The study investigated the functional properties of HQYF (high-quality yam flour) from tubers of four dioscorea species. The tubers were processed into HQYF using two pretreatments (potassium metabisulphite: 0.28%, 15 min; blanching: 70°C, 15 min) and drying methods (cabinet: 60°C, 48 h; sun drying: 3 days). Significant differences (P < 0.05) were observed in pasting characteristics of flours a...

The most common symptoms of meningitis are headache and neck stiffness associated with fever, confusion or altered consciousness, vomiting, and photophobia or phonophobia. Sometimes, especially in small children, only nonspecific symptoms may be present, such as irritability and drowsiness. If a rash is present, it may indicate a particular cause of meningitis; for instance, meningitis caused b...

The efficacy of a topical anaesthetic formulation, EMLA 5% cream (Eutectic Mixture of Local Anaesthetics) in obtunding the pain produced by venepuncture, was determined in a double-blind randomized, cross-over study in 31 adult volunteers. Pain was registered on a 10-cm visual analogue scale. In each subject the mean pain score after treatment with EMLA was compared with that following placebo....

Port-wine stain (PWS) birthmarks are one class of benign congenital vascular malformation. Laser therapy is the most successful treatment modality of PWS. Unfortunately, this approach has limited efficacy, with only 10% of patients experiencing complete blanching of the PWS. To address this problem, several research groups have developed technologies and methods designed to study treatment outc...

Oral submucous fibrosis is a chronic, progressive, disabling and scarring disease that affects the entire oral cavity, sometimes the pharynx, and rarely the larynx which predominantly affects the people of southeast Asia. It is characterized by blanching and stiffness of the oral mucosa, which causes progressive limitation of mouth opening and intolerance/ burning sensation to hot and spicy foo...

Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (TTP) is a hypercoagulable state, in which platelets aggregate and clot in the microvasculature. The majority of cases can be linked to ADAMST13 deficiencies, a protein responsible for cleaving VonWillibrand’s Factor (vWF). Hypo functional ADAMST13 results in un-mitigated vWF activity, leading to excessive platelet aggregation. Increased clotting leads to dec...