Children with dyslexia are commonly associated with gross motor difficulties. However, this non-literacy symptom is often overlooked as an important feature of dyslexia. Therefore, the aims of this study were to determine gross motor skills status among children with dyslexia and to compare the gross motor skills between younger and older children. A cross-sectional study was conducted on children with dyslexia from government schools and Dyslexia Association Malaysia. The participants were divided into two groups, namely younger (4 to 10 years) and older children (11 to 17 years old), and were recruited randomly. The gross motor skills were measured using the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, Second Edition (BOT-2) (subtests: Body Coordination, and, Strength and Agility) and the Movement Assessment Battery for Children, Second Edition (MABC-2) (subtest: Aiming and Catching). Standard scores and percentile rankings were used for statistical analysis. A total of 82 children with dyslexia were recruited for this study, consisted of younger (n = 57) and older groups of children (n = 25). The younger children were found to have a significantly lower performance in gross motor skills in Body Coordination (Mdn = 48, IQR = 26-63), compared to the older children, (Mdn = 54, IQR = 30-77), with a small effect size (r = -.25). There were no significant different for other findings. The older children were found to demonstrate the highest level of gross motor skills. This study may suggest the need for an early intervention program for young age children with dyslexia. Future studies that assess gross motor skills using longitudinal design are recommended to investigate the changes in gross motor performance over time.

Objective: To investigate patient’s perceived satisfaction and adequacy of information given by doctors on prescribed drugs in an outpatient psychiatric setting. Methods: The sampling was done consecutively with a target sample size of 200 patients. A simple questionnaire that was developed with 10 close-ended questions and yes or no answers was administered by the interviewing team. This questionnaire assessed patients' knowledge on prescribed medications and their perception on the adequacy of information given. Results: More than 80% of the patients were informed regarding the reasons, timing to take medication(s), duration of drug treatment and type of prescribed drugs. Half of them were informed regarding the side effect profiles of their prescribed medications. Majority of them (80%) were satisfied with the information given despite only 49% of the patients being given adequate information on their medications. Conclusion: Patients who are adequately informed about their medications are more significantly satisfied than those inadequately informed. (χ2=4.085, p<0.05).

Objective: To study the effect of depressive disorders, severity of depression and, sociodemographic factors on drug compliance among hypertensive patients at primary care clinics. Methods: A total of 201 hypertensive patients on treatment for at least 3 months who attended the HUKM Primary Care Clinic and Salak Polyclinic were selected for this study. Patients were screened for depressive disorders using the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS) and those who scored 8 and more were further interviewed to establish a diagnosis using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI). Patients who were diagnosed to have depressive disorders were further rated for the severity of the illness by using Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD). Drug compliance was assessed during a 2 month follow up using the pill counting method (ratio 0.8 – 1.2 considered as compliant). Results: The prevalence of non-compliance among hypertensive patients was 38.3%. There was no association between the diagnosis of depressive disorders and drug compliance. Among the 12 patients who had depressive disorders, severity of depression as rated by HAMD, showed significant association with drug compliance (Mann-Whitney test z = -2.083, p<0.05).Conclusion: The results suggested that severity of depression has significant association with poor compliance to medical treatment. It is therefore very important to identify and treat depression to avoid poor drug compliance and further complications related to hypertension.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a non-lymphomatous, squamous cell carcinoma that occurs in the epithelial lining of the nasopharynx, an area that shows varying degrees of differentiation. Although relatively rare worldwide, NPC has substantial incidence and mortality in populations in Southeast Asia and in people with Southern Chinese ancestry. In Malaysia, NPC is a leading cancer type. In the clinic, NPC presents on a very wide spectrum. Therefore, a high degree of suspicion on the part of the clinician and an increased awareness by the patient is essential for the recognition of an early lesion. Early detection of the cancer is important as it affects the patient’s prognosis and the mode of treatment. Managing patients with NPC is very challenging as patients usually present late when the cancer is already in an advanced stage. Here, we review the challenges in the management of NPC.

Background: The mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) 10398 polymorphism is hypothesised to alter a mitochondrial subunit of the electron transfer chain and is associated with several neurodegenerative disorders and cancers. Methods: In this study, an mtDNA polymorphism at nucleotide position 10398 was screened in 101 Malay female patients with invasive breast cancer and 90 age-matched healthy female controls using minisequencing analysis. Results: The Malay women with the 10398G variant showed a significantly increased risk of invasive breast cancer (OR = 2.29, 95% CI 1.25–4.20, P = 0.007). Immunohistochemistry analysis was conducted to investigate the effect of this polymorphism on the levels of apoptosis in breast cancer cells. The level of Bax (a pro-apoptotic protein) expression was significantly higher than that of Bcl-2 (an anti-apoptotic protein) in patients carrying the G allele (P = 0.016) but not in those carrying the A allele (P = 0.48). Conclusion: Based on these findings, we propose that the mtDNA 10398 polymorphism may be a potential risk marker for breast cancer susceptibility in the Malay population.

AVM in the mandible is rare. It may present with recurrent episodes of unexplained gingival haemorrhage, bony swelling, tooth mobility or facial asymmetry. We reported our experience in managing a case of a 15 year old Malay girl who presented with a life threatening bleeding from her mandible.
Mandible ; Hemorrhage ; Arteriovenous Malformations ; experience ; Tooth Mobility

To determine the characteristic presenting symptoms, otoscopic findings, audiological profiles and the intraoperative findings of children with chronic otitis media with effusion who required surgical intervention. A prospective cross sectional study was undertaken in the otorhinolaryngology clinic of USM Hospital (HUSM) involving 25 cases (50 ears) of children with chronic otitis media with effusion requiring surgical intervention from June 1999 to September 2001. Their ages ranged from 3 to 12 years old. The gender distribution included males at 72 % and females at 28 %. The presenting symptoms noted were hearing impairment (52%), otalgia (18%), ear block (16%) and tinnitus (14%). The otoscopic findings were fluid in the middle ear (40%), dullness (32%) and retraction of the tympanic membrane (28%). On audiometry, 24 ears had moderate deafness (48%), 16 ears had mild deafness (32%) while 4 ears had severe deafness (8%). With tympanometry, 42 ears out of the total 50 had a flat type B curve (84%) while 6 ears had type As curve (12%). During myringotomy, middle ear secretion was seen in 38 ears (76%) out of the 50 ears; 22 ears had mucoid secretion while 16 ears had serous secretion. Clinically, the commonest presenting symptom was hearing impairment (52%) while the most common otoscopic finding was fluid in the middle ear (40%). Audiologically, most patients had moderate conductive hearing loss (48%) and a type B curve (84%) on tympanometry. On myringotomy middle ear fluid was found in 76 % of the ears.
Disorder of middle ear ; Chronic ; Otitis Media ; Effusion, NOS ; Child

ract Various standardised assessment tools have been used to evaluate children with disabilities. However, assessment tools that provide information on the movement and function of children with specific learning disabilities (SLD) are still limited. This article provides a narrative review of the characteristics of five movement and/or function assessment tools. The strengths and limitations of the tools will be highlighted. Empirical studies on the assessment tools used are reviewed based on three criteria: (i) standardised tools; (ii) assessment of movement and/or function; (iii) applicability to children with SLD ranging from 4–17 years of age and widely used in practice. The following instruments have been included as they have been found to fulfil the criteria: (i) the Bruininks-Oseretsky test of motor proficiency-2 (BOT-2); (ii) the movement assessment battery for children-2 (MABC-2); (iii) the pediatric balance scale (PBS); (iv) the Vineland adaptive behaviour scale-II (VABS-II) and (v) the pediatric evaluation of disability inventory-computerised adaptive test (PEDI-CAT). The article presents the characteristics, strengths and limitations of five standardised assessment tools that are currently in use, which measure the movement and/or function of children with SLD. This article concludes with a discussion of recommendations for the best approaches to evaluating the movement and functional abilities of children with SLD.

Critical review paper is one of the components in the theory examination for master of medicine (psychiatry) and master of psychological medicine part II. Majority of the students find critical review paper is difficult to pass. Thus this article is useful to help them. The paper discussed below is aimed to determine the validity and examine the reliability of the Malay version of Auditory Verbal Learning Test (MVAVLT) for Malaysian population use. They also wanted to determine the level of performance of the test among schizophrenia patients. The data were subjected to the principal component factor analysis (PCA) with varimax rotation using a single factor. Questions for this paper mainly discussed the validity and factor analysis concept.

Objective: Critical appraisal is a process of systematically examining research evidence to assess its validity, results and relevance before using it to form a decision. A basic knowledge in statistic and epidemiology is important among postgraduate students in psychiatry to acquire the skills for appraising clinical research evidence. This is a descriptive study that attempts to look into the level of knowledge among the postgraduate psychiatry students in terms of statistic and epidemiology. Methods: A total of 31 postgraduate students in their second (N= 26) and third year (N=5) Master of Medicine (Psychiatry) and Master of Psychological Medicine from three different universities, namely: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Malaya and Universiti Sains Malaysia participated in this research. The participants were asked to answer 7 questions within 30 minutes. The passing mark for this critical review paper is set at 25 out of 50. Results: Overall, only 32.3% passed the mock critical review paper. About 67.7% of the students passed their epidemiology component and only 19.4% passed the statistic component. Conclusion: We found poor performance in basic statistics among psychiatric trainees which highlights the need for further improvement in the subject’s training.