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A minimally invasive endoscopic transnasal approach to the craniovertebral junction in the paediatric population

Tan SH, Ganesan D, Prepageran N, Waran V

Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol, 2014 Nov;271(11):3101-5.
PMID: 24986428 DOI: 10.1007/s00405-014-3149-5
Combined Spline and B-spline for an improved automatic skin lesion segmentation in dermoscopic images using optimal color channel

Abbas AA, Guo X, Tan WH, Jalab HA

J Med Syst, 2014 Aug;38(8):80.
PMID: 24957396 DOI: 10.1007/s10916-014-0080-7

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).
Fulltext Comparison of outcomes after vaginal reconstruction surgery between elderly and younger women

Tan YL, Lo TS, Khanuengkitkong S, Krishna Dass A

Taiwan J Obstet Gynecol, 2014 Sep;53(3):348-54.
PMID: 25286789 DOI: 10.1016/j.tjog.2013.08.004

The objective of this study was to estimate the association of vaginal sacrospinous ligament fixation with anterior-transobturator mesh repair surgery for advanced pelvic organ prolapse in patients of two different age groups.
Fulltext Efficient and provable secure pairing-free security-mediated identity-based identification schemes

Chin JJ, Tan SY, Heng SH, Phan RC

ScientificWorldJournal, 2014;2014:170906.
PMID: 25207333 DOI: 10.1155/2014/170906

Security-mediated cryptography was first introduced by Boneh et al. in 2001. The main motivation behind security-mediated cryptography was the capability to allow instant revocation of a user's secret key by necessitating the cooperation of a security mediator in any given transaction. Subsequently in 2003, Boneh et al. showed how to convert a RSA-based security-mediated encryption scheme from a traditional public key setting to an identity-based one, where certificates would no longer be required. Following these two pioneering papers, other cryptographic primitives that utilize a security-mediated approach began to surface. However, the security-mediated identity-based identification scheme (SM-IBI) was not introduced until Chin et al. in 2013 with a scheme built on bilinear pairings. In this paper, we improve on the efficiency results for SM-IBI schemes by proposing two schemes that are pairing-free and are based on well-studied complexity assumptions: the RSA and discrete logarithm assumptions.
Fulltext Diagnostic Value of (68)Ga-DOTATATE PET/CT in Liver Metastases of Neuroendocrine Tumours of Unknown Origin

Tan TH, Lee BN, Hassan SZ

Nucl Med Mol Imaging, 2014 Sep;48(3):212-5.
PMID: 25177378 DOI: 10.1007/s13139-013-0258-9

PURPOSE: In neuroendocrine liver metastases of unknown primary, a multimodality approach is usually adopted and consists of transabdominal ultrasound, endoscopic ultrasound (EUS), computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), nuclear medicine techniques, endoscopy and exploratory surgery. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the diagnostic value of (68)Ga-DOTATATE positron emission tomography (PET)/CT as part of a multimodality approach in neuroendocrine liver metastases of unknown primary.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Six patients (M:F = 5:1, age range 28-56 years) with immunohistochemically proven neuroendocrine liver metastases but inconclusive initial CT work-up were retrospectively analysed. Clinical finding, histopathology, comparative imaging and follow-up were used to validate the results when ethically justified.
RESULTS: (68)Ga-DOTATATE PET/CT identified the primary tumour in five out of six (83.3 %) patients: pancreas (n = 4) and stomach (n = 1). Out of three patients with indeterminate primary on initial CT, two patients were confirmed by (68)Ga-DOTATATE PET/CT. Absence of uptake in indeterminate primary of one patient was later confirmed negative by histopathology. In another three patients with undetected primary on initial CT, primary site was demonstrated in all patients with unsuspected metastases in two patients on (68)Ga-DOTATATE PET/ CT. No further work-up was done to confirm the primary in patients with distant metastases. Change of management was observed in three out of six (50 %) patients.
CONCLUSION: Our small study indicates that (68)Ga-DOTATATE PET/CT is a promising diagnostic option in the multimodality approach to neuroendocrine liver metastases of unknown primary origin.
Fulltext Development of vision based multiview gait recognition system with MMUGait database

Ng H, Tan WH, Abdullah J, Tong HL

ScientificWorldJournal, 2014;2014:376569.
PMID: 25143972 DOI: 10.1155/2014/376569

This paper describes the acquisition setup and development of a new gait database, MMUGait. This database consists of 82 subjects walking under normal condition and 19 subjects walking with 11 covariate factors, which were captured under two views. This paper also proposes a multiview model-based gait recognition system with joint detection approach that performs well under different walking trajectories and covariate factors, which include self-occluded or external occluded silhouettes. In the proposed system, the process begins by enhancing the human silhouette to remove the artifacts. Next, the width and height of the body are obtained. Subsequently, the joint angular trajectories are determined once the body joints are automatically detected. Lastly, crotch height and step-size of the walking subject are determined. The extracted features are smoothened by Gaussian filter to eliminate the effect of outliers. The extracted features are normalized with linear scaling, which is followed by feature selection prior to the classification process. The classification experiments carried out on MMUGait database were benchmarked against the SOTON Small DB from University of Southampton. Results showed correct classification rate above 90% for all the databases. The proposed approach is found to outperform other approaches on SOTON Small DB in most cases.
The complete mitogenome of the swimming crab Thalamita crenata (Rüppell, 1830) (Crustacea; Decapoda; Portunidae)

Tan MH, Gan HM, Lee YP, Austin CM

Mitochondrial DNA A DNA Mapp Seq Anal, 2016;27(2):1275-6.
PMID: 25090400 DOI: 10.3109/19401736.2014.945553

The complete mitochondrial genome of the swimming crab Thalamita crenata was obtained from a partial genome scan using the MiSeq sequencing system. The Thalamita crenata mitogenome has 15,787 base pairs (70% A+T content) made up of 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal subunit genes, 22 transfer RNAs, and a putative 897 bp non-coding AT-rich region. This Thalamita mitogenome sequence is the first for the genus and the eighth for the family Portunidae.
The complete mitogenome of the moon crab Ashtoret lunaris (Forskal, 1775), (Crustacea; Decapoda; Matutidae)

Tan MH, Gan HM, Lee YP, Austin CM

Mitochondrial DNA A DNA Mapp Seq Anal, 2016;27(2):1313-4.
PMID: 25090387 DOI: 10.3109/19401736.2014.945572

The complete mitochondrial genome of the moon crab Ashtoret lunaris was obtained from a partial genome scan using the MiSeq sequencing system. The Ashtoret lunaris mitogenome is 15,807 base pairs in length (70% A + T content) and made up of 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal subunit genes, 22 transfer RNAs, and a putative 956 bp non-coding AT-rich region. This A. lunaris mitogenome sequence is the first for the genus, as well as the family Matutidae and superfamily Calappoidea.
Solid-substrate fermentation of wheat grains by mycelia of indigenous species of the genus Ganoderma (higher Basidiomycetes) to enhance the antioxidant activities

Subramaniam S, Sabaratnam V, Kuppusamy UR, Tan YS

Int J Med Mushrooms, 2014;16(3):259-67.
PMID: 24941167

Species of the genus Ganoderma are a cosmopolitan wood decaying white rot fungi, which has been used by the Asians for therapeutic purposes for centuries. In the present study, solid-substrate fermentation (SSF) of wheat grains (Triticum aestivum L.) was carried out with indigenous Ganoderma australe (KUM60813) and G. neo-japonicum (KUM61076) selected based on ethnomycological knowledge. G. lucidum (VITA GL) (a commercial strain) was also included in the study. Antioxidant activities of the crude ethanol and aqueous extracts of the fermented and unfermented wheat grains were investigated by ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC), diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging ability, and lipid peroxidation assay. Among the six mycelia extracts tested, the ethanol extract from wheat fermented with KUM61076 mycelia showed the most potent antioxidant activities, whereas the ethanol extract of wheat grains fermented with KUM60813 mycelia has a good potential in protecting frying oils against oxidation. Total phenolic content (TPC) in the ethanol extracts were higher than that in the aqueous extract. The wheat grains fermented with G. australe (KUM60813) and G. neo-japonicum KUM61076 have greater antioxidant potential compared to the commercially available G. lucidum (VITA GL). The antioxidant activities of the mycelia extracts had a positive correlation with their phenolic contents. Thus phenolic compounds may play a vital role in the antioxidant activities of the selected Ganoderma spp.
Fulltext A Biomechanical Comparison between Taylor's Spatial Frame and Ilizarov External Fixator

Tan B, Shanmugam R, Gunalan R, Chua Y, Hossain G, Saw A

Malays Orthop J, 2014 Jul;8(2):35-9.
PMID: 25279090 DOI: 10.5704/MOJ.1407.012

Taylor's spatial frame (TSF) and Ilizarov external fixators (IEF) are two circular external fixator commonly used to address complex deformity and fractures. There is currently no data available comparing the biomechanical properties of these two external fixators. This study looks into the mechanical characteristics of each system. TSF rings with 6 oblique struts, 4 tube connectors, 4 threaded rods, and 6 threaded rods were compared to a standard IEF rings with 4 threaded rods. Compression and torsional loading was performed to the frame as well as construct with Polyvinylchloride tubes. TSF rings with 4 tube connectors had the highest stiffness (3288 N/mm) while TSF rings with 6 struts was the least stiff. The situation was reversed for torsion where TSF rings with 6 oblique struts had the highest torsional stiffness (82.01 Nm/Degree) and frame Ilizarov rings with 4 threaded rods the least. Standard TSF construct of two ring with 6 oblique struts have better torsional stiffness and lower axial stiffness compared to the standard IEF.
Effect of deprotenizing agent and quantification of donepezil hydrochloride in human plasma

Liew KB, Peh KK, Fung Tan YT

Pak J Pharm Sci, 2014 Sep;27(5):1303-7.
PMID: 25176366

The effect of deprotenizing agents on recovery of donepezil hydrochloride in the development of a simple, rapid, selective and sensitive high performance liquid chromatography method for quantification of donepezil hydrochloride in human plasma was described. The deprotenizing agents were comprised of, perchloric acid, methanol, acetonitrile, chloroform and their mixtures. The chromatographic separation was carried out using reversed phase C18 column (Agilent Eclipse Plus C18) with UV detection at 268 nm. The mobile phase was comprised of 0.01 M potassium dihydrogen phosphate buffer, methanol and acetronitrile (50:30:20, v/v) adjusted to pH 2.7 with phosphoric acid (80%). A combination of perchloric acid and methanol gave a cleaner sample with a good recovery of donepezil hydrochloride of above 96%. The method showed intraday precision and accuracy in the range of 6.82% to 1.5% and 3.13% to 1.12% respectively, while interday precision and accuracy ranged between 1.06% to 4.71% and 13.01% to 6.43% respectively. The standard calibration curve was linear from 30ng/mL to 4000ng/mL, with a correlation coefficient of 0.9965±0.0034. The retention time of donepezil was 5.9 min with a run time of 7.0 min. The method can be applied to analyze large batch plasma samples in pharmacokinetic studies.
Basaloid squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx: comparison of two cases and review of the literature

Tan SH, Chong AW, Nazarina AR, Prepageran N

Otolaryngol Pol, 2014 Sep-Oct;68(5):268-70.
PMID: 25283325 DOI: 10.1016/j.otpol.2013.09.003

We describe a rare case of BSCC in the retromolar trigone with only 3 other cases in the literature and also compare the differences between 2 cases of BSCC in terms of presentation and progression. The first patient had a markedly slower progression with painful retromolar trigone swelling over 4 months without nodal metastases. In contrast, the second patient gave a 2-week history of neck swelling with nodal involvement, indicating extremely rapid progression. Our management was tailored accordingly with the first patient undergoing intraoral excision of tumour and adjuvant radiotherapy while the other had bilateral neck dissection with postoperative chemoradiotherapy. Both patients achieved good outcome and are free from disease.
Fulltext Mesenchymal stem cells exert anti-proliferative effect on lipopolysaccharide-stimulated BV2 microglia by reducing tumour necrosis factor-α levels

Jose S, Tan SW, Ooi YY, Ramasamy R, Vidyadaran S

J Neuroinflammation, 2014;11:149.
PMID: 25182840 DOI: 10.1186/s12974-014-0149-8

Progression of neurodegenerative diseases occurs when microglia, upon persistent activation, perpetuate a cycle of damage in the central nervous system. Use of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) has been suggested as an approach to manage microglia activation based on their immunomodulatory functions. In the present study, we describe the mechanism through which bone marrow-derived MSC modulate the proliferative responses of lipopolysaccharide-stimulated BV2 microglia.
Fulltext STATdb: a specialised resource for the STATome

Patro CP, Khan AM, Tan TW, Fu XY

PLoS One, 2014;9(8):e104597.
PMID: 25157689 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0104597

Signal transducers and activators of transcription (STAT) proteins are key signalling molecules in metazoans, implicated in various cellular processes. Increased research in the field has resulted in the accumulation of STAT sequence and structure data, which are scattered across various public databases, missing extensive functional annotations, and prone to effort redundancy because of the dearth of community sharing. Therefore, there is a need to integrate the existing sequence, structure and functional data into a central repository, one that is enriched with annotations and provides a platform for community contributions. Herein, we present STATdb (publicly available at http://statdb.bic.nus.edu.sg/), the first integrated resource for STAT sequences comprising 1540 records representing the known STATome, enriched with existing structural and functional information from various databases and literature and including manual annotations. STATdb provides advanced features for data visualization, analysis and prediction, and community contributions. A key feature is a meta-predictor to characterise STAT sequences based on a novel classification that integrates STAT domain architecture, lineage and function. A curation policy workflow has been devised for regulated and structured community contributions, with an update policy for the seamless integration of new data and annotations.
Fulltext Evaluation of a modified Cefsulodin-Irgasan-Novobiocin agar for isolation of Yersinia spp

Tan LK, Ooi PT, Carniel E, Thong KL

PLoS One, 2014;9(8):e106329.
PMID: 25170941 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0106329

Y. enterocolitica and Y. pseudotuberculosis are important food borne pathogens. However, the presence of competitive microbiota makes the isolation of Y. enterocolitica and Y. pseudotuberculosis from naturally contaminated foods difficult. We attempted to evaluate the performance of a modified Cefsulodin-Irgasan-Novobiocin (CIN) agar in the differentiation of Y. enterocolitica from non-Yersinia species, particularly the natural intestinal microbiota. The modified CIN enabled the growth of Y. enterocolitica colonies with the same efficiency as CIN and Luria-Bertani agar. The detection limits of the modified CIN for Y. enterocolitica in culture medium (10 cfu/ml) and in artificially contaminated pork (10(4) cfu/ml) were also comparable to those of CIN. However, the modified CIN provided a better discrimination of Yersinia colonies from other bacteria exhibiting Yersinia-like colonies on CIN (H2S-producing Citrobacter freundii, C. braakii, Enterobacter cloacae, Aeromonas hydrophila, Providencia rettgeri, and Morganella morganii). The modified CIN exhibited a higher recovery rate of Y. enterocolitica from artificially prepared bacterial cultures and naturally contaminated samples compared with CIN. Our results thus demonstrated that the use of modified CIN may be a valuable means to increase the recovery rate of food borne Yersinia from natural samples, which are usually contaminated by multiple types of bacteria.
Fulltext Physical therapies for improving balance and reducing falls risk in osteoarthritis of the knee: a systematic review

Mat S, Tan MP, Kamaruzzaman SB, Ng CT

Age Ageing, 2015 Jan;44(1):16-24.
PMID: 25149678 DOI: 10.1093/ageing/afu112

INTRODUCTION: osteoarthritis (OA) of knee has been reported as a risk factor for falls and reduced balance in the elderly. This systematic review evaluated the effectiveness of physical therapies in improving balance and reducing falls risk among patients with knee OA.
METHODS: a computerised search was performed to identify relevant studies up to November 2013. Two investigators identified eligible studies and extracted data independently. The quality of the included studies was assessed by the PeDro score.
RESULTS: a total of 15 randomised controlled trials involving 1482 patients were identified. The mean PeDro score was 7. The pooled standardised mean difference in balance outcome for strength training = 0.3346 (95% CI: 0.3207-0.60, P = 0.01 < 0.00001, P for heterogeneity = 0.85, I(2) = 0%). Tai Chi = 0.7597 (95% CI: 0.5130-1.2043, P<=0.0014, P for heterogeneity = 0.26, I(2) = 0%) and aerobic exercises = 0.6880 (95% CI: 0.5704-1.302, P < 0.00001, P for heterogeneity = 0.71, I(2) = 0%). While pooled results for falls risk outcomes in, strength training, Tai chi and aerobics also showed a significant reduction in reduced risk of falls significantly with pooled result 0.55 (95% CI: 0.41-0.68, P < 0.00001, P for heterogeneity = 0.39, I(2) = 6%).
CONCLUSION: strength training, Tai Chi and aerobics exercises improved balance and falls risk in older individuals with knee OA, while water-based exercises and light treatment did not significantly improve balance outcomes. Strength training, Tai Chi and aerobics exercises can therefore be recommended as falls prevention strategies for individuals with OA. However, a large randomised controlled study using actual falls outcomes is recommended to determine the appropriate dosage and to measure the potential benefits in falls reduction.
KEYWORDS: Tai Chi; elderly; exercises; falls; older people; osteoarthritis
Fulltext Symptomatic presentation of carotid sinus hypersensitivity is associated with impaired cerebral autoregulation

Tan MP, Chadwick TJ, Kerr SR, Parry SW

J Am Heart Assoc, 2014 Jun;3(3):e000514.
PMID: 24947997 DOI: 10.1161/JAHA.113.000514

Carotid sinus hypersensitivity (CSH) is associated with syncope, unexplained falls, and drop attacks in older people but occurs asymptomatically in 35% of community-dwelling elders. We hypothesized that impaired cerebral autoregulation is associated with the conversion of asymptomatic CSH to symptomatic CSH. We therefore conducted a case-control study evaluating individuals with CSH with and without the symptoms of syncope or unexplained falls, as well as non-CSH controls, to determine whether the blood pressure and heart rate changes associated with CSH are associated with symptoms only when cerebral autoregulation is altered.
New cholinesterase inhibitors from Garcinia atroviridis

Tan WN, Khairuddean M, Wong KC, Khaw KY, Vikneswaran M

Fitoterapia, 2014 Sep;97:261-7.
PMID: 24924287 DOI: 10.1016/j.fitote.2014.06.003

A triflavanone, Garcineflavanone A (1) and a biflavonol, Garcineflavonol A (2) have been isolated from the stem bark of Garcinia atroviridis (Clusiaceae), collected in Peninsular Malaysia. Their structures were established using one and two-dimensional NMR, UV, IR and mass spectrometry and evaluated in vitro for their acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) enzymes inhibitory activity. Molecular docking studies of the isolated compounds were performed using docking procedure of AutoDock to disclose the binding interaction and orientation of these molecules into the active site gorge.
Fulltext Critical state of sand matrix soils

Marto A, Tan CS, Makhtar AM, Kung Leong T

ScientificWorldJournal, 2014;2014:290207.
PMID: 24757417 DOI: 10.1155/2014/290207

The Critical State Soil Mechanic (CSSM) is a globally recognised framework while the critical states for sand and clay are both well established. Nevertheless, the development of the critical state of sand matrix soils is lacking. This paper discusses the development of critical state lines and corresponding critical state parameters for the investigated material, sand matrix soils using sand-kaolin mixtures. The output of this paper can be used as an interpretation framework for the research on liquefaction susceptibility of sand matrix soils in the future. The strain controlled triaxial test apparatus was used to provide the monotonic loading onto the reconstituted soil specimens. All tested soils were subjected to isotropic consolidation and sheared under undrained condition until critical state was ascertain. Based on the results of 32 test specimens, the critical state lines for eight different sand matrix soils were developed together with the corresponding values of critical state parameters, M, λ, and Γ. The range of the value of M, λ, and Γ is 0.803-0.998, 0.144-0.248, and 1.727-2.279, respectively. These values are comparable to the critical state parameters of river sand and kaolin clay. However, the relationship between fines percentages and these critical state parameters is too scattered to be correlated.
Fulltext Gene expression changes in spleens and livers of tumour-bearing mice suggest delayed inflammation and attenuated cachexia in response to oil palm phenolics

Leow SS, Sekaran SD, Sundram K, Tan Y, Sambanthamurthi R

J Nutrigenet Nutrigenomics, 2013;6(6):305-26.
PMID: 24642698 DOI: 10.1159/000357948

Plant phenolics can inhibit, retard or reverse carcinogenesis, and may thus help prevent or treat cancer. Oil palm phenolics (OPP) previously showed anti-tumour activities in vivo via a cytostatic mechanism at 1,500 ppm gallic acid equivalent. Here, we report other possible molecular mechanisms by which this extract attenuates cancer, especially those concerning the immune response.

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