Objectives: This study was aimed to assess the usefulness of the quantitative assessment of clock drawing test (CDT) combined with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) compared to that of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) or the MMSE alone for screening of dementia in Parkinson disease (PD) in patients with a low educational level. Methods: A representative sample of 91 PD patients was administered MMSE, MoCA and CDT. The discriminative validity of the MMSE, MoCA, and a MMSE+CDT combination for dementia screening was determined by estimating the sensitivity and specificity of each test and by testing integrated discrimination improvement (IDI). Results: The mean age and educational years were 69.0 (years) and 7.3 in the study population. The best screening cut-off points for the MMSE, MoCA, and MMSE+CDT were 25/26, 21/22 and 41/42. In a group of patients with educational years ≤6,
Dementia

Central nervous system impairment is common in diabetic patients, even in the early stages of the disease, and could be associated with peripheral neuropathy. The aims of this study were to prospectively investigate central nerve conduction in young adults with type 1 diabetes using pattern-reversal visual evoked potentials (PRVEP) and to determine how those results were related to clinical risk factors and the parameters of the peripheral nerve conduction study (NCS). A total of 36 type 1 diabetic patients (15 males) 5-24 years of age (mean 14.5 ± 4.7) underwent PRVEP and NCS annually for five years. For comparison, 39 healthy age and sex matched individuals (mean 14.8 ± 5.0) were evaluated as the control group. The P100 latencies of the PRVEP were prolonged at the study entry in the patients compared with the controls (p< 0.001). Significant correlations were not found between any of the parameters of PRVEP and the glycosylated hemoglobin levels; however, the changes in the parameters of the peripheral NCS were well correlated with metabolic control. The latencies and amplitudes of the P100 were not related to the majority of the parameters of the NCS. A prolonged PRVEP latency may be a sign of optic pathway dysfunction, which begins before apparent diabetic retinopathy. Poor glycemic control proved to be an important risk factor over the 5 years in terms of its relation to the development of peripheral neural pathway abnormalities. However, once central conduction was delayed, its changes were poorly related to diabetic control and the attributes of the peripheral nerve conduction study over the 5-year follow-up.
Diabetes Mellitus

There are 50-100 million dengue infections each year, but dengue encephalitis is relatively uncommon. The aetiology of neuronal injury is proposed to be due to direct viral neurotropism or host immune response-mediated inflammation causing neuronal damage. We report a case of severe dengue encephalitis, presenting during the acute viraemic phase of the disease. This was associated with inflammation and haemorrhage of the internal medullary lamina of both thalami which, to our knowledge, has not yet been reported in other infections of the central nervous system.
Dengue

Suprascapular neuropathy is a rare cause of non-specific shoulder pain affecting all age groups. Magnetic resonance imaging is the most common modality utilized to investigate the cause of suprascapular neuropathy. We report here a case of 22 year old man who presented with diffuse right shoulder region pain and severe wasting of the right infraspinatus muscle of 2 months duration. He was engaged in regular overhead activities at a gymnasium for about 2 years. A possible diagnosis of suprascapular nerve entrapment was considered. The patient was investigated with high resolution neurosonography, which showed a ganglion (paralabral) cyst at the spinoglenoid notch compressing the suprascapular nerve. We propose the use of neurosonography as an economical and effective tool for initial screening of non-specific shoulder pain with or without wasting/weakness of scapular muscles. An early identification of the cause of the neuropathy prior to the onset of muscle weakness/ wasting, and therapeutic intervention is able to avoid permanent disability
Shoulder Pain

Osteoporosis causes a decrease in bone mineral density. To overcome the decrease in fixation strength, a variety of techniques and devices have been developed, including cement augmentation of pedicle screws. Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), is commonly known as bone cement, and is widely used for implant fixation in various orthopaedic and spine surgery. In general, PMMA augmentation of pedicle screws is simple and safe if performed with technical precautions. PMMA is a safe agent, but it may rarely lead to significant foreign body reactions. In this report, we present a patient who developed bone cement-related epidural space foreign body granuloma
Osteoporosis

Buerger’s disease (BD) or thromboangiitis obliterans is a vasculitis that most commonly affects the small and medium-sized arteries and veins in the extremities.1 It is most frequently seen in the young men who smoke and is associated with low socioeconomic status. BD is diagnosed on the basis of the clinical findings; the pathogenesis is not completely be understood.1-4 In this report, we aim to present the clinical, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and angiographic findings of a 30-year-old man with ischemic stroke as a rare complication of BD.
Thromboangiitis Obliterans

Background: Tuberculous disease of spine (spinal TB) is under-recognized in tuberculous (TB) meningitis.The objective of the study was to evaluate the frequency, clinical and neuroimaging changes, andoutcome in the patients with spinal TB. Methods: All the patients with spinal TB admitted in the twolargest tertiary hospitals in Kuala Lumpur from 2009 to 2017 were recruited, the clinical features weredocumented, the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the spine was performed. Clinical outcome wasassessed with Modified Rankin scale (MRS). Results: Twenty two patients were recruited. This wasout of 70 TB meningitis patients (31.4%) seen over the same period. Eighteen (81.8%) patients hadconcomitant TB meningitis. The clinical features consisted of systemic symptoms with fever (63.6%),meningitis symptoms with altered sensorium (45.5%), myelopathy with paraparesis (36.4%). Thefindings on spinal MRI were discitis (36.4%), spinal meningeal enhancement (31.8%), spinal cordcompression (31.8%), psoas abscess (27.3%), osteomyelitis (22.7%), and cord oedema (22.7%). Allexcept two patients (90.9%) had involvement in psoas muscle, bone or leptomeningeal enhancement,features that can be used to differentiate from myelopathy that affect the parenchyma only, such asdemyelination. Unusual manifestations were syringomyelia and paradoxical manifestations seen in 3patients each. The outcome were overall poor, with 68% having MRS 3 or more.Conclusion: Spinal TB is common in TB meningitis. The outcome is overall poor. A heightenedawareness is crucial to enable early diagnosis and treatment.

Background and Objective: There is a great challenge to establish a level 4 epilepsy care offeringcomplete evaluation for epilepsy surgery including invasive monitoring in a resource-limited country.This study aimed to report the setup of a level 4 comprehensive epilepsy program in Malaysia and theoutcome of epilepsy surgery over the past 4 years. Methods: This is a retrospective study analyzingcases with intractable epilepsy in a comprehensive epilepsy program in University Malaya MedicalCenter (UMMC), Kuala Lumpur, from January 2012 to August 2016. Results: A total of 92 caseshad comprehensive epilepsy evaluation from January 2012 till August 2016. The mean age was 35.57years old (range 15-59) and 54 (58.7%) were male. There were 17 cases having epilepsy surgeryafter stage-1 evaluation. Eleven cases had mesial temporal sclerosis and 81% achieved Engel classI surgical outcome. Six cases had lesionectomy and 60% had Engel class I outcome. A total of 16surgeries were performed after stage-2 evaluation, including invasive EEG monitoring in 9 cases.Among those with surgery performed more than 12 months from the time of data collection, 5/10(50%) achieved Engel I outcome, whereas 2 (20%) had worthwhile improvement (Engel class III)with 75% and 90% seizure reduction.Conclusion: Level 4 epilepsy care has an important role and is possible with joint multidisciplinaryeffort in a middle-income country like Malaysia despite resource limitation.

Objective: To investigate the clinical clues to differentiate between Dravet syndrome (DS) and febrileseizures plus (FS+). Methods: From September 2001 to March 2014, 44 consecutive patients whowere diagnosed with DS or FS+, were recruited. We retrospectively analyzed the characteristics of thefirst seizure and findings of patients exhibiting seizures during hot water immersion at the first visit.Comparisons between the two groups were analyzed. Results: Thirty-two DS and 12 FS+ patientswere enrolled. The most prevalent body temperature classification in the DS group was afebrile(43.8% vs. 25%, p=0.001), followed by 37-37.9oC (31.3% vs. 8.3%, p=0.02), and that in the FS+group was at 39oC or above (33.3% vs. 9.4%, p=0.001). The most prevalent seizure type in the DSgroup was focal motor seizures (43.8% vs. 25%, p=0.001), followed by alternating hemiconvulsiveseizures (12.5% vs. 0%, p=0.005), and that in the FS+ group was generalized clonic and/or tonic-clonicseizures (83.3% vs. 37.5%, p=0.002). Compared with the FS+ group, there was a greater prevalenceof vaccination-related seizure as the first presenting feature among the DS patients (46.9% vs. 8.3%,p<0.001). During hot water immersion, myoclonic seizure was seen significantly in the DS group(46.4% vs. 25.5%, p=0.013).Conclusions: Afebrile and mild body temperature variation below 38oC, focal motor seizure oralternating hemiconvulsive seizure types, and vaccination-related first seizure were found to be cluesfor highly suspected DS.

Objectives: Intracranial atherosclerosis, especially the middle cerebral artery (MCA), is the commonestvascular lesion for ischemic stroke the Chinese population. We explored the association of geneticpolymorphism and environmental factors in MCA atherosclerosis in the Chinese population. Methods:One hundred fifty-six ischemic stroke patients with MCA stenosis and 181 well-matched ischemicstroke patients without MCA stenosis were examined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). ThePCR products were analyzed for lipoprotein lipase (LPL) S447X and paraoxonase1 (PON1) Q192Rpolymorphisms by restriction enzyme digestion. Medical history documentation and investigationof biochemical markers were performed for each subject. Results: Univariate analysis showed thatthe levels of systolic blood pressure (SBP) were higher in the MCA stenosis group. There were nosignificant differences in the genotype and allele frequencies of the LPL S447X and PON1 Q192Rpolymorphism observed between the two groups. But, in the patients above 60 years of age with andwithout MCA stenosis, LPL X carriers have higher level of SBP than the LPL SS genotype carriers.Multivariate logistic regression found that SBP was the significant, independent predictor of thepresence of MCA stenosis patients above 60 years of age (P < 0.001, OR=1.206, 95% confidenceintervals: 1.014-1.032).Conclusions: SBP appears to contribute to the pathogenesis of MCA stenosis among Chinese. Thegene polymorphism of LPL S447X may be associated with atherosclerotic MCA stenosis in Chinesepopulation.