Introduction: Schoolbag weight across different types of school and schoolbag content has not been studied in Malaysia.This cross sectional survey determines the weight of schoolbags, its content and occurence of back pain among primary school children in different medium primary school in Kuala Lumpur.Methods: Students' body weight, and schoolbags weight were measured using a calibrated scale. Schoolbag content was examined, and weighed according to necessary learning materials or unnecessary materials. Back pain in the past one week was assessed using a self-administered questionnaire, adapted from previous studies. Results: A total of 358 students (167 male, 191 female) were enrolled, of which 119 were from National School (NS), 122 from Chinese Medium School (CMS) and 117from Tamil Medium School (TMS). The mean schoolbag weight was 4.55 ± 1.62kg for NS, 8.53 ± 1.94kg for CMS and 6.06 ± 2.09kg for TMS, which was 11.7%, 22.0% and 16.6% of body weight, respectively. The mean weight of unnecessary schoolbag content was 0.64(0.91)kg for NS, 2.18 (1.49) kg for CMS and 1.96(1.56) for TMS students. Back pain was detected in 87.0% NS students, 68.0% CMS students and 66.7% TMS students. Significant asociation was found between occurence of back pain and types of school (X²=16.64,p=0.00). Conclusions: Students from all the three mediums primary school, in particular Chinese medium school carry school bag heavier than that generally recommended, with unnecessary materials weigh up to 2kg. The occurence of back pain is high and this is associated with the types of school.

Factor X (FX) deficiency is a rare autosomal recessive congenital bleeding disorder. The clinical presentation is among the most severe among the rare coagulation defects. Thus, majority of diagnosed patients will receive factor replacement therapy before surgical manipulation. However, the diagnosis of FX deficiency may be overlooked because it is a rare entity. This is a case report of a 15-year-old male patient who was diagnosed with FX deficiency after developing post-operative complications. With regular fresh frozen plasma infusion given, the patient responded well and recovered. However, had he been diagnosed earlier pre-operatively, the post-operative complication could have been prevented. Therefore, pre-operative coagulation screening should be performed in patients with significant bleeding history in both emergency and elective situations to prevent surgical morbidity related to post-operative bleeding.

We investigated the immunogenicity of recombinant rMSP1 (rPbMSP1) that was generated from Plasmodium berghei. The rPbMSP1 formulated in alum was found to be immunogenic which induced high levels of specific anti-rPbMSP1 antibody. The IgG2a response predominated over IgG1 during the challenge infection in the vaccinated mice. Mice vaccinated with rPbMSP1 in alum mounted significant protective immunity against challenge infection (P < 0.01). On day 121 after the booster, three out of ten mice immunized with rPbMSP1 in PBS survived parasite infection (P < 0.05) and eight out of ten mice vaccinated with r MSP1 in alum did (P < 0.01). Hence, immunization with MSP1 in alum obviously has conferred protective effects, which prevented death from P. berghei lethal infection in mice (P < 0.01). These observations provide an excellent model for clinical assessment of this formulation in human subjects.
aluminum sulfate ; Laboratory mice ; upper case pea ; Infection as complication of medical care ; protect

Aims: Bakanae disease on rice has been widely distributed in all countries where rice is grown commercially, especially in Asian countries including Malaysia. As an alternative measure in controlling Fusarium fujikuroi, two approaches have to be adapted i.e. by using resistant varieties and biocontrol agents as reported in the present study. Methodology and results: A total of 31 Malaysian rice varieties were used in screening and results showed that variety MR211 was the most susceptible and MR220 was slightly susceptible. Out of 60 isolates of Trichoderma harzianum isolated from soils in Malaysia and tested against the pathogen under in vitro condition, 13 isolates showed high percentage of inhibition (PIRG > 60%). All isolates of T. harzianum showed that the PIRGs were significantly different at p≤0.05 with those of control plates. Conclusion, significance and impact of study: Biocontrol agent and resistant variety are better alternative for controlling plant diseases. We found a variety MR220 was slightly susceptible, but none of tested varieties is resistant towards pathogen of bakanae disease. T. harzianum has the ability to inhibit the growth of F. fujikuroi (T3068P) under in vitro condition. The findings of the Malaysian susceptible/resistant variety and potential T. harzianum isolate as a biocontrol agent of bakanae are important for future tests in the plant house and field trials.
Biological Control Agents ; Oryza

Treating tuberculosis (TB) remains a public health challenge in many developing countries. Treatment success rate in Malaysia is on declining pattern from 78% in 2000 to 48% in 2006. This study will determine factors associated with unsuccessful treatment among pulmonary TB patients. A retrospective cohort study was conducted on notified and treated pulmonary TB cases in Kota Bharu district Kelantan between January 2006 and December 2007. To identify the associated factors, univariate comparison and multiple logistic regressions were performed. Among the 765 patients identified, 472 (61.7%) cases fulfilled the criteria and were analyzed. There were 316 males and 156 females and their mean (SD) age was 45 (17.9) years. In univariable analysis, age, gender, educational level, employment status, family incomes as well as co-existence of extra-pulmonary TB, smoking, co-morbid disease (diabetes mellitus), HIV status, sputum cultures, chest X-ray findings and duration of delay for diagnosis were all found to have significant relationship with unsuccessful pulmonary TB treatment outcome. After adjusted for the confounders, the significant predictors for unsuccessful tuberculosis treatment were age (Adj. OR 1.09; 95% CI: 1.03-1.15), HIV positive (Adj. OR 23.04; 95% CI: 3.01-176.22) and advanced chest X-ray findings (Adj. OR 6.51; 95% CI: 1.50-28.23). A large proportion of unsuccessfully treated cases could be identified at entry by screening for age, chest X-rays and HIV status and specially targeted measures could be taken. The use of directly observed treatment short-course (DOTS) should be given more focus and priority among this high risk group of patients.

Intestinal microsporidia is an emerging human disease caused by microsporidia. A study was conducted to determine the prevalence of microsporidia in patients with gastro-intestinal symptoms and to examine the clinical manifestations associated with intestinal microsporidiosis. A descriptive cross-sectional study using a well-structured questionnaire; a review of medical records was also undertaken. Positive stool samples were defined as presence of one or more pinkish-violet ovoid structures with a belt-like stripe under high power field (100x) using modified gram-chromotrope stain (MGC). A total of 353 faecal specimens of patients was examined and 100 patients were found to have positive stool samples for microsporidia. The overall prevalence of microsporidia was 28.3%. Acute and chronic diarrhoea were seen in 49.0% and 36.0% patients, respectively. The commonest clinical presentations were diarrhoea (85.0%) with 83.0% of patients having loose or watery stools, vomiting (75.0%), foul-smelling stools (60.0%), nausea (59.0%) and cramping abdominal pain (39.0%). The least common symptoms were fever (15.0%), mucous in stool (5.0%) and blood in stool (4.0%). This study concludes that the prevalence of microsporidia is still high (28.3%) and the majority of patients (93.0%) are symptomatic; the most common gastro-intestinal symptom is diarrhoea with loose or watery stools. Hence, it is recommended that a stool screening for microsporidia be done in selected patients presented with gastrointestinal symptoms.
Feces ; symptoms <1> ; Prevalence aspects ; Intestinal microsporidiosis ; Clinical

Maternal depression has been linked to the development of adolescents’ emotional and behavioural problems. The main objective of this study was to determine the association between maternal depressive disorders and externalizing and internalizing problems among their adolescent children. This was a cross-sectional, comparison study of 35 mothers with depression and their adolescents, matched with 35 healthy mothers and their adolescents as controls. The mothers completed Quick Inventory Depressive Symptomatology (QIDS) for assessment of current depression. The emotional and behavioural problems in the adolescents were assessed independently by the mothers and their adolescents off-springs using Child Behavioral Checklist (CBCL) and Youth Self-Report (YSR), respectively. SPSS version 12.0 was used for statistical analysis. The fi ndings showed that adolescents who have mothers with depressive disorders had signifi cantly higher scores of externalizing (mean difference = 4.686 + 10.887, p = 0.016) and total emotional and behavioural problems (mean difference = 10.171 + 23.007, p = 0.013) than controls. The cases also scored higher than the controls in the following CBCL syndrome scales: aggressive behaviour (mean difference = 3.200 + 6.773, p = 0.008), social problem (mean difference = 1.286 + 2.865, p = 0.012), and attention problem (mean difference = 1.543 + 4.435, p = 0.047). Mothers with depressive disorders reported that their adolescents have greater emotional and behavioural problems than the controls. The fi ndings suggested a need for preventive strategies to curb problematic behaviour focusing on this vulnerable group.

A number of protocols have been reported for efficient fungal DNA and RNA isolation. However, many of these methods are often designed for certain groups or morphological forms of fungi and, in some cases, are species dependent. In this report, we compared four published protocols for DNA isolation from a locally isolated oleaginous fungus, Cunninghamella bainieri strain 2a1. These protocols either involved the use of polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP), hexacetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) or without using PVB or CTAB. For RNA isolation, we tested two published protocols, one of which is based on TRI REAGENT (Molecular Research Center, USA) and another is simple method employing phenol for RNA extraction and LiCl for precipitation. We found that the protocol involving the use of CTAB produced the highest genomic DNA yield with the best quality compared to other protocols. In the presence of CTAB, unwanted polysaccharides were removed and this method yielded an average amount of 816 ± 12.2 μg DNA/g mycelia with UV absorbance ratios A260/280 and A260/230 of 1.67 ± 0.64 and 1.97 ± 0.23, respectively. The genomic DNA isolated via this protocol is also suitable for PCR amplification and restriction enzyme digestion. As for RNA isolation, the method involving phenol extraction and LiCl precipitation produced the highest yield of RNA with an average amount of 372 ± 6.0 μg RNA/g mycelia. The RNA appears to be relatively pure since it has UV absorbance ratios A260/280 and A260/230 of 1.89 ± 2.00 and 1.99 ± 0.03, respectively. Finally, we have demonstrated that this method could produce RNA of sufficient quality for RT-PCR that amplified a 600 bp fragment of Δ12-fatty acid desaturase gene in C. bainieri.

The management of pink pulseless limbs in supracondylar fractures has remained controversial, especially with regards to the indication for exploration in a clinically well-perfused hand. We reviewed a series of seven patients who underwent surgical exploration of the brachial artery following supracondylar fracture. All patients had a non-palpable radial artery, which was confirmed by Doppler ultrasound. CT angiography revealed complete blockage of the artery with good collateral and distal run-off. Two patients were more complicated with peripheral nerve injuries, one median nerve and one ulnar nerve. Only one patient had persistent arterial constriction which required reverse saphenous graft. The brachial arteries were found to be compressed by fracture fragments, but were in continuity. The vessels were patent after the release of obstruction and the stabilization of the fracture. There was no transection of major nerves. The radial pulse was persistently present after 12 weeks, and the nerve activity returned to full function.
Humerus ; Fractures, Bone