Colour plays an important role in food especially in increasing the aesthetic value of food products. However, the increasing awareness on health implications of synthetic colourants has led to increased market for natural colourants. In this study, the retention of colourant from red beetroot powder in extruded rice flour containing 20% sago or tapioca starch was investigated. The moisture content of the rice flour-starch blends and 100% rice flour (control) was adjusted to 10% and the samples were extruded at 80ºC - 160ºC, with 120 rpm screw speed and 40 rpm feeder speed. The expansion, density, water absorption index (WAI), water solubility index (WSI), hardness, crispness, colour, and betanin content of the extrudates were measured. The results showed that rice flour-sago starch extrudates (RSE) and rice flour-tapioca starch extrudate (RTE) had better expansion compared to the control (100% rice flour) extrudate. The expansion of RTE was not significantly different from that of RSE and no significant difference was found in the densities of these two extrudates. Presence of sago or tapioca starch decreased the WAI and increased the WSI of the extrudates. The WAI of RSE, however, did not differ significantly from that of RTE. The hardness (18.37 kg) and crispness (126.55 kg.sec) of the control extrudate were higher than that of the RSE (16.97 kg, 110.07 kg.sec) and RTE (14.84 kg, 92.77 kg.sec). There was no significant difference between the redness values of the extrudates. However, retention of betanin in the extrudates was highest in RTE (36.06% retention), followed by RSE (34.14%) and lowest in the control extrudate (27.82%). Addition of tapioca starch or sago starch can help to improve the physical and textural properties of betanin coloured rice extrudates with tapioca starch giving higher betanin retention.
Solid-state fermentation (SSF), which is an excellent alternative for industrial enzyme production, entails the exploitation of cheap agro-industrial residues (low priced culture media). This paper delves into the cultivation of mould (GRAS Penicillium candium PCA 1/TT031) using wheat bran (WB) as the culture media. The parameters for crude enzymatic extraction of lipase production were optimized to achieve the highest possible lipase activity. An incubation period of 7 days (3.06 U/g WB), 2% of tributyrin (5.43 U/g WB), meat peptone equal to 2% (5.2 U/g WB), moisture content of 50% (v:w) (6.6 U/g WB), initial pH of 9.0( 8.6 U/g WB), inoculum size of 5×106 spore/g of WB (11.3 U/g WB), an incubation temperature of 20°C (13.6 U/g WB), and an extractant consisting of phosphate buffer pH 7.0 (14.7 U/g WB) were the conditions applied for this study.
The effects of propylene stored in pressurized spherical vessel were investigated using radiation & explosion modeling using PHAST 6.7 software in one of the refinery in Malaysia. The simulations were performed for various weather conditions with different leak scenarios in deterministic approach. Modeling approach was standard with current industry practice. Resulting events such as jet fire, vapor cloud explosion, boiling liquid evaporating vapor explosion effects shown in thermal radiation and overpressure towards targeted technical buildings. The effects of resulting jet fire flame length increase with release rate and explosion overpressure effects increase with degree of confinement and volume fraction respectively. The results were reviewed, interpreted against industry standard. The sensitivity cases show that, using lower inventory with moderate operating conditions will keep the consequence in acceptable region. This consequence analysis will form a basis for layout development, safety distance and fire zone segregation during conceptual design stage. Propylene storage conditions, layout arrangements and blast protections were recommended as part of preventive and mitigative measures.
Company A is a brownfield refinery that had been in service for over 25 years and has its own system to generate GOX for its needed utility usage. Noting of the hazards of GOX and in consideration of an aged refinery, this research is of the intent to evaluate the risk of GOX in the aspect of personnel and process safety; and to provide recommendation or mitigations planning with regards to Company A’s existing hardware through Bow Tie review. The analysis was done taking into consideration the data compiled as well as the inherited Process Safety Assessment (PSA) findings of Company A that served as secondary data to this research. It was observed that Company A personnel are well versed with the risk and hazards of GOX system and through the plant rejuvenation and material upgrade works, the hazards were mitigated to a lower risk within the risk matrix. The implementation and upgrade works had served to add more barriers to the left side of the bow tie as well as ensuring that the aged complex is well equipped with needed safeguarding strategies (from inherent safer design, passive & active safeguarding and procedural controls) to avoid the occurrence of potential oxygen fire or explosion incident.
The incident involving hydrogen release in industry has become a major concern since numerous incidents were observed to have occured over the years. This paper is designed to do the consequence modelling and analysis using PHAST Simulator for the release rate, potential fire and vulnerability to human by lethality versus probit simulated at 5 mm, 35 mm and 70 mm leak scenarios and three types of atmospheric stability at hydrogenation plant in Telok Panglima Garang. The simulation was carried out by inputting data of leak scenario, meteorological data, material data and process data related to the hydrogenation plant. The simulation results were analyzed and discussed on the discharge rate, dispersion concentration and effect of jet fire such as flame length, downwind distance and lethality for radiation intensity level of 4 kW/m2 , 12.5 kW/m2 and 37.5 kW/m2 . Based on the results, the discharge rate and radiation intensity are dependent on the leak sizes regardless of the different atmospheric conditions. However, the dispersion is dependent on both atmospheric stability and leak sizes. Lastly, the lethality and area of impact are simulated from the radiation intensity produced by the jet fire for each leak size. To conclude, adoption of PHAST software is vital for consequence modelling as this software is able to illustrate the outcomes of hazards due to loss of containment and with this will enable related personnel to respond effectively to any hazardous incidents. As a recommendation, hydrogen fixed gas detectors are proposed for installations at specific location after taking into account the smallest leak that may happen which is at 5 mm leak size.
Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) nowadays is an established risk assessment method used worldwide for the evaluation of risks on onshore plant and offshore facilities which associated with the major hazard installations. However, there are still many issues on QRA used. These include lack of consistency, complexity of the overall model structure, incorporation of new data, methodology and model analysis. Common problem observed for the onshore QRA methodology is conservatism of fire and explosion consequence results using DNV PhastRisk 6.7 software which is mainly contributed from the high release rate due to loss of containment. This paper presents an alternative way to predict the actual release rate for fire and explosion modelling which called limiting flowrate technique. This method has been applied for calculating risk in Onshore Gas Terminal (OGT) Plant. Adopting the limiting flowrate technique has provide more precise model towards real scenarios. Challenges facing during this research such as using the unmodified United Kingdom (UK) HSE hydrocarbon release database without integrate with the actual failure frequencies from the plant, the risk results tend to be much higher than actual experience. It should be noted that the development of improved onshore risk model has been used as an example for this research but many of the issues are equally applicable to offshore studies as well.
Today, more accidents reported in school, resulting not only minor injuries but also severe injuries such as fire in schools, mercury spills and falling from high places. The study was aimed at measuring the level of occupational safety and health practices in schools. The study was conducted at 205 schools in Kelantan, Malaysia. This study is a semi-quantitative study using observation method. Data collection is conducted based on Hazard Identification, Risk Assessment and Risk Control (HIRARC) Guidelines provided by the Department of Occupational Safety and Health, Malaysia. Hazard identification, risk assessment and risk control are determined using the HIRARC form. The findings were measured by determining the discrete data according to the number of low, medium and high-risk levels found. The study found that there were two dominant hazards namely physical hazard and ergonomic hazard. Therefore, the management should increase and improve classroom safety awareness to ensure safety and health of all occupants.
The study objective is to examine the effects of the identified attributes (i.e. employee characteristics and ergonomics) that influences the chronic back pain disabilities acquired and benefits awarded via the recognition of workplace relatedness. As these factors are considered in work- related chronic back pain, we hypothesized that the ascertainment of work relatedness would depend on employees’ workplace conditions (poor ergonomic practices) and innate personal conditions (excellent pre-existing medical health). Two set of data was collected from a registry owned by a social security organization in 2012. Factor analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the data. As predicted, workplace conditions and employees’ pre- existing medical health status mediated occupational back pain to develop disability and monetary benefit relationships. In conclusion, the results support the importance of obtaining workplace evidence and employees’ pre- existing medical health status that produces stronger relationship in terms of the amount of benefits to be given compared to the lesser effects on disability. Both models with different samples showed consistent SEM results. The proposed model would be applicable in the heterogenous Asian setting and that occupational back pain consensus is the key element in providing effective social security protection.
MeSH terms: Back Pain; Factor Analysis, Statistical; Disabled Persons; Health Status; Humans; Registries; Social Security; Workplace; Consensus
communication, full compliance and good behavior) as among the crucial elements required to be possessed by the principal employers in three sectors, namely manufacturing, public services and construction. In relation to this, this paper will describe the development and validation of instruments prior to the measurement of principal employers’ roles and responsibilities in the implementation of OSH. Three assessment tools were developed, namely the Benchmarking Interview, Questionnaire and Workplace Inspection. Fifteen companies were selected for the benchmarking interview, 50 employers conveniently selected for the survey interview (covering three sectors) and 90 employers selected for the workplace inspection (30 respondents for each sector). The development of benchmarking interview and workplace inspection scores are briefly discussed while the main focus is on the validation of the survey constructs (or items). The reliability check on 53 items representing four elements (i.e., Commitment, Communication, Compliance, Behaviour) of employers’ roles and responsibilities in the implementation of OSH showed that the Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient is more than 0.90 which indicates that the internal consistency is extremely reliable. It also indicates that the set of items in each element are closely related and well understood by the respondents. Validity check on the items based on the Rasch measurement infit and outfit mean square statistics and standardized z-score found that nine items had misfitting values and finally corrected for further analysis. This study had shown that a valid and reliable instruments are important in ensuring that accurate and precise findings are obtained in measuring the roles and responsibilities of principal employer in the implementation of OSH.
MeSH terms: Communication; Humans; Surveys and Questionnaires; Social Behavior; Reproducibility of Results; Workplace; Benchmarking; Educational Personnel
frequency of motorcycle accidents increases every year. In Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (SYABAS), a substantial number of motorcycle accidents occurred between the year 2009 and 2013. The increased number of accidents serves as a wake-up call to the company to come up with a behavioural-based safety system for commuting accident. The objective of this paper is to look into the effectiveness of behavioural-based system in a company. A total of one hundred and thirty (130) respondents participated in the data-collection session for this study. From this data-collection, along with accident data from the company, a number of criteria that contributes to commuting accidents in the company is obtained. At the end of this study, the behavioural-based safety system is applied, thus showing how its implementation assists in curbing the issue of commuting accidents in the company.
MeSH terms: Accidents; Motorcycles; Surveys and Questionnaires; Transportation
Workers who are exposed to high noise level were at risk of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). This crosssectional study was conducted to investigate the noise exposure level and hearing symptoms among workers exposed to noise in a teaching hospital. Utilising convenience sampling method, 20 laundry workers and 17 mechanical cutters were recruited into this study. Noise exposure levels were measured using noise dosimeter for 8 hours and information on hearing symptoms were gathered using a modified questionnaire adopted from the American Speech Language Hearing Association (ASHA). A significantly higher mean noise level (85±2 dB(A)) was reported among mechanical cutters as compared to laundry workers (80±3 dB(A)), p=0.001 although the former had shorter duration of noise exposure (20±3 hours per week vs. 28±12 hours per week). Fourteen (70%) laundry workers and six (35%) mechanical cutters had reported having hearing problem in noisy background. Higher proportion of laundry workers (n=8, 57%) had reported hearing symptoms compared to mechanical cutters (n=6, 43%) and longer work years was found to be significantly associated with hearing symptoms (p=0.049). There is a need of appropriate education and training on noise exposure, NIHL and hearing protection devices usage in the workplaces
MeSH terms: Cross-Sectional Studies; Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced; Hearing Tests; Hospitals, Teaching; Humans; Noise, Occupational; Surveys and Questionnaires; United States; American Speech-Language-Hearing Association; Workplace; Radiation Dosimeters
Malaysia has the highest road fatality risk (per 100,000 populations) compared to other ASEAN nations and more than 50% of the road accident fatalities involving motorcyclists. Hence, this becomes the leading cause of death among young people, aged 15–29 years. The most common cause of fatalities involving motorcyclist is the head injury., This present study aimed to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practice on helmet usage among secondary school students in Kuantan. A descriptive cross-sectional design (two months of data collection) was used in this study. Questionnaires were distributed to 200 participants from two schools in Kuantan. The main finding of this study suggests that common reason for the participants to wear a helmet is that ‘it can save a life’. Besides that, the poor practice regarding helmet usage was also found as only 4.5% of them wore the helmet all the time. However, the overall result showed that most of the participants have a good knowledge and positive attitude regarding utilization of helmet.
MeSH terms: Accidents; Adolescent; Adult; Cause of Death; Cross-Sectional Studies; Craniocerebral Trauma; Head Protective Devices; Humans; Malaysia; Surveys and Questionnaires; Students; Young Adult
The prevalence of Musculoskeletal Symptoms (MSS) rapidly increases and it is recognized as a significant health outcome in agricultural sector. Agricultural ergonomics risk factor is one of hazards constantly arising from all job task activities including awkward postures and heavy lifting. Job hazard analyses (JHA) were conducted to assess the exposure of ergonomics risk factors in Malaysia Pineapple Plantation. The analyses performed involved two steps. They were: 1) guidelines and manual book Malaysia Pineapple Plantation as references; and 2) conducting walkthrough observation based on checklist approaches at the plantation. The identified risk factors were prolonged exposure of standing, squatting, stooping and kneeling, highly repetitive motion on the lower limbs, deviation and twisting of wrist and lastly, heavy lifting. The analyses confirmed that the exposure to ergonomics risk factors in pineapple plantation is high. It would be desirable to reduce the risk factors by educating and training the pineapple workers to perform their task with strong consideration of occupational safety and health.
Air pollution in steel making operations effect to respiratory health. This study aimed to measure the dust exposure and evaluate the respiratory health among steel workers. A cross sectional study was conducted among 402 male workers. Respiratory symptoms using British Medical Research Council (BMRC) Questionnaire while lung function was measured The airborne dust [PM2.5, PM10, and Total Particulate Matter (TPM)] were monitored by Handheld 3016 Counter. All the parameters studied exceeded the limit of Malaysian guideline standard. Prevalence of chronic phlegm, chest of tightness, and shortness of breath were 35.8 %, 32.8 %, 23.4 %, and 22.4 %, respectively. significant differences between shortness of breath and work section (2=9.236, p=0.026) and %FEV1/FVC with work section [F (3, 3.98=3.194), p=0.025]. Smoking was associated with chronic cough (Adj OR =1.07, 95% CI: phlegm (Adj OR =1.05, 95% CI: 1.03 - 1.08), and shortness of breath (Adj OR = 1.05, 95% CI: 1.00 past respiratory illnesses was associated with chest tightness (Adj OR = 2.24, 95% CI: 1.04 - 4.84) and (Adj OR = 4.16, 95% CI: 1.92 - 9.92). Duration of employment was associated with FEV1 (β=-0.025, 0.020) while past respiratory illnesses was associated with %FEV1/FVC (β =-1.784, 95% CI: -3.017 workers are at risk of developing respiratory symptoms and lung function impairment.
MeSH terms: Air Pollution; Cough; Cross-Sectional Studies; Dust; Dyspnea; Employment; Humans; Lung Diseases; Male; Surveys and Questionnaires; Respiratory Function Tests; Respiratory System; Smoking; Steel; Prevalence; Biomedical Research; Particulate Matter
Background: The European System for Cardiac Operative Risk (EuroSCORE) II was developed in 2011 to replace the aging EUROScore for predicting in-house mortality after cardiac surgery. Our aim was to validate EuroSCORE II in Malaysian patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery at our Institute. Methods: A retrospective single-center study was performed. A database was created to include EuroSCORE II values and actual mortality of 1718 patients undergoing CABG surgery in Malaysia from 1st January to 31st December 2016. The goodness-of-fit of EuroSCORE II was determined by the Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test and discriminatory power with the areas under the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve (AUC). Results: Observed mortality rate was 4.66% (80 out of 1718 patients). The median EuroSCORE II value was 2.06% (Inter Quartile Range: 1.94%) (1st quartile: 1.45%, 3rd quartile: 3.39%). The AUC for EuroSCORE II was 0.7 (95% CI 0.640 - 0.759) indicating good discriminatory power. The Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test did not show significant difference between expected and observed mortality in accordance to the EuroSCORE II model (Chi-square = 13.758, p = 0.089) suggesting good calibration of the model in this population. Cross-tabulation analysis showed that there is slight overestimation of EuroSCORE II in low-risk groups (0-10%) and slight underestimation in high-risk groups (>20%). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that gender, age, total hospital stay, serum creatinine and critical pre-operative state are significant predictors of mortality post-CABG surgery. Conclusion: This study indicated that the EuroSCORE II is a good predictor of post-operative mortality in the context of Malaysian patients undergoing CABG surgery. Our study also showed that certain independent variables might possess higher weightage in predicting mortality among this patient group. Therefore, it is suggested that EuroSCORE II can be safely used for risk assessment while ideally, clinical consideration should be applied on an individual basis.
Foodborne diseases (FBD) can occur along the whole series of food production from the sources and processing until serving for consumers. Among the sources of food, meat is a major concern since it is come from animal origin where the pathogens might transmit to human and/or contaminate microbes from infected meat handlers to consumers at any time. Abattoir operators – managers and workers, and the authorities – Veterinary and Halal officers, play the key role in conversion of live food animals to healthy and edible halal meat and useful animal products fit for human consumption. Abattoir operators, abattoir operating procedures including animal handling and meat process need to abide the standard operating procedures (SOP) as guided by the authority for the safety of meat in meeting the requirements for public health. It is also to be in lines with the halal rules and regulations from the perspective of Islam so that to achieve halal food and products which are beneficial for both physical and spiritual. A number of researches have conducted in the prevalence of FBD but lack of prevention with combination of halal-compliance especially in ruminant abattoir areas. The researcher aims to do preliminary study for developing the required Operator Manual of Ruminant Abattoirs (OMRA) on prevention of FBD and also for halal compliance. This preliminary study will be looking into the process of ruminant abattoir by literature search if its premises, staffs, animal handling and the equipment used are in accordance with the halal compliance and prevention of FBD. From visiting two abattoirs and online data sources, gathering relevant information for ruminant abattoir and halal meat of Malaysia is done. Based on the preliminary findings, the three major accreditations of Malaysia which are MS1500:2009 guidelines of Department of Standards Malaysia, JAKIM (Jabatan Agama Kemajuan Islam Malaysia/ Department of Islamic Development Malaysia) 2008 & 2011 Malaysian halal meat protocols, and DVS (Department of Veterinary Services of Malaysia) code of veterinary practice 2012 respectively. They are compared and analyzed to get the required information for further developing OMRA for the benefits of meat industry, health ministry, global halal market authority and all consumers.
MeSH terms: Abattoirs; Accreditation; Animals; Foodborne Diseases; Humans; Islam; Malaysia; Meat; Public Health; Ruminants; Prevalence; Information Storage and Retrieval
The effects of radiation on man and his health had been noticed since the early years after the discovery of X-rays. These biological concerns were more commonly known as “radio-sensitiveness” in the early publications. Later, the term radiation protection was introduced to express the need for protective measures to be promoted, formulated, implemented, evaluated and sustained to reduce the biological effects associated with radiation exposure. The principles of radiation protection were then supported with the concepts of justification, ALARA and “Benefits against the risks”. But these could not ensure that the application of radiation protection has been optimized. Amidst the technological advancements associated with radiation based imaging modalities in healthcare for more than 120 years, those advancements have yet to be able reduce the impact of these modalities being a source of risks upon the more beneficial role as a
diagnostic tool. This paper reports a review on radiation protection from articles indexed in an online database. Considering that the titles of the articles contain the core subject matter that a publication carries, data were retrieved on those titles with the term “radiation protection”. Publications from 2008 to middle of November 2017 and aligned to Medicine and Health professions were included for further elaborations. The data were classified into four subject areas; education and training, administration and organization, practice and research. Discussions within each classification and their individual sub-classifications, supported by selected publications to the classification, highlight the importance of the particular subject area to the overall concept of radiation protection. Lessons learnt from the classifications could provide the necessary guidance on how one should adopt and adapt the concept of radiation protection holistically. The discussions that are presented are seen within the professional obligation in adhering to the principles of
radiation protection.
Tissue engineering (TE) research serves to overcome the major obstacles in organ transplantation. This paper summarizes the progress of TE in Malaysia. The online database of Elsevier’s SCOPUS was accessed. Publications related to TE from 1960 till 2017 were scrutinized. The results show an increasing trend in tissue engineering research and development in Malaysia. The search result identified and examined 264 original article publications. It is hoped that the outcomes of this study could serve as a point of reference for researchers on the status of TE research and development in Malaysia. The findings of this study could assist TE researchers in Malaysia to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and obstacles towards further enhancement in their activities. Consolidating, realigning and re-strategizing those initiatives should also be seen within the context of nurturing potential and budding researchers in TE.
Introduction: Training of all health personnel involved in paediatric care is a key determinant of successful outcome during paediatric emergencies. We aimed to identify the need for paediatric Mock Code Blue skills training among non-paediatricians in a pre-hospital setting through checklist assessment of their performance. Methods: A paediatric septic shock and cardiac arrest Mock Code Blue pre-hospital scenarios were presented for non-paediatricians during a National Clinical Skills Conference. Eight medical student assessors and four clinical facilitators were involved in this training. Participants were expected to be able to demonstrate the skills and teamwork necessary to managepaediatric emergencies according to the learning outcomes. Results: A total of 97 delegates participated in a facilitated paediatric Mock Code Blue for multidisciplinary groups of health personnel. Outcome measures showed a significant lack of communication and team work skills, and weakness in “closing the loop” as barriers to successful resuscitation. Conclusion: We recommend Mock Code Blue simulation training to be offered regularly to all groups of healthcare providers involved in paediatric and neonatal care while not overlooking the emphasis on non-technical skills.
Thalassaemia is a life-long illness that exists globally. The quality of life of adolescents with thalassaemia could differ based on the health policies of a specific region, existing levelof socio-economic development and the illness related variables. This study examines the relationship between socio-demographic and disease-related variables with the quality of life among adolescents with thalassaemia involving multiple treatment centers spread throughout various locations in Malaysia. Participants included 218 adolescents (male=108; female 112) with mean age of 13.86 (SD=2.40). They completed the questionnaire consisting of demographic information, illness-related variables, and Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 (PedsQL). The participants in this study was found to have higher total summary score (Mean = 69.64, SD = 14.03), psychosocial health (Mean = 70.23, SD = 14.91), emotional (Mean = 72.12, SD = 20.66), social (Mean = 79.82, SD = 17.37), and school (Mean = 58.69, SD = 16.77) functioning but with lower physical health (Mean = 68.50, SD = 17.22) as compared to previous study that was done in Kuala Lumpur. Findings also shows a significant positive correlation between level of education and frequency of hospitalization (r = .156, p < 0.05), frequency of transfusion (r = .152, p < 0.05), and physical health (r = .186, p < 0.01). An increase in the frequency of transfusion was found to significantly increase social functioning (r = .137, p < 0.05). Other significant correlations are discussed in addition to the quality of life experienced by patients with thalassaemia in different region of theworld.
MeSH terms: Adolescent; Blood Transfusion; Child; Educational Status; Female; Health Policy; Hospitalization; Humans; Malaysia; Male; Quality of Life; Surveys and Questionnaires; Schools; Thalassemia; Economic Development