We reviewed the deliveries in a teaching hospital in a multiracial community over the period of one year (1988), and investigated the relationship between maternal height, ethnic origin, and the extremes of birth weight with the likelihood of emergency lower segment caesarean section (LSCS). After excluding patients with obvious indications for LSCS, 5,050 patients were entered in the study. Chi-square analysis showed that the risk of emergency LSCS is significantly higher in the Indians compared to Chinese and Malays, but does not differ significantly between the latter two groups. Logistic regression analysis showed that birth weight of less than 2,500 g or greater than 3,500 g is the most significant association with emergency LSCS rate. Conditional logistic regression showed that, provided the individuals conformed to the characteristics of the cohort in this study, risk of emergency LSCS for a 150 cm (25th centile) tall Indian pregnant lady is almost twice that of a 158 cm (75th centile) tall non-Indian).
A prospective study was carried out among pregnant women and their newborn babies in the University Hospital, Kuala Lumpur from January 1996 to June 1997. The maternal cervical colonization rates of Ureaplasma urealyticum (UU) and Mycoplasma hominis (MH) were found to be 57.5% and 15.8% respectively while the isolation rates from nasopharyngeal secretions of the newborns were 50.8% for UU and 6.6% for MH. The overall transmission rates were 88.4% for UU and 42.1% for MH. There was no significant difference in the transmission rates of either organism from mothers to their respective newborn babies by the maturity of pregnancy. In preterm babies, the nasopharyngeal isolation rates of UU and MH were not influenced by the babies' gestational age and birth weight nor by the maternal history of abortion or parity. However, there was a tendency for UU to persist in the nasopharyngeal secretion of preterm babies especially those of birth weight below 2 kg. None of the babies contaminated with mycoplasmas at birth developed respiratory symptoms during six to eight weeks of follow-up.
Dengue, an important mosquito-borne flavivirus infection, is endemic in Southeast Asia. We describe two mothers who had acute dengue 4 and 8 days before the births of their infants. One mother had worsening of her proteinuric pregnancy-induced hypertension, liver dysfunction, and coagulopathy and required multiple transfusions of whole blood, platelets, and fresh frozen plasma. Her male infant was ill at birth, developed respiratory distress and a large uncontrollable left intracerebral hemorrhage, and died of multiorgan failure on day 6 of life. Dengue virus type 2 was isolated from the infant's blood, and IgM antibody specific to dengue virus was detected in the mother's blood. The second mother had a milder clinical course; she gave birth to a female infant who was thrombocytopenic at birth and had an uneventful hospitalization. Dengue virus type 2 was recovered from the mother's blood, and IgM antibody specific to dengue virus was detected in the infant's blood. This report highlights not only the apparently rare occurrence of vertical transmission of dengue virus in humans but also the potential risk of death for infected neonates.
A prospective study was carried out at the University Hospital, Kuala Lumpur to determine the cervical carriage rate of Ureaplasma urealyticum and Mycoplasma hominis among healthy pregnant women at delivery and the incidence of nasopharyngeal colonisation among their infants.
Zerumbone- (ZER-) loaded nanostructure lipid carrier (NLC) (ZER-NLC) prepared for its antileukemia effect in vitro was evaluated for its toxicological effects by observing changes in the liver, kidney, spleen, lung, heart, and brain tissues, serum biochemical parameters, total haemogram, and bone marrow stem cells. The acute toxicity study for ZER-NLC was conducted by orally treating BALB/c mice with a single dose with either water, olive oil, ZER, NLC, or ZER-NLC for 14 days. The animals were observed for clinical and behavioral abnormalities, toxicological symptoms, feed consumption, and gross appearance. The liver, kidney, heart, lung, spleen, and brain tissues were assessed histologically. Total haemogram was counted by hemocytometry and microhematocrit reader. Bone marrow examination in terms of cellular morphology was done by Wright staining with bone marrow smear. Furthermore, serum biochemical parameters were determined spectrophotometrically. Grossly all treated mice, their investigated tissues, serum biochemical parameters, total haemogram, and bone marrow were normal. At oral doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg ZER-NLC there was no sign of toxicity or mortality in BALB/c mice. This study suggests that the 50% lethal dose (LD50) of ZER-NLC is higher than 200 mg/kg, thus, safe by oral administration.
Boesenbergia rotunda (Roxb.) Schlecht (family zingiberaceae) is a rhizomatous herb that is distributed from north-eastern India to south-east Asia, especially in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. Previous research has shown that the crude extract of this plant has cytotoxic properties. The current study examines the cytotoxic properties of boesenbergin A isolated from Boesenbergia rotunda.
Zerumbone (ZER) isolated from Zingiber zerumbet was previously encapsulated with hydroxypropyl- β -cyclodextrin (HP β CD) to enhance ZER's solubility in water, thus making it highly tolerable in the human body. The anticancer effects of this new ZER-HP β CD inclusion complex via apoptosis cell death were assessed in this study for the first time in liver hepatocellular cells, HepG2. Apoptosis was ascertained by morphological study, nuclear stain, and sub-G1 cell population accumulation with G2/M arrest. Further investigations showed the release of cytochrome c and loss of mitochondrial membrane potential, proving mitochondrial dysfunction upon the ZER-HP β CD treatment as well as modulating proapoptotic and anti-apototic Bcl-2 family members. A significant increase in caspase 3/7, caspase 9, and caspase 8 was detected with the depletion of BID cleaved by caspase 8. Collectively, these results prove that a highly soluble inclusion complex of ZER-HP β CD could be a promising anticancer agent for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma in humans.