Trachyspermum ammi Linn. (T. ammi) is an aromatic, grassy, annual plant belonging to Umbelliferae family which grows in the east of India, Pakistan, Iran, and Egypt. T. ammi has been used traditionally to treat arthritis, colic, diarrhea and gastrointestinal problems. In addition to these medicinal uses, T. ammi continues to be valued around the world as an important cooking spice and is believed to relief the common cold, flu-like symptoms, headaches, and even painful menstrual periods. These multiple uses can be explained by its several active compounds. The phytochemical studies on T. ammi seeds have revealed the presence of alkaloids, steroids, fixed oils, glycosides, tannins, saponin and flavonoids, cumene, thymene, amino acids and dietary fiber essential oils like thymol, c-terpinene, p-cymene. Several pharmacological studies on anti-tussive effect, inhibitory effect on histamine (H1) receptors, antihypertensive, antispasmodic, bronchodilator, hepato-protective, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anti mutagenic activities of T. ammi seed extracts have been reported in the literature. The present review is therefore, an effort to give a detailed survey of the literature on traditional, phytochemical and pharmacological properties of T. ammi.

Plants have provided sources to find novel compounds. These plants are being used as therapeutic purposes since the birth of mankind. The traditional healers normally utilize medicinal plants as crude drugs while scientists using the folk claim as guides to explore medicinal plants. Moringa oleifera is a famous edible plant having therapeutic and nutritive values. The present study was designed to cumulate the research data regarding to what extent, phytochemical, nutritional and glycemic control studies has been explored using its different extracts. The articles indicated that the powder, aqueous, methanol and ethanol extracts of Moringa oleifera (leaves, pods, seeds, stem and root bark) have significant therapeutic herbal potential to treat diabetes mellitus. Collectively, the mechanism behind is intestinal glucose inhibition, insulin release as well as decrease in insulin resistance probably regeneration of b-cells of pancreas, increase in glutathione and reduction in malondialdehyde. Conclusively, this article give descriptive information about antidiabetic effect, claimed marker compounds and proposed antihyperglycemic mechanism of a single plant. It can be suggested a potential herbal source to treat diabetes mellitus as being widely accepted by major population as nutrition and therapeutic agent.

The incidence of lower limb amputation is high across the globe and continues to be a major threat to morbidity and mortality. Consequently, the provision of high quality and effective prosthetics services have been known as an essential component for a successful rehabilitation outcome. In Malaysia, amputation prevalence has been increasing in which several main components of service delivering aspects (such as service intervention, prosthetic personnel) should be anticipated to accommodate for the increasing demand. This article highlights the hurdles experienced in providing prosthetic services in Malaysia from multiple aspects such as financial burden to acquire the prosthesis and lack of expertise to produce quality prosthesis. This paramount issues consequently justify for the urgency to carry out national level survey on the current statistics of lower limb amputation and to ascertain the available workforce to provide a quality prosthetics services. Only with accurate and current information from the national survey, strategies and policies aimed at enhancing the outcome from prosthetics services can be achieved.

Poultry farming not only provides high nutritious food but also creates employment opportunity for rural masses. Documented evidences elaborates that helminth parasitism is most deciduous problem of chickens especially in developing world. Ascaridia (A.) galli, a nematode of small intestine, has been considered as the most common and important parasite of chicken. The present study was carried out to investigate prevalence and severity of A. galli in White Leghorn layers (housing type: battery cage and deep litter, 50 each) and Fayoumi-Rhode Island Red crossbred (male and female: 50 each) flock rearing at Government Poultry Farm, Dina, Punjab, Pakistan. Two hundred faecal samples were examined by using standard parasitological and McMaster egg counting technique. The overall prevalence was 24.5% at farm, 13% in White leghorn layer (battery cage=2%, deep litter=24%) and 36% in Fayoumi-Rhode Island Red (male=34%, female=38%). It was also observed that White leghorn layer rearing in deep litter had more severe infection (EPG=1920) of A. galli compare with battery cages birds (EPG=500). Parasite prevalence was significantly related with sex (P<0.05) in Fayoumi-Rhode Island Red and male birds had less number of average parasites (0.34±0.47) as compared to females (0.38±0.490). Additionally, female birds were under serious threat of infection (EPG=2270) compared with its counterpart (EPG=1250). Given the high infection rates, particular attention should be paid to management and provision of feed supplement to White leghorn layer housing in deep litter and female bird of Fayoumi-Rhode Island Red crossbred.

Schwannomas, or neurinomas, are generally benign, slow-growing, asymptomatic neoplasms originating from the Schwann cells of a nerve sheath. As a part of spindle cell mesenchymal tumours, schwannomas arising from the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) are unusual; however, when they occur, the most common site involved is the stomach, which represents 0.2% of all gastric tumours. We report the case of a 35-year-old female patient with a history of pulmonary tuberculosis presenting with a large palpable abdominal mass reaching up to the peritoneal cavity. The initial clinical impression was a tuberculous abdominal mass, a cyst, or a teratoma. However, intra-operative findings during a subtotal gastrectomy revealed an exophytic gastric serosal mass, which suggested a gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST). Post-operative histopathological findings showed a fascicular arrangement of neoplastic spindle cells with pallisading nuclei that showed intense positivity for S-100 protein, and were negative for CD117 and desmin in immunohistochemistry studies. These results confirmed the final diagnosis of a gastric schwannoma.

ntroduction: Oral cancer is a life-threatening disease. Lack of public awareness is a potent barrier for the early detection of oral cancer, especially for high-risk populations. Objective: This study aimed to determine the awareness and knowledge of the signs, symptoms and risk factors of oral cancer among a Siamese ethnic group in Tumpat, Kelantan. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted, using a guided questionnaire on sociodemography, habits, awareness and knowledge of the signs, symptoms and risk factors of oral cancer. Individuals under 18 years old and who had been diagnosed with oral cancer were excluded from this study. Results: A total of 195 respondents participated, 61.5% were female and the mean age was 46 (1.64). About 41% of the respondents had received secondary education and 35.4% were illiterate. Most respondents were self-employed (21.5%), followed by farmers (19.5%) and housewives (20%). The majority of them had a monthly income that fell below the poverty level of RM 830 (76.9%). Among the respondents, 22.6% had the habit of smoking, 25.6% consumed alcohol, 8.2% were betel quid chewers and 2.6% chewed tobacco. Out of 195 respondents, only 6.7% were aware of oral cancer. About 16.9% of the respondents correctly answered all of the questions regarding the signs and symptoms of oral cancer and only 4.1% knew the risk factors of oral cancer. Conclusion: The awareness and knowledge of oral cancer in this targeted population were unsatisfactory. Future effective health promotion programs and education should be emphasised.

Introduction: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with periodontal disease due to its hyperinflammatory state. Limited studies have explored the prevalence of periodontal disease among CKD patients in Malaysia. Objective: To assess the periodontal status of pre-dialysis CKD patients in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia. Methods: A total of 46 pre-dialysis CKD patients who attended the nephrology clinic at Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia were enrolled in this study. Periodontal examination was performed using the periodontal probing depth (PPD), clinical attachment loss (CAL) and plaque index. Results: The majority of the CKD patients were Malay (95.7%) and 80.4% were males. The mean age of the patients was 58.5 years. Using PPD measurement, 37 (74.0%) of the patients had mild periodontitis, 9 (20.0%) had moderate periodontitis and 3 (6.0%) had no periodontitis. Based on CAL measurement, 12 (26%) patients had mild periodontitis, 29 (63.0%) had moderate periodontitis and 5 (11%) had severe periodontitis. The mean (standard deviation [SD]) value of mild and moderate-to-severe periodontitis by PPD measurement were 4.26 (0.26) and 5.24 (0.36), respectively. The mean of mild and moderate-to-severe periodontitis by CAL measurement were 2.66 (0.62) and 4.98 (0.73), respectively. There was no correlation between the periodontal parameters and estimated glomerular filtration rate (PPD: r = −0.160, P = 0.914; CAL: r = −0.135, P = 0.372; plaque index: r = 0.005, P = 0.974). Conclusion: This study revealed a greater prevalence and severity of chronic periodontitis among CKD patients. Thus, the periodontal health of CKD patients’ needs to be screened and monitored.

Osteomyelitis refers to an infection of the bone characterized by progressive inflammatory destruction caused by infecting microorganism. Open fracture carries the risk of developing osteomyelitis from 3 to 50% with a high amputation rate. Salvage of the limb is always a challenge and needs perseverance. We report the case of a 44-year-old male with chronic osteomyelitis with successful multiple limb salvage surgeries. The curative approach to chronic osteomyelitis has the following goals including arrest of infection, pain reduction and salvage of limb and function. With regard to survival and function, the result obtained in this case is more promising compared to above knee amputation.

Background/Aims: More than 100 million people to date have been affected by the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Patients with COVID-19 have a higher risk of bleeding complications. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the outcomes of COVID-19 patients with signs and symptoms of acute gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB). Methods: A systematic literature search was carried out for articles published until until November 11, 2020, in the Embase, MEDLINE, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases. We included studies on COVID-19 patients with signs and symptoms of GIB. Results: Our search yielded 49 studies, of which eight with a collective 127 patients (86 males and 41 females) met our inclusion criteria. Conservative management alone was performed in 59% of the patients, endoscopic evaluation in 31.5%, and interventional radiology (IR) embolization in 11%. Peptic ulcer disease was the most common endoscopic finding, diagnosed in 47.5% of the patients. Pooled overall mortality was 19.1% (95% confidence interval [CI]; 12.7%-27.6%) and pooled mortality secondary to GIB was 3.5% (95% CI; 1.3%–9.1%). The pooled risk of rebleeding was 11.3% (95% CI; 6.8%–18.4%). Conclusion The majority of COVID-19 patients with GIB responded to conservative management, with a low mortality rate associated with GIB and the risk of rebleeding. Thus, we suggest limiting endoscopic and IR interventions to those with hemodynamic instability and those for whom conservative management was unsuccessful.

Background/Aims: More than 100 million people to date have been affected by the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Patients with COVID-19 have a higher risk of bleeding complications. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the outcomes of COVID-19 patients with signs and symptoms of acute gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB). Methods: A systematic literature search was carried out for articles published until until November 11, 2020, in the Embase, MEDLINE, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases. We included studies on COVID-19 patients with signs and symptoms of GIB. Results: Our search yielded 49 studies, of which eight with a collective 127 patients (86 males and 41 females) met our inclusion criteria. Conservative management alone was performed in 59% of the patients, endoscopic evaluation in 31.5%, and interventional radiology (IR) embolization in 11%. Peptic ulcer disease was the most common endoscopic finding, diagnosed in 47.5% of the patients. Pooled overall mortality was 19.1% (95% confidence interval [CI]; 12.7%-27.6%) and pooled mortality secondary to GIB was 3.5% (95% CI; 1.3%–9.1%). The pooled risk of rebleeding was 11.3% (95% CI; 6.8%–18.4%). Conclusion The majority of COVID-19 patients with GIB responded to conservative management, with a low mortality rate associated with GIB and the risk of rebleeding. Thus, we suggest limiting endoscopic and IR interventions to those with hemodynamic instability and those for whom conservative management was unsuccessful.