Editorial
Journey towards a smoke-free nation
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Singapore’s journey towards a smoke-free society started early in the 1970s when legislations were introduced to restrict smoking in certain public spaces and ban tobacco advertising.1 The National Smoking Control Programme was launched in 1986 with important objectives...
Letter to the Editor
Delayed treatment with nirmatrelvir/ritonavir could remain effective in patients with Omicron BA2.2 variant of COVID-19
Dear Editor,
In late February 2022, the Omicron BA.2.2 subvariant drove the outbreak of COVID-19 and rapidly spread through many parts of the world. Omicron-infected individuals aged ≥80 years who are unvaccinated are particularly at high risk of poor outcomes.
COVID-19 vaccines and antiviral therapeutics have protected individuals most at risk...
Letter to the Editor
Tragus pressure-guided removal of airway devices for safe emergence from sedation: A randomised controlled trial
Dear Editor,
Emergence from anaesthesia and deep sedation is the transition from unconsciousness to the return of awareness and airway reflexes. The chief patterns of unsafe recovery include sudden unpredictable emergence or delayed return of airway tone and reflex with risk of airway obstruction.1 Agitation includes straining, sitting up, screaming...
Letter to the Editor
Clinical characteristics of macrolide-resistant Mycoplasma pneumoniae infections among hospitalised children in Singapore
Dear Editor,
Mycoplasma pneumoniae has become the leading cause of paediatric community-acquired pneumonia in countries where pneumococcal vaccination is included in the national immunisation programme, including Singapore.1 M. pneumoniae is intrinsically resistant to beta-lactams due to the absence of cell walls. Macrolides, tetracyclines, and fluoroquinolones are used to treat M....
Review Article
Managing adult asthma during the COVID-19 pandemic: A 2022 review and current recommendations
Asthma is the most prevalent chronic respiratory disease, estimated to affect more than 300 million people worldwide.1 First recognised in December 2019, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has evolved into an ongoing global pandemic.2 In May...
Letter to the Editor
Antiphospholipid and other autoantibodies in COVID-19 patients: A Singapore series
Dear Editor,
Thrombosis is an unexpected complication of COVID-19 initially reported in 3 patients from China.1 These patients tested positive for immunoglobulin (Ig) A anticardiolipin (ACA), IgG anti-β2-glycoprotein I antibodies (aβ2GPI) and IgA aβ2GPI, though not for the lupus anticoagulant (LAC).
In a Singapore study comprising 47,527 patients, 19 (0.04%) developed...
Editorial
Different strokes for different folks
Atrial fibrillation (AF) remains the most common arrhythmia since William Harvey’s observation of fibrillating auricles in open chest animal models in 1628. Willem Einthoven first documented ECG tracing of AF in 1906. Fast forward several hundred years since its first observation, AF remains a mystery from its pathogenesis and...
Review Article
Barriers to breast cancer screening in Singapore: A literature review
Breast cancer is a major public health concern and a leading cause of cancer death among women worldwide, including Singapore.1 According to the 2018 Singapore Cancer Registry report, breast cancer has been consistently ranked as a leading cancer (29.3% of all cancers in Singapore) among women in Singapore for...
Original Article
Interaction of sex and diabetes in Asian patients with heart failure with mildly reduced left ventricular ejection fraction
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a common comorbidity worldwide with global prevalence among adults above 18 years of age increasing from 4.7% in 1980 to 8.5% in 2014.1 DM has been shown to be a common comorbidity in heart failure (HF) patients ranging from 4.3–28%2 and when present, portends a...
Original Article
Prevalence, risk factors and parental perceptions of gastroesophageal reflux disease in Asian infants in Singapore
Functional gastrointestinal (GI) disorders, such as colic, gastroesophageal reflux (GER) and constipation, are common in infants under 1 year. They are a frequent cause of concern for parents and result in a significant healthcare burden1,2 due to their negative impact on feeding behaviours, caregivers’ mental wellbeing and quality of...
Editorial
Gastroesophageal reflux disease in Asian infants: Similar condition, different perceptions
Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), a common problem in infancy, may lead to troublesome symptoms or complications such as oesophagitis or oesophageal stricturing in a small minority of infants.1 In the majority of cases, however, frequent regurgitations, the commonest symptoms of GERD, resolves with age spontaneously without any medical intervention.2,3...
Letter to the Editor
Evaluation of a health screening protocol for recovered COVID-19 patients before “return-to-play” and strenuous physical activity
Dear Editor,
We conducted a prospective, single-centre cohort study to develop guidance for military personnel returning to strenuous activities following SARS-CoV-2 infection. The patients underwent a clinical review followed by a protocol to screen for cardiac, respiratory, haematological, endocrine/renal and neurological complications after recovery from infection.
Both the study and screening...
Others
Case Series of Bronchoscopic Removal of Tracheobronchial Foreign Body in Six Adults
Gustav Killian reported the first case of bronchoscopic removal of foreign body (FB) from the trachea in 1897. Since then, rigid bronchoscopy under general anaesthesia by the cardiothoracic surgeon has remained the procedure of choice for FB removal in the airways, failing which thoracotomy and bronchotomy is performed.
This article...
Original Article
Risk Factors for Predicting Mortality in a Paediatric Intensive Care Unit
Following the rapid advances in medical therapy and critical care technology over the past 30 years, coupled with the spiralling cost of medical care, outcome analysis including mortality risk prediction has become a challenge for the modern day intensivists. During the early 90s, the focus has shifted from the...
Review Article
Bronchoscopy in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU)
Flexible fibreoptic bronchoscopy (FFB) has become an indispensable tool in the optimal management of intensive care unit (ICU) patients with both diagnostic and therapeutic goals. Its safety and usefulness, in well-trained hands with appropriate precautions, have led to its increasing use even in unstable and mechanically ventilated patients.
This article...
Review Article
Use of Atypical Neuroleptics in a State Mental Institute
Schizophrenia is the most severe of all mental disorders and affects about 1% of the population. The main disturbances of schizophrenia comprise positive symptoms, negative symptoms and disorganisation.
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Original Article
Infections in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia
Children undergoing chemotherapy for cancer are especially vulnerable to infection because of immunosuppression related to their underlying illness, the effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Empiric antimicrobial chemotherapy is the mainstay of therapy for febrile neutropenic episodes pending the culture results.
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Original Article
Childhood Leukaemia: Towards an Integrated Psychosocial Intervention Programme in Singapore
In the last two decades there has been a surge of interest concerning the psychosocial correlates of life-threatening illnesses. Research in this area has focused especially on cancer and the possible link between immunology and psychological factors.
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Others
Combined High-frequency Ventilation (CHFV) in the Treatment of Acute Lung Injury—A Case Report
The role of ventilatory support in acute lung injury is supportive, whilst the damage to alveolar-capillary membranes resolves and alveolar stability is restored. The optimum mode of support varies with individual patients, but none can reliably prevent progression of acute lung injury and high frequency ventilation (HFV) has been...
Review Article
Contributions of Respiratory Care Practitioners to Intensive Care: A Review
The intensive care unit (ICU) is a complex environment in which multidisciplinary expertise has been shown to enhance clinical outcomes. For example, the availability of full-time intensivists has been associated with improved survival.
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Review Article
Ventilatory Strategies for Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome
Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) was first described by Ashbaugh et al in 1967. The original authors detailed the presence of tachypnoea, hypoxaemia, decreased respiratory compliance, bilateral pulmonary infiltrates and reported a survival rate of 42%.
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Review Article
The Oxygen Delivery Debate—A Review
Multisystem organ failure occurs in a large proportion of critically ill patients and is a major cause of death in this group of patients. The mechanisms responsible for the development of multisystem organ failure in the critically ill patient are unknown.
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Review Article
Controlled Observations in Critical Care Medicine: The Therapeutic Trial
Central to the combined diagnostic and therapeutic approach to the critically ill subject is the evaluation of both the basal physiologic status and its subsequent change over time consequent to a therapeutic intervention.
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Original Article
Caudal Morphine in Paediatric Patients: A Comparison of Two Different Doses in Children after Major Urogenital Surgery
The use of caudal preservative-free morphine for postoperative analgesia in children has gained popularity since it was first described by Jensen. Several studies have reviewed its use for inguinal and genital surgery in children.
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Original Article
A Retrospective Study of Infants with Severe Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension (PPHN) Managed without Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO)
Persistent pulmonary hypertension (PPHN) is an important cause of neonatal mortality amongst infants who are of term or post-term gestation. The most severely ill of these infants would meet the criteria for the use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).
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Original Article
Five Paediatric Case Reports of the Use of Adenosine in Supraventricular Tachycardia
Adenosine has been shown to be effective in terminating supraventricular tachycardia in adults and children. However, the use of adenosine has not been previously studied in Singapore children; hence we report our experience with the use of adenosine for the treatment and diagnosis of supraventricular tachycardia in children over...
Original Article
Use of Central Venous Lines in Paediatrics—A Local Experience
Peripheral access by venous cut down, once popular in the 1950s and 1960s, has almost become obsolete with the introduction of the Seldinger technique for percutaneous insertion of central venous lines. In 1973, Shaw invented a technique of cannulating peripheral veins with silastic catheters, as an alternative approach to...
Original Article
Impact on Quality of Patient Care and Procedure Use in the Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) Following Reorganisation
Critical care is costly as it is labour intensive and involves expensive life support technology. In the United States, the intensive care units (ICUs) use about 15% of the total hospital cost or about 1% of the gross national product.
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Editorial
Intensivists for the Intensive Care Unit—Do They Make a Difference?
Does Critical Care Medicine exist and what defines its area of practice? Different countries have embarked on their own journeys of discovery, and have arrived at different paradigms—open versus closed models, specialty-based intensive care units (ICUs) versus general ICUs, internist versus pulmonologist or anaesthetist, and so forth.
This article is...
Original Article
Survey of Aerobic Bacterial Infections in Paediatric Surgical Intensive Care Unit Patients
Data on infections in paediatric surgical patients are few in the literature. Although there are many studies on infection in adult surgical and paediatric medical patients, paediatric surgical patients are a special group in their spectrum of diseases and treatment requirements.
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Original Article
A Prospective Study of Infections with Atypical Pneumonia Organisms in Acute Exacerbations of Chronic Bronchitis
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a disease state characterised by the presence of airflow limitation that is generally progressive, partially reversible and caused by either intrinsic airway disease (bronchitis) or parenchymal destruction (emphysema). COPD is a leading cause of death and a major medical and economic problem.
This article...
Original Article
Parainfluenza Type 3 Viral Outbreak in a Neonatal Nursery
Parainfluenza viruses are relatively large RNA paramyxoviruses. Four serologic types cause disease in humans.
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Others
T Wave Alternans and Acute Rheumatic Myocarditis: A Case Report
T wave alternans, an electrical cardiac alternans in which there is a beat-to-beat variation in the amplitude, shape or the polarity of the T wave during sinus rhythm without any changes in the QRS complex, is an uncommonly recorded rhythm. We report here an unusual case of T wave...
Original Article
Hospitalised Low-risk Community-acquired Pneumonia: Outcome and Potential for Cost-savings
Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a common illness with nearly 4 million adults diagnosed each year in USA with more than 600,000 hospita1isations. The associated cost of hospitalisation is enormous and approaches nearly US$4 billion per year.
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Original Article
Long-term Outcome and Disease Control in Near-fatal Asthma
Rising trends in mortality in asthma have been reported from many countries, including Asian countries such as Hong Kong. Asthma deaths have been associated with a number of avoidable factors such as deficiencies in personal and professional management that can potentially be remedied if identified.
This article is available only...
Others
The Future of Medicine from the Standpoint of the Practising Paediatrician
From the time of recorded history of medicine, the doctor whether he be the ancient healer or the modern medical practitioner, the doctor had practised the art and science, on the basis of curing the patient when he has an illness. The doctor is sought out when the patient...
Others
Hepatopulmonary Syndrome: A Rare Complication of Chronic Liver Disease in Children
Children with chronic liver disorders may present with dysfunction of other organ systems. Encephalopathy, gastrointestinal bleeding, failure to thrive and impaired renal function are some such findings in these children1 Mild to moderate hypoxaemia is also well described in children with chronic liver disease.
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Original Article
Bidirectional Cavopulmonary Anastomosis
Children with complex congenital heart disease and a functional single ventricle may not be ideal candidates for a Fontan procedure. A staged approach to Fontan’s operation has been undertaken in an effort to reduce the volume load of a single ventricle as early as possible and to minimise the...
Original Article
Ethnicity, Obstructive Sleep Apnoea and Ischaemic Heart Disease
Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is a condition whereby there is snoring associated with complete or partial cessation of breathing during sleep, associated with nocturnal oxygen desaturation and sleep fragmentation. This condition can lead to the effects of sleep fragmentation such as motor vehicular accidents, accidents in the workplace, social...
Original Article
Rapid Mycobacterial Tuberculosis Detection in Bronchoalveolar Lavage Samples by Polymerase Chain Reaction in Patients with Upper Lobe Infiltrates and Bronchiectasis
Pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB), the incidence of which is rising, poses a major health problem. It is caused by <i>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</i>. The isolation of <i>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</i> by culture has been the “gold standard” for the diagnosis of tuberculosis, as it gives a specificity that approaches 100% and permits susceptibility testing...
Original Article
Retinopathy of Prematurity in Very Low Birth Weight Infants
Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), which could lead to visual impairment and blindness, is a recognised serious morbidity amongst surviving premature infants. The inverse relationship between the risk of this disease with birth weight and gestational age had been well-documented, in particular, in infants with birth weight ≤1500 g (very...
Others
Echocardiographic Features and Management of Neonatal Ductal Aneurysm
Previously thought to be a rare condition, aneurysms of the ductus arteriosus have been increasingly reported in the medical literature over the past few years. It has been noted as an incidental finding in autopsy, echocardiography and angiography, but can present with symptoms of cough, dyspnoea, hoarseness of voice...
Others
Beneficial Effect of Combination Therapy with Ozagrel and Pranlukast in Exercise-induced Asthma Demonstrated by Krypton-81m Ventilation Scintigraphy—A Case Report
Exercise is a common stimulus of bronchoconstriction in subjects with asthma. Exercise-induced asthma is a temporary increase in airway resistance that occurs after several minutes of strenuous exercise, usually after the exercise has ceased.
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Original Article
Transaminitis in Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy
Raised aminotransferase levels, especially that of alanine transaminase (ALT), have been traditionally attributed to liver pathology rather than to muscle disorders. However, raised alanine and aspartate transaminase (AST) levels have been found in patients with muscle diseases such as Duchenne’s and Becker’s muscular dystrophy, myotonic dystrophy and the inflammatory...
Others
Twenty-four hour, Non-invasive, Neonatal Chromosome Analysis—Application in a Case of Mixed Gonadal Dysgenesis
Chromosome analysis in neonates requires venisection and this is sometimes both difficult and distressing. In addition, results can at best take 3 days but longer if the initial 48-h culturing period proves unsuccessful.
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Others
Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Exercise intolerance is a hallmark of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Although exertional symptoms may be mild at the outset, exercise limitation is the most disabling and distressing consequence of COPD for the majority of patients.
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Others
Sandhoff Disease—A Case Report of 3 Siblings and a Review of Potential Therapies
Sandhoff disease is a rare inborn error of metabolism characterised by the absence of both β-hexosaminidase A and B, resulting in an accumulation of G<sub>M2</sub> gangliosides, particularly in the neuronal cells. The infantile form, similar to Tay Sach’s disease, may present in the first year of life with an...
Others
A Case Report on the Perinatal Management of a 30-week Preterm Baby with Congenital Complete Heart Block
The association between congenital complete heart block (CHB) and maternal autoimmune disorders has been described for many years. Maternal systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is the commonest of these disorders, and a leading cause of heart block in newborns.
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Others
Minimal Change Nephrotic Syndrome—A Complex Genetic Disorder
Minimal change nephrotic syndrome (MCNS) is the most common cause of childhood nephrotic syndrome. It is characterised by the presence of gross proteinuria, hypoalbuminaemia, oedema and hyperlipidaemia.
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Others
Ethnic Differences in Genetic Susceptibility to Atopy and Asthma in Singapore
Twin studies have indicated that both asthma and atopy are largely regulated by genetic factors. However, the genetics is complex, involving an interaction of multiple susceptibility genes and environmental factors.
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Others
Human Genetic Susceptibility to Tuberculosis
The World Health Organization has declared that the recent resurgence of tuberculosis (TB) is a global emergency. Southeast Asia, which is seeing the greatest increase in new TB patients, is at the epicentre of this pandemic.
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Others
Candida Arthritis in a Premature Infant Treated Successfully with Oral Fluconazole for Six Months
Candida arthritis in premature infants is regarded as a rare condition. The largest published series of 8 cases from one institution was from Bombay, India.
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Others
A Case Report of Aspergillus Hypersensitivity Syndrome with Obstructing Bronchial Aspergillosis
The spectrum of pulmonary aspergillosis includes saprophytic colonisation, hypersensitivity syndromes and invasive lung disease. There has been a tendency to classify these syndromes as separate entities but clinical overlap occurs.
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Others
Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome—Report of Three Cases
Sleep-related breathing disorders are widely recognised as important causes of morbidity and mortality over the past 3 decades. The obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS) and the sleep hypopnoea syndrome are well-known and well-described breathing disorders during sleep.
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Original Article
DNA Testing for Fragile X Syndrome in 255 Males from Special Schools in Singapore
Fragile X syndrome is the most common inherited cause of mental retardation, affecting approximately 1 in 1250 males and 1 in 2500 females. It is associated with a cytogenetically visible fragile site in Xq27.3, termed FRAXA, which results from the unstable expansion of a trinucleotide (CGG)n repeat sequence in...
Original Article
Initial Experience of Radiofrequency Catheter Ablation of Supraventricular Tachycardia in Paediatric Patients
Paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) is well-recognised as one of the commonest rhythm disorders in children. There may be few symptoms, but many experience palpitations, or some other less specific complaints such as nausea, pallor and sweatiness.
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Original Article
Audit of Oxygen Therapy in Acute General Medical Wards Following an Educational Programme
The rational basis for supplemental oxygen (O<sub>2</sub>) treatment is well established. Long-term O<sub>2</sub> therapy improves survival and quality of life in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who are severely hypoxaemic. Short-term supplemental O<sub>2</sub> is required in medical emergencies and various acute disease states such as respiratory failure, circulatory...
Others
Active Management of a Patient with Endstage Pulmonary Emphysema Using Lung Volume Reduction Surgery and Intensive Rehabilitation
A 65-year-old Chinese man with a 30-pack year history of cigarette smoking was referred to our institution for further management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Despite smoking cessation for 5 years, and pharmacological treatment with oral theophylline, inhaled ipratropium bromide and ventolin, his dyspnoea had progressed to the...
Others
Endobronchial Mass in a Patient with Burkholderia pseudomallei Infection
The diagnosis of Burkholderia pseudomallei infection is based on culture of clinical specimens such as blood or other body fluids, or serology using indirect haemagglutination (IHA) test and various antigen detection tests. Gram stain shows a bipolar “safety-pin” pattern or small gram-negative rods.
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Original Article
Endobronchial Stenting in Patients Requiring Mechanical Ventilation for Major Airway Obstruction
Few things are as dramatic as respiratory arrest from major airway obstruction. Major airway obstruction frequently leads to well-defined clinical sequelae, namely shunt-associated hypoxaemia and post-obstructive pneumonia.
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Others
Clinical Update on Occupational Asthma
Occupational asthma is the most common occupational respiratory disease in the United Kingdom and also in Singapore. Recent estimates of the proportion of adult asthmatics where the cause could be occupational range from 4% to 9%.
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Original Article
Diagnosing and Prognosticating Acute Meningitis in Young Infants within 24 Hours of Admission
Meningitis is an important cause of fever in young infants (infants 90 days old or younger). Most cases of meningitis are acute meningitis which present with a short history of symptoms and are caused by either bacteria (acute bacterial meningitis, ABM) or viruses (acute aseptic meningitis, AAM).
This article is...
Others
Book Review
The above is a textbook of medicine written by Singapore doctors and published in Singapore. It is difficult not to be over-enthusiastic about it as there are so few books of medicine written and published in Singapore.
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Original Article
Effect of Different Endotracheal Suctioning Systems on Cardiorespiratory Parameters of Ventilated Patients
Endotracheal suctioning is a routine procedure performed in the intensive care unit (ICU) to remove secretions from the tracheobronchial tree. This is to maintain patency and reduce the risk of pulmonary atelectasis in mechanically ventilated patients.
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Original Article
The Role of Early Tracheostomy in Critically Ill Neurosurgical Patients
In medical history, tracheostomy is one of the oldest operations performed. There are indications that the Egyptians first employed this procedure more than 3500 years ago when Asclepiades of Bithynia described it in the second century BC.
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Review Article
Enteral Nutrition of the Very Low Birth Weight (VLBW) Infant
Optimal nutrition is critical in the management of the preterm infant. The fetus in utero receives continuous intravenous nutrition that is interrupted when prematurely delivered.
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Original Article
A Case Series of Six Children with Primary Pulmonary Hypertension
Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is an uncommon but serious and debilitating disorder seen in children and adults. By definition, it is an elevation of the pressure in the pulmonary artery to above a mean of 25 mmHg at rest, or 30 mmHg during exercise.
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Others
2nd Chapter of Paediatricians Lecture: The Future of Paediatrics in Singapore
When I was first invited to give this 2nd Chapter of Paediatricians Lecture by the Chapter, my obvious answer was no. I could think of quite a few other paediatricians more qualified and appropriate as speakers and hoped that my emphatic no would work.
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Others
Liver Transplantation in a Child With Severe Hypercholesterolaemia in Alagille Syndrome
Alagille syndrome (AS) or arteriohepatic dysplasia is a genetic disorder transmitted in an autosomal dominant inheritance. The chromosomal abnormality has been identified to the short arm of chromosome 20.
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Original Article
The Views of Mental Health Professionals Towards Psychotherapy—A Singapore Survey
There is a trend in Asia towards a greater application of psychotherapeutic approaches in multidisciplinary settings to emotional and behavioural disturbances. The inaugural issue of Asian Psychologist announced landmarks in the education and training of clinical psychology in two major Asian communities.
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Original Article
The Use of Vigabatrin in Infantile Spasms in Asian Children
Infantile spasms are a form of age-dependent myoclonic epilepsy that is difficult to control. Agents such as adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) and prednisolone have been used as first-line therapy, but are associated with major side effects.
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Original Article
Effects of a Pulmonary Rehabilitation Programme on Physiologic and Psychosocial Outcomes in Patients with Chronic Respiratory Disorders
Pulmonary rehabilitation is a multi-disciplinary programme of care for patients with chronic respiratory impairment that is individually designed to optimise physical and social performance and autonomy. In recent years, the efficacy and scientific foundation of pulmonary rehabilitation have been firmly established.
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Review Article
Recent Advances in the Obstructive Sleep Apnoea/Hypopnoea Syndrome
The past decade has seen a rapid increase in the number of patients being referred for investigation for the obstructive sleep apnoea/hypopnoea syndrome (OSAHS). Indeed, in many centres, possible OSAHS is now the most common respiratory referral and OSAHS is the most common outpatient respiratory diagnosis.
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Others
All that Wheezes is not Asthma—Broncholithiasis, a Forgotten Disease
Asthma is a very common condition which presents clinically with cough, shortness of breath and wheezing. However, ‘all that wheezes is not asthma’, is an important adage not to be forgotten.
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Others
Asthma Disease Management: A Provider’s Perspective
The burden of asthma appears to be increasing worldwide, especially in societies undergoing rapid urbanisation, and both morbidity and mortality from asthma have increased in many parts of the world, making it a global health concern. In Singapore, asthma is a highly prevalent problem, with an increasing societal and...
Original Article
Emergency Department Asthma: Compliance with an Evidence-based Management Algorithm
Attendance at the emergency medicine department (EMD) for acute exacerbation is an important milestone in the natural history of patients with asthma. It is an indication of clinically severe disease, inadequate preventive treatment and failure of self-medication for acute symptoms.
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Original Article
Paediatric Extracranial Germ Cell Tumours: A Retrospective Review
Germ cell tumours (GCTs) in children account for 2% to 3% of childhood malignancies. They arise from primordial germ cells and constitute a heterogeneous group of tumours.
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Original Article
Two-year Outcome of Normal-birth-weight Infants Admitted to a Singapore Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
With the rapid advances in the field of neonatal intensive care, the focus of interest has been on the very-low-birthweight (VLBW) infant in recent years. The outcome of these infants has been extensively studied and widely reported. On the other hand, data on the incidence, risk prediction and outcome...
Original Article
Four-month Chemotherapy in the Treatment of Smear-negative Pulmonary Tuberculosis: Results at 30 to 60 Months
Patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) are usually treated with a 6-month regimen in which chemotherapy is administered daily, intermittently or as a combined (daily and intermittent) regimen. However, patients with smear-negative PTB who have small lesions in the lung may not require the full duration of chemotherapy.
This article...
Others
Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia and Chronic Lung Disease of Infancy: Strategies for Prevention and Management
Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and chronic lung disease of infancy (CLD) are two chronic pulmonary conditions which are the result of incomplete resolution or abnormal repair of lung injury in the neonatal period. Although BPD and CLD are closely related, they have differing diagnostic criteria and the spectrum of severity...
Original Article
Bacteriologically-negative Pulmonary Tuberculosis—The Singapore Tuberculosis Control Unit Experience
The management of a patient as for pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) in the setting of negative bacteriology would have to take into account not only the likelihood that the patient has active PTB, but also the consequences of a mistaken diagnosis and the adverse effects of TB treatment. Patients with...
Original Article
Intussusception: A Three-Year Review
Intussusception is the most common cause of intestinal obstruction in infants and young children. It occurs when one segment of the intestines telescopes into another.
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Others
Severe Newborn Encephalopathy Unrelated to Intrapartum Hypoxic Events: 3 Case Reports
Since Little’s article of 1862, it was popularly believed that brain damage in the majority of cases of cerebral palsy occurs during labour and delivery. However, the growing evidence in literature has refuted this belief.
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Others
A Case Series of Pre-Viable Severe Twin-Twin Transfusion Syndrome
Monozygotic twinning has an incidence of approximately 3.5 per 1000 pregnancies. Only 25% of monozygotic twins have a dichorionic placenta.
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Others
Idiopathic Chronic Fetomaternal Haemorrhage Resulting in Hydrops – A Case Report
Small amounts (<0.1 mL) of fetal blood are commonly found in maternal circulation. Massive fetomaternal haemorrhage (FMH) involves fetal blood loss into the maternal circulation of greater than 150 mL or more than half the fetal blood volume.
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Others
Imaging of Paediatric Mediastinal Masses
A review of mediastinal masses in children, emphasising imaging features, is important for several reasons. Firstly, the mediastinum is the most common location for thoracic masses in children.
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Others
The Relationship Between Scoring Systems and Cytokine Levels in Neonatal Sepsis
In newborn infants, the early diagnosis of sepsis is an important problem because the early signs and symptoms of septicaemia in term or preterm infants are usually nonspecific. Many clinical and haematological scoring systems have been developed in the early diagnosis of neonatal sepsis.
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Original Article
Asthma in Light of Patient Documents. A Factor Analytic Study
The lack of uniform criteria for asthma handicaps the diagnosis, the systematic documentation of cases and the consistent reporting of studies addressing asthma. It restricts also the use of patient documents of asthmatics especially in detailed causal analysis, although they could give important information for research and administration.
This article...
Original Article
Malignant Mesothelioma: Experience at the Singapore General Hospital
Malignant mesothelioma is a rare tumour and is typically associated with asbestos exposure. In endemic areas, it has an estimated incidence as high as 66 per million for men aged 35 and above.
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Original Article
Clinical Characteristics of an Outbreak of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease in Singapore
The enterovirus family causes a wide array of illnesses, some easily recognised clinically and others diagnosed as non-specific viral illnesses. This large family of viruses, composed of more than 70 serotypes, accounts for at least 10 to 15 millions of asymptomatic infection per year in the United States.
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Review Article
Perinatal Care at the Threshold of Viability—From Principles to Practice
One of the major challenges in neonatal-perinatal medicine in the new century is the optimal management of the mother and infant when delivery is imminent or at the threshold of viability. Considerable debate has arisen regarding the appropriate approach and strongly polarised viewpoints are held with and without supporting...
Original Article
Eight-year Outcome of Very-low-birth-weight Infants Born in KK Hospital
The outcome of very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) premature babies with birth weights of <1500 g has remained an area of great concern for both parents and medical personnel.
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Review Article
Long-term Follow-up and Outcome of Extremely-low-birth-weight (ELBW) Infants
With the progressive improvement in the survival of premature neonates, including those born at the extreme edge of viability, there has been a great degree of interest focused on the functioning of these high-risk survivors and their outcome into childhood and recently up to adolescence and early adulthood. Prospective...
Review Article
Exogenous Surfactant Therapy in Newborn Infants
Exogenous surfactant therapy is widely used in the management of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) and may have a role in the management of other neonatal respiratory disorders as well. Numerous randomised controlled trials have been conducted in neonatology to study different aspects of surfactant therapy.
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Others
The Use and Abuse of Steroids in Perinatal Medicine
Preterm birth, delivery prior to 37 weeks of gestational age, accounts for a major and disproportionate amount of infant and neonatal morbidity and mortality. Despite advances in medical technology, the prevalence of preterm birth in Singapore has increased, secondary to an increase in multiple gestations and obstetric interventions.
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Review Article
Mass Newborn Screening in Singapore—Position and Projections
Mass newborn screening is an essential preventative public health programme which aims to diagnose, in the presymptomatic phase, diseases that have a better outcome with early intervention. The development in 1960 by the late Dr Robert Guthrie of a simple test, the GuthrieTest, that enabled the detection of phenylketonuria...
Others
Neonatology In Singapore: The Way We Were, The Way Forward
Over a span of 35 years of my working life, I have witnessed the growth of, and also grown together with, neonatology in Singapore. As I look at the present-day status of neonatology, it gives me a sense of achievement and accomplishment.
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Original Article
Chorioamnionitis and Outcome in Extremely Preterm Infants
Preterm delivery is associated with considerable morbidity and mortality, especially among the 1% to 2% infants delivered at less than 32 weeks. Chorioamnionitis is a major predisposing factor for preterm delivery.
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Editorial
Challenges in Perinatal Medicine
One of the significant milestones in the perinatal care in Singapore is the birth of the Perinatal Society of Singapore in March 1989. This signaled the beginning of increased collaboration between the obstetricians and neonatologists in the management of high-risk pregnancies through multidisciplinary birth defect clinics and high-risk perinatal...
Others
Predicting Significant Hyperbilirubinaemia and Early Discharge for Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase Deficient Newborns
Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency occurs in 2.5% of Singapore’s population, and affected newborns are at risk for severe neonatal hyperbilirubinaemia and kernicterus. In the past four decades, neonatology units in local restructured hospitals have hospitalised all affected newborns for at least 14 days after birth because of this risk.
This...
Others
Autoimmune Liver Disease in Children
Autoimmune liver disorders are inflammatory liver diseases characterised histologically by a dense mononuclear cell infiltrate, including plasma cells, in the portal tract (Fig. 1) and serologically by the presence of non-organ and liver-specific autoantibodies and increased levels of immunoglobulin G (IgG), in the absence of a known aetiology. They...
Others
HIV/AIDS in Children
The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic in Asia has grown from a handful of cases to a major public health threat with wide-ranging medical, social and economic consequences. First gaining foothold among intravenous drug users and commercial sex workers, HIV quickly spreads to...
Review Article
Adolescent Health Education Programmes: Theoretical Principles in Design and Delivery
Over the past three decades, the patterns of health need in youth have changed. Psychosocial problems such as depression, substance abuse, eating disorders, sexually transmitted infections and unplanned pregnancy, accidental and intentional injury, including suicide, affect youth disproportionately and appear to be increasing.
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Review Article
Art and “the Language of Well-Being” in Adolescent Health Care
Creative processes involve imagining, making unexpected connections, maintaining discipline while letting go of controlling the outcome, opening oneself to pleasure, and moving beyond frustration. Creative activity parallels important strategies for mental and spiritual health—people who participate in well-designed creative processes report that it is powerfully restorative.
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Review Article
From Recreation to Creative Expression: The Essential Features of an Adolescent Inpatient Psychosocial Support Programme
In 1984, the Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) in Melbourne, Australia opened a new ward specifically for adolescent inpatients. This initiative was the result of many years of observation, patient survey, discussion and debate about the possibility of allowing teenagers to stay in a children’s hospital.
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Original Article
Adolescent Admissions to a Tertiary Paediatric Hospital: A Dynamic Pattern
The nature of paediatric practice is changing worldwide. In developing countries, infant mortality from infectious diseases continues to fall with improved immunisation, medical care and pharmaceutical advances. This has resulted in a corresponding rise in the number of adolescents, who now constitute 30% of the world’s population.
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Review Article
Clinical Assessment, Management and Outcomes of a Group of Adolescents Presenting with Complex Medico-psychosocial Conditions
Increased sensitivity to biological change can make adolescents particularly vulnerable to non-organic symptomatic disorders. A variety of pains, headaches, dizziness and fatigue may remain unexplained after medical assessment.
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Original Article
Adolescent Chronic Illness: A Qualitative Study of Psychosocial Adjustment
Chronic illness during adolescence can have significant psychological and social consequences within many life domains. Growing up with a chronic medical condition presents many challenges including dealing with the symptoms of illness, side effects of medications, altered body image, unpredictable disease progression, depression and anxiety.
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Review Article
Strategies to Promote Better Outcomes in Young People with Chronic Illnesses
The epidemiology of child health in the developed world is changing. Mortality from infectious diseases has fallen sharply over the past century due to public health measures, such as sanitation and immunisation, better housing and sweeping improvements in health care.
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Review Article
Adolescent Alcohol and Other Substance Use: Sharing the Australian Experience
The most common causes of morbidity in adolescence often have behavioural or social determinants, and can have enormous social and economic consequences for adolescent and future adult health and well being. Adolescent substance use and abuse is an example of this.
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Review Article
Sexually Transmitted Infections in Singapore Teenagers
Adolescence can be a difficult period for many individuals who have to navigate their way through complicated emotional, psychological, physical and social demands and changes. The transition from childhood to adulthood includes the formation of successful intimate relationships and avoidance of the pitfalls of sexually transmitted infections (STI), including...
Review Article
Eating Disorders in Singapore: A Review
Anorexia nervosa, bulimia and binge-eating disorder are the three best described ‘eating disorders’. All three are predominantly disorders of women with the core symptoms of shape/weight dissatisfaction and eating abnormalities. Anorexia nervosa is characterised by significant self-induced weight loss secondary to fear of fatness, amenorrhoea (cessation of menstruation for...
Review Article
Youth Suicide and Parasuicide in Singapore
The World Health Organization defines suicide as an act with a fatal outcome that is deliberately initiated and performed by the person himself or herself in the knowledge, or expectation, of its fatal outcome. Parasuicide or attempted suicide is distinguished from suicide by the non-fatal outcome.
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Original Article
Five-Year Review of Adolescent Mental Health Usage in Singapore
The past 20 years have seen much growth in the knowledge of child and adolescent psychiatric practice. Research has provided an improved understanding in almost every area, including epidemiology, classification and treatment.
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Others
The Perils of Puberty
Adolescence is a biopsychosocial maturational process, with the biological changes including completion of linear growth and sexual maturation (puberty), maturation of enzyme systems such as cytochrome P450 systems, accretion of peak bone mass, and the development of sexually dimorphic adult patterns in blood lipids, blood pressure, haemoglobin and red...
Editorial
Adolescent Health—A New Perspective in Singapore
In the past five decades, there have been significant advances in the fields of Paediatrics and Adult Medicine in Singapore. However, the bridging field of Adolescent Health has only recently been recognised to be an important specialty which has not received due emphasis in the medical curriculum for undergraduates,...
Others
MELAS: A Case Report
A 6-year-old Chinese boy presented at the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery clinic with gingival bleeding due to poor oral hygiene, odontogenic pain due to multiple dental caries, phenytoin-induced gingival hyperplasia and severely worn-down and eroded dentition. He is under regular follow-up by the Paediatrics Department of the National University...
Original Article
Oropharyngeal Carriage and Penicillin Resistance of Neisseria meningitidis in Primary School Children in Manisa, Turkey
Infections by Neisseria meningitidis are significant causes of mortality and morbidity in young children and adolescents. The epidemiology of serious meningococcal disease is an area of considerable interest, and many unanswered questions surround this organism and the types of diseases it causes.
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Original Article
Clinico-pathological Analysis of Myelodysplastic Syndromes According to French-American-British Classification and International Prognostic Scoring System
Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a heterogeneous group of acquired clonal haemopoietic stem cell disorders characterised by ineffective haematopoiesis and peripheral cytopenia. The natural history ranges from the indolent forms spanning years to those with rapid evolution to blast transformation.
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Others
Pulmonary Hypereosinophilia
Eosinophilic lung diseases encompass a heterogenous spectrum of lung disorders defined by increased eosinophils in blood and/or tissue. In 1952, Crofton et al proposed the term “pulmonary eosinophilia” for disorders characterised by chest radiographic infiltrates and peripheral eosinophilia.
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Others
An Unusual Cause of Pulmonary Haemorrhage in a Patient with Rheumatoid Arthritis
Strongyloides stercoralis is an intestinal nematode which causes a chronic but usually asymptomatic infection in humans. However, in immunocompromised patients, parasitic larvae can develop rapidly and re-invade the host.
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Others
A Case Report of Occupational Asthma due to Gluteraldehyde Exposure
Worldwide, asthma is estimated to affect between 5% and 10% of the population and, among adults, 4% to 9% of these cases have been attributed to an occupational cause. Yet, only 3 cases were reported and confirmed in Singapore in the year 2000 – an incidence of only 0.14/100,000...
Letter to the Editor
A Fatal Turkish Case of Campomelic Dysplasia
Paediatric Medicine (CD) is a rare form of congenital short-limbed dwarfism, classically characterised by campomelia (bowing of the long bones of the lower extremities) in association with a posterior cleft palate, flattened facies and hypoplastic scapulae. It was first fully and originally described by Spranger et al and Maroteaux...
Original Article
Familial Risk of Allergic Rhinitis and Atopic Dermatitis among Chinese Families in Singapore
Family history has been shown to be a risk factor for the development of allergic rhinitis (AR) and atopic dermatitis (AD). However, the increase in prevalence has also been attributed to the changes in lifestyle and urbanisation in developed countries.
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Commentary
The Haze and Health: A Blog About the Fog
The haze is an atmospheric phenomenon where pollutant particles accumulate in the air and obscure the normal clarity of the sky. In Singapore, this usually happens when the prevailing southwest monsoon winds blow the smoke from regional forest fires to Singapore.
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Others
Clinical Report: A Case of Williams Syndrome and Klinefelter Syndrome
Williams syndrome (WS) is a rare but well recognised neurodevelopmental disease affecting the connective tissue and the central nervous system. The syndrome was first described in 1961 and the phenotype was subsequently expanded in 1972.
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Others
Skin Manifestation of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia Infection – A Case Report and Review Article
Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is an aerobic gram-negative bacillus that is found in aquatic environments. It is a frequent coloniser of fluids used in the hospital setting, such as nebulisers, water baths, dialysis machines and intravenous fluids.
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Original Article
Gender Disparity in Paediatric Hospital Admissions
Gender difference in the incidence of childhood diseases has long been recognised. but the magnitude of this effect and consistency across many disease categories appears not to attract much attention or research interest. Gissler and colleagues, in a longitudinal follow-up of all children born in Finland in 1987, reported...
Original Article
Study of Inherited Metabolic Disorders in Singapore – 13 Years Experience
Inborn errors of metabolism (IEMs) described in the early 1900s by Garrod were due to a block in a metabolic pathway, arising from an enzyme deficiency which led directly to the disruption of cellular metabolism. However 40 years later, it was discovered that many inherited diseases were not due...
Original Article
Does Visual Turbidity Correlate With Serum Triglyceride Levels in Babies on Total Parenteral Nutrition?
Intravenous lipid infusion is commonly used as part of total parenteral nutrition (TPN) in newborn babies. Upon infusion, it forms an emulsion that resembles endogenously produced chylomicrons.
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Original Article
Corticosteroids are not Present in a Traditional Chinese Medicine Formulation for Atopic Dermatitis in Children
Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common, chronic inflammatory skin disease. It has been estimated that 15% of schoolchildren aged 13 to 14 years have a history of AD.
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Original Article
Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Paediatric Oncology Patients in Singapore
Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has been gaining acceptance throughout the world. The efficacy of CAM is unproven, yet it remains popular with the general public, with many of them utilising it for a whole spectrum of ailments.
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Original Article
The Epidemiology of Paediatric Intussusception in Singapore: 1997 to 2004
Intussusception (IS) is the most common cause of intestinal obstruction in infants and young children. The peak age of presentation is 4 to 8 months.
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Others
A Report of Two Families with Sarcosinaemia in Hong Kong and Revisiting the Pathogenetic Potential of Hypersarcosinaemia
Sarcosinaemia (OMIN 268900) is an autosomal recessive condition due to the deficiency of sarcosine dehydrogenase (E.C. 1.5.99.1). It is a rare condition with an estimated incidence of 1 in 350,000 in a newborn screening programme.
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Others
Neonatal Priapism Associated With Spontaneous Bilateral Pyocavernositis
Priapism is a pathological state of prolonged, generally painful erection, unassociated with sexual desire and not ending in ejaculation. Rare before the 1980s, this entity became more frequent after the introduction of vasoactive drugs for intracavernosal injections.
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Editorial
Paediatrics to Geriatrics: The Continuum
In many parts of Asia today, paediatricians are still grappling with the childhood problems of infectious diseases, diarrhoeal diseases and malnutrition. In Singapore, it was no different up to the mid 1980s.
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Commentary
SARS: How to Manage Future Outbreaks?
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is caused by a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV), which crossed from wild animals at live markets to man in mid-November 2002 in Guangdong, southern China. SARS was the first pandemic of the 21st century.
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Original Article
Radiographic Features of SARS in Paediatric Patients: A Review of Cases in Singapore
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a newly emerged atypical pneumonia caused by the SARS-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV). It is easily transmitted via droplet infection from close contact.
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Review Article
A Rotavirus Vaccine for Infants: The Asian Experience
Of all the enteric pathogens that infect young children, rotavirus is recognised as the leading cause of severe gastroenteritis worldwide. Rotavirus accounts for 20% of all diarrhoea-related deaths and global mortality among children less than 5 years of age is estimated at nearly half a million.
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Original Article
The Clinical Predictors of Hypertension and Sleepiness in an Asian Population with Sleep-disordered Breathing
Sleep physicians have only recently began to learn much about the epidemiology of sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) from large, well conducted prospective community-based studies. These studies have helped identify the risk factors for identifying sleep apnoea, particularly in the Western population.
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Editorial
Therapeutic Hypothermia for Neonatal Hypoxic-Ischaemic Encephalopathy
Hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE) is an important cause of death and later neurological disability in full-term neonates worldwide. Perinatal asphyxia causes about 19% of the over 5 million neonatal deaths worldwide annually.
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Others
Outcome of Organic Acidurias in China
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Others
Organising Services for IMD in Thailand: Twenty Years Experience
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Others
Newborn Screening in Pakistan – Lessons from a Hospital-based Congenital Hypothyroidism Screening Programme
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Others
Newborn Screening in Bangladesh
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Others
Newborn Screening in China: Phenylketonuria, Congenital Hypothyroidism and Expanded Screening
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Others
Minimising Harm from Newborn Screening Programmes
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Others
Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip: Universal or Selective Ultrasound Screening?
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Others
Financing Newborn Screening Systems: US Experience
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Others
Inborn Errors of Metabolism Presenting as Neonatal Encephalopathy: Practical Tips for Clinicians
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Others
Legal Issues in Neonatal Screening
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Others
Neuroblastoma Screening in Japan: Population-based Cohort Study and Future Aspects of Screening
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Others
External Quality Assurance Programme for Newborn Screening of Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase Deficiency
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Others
Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase Deficiency: Correlation between the Genotype, Biochemistry and Phenotype
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Others
Disorders of Vitamin B12 Metabolism Presenting Through Newborn Screening
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Others
Diagnosis of Tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) Responsive Mild Phenylketonuria in Japan over the Past 10 Years
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Others
Fatty Acid Oxidation Defects
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Others
Disorders of the Carnitine Cycle and Detection by Newborn Screening
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Others
Spectrum of Inherited Metabolic Disorders in Malaysia
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Others
Establishing a Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Programme
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Others
Current Understanding of Auditory Neuropathy
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Others
A Multidisciplinary Approach to Paediatric Hearing Loss: Programme at the Centre for Hearing Intervention and Language Development, National University Hospital, Singapore
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Others
Early Intervention For Hearing Impairment: Appropriate, Accessible and Affordable
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Others
Impact of the National Hearing Screening Programme in China
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Others
Outcome of Early Cochlear Implantation
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Others
Eliminating Iodine Deficiency: Obstacles and Their Removal
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Others
Neuro-developmental Deficits in Early-treated Congenital Hypothyroidism
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Others
Issues on Universal Screening for Galactosemia
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Others
Newborn Screening for all Identifiable Disorders with Tandem Mass Spectrometry is Cost Effective: The Negative Case
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Others
Newborn Screening for all Identifiable Disorders with Tandem Mass Spectrometry is Cost Effective: Supporting Arguments
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Others
My Early Experiences in Establishing Neonatal Screening and the Reason for Regional Meetings of the International Society for Neonatal Screening
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Others
Diagnosis and Management Support for an Expanded Newborn Screening Programme
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Others
Considerations in Choosing Screening Conditions: One (US) Approach
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Others
Clinical Applications of Molecular Genetics: The Model of Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia
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Others
Newborn Screening in Japan: Restructuring for the New Era
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Others
Improved Health and Development of Children who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing Following Early Intervention
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Others
Towards Universal Newborn Screening in Developing Countries: Obstacles and the Way Forward
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Others
Improving Child Health – Newborn Screening for All?
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Editorial
Neonatal Screening – A Global Perspective
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Letter to the Editor
Sarcoidosis with Granulomatous Hepatitis and Autoimmune Endocrine Involvement
Sarcoidosis is a systemic granulomatous disease of unknown aetiology. It emerges in the form of hiler adenopathy and interstitial pulmonary disease in most cases.
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Original Article
Prevalence of Refractive Error in Malay Primary School Children in Suburban Area of Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia
Refractive error remains one of the primary causes of visual impairment in children worldwide. Prevalence of visual impairment in children, is defined as uncorrected vision equal to or worse than 20/40, and it varies from as low as 2.72% in South Africa to as high as 15.8% in Chile.
This...
Letter to the Editor
Assessment of Medical Graduates Competencies
Medical professional proficiency comprises a set of skills, knowledge, and attitudes necessary to efficiently accomplish the practice of medicine. The major aim of undergraduate medical education in the region is to produce doctors who are competent and able to meet the health needs of the community while also being...
Commentary
When Words Really Matter
I think a lot these days about doctors giving advice. Nobody taught me, back in medical school, how to give advice.
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Review Article
Behavioural Sleep Disorders in Children and Adolescents
Overall, children spend one-third to one-half of their life sleeping. Although sleep comprises such a significant portion of a child’s day, sleep disturbances are often overlooked by healthcare practitioners.
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Review Article
Cardiovascular Changes in Children with Snoring and Obstructive Sleep Apnoea
Sleep disordered breathing (SDB) is a spectrum of diseases ranging from primary snoring to obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). A recent review suggested that the prevalence of childhood OSA diagnosed by varying criteria was 1% to 4%.
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Review Article
Obesity and Obstructive Sleep Apnoea Hypopnoea Syndrome in Singapore Children
Obesity is becoming a problem of epidemic proportions and is perhaps, the most pervasive medical problem faced by medical providers today. It is a problem affecting about 10% to 15% of our school-going population in Singapore, affecting disease burden in virtually every medical subspecialty.
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Review Article
Sleep Disorders in Children: The Singapore Perspective
Sleep problems are common in children. For example, snoring occurs in more than 25% of Singapore children1 and obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) occurs in 1% to 3% of children.
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Review Article
The Scope of Paediatric Sleep Medicine
Despite apparent similarities to adult sleep medicine, the disorders of paediatric sleep medicine have a distinct epidemiology and pathophysiology. During childhood, the physiology of sleep develops and matures, resulting in changing patterns of normal behaviours and of sleep disorders.
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Original Article
Sleep Disturbances in Singaporean Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common childhood psychiatric disorder with various studies reporting prevalence rates of between 1.7% and 16%. The most current version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Diseases (DSM), fourth edition, has 2 lists of behavioural symptoms grouped under “inattentive” and “hyperactive-impulsive” symptoms,...
Original Article
Inflammatory Cytokines and Childhood Obstructive Sleep Apnoea
Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is characterised by repeated episodes of upper airway occlusion during sleep that are associated with daytime behavioural changes and abnormalities in cardiovascular function. In adults, it has been shown that OSA is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular diseases.
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Original Article
Nasal Obstruction in Children with Sleep-disordered Breathing
Nasal breathing is critical in infants and children; for example, neonatal choanal atresia often leads to respiratory distress and may require urgent intervention in the newborn nursery. Later, during development in the first years of life, abnormal nasal breathing has important consequences for facial growth.
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Original Article
Obstructive Sleep Apnoea in Singapore: Polysomnography Data From a Tertiary Sleep Disorders Unit
Overnight attended polysomnography (PSG) in the sleep laboratory has been the gold standard to confirm the presence and severity of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). Standard PSG scoring rules using the criteria of Rechtschaffen and Kales have recently been revised and updated by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
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Original Article
Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy followed by Surgery in Locally Advanced Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Oesophagus: A Single Centre Experience
Carcinoma of the oesophagus is a relatively uncommon malignancy in Singapore and incidence rates have been declining since 1968. A total of 506 cases were diagnosed from 1993 to 1997. The age-standardised rate for the same period was 5.8 per 100,000.1 The predominant histologic type is squamous cell carcinoma,...
Original Article
Immunogenicity, Reactogenicity and Safety of a Diphtheria-Tetanus-Acellular Pertussis-Inactivated Polio and Haemophilus Influenzae Type b Combination Vaccine in a Placebo-controlled Rotavirus Vaccine Study
Singapore’s national immunisation programme for the 6 traditional Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) vaccines (i.e. BCG, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio and measles) and hepatitis B has been in place for many years and its success has been dramatic. Despite being previously endemic to Singapore in the 1950s, diphtheria has...
Images in Medicine
Transfusion-dependent Microcytic Anaemia in a 10-year-old Girl
A 10-year-girl from Bangladesh presented with a moderately severe anaemia (lowest recorded haemoglobin level of 5.6 g/dL) and a mild jaundice (latest serum bilirubin, 31 μmol/L) 3 years ago (Figs. 1 and 2). Test for haemoglobin electrophoresis on agarose gel did not reveal any abnormal bands.
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Images in Medicine
Caudal Regression Syndrome
A white female with an uncomplicated history of birth delivery and a familial history of diabetes mellitus presented to the orthopaedic clinic at the age of 16 months old with bowel dysfunction, inability to walk, one kidney, and a gibbus noted at T12. A “frog-like” appearance was noted of...
Others
3rd College of Paediatrics and Child Health Lecture – The Past, the Present and the Shape of Things to Come…
In the post-war days of the 1950s, Singapore children were faced with problems of malnutrition and infectious diseases. There was poverty, overcrowded housing and lack of hygiene, and the social conditions were apparently appalling.
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Others
Clinical Characteristics of Renal Infarction in an Asian Population
Renal infarction is a rare disease. Domanovits et al reported an incidence rate of 0.007% (17/248,842) during a study period of 45 months.
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Original Article
Auricular Anthropometry of Newborns at the Singapore General Hospital
Abnormalities of the external ear are described in many syndromes and genetic conditions. Melnick et al reported an incidence of 1 in 90 births for external ear malformations and branchial sinuses and tags, with about 1 in 670 births having malformations of the pinna.
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Others
Treatment of Cardiogenic Pulmonary Oedema by Helmet-delivered Non-invasive Pressure Support Ventilation in Children With Scorpion Sting Envenomation
Scorpion stings represent an important and serious public health problem worldwide due to their high incidence and potentially severe and often fatal clinical manifestations, especially among children. The severity of the envenomation is related to haemodynamic and cardiorespiratory alterations, with cardiac failure and cardiogenic pulmonary oedema being the major...
Original Article
Screening Tools for Bacteraemia in a Selected Population of Febrile Children
Bacteraemia refers to the presence of bacteria in the bloodstream. The presence or absence of toxicity differentiates occult bacteraemia, which is relatively asymptomatic, from bacteraemia and sepsis, which is accompanied by findings of serious systemic illness.
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Original Article
Review of the Management Outcome of Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis and the Role of Prophylactic Contra-lateral Pinning Re-examined
Slipped capital femoral epiphysis is the commonest hip problem in the adolescent age group. The goals of treatment are aimed at avoiding the complications of osteonecrosis and chondrolysis, preventing further slips, and promoting physeal closure.
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Original Article
Impact of the Singapore National Asthma Program (SNAP) on Preventor-Reliever Prescription Ratio in Polyclinics
According to the World Health Organization/Global Initiative on Asthma (WHO/GINA) report on the global burden of asthma, Singapore is an intermediate-risk country for asthma prevalence, which is about 5% of the population. But has one of the highest rates of asthma deaths in the world.
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Original Article
Application of the McDonald MRI Criteria in Multiple Sclerosis
Since its advent in 1982, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become an important component in the evaluation of multiple sclerosis (MS). MRI is a highly sensitive tool for MS, with 95% patients with clinically definite MS (CDMS) demonstrating brain abnormalities.1 However, MRI is also known to be low in...
Original Article
Extracranial Non-vestibular Head and Neck Schwannomas: A Ten-year Experience
Schwannomas, also known as neurilemmomas, neuromas, or neurinomas, are uncommon nerve sheath neoplasms that may originate from any peripheral, cranial or autonomic nerve of the body with the exception of the olfactory and optic nerve. Malignant change is unusual. Some 25% to 45%1 of schwannomas are located in the...
Images in Medicine
Paediatric perineal skin pit: More than skin deep?
A 2.5-year-old boy was referred to our clinic for abnormal genitalia and a febrile urinary tract infection (Escherichia coli >105 colony-forming units/mL). At birth, his parents were informed that he had a “bilobed scrotum and a deep perineal skin pit” that may pose hygiene and cosmetic issues. They had...
Letter to the Editor
Recurrent Group B Streptococcal Septicemia in a Very Low Birth Weight Infant with Infective Endocarditis and Submandibular Cellulitis
Maternal Group B streptococcal colonisation can lead to neonatal pneumonia, meningitis or sepsis. Neonatal Group B Streptococcal (GBS) sepsis is common, but infective endocarditis is rare.
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Original Article
T Lymphocyte Activation Profiles in Peripheral Blood of Long-Versus Short-Term Residents of Kuwait: Comparison with Asthmatics
The Gulf Wars of 1991 and 2003 exposed the residents of Kuwait and several neighbouring countries to high levels toxicants with the capacity to cause long-term deleterious alterations in the immune reactivity. The impact of these influences on the epidemiology and pathogenesis of chronic illness in affected populations is...
Original Article
Morbidity of Parainfluenza 3 Outbreak in Preterm Infants in a Neonatal Unit
Parainfluenza type 3 virus (PIV-3) is an important nosocomial pathogen. It closely mimics respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in its clinical presentations, and in infants. It is the second commonest cause of pneumonia and bronchiolitis after RSV.
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Editorial
Lung Cancer: Recent Advances
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer related mortality in the world. It accounts for almost a million deaths annually and resulted in more deaths than prostate, breast and colon cancers combined.
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Original Article
Difference in Asthma Control Test™ (ACT) Scores in Three Different Clinical Practice Settings
The prevalence of asthma ranges from 1% to 18% worldwide and it remains a significant cause of morbidity and economic burden despite advances in its knowledge, detection and treatment. Asthma is very common in Singapore and it consumes a considerable amount of healthcare service resources.
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Letter to the Editor
An Unexpected Outcome following Radial Head Excision for Jeffrey Type II Fracture-Dislocation of the Proximal Radius in a Child
We present a case of a 10-year-old child who sustained a traumatic fracture-dislocation of his proximal radius and subsequently underwent surgical removal of the radial head. At 3 years of follow-up, he had regained full painless flexion and extension with loss of pronosupination.
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Letter to the Editor
Temporary Tattoo Associated Type IV Delayed Hypersensitivity Dermatitis in a Child – A Case Report and Call for Parental Caution in Singapore
A 5-year-old, previously healthy French Caucasian boy was seen at a Paediatric Emergency Department for a skin rash over his left forearm.
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Images in Medicine
A Case of Congenital Haemolytic Anaemia and Thrombocytopenia
A 20-month-old boy came from Bangladesh to Singapore for medical consultation. He presented with progressive pallor, easy bruising, intermittent dark-coloured urine, and failure to thrive since birth.
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Images in Medicine
An Exanthem with An Annular Pattern in a 2-year-old Girl
A 2-year-old Chinese girl was seen in clinic with an erythematous annular itchy rash which began on the thighs and had spread to the trunk and hands. The parent’s concern was the rash’s duration and association with 2 episodes of fever.
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Original Article
Clinical Features Differentiating Biliary Atresia from Other Causes of Neonatal Cholestasis
Causes of neonatal cholestasis (NC) are long and diverse but the responses of newborn liver, either physiological or anatomical, are limited. This is because the ability of a developing liver of responding in the face of a variety of insults are limited.
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Original Article
Comparison of Clinical Outcomes and Cost Between Surgical and Transcatheter Device Closure of Atrial Septal Defects in Singapore Children
Congenital heart defects (CHD), with an incidence of approximately 1 in 100 live births, are the most important and frequent congenital malformations. It can cause significant morbidity and mortality in children as well as adults.
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Original Article
Clinical Features of Allergic Rhinitis and Skin Prick Test Analysis Based on the ARIA Classification: A Preliminary Study in Malaysia
Allergic rhinitis (AR) is a common disease worldwide and is known to cause serious implications to the physical and mental health status of the individual sufferer. It also impacts significantly on healthcare expenditure. For instance, the direct costs of allergic rhinitis in the United States (US) alone were approximately...
Letter to the Editor
Bannayan Riley Ruvalcaba Syndrome
Bannayan-Riley-Ruvalcaba syndrome (BRRS) classically presents with macrocephaly, subcutaneous and visceral lipomata, haemangiomata, hamartomatous intestinal polyps and pigmented macules involving the genitalia. This autosomal dominant disorder is linked to germline mutations of the phosphatase and tensine homologue gene (PTEN), a tumour suppressor gene which has a significant role in the...
Original Article
Acceptability of Medical Students by Patients from Private and Public Family Practices and Specialist Outpatient Clinics
In recent decades, medical advances and economic pressures have shifted medical student training from hospital inpatient to ambulatory settings such as hospital outpatient and primary care clinics. Most studies have found that patients are agreeable to seeing medical students and value the opportunity to interact with them.
This article is...
Images in Medicine
Dyke-Davidoff-Masson Syndrome
An 8-year-old boy presented with uncontrolled seizures. He was born as the second child to non-consanguineous parents. He had significant perinatal asphyxia in the newborn period. He had developmental delay since infancy and was noticed to have right-sided tonic clonic seizures since the age of 3 years, which was...
Letter to the Editor
Inadvertent Haemodialysis in a Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patient with Hypercalcaemia
Malaysia is a country with an intermediate burden of tuberculosis (TB) with a prevalence of 121 cases per 100,000 population per year. TB usually presents with fever, chronic cough, weight loss and lack of appetite, dypsnoea and night sweats.
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Review Article
Childhood Food Allergy: A Singaporean Perspective
Food allergy is defined as reaction to a food which has an immunologic mechanism. If immunoglobulin E (IgE) is involved in the reaction, the term IgE-mediated food allergy is appropriate.
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Original Article
Transcatheter Closure of Atrial Septal Defects – Is Balloon Sizing Still Necessary?
Device closure of atrial septal defects through the transcatheter approach has now been well accepted as an option to surgical treatment. A range of devices has been developed for use over the years, with significant advances achieved in terms of profile and safety.
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Original Article
Survey of Healthcare Workers’ Attitudes, Beliefs and Willingness to Receive the 2009 Pandemic Influenza A (H1N1) Vaccine and the Impact of Educational Campaigns
Since the first positive 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1) case was reported in Singapore on 26 May 2009, the country saw an exponential rise in numbers of infected cases despite initial containment followed by mitigation efforts. Local incidence for acute upper respiratory infections (which was a reasonable surrogate for...
Others
Sir John Wenman Crofton
Sir John Crofton, a world famous expert on the treatment of tuberculosis died in Edinburgh at the age of 97. John Crofton was born in Dublin in 1912, the son of a doctor. His earliest recollection was of hearing the bullets hitting the ceiling of his nursery in the...
Letter to the Editor
Reply from Author: Is It Time to Revise the Definition of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder?
We would like to thank the author for suggesting that the definition of ADHD should be revised. This is an important consideration in the light of some of the points raised such as frequent comorbidities that occur with ADHD as is the case of Autistic disorder and other conditions...
Letter to the Editor
Is It Time to Revise the Definition of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder?
I read with interest the article published in the Annals entitled “Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Coping or Curing?”, which concluded that coping rather than curing for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is taking place. There are some evidence-based points that should be noted.
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Original Article
Socio-demographic Profile and Psychiatric Comorbidity of Subjects with Pathological Gambling
Gambling has been defined as a wager of any type of item or possession of value upon a game or event of uncertain outcome in which chance, of a variable degree, determines the outcome. The failure to resist the impulse to gamble despite disruption to personal, family and vocational...
Original Article
Dedicated Cytogenetics Factor is Critical for Improving Karyotyping Results for Childhood Leukaemias – Experience in the National University Hospital, Singapore 1989-2006
Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) make up the bulk of childhood leukaemia cases. With risk stratified therapy being one of the cornerstones of the treatment of childhood leukaemia, it is important to determine the prognostic factors on which risk stratified therapy depends.
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Original Article
Epidemiological Surveillance and Control of Rubella in Singapore, 1991-2007
Rubella is a mild febrile viral exanthematous disease transmitted through droplets or direct contact with the nasopharyngeal secretion of an infected person. It is of public health importance because of the teratogenic effects of the virus on the developing fetus.
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Original Article
Emerging Trends in Breastfeeding Practices in Singaporean Chinese Women: Findings from a Population-based Study
The health benefits of breast milk have been well documented, with positive implications for infants’ metabolic, immunologic, respiratory and digestive health. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months and partial breastfeeding thereafter for at least 12 or 24 months....
Images in Medicine
Rapidly Vanishing Pulmonary Pseudotumour
A 51-year-old male ex-smoker with a history of pulmonary tuberculosis was referred for exertional dyspnoea for 5 days. He had no fever, cough or constitutional symptoms. Physical examination revealed stony dullness to percussion over the right lower thorax posteriorly.
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Images in Medicine
A Missed Bilateral Choanal Atresia
What do you see in the image?
a) Deviated posterior nasal septum
b) Nasopharyngeal tumour
c) Rhinolith with mucous plug
d) Bilateral choanal atresia
e) Nasal pyriform aperture stenosis
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Original Article
Health-related Quality of Life in Children with Cancer Undergoing Treatment: A First Look at the Singapore Experience
Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) has been progressively acknowledged as an essential health outcome measure in clinical trials and health services research and evaluation. HRQOL, compared to QOL, is a more defined conceptual term which encompasses only health-related aspects of life directly amenable to healthcare services and medical products.
This...
Original Article
Supplementary Breast Ultrasound Screening in Asian Women with Negative But Dense Mammograms—A Pilot Study
Mammogram has been the gold standard for breast cancer screening and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has been advocated for screening of high- risk individuals. However, there is currently no recommendation for supplementary ultrasound scan in breast cancer screening. Moreover, it is known that dense breasts, which are common in...
Original Article
Male Breast Cancer in Singapore: 15 Years of Experience at a Single Tertiary Institution
Male breast cancer is a rare disease entity, traditionally said to represent <1% of all diagnosed breast cancers. Recent statistics, however, suggest that its incidence may be on the rise, although the clinical significance of this is unknown. This rarity has precluded large randomised controlled trials, and most treatment...
Letter to the Editor
Plasma IP-10 could identify early lung disease in severe COVID-19 patients
Dear Editor,
The global pandemic of SARS-Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection has imposed tremendous strain on healthcare resources worldwide, as a significant proportion of patients require intensive care. Although the majority have mild infections, up to 20% are estimated to become critically ill from severe disease.1 Age, concurrent comorbidities, more severe...
Original Article
Outcomes of second-tier rapid response activations in a tertiary referral hospital: A prospective observational study
Despite its widespread adoption, rapid response systems (RRS) and rapid response teams (RRT) vary significantly in composition and set-up.1-3 While implementation of RRSs appear to be associated with reduced cardiac arrest rate and improved mortality,4,5 their optimal composition, activation criteria and how they should be evaluated, remain controversial.6-9 It...
Letter to the Editor
An Unusual Cause of Severe Pulmonary Hypertension in a Young Woman
Dear Editor,
A 25-year-old Cambodian lady diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension in her native country came for second opinion on the further management of her condition. She had become increasingly breathless in the last 2 years, with further deterioration from New York Heart Association (NYHA) II to III in the last...
Original Article
Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity in Chinese Preschoolers in Singapore
The increasing prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity and its associated adverse health outcomes have become an important health issue. Childhood obesity can persist into adulthood and increases the risk of cardiovascular metabolic diseases, giving rise to an increased healthcare burden. In Singapore, the prevalence of obesity for adults...
Review Article
Cognitive Aspect of Diagnostic Errors
It was an unusually busy ward round. The newly promoted registrar was keen to review the patients handed over to him. But there were constant distractions from the other
things he needed to attend to quickly. The patient, Madam Sumar was referred by her family doctor for chest pain with...
Original Article
Short- and Long-Term Outcomes at 2, 5 and 8 Years Old for Neonates at Borderline Viability—An 11-Year Experience
Singapore was listed consistently among the top 3 countries in the world with the lowest infant mortality rate. In particular, Asia had seen its infant mortality rate improve dramatically with time. Advances in perinatal care had however, failed to improve the survival of extremely low birth weight infants of...
Letter to the Editor
Prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency in Malaysian infants
Vitamin D deficiency, a worldwide health problem, is also prevalent in tropical countries. It is estimated that 15% of the world’s population are either vitamin D deficient or insufficient. In a study on the state of Kelantan in Malaysia (2010–2012), 60% of pregnant women were vitamin D deficient. Maternal...
Letter to the Editor
Impact of true fetal mosaicism on prenatal screening and diagnosis
Over the past decade, the non-invasive prenatal test (NIPT) has increasingly been used as a method for prenatal screening for trisomy 21 (T21) and other aneuploidies, complementing the traditional approach of first trimester screening (FTS). FTS comprises ultrasound of the nuchal thickness and blood test to measure the levels...
Original Article
Heterogeneity of non-cystic-fibrosis bronchiectasis in multiethnic Singapore: A prospective cohort study at a tertiary pulmonology centre
Bronchiectasis is a chronic lung disease of significant morbidity and mortality. The pathological hallmarks of the disease are abnormal dilatation of airways resulting from recurrent inflammation, airway obstruction and mucous plugging. The past 2 decades have seen a significant increase in its prevalence, exceeding the threshold of 5 per...
Letter to the Editor
Impact of pulmonary rehabilitation in patients with interstitial lung disease in Singapore
Interstitial lung diseases (ILD) encompass a heterogeneous group of lung parenchymal disorders. ILD-related symptoms impact significantly on quality of life (QoL). Dyspnoea is the most important factor determining health-related QoL in ILD; contributing factors include reduced exercise capacity, loss of mental well-being and social isolation.
This article has been updated...
Letter to the Editor
Radiological changes on chest CT following COVID-19 infection
COVID-19 infection is associated with high rates of hospitalisation and mortality, placing healthcare systems under strain. There are many reports regarding the non-contrast-enhanced high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) features of the lungs during the onset of COVID-19; however, few studies have described the radiological changes and outcome of residual lesions...
Original Article
Accuracy of self-reported height, weight and BMI in a multiethnic Asian population
Overweight and obesity continue to be one of the most critical public health issues worldwide. Body mass index (BMI) derived from height and weight has been directly linked to a number of debilitating diseases, including diabetes, heart disease and cancer, and has gained increased popularity as a measure of...
Letter to the Editor
Carbamazepine-induced toxic epidermal necrolysis in a patient despite testing negative for HLA B*15:02 allele
Carbamazepine (CBZ) has been used in Singapore since 19881 as an effective drug for the treatment of conditions such as epilepsy, neuropathy, neuralgia and psychiatric conditions. However, it is a high-risk drug for Stevens-Johnson syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis (SJS/TEN), particularly in Asians, and in 2004, a genetic marker human leukocyte...
Review Article
Endovenous cyanoacrylate ablation for chronic venous insufficiency and varicose veins among Asians
In the past 2 decades, the management of chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) has been revolutionised by the introduction of minimally invasive endovenous techniques, which have replaced open surgical high tie and stripping as the treatment of choice. CVI is common in the Western population and is reported to affect...
Editorial
The Novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) Pandemic
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic began in early December in Wuhan, the 7th most populous city in Mainland China, and was reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) on 31 December 2019. An outbreak of unknown aetiology was suspected because many early cases were linked...
Original Article
Assessing the Content Validity of the EQ-5D Questionnaire Among Asians in Singapore: A Qualitative Study
EQ-5D is a tool to measure and value health status. It is a standardised questionnaire that comprises 2 components: a Descriptive System (DS) on the first page and a hash-marked visual analogue scale (EQ-VAS) on the second page. Importantly, responses to the DS can be converted into a utility...
Review Article
Controversies in Sepsis Management—What is the Way Forward?
Sepsis is a common and life-threatening medical condition which has high incidence and mortality rates. Health care professionals are increasingly familiar with this syndrome, and the public is increasingly conscious of its burden to society. A population survey conducted in Singapore in 2010 showed that 53 out of 1067...
Original Article
Paediatric emergency department attendances during COVID-19 and SARS in Singapore
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 11 March 2020, with over 110 million cumulative cases worldwide to date and a case fatality rate of approximately 1%. In comparison, the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) had 8,422 cumulative...
Original Article
Epidemiology and risk stratification of minor head injuries in school-going children
Head injuries are common childhood injuries that present to paediatric emergency departments. Falls are the most common cause in young children, while contact sports and road traffic injuries are common causes in school-going children. Majority of paediatric head injury cases are mild traumatic brain injuries, defined as a Glasgow...
Original Article
Emergency airway management in a Singapore centre: A registry study
Emergency airways often present with little warning, and the need for airway management is necessary for a successful resuscitation. This is in contrast to most intubations performed in the operating room (OR). Additionally, difficult airways are more prevalent in emergency department (ED) populations due to acute conditions such as...
Original Article
Long-term outcomes of ischaemic stroke patients with diabetes in a multi-ethnic cohort in Singapore
Asia faces an epidemic of diabetes. The prevalence of diabetes in Asia is projected to grow from 114 million in 2007 to 180 million by 2025, driven in part by marked economic and epidemiologic transition in recent decades.1 In China, the prevalence of diabetes rose from 1% in 1980...
Original Article
Rapid Progression to Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome: Review of Current Understanding of Critical Illness from Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Infection
In this report, we describe a patient who developed acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) with rapid clinical deterioration. Unfortunately, not much is known about the clinical features and risk factors for ARDS and critical illness even as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to climb at an alarming rate...
Original Article
Perinatal Drug Abuse in KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital
In recent years, perinatal drug abuse has been emerging as an area of major concern for the perinatologists. Chasnoff found the prevalence of substance abuse in a pregnant population to be approximately 11% (range 0.4% to 27%) in a survey of 35 perinatal centres in the United States.
This article...