The study objective was to determine the diagnostic value of physical examinations for positive computer tomography (CT) scans in children with mild head injuries. Retrospective data of patients evaluated for mild head injuries with loss of consciousness (LOC) or amnesia were reviewed. Estimations of prevalence, sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values were calculated. Agreement between the physical examinations and CT brain scans was calculated using the Kappa test. 225 patients were included in the study. Of this group, 19.56% of patients had positive CT scans, and 7.56% had normal physical examinations. 15 underwent neurosurgical intervention. For positive CT scans, sensitivity and specificity were 61.36% and 60.22%, respectively. Agreement between physical examinations and CT scans was Kappa = 0.147 (P < 0.05), 95% CI (0.035, 0.259). The present study demonstrated that physical examinations were significantly associated with positive CT scans (P = 0.01). However, the calculated Kappa value showed only slight agreement between these 2 variables, and the low sensitivity and specificity of the physical examinations suggest that intracranial pathology in children with mild head injuries and LOC or amnesia cannot be excluded based on physical examinations alone.

Objectives: This study, conducted in 2012, was performed to determine the incidence of graft infection after cranioplasty procedures and factors affecting the graft infection rate at Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL). Methodology: This was an observational cross-sectional case study of patients who have undergone cranioplasty at HKL over a period of one year (2012). One hundred seventytwo patients were included in the study. A total of 105 (61.8%) cases were autologous bone flap replacements, and 67 (38.2%) were acrylic cranioplasty. Result: A total of five infected grafts were identified among the 172 cases included in the study, resulting in an overall infection rate of 2.9%. Of this infected group, three (4.5%) were cases of cranioplasty and two (1.9%) were cases of autologous bone flap replacement. There was high proportion of male patients undergoing cranioplasty (118 [or 68.6%]) and only 54 (or 31.4%) female patients. The primary pathology in the majority of patients (126 [or 73.2%]) was due to trauma; only 46 cases (or 26.8%) did not result from trauma. Of the patients, 123 (or 71.5%) had undergone a single cranial procedure prior to their cranioplasty, and 43 (or 28.5%) had undergone multiple cranial procedures. Most of the patients (114 [or 66.3%]) underwent cranioplasty 90 days after undergoing decompressive craniectomy while 58 (or 33.7%) underwent cranioplasty less than 90 days after decompressive craniectomy.

Ranking as the most communicable disease killer worldwide, tuberculosis, has accounted with a total of 9.6 million new tuberculosis cases with 1.5 million tuberculosis-related deaths reported globally in 2014. Tuberculosis has remain as an occupational hazard for healthcare workers since 1920s and due to several tuberculosis outbreaks in healthcare settings in the early 1990s, the concern about the transmission to both patients and healthcare workers has been raised. Healthcare workers have two to three folds greater the risk of active tuberculosis than the general population. Several studies on knowledge, attitude and practices on tuberculosis among healthcare workers worldwide have revealed that majority of the participated healthcare workers had good knowledge on tuberculosis. Most of the healthcare workers from South India and South Africa also reported to have positive attitude whereas a study in Thailand reported that most of the healthcare providers have negative attitude towards tuberculosis patients. Nevertheless, majority of the healthcare workers have low level of practice on tuberculosis prevention. An improved communication between healthcare workers and the patients as well as their families is the key to better therapeutic outcomes with good knowledge, attitude and preventive practice towards tuberculosis.