Restoring the intestinal continuity of an acquired massive cervico-thoracic oesophagus defect is a reconstructive challenge. A case requiring such defect restoration following a failed pedicled colonic interposition bypass graft between the cervical oesophagus and stomach for an intra-thoracic oesophageal perforation is presented. The defect between the oesophagostome at the lower left neck and the stoma of the colonic stump at the lower left chest measured about 20 cm. An ante-thoracic skin-tube neo-esophagus was constructed in two stages using a pedicled contralateral right deltopectoral skin flap and a pedicled ipsilateral island left latissimus dorsi myocutaneous flap (LD MC flap). A normal swallowing mechanism was re-established.
A case of marked penile skin loss following an adult circumcision is presented. The surgical requirement is to provide a soft and flexible cover for the penis to facilitate return of sensation and function. The two stage bilateral dartos musculocutaneous flaps offer an acceptable surgical alternative.
Thoracic oesophageal perforation, a life-threatening condition, is a therapeutic challenge. A 20 year old male developed a lower oesophageal perforation following an abdominal cardiomyotomy for achalasia of the lower oesophagus. The resulting suppurative mediastinitis and left empyema thoracis were treated by decortication. The oesophageal perforation was closed using a transposition pedicle left latissimus dorsi muscle flap.
Traditional methods for the recovery of gold from electronic scrap by hydrometallurgy were cyanidation followed by adsorption on activated carbon or cementation onto zinc dust and by electrowinning. In our studies, a static batch electrochemical reactor operating in an electrogenerative mode was used in gold recovery from cyanide solutions. A spontaneous chemical reaction will take place in the reactor and generate an external flow of current. In this present work, a static batch cell with an improved design using three-dimensional cathodes namely porous graphite and reticulated vitreous carbon (RVC) and two-dimensional cathode materials, copper and stainless steel plates were coupled with a zinc anode. The electrogenerative system was demonstrated and the performance of the system using various cathode materials for gold recovery was evaluated. The system resulted in more than 90% gold being recovered within 3h of operation. Activated RVC serves as a superior cathode material having the highest recovery rate with more than 99% of gold being recovered in 1h of operation. The morphology of gold deposits on various cathode materials was also investigated.
This study evaluated the effect of Environmental Enrichment (EE) on neuron morphology in the CA1, CA3 and dentate hilus (DH) regions of the hippocampus by quantitating the total dendritic arborizations. EE is a potential intervention for stress and diabetes. It is capable of mitigating diabetes and stress-induced cognitive and memory deficit. Diabetes and stress were induced in male Wistar rats (4-5 weeks). Diabetic and stressed rats were exposed to EE on Day 2 post STZ injection and subsequently once daily for 30 days. All animals were sacrificed on Day 30. The hippocampus was dissected and processed for Golgi staining to quantitate dendritic arborizations at the CA1, CA2 and DH regions. Diabetes (D) and Diabetes+stress (D+S) groups had significantly fewer apical and basal dendritic branching points (ADBP, BDBP) at CA1 (p<0.01), CA3 (p<0.001) and DH (p<0.001) relative to control group (NC). Diabetes and stressed rats exposed to EE: [D+EE and D+S+EE groups] exhibited significantly denser ADBP and BDBP at all regions relative to D (p<0.001) and (D+S+EE) (p<0.001) groups respectively. EE significantly preserved neuronal arborizations in hippocampus of diabetic and stressed rats, suggesting a potential entity of diabetes and stress management.
Surface sediments were collected from the north western aquatic area (13 intertidal sites and 5 river drainages) of Peninsular Malaysia, which were suspected to have received different anthropogenic sources. These sites included town areas, ports, fishing village, industrial areas, highway sides, jetties and some relatively unpolluted sites. The present study revealed that 4.79-32.91 μg/g dry weight for Cu, 15.85-61.56 μg/g dry weight for Pb, and 33.6-317.4 μg/g dry weight for Zn based on 13 intertidal surface sediments while those based on 5 river drainage surface sediments were 10.24-119.6 μg/g dry weight for Cu, 26.7-125.7 μg/g dry weight for Pb and 88.7-484.1 μg/g dry weight for Zn. In general, the metal levels in the drainage sediments are higher than in the intertidal sediments, suggesting dilution factor in the intertidal sediment and direct effluent from point sources in the drainage sediment. In particular, the total concentrations of Cu, Pb, and Zn for the sampling site at Kuala Kurau Town exceeded the Effect Range Median values for Cu, Pb, and Zn for assessments of sediment quality values for freshwater sediment as proposed by MacDonald et al. (Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 39:20-31, 2000), thus adverse biological effects would be observed above this level. Assessment using enrichment factor (using Fe as a normalizer) and geoaccumulation index showed that the three metals at Kuala Kurau Town and Juru Industry drainage were evidenced as having more enrichment and mostly due to non-natural sources. However, caution should be exercised that the interpretation can only become valid when the ratios, indices, and sediment quality values are combined. This is due to the fact that not all the established indices are applicable and, to a certain extent, some of them should be further revised and improved to suit a different metal for Malaysian sediment. Undoubtedly, sites near drainages at Kuala Kurau Town and Juru River Basin need greater attention to mitigate the heavy metal pollution in the future.
MatLab(®) has often been considered an excellent environment for fast algorithm development but is generally perceived as slow and hence not fit for routine medical image processing, where large data sets are now available e.g., high-resolution CT image sets with typically hundreds of 512x512 slices. Yet, with proper programming practices - vectorization, pre-allocation and specialization - applications in MatLab(®) can run as fast as in C language. In this article, this point is illustrated with fast implementations of bilinear interpolation, watershed segmentation and volume rendering.
In this study, the ranges of pollutants found in the soft tissues of Perna viridis collected from Kg. Masai and Kg. Sg. Melayu, both located in the Straits of Johore, were 0.85-1.58 μg/g dry weight (dw) for Cd, 5.52-12.2 μg/g dw for Cu, 5.66-8.93 μg/g dw for Ni and 63.4-72.3 μg/g dw for Zn, and 36.4-244 ng/g dry weight for ∑PAHs. Significantly (p < 0.05) higher concentrations of Cd, Cu, Ni, Zn and ∑PAHs in the mussels were found in the water of a seaport site at Kg. Masai than a non-seaport site at Kg. Sg. Melayu population. The ratios of low molecular weight/high molecular weight hydrocarbons (2.94-3.42) and fluoranthene/pyrene (0.43-0.45) in mussels from both sites indicated the origin of the PAHs to be mainly petrogenic. This study has demonstrated the utility of using the soft tissues of P. viridis as a biomonitor of PAH contamination and bioavailability in the coastal waters of Peninsular Malaysia.
It has been widely reported that allozyme frequency variation is a potential indicator of heavy metal-induced impacts in aquatic populations. In the present study, wild populations of horseshoe crab (Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda) were collected from contaminated and uncontaminated sites of Peninsular Malaysia. By adopting horizontal starch gel electrophoresis, seven enzyme systems were used to study allozyme polymorphisms. Nine polymorphic loci were observed in C. rotundicauda. The relationships of allozyme variations with the concentrations of Cd, Cu, Ni, and Zn in sediments and in muscle tissues of horseshoe crabs were determined. Based on genetic distance, the lower mean value of Nei's D (0.017) indicated that both of the contaminated populations of Kg. Pasir Puteh and Kuala Juru were very closely related when compared to the relatively uncontaminated Pantai Lido population. Higher heterozygosities were shown by the contaminated populations when compared to the uncontaminated population. Different allelic frequencies could be observed for the aldolase (ALD; E.C. 2.7.5.1) locus between the contaminated and uncontaminated populations of C. rotundicauda. The dendrogram of genetic relationships of the three populations of C. rotundicauda showed the same clustering pattern as the dendrograms are based on heavy metals in the sediments and in the horseshoe crabs' abdominal muscles. From the F statistics, the present study showed that the three populations of horseshoe crabs were considered to have undergone moderate genetic differentiation with a mean F (ST) value of 0.092 .The current results suggest that allozyme polymorphism in horseshoe crabs is a potential biomonitoring tool for metal contamination, although further validation is required.
A brief review is conducted on the application of vegetable oils in the treatment of PAH-contaminated soils. Three main scopes of treatment strategies are discussed in this work including soil washing by oil, integrated oil-biological treatment and integrated oil-non-biological treatment. For each of these, the arguments supporting vegetable oil application, the applied treatment techniques and their efficiencies, associated factors, as well as the feasibility of the techniques are detailed. Additionally, oil regeneration, the environmental impacts of oil residues in soil and comparison with other commonly employed techniques are also discussed.
This retrospective study analysed the case records of 200 patients in the Department of Gastroenterology, Singapore General Hospital from February 2000 to January 2001 who had liver cirrhosis and underwent gastroscopy for the detection of varices. The aim of this study was to determine any relationship between leucopenia, thrombocytopenia and the occurrence of esophageal varices in a cirrhotic population. Our results showed that the diagnostic yield of varices grade 2 and 3 was 6.3% if platelet count was > 150,000/mm3, 25% if platelet count was 100,000 to 150,000/mm3, 38.9% if platelet count was 50,000-99,000/mm3 and 100% if platelet count was <50,000/mm3. Similarly, the diagnostic yield of varices grade 2 and 3 was 19.4% if total white count was > 4,000/mm3, 66.7% if total white count was 3,000- 4,000/mm3 and 94.8% if total white count was < 3,000/mm5. We conclude that thrombocytopenia and leucopenia can be used to stratify risk for occurrence of esophageal varices in cirrhotic patients and gastroscopy will have a high yield for varices when platelet count is < 150,000/mm3 or total white is < 4,000/mm.
Exposure to Portland cement dust has long been associated with the prevalence of respiratory symptoms and varying degrees of airway obstruction in man. Apart from respiratory diseases, it was also found to be the cause of lung and laryngeal cancer, gastrointestinal tumours and also dermatitis. This study was done to investigate the effect of dust exposure on ventilatory lung function of Portland cement factory workers in Rawang, Selangor. Spirometry tests of 62 male workers (exposed to total dust concentration of 10,180 micrograms/m3 and PM10 of 8049 micrograms/m3) and 70 subjects from UPM (exposed to mean total dust of 192 micrograms/m3 and PM10 of 177 micrograms/m3--controls) revealed significant differences in spirometry values between the groups. The workers showed i) significantly lower FEV1% and FEF25-75%, and higher FMFT, ii) reduced FEV1% with increasing level of dust exposure and iii) higher prevalence of respiratory symptoms. Therefore, we suggest that exposure to dust in the cement factory leads to higher incidence of respiratory symptoms and impaired lung function.
Over a seven-year period, 170 cases of humerus fractures were plated in Hospital Melaka. Of these, 131 cases were successfully traced for this study. Besides looking at fracture epidemiology, its relationship with radial nerve injury was examined. The incidence of post-traumatic wrist drop in closed and compound fractures were 14.9% and 35.3% respectively. In relation to the site of fracture, lower third fracture had the highest incidence of wrist drop (29%). The recovery from post-traumatic wrist drop was 83%. The average duration taken for recovery was 11.8 weeks. The incidence of post-operative wrist drop was high at 17.6% but all recovered during follow-up.
Studies on toxicities and tolerances of cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn) in the brown alga Isochrysis galbana and in the green-lipped mussel Perna viridis were conducted by short-term bioassays using endpoints growth production and mortality, respectively. The 5-day EC(50) and 24-h LC(50) of these heavy metals were determined in the brown alga and mussel, respectively. The EC(50) values calculated for the alga were 0.74 mg/l for Cd, 0.91 mg/l for Cu, 1.40 mg/l for Pb and 0.60 mg/l for Zn. The LC(50) values for the mussels were 1.53 mg/l for Cd, 0.25 mg/l for Cu, 4.12 mg/l for Pb and 3.20 mg/l for Zn. These LC(50) values were within the concentration ranges as reported by other authors who used P. viridis as the test organism. Based on these EC(50) and LC(50) values, the alga was most sensitive to Zn, followed by Cd, Cu and Pb while the mussel was most sensitive to Cu, followed by Cd, Zn and Pb. Differences in the trophic levels, metal handling strategies, biology and ecology of the primary producer (brown alga) and the primary consumer (mussel) are believed to be the plausible causes for the different toxicities and tolerances of the metals studied.
It has been widely reported that heavy metal contamination in coastal waters can modify the allozyme profiles of marine organisms. Previous studies have recorded elevated metal concentrations in sediments and mussel tissues off Peninsular Malaysia. In the present study, horizontal starch gel electrophoresis was carried out to estimate the levels of allelic variation of the green-lipped mussel, Perna viridis, collected from one contaminated and three relatively uncontaminated sites off Peninsular Malaysia. Fourteen polymorphic loci were observed. In addition, the concentrations of cadmium, copper, lead, mercury and zinc were determined in the sediments and in the soft tissues of the mussels. Mussels from contaminated site, evidenced by high metal pollution indices (MPI) of the sediment and the mussel tissues, showed the highest percentage of polymorphic loci (78.6%), while those collected from the uncontaminated sites had lower MPI of the sediment and mussel tissue, and exhibited lower percentages of polymorphic loci (35.7-57.1%). The population from the contaminated site showed the highest excess of heterozygosity (0.289) when compared to that of the populations from the three uncontaminated sites (0.108-0.149). Allozyme frequencies at the phosphoglucomutase (PGM; E.C. 2.7.5.1) locus also differed between the contaminated and uncontaminated populations. Previous studies have shown that exposure to heavy metals can select or counter-select for particular alleles at this locus. The present results suggest that allozyme polymorphism in P. viridis is a potential biomonitoring tool for heavy metal contamination but further validation is required.