Cross-cultural adaptation and reliability of pediatric sleep questionnaire in assessment of sleep-disordered breathing in the Malay speaking population

Background  

Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) is common but often underdiagnosed in children. The Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire developed by University of Michigan, USA (English UM PSQ) has high sensitivity and specificity in identifying children with sleep-disordered breathing. This study aimed to translate and adapt the English UM PSQ into Malay language as a screening tool to assess SDB among the Malay speaking population. The second objective was to determine the psychometric measurements of the translated UM PSQ (Malay UM PSQ).     

Anticancer activity of essential oils and their chemical components - a review

Essential oils are widely used in pharmaceutical, sanitary, cosmetic, agriculture and food industries for their bactericidal, virucidal, fungicidal, antiparasitical and insecticidal properties. Their anticancer activity is well documented. Over a hundred essential oils from more than twenty plant families have been tested on more than twenty types of cancers in last past ten years. This review is focused on the activity of essential oils and their components on various types of cancers. For some of them the mechanisms involved in their anticancer activities have been carried out.     

Importance of catalase in the disposal of hydrogen peroxide within human erythrocytes

The catalase within normal, intact human erythrocytes was completely inactivated with amino triazole. The rate of 14CO2 evolution, when the cells were subsequently incubated with 14C-labeled glucose, provided a measure of the rate at which NADPH was being oxidized by the glutathione peroxidase/reductase system for the disposal of H2O2. This rate was determined in control cells and in catalase-inactivated cells while the cells were exposed to H2O2, which was generated at various constant and predetermined rates by glucose oxidase. The results indicated that catalase handles approximately half of the generated H2O2. The glutathione peroxidase/reductase mechanism accounted for the other half. These results are in agreement with our earlier findings on erythrocytes of a subject with a genetic deficiency of catalase. However, an unexpected result with the present approach was the finding that the increased dependence on the glutathione peroxidase/reductase mechanism did not occur until greater than 98% of the catalase had been inactivated. The latter observation indicates that catalase and the glutathione peroxidase/reductase system function intracellularly in a manner very different from that previously ascribed to them. An explanation of the findings requires that the two methods of H2O2 disposal function in a coordinated way, such as a sequential action in which the glutathione peroxidase/reductase system is the rate-limiting step.     

Factor V is activated and cleaved by platelet calpain: comparison with thrombin proteolysis

Platelets are known to process human factor V during secretion and/or membrane binding. We studied the functional and structural changes produced in human factor V by purified human platelet calpain (calcium- activated thiol protease) and compared the alterations with those induced by thrombin. A maximum increase in coagulant activity of 2.5- fold was observed when factor V (1 U/mL, 33 nmol/L) was incubated with calpain (0.03 U/mL, 2.7 nmol/L) in comparison with a 8.8-fold increment for alpha-thrombin (0.7 U/mL, 8 nmol/L) at 25 degrees C. Thrombin additions to reactions initiated by calpain resulted in further activation comparable to that of thrombin alone, whereas the subsequent addition of calpain had no effect on the extent or pattern of the activation of factor V by thrombin. The cleavage pattern of factor V produced by these two enzymes are distinctly different. Although thrombin activation eventually results in four final components designated C1 (150 kd), D (105 kd), E (71 kd), and F1F2 (71 to 74 kd), calpain yields initial components of 200 kd and 160 kd within one minute. Further digestion of the 200 kd species by calpain gives rise first to a polypeptide of 160 kd that is converted to a 140 kd and a 120 kd species by two minutes with an increase in coagulant activity. Immunoblotting of these fragments with the monoclonal antibody (MoAb) B10 directed to factor V and the thrombin-generated C1 fragment yields results demonstrating a common epitope in these calpain-generated components of 200, 160, 140 and 120 kd. The degradation of the initial 160 kd polypeptide gives rise to polypeptides of 100 and 65 kd, both undetectable on immunoblotting with MoAb B10. The 130, 87, 58, and 48 kd components are of less certain origin. Thus, platelet calpain generates a complex but reproducible cleavage pattern different from thrombin that may explain the partial activation observed. Nevertheless, calpain processing may play a role in early hemostatic reactions involving platelets before the appearance of the first thrombin molecule.     

The 100 most wired 2005: the quality connection

An analysis of this year's Most Wired Survey results shows for the first time that hospitals leading the way in information technology also have better outcomes. They use a wider array of IT tools to address quality, they conduct a larger percentage of clinical transitions via IT, and a larger percentage of their physicians enter orders themselves.     

Biological evaluation of intervertebral disc cells in different formulations of gellan gum‐based hydrogels

Gellan gum (GG)‐based hydrogels are advantageous in tissue engineering not only due to their ability to retain large quantities of water and provide a similar environment to that of natural extracellular matrix (ECM), but also because they can gelify in situ in seconds. Their mechanical properties can be fine‐tuned to mimic natural tissues such as the nucleus pulposus (NP). This study produced different formulations of GG hydrogels by mixing varying amounts of methacrylated (GG‐MA) and high‐acyl gellan gums (HA‐GG) for applications as acellular and cellular NP substitutes. The hydrogels were physicochemically characterized by dynamic mechanical analysis. Degradation and swelling abilities were assessed by soaking in a phosphate buffered saline solution for up to 170 h. Results showed that as HA‐GG content increased, the modulus of the hydrogels decreased. Moreover, increases in HA‐GG content induced greater weight loss in the GG‐MA/HA‐GG formulation compared to GG‐MA hydrogel. Potential cytotoxicity of the hydrogel was assessed by culturing rabbit NP cells up to 7 days. An MTS assay was performed by seeding rabbit NP cells onto the surface of 3D hydrogel disc formulations. Viability of rabbit NP cells encapsulated within the different hydrogel formulations was also evaluated by Calcein‐AM and ATP assays. Results showed that tunable GG‐MA/HA‐GG hydrogels were non‐cytotoxic and supported viability of rabbit NP cells. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

新缩瞳剂包公藤甲素人工合成研究

包公藤甲素是从包公藤(Erycibe obtusifolia Benth.)茎中提得的一个新莨菪烷生物碱,具有强烈的缩瞳作用,临床用于治疗青光眼。本文报道用合成的6β-乙酰氧基托品酮为原料,经卤代、水解、还原和N-去甲基化等反应合成包甲素(8)。经光谱测定证实8与天然包甲素的结构完全一致。合成品系外消旋体,其作用机理与天然品相同,而强度则减半。     

Neutral steroid metabolites in patients with uraemia and after renal transplantation: a quantitative and qualitative study in body fluids

Steroid metabolites enriched from urine, haemofiltrate, and CAPD-dialysate (Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis) were identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and quantified by capillary gas chromatography. The study included twenty healthy controls, twenty-six non-dialysed uraemics, thirty-nine patients on regular dialysis treatment, and twenty-two allograft recipients. Compared to the 24 h urinary excretion rates of controls the excretion rates of androsterone and etiocholanolone were in the lower normal range up to significantly decreased in the body fluids of all patients, and those of the corticoid metabolites were also significantly decreased. 11-Oxygenated androstanolones in urine from non-dialysed uraemics correlated significantly decreased. 11-oxygenated androstano-levels and were significantly increased, but normal in haemofiltrate and CAPD-dialysate, while in urine of allograft recipients the values were significantly lower.