Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease with a long incubation period caused by Mycobacterium leprae. The average incubation period for tuberculoid and lepromatous cases are 2-5 years and 8-12 years respectively1,2. Risk factors for leprosy includes age, sex, household contact and Bacilli Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination3. We present an asymptomatic 3 month-old infant with high immunoglobulin M titre mycobacterium leprae antibody whose mother has morbus borderline lepromatous leprosy.

No abstract available.

The incidence of varicose veins and the need for treatment has shown a tremendous increase over the years. Debilitating venous ulcers and dragging edemas of the lower limb with overall improvement in cosmetic results and availability of endovenous procedures has brought many patients forward for treatment. Continuous-wave handheld Doppler usage is limited by its diagnostic capabilities, thus the need to determine its real effectiveness. Benefits of using hand-held dopplers lies in its rapidity in assessment of patients, it's low running cost and short learning curve. This is important as duplex ultrasounds are not readily available in district hospitals. This study aims to determine the clinical effectiveness of hand-held continuous wave dopplers in the local setting especially in primary uncomplicated varicose articles veins. All electively referred patients with primary uncomplicated varicose veins who were referred to the Varicose Vein Clinic were evaluated with continuous-wave handheld Doppler (CWD) and duplex ultrasound (DUS) examination. The study duration was from the 1st of July to 31st of August 2013 (2 months). All patients in the study were independently evaluated with CWD and DUS in the clinic on the same day after adequate rest time. DUS was taken as the gold standard for evaluation of CWD specificity and sensitivity. The Chi-square and T-test was used to test for statistical significance. A total of 41 patients were evaluated in this study. The specificity of CWD when compared to DUS for diagnosing Sapheno-femoral junction (SFJ) was 100% and at the Sapheno-popliteal junction (SPJ) was 87%. Meanwhile sensitivity of CWD for SFJ was 75% and SPJ was 60%. The examination time with CWD was significantly faster than when compared with DUS examination with significant faster tracing times that can be achieved with CWD. CWD also significantly shorter reflux times when compared to DUS. Continuous-wave handheld doppler proves to be an indispensable clinical tool in the evaluation of SFJ and SPJ reflux in varicose veins. CWD assessment in this study was shown to be equal if not better for evaluating reflux when compared to DUS assessment for SFJ reflux. Main advantages for CWD also lie in its low running cost, rapidity in assessment and short learning curve when compared to duplex ultrasound examinations.

Hydroxyapatite (HA) has been earmarked as suitable for implantation within the human of its chemical makeup to human bone. In this paper, HA powders were synthesized via the precipitation method where phosphoric acid (H3PO4) was titrated into calcium hydroxide solution [Ca(OH)2]. Two parameters such as temperature and stirring rate were identified as factors that influenced the amount and purity of HA powder. Phase identification of the synthesized powder was done using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). The results show that HA phase can be synthesized from this titration process of Ca(OH)2 and H3PO4 with yield amount of HA powder around 45 - 61 grams but with less than hundred percent purity. In order to study the effect of heat treatment to HA crystals structure, HA powder was calcined at 850 degrees C for 2 hours. It's found that the degree of crystallinity increases after calcination because of lattice expansion when the materials were heated at higher temperature
Sjogren's syndrome B antibody ; Powders ; Durapatite ; Precipitation ; hydroxyl group

Current selection guideline for CRT uses broad QRS duration (>120 ms) as a marker for ventricular dyssynchrony. However, more recent data supports mechanical marker specifically measured by Tissue Doppler Imaging (TDI) as a better criterion to predict response to CRT. Sixty seven patients with significant left ventricular dysfunction (EF less than 40%) and narrow QRS complex were prospectively enrolled. They underwent Tissue Doppler Imaging (TDI) study to evaluate intraventricular mechanical dyssynchrony. Dyssynchrony index which is defined as standard deviation of time to peak systolic velocity in twelve ventricular segments was measured. A value greater than 32.6 is taken to reflect significant ventricular dyssynchrony. Overall 38 patients (56.7%) demonstrated significant dyssynchrony. There was no significant correlation between QRS duration and the Ts-SD-12 (r = 0.14, p = 0.11). Ventricular mechanical dyssynchrony is common in patients with normal QRS duration. Therefore, QRS duration alone will miss a substantial proportion of suitable patients for CRT and therefore deny them this adjunct therapy. We propose echocardiographic parameters, specifically TDI, to be included in patient selection criteria for CRT.

Introduction: The number of breast cancer survivors in developing Asian countries is still lacking compared to Western countries. Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of cancer patients is one of the significant predictors of survival. Hence, this study was conducted to determine HRQoL status among breast cancer survivors of different diagnosis duration in East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Methods: Cross-sectional data were collected for 128 breast cancer survivors, aged 37 to 72 years who were recruited by using purposive sampling method at two main government hospitals in Kelantan (n=67) and Terengganu (n=61). The validated European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaires (EORTC QLQ–C30) and Breast Cancer Supplementary Measure (EORTC QLQ-BR23) which had been translated into the Malay language were used to measure HRQoL. Independent t-test was used to compare HRQoL status among short term (≤5 years duration since diagnosis) and long term (>5 years duration since diagnosis) breast cancer survivors. Results: Overall, our breast cancer survivors reported good HRQoL, with high scores for global health status, functional status and low symptoms scores. Long term breast cancer survivors had better social functioning compared to short term survivors (p=.038). Nevertheless, there was no significant difference found for other HRQoL status between short and long term breast cancer survivors. Conclusion: Breast cancer survivors in East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia generally experienced good HRQoL. The relatively similar HRQoL status between long-term and short-term survivors indicated a constant HRQoL profile among survivors throughout their survivorship.