No abstract available.
Animals ; Hippocampus* ; Rats* ; Serotonin* ; Synapses*

No abstract available.
Animals ; Neostriatum* ; Rats* ; Synapses*

The category of striatal complex contains caudate nucleus, putamen, nucleus accumbens septi, and olfactory tubercle. The striatal complex is composed of two compartments, dorsal and ventral striatum. In the striatum, cholinergic neuron is known as one of the most important intrinsic neurons, but there were little morphological reports about the early postnatal expression of mouse striatal cholinergic neurons. So, we planned to investigate the distribution of mouse striatal cholinergic neurons in their early postnatal period by the immunohistochemistry. We used ICR mouse as the experimental animals and divided them into 5 groups according to their postnatal age : 3-day, 1-week, 2-week, 4-week, and 6-week. Immunohistochemistry was done with anti-choline acetyl transferase antibody (chemicon). The results were as follow. 1 The striatal cholinergic neurons are already detected in the 3-day group, but the intensity was weak and the expression rate was extremely low. In the caudoputamen, the cholinergic expression rate was increased significantly between 3-day and 2-week. And in the nucleus accumbens septi, it was increased significantly between 1-week and 2-week. 2. The cholinergic expression rates of the adult mouse striatum were similar in both compartments. But, the difference of maturational time was noted. In the dorsal striatum, the cholinergic expression rate was increased significantly in the first postnatal week, but in the ventral striatum, it was approached to the adult level only after second postnatal week. In conclusion, the cholinergic expression rate in the mouse striatum was significantly increased after birth. And it was approached nearly to the adult level after 2-week of postnatal age. But, according to the compartments or rostrocaudal subdivisions, the difference of maturational time was noted.
Adult ; Animals ; Basal Ganglia ; Caudate Nucleus ; Cholinergic Neurons* ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Mice* ; Mice, Inbred ICR ; Neurons ; Nucleus Accumbens ; Olfactory Pathways ; Parturition ; Putamen ; Transferases

Background: Preoperative anxiety is a significant problem worldwide that may affect patients’ surgical outcome. By using a simple and reliable tool such as the Amsterdam Preoperative Anxiety and Information Scale (APAIS), anaesthesiologists would be able to assess preoperative anxiety adequately and accurately. Objective: The purpose of this study was to develop and validate the Malay version of APAIS (Malay-APAIS), and assess the factors associated with higher anxiety scores. Methods: The authors performed forward and backward translation of APAIS into Malay and then tested on 200 patients in the anaesthetic clinic of University Malaya Medical Centre. Psychometric analysis was performed with factor analysis, internal consistency and correlation with Spielberger’s State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-state). Results: A good correlation was shown with STAI-state (r = 0.59). Anxiety and need for information both emerged with high internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha 0.93 and 0.90 respectively). Female gender, surgery with a higher risk and need for information were found to be associated with higher anxiety scores. On the other hand, previous experience with surgery had lower need for information. Conclusion: The Malay-APAIS is a valid and reliable tool for the assessment of patients’ preoperative anxiety and their need for information. By understanding and measuring patient’s concerns objectively, the perioperative management will improve to a much higher standard of care.

No abstract available.
Dental Pulp Cavity

Transaminase enzymes, alanine (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST), have been reported to be raised and implicated to have prognostic value in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Ki67, a marker of cellular proliferative activity, has also been noted to be increased in HCC. A study was conducted at the Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur to determine the possible association of proliferative activity, as determined by Ki67, with the transaminase enzymes. 31 cases of histologically diagnosed HCC who underwent tumour resection were retrieved from departmental archives. The patients' ages ranged between 40 to 79 years with a mean of 58.3 years. There was a male preponderance with M:F = 2.9:1. Ethnic Chinese formed 83.9% of the cases. 4 microm sections, cut from the formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tumour tissue block of each case, were immunohistochemically stained with Ki67 (DAKO monoclonal MIB-1) using the commercial DakoCytomation EnVision+System-HRP kit. The latest ALT and AST levels, assayed within 7 days prior to tumour resection, were retrieved from the patients' case records. 24 (77.4%) HCC demonstrated elevation of either ALT and/or AST. 27 (87.1%) HCC were immunopositive for Ki67. Ki67 immunoexpression was significantly correlated with raised transaminases (p<0.05). Hypothetically, the mechanism by which this phenomenon may occur may simply be release of transaminases due to destruction of hepatocytes by the cancer. Thus rising levels of the transaminases could signal a more rapid growth of the tumour and these routinely performed tests can be of prognostic value in management of HCC patients.
Aspartate aminotransferase assay ; Alanine aminotransferase measurement ; Primary carcinoma of the liver cells ; prognostic ; Excision

Factor VIIa ; Genetic Therapy ; Hemophilia A ; drug therapy ; epidemiology ; genetics ; physiopathology ; History, 21st Century ; Humans ; Recombinant Proteins ; Singapore ; epidemiology

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine the usefulness of manual medicine therapy in adhesive capsulitis of shoulder. METHOD: Twelve patients with adhesive capsulitis of shoulder were treated with the muscle energy technique of Greenman in manual medicine therapy. The muscle energy technique of Greenman was repeated 6 times for each subject. The therapeutic effect of manual medicine therapy was assessed by the shoulder range of motion (ROM) and visual analogue scale (VAS) before and after the treatment. Two patients took the fluoroscopic examination before and after the treatment. RESULTS: After the manual medicine therapy, active range of shoulder motion were increased by 30.0degrees in forward flexion, by 21.2degrees in abduction, by 11.2degrees in external rotation, and by 18.7degrees in internal rotation, respectively. The visual analogue scale was decreased after treatment. None of the subjects complained pain during treatment. The mobility of shoulder joint was improved and the rhythm of scapulohumeral joint was restored. CONCLUSION: The manual medicine therapy is an effective, tolerable and noninvasive treatment method for the painful adhesive capsulitis of shoulder.
Adhesives* ; Bursitis* ; Humans ; Joints ; Range of Motion, Articular ; Shoulder Joint ; Shoulder*

INTRODUCTIONThe aim of the study was to compare the visual performance of LASIK eyes measured using high-contrast logMAR letter charts under bright (photopic) and dim (mesopic) conditions.

MATERIALS AND METHODSA total of 46 subjects (35 +/- 8 years of age) undergoing LASIK procedures were recruited for the study. The best spectacle-corrected visual acuity (BSCVA) of each subject was measured using the high-contrast ETDRS logMAR chart under photopic and mesopic conditions at 3 visits: preoperative (Pre), 1 month postoperative (Post1) and 3 months postoperative (Post3). The differences in logMAR scores for the right eyes only were analysed for the Pre-Post1 (n = 46), Pre-Post3 (n = 18) and Post1-Post3 (n = 16) comparisons.

RESULTSThe logMAR scores of subjects were worse at the 1-month postoperative visit than preoperatively, and improvement in visual performance was seen at the 3-month postoperative visit. These changes in visual performance became more evident under mesopic conditions. The means and standard errors of the differences in logMAR scores for the Pre-Post3 (0.097 +/- 0.020) were slightly larger than those of the Pre-Post1 (-0.067 +/- 0.019) and Post1-Post3 (0.031 +/- 0.012) comparisons. Under mesopic conditions, the visual performance of the subjects was statistically significant for the 3 comparisons, but not under photopic conditions.

CONCLUSIONHigh-contrast logMAR chart performed under mesopic conditions has the potential to replace visual acuity measured under photopic conditions in providing more reliable representation of postoperative visual outcomes of LASIK eyes. Eye doctors should consider performing this vision test routinely to gauge the success of LASIK surgery.

Adult ; Contrast Sensitivity ; Female ; Humans ; Keratomileusis, Laser In Situ ; adverse effects ; Lighting ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Reproducibility of Results ; Vision Disorders ; diagnosis ; etiology ; Vision Tests ; methods ; Visual Acuity

The cholinergic neurons in the striatal complex are the major interneurons that integrate the informations incoming to and outflowing from the striatum. The shape of synapses may change even after birth and the synaptic morphology reflects the functional state of synapse. However, it is not well known about the synaptic morphology of the mouse striatal cholinergic neurons in their early postnatal life. Thus, we investigated the synaptic morphology of the mouse striatal cholinergic neurons in their early postnatal life by the electron microscopy combined with immunohis-tochemistry. In addition, we investigated the trends of change in synaptic morphology and whether the difference between two compartments exists or not. Experimental animals which are ICR mice, were divided into 5 groups according to their postnatal age: 3-day, 1-week, 2-week, 4-week, and 6-week. Pre-embedding immunohisto-chemistry was done with anti-choline acetyl transferase antibody. The results were as follows. 1. In synapses that immunoreactive terminals constitute the presynaptic components, most of synapses are symmetric type in all age groups (p<0.05). Most of synapses in the dorsal striatum are symmetric form from 1-week of postnatal age, but it is not prominent in the ventral striatum until 2-week of postnatal age. 2. In synapses that immunoreactive terminals constitute the postsynaptic components, both symmetric and asymmetric synapses are noted in similar proportions (p<0.05). There are no difference in the synaptic morphology between dorsal and ventral striatum. 3. No specific findings are observed in synaptic curve according to the postnatal age or compartment. In conclusion, the synaptic morphology of mouse striatal cholinergic neurons is similar to mature pattern from 2-week of postnatal age. And it is thought that period between birth and 2-week of postnatal age is the critical period for synaptogenesis. The synaptic curve does not reflect the degree of synaptic maturity. Further investigations will be required to generalize the synaptic curve as a marker for synaptic maturity.
Animals ; Basal Ganglia ; Cholinergic Neurons* ; Critical Period (Psychology) ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Interneurons ; Mice* ; Mice, Inbred ICR ; Microscopy, Electron ; Parturition ; Synapses ; Transferases