The tocotrienol-rich fraction (TRF) of palm oil consists of tocotrienols and some alpha-tocopherol (alpha-T). Tocotrienols are a form of vitamin E having an unsaturated side-chain, rather than the saturated side-chain of the more common tocopherols. Because palm oil has been shown not to promote chemically-induced mammary carcinogenesis, we tested effects of TRF and alpha-T on the proliferation, growth, and plating efficiency (PE) of the MDA-MB-435 estrogen-receptor-negative human breast cancer cells. TRF inhibited the proliferation of these cells with a concentration required to inhibit cell proliferation by 50% of 180 microgram/mL whereas alpha-T had no effect at concentrations up to 1000 microgram/mL as measured by incorporation of [3H]thymidine. The effects of TRF and alpha-T also were tested in longer-term growth experiments, using concentrations of 180 and 500 microgram/mL. We found that TRF inhibited the growth of these cells by 50%, whereas alpha-T did not. Their effect on the ability of these cells to form colonies also was studied, and it was found that TRF inhibited PE, whereas alpha T had no effect. These results suggest that the inhibition is due to the presence of tocotrienols in TRF rather than alpha T.
Vulvar ulceration is a rare manifestation of histiocytosis X. A 13-year-old girl had a nonhealing vulvar ulcer for 1 year. She had been in remission from histiocytosis X and the ulcer was not recognised as a sign of disease recurrence until tissue biopsy was obtained for histopathological and immunohistochemical studies. This article stresses the importance of establishing an accurate diagnosis when chronic vulvar ulcers are encountered and reviews the literature on this uncommon presentation of histiocytosis X.
Expression of p53 protein was investigated by immunohistochemical techniques in archival cases of 134 primary breast carcinomas comprising 13 comedo ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), 105 invasive ductal carcinomas, 7 contained the comedo DCIS component adjacent to the invasive ductal component, 5 invasive lobular carcinomas, three colloid carcinomas and one medullary carcinoma. Overexpression of p53 gene product was studied to determine the association with clinico-pathological parameters and also its relationship to c-erbB2. Overexpression of p53 protein was observed in 31% (4/13) of comedo DCIS, 37% (39/105) of invasive ductal carcinomas, 57% (4/7) of carcinomas containing both the in situ and invasive lesions and all medullary carcinomas. A significant relationship (p < 0.05) was observed between strong immunoreactivity of p53 protein and absence of estrogen receptor, histological grade and c-erbB2 but not with lymph node metastases or age of patient. These observations suggest that overexpression of p53 protein may play an important role in tumor progression from noninvasive to invasive in some breast carcinomas and may have potential as an indicator for poorer prognosis.
Baby walker associated injuries are occurring in Malaysia. Most are not noticed as paediatricians are more concerned with the treatment of the injury and forget the preventive measures required to overcome this problem. We believe that baby walkers should be banned in Malaysia as the risks of injury far outweighs any benefits. We present 4 cases of baby walker associated scalding injuries.
Extra-nodal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) of the pinna has only been reported once in a patient with immunodeficiency. We report an unusual case of lymphoblastic lymphoma in a patient without any immunodeficiency, presenting as an inflammatory lesion of the pinna, which illustrates the need to biopsy any non-healing lesion as soon as possible to ensure that such a treatable malignancy is diagnosed at an early stage.
A 27-year old male sustained a 60 per cent TBSA burn with inhalation injury following a road traffic accident. He developed respiratory distress on day 3 postburn, and was intubated and ventilated. He was noted to have greenish aspirate from his trachea on day 17 of ventilation. He succumbed from sepsis and died on day 21 post injury. At post-mortem, a large tracheo-oesophageal fistula (TOF) was found at the level of the cuff of the nasotracheal tube.
The plasmid profiles of 66 strains of penicillinase-producing Neisseria gonorrhoeae (PPNG), isolated in Peninsular Malaysia, were determined by agarose gel electrophoresis. All the isolates harboured two common plasmid species, a 4.4 x 10 6 Far-East type R plasmid associated with beta-lactamase production and a 2.6 x 106 plasmid of unknown function. In addition to these two plasmids, 51 (77%) PPNG isolates also carried a 24.5 x 106 conjugative plasmid.
The concept of specific reading retardation was discussed, and compared with other terms used as synonymous with it viz. dyslexia and minimal brain dysfunction. It was suggested that specific reading retardation may be a more suitable term to use. The feature's of specific reading retardation, the evaluation of reading disability and management in terms of supportive psychotherapy, environmental manipulation and remedial education was described, using a case-report. of a 13-year old boy with such a disorder as an example.
Study site: Psychiatric clinic, University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
A rapid, easy, and sensitive method is described in this paper for the assay of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl CoA (HMG CoA) reductase, a key enzyme in cholesterol biosynthesis. [14C]HMG CoA was used as the substrate and the product formed, i.e., [14C]mevalonate, was allowed to be converted to its lactone form (mevalonolactone) in the presence of HCl. The reaction mixture was applied to a column containing an anionic exchanger. The column was made up of QAE-Sephadex (A25, formate form) packed to a height of 4 cm in Pasteur pipets. Under these conditions, mevalonolactone was not retained by the column and was eluted with ammonium formate solution while HMG CoA, being negatively charged, was retained by the gel and eluted by HCl above 0.05 M. Determination of the amount of radioactivity in mevalonolactone was then used to quantitate the activity of HMG CoA reductase. This assay has been successfully used for determining the activity of this enzyme in a microsomal fraction prepared from the liver of the rat.
The plasmid profiles of 160 strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolated in Peninsular Malaysia, comprising 80 penicillinase-producing (PPNG) and 80 non-penicillinase-producing (non-PPNG) isolates, were determined. The 80 PPNG isolates were divided into two plasmid groups. All of them harbored two common plasmid species, a 4.4 megadalton (Md) R plasmid previously associated with beta-lactamase production in PPNG strains from the Far East and a 2.6 Md multicopy plasmid of unknown function. In addition to these two plasmids, 60 (75%) PPNG isolates also carried a large 24.5 Md conjugative plasmid. In contrast, the 80 non-PPNG strains were divided into three plasmid groups. All of them possessed the 2.6 Md cryptic plasmid, and 35 (44%) isolates also harbored the 24.5 Md transfer plasmid. Besides these two plasmids, one non-PPNG isolate carried an additional 7.8 Md cryptic plasmid.
A young primigravida had idiopathic warm antibody (IgG) autoimmune haemolytic anaemia (AIHA) occurring in the third trimester of pregnancy. Her haemolytic process was responsive to steroid therapy and no transfusion was needed. She delivered a healthy baby with no evidence to haemolysis, though his red cells were coated with IgG which was probably of maternal origin.
Cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase (PDE) activity was assayed in the plasma membrane, mitochondrial and microsomal fractions of rat brain. The specific activity of the enzyme was highest in the plasma membrane fraction followed by mitochondrial and then the microsomal fraction. Phosphodiesterase activity of all three fractions was reduced after pretreatment with lecithinase C (PCase) from Clostridium perfringens but less markedly affected by the pretreatment with sphingomyelinase (SMase) from human placenta. The PDE activity of the plasma membrane fraction was more sensitive to PCase treatment compared with the other two particulate fractions, which showed only a slight loss of activity. Temperature seemed to affect PDE activity of the plasma membrane. The enzyme was quite stable at 30 degrees C but its activity dropped by approximately 46% at 37 degrees C after 90 min of incubation. Pretreatment of the plasma membrane at 30 degrees C with PCase at a concentration of more than 5 U caused a marked loss of PDE activity and the decrease in activity reached a plateau at concentrations above 10 U.
This study examined the mechanical (hardness, compressibility, adhesiveness, and cohesiveness) and rheological (zero-rate viscosity and thixotropy) properties of polyethylene glycol (PEG) gels that contain different ratios of Carbopol 934P (CP) and polyvinylpyrrolidone K90 (PVP). Mechanical properties were examined using a texture analyzer (TA-XT2), and rheological properties were examined using a rheometer (Rheomat 115A). In addition, lidocaine release from gels was evaluated using a release apparatus simulating the buccal condition. The results indicated that an increase in CP concentration significantly increased gel compressibility, hardness, and adhesiveness, factors that affect ease of gel removal from container, ease of gel application onto mucosal membrane, and gel bioadhesion. However, CP concentration was negatively correlated with gel cohesiveness, a factor representing structural reformation. In contrast, PVP concentration was negatively correlated with gel hardness and compressibility, but positively correlated with gel cohesiveness. All PEG gels exhibited pseudoplastic flow with thixotropy, indicating a general loss of consistency with increased shearing stress. Drug release T50% was affected by the flow rate of the simulated saliva solution. A reduction in the flow rate caused a slower drug release and hence a higher T50% value. In addition, drug release was significantly reduced as the concentrations of CP and PVP increased because of the increase in zero-rate viscosity of the gels. Response surfaces and contour plots of the dependent variables further substantiated that various combinations of CP and PVP in the PEG gels offered a wide range of mechanical, rheological, and drug-release characteristics. A combination of CP and PVP with complementary physical properties resulted in a prolonged buccal drug delivery.
Acute massive haemothorax is a life-threatening situation, which is often associated with a preceding trauma. However, spontaneous haemothorax is a rare occurrence, especially in pregnancy. Spontaneous haemothorax in the immediate post-partum period secondary to a ruptured intercostal AVM is extremely rare more so in the background of an undiagnosed neurofibromatosis. This is a report of a young lady presenting with pleuritis and breathlessness after the delivery of her 1st child. Her management is discussed.
The records associated with 83 children from 16 months to 12 years of age who were admitted with snake bite to Kota Bharu General Hospital and University Hospital, Universiti Sains Malaysia over a 5 year period were reviewed. Elapid bites were more common than viper bites while sea-snake bites were not recorded. Symptoms were relatively mild, the common clinical features being pain and local swelling. Antivenom therapy was required in 11 children. Only three of the 11 children developed minor adverse reactions to antivenom. Four of the 83 required ventilatory support for respiratory failure and two children died.
The antigenic cross-reactivity of four Ophiophagus hannah (king cobra) venom components, the neurotoxin (OH-NTX), phospholipase A2 (OH-PLA2), hemorrhagin (OH-HMG) and L-amino acid oxidase (OH-LAAO) were examined by indirect and double sandwich ELISAs. The indirect ELISAs for OH-NTX, OH-PLA2 and OH-HMG were very specific when assayed against the various heterologous snake venoms and O. hannah venom components, at 25 ng/ml antigen level. At higher antigen concentrations (100-400 ng/ml), there were moderate to strong indirect ELISA cross-reactions between anti-O. hannah neurotoxin and venoms from various species of cobra as well as two short neurotoxins. However, anti-O. hannah hemorrhagin did not cross-react with any of the venoms tested, even at these high antigen concentrations, indicating that O. hannah hemorrhagin is antigenically very different from other venom hemorrhagins. Examination of the indirect ELISA cross-reactions between anti-O. hannah PLA2 and several elapid PLA2 enzymes suggests that the elapid PLA2 antigenic class has more than two subgroups. The antibodies to O. hannah L-amino acid oxidase, however, yielded indirect ELISA cross-reactions with many venoms as well as with OH-NTX, OH-PLA2 and OH-HMG, indicating that OH-LAAO shares common epitopes even with unrelated proteins. The double sandwich ELISAs for the four anti-O. hannah venom components, on the other hand, generally exhibited a higher degree of selectivity than the indirect ELISA procedure.
A simple liquid chromatographic method using amperometric detection was developed for the determination of naltrexone in human plasma. Prior to analysis, naltrexone and the internal standard (naloxone) were extracted from plasma samples using a 9:1 mixture of chloroform and isopropyl alcohol. The mobile phase comprised 0.1 M disodium hydrogen orthophosphate (pH 3.5) and acetonitrile (85.5:14.5, v/v). Analysis was run at a flow-rate of 0.8 ml/min with the detector operating under oxidative mode at an applied potential of +0.95 V. The method is specific and sensitive with a detection limit of approximately 1 ng/ml at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3:1. Mean recovery value of the extraction procedure was about 93%, while the within day and between day coefficient of variation and percent error values of the assay method were all less than 10%. The calibration curve was linear over a concentration range of 1.5-100 ng/ml.
A simple high-performance liquid chromatographic method was developed for the determination of ranitidine in human plasma. Prior to analysis, ranitidine and the internal standard (metoprolol) were extracted from alkalinized plasma samples using dichloromethane. The mobile phase was 0.05 M potassium dihydrogenphosphate-acetonitrile (88:12, v/v) adjusted to pH 6.5. Analysis was run at a flow-rate of 1.3 ml/min and at a detection wavelength of 229 nm. The method is sensitive with a detection limit of 1 ng/ml at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3:1, while the quantification limit was set at 15 ng/ml. The calibration curve was linear over a concentration range of 15-2000 ng/ml. Mean recovery value of the extraction procedure was about 90%, while the within-day and between-day coefficients of variation and percent error values of the assay method were all less than 15%.