Printed educational material is the primary mode of communication in public health education. However, there is a scarcity of studies that evaluate the acceptance towards printed educational materials in Malaysia. Therefore, this study was conducted with the aim of evaluating existing printed nutrition educational materials regarding childhood obesity for use in nutrition education or health promotion programme. This study was conducted in two stages. Stage 1 involved a survey of existing printed nutrition educational materials related to childhood obesity and pilot testing on questionnaires that was developed. Whereas Stage 2 was the evaluation of the acceptance of subjects towards existing printed educational materials and changes in knowledge level after reading the materials. Likert scale from 1 (very not satisfactory) to 5 (very satisfactory) was used in the evaluation. Subjects in this study comprised 67 individuals who were educational and health professionals (n = 7), adults (n = 30) and children (n = 30). In this study, adults were given a booklet that focused on prevention and management of childhood obesity such as complications of childhood obesity and food preparation. Children received a booklet that focused on food pyramid, importance of breakfast, physical activity and so on and a poster that focused on healthy food choices. The professionals were given all three printed materials. This study found that the acceptance of subjects towards content, illustrations, tables and fi gures, colour, organization of picture, organization of content, language and font size of the three printed educational materials are variety, which ranged from not satisfactory to very satisfactory. Mean satisfaction score of booklet targeted at adult population was 3.9 ± 0.5 while mean satisfaction score of booklet targeted at children population was 4.3 ± 0.4 and poster was 3.9 ± 0.9. Knowledge score of the professionals increased from 88.6 ± 11.2% to 95.5 ± 3.2% after reading the educational materials. The knowledge score of adults also increased signifi cantly (p < 0.001) from 67.7 ± 13.6% to 84.8 ± 15.9%; among children, knowledge score signifi cantly increased (p < 0.001) from 65.3 ± 14.4% to 84.0 ± 11.4%. In conclusion, the existing printed educational materials were well-accepted and were able to increase the knowledge level of target population. Therefore, the printed educational materials are suitable to be used in any health education program related to childhood obesity

The authers had successfully treated two cases of primary corneal peripheral ischemic syndrome by subconjunctival heparin injection. The first 60 years male patient had a history of a progressive visual disturvance, photophobia and ocular pain in both eyes for 5 months. At the time of his first visit to our hospital, deep ring shaped ulceration at corneal periphery was observed. So he was treated by subconjunctival heparin injection and systemic steroid administration. The second 70 years female patient had a history of Progressive visual disturbance since 3 ears ago and photophobia tearing and ocular pain. At the time of her first to our hospital, deep ring shaped ulceration at corneal periphery was found. So she was treated by subconjunctival heparin injection and systemic steroid administration too. We found no evidence of further ulceration in two cases.
Ear ; Female ; Heparin ; Humans ; Male ; Photophobia ; Ulcer

Auricular hematoma is one of the most common problems among people who have got repetitive blunt trauma to the external ear. Prompt managements are drainage of hematoma and following prevention of re-accumulation (e.g. compression dressing). If the treatment is not successful, many complications can occur, including perichondritis, infection and necrosis. Especially long-lasting loss of blood supply to the ear cartilage and formation of neocartilage from disrupted perichondrium can result in cauliflower ear deformity. There were some studies trying to classify and to treat the cauliflower ear by the degree of deformities. And excision of deformed cartilage with reshaping of the auricle has been reported several times. In this article, we would like to introduce a successful drilling technique of otoplasty as a useful treatment option.

Balloon eustachian tuboplasty (BET), a surgical technique to expand the cartilaginous portion of the eustachian tube by ballooning via opening at the nasopharynx, has been introduced as a useful surgical modality for eustachian tube dysfunction patients. Although BET is known as a relatively safe procedure, we recently have experienced two cases of cardiac complications during balloon inflation. In one case, an asystole occurred for 13 seconds during this procedure; the heart rate was recovered after balloon deflation with an intravenous injection of glycopyrrolate and atropine. In the other case, bradycardia occurred and continued during BET. Heart rate was recovered immediately after deflation of balloon without drug injection. As far as we know, this is the first report of cardiac complications during BET, probably related with trigemino-cardiac reflex. In both cases, no other sequelae remained after the surgery. We report these two cases of cardiac complications that occurred during BET along with a review of literature.

Objectives: . Sigmoid sinus resurfacing (SS-R) is one of the most effective surgical treatments for patients with pulsatile tinnitus (PT) originating from anatomical variants of the vascular walls in the temporal bone. This study aimed to provide updated information on the clinical outcomes of SS-R and evaluate the efficacy of the water occlusion test (WOT) as an additional diagnostic modality. Methods: . We retrospectively reviewed medical records including tinnitus questionnaires, temporal bone computed tomography (TBCT) scans, audiologic tests, and preoperative WOT results from patients who underwent SS-R. Results: . In total, 26 patients were included in the study. The mean age was 44 years, and the mean symptom duration was 3 months. Fourteen patients (53.8%) were completely cured, seven (26.9%) significantly improved, and five (19.2%) remained stable. The mean visual analog scale loudness score decreased from 5.26 to 1.34 (P<0.001) and the mean Tinnitus Handicap Inventory score also improved from 50.23 to 5.5 (P<0.001) after SS-R surgery. In 10 patients with discrepancies between the preoperative TBCT and intraoperative findings, WOT showed a significant additive effect in predicting surgical outcomes. No patients experienced severe intraoperative or postoperative complications during the entire follow-up period. Conclusion . SS-R provides significant symptom improvement in patients with sigmoid sinus dehiscence who had a positive WOT without other sigmoid sinus variants. A combined diagnostic approach with TBCT, WOT, and intraoperative findings is crucial for achieving better surgical outcomes in patients with PT caused by sigmoid sinus variants.

INTRODUCTION: To improve the nutritional care and resource allocation of critically ill patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), we described their characteristics, treatment modalities and clinical outcomes, and compared their nutrition interventions against the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN) recommendations. METHODS: This was a retrospective observational study conducted in 5 tertiary hospitals in Singapore. Characteristics, treatment modalities, clinical outcomes and nutrition interventions of critically ill patients with SARS-CoV-2 who received enteral and parenteral nutrition were collected between January and May 2020. RESULTS: Among the 83 critically ill patients with SARS-CoV-2, 22 (28%) were obese, 45 (54%) had hypertension, and 21 (25%) had diabetes. Neuromuscular blockade, prone therapy and dialysis were applied in 70% (58), 47% (39) and 35% (29) of the patients, respectively. Refeeding hypophosphataemia and hospital mortality occurred respectively in 6% (5) and 18% (15) of the critically ill patients with SARS-CoV-2. Late enteral nutrition and cardiovascular comorbidities were associated with higher hospital mortality (adjusted relative risk 9.00, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.25-35.99; 6.30, 95% CI 1.15-34.40, respectively). Prone therapy was not associated with a higher incidence of high gastric residual volume (≥250mL). The minimum caloric (15kcal/kg) and protein (1.2g/kg) recommendations of ASPEN were achieved in 54% (39) and 0% of the patients, respectively. CONCLUSION The high obesity prevalence and frequent usage of neuromuscular blockade, prone therapy, and dialysis had considerable implications for the nutritional care of critically ill patients with SARS-CoV-2. They also did not receive adequate calories and protein. More audits should be conducted to refine nutritional interventions and guidelines for this ever-evolving disease.
COVID-19/therapy* ; Critical Illness/therapy* ; Humans ; Nutritional Support ; SARS-CoV-2 ; Singapore/epidemiology* ; United States

BACKGROUND: Liquid nitrogen freezing techniques have already met with widespread success in biology and medicine as a means of long-term storage for cells and tissues. The use of cryoprotectants such as glycerol and dimethylsulphoxide to prevent ice crystal formation, with carefully controlled rates of freezing and thawing, allows both structure and viability to be retained almost indefinitely. Cryopreservation of various tissues has various controlled rates of freezing. MATERIAL AND METHOD: To find the optimal freezing curve and the chamber temperature, we approached the thermodynamic calculation of tissues in two ways. One is the direct calculation method. We should know the thermophysical characteristics of all components, latent heat of fusion, area, density and volume, etc. This kind of calculation is so sophisticated and some variables may not be determined. The other is the indirect calculation method. We performed the tissue freezing with already used freezing curve and we observed the actualfreezing curve of that tissue. And we modified the freezing curve with several steps of calculation, polynomial regression analysis, time constant calculation, thermal response calculation and inverse calculation of chamber temperature. RESULT: We applied that freezing program on mesenchymal stem cell, chondrocyte, and osteoblast. The tissue temperature decreased according to the ideal freezing curve without temperature rising. We did not find any differences in survival. The reason is postulated to be that freezing material is too small and contains cellular components. We expect the significant difference in cellular viability if the freezing curve is applied on a large scale of tissues. CONCLUSION: This program would be helpful in finding the chamber temperature for the ideal freezing curve easily.
Biology ; Chondrocytes ; Cryopreservation ; Dimethyl Sulfoxide ; Freezing* ; Glycerol ; Hot Temperature* ; Ice ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; Nitrogen ; Osteoblasts ; Thermodynamics ; Transplantation, Homologous

Patients who have complex endocarditis with involvement of both the aortic and mitral valves and intervalvular fibrous skeleton are among the most difficult to treat and still have the highest surgical mortality and morbidity rates. We report one case of aortic and mitral valve replacement with reconstruction of the fibrous skeleton performed in a 55-year-old female patient who had an aortic annular abscess and both the aortic and mitral prosthetic valve endocarditis with destruction of the fibrous skeleton. Previously, she had undergone redo double valve replacement. Transesophageal echocardiogram showed the paravalvular defect at the noncoronary aortic sinus and abnormal sinus tract along the fibrous skeleton. Emergent operation was performed due to positive blood cultures of staphylococcus epidermidis and persistent sepsis despite appropriate antibiotic therapy. After aortotomy extended to the roof of left atrium, both prosthetic valves and destroyed fibrous skeleton were completely resected and the aortic annular abscess was debrided and closed with a bovine pericardial patch. Reconstructions of both aortic and mitral annuli and the fibrous skeleton were done by using two separate bovine pericardial patches in triangular shape and mechanical valves were implanted. Postoperatively, adequate antibiotic therapies were continued and the patient was discharged at the postoperative 72 days without evidence of recurrence of endocarditis. Transthoracic echocardiogram of the postoperative 8 months shows no paravalvular leakage or recurrence of endocarditis and the patient has been followed up with no symptom.
Abscess ; Endocarditis* ; Female ; Heart Atria ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Mitral Valve* ; Mortality ; Recurrence ; Sepsis ; Sinus of Valsalva ; Skeleton* ; Staphylococcus epidermidis

We report a case of an 8 years and 11 month-old male patient who had developed severe tricuspid insufficiency(TI) after correction of anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery(ALCAPA). Transthoracic echocardiogram and coronary angiography confirmed ALCAPA, ischemic mitral regurgitation and trivial TI. He underwent direct reimplantation of the left coronary artery to the aortic root by using additional cannulation at the main pulmonary artery for arterial inflow and cardioplegia delivery to the left coronary artery. After the correction of ALCAPA, transesophageal echocardiogram(TEE) revealed good antegrade flow at the aortic implantation site of the left coronary artery and severe TI(Gr III-IV/IV). Cardiopulmonary bypass was reestablished and tricuspid valve was repaired with Kay-type annuloplasty, artificial chordae formation and chordal shortening plasty. The postrepair TEE revealed trivial to mild TI.
Bland White Garland Syndrome ; Cardiopulmonary Bypass ; Catheterization ; Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Vessels* ; Heart Arrest, Induced ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Mitral Valve Insufficiency ; Pulmonary Artery ; Replantation ; Tricuspid Valve ; Tricuspid Valve Insufficiency

Cardioprotective effect of fimasartan, a new angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB), was evaluated in a porcine model of acute myocardial infarction (MI). Fifty swine were randomized to group 1 (sham, n=10), group 2 (no angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor [ACEI] or ARB, n=10), group 3 (perindopril 2 mg daily, n=10), group 4 (valsartan 40 mg daily, n=10), or group 5 (fimasartan 30 mg daily, n=10). Acute MI was induced by occlusion of the left anterior descending artery for 50 min. Echocardiography, single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), and F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose cardiac positron emission tomography (PET) were performed at baseline, 1 week, and 4 weeks. Iodine-123 meta-iodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) scan was done at 6 weeks for visualization of cardiac sympathetic activity. Left ventricular function and volumes at 4 weeks were similar between the 5 groups. No difference was observed in groups 2 to 5 in SPECT perfusion defect, matched and mismatched segments between SPECT and PET at 1 week and 4 weeks. MIBG scan showed similar uptake between the 5 groups. Pathologic analysis showed similar infarct size in groups 2 to 5. Infarct size reduction was not observed with use of fimasartan as well as other ACEI and ARB in a porcine model of acute MI.
3-Iodobenzylguanidine ; Angiotensin II Type 1 Receptor Blockers/therapeutic use ; Angiotensin Receptor Antagonists/*therapeutic use ; Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors/therapeutic use ; Animals ; Anterior Wall Myocardial Infarction/*drug therapy/physiopathology ; Biphenyl Compounds/*therapeutic use ; Cardiotonic Agents/*therapeutic use ; Disease Models, Animal ; Echocardiography ; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 ; Perindopril/therapeutic use ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Pyrimidines/*therapeutic use ; Random Allocation ; Swine ; Tetrazoles/*therapeutic use ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon ; Valsartan/therapeutic use ; Ventricular Function, Left/*physiology