Emphysematous pyelonephritis is a rare life-threatening condition caused by a severe acute necrotising infection of the renal parenchyma and its perinephric tissues, and it is commonly seen in diabetic patients. There is a rare association between emphysematous pyelonephritis and hepatic portal venous gas. Hepatic portal venous gas is an uncommon radiological finding, which implies a significant underlying abdominal disease. The management of emphysematous pyelonephritis has evolved from prompt nephrectomy to medical therapy. In the present report, we present a case of a diabetic woman diagnosed with bilateral emphysematous pyelonephritis with hepatic portal venous gas that was successfully managed medically despite the presence of poor prognostic factors, such as acute renal failure and thrombocytopenia.

INTRODUCTIONThe superior labral anterior and posterior (SLAP) lesion is a cause of chronic shoulder pain and significant disability. This study aims to review the distribution of types of SLAP lesions, associated lesions and the outcome of arthroscopic management.

MATERIALS AND METHODSThis series involved all 33 patients who underwent arthroscopic management of SLAP and associated lesions by a single surgeon. The pre- and postoperative disability scores were assessed using the disabilities of the arm, shoulder and hand (DASH) outcome measure.

RESULTSType 2 SLAP lesion (64%) was the most common. Forty-eight per cent of the cases were associated with an ipsilateral shoulder lesion. A 10- point pre- and postoperative DASH score reduction was noted in 63% of the patients with isolated SLAP lesions and 73% of those with associated lesions.

CONCLUSIONArthroscopic management of the SLAP and its associated lesions results in improved functional outcome. The presence of associated lesions should be actively sought and managed in the same operative session.

Adult ; Arthroscopy ; Cohort Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Recovery of Function ; Rotator Cuff ; physiopathology ; surgery ; Rotator Cuff Injuries ; Shoulder Joint ; injuries ; physiopathology ; surgery ; Treatment Outcome

Introduction: In Malaysia, late stage presentation of breast cancer (stage III or IV) has been a healthcare problem that varies geographically throughout the country. This study aims to understand the factors influencing late stage of breast cancer at presentation among Malaysian women in Segamat Hospital, Johor, which is a district hospital. Methods: A retrospective descriptive study was conducted on secondary data of all newly diagnosed breast cancer women from 1st August 2011 to 28th February 2014. Secondary data includes age, ethnicity, marital status, family history, education level, occupation, presenting symptom, duration of symptom, tumour size, tumour pathology, tumour grading, oestrogen, progesterone and HER-2 receptor status were collected and analysed using SPSS version 20.0.0. Result: In total, data from 52 women was analysed and two women were excluded for incompleteness as these women defaulted. Late stage at presentation was 59.6% of all new cases (17.3%, stage III and 42.3%, stage IV). The commonest age group of all women diagnosed with breast cancer was in the 5th decade. Majority of them were Malay, married and housewives with no family history of breast cancer. The statistically significant factors associated with late stage at presentation include Malay ethnicity (p=0.019), presenting symptoms other than breast lump (p=0.047), and duration of breast lump more than 3 months (p=0.009). Discussion/Conclusion: The study demonstrated presentation at late stage of breast cancer is a major health concern among Malaysian women in district hospital. This may be attributed to different sociocultural beliefs, strong belief in complementary and alternative medicine, lack of awareness, and difficult accessibility to healthcare services.
Breast Neoplasms

BACKGROUND: Paraplegia is a serious complication of thoracic or thoracoabdominal aortic operations, which is related to ischemic injury of the spinal cord induced by low perfusion pressure during cross clamping of the aorta. Ischemic preconditioning of heart or brain with reversible sublethal ischemic injury induces resistance to subsequent lethal ischemia. The aim of this study is to investigate whether ischemic tolerance could be induced by the preconditioning of the spinal cord using swine model. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The animals were randomly assigned to three groups: sham group(n=3), control group(n=6) and preconditioning group(n=8). In the sham group, we performed the left thoracotomy only without any ischemic injury. In the preconditioning group, the swine received reversible spinal cord ischemic injury by aortic clamping for 20minutes, whereas control group had no previous aortic cross- clamping. Forty-eight hours later, the aorta was clamped for 30 minutes in both groups. Neurological examination was done 24hours later, then the animals were euthanized for histopathology and malonedialdehyde(MDA) spectrophotometry assay of the spinal cord. RESULT: Statistically significant difference in neurological outcome was observed between the control and preconditioning groups at 24hours after ischemic injury. The incidence of paraplegia and severe paresis was 100% in the control group, and 62.5% in the preconditing group(p=0.028). There was no statistically significant difference in histopathology and MDA assay of the ischemic spinal cord between these two groups with borderline statistical difference in MDA assay(p=0.0745). CONCLUSION: In the present swine study, ischemic preconditioning could induce tolerance against 30 minute ischemic insult of the spinal cord, although the animals did not completely recover(stand-up or walk). We expect that combining this preconditioning with other currently existing protection methods might lead to a synergistic effect, which warrants further investigation.
Animals ; Aorta ; Brain ; Constriction ; Heart ; Incidence ; Ischemia ; Ischemic Preconditioning* ; Neurologic Examination ; Paraplegia ; Paresis ; Perfusion ; Spectrophotometry ; Spinal Cord* ; Swine ; Thoracotomy

INTRODUCTIONMotor neuron damage and cortical spinal tract (CST) degeneration in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are difficult to visualise and quantify on conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

CLINICAL PICTUREWe studied 8 ALS patients and 12 normal volunteers using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and fibre tractography using fibre assignment by continuous tracking (FACT) to study the fibres of the CST and the posterior thalamic radiation (PTR), a nonmotor tract.

OUTCOMEFibre tractography was successfully performed in all normal volunteers and all patients except 1. The fibre bundles of the CST, but not the PTR, were significantly reduced (P <0.05) in patients compared to normal volunteers.

CONCLUSIONFibre tractography can visualise axonal degeneration in the CST and may provide supplementary information about upper motor neuron disease in ALS patients.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ; pathology ; Case-Control Studies ; Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Echo-Planar Imaging ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nerve Degeneration ; pathology ; Pyramidal Tracts ; pathology

This is a questionnaire survey of dietary supplement usage among students in the International Medical University. Just over two-fifths of these students reported using dietary supplements daily. This high usage of dietary supplements is in contrast their expressed ambivalence about these products.

Translational research (TR) can be defined as research where a discovery made in the laboratory (bench) can be applied in the diagnosis, treatment or prevention of a disease. Examples of medical discoveries contributing to translational medicine (TM) include the isolation of insulin by Banting (Nobel Laureate, 1923), the discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming (Nobel Laureate, 1945) and recently the discovery of the role of bacterium Helicobacter pylori in the causation of gastritis and peptic ulcer by Marshall and Warren (Nobel Laureates, 2005). Clinical research (CR) would be a more appropriate term for the bulk of research work undertaken by doctors. CR embraces both clinical based and laboratory-based research. The terminology "bedside to bench" applies more to CR as opposed to "bench to bedside" in the case of TR. But regardless of who does it, as long as the discovery can be translated to the bedside and results in improvement in patient care it can be considered a contribution to TM. Our work spans a 30-year period, involving laboratory-based research, clinical trials and genomics of IgA nephritis (Nx). This is a series of work to elucidate the pathogensis and therapy of IgANx. Plasma beta-thromboglobulin (BTG) an in-vivo index of platelet aggregation and anti-thrombin III increase due to a constant thrombogenecity resulting from platelet degranulation formed the basis for anti-platelet and low-dose warfarin therapy. A study of the natural history of IgANx revealed 2 courses, a slowly progressive course with end-stage renal failure (ESRF) at 7.7 years and a more rapid course at 3.3 years. Triple therapy (cyclophosphamide, persantin and low-dose warfarin) delayed progression to ESRF by about 8 years and for some patients up to 20 years. Documentation of abnormal suppressor T cell function provided the basis for immune therapy. Four patterns of proteinuria were present in IgANx and it is the quality and not so much the quantity of proteinuria which determined the prognosis. Low molecular weight proteinuria was a bad prognostic marker. A controlled therapeutic trial using ACEI/ATRA showed that therapy decreases proteinuria, improves renal function and converts non-selective to selective proteinuria. Subsequent work confirmed that it was the ATRA, not the ACEI which contributed to improved renal function. Individual anti proteinuria response to ATRA varies depending on ACE gene polymorphism. We found that the II genotype of the ACE gene was renoprotective and patients with this genotype had significantly reduced incidence of ESRF compared to those with the DD genotype. Patients responsive to ATRA therapy can retard progression to ESRF by up to 32 years. Mild renal failure can be reversed with possible regression of glomerulosclerosis because of glomerular remodelling by ATRA.
Disease Progression ; Evidence-Based Medicine ; history ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Genomics ; history ; Glomerulonephritis, IGA ; genetics ; history ; History, 20th Century ; History, 21st Century ; Humans ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Singapore

INTRODUCTIONThis paper presents the results of a community survey on urinary abnormalities which covered 1/80th of the population of Singapore in 1975. These findings were compared with the data from the Singapore National Service Registrants in 1974 as well as data from a recent survey in Singapore and that of other Asian and Western countries.

MATERIALS AND METHODSThe study covered 18,000 persons aged 15 years and above, representing a sampling fraction of 1/80th of the population. A total of 16,808 respondents attended the field examination centres, of whom 16,497 had their urine sample tested representing 92.7% of the sample population.

RESULTSIn the dipstick urine testing at the field examination centres, 769 subjects (4.6%) were found to have urinary abnormalities. Two hundred and eighty-two (36.7%) of these 769 subjects were found to have urinary abnormalities based on urine microscopy constituting a prevalence of 1.71%. The prevalence of proteinuria was 0.63% and for both haematuria and proteinuria was 0.73%. The prevalence for hypertension was 0.43% and renal insufficiency was 0.1%.

DISCUSSIONThe consensus is that routine screening for chronic kidney disease (CKD) in the general population is not cost effective as the yield is too low. Whilst, most studies showed that screening of the general population was not cost effective, it has been suggested that screening for targeted groups of subjects could help to identify certain risk groups who may benefit from early intervention to prevent or retard the progression of CKD.

CONCLUSIONThe prevalence of urinary abnormalities in Singapore has remained the same, now and three decades ago.

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Female ; Hematuria ; epidemiology ; pathology ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prevalence ; Proteinuria ; epidemiology ; pathology ; Renal Insufficiency, Chronic ; epidemiology ; pathology ; Risk Assessment ; Singapore ; epidemiology ; Urinalysis ; Urinary Tract Infections ; epidemiology ; Young Adult

Objective: To analyze the clinical effects of arthroscopic autologous bone grafting and percutaneous fixation in treating scaphoid nonunion. Methods: From May 2013 to August 2017, a total of 25 cases of patients including 20 males and 5 females with unilateral scaphoid fractures and nonunion were reviewed, with mean age of 35.80±2.41 years (18-65 years). The duration from injury to treatment was averaged 11.70±1.90 months (5-18 months). All of the cases sustained waist and proximal end fractures. X-ray and CT scan showed sclerosis and bone resorption without any callus at the fracture sites. However, there were no serious deformities and wrist arthritis. The patients suffered pain and weakness at the radial side of the wrist. The type of the fractures were Slade-Geissler's III-VI, including grade III 4 cases, grade IV 13 cases, grade V 7 cases and grade VI 1 case. The patients were treated with arthroscopic debridement of the sclerotic bone, autologous bone grafting, percutaneous screw (9 cases) or K-wires fixation (16 cases) and immobilization by plaster for 3 weeks after operation, followed by functional rehabilitation training. Bone union was assessed by serial plain radiographs and CT scan regularly. The functional effects were evaluated by comparing the modified Mayo wrist score with the visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain, range of motion (ROM) and the grip strength, which were measured before operation and at 18 months after operation. Results: All cases were followed up. Bone union was achieved in all of 25 nonunion. The average radiological union duration was 10.24±2.10 weeks (6-20 weeks). The average VAS score decreased from 6.75±1.10 preoperatively to 1.33±0.21. The mean ROM of wrist was improved to 168.48°±12.41° (92.90% of that of the normal side), compared to that of 135.24°±17.47° preoperatively (79.80% of that of the normal side). The mean grip strength showed improvement from an average of 35.68±3.81 kg (80.46% of that of normal side) preoperatively to 48.75±4.42 kg (90.65% of that of normal side). The average modified Mayo wrist score improved from 61.52±6.32 preoperatively to 85.88±8.37. Conclusion Arthroscopic autologous bone grafting with percutaneous cannulated screw and K-wires fixation is an effective and minimally invasive treatment for scaphoid nonunion, which could protect the blood supply of the fracture sites, decrease the surgical complications, promote bone healing and lead to a faster recovery.