Zamzil Amin Asha'ari

The association between sleep apnea and young adults with hypertension

To study the association between sleep apnea and hypertension in a younger age group than previously studied, adding upper airway sizes at endoscopy as important compounding variables not often included in the past.

Ingestion of honey improves the symptoms of allergic rhinitis: evidence from a randomized placebo-controlled trial in the East coast of Peninsular Malaysia.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES The role of honey in the treatment of allergic rhinitis (AR) is controversial. We studied the complementary effect of ingestion of a high dose of honey, in addition to standard medications, on AR. DESIGN AND SETTINGS Prospective randomized placebo-controlled study. Subjects were recruited from an otolaryngology clinic in 2 tertiary referral centers in the East coast of Peninsular Malaysia. The study period ranged from April 2010-April 2011. METHODS Forty AR patients were divided equally into a case group and a control group. All the subjects received a daily dose of 10 mg of loratadine for 4 weeks. The case group ingested 1 g/kg body weight of honey daily in separate doses for the 4-week period. The control group ingested the same dose of honey-flavored corn syrup as placebo. AR symptoms were scored at the start, week 4, and week 8 of the study. RESULTS There were no significant differences between the mean total symptom score of the case and the control groups at the start of the study. At week 4, both groups showed progressive improvement in the symptoms; at week 8, only the case group showed a continuous improvement in the symptom score. Only the group that ingested honey showed a significant improvement in individual AR symptoms. The improvement persisted for a month after the cessation of the treatment. CONCLUSION Honey ingestion at a high dose improves the overall and individual symptoms of AR, and it could serve as a complementary therapy for AR.

Contrecoup injury in patients with traumatic temporal bone fracture.

OBJECTIVE To study the prevalence and patterns of contrecoup injury in traumatic temporal bone fracture cases. METHOD A prospective, cohort study was undertaken of all patients with traumatic head injury admitted to a tertiary referral hospital in Malaysia within an 18-month period. High resolution computed tomography scans of the brain and skull base were performed in indicated cases, based on clinical findings and Glasgow coma score. Patients with a one-sided temporal bone fracture were selected and subsequent magnetic resonance imaging performed in all cases. Contrecoup injury incidence, type, severity and outcome were recorded. RESULTS Of 1579 head injury cases, 81 (5.1 per cent) met the inclusion criteria and were enrolled in the study. Temporal bone fractures were significantly associated with intracranial injuries (p < 0.001). The incidence of a contrecoup injury in cases with temporal bone fracture was 13.6 per cent. Contrecoup injury was significantly associated with petrous temporal bone fracture (p < 0.01). The commonest contrecoup injury was cerebral contusion, followed by extradural haematoma and subdural haematoma. CONCLUSION Contrecoup injury is not uncommon in cases of temporal bone fracture, and is significantly associated with petrous temporal bone fracture.

The yield of flexible airway endoscopy in infants and children with severe airway problems under a physician–surgeon combined-care setting: Our experience from 121 procedures

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