted in variations in its incidence as well as clinic-laboratory characteristics. The current study was aimed to compare three commonly used criteria of AKI among patients with dengue.
The aim of this study was to assess the safety and probability of adverse events associated with the use of 75 mg pregabalin post hemodialysis (pHD) among patients with UP.
The genetic benefits individuals receive from mate choice have been the focus of numerous studies, with several showing support for both intrinsic genetic benefits and compatibility effects on fertilization success and offspring viability. However, the robustness of these effects have rarely been tested across an ecologically relevant environmental gradient. In particular, sperm environment is a crucial factor determining fertilization success in many species, especially those with external fertilization. Here, we test the importance of sperm environment in mediating compatibility-based selection on fertilization using a factorial breeding design. We detected a significant intrinsic male effect on fertilization success at only one of four sperm concentrations. Compatibility effects were significant at the two highest sperm concentrations and, interestingly, the magnitude of the compatibility effect consistently increased with sperm concentration. This suggests that females are able to modify the probability of sperm-egg fusion as the amount of sperm available increases.
Physical activity promotes health in children and adolescents, but activity levels are low. The Internet offers opportunities for physical activity interventions because children and adolescents are widely exposed to the web and enjoy being online. This review investigated the success of Internet-based interventions designed to increase physical activity in children and adolescents. Of the 13 studies we included, five reported that Internet-based interventions had significant effects on most physical activities.
Pandoraea is an emerging respiratory pathogen capable of causing chronic lung infections in people with cystic fibrosis (CF), but the clinical significance of this infection is ambiguous. We have sequenced and annotated the genomes of two multidrug-resistant Pandoraea pnomenusa isolates recovered 11 months apart from the same CF patient.
Objectives: To assess the feasibility of a computer-based Standard Gamble (SG) visual prop whilst measuring utilities of different asthma health states at the same time.
Methods: Twenty adult asthma patients literate in either Malay or English language were conveniently sampled from a public hospital in Penang, Malaysia. They were interviewed by two trained interviewers using a bilingual script. Each patient was requested to value the given health states using Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) prior to SG exercise. There were three chronic health states (C1-C3) for 10 years, three temporary states (T1-T3) for 3 months, and two anchor states (healthy and dead). During the SG exercise, the visual prop was fully operated by the interviewers. The probability of being in a worse state was changed in a ‘ping-pong’ fashion until the indifference point was reached.
Results: All patients understood the SG exercise and rated SG easier than VAS. Around 85% (n=17) completed SG within 30 minutes. There was 90% (n=18) who ranked T3 as the worst temporary health state during VAS. Two patients provided logical inconsistency data in SG. The preferences by SG were higher than VAS. Preferences were also higher in temporary states measured by chained SG than other states by conventional SG. The mean utilities for C1=0.56 (SD 0.38), C2=0.47 (SD 0.33), C3=0.53 (SD 0.38), T1=0.65 (SD 0.31), T2=0.53 (SD 0.35), and T3=0.38 (SD 0.38).
Conclusions: The SG methods including the props are feasible for utilities measurement in asthma, based on the agreements achieved with other studies on the pattern of utilities measured in this preliminary study.
Objectives: The cost of acute exacerbations of asthma had not been well studied in literature. The aim of this study was to identify and quantify the (average) cost of moderate and severe exacerbations of asthma in patients attending tertiary-care setup in Malaysia. The related burden of exacerbations was also calculated.
Methods: The costs including lab investigation charges, unit costs of treatment per bed, medication charges, food costs, transportation costs and loss of productivity were calculated per asthma episode. Data was analysed by Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 18.0 using various descriptive and inferential statistical tests.
Results: A median medical cost of acute exacerbation of asthma under Ministry of Health’s (MOH) perspective was USD 105.00 (RM338.47) per episode. Medication cost comprised the majority (52.38%) of the total medical costs. A median medical cost of acute exacerbation of asthma under patient’s perspective was USD 1.55 (RM4.99) per episode. ConclusionsAsthma exacerbation and length of stay in the hospital were proportional to the direct medical costs. In Malaysia, a substantial proportion of the direct medical cost of asthma treatment is heavily subsidised for the locals.
Brain status information is captured by physiological electroencephalogram (EEG) signals, which are extensively used to study different brain activities. This study investigates the use of a new ensemble classifier to detect an epileptic seizure from compressed and noisy EEG signals. This noise-aware signal combination (NSC) ensemble classifier combines four classification models based on their individual performance. The main objective of the proposed classifier is to enhance the classification accuracy in the presence of noisy and incomplete information while preserving a reasonable amount of complexity. The experimental results show the effectiveness of the NSC technique, which yields higher accuracies of 90% for noiseless data compared with 85%, 85.9%, and 89.5% in other experiments. The accuracy for the proposed method is 80% when SNR=1 dB, 84% when SNR=5 dB, and 88% when SNR=10 dB, while the compression ratio (CR) is 85.35% for all of the datasets mentioned.
Aeromonas hydrophila is a well-known waterborne pathogen that recently was found to infect humans. Here, we report the draft genome of a freshwater isolate from a Malaysian waterfall, A. hydrophila strain M023, which portrays N-acylhomoserine lactone-dependent quorum sensing.
Advances in biotechnology have brought gene therapy to the forefront of medical research. The concept of transferring genes to tissues for clinical applications has been discussed nearly half a century, but the ability to manipulate genetic material via recombinant DNA technology has brought this goal to reality. The feasibility of gene transfer was first demonstrated using tumour viruses. This led to development of viral and nonviral methods for the genetic modification of somatic cells. Applications of gene therapy to dental and oral problems illustrate the potential impact of this technology on dentistry. Preclinical trial results regarding the same have been very promising. In this review we will discuss methods, vectors involved, clinical implication in dentistry and scientific issues associated with gene therapy.
Voting is an important operation in multichannel computation paradigm and realization of ultrareliable and real-time control systems that arbitrates among the results of N redundant variants. These systems include N-modular redundant (NMR) hardware systems and diversely designed software systems based on N-version programming (NVP). Depending on the characteristics of the application and the type of selected voter, the voting algorithms can be implemented for either hardware or software systems. In this paper, a novel voting algorithm is introduced for real-time fault-tolerant control systems, appropriate for applications in which N is large. Then, its behavior has been software implemented in different scenarios of error-injection on the system inputs. The results of analyzed evaluations through plots and statistical computations have demonstrated that this novel algorithm does not have the limitations of some popular voting algorithms such as median and weighted; moreover, it is able to significantly increase the reliability and availability of the system in the best case to 2489.7% and 626.74%, respectively, and in the worst case to 3.84% and 1.55%, respectively.
Whilst much attention has focused on project-based approaches to teaching Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects, little has been reported on the views of South-East Asian science teachers on project-based STEM approaches. Such knowledge could provide relevant information for education training institutions on how to influence innovative teaching of STEM subjects in schools. This article reports on a study that investigated the perceptions of 25 pre-service and 21 in-service Malaysian science teachers in adopting an interdisciplinary project-based STEM approach to teaching science. The teachers undertook an eight hour workshop which exposed them to different science-based STEM projects suitable for presenting science content in the Malaysian high school science syllabus. Data on teachers' perceptions were captured through surveys, interviews, open-ended questions and classroom discussion before and at the end of the workshop. Study findings showed that STEM professional development workshops can provide insights into the support required for teachers to adopt innovative, effective, project-based STEM approaches to teaching science in their schools.
Hemobilia is a rare but potentially lethal condition. The commonest cause of hemobilia is trauma, accounting up to 85% of all cases. Hemobilia caused by gallstones is very rare. Most of the cases of hemobilia are either managed conservatively or treated by embolization. Surgery is indicated only when there is an associated surgical condition or when embolization fails. We report a case of a 72-year-old patient with massive hemobilia caused by gallstone erosion to the adjacent artery, diagnosed intraoperatively. The complication was successfully managed by cholecystectomy and repair of the bleeding vessel. This case highlights the importance that hemobilia should be suspected in patients presenting with upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Although rare, massive hemobilia can be life threatening, leading to significant morbidity and mortality. Therefore, a high index of suspicion and timely intervention are important.
There is a resurgence of tuberculosis globally but lesions affecting the skull are rare. Cases reported are of single, focal lesions as seen on plain x-rays. We report a 34 yearold patient with tuberculosis of the skull where multiple punched out lesions are seen, mimicking that of multiple myeloma.
AIM: This was a randomized single blinded study to determine optimal size for Ambu®LMA (ALMA) among Malaysian adult population.
METHODS: One hundred and twenty six non-paralyzed anaesthetized adult patients were block randomized into size 3, 4 and 5 Ambu®LMA. Optimal size is defined primarily by oropharyngeal pressure (OLP). Pharyngeal injury and ease of insertion are also taken into consideration.
RESULTS: Mean OLP was significantly higher for Size 4 and 5 compared to size 3 (p<0.001) but similar between size 4 and 5. Number of insertion attempts and insertion time were similar between sizes. Size 5 required more manipulations during insertion (p<0.005) and had higher pharyngeal injury (p=0.001) compared to size 3 and 4.
DISCUSSION: We recommend size 4 ALMA as the optimal size for Malaysian adults in view of the higher OLP compared to size 3, yet less pharyngeal injury than size 5 in spontaneously breathing patients.