RESULTS: Our results indicate that the SHELL markers can theoretically reduce the major losses due to dura contamination of tenera planting material. However, these markers cannot distinguish illegitimate tenera, which reduces the value of having bred elite tenera for commercial planting and in the breeding programme, where fruit form is of limited utility, and incorrect identity could lead to significant problems. We propose an optimised approach using SNPs for routine quality control.
CONCLUSIONS: Both dura and tenera contamination can be identified and removed at or before the nursery stage. An optimised legitimacy assay using SNP markers coupled with a suitable sampling scheme is now ready to be deployed as a standard control for seed production and breeding in oil palm. The same approach will also be an effective solution for other perennial crops, such as coconut and date palm.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted using self-administered questionnaires, recruiting 374 UTAR's students as the respondents by using convenience sampling method. Respondents were categorized as having good/poor level of knowledge and positive/negative attitude towards HPV vaccination.
RESULTS: Over half of the respondents were females (64.5%) and the majority were aged 20 years old and below (55.8%). Generally, 54.7% of the total respondents had a high level of knowledge towards HPV vaccine while 57.5% of the total respondents showed a negative attitude towards HPV vaccine. Female respondents aged 20 years old and below showed good knowledge (56.4%) and a more positive attitude (55.8%) towards HPV vaccine. Students from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS) exhibited higher knowledge (67.3%) and positive attitude (62.4%) as compared to the Faculty of Accountancy and Management (FAM) which showed only 32.7% of knowledge and 37.6% of positive attitude towards the HPV vaccination.
CONCLUSION: The majority of UTAR students possess good knowledge regarding HPV vaccination. Nonetheless, they demonstrated a negative attitude towards HPV vaccination, depicting the necessity to impart and further intensify the sense of health awareness among all students, especially among male students. The judicious use of social media apart from the conventional mass media should be an advantage as to enhance the practice of HPV vaccination among them and thereafter minimize the health and economic burdens of cervical cancer.
Subjects and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the Faculty of Medicine in Rabigh, King Abdul-Aziz University, Saudi Arabia. The study included 197 medical students from Rabigh and Jeddah branches of the university. The study employed a Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease Questionnaire which is derived from a self-administered validated GERD questionnaire (GerdQ).
Results: The prevalence of GERD symptoms was 25.9%. The most frequent symptoms were regurgitation and burning sensation. High BMI, family history, energy drinks and fried food were found to be statistically significant risk factors (p<0.05) by univariate analysis. However, the logistic regression for the prediction of GERD symptoms among medical students showed that only family history had a significant correlation (p<0.05).
Conclusion: GERD symptoms were common in medical students of King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia. Family history was found to be a significant predictor of GERD symptoms. Effective educational strategies for groups with significant risk factors of GERD need to be implemented.
METHODS: This was a cross sectional study conducted between 1 October 2016-30 April 2017 in three primary care clinics in the state of Selangor, Malaysia. All adults aged 18 years and above with hypertension for at least 6 months were recruited with a systematic random sampling of 1:2 ratio. The participants were assisted in the administration of the structured questionnaire, which included socio-demographic information, medical information and the Hypertension Self-Care Profile (HTN SCP) tool. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 20.0. Multiple linear regression was performed to determine the determinants for self-care.
RESULTS: The mean age of the participants was 59.5 (SD10.2) years old. There were more women (52.5%) and most were Malays (44.0%) follow by Chinese (34%) and Indians (21%). Majority (84.2%) had secondary or primary school level of education. A third (30.7%) had a family history of hypertension. The mean total HTN-SCP score was 124.2 (SD 22.8) out of 180. The significant determinants that influenced the HTN-SCP scores included being men (B-4.5, P-value0.008), Chinese ethnicity (B-14.7, P-value<0.001), primary level education/no formal school education level (B-15.7, P-value<0.001), secondary level education (B-9.2, P-value<0.001) and family history of hypertension (B 4.4, P-value 0.014).
CONCLUSIONS: The overall hypertension self-care profile among patients in this multi-ethnic country was moderate. Being men, Chinese, lower education level and without family history of hypertension were associated with lower hypertension self-care profile score. Healthcare intervention programmes to address self-care should target this group of patients.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 282 stroke patients who provided informed consent and were in follow-up at the Neurology Outpatient Department of Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The study employed a data-collection form that gathered information on sociodemographics, clinical treatment, outcome measures on MUSE, and medication-nonadherence reasons.
Results: The prevalence of poor medication understanding and use self-efficacy among stroke patients was 46.5%, of which 29.1% had poor "learning about medication" self-efficacy, while 36.2% lacked self-efficacy in taking medication. Beliefs about medicine (74.02%) was the commonest reason for medication nonadherence, followed by medication-management issues (44.8%). In the multivariate model, independent variables significantly associated with MUSE were health literacy (AOR 0.2, 95% CI 0.069-0.581; P=0.003), medication-management issues (AOR 0.073, 95% CI 0.020-0.266; P<0.001), multiple-medication issues (AOR 0.28, 95% CI 0.085-0.925; P=0.037), beliefs about medicine (AOR 0.131, 95% CI 0.032-0.542; P=0.005), and forgetfulness/convenience issues (AOR 0.173, 95% CI 0.050-0.600; P=0.006).
Conclusion: The relatively poor learning about medication and medication-taking self-efficacy in this study was highly associated with health literacy and modifiable behavioral issues related to nonadherence, such as medication management, beliefs about medicine, and forgetfulness/convenience. Further research ought to explore these underlying reasons using vigorous techniques to enhance medication understanding and use self-efficacy among stroke survivors to determine cause-effect relationships.