A hospital-based surveillance of rotavirus gastroenteritis in children <5 years of age in Singapore.

Background: In Singapore, 2 rotavirus vaccines were licensed in October 2005 and July 2007, respectively, for vaccinating infants aged ≥ 6 weeks against rotavirus gastroenteritis. These vaccines are optional and are not included in the National Childhood Immunization Program. This study aimed to determine the incidence of rotavirus gastroenteritis-associated hospitalizations among children <5 years of age.

Paediatric inflammatory bowel disease in a multiracial Asian country.

Introduction: This study examined the characteristics and trends in the incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) among children in Singapore.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed all patients under 18 years diagnosed with IBD over a 14-year period. Information on demographics, disease presentation, laboratory findings, radiological investigations, and endoscopic and histological findings were obtained from the patients' medical records.

An update of paediatric intussusception incidence in Singapore: 1997-2007, 11 years of intussusception surveillance.

Introduction: Understanding baseline epidemiology of intussusception (IS) in different geographical settings is important for the safety assessment of rotavirus vaccines. This paper presents IS surveillance data from Singapore between 1997 and 2007, including the period between November 2005 and December 2007 when rotavirus vaccines (primarily Rotarix) were available to newborns in Singapore.

Materials And Methods: Case ascertainment, collection, analyses and presentation of IS data was done as per recommendations of the Brighton Collaboration Working Group.

Fibro-C-Index: comprehensive, morphology-based quantification of liver fibrosis using second harmonic generation and two-photon microscopy.

We develop a standardized, fully automated, quantification system for liver fibrosis assessment using second harmonic generation microscopy and a morphology-based quantification algorithm. Liver fibrosis is associated with an abnormal increase in collagen as a result of chronic liver diseases. Histopathological scoring is the most commonly used method for liver fibrosis assessment, where a liver biopsy is stained and scored by experienced pathologists.

Nonlinear optical microscopy: use of second harmonic generation and two-photon microscopy for automated quantitative liver fibrosis studies.

Liver fibrosis is associated with an abnormal increase in an extracellular matrix in chronic liver diseases. Quantitative characterization of fibrillar collagen in intact tissue is essential for both fibrosis studies and clinical applications. Commonly used methods, histological staining followed by either semiquantitative or computerized image analysis, have limited sensitivity, accuracy, and operator-dependent variations.

Crigler-Najjar syndrome type 2.

Crigler-Najjar syndrome is a rare disorder of bilirubin metabolism with two distinct forms: type 1 and type 2. We report three patients with Crigler-Najjar syndrome type 2 (CN-2). All patients had serum bilirubin values higher than 171 micromol/L and deep yellow skin color.

Significance of low or normal serum gamma glutamyl transferase level in infants with idiopathic neonatal hepatitis.

Introduction: We evaluated the significance of low/normal serum gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT) level in infants with idiopathic neonatal hepatitis (INH).

Materials And Methods: A retrospective review of the hospital records of 103 infants less than 3 months of age who were diagnosed with INH between August 1991 and November 2000 was performed. Variables including age at which jaundice was noticed, age at presentation, perinatal risk factors, family history of liver disease, parental consanguinity, initial ultrasound scan, liver biopsy, laboratory values at the first visit, the peak levels of total bilirubin, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), GGT and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) in the first 3 months of follow-up and interval for normalisation of serum bilirubin and AST were compared between infants presenting with low/normal GGT (100 U/L).

UCH-L1 aggresome formation in response to proteasome impairment indicates a role in inclusion formation in Parkinson's disease.

Aggresomes are associated with many neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson's disease, and polyglutamine disorders such as Huntington's disease. These inclusions commonly contain ubiquitylated proteins. The stage at which these proteins are ubiquitylated remains unclear.

Human homologue of ariadne promotes the ubiquitylation of translation initiation factor 4E homologous protein, 4EHP.

Human homologue of Drosophila ariadne (HHARI) is a RING-IBR-RING domain protein identified through its ability to bind the human ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme, UbcH7. We now demonstrate that HHARI also interacts with the eukaryotic mRNA cap binding protein, translation initiation factor 4E homologous protein (4EHP), via the N-terminal RING1 finger of HHARI. HHARI, 4EHP and UbcH7 do not form a stable heterotrimeric complex as 4EHP cannot immunoprecipitate UbcH7 even in the presence of HHARI.

Inhibition of proteasomal activity causes inclusion formation in neuronal and non-neuronal cells overexpressing Parkin.

Association between protein inclusions and neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, and polyglutamine disorders, has been widely documented. Although ubiquitin is conjugated to many of these aggregated proteins, the 26S proteasome does not efficiently degrade them. Mutations in the ubiquitin-protein ligase Parkin are associated with autosomal recessive juvenile Parkinsonism.