Featured Issue: Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences Vol.20 No.4

In 2012, Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences celebrated its 25th year as a journal. Bioline International would like to extend its congratulations on this important milestone! To read more about the history of the Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences, you can read the editorial from vol.20 no.4 here.

Vol.20 no.4 has recently been updated on Bioline. It includes "Drug Utilisation Review of Potassium Chloride Injection Formulations Available in a Private Hospital in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia" by Hirman & Sarriff. This article discusses a study done at a private hospital in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia, on how different potassium chloride formulations affect the clinical characteristics of patients, and the effectiveness and safety of pre-mixed formulations used to correct hypokalaemia, in which there is a low concentration of potassium in the blood.
The study observed 296 cases, in which 135 cases received concentrated potassium chloride and 161 cases received pre-mixed formulations.
The results showed that there was greater adverse effect in patients who received pre-mixed formulations than those who received concentrated potassium chloride.

Another article in vol.20 no.4, "Clinical Comparison of One Recovered Case and One Fatal Case of Human Infection with H7N9 Avian Influenza in Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center in China" by Zheng et al., looks at how the H7N9 avian influenza has affected people in Shanghai as of April 2013. Two patients, admitted to the Shanghai Public Health Clinic Center at the beginning of April 2013 with the same estimated date of onset of disease, were examined. One patient recovered by April 18 2013 but the other patient died on April 11 2013. The paper examines the practices and characteristics of the hospital in order to learn more about the influenza.

For the complete results of this study and other articles from this issue, you can find Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences vol.20 no.4 here.