A cross-sectional study was conducted in two hospitals in Hargeisa city to determine the job and organizational stress among nurses and doctors in ICU and its influencing factors. A universal sampling method was carried out and one hundred and twenty questionnaires were distributed among nurses and doctors working in intensive care units of two hospitals on different shift duties; morning, afternoon, night and rotation shifts. The response rate was 83.3%. Regression analysis showed that approximately 88% (adjusted R square = 0.889) of the variation in stress mean score was explained by the background variables. Experience, role overload, physical environment and marital status were significant predictors.

Langerhans cell histiocytosis of the spine frequently presents as a solitary lesion and rarely results in neurological deficit. Involvement of thyroid tissue is also rare, even in multifocal disease presentations. We present an unusual variant of Langerhans cell histiocytosis in a 37-year-old man presenting with profound quadriparesis and incidental thyroid involvement. MR imaging and skeletal radiographs revealed widespread involvement of the spine. The patient underwent surgical resection of the tumour and stabilization of the spine. Diagnosis was confirmed by histological and immunohistochemistry analysis. Langerhans cell histiocytosis should be included in the differential diagnosis of radiolucent lesions of the spine in adults.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in Malaysia and many parts of the world. Potentially modifiable risk factors for CVD include diabetes mellitus, hypertension, abdominal obesity, smoking and psychosocial stress. Over the last several decades, efforts to prevent or treat CVD risk factors have resulted in significantly lower rates of CVD-related mortality. However, many patients have never achieved adequate control of CVD risk factors despite them being identified. The aims of this study were to measure the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases and to determine its associated factors. A cross sectional study was carried out in a rural area of Malaysia from March 2011 to November 2011 on 1489 respondents aged 18 and above who were selected via convenient sampling. The survey was conducted via a face-to-face interview using a standardized self administered questionnaire. Prevalence of cardiovascular disease identified was 72 cases (4.8%). Overall, the prevalence of modifiable risk factors were predominant compared to non modifiable, with abdominal obesity (51.2%) hypertension (39.5%) and psychosocial stress (33.8%) being among the highest. However, the prevalence of other modifiable risk factors was relatively low with smoking (25.2%), and diabetes mellitus (10.9%) respectively. Respondent with diabetes mellitus and hypertension were 4 times more likely to have cardiovascular disease and those who are obese had associated 2.5 risks towards cardiovascular disease. Therefore, community health intervention measures should be mobilized, specifically on prevention and control of lifestyle-related risk factors.

OBJECTIVETo carry out a preliminary phytochemical, acute oral toxicity and antihepatotoxic study of the roots of Paeonia officinalis (P. officinalis) L.

METHODSPreliminary phytochemical investigation was done as per standard procedures. Acute oral toxicity study was conducted as per OECD 425 guidelines. The antihepatotoxic activity of aqueous extract of root of P. officinalis was evaluated against carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) induced hepatic damage in rats. Aqueous extract of P. officinalis at the dose levels of 100 and 200 mg/kg body weight was administered daily for 14 d in experimental animals. Liver injury was induced chemically, by CCl4 administration (1 mL/kg i.p.). The hepatoprotective activity was assessed using various biochemical parameters like aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), serum alkaline phosphatase (SALP), total bilirubin and total protein (TP) along with histopathological studies.

RESULTPhytochemical screening revealed that the roots of P. officinalis contain alkaloids, tannins, saponins, glycosides, carbohydrates, flavonoids, terpenes, steroids and proteins. The aqueous extract did not cause any mortality up to 2 000 mg/kg. In rats that had received the root extract at the dose of 100 and 200 mg/kg, the substantially elevated AST, ALT, SALP, total bilirubin levels were significantly lowered, respectively, in a dose dependent manner, along with CCl4 while TP levels were elevated in these groups. Histopathology revealed regeneration of the livers in extract treated groups while Silymarin treated rats were almost normal.

CONCLUSIONSThe aqueous extract of P. officinalis is safe and possesses antihepatotoxic potential.

Animals ; Carbon Tetrachloride ; toxicity ; Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury ; drug therapy ; etiology ; Female ; Liver ; drug effects ; Male ; Paeonia ; chemistry ; Plant Extracts ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; toxicity ; Plant Roots ; chemistry ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar

Spinal neurofibromas occur sporadically and typically occur in association with neurofibromatosis 1. Patients afflicted with neurofibromatosis 1 usually present with involvement of several nerve roots. This report describes the case of a 14-year-old child with a large intraspinal, but extradural tumour with paraspinal extension, dumbbell neurofibroma of the cervical region extending from the C2 to C4 vertebrae. The lesions were readily detected by MR imaging and were successfully resected in a two-stage surgery. The time interval between the first and second surgery was one month. We provide a brief review of the literature regarding various surgical approaches, emphasising the utility of anterior and posterior approaches.

Objective: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Malaysia with the objectives of determining the prevalence of smoking in Malaysia, reasons for starting to smoke, age first started to smoke, duration of smoking and to determine the relationship between smoking and age, sex,race, education level, peer influence and parental smoking status. Methods:All residents aged 18 years and above from selected households were included in this study. A standardised pre-tested structured questionnaire was used in this study. Results: The results showed that the overall mean age of the 17.246 respondents was 38.8 (95% CI=38.5-39.2) years with a range of 18-100 years. The majority were Malays (55.5%) followed by Chinese (21.2%) and Indians (11.2%). The age , sex and ethnicity adjusted prevalence of ever and current smokers were 32.0% and 24.9% respectively. The prevalence of ever and current smokers for males was 59.3% and 47.2% respectively. For the females,the prevalence of ever and current smokers was 4.8% and 2.7% respectively. The highest ethnicity adjusted prevalence of current smokers was in Malays (28.9%) followed by the Chinese (18.7%). The lowest prevalence was amongst the Indians (16.8%). The highest prevalence of current smokers was found in Kelantan (30.2%), Terengganu (29.7%), Pahang (28.7%) and Kedah (26.9%); the lowest prevalence was in Kuala Lumpur, Federal Territory (20.4%). The overall mean initiation age of current smokers was 19.2 years (95% CI=19.1. 19.4 years). The mean initiation age of male current smokers was significantly lower (18.9 years) compared to female current smokers(24.1 years). The mean duartion of smoking amongst the current smokers was 18.6 years .Males smoked significantly more cigarettes than the females (p<0.001). Discussion: Multivirate logistic regression analysis showed that smoking was significantly associated with age, sex, ethnicity, educational level and peer and family influence.

It is believed that exposure to whole-body vibration (WBV) may increase seated occupant drowsiness and seated. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the strength of the hand grip among the young adults in Malaysia. Also, to examine the correlation between anthropometry factors such as hand length (HL), hand breadth (HB), wrist circumference (WC) and body mass index (BMI) with average full hand grip strength of young adults. 40 Malaysian young adults with equal females and males and the range age of 23 to 28 years old voluntarily basis participated in this study. Three experiments were conducted in sitting position according to American Standard Hand Therapist (ASHT) with 45º, 90o and 135o of hand flexion using dynamometer. The results show the significant different full hand grip strength between Malaysian young adult females and females, the difference full hand grip strength for different hand flexion angles in sitting position and difference correlations between anthropometry factors and full hand grip strength for both young adult males and females.

Parkinson's disease, characterized by motor dysfunction due to the loss of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons, is one of the most prevalent age-related neurodegenerative disorders. Given there is no current cure, the stem cell approach has emerged as a viable therapeutic option to replace the dopaminergic neurons that are progressively lost to the disease. The success of the approach is likely to depend upon accessible, renewable, immune compatible, and non-tumorigenic sources of neural progenitors from which stable dopaminergic neurons can be generated efficaciously. Here, we demonstrate that neural progenitors derived from limbus, a regenerative and accessible ocular tissue, represent a safe source of dopaminergic neurons. When the limbus-derived neural progenitors were subjected to a well-established protocol of directed differentiation under the influence of Shh and FGF8, they acquired the biochemical and functional phenotype of dopaminergic neurons that included the ability to synthesize dopamine. Their intrastriatal transplantation in the rat model of hemi-Parkinsonism was associated with a reduction in the amphetamine-induced rotation. No tumor formation was observed 6 weeks post-transplantation. Together, these observations posit limbus-derived neural progenitors as an accessible and safe source of dopaminergic neurons for a potential autologous ex-vivo stem cell approach to Parkinson's disease.
Adult* ; Dopamine ; Dopaminergic Neurons* ; Humans ; Models, Animal ; Neurodegenerative Diseases ; Parkinson Disease ; Phenotype ; Stem Cells

Adenocarcinoma ; complications ; Female ; Hernia ; etiology ; Humans ; Lung Diseases ; etiology ; Lung Neoplasms ; complications ; Middle Aged