Estimated causes of death in Thailand, 2005: implications for health policy

Background  

Almost 400,000 deaths are registered each year in Thailand. Their value for public health policy and planning is greatly diminished by incomplete registration of deaths and by concerns about the quality of cause-of-death information. This arises from misclassification of specified causes of death, particularly in hospitals, as well as from extensive use of ill-defined and vague codes to attribute the underlying cause of death. Detailed investigations of a sample of deaths in and out of hospital were carried out to identify misclassification of causes and thus derive a best estimate of national mortality patterns by age, sex, and cause of death.     

Clinical performance and failures of zirconia-based fixed partial dentures: a review literature

PURPOSE

Zirconia has been used in clinical dentistry for approximately a decade, and there have been several reports regarding the clinical performance and survival rates of zirconia-based restorations. The aim of this article was to review the literatures published from 2000 to 2010 regarding the clinical performance and the causes of failure of zirconia fixed partial dentures (FPDs).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

An electronic search of English peer-reviewed dental literatures was performed through PubMed to obtain all the clinical studies focused on the performance of the zirconia FPDs. The electronic search was supplemented by manual searching through the references of the selected articles for possible inclusion of some articles. Randomized controlled clinical trials, longitudinal prospective and retrospective cohort studies were the focuses of this review. Articles that did not focus on the restoration of teeth using zirconia-based restorations were excluded from this review.

RESULTS

There have been three studies for the study of zirconia single crowns. The clinical outcome was satisfactory (acceptable) according to the CDA evaluation. There have been 14 studies for the study of zirconia FPDs. The survival rates of zirconia anterior and posterior FPDs ranged between 73.9% - 100% after 2 - 5 years. The causes of failure were veneer fracture, ceramic core fracture, abutment tooth fracture, secondary caries, and restoration dislodgment.

CONCLUSION

The overall performance of zirconia FPDs was satisfactory according to either USPHS criteria or CDA evaluations. Fracture resistance of core and veneering ceramics, bonding between core and veneering materials, and marginal discrepancy of zirconia-based restorations were discussed as the causes of failure. Because of its repeated occurrence in many studies, future researches are essentially required to clarify this problem and to reduce the fracture incident.     

Indirect effect of a turmeric diet: enhanced bile duct proliferation in Syrian hamsters with a combination of partial obstruction by Opisthorchis viverrini infection and inflammation by N-nitrosodimethylamine administration

The present study revealed the indirect effect of a turmeric (TUR) diet on the histopathological changes and proliferating cell nuclear antigen staining in Syrian hamsters with partial obstruction by liver fluke (Opisthorchis viverrini) infection and inflammation by N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) administration. The result of the analysis of histopathological changes shows that a TUR diet has an anti-inflammatory property in the case of a single condition of NDMA administration or O. viverrini infection, as has been reported previously. Unfortunately, an adverse indirect effect of TUR was observed in the combination of infection with O. viverrini and administration of NDMA, with a 30–50% increase in new bile duct formation, correlated with an increase in proliferating cell nuclear antigen. Our present result suggests that the properties of curcumin are anti-inflammation and antioxidant including enhancing biliary contraction and bile flow. Thus, a combination of factors (treated with O. viverrini, NDMA, and TUR diet) result in an increasing bile duct proliferation which may cause from biliary homeostasis.     

Generalized eruption accompanied by hepatitis in two Thai metal cleaners exposed to trichloroethylene

Two female workers, aged 23 and 24, engaged in cleaning metal straps with trichloroethylene (TCE) in a watch manufacturing plant, experienced generalized eruption, mucosal lesion, fever and hepatitis. The first case suffered fulminant hepatitis and died from liver failure in two weeks after the first symptom appearance. The second case, whose onset of generalized eruption, mucosal lesion and hepatitis without jaundice was nine days after that of the first case, however, recovered in 2 wk. Because the result of working environment measurement suggested heavy exposure to TCE, we deemed that there would be a causal relationship between TCE exposure and the illness. Although there have been considerable number of papers describing the above-mentioned relationship, the fact is not well recognized even among medical personnel in Thailand. Taking the wide use of TCE into account, the prevention of this illness would be very important especially in rapidly industrializing countries.     

Cause-of-death ascertainment for deaths that occur outside hospitals in Thailand: application of verbal autopsy methods

Background  

Ascertainment of cause for deaths that occur in the absence of medical attention is a significant problem in many countries, including Thailand, where more than 50% of such deaths are registered with ill-defined causes. Routine implementation of standardized, rigorous verbal autopsy methods is a potential solution. This paper reports findings from field research conducted to develop, test, and validate the use of verbal autopsy (VA) methods in Thailand.     

Evaluation of knee cartilage thickness: A comparison between ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging methods

Background

Establishing clinically accessible measures of cartilage health is critical for assessing effectiveness of protocols to reduce risk of osteoarthritis (OA) development and progression. Cartilage thickness is one important measure in describing both OA development and progression. The objective was to determine the relationship between ultrasound and MRI measures of cartilage thickness in the medial femoral condyle.

Claurailas A-D, cytotoxic carbazole alkaloids from the roots of Clausena harmandiana

Four new carbazole alkaloids, claurailas A-D (1-4), as well as 12 known carbazoles and three known coumarins were isolated from the roots of Clausena harmandiana. Heptaphylline (6) and 7-methoxyheptaphylline (7) showed strong cytotoxicity against NCI-H187 and KB cell lines with IC(50) values ranging from 1.3 to 2.7 μM. Compound 7 showed no cytotoxicity against Vero cells.     

Modifications of andrographolide to increase some biological activities: a patent review (2006 - 2011)

INTRODUCTION: Andrographis paniculata Nees, Acanthaceae, is a well-recognised medicinal plant in Asia. It has been reported to possess a variety of biological activities. The main constituent of A. paniculata is andrographolide (Androg). Since the plant is known to treat many diseases, Androg was modified for many biological activities to treat and prevent a variety of diseases. AREA COVERED: This review surveys the patents from 2006 to 15 November 2011 for antibacterials, antivirals, antidiabetic, anticancer, analgesic, antipyretic and anti-inflammatory analogues. SciFinder database was used to search for the patent work using the keywords 'andrographolide', 'andrographolide derivatives', 'andrographolide analogues' and later additional limits, that is, 'patent' and 'years', 'Clinical trial' and 'years' were searched. Espacenet was also searched for 'andrographolide', 'andrographolide derivatives' and 'andrographolide analogues'. EXPERT OPINION: Androg is a good pharmacophore for many pharmacological activities. Esterification at either one or more of the three hydroxyls with short/long chains, heterocyclic, aromatic fatty acids was attempted and tested for a variety of activities. Most of the responses were positive. Other modifications were epoxidation at Δ(7(18)) along with esterifications with various carboxylic acids for anticancer activity. 15-Alkylidene analogues were investigated for α-glucosidase inhibition. The improvement of activities have not yet been proven to be due to the increase in the ability of analogues to reach the targets as prodrugs or the new feature structures fitted to the receptors. It seems that substitution with active compounds, such as lipoic acid, is a new trend for modification.     

Pharmacokinetics of Stavudine and Didanosine Coadministered with Nelfinavir in Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Exposed Neonates

We evaluated the pharmacokinetics of stavudine (d4T) and didanosine (ddI) in neonates. Eight neonates born to human immunodeficiency virus-infected mothers were enrolled to receive 1 mg of d4T per kg of body weight twice daily and 100 mg of ddI per m(2) once daily in combination with nelfinavir for 4 weeks after birth. Pharmacokinetic evaluations were performed at 14 and 28 days of age. For d4T, on days 14 and 28, the median areas under the concentration-time curves from 0 to 12 h (AUC(0-12)s) were 1,866 and 1,603, ng x h/ml, respectively, and the median peak concentrations (C(max)s) were 463 and 507 ng/ml, respectively. For ddI, on days 14 and 28, the median AUC(0-10)s were 1,573 and 1,562 h x ng/ml, respectively, and the median C(max)s were 627 and 687 ng/ml, respectively. Systemic levels of exposure to d4T were comparable to those seen in children, suggesting that the pediatric dose of 1 mg/kg twice daily is appropriate for neonates at 2 to 4 weeks of age. Levels of exposure to ddI were modestly higher than those seen in children. Whether this observation warrants a reduction of the ddI dose in neonates is unclear.