1.Survey of stress, anxiety and depression among Filipino military personnel: A pilot study
The Philippine Journal of Psychiatry 2018;40(2):39-
Objectives:
This study aims to determine the frequency
of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Anxiety and
Depression among military personnel as well as describe
their coping style.
Methodology:
This was a cross
sectional descriptive study of military personnel. (Member
of the Armed Forces of the Philippines), in active service i.e.
must have been deployed to a combat zone at some point in
time, drawn by convenience sampling. They were screened
using the Filipino version of the Zung Depression Scale and
the Hamilton Anxiety Scale after securing voluntary consent
of the subjects.
Results:
There were 673 servicemen who
participated in the study with many undergoing advancement
schooling at the time of interview. Responses of only 598
subjects were included in the analysis since the others failed
to complete the standardized demographic profile data
sheet. Seven (1.1 %) were noted to be anxious; and 5 (0.8%)
were depressed while no one were noted to have PTSD. The
most common coping mechanisms in handling stress were
smoking cigarettes, talking to a friend or drinking alcoholic
beverages.
Conclusion
The prevalence of anxiety,
depression and absence of PTSD were lower than expected
but this may be due to the fact that at the time of interview
the servicemen were not coming directly from a combat
zone but had been taking up further studies over the past
1- 3 months in Metro Manila
Anxiety
;
Depression
;
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic
;
Military Personnel
2.Verrucous carcinoma of the penis not associated with HPV.
Ong Natalia P ; Gabriel Ma. Teresita G
Journal of the Philippine Dermatological Society 2008;17(2):92-94
Verrucous carcinoma of the penis is a rare invasive carcinoma that originates from squamous epithelial cells. It comprises 5 to 24 percent of all penile malignancies and 5 to 16 percent of all squamous cell carcinoma. In 5 % of cases, it is associated with human papilloma virus (HPV). We describe a case of a 42 year old male, with a I year history of a slowly enlarging verrucous mass which initially presented as a warty papule on the penile shaft.
Human ; Male ; Adult ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Carcinoma, Verrucous ; Epithelial Cells ; Papillomaviridae ; Penile Neoplasms ; Penis
3.Psychosocial characteristics of successful agers among Filipino senior citizens in six districts of Quezon City From June-October 2017
Czarinah P. Pagay ; Pia Natalia Reyes- Sia
The Philippine Journal of Psychiatry 2019;41(2):10-19
Objectives:
To describe the socio-demographic and
psychological characteristics of self-rated successful agers
among seniors 60 years old above in Quezon City Philippines.
Methodology:
The sample (N=346) was obtained from
a random sampling of voluntary attendees invited to a mental
health screening program scheduled in six districts spanning
from June to October of 2017. Proposed psychosocial factors
of healthy aging were assessed through demographics and
the following scales:1)-Montreal Cognitive Assessment Test
in Pilipino (MOCA-P), 2) Hospital Anxiety and Depression
scale in Pilipino (HADS-P), 3) Connor-Davidson Resilience
Scale (CDR-10) and 4) World Health Organization Quality
of Life using (WHOQOLBREF). Successful Agers were
defined as participants who scored themselves seven or
above (:2:7) in the Self-Rated Successful Aging (SRSA)
scale.
Results:
Seventy percent (70%) of the respondents
(N=238) considered themselves as successful agers. Among
the demographic variables, being female and the frequency
of social visits were related to successful aging. Self-reported
successful agers (SRSA) had no dementia with (MOCA-P
mean of 21). They were not depressed (HADS-D mean
1.8) or anxious (HADS-A mean 3.4); had good quality of
life (WHOQOL mean 3.4) and positive perceived health
(WHOQOL mean3.3). Successful Quezon City Filipino
agers were not as resilient (CD-RISC) with a mean of 27.
Conclusion
Like most studies in successful aging,
quality of life and perceived health and strong family support
were related to self-rated successful aging in this group of
Filipino senior citizens. There was no relationship with
cognitive function and resilience, which may be due to the
exclusion of cognitively impaired participants and the lack of
a validated cut-off score for the Filipino translated resilience
scale used.
Healthy Aging
;
Quality of Life
4.Comparison of concentrations of lead and cadmium in various parts of the femur head in patients after arthroplasty of the hip joint in Northwest Poland.
Natalia LANOCHA ; Elzbieta KALISIŃSKA ; Danuta KOSIK-BOGACKA ; Halina BUDIS ; Sebastian SOKOŁOWSKI ; Andrzej BOHATYREWICZ
Biomedical and Environmental Sciences 2012;25(5):577-582
OBJECTIVETo determine the concentrations of lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) in three kinds of materials (cartilage, cortical bone, and cancellous bone) of the femur head obtained from patients in the process of operation.
METHODSConcentrations of Pb and Cd were determined in selected parts of the femur head of 30 patients after total hip arthroplasty, using ICP-AES (atomic absorption spectrophotometry).
RESULTSPb contained the highest concentration in cortical bone, while Cd did so in cancellous bone. There were statistically significant differences in the concentrations of both elements between the cartilage and cortical bone, and also differences in the concentration of Pb between the cartilage and cancellous bone. There were no significant differences in the concentrations of Pb or Cd between cortical and cancellous bone.
CONCLUSIONComparative studies on toxic metals should take into account both analogous bones and their fragments, as even if they come from the same kind of bones (e.g. femur head), clear differences exist in concentrations of heavy metals related to the sampling site and type of tissue (cartilage, cortical bone, and cancellous bone).
Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip ; Cadmium ; chemistry ; Environmental Exposure ; Environmental Pollutants ; chemistry ; Female ; Femur Head ; chemistry ; Humans ; Lead ; chemistry ; Middle Aged ; Poland
5.Comparison of Nested Polymerase Chain Reaction and Microscopy as Diagnostic Tools in Congenital Malaria: a Study at Tjark Corneile Hillers Hospital Maumere, Indonesia
Natalia Erica Jahja ; Irene Ratridewi Huwae ; Mario B. Nara ; Adinda Harley ; Tarina Widaningrum ; Loeki Enggar Fitri
Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences 2014;21(5):17-23
Background: Microscopic detection is the conventional method for detecting malaria parasites. Although it is efficient and inexpensive, it has its limitations. In recent years, polymeras chain reaction (PCR) has been considered superior to microscopy in detecting mixed Plasmodium infections or infections with low parasite density. To determine whether microscopic or nested PCR (nPCR) is better at detecting congenital malaria (CM).
Methods: Blood smear examination and nPCR were performed with blood samples taken from mothers and their newborns, who were likely to be suffering from CM and in whom one of the symptoms was low birth weight (LBW). The sensitivity and specificity of each method were then compared.
Results: During one year of study, the prevalence of CM among 92 LBW newborns was determined to be 6.8% using microscopy and 7.8% using nPCR. Among the 92 mother–infant paired subjects, CM was detected in 34 subjects (37%) by microscopy and in 39 subjects (42.4%) by nPCR. nPCR was more sensitive (76.5% vs 66.7%) but less specific (77.6% vs 84.9%) than microscopy. When the two methods were compared, nPCR gave significantly better results in diagnosing CM (AUC = 0.770; P < 0.001).
Conclusion: Although microscopy remains the most appropriate method for the diagnosis of CM in remote areas, nPCR can be considered a complementary test.
6.Squamous cell carcinoma of the scalp: A case report.
Lacuesta Maricarr Pamela M ; Ong Natalia P ; Crisóstomo Trisha C ; Gabriel Ma. Teresita G
Journal of the Philippine Dermatological Society 2008;17(1):31-34
Nonmelanoma skin cancers are the most common human cancers. To this group basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma. Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is the second most common skin cancer in darkly pigmented patients and majority of the SCC's develop in non-sun exposed areas. We describe a case of a 72-year old male who consulted in the outpatient department of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine for a 2-month history of non-healing ulcer on the scalp. Histopathologic examination revealed diagnosis of invasive squamous cell carcinoma. Patient was referred for surgical excision.
Human ; Male ; Aged ; Carcinoma, Basal Cell ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Outpatients ; Scalp ; Skin Neoplasms ; Tropical Medicine ; Ulcer
7.New approaches to identification and characterization of tioconazole in raw material and in pharmaceutical dosage forms
Calvo L. NATALIA ; Alvarez A. VERA ; Lamas C. MARÍA ; Leonardi DARÍO
Journal of Pharmaceutical Analysis 2019;9(1):40-48
Tioconazole (TCZ), a broad-spectrum antifungal agent, has significant activity against Candida albicans and other Candida species, and therefore, it is indicated for the topical treatment of superficial mycoses. The main goal of this work is to report an exhaustive identification and characterization procedure to improve and facilitate the online quality control and continuous process monitoring of TCZ in bulk material and loaded in two different dosage forms: ovules and nail lacquer. The methodologies were based on thermal (differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), melting point, and thermogravimetry (TG)), spectroscopic (ultraviolet (UV), Raman, near infrared (NIR), infrared spectroscopy coupled to attenuated total reflectance (FTIR-ATR), and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)), microscopic and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The TCZ bulk powder showed a high crystallinity, as observed by XRD, with a particles size dis-tribution (3–95 mm) resolved by microscopic measurements. TCZ melting point (82.8℃) and a de-gradation peak centered at 297.8 ℃ were obtained by DSC and DTG, respectively. An unambiguous structure elucidation of TCZ was obtained by mono- and two- dimensional 1H and 13C NMR spectral data analysis. The FTIR-ATR, Raman and NIR spectra of both the raw material and the commercial products were analyzed and their characteristic bands were tabulated. The best methods for TCZ identification in ovules were DSC, TG, XRD, NIR and Raman, while NIR and FTIR-ATR were the most appropriate tech-niques to analyze it in the nail lacquer. DSC, TG, DRX, Raman, FTIR-ATR and NIR spectroscopy are effective techniques to be used in online process analysis, because they do not require sample preparation, and they are considerably sensitive to analyze complex samples.
8.Study and ICH validation of a reverse-phase liquid chromatographic method for the quantification of the intact monoclonal antibody cetuximab$
Martínezortega ANTONIO ; Herrera AGUSTíN ; Salmeróngarcía ANTONIO ; Cabeza JOSé ; Cuadrosrodríguez LUIS ; Navas NATALIA
Journal of Pharmaceutical Analysis 2016;6(2):117-124
Cetuximab (CTX) is a potent chimeric mouse/human monoclonal antibody (mAb) approved worldwide for treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer. Among the various biological and physical analyses per-formed for full study on this biopharmaceutic, the determination of the concentration preparations throughout manufacturing and subsequent handling in hospital is particularly relevant. In the present work, the study and validation of a method for quantifying intact CTX by reverse-phase high-perfor-mance liquid chromatography with diode array detection ((RP)HPLC/DAD) is presented. With that end, we checked the performance of a chromatographic method for quantifying CTX and conducted a study to validate the method as stability-indicating in accordance with the International Conference on Harmo-nization guidelines (ICH) for biotechnological drugs; therefore, we evaluated linearity, accuracy, preci-sion, detection and quantification limits, robustness and system suitability. The specificity of the method and the robustness of the mAb formulation against external stress factors were estimated by compre-hensive chromatographic analysis by subjecting CTX to several informative stress conditions. As de-monstrated, the method is rapid, accurate, and reproducible for CTX quantification. It was also suc-cessfully used to quantify CTX in a long-term stability study performed under hospital conditions.
9.The combined use of heavy and light silicone oil in the treatment of complicated retinal detachment with 360º retinal breaks: tamponade effect or filling effect?
Stefano ZENONI ; Natalia COMI ; Piero FONTANA ; Mario R ROMANO
Annals of the Academy of Medicine, Singapore 2012;41(10):440-443
INTRODUCTIONThis study aims to report the safety and effi cacy of the combined use of 70% Densiron®-68 and 30% polydimethysiloxane as a temporary vitreous substitute after pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) in selected cases of retinal detachment with superior and inferior retinal breaks.
MATERIAL AND METHODSFifty consecutive eyes of 50 patients affected by complicated retinal detachment with retinal breaks of the superior and inferior quadrants associated with proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) of grade C2 or more, underwent a pars plana vitrectomy and a combination internal tamponade with 70% Densiron®-68 and 30% silicone oil. The main outcome measures were visual acuity, retinal attachment, intraocular pressure (IOP) and incidence of complications.
RESULTSThe mean best-corrected visual acuity rose from 1.4 logMAR to 0.7 logMAR (P <0.01). Initial retinal reattachment was achieved in 48 (96%) patients. In 15 patients (30%), IOP increased over 21 mmHg. The main complications were redetachment at the 3 month follow-up in 12/48 cases (25%) and cataract formation in 13/21 phakic eyes (62%).
CONCLUSIONThis combination tamponade comprised lighter and heavier oil compounds was well tolerated and effective. It may be a useful tool for the treatment of retinal detachment complicated with breaks and PVR involving the upper and lower quadrants.
Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Dimethylpolysiloxanes ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Intraocular Pressure ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Postoperative Complications ; epidemiology ; Recurrence ; Retinal Detachment ; etiology ; pathology ; therapy ; Retrospective Studies ; Silicone Oils ; therapeutic use ; Therapeutic Occlusion ; methods ; Treatment Outcome ; Visual Acuity ; Vitrectomy ; Vitreoretinopathy, Proliferative ; complications
10.Pharmacogenetics and its relevance to clinical practice.
Natalia SUTIMAN ; Balram CHOWBAY
Annals of the Academy of Medicine, Singapore 2013;42(9):429-431
Anticonvulsants
;
adverse effects
;
Aryl Hydrocarbon Hydroxylases
;
genetics
;
Asian Continental Ancestry Group
;
genetics
;
Camptothecin
;
analogs & derivatives
;
metabolism
;
Carbamazepine
;
adverse effects
;
Cytochrome P-450 CYP2C19
;
Glucuronosyltransferase
;
genetics
;
HLA-A Antigens
;
genetics
;
HLA-B Antigens
;
genetics
;
Humans
;
Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors
;
metabolism
;
Stevens-Johnson Syndrome
;
genetics
;
Ticlopidine
;
analogs & derivatives
;
metabolism
;
Topoisomerase I Inhibitors
;
metabolism