BACKGROUND: Home blood pressure monitoring is recommended to achieve controlled blood pressure. This study evaluated home blood pressure monitoring-improvement of office blood pressure control and treatment compliance among hypertensive patients. METHODS: A randomized controlled trial was conducted from December 2014 to April 2015. The home blood pressure monitoring group used an automatic blood pressure device along with standard hypertension outpatient care. Patients were seen at baseline and after 2 months. Medication adherence was measured using a novel validated Medication Adherence Scale (MAS) questionnaire. Office blood pressure and MAS were recorded at both visits. The primary outcomes included evaluation of mean office blood pressure and MAS within groups and between groups at baseline and after 2 months. RESULTS: Mean changes in systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and MAS differed significantly within groups. The home blood pressure monitoring group showed greater mean changes (SBP 17.6 mm Hg, DBP 9.5 mm Hg, MAS 1.5 vs. SBP 14.3 mm Hg, DBP 6.4 mm Hg, MAS 1.3), while between group comparisons showed no significant differences across all variables. The adjusted mean difference for mean SBP was 4.74 (95% confidence interval [CI], −0.65 to 10.13 mm Hg; P=0.084), mean DBP was 1.41 (95% CI, −2.01 to 4.82 mm Hg; P=0.415), and mean MAS was 0.05 (95% CI, −0.29 to 0.40 mm Hg; P=0.768). CONCLUSION: Short-term home blood pressure monitoring significantly reduced office blood pressure and improved medication adherence, albeit similarly to standard care.
Ambulatory Care ; Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory ; Blood Pressure ; Compliance ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Medication Adherence

evere social and psychological problems. Tissueexpansion, although an old concept, provides a surgicalalternative to manage areas of alopecia. We describe a caseof alopecia secondary to repaired occipital encephalocelethat was successfully treated using tissue expansiontechnique.

High failure rate for recurrent palatal fistulas closure pose agreat challenge to plastic surgeons. Tongue and facial arterymusculomucosal (FAMM) flaps are the more commonly usedflaps for closure of these recurrent fistulas. We report a caseof a formerly inset FAMM flap to effectively close apreviously repaired oronasal fistula.

The application of artificial intelligence (AI) is on the rise in the healthcare industry. However, the study on the physicians’ perspectives is still lacking. The study aimed to examine physicians’ attitudes, expectations, and concerns regarding the application of AI in medicine. A cross-sectional study was conducted in October 2019 among physicians in a tertiary teaching hospital in Malaysia. The survey used a validated questionnaire from the literature, which covered: (1) socio-demographic profile; (2) attitude towards the application of AI; (3) expected application in medicine; and (4) possible risks of using AI. Comparison of the mean score between the groups using a t-test or one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). A total of 112 physicians participated in the study: 64.3% from the clinical departments; 35.7% from the non-clinical specialties. The physicians from non-clinical departments had significantly higher mean attitude score (mean = 14.94 ± 3.12) compared to the clinical (person-oriented) departments (mean = 14.13 ± 3.10) and clinical (technique-oriented) departments (mean = 13.06 ± 2.88) (p = 0.033). The tech-savvy participants had a significantly higher mean attitude score (mean = 14.72 ± 3.55) than the non–tech-savvy participants (mean = 13.21 ± 2.46) (p = 0.01). There are differences in the expectations among the respondents and some concerns exist especially on the legal aspect of AI application in medicine. Proper training and orientation should precede its implementation and must be appropriate to the physicians’ needs for its utilization and sustainability.

Tumour protein 53 (p53) plays an important role in the instruction of the cell cycle. In a variety of transformed cell lines, tumour protein is expressed in high amounts, and it is believed to contribute to transformation and malignancy. This research aimed to detect the anti-p53 antibodies in sera of patients with various malignant tumours and to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). A case-control study was conducted on samples from 49 patients with various types of malignant tumours at Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital, Alor Setar, Kedah, Malaysia, and 32 healthy control cases with non‐malignant disease collected from Universiti Sains Malaysia clinic, Penang, Malaysia. The antibodies against p53 protein in the serum samples were analysed using the commercial ELISA kit, Calbiochem® p53- ELISAPLUS. The results showed that the rate of anti-p53 antibodies in patients with various malignant tumours was 13 out of 49 (26.5 %), compared with only 2 out of 32 (6.25%) in healthy controls (p < 0.001). The sensitivity of this kit reached 28.6% and the specificity was 93.8%. In conclusion, these results suggest that the anti-p53 antibodies can be detected in different sera of malignant tumour patients and the ELISA kit is highly specific; nevertheless, its discrimination power is not perfect because of its low sensitivity to determine the anti-p53 antibodies.