The trait condition for hemoglobin Tak, was found in a 4-day old newborn Malay who suffered from severe neonatal jaundice. The beta chain of the abnormal hemoglobin was elongated by 11 residues at the C-terminus and had the same structure as reported for Hb Tak. The mother was heterozygous for this abnormal hemoglobin, the father was normal. The mother and child, 4 years later, did not show clinical or hematological symptoms except definitely increased resistance of their erythrocytes to hypotonic saline solutions and slight anisopoikilocytosis. The abnormal gene in the two reported Thai families and in our Malay family may have the same origin.
The prevalence of tardive dyskinesia (TD) was studied with the Abnormal Involuntary Movements Scale in Chinese and Malay patients with schizophrenia who were hospitalized in a Singapore state psychiatric institute. We also studied the relationship of neuroleptic-induced extrapyramidal side effects to TD. By using established criteria, the rates of TD were 40.6% for Chinese and 29.0% for Malays, higher than previously reported for Chinese subjects. Older age and lower current neuroleptic dose were significantly associated with TD. Multivariate analysis, after controlling for other salient risk variables, did not show a significant difference in TD prevalence rates between the two races. We conclude that suggested differences in interethnic rates of TD among Chinese, Malays, and Westerners are unlikely to exist and that any variation in prevalence is more likely to be determined by differences in duration of exposure and dose levels of neuroleptic drugs.