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Biomedical subjects

H S Chang

Publications and source records attributed to H S Chang.

85 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

Genetics of cleft lip and cleft palate in China.

During the past 10 years, 60 cases of cleft lip with or without cleft palate [CL(P)] were recorded among 45,072 newborns at Shanghai International Peace Maternity and Infant Hospital, China. The incidence was 1.33 per 1,000 births. The family histories of 163 CL(P) patients were analyzed. The incidences of CL(P) in the first-, second-, and third-degree relatives of CL(P) patients were 11/246 (4.47%), 10/1,032 (0.97%), and 6/1,727 (0.35%), respectively. Of the 163 probands, three had a history of consanguinity of the parents (1.8%), in contrast to 0.77% in the general population. These data are suggestive of multifactorial inheritance. The heritability of CL(P) in our study calculated by Falconer's formula was 77.6%.

Adult↗

Female sexual arousal and the menstrual cycle.

Self-reports of sexual arousal were significantly affected by conditions under which they were elicited. Such self-reports in women not taking oral contraceptives were congruent with a hormonal basis for such arousal only when the women were "unaware" that the study investigated sexual arousal as a function of the menstrual cycle. The "unaware" condition was operationalized by means of daily self-reports elicited from males and females for 11 weeks under the guise of a study of biological rhythms. A composite of one to three menstrual cycles for 26 women not taking oral contraceptives showed that sexual arousal during the luteal phase, when progesterone is relatively high, was significantly lower compared to peaks around ovulation, and premenstrual and late menstrual days (p less than .02). For the "aware" condition, women were asked to remember moods for the premenstrual, menstruating and luteal phases of the very last cycle on which they had just finished giving "unaware" daily self-reports. A 2 x 3 analysis of variance (with "aware" versus "unaware" conditions and premenstrual, menstruating, and luteal phases of the last cycle as the two independent variables) yielded a significant interaction effect with F = 6.5, df = 2, 50, p less than .003. In the "unaware" condition, sexual arousal was reported lowest during the luteal phase. The opposite pattern was reported in the "aware" condition. The results suggest that cyclical variability may not be simply due to women's misattributions. However, "awareness" has an effect on self-report measures and may bias reports according to cultural stereotypes. Daily self-reports of sexual arousal for men were averaged over the duration of the study. This average was 3.16. The equivalent average for women not taking oral contraceptives was 2.35 and for women taking oral contraceptives was 2.62. Analysis of variance of these three means yielded a significant difference with F = 4.49, df = 2, 59, p less than .02.

Analysis of Variance↗

Detection of CSF flow in the ventriculo-Peritoneal shunt using MRI.

OBJECTIVE: A noninvasive test for shunt function would be beneficial in the management of patients with CSF shunting. We present our method to diagnose shunt function using MRI. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed two experiments. In the first we simultaneously performed MRI of two tubes, one with water flowing inside at various flow speeds and the other with static water inside, and compared the signal intensity inside each lumen. In the second we took four MR images of the actual shunt tubes in three patients at different states of shunt function, each having a tube containing static water pasted side by side with the actual subcutaneous shunt tube. RESULTS: In the first experiment we could detect the enhancement effect of slow flow. The minimal detectable flow speed using this method was approximately 1.7 ml/h. The result obtained in actual patients matched the clinical status of the shunt function. CONCLUSION: This method would be useful as a qualitative test for shunt function.

Adult↗

Guillain-Barré syndrome presenting with severe pain: report of one case.

Most neurologists are familiar with pain in Guillain-Barré syndrome but some pediatricians may still miss or underestimate it. We report a 10-year-old girl who presented with headache and numbness in lower extremities. On examination, she could walk and showed hyporeflexia, mild muscle weakness, prominent neck rigidity and right facial nerve palsy. Headache and pain in neck, low back and calves were so severe that she could not fall asleep and the response to analgesic was very poor. On 8th day of illness, she needed mechanical ventilation and suffered tetraplegia. Symptoms of autonomic dysfunction including hypertension and sinus tachycardia appeared thereafter and lasted for a week. After receiving a high dose of intravenous immunoglobulin (2 g/kg in 2 days), her condition improved gradually although joint pain persisted for about three weeks. She could walk unaided by day 40 and run by day 70, and recovered completely 6 months later. We emphasize that pain in GBS needs proper evaluation and management in children as well as in adults.

Child↗

Diagnostic value of arterial hematocrits in neonatal polycythemia.

In order to study the correlation among arterial, capillary and venous hematocrits, sixty newborn babies delivered in our hospital were chosen after receiving their parents' consents for hematocrits study within their first eight hours of life. The venous hematocrits of them (59.77 +/- 14.15%) correlate with arterial hematocrits (57.84 +/- 14.36%) very well (r = 0.95, p less than 0.001). Whereas, the venous and arterial hematocrits correlate with capillary hematocrits (66.63 +/- 15.56%) also significantly (r = 0.72, p less than 0.001 for both). Arterial hematocrits of more than 62% is proportionate to venous hematocrits of 64% and above. The relationship between arterial and venous hematocrits does not change even after we divide the subjects into those venous hematocrits above 64% and those below 64%. Furthermore, the capillary hematocrits of above 70% can be used as the criteria of polycythemia in the neonatal screening. If the capillary hematocrit is above 70%, then venous hematocrit should be checked for the confirmation of polycythemia.

Arteries↗

Clinical analysis of infants of diabetic mothers.

The clinical spectra of 82 infants of diabetic mothers (IDMs) encountered in the past 15 years are presented. The perinatal mortality rate was 6.1%, The observed morbidities of the 78 live-born IDMs were: large for gestational age, 35.9%; prematurity, 12.8%; small for gestational age, 12.8%; respiratory distress, 17.9%; low Apgar score, 6.4%; nerve injury, 2.6%; hypoglycemia, 10.3%; hyperbilirubinemia, 28.2%; polycythemia, 12.8%; hypocalcemia, 5.1%; hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, 3.8%. Furthermore, 15.9% (13/82) of these infants suffered from congenital malformation, a rate nearly 10 times higher than that of the general neonatal population born in this hospital. In comparing sugar control during organogenesis, the mothers who had malformed infants had significantly higher fasting plasma glucose level than the mothers who had normal infants (P less than 0.05). Since tight control of maternal diabetes is mandatory to reduce the prevalence of mortality and malformation of the IDMs, we suggest that there is an urgent need to improve health education and supervision before and during pregnancy in all diabetic women.

Adult↗