Browse publications by year: 2019

  1. Kusmiati M, Hamid NAA, Sanip S, Emilia O
    Med Sci Educ, 2019 Dec;29(4):935-940.
    PMID: 34457569 DOI: 10.1007/s40670-019-00774-6
    Background: A preceptor has a key role in evaluating medical graduate's performance in the clinical setting. This study is conducted to develop an instrument for preceptor evaluation of medical graduates' performance in the clinical setting.

    Method: A mixed-method study design, sequential exploratory approach was chosen to develop the instrument. Initial semi-structured interviews were conducted with 4 preceptors at the teaching hospitals. Five main themes emerged from the interviews. The themes were developed into a 23-item questionnaire. Nineteen Head or Assistant Head of clinical departments were asked to review the relevance of the content. The questionnaire was later sent out to 34 preceptors and 35 paramedic staffs to participate in the construct validity study by conducting exploratory factor analysis (EFA). SPSS version 21 software was used to analyze the data and Varimax rotation method was performed to simplify and describe the data structure.

    Result: Review of the factor structures suggested that the most appropriate fit was 5 factors. Most of the questionnaire items were relevant to assess performance (4.65 + 0.15), except in item 4 of the clinical skill factor. The 23 items of the evaluation instruments showed that five factors were extracted which explained 73.9% of the variance between them. Construct validity was achieved after the instrument was run for an iteration of eight times, with Cronbach's alpha of 0.951.

    Discussion: The instrument has achieved the desired content and construct validity score. It can be used by other institutions to assess their medical graduates' performance in the clinical setting.

  2. Er HM, Nadarajah VD, Hays RB, Yusoff N, Loh KLY
    Med Sci Educ, 2019 Dec;29(4):1103-1108.
    PMID: 34457589 DOI: 10.1007/s40670-019-00802-5
    Challenges in assessment implementation include assessment blueprinting, accuracy and timeliness of result processing, item analysis and personalised feedback. These challenges were addressed by an online assessment system (OAS) that translates the educational framework of outcome-based education (OBE) into an integrated platform applicable across academic programmes. OBE principles of transparency, measurability, relevance, and individualisation was feasibly addressed using technology. The system development required continuous stakeholder engagement and feedback. Its implementation involved change management at institutional level with shifts in procedures, responsibilities, staff competencies and resource allocation. This article describes approaches taken and the lessons learned in developing and implementing OAS to enhance assessment practice for medical science programmes.
  3. Islam KT, Wijewickrema S, Raj RG, O'Leary S
    J Imaging, 2019 Apr 03;5(4).
    PMID: 34460482 DOI: 10.3390/jimaging5040044
    Street sign identification is an important problem in applications such as autonomous vehicle navigation and aids for individuals with vision impairments. It can be especially useful in instances where navigation techniques such as global positioning system (GPS) are not available. In this paper, we present a method of detection and interpretation of Malaysian street signs using image processing and machine learning techniques. First, we eliminate the background from an image to segment the region of interest (i.e., the street sign). Then, we extract the text from the segmented image and classify it. Finally, we present the identified text to the user as a voice notification. We also show through experimental results that the system performs well in real-time with a high level of accuracy. To this end, we use a database of Malaysian street sign images captured through an on-board camera.
  4. Sulaiman A, Omar K, Nasrudin MF
    J Imaging, 2019 Apr 12;5(4).
    PMID: 34460486 DOI: 10.3390/jimaging5040048
    In this era of digitization, most hardcopy documents are being transformed into digital formats. In the process of transformation, large quantities of documents are stored and preserved through electronic scanning. These documents are available from various sources such as ancient documentation, old legal records, medical reports, music scores, palm leaf, and reports on security-related issues. In particular, ancient and historical documents are hard to read due to their degradation in terms of low contrast and existence of corrupted artefacts. In recent times, degraded document binarization has been studied widely and several approaches were developed to deal with issues and challenges in document binarization. In this paper, a comprehensive review is conducted on the issues and challenges faced during the image binarization process, followed by insights on various methods used for image binarization. This paper also discusses the advanced methods used for the enhancement of degraded documents that improves the quality of documents during the binarization process. Further discussions are made on the effectiveness and robustness of existing methods, and there is still a scope to develop a hybrid approach that can deal with degraded document binarization more effectively.
  5. Benjamin EJ, Muntner P, Alonso A, Bittencourt MS, Callaway CW, Carson AP, et al.
    Circulation, 2019 03 05;139(10):e56-e528.
    PMID: 30700139 DOI: 10.1161/CIR.0000000000000659
    MeSH terms: American Heart Association; Cholesterol/blood; Heart Diseases/complications; Heart Diseases/epidemiology; Heart Diseases/pathology*; Humans; Hypertension/complications; Hypertension/epidemiology; Hypertension/pathology; Metabolic Diseases/complications; Metabolic Diseases/epidemiology; Metabolic Diseases/pathology; Nutritional Status; Obesity/complications; Obesity/epidemiology; Obesity/pathology; Quality of Health Care; Risk Factors; Smoking; United States/epidemiology; Stroke/complications; Stroke/epidemiology; Stroke/pathology*; Venous Thromboembolism/complications; Venous Thromboembolism/epidemiology; Venous Thromboembolism/pathology
  6. Suzy Rini Gindi, Koh, Chen Chung, Chua, Sebastian Phin Lun, Ling, Hii Siew
    MyJurnal
    The purpose of this study was to develop a food product from the peel of an under utilised native fruit, Baccaurea angulata, known locally as Belimbing Hutan. The peel of Baccaurea angulata fruit makes up more than 60 % of the fruit and is a significant source of food waste having potential to be explored. As such, the present study was the first to explore the feasibility of producing a food product from the peel. Using conventional jam making technology, the peel of Baccaurea angulata was used as the principal ingredient besides sugar and pectin to develop a jam product. The physicochemical properties and nutritional composition of the jam were determined by the Association of Analytical Chemists (AOAC) official methods of analyses with slight modifications as written in methods section. The nutrition composition included moisture content, protein, fat and ash. Carbohydrate was calculated by subtracting the sum of protein, fat, moisture, ash and crude fibre from 100%. Vitamin C was determined by Iodometric titration. Physicochemical properties such as pH, total soluble solid (TSS) and titratable acidity (TA) were also determined. The jam product has an acidic pH which is 2.82. The other results of the study indicated that jam produced from Baccaurea angulata had similar properties as other well-known fruit jams. The results showed that Baccaurea angulata jam was rich in carbohydrate (69.85 %) and supplied 279.84 kcal of energy.
  7. Norhasmillah Abu Hassan, Chieng, Hui Jun, Abdul Fattah Ab Razak, Mohd Sabri Mohd Afandi, Mastura Sani, Mohd Zahid Abidin
    MyJurnal
    Dabai is one of the indigenous seasonal fruits that can be found in Sarawak. The nutrient-rich dabai has tremendous application in food product development including formulating dabai into cake mixture as its nutrients affect the quality of the cake produced. The aim of this study is to determine the physicochemical properties, microbiological and sensory characteristics of dabai cake. Physicochemical properties including proximate analyses as well as macro mineral analyses were conducted according to the standard methods. From the analyses, the moisture content ranges from 29.94±0.40% to 33.49±0.50%, ash content 1.44±0.12% to 1.49±0.02%, protein content 7.15±0.38% to 9.28±0.29%, and fat content 14.67±0.76% to 18.83±1.04%. In addition, it is also found that the amount of mineral including Na, K, Ca, Mg, Fe and Zn increased proportionally with dabai content in the formulation. Furthermore, the microbial loads of dabai cake were either none or too few to count throughout the duration of 35 days stored in chiller within 4°C to 9°C. In terms of general acceptability, the cake was that incorporated with 10 g of dabai is the most preferred with the mean score of 6.90. From this study, it is found that the production of dabai cake contains acceptable amount of nutrients with no significant differences of sensory attributes and can be stored up to 35 days in chiller.
  8. Farah Wahida Ayob, Jamaludin Mohamad, Khanom Simarani
    MyJurnal
    Four endophytic fungi have been tested for antioxidant properties using different assays; DPPH radicalscavenging activity, ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and ferrous ion chelating activity (FCA). The test of polyphenolic content also has been done for both total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC). There was no result on the half maximal concentration (IC50) for both DPPH and FCA assays for all fungi. However, through FRAP assays the results were ranged from 0.336±0.01 to 0.477±0.11 mmol Fe2+/g extract where N. sphaerica had the highest result. This fungus also showed the highest results on TPC and TFC, which were 0.030±0.000 (mg GAE/g) and 0.038±0.001 (mg QE/g) respectively.
  9. Ahmad Fadli Saad, Liyana Shuib
    MyJurnal
    This study aims to report a study on organization practices related to the process of existing evaluation and selection of e-Learning software. Initially, questionnaires were distributed to 250 experts who had been contacted via email or through walk-ins. However, only fifty experts which were categorized into decision makers, academicians/researchers and technical experts participated to fill the questionnaire. The results obtained from this study showed that the e-Learning software evaluation is a complex task as it requires many processes, evaluation criteria, and suitable evaluation techniques. The existing software evaluation criteria are insufficient to evaluate various e-Learning software products. This is due to the general characteristic of the criteria that can be used to evaluate any software. The outcome of this study provides organizations and e-Learning practitioners with information on existing practices when organization evaluates and select e-Learning software in their organizations. It can be used as a guideline for their e-Learning planning and implementation by organization Not least, it also gives the opportunity for the academicians/researchers to undertake a future study based on the existing e-Learning software evaluation and selection problems obtained.
  10. Rosdi Koter, Mohd Zaki Hamzah, Nor Aini Abd Shukor, Hazandy Abdul Hamid, Wan Rasidah Kadir, Mohd Zaki Isa
    MyJurnal
    Macaranga tanarius distribution has been identified in a study conducted by almost all states in Peninsular Malaysia. Assessment on the distribution of M. tanarius was based on the records available and type specimens housed in three different herbarium namely the Kepong Herbarium (KEP) in Forest Research Institute Malaysia, the herbarium in the Faculty of Forestry in Universiti Putra Malaysia and the Herbarium Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. While field surveys were carried out from July 2012 until October 2013. There are 128 specimens were assessed from the three herbaria which made in the year of 1925 to 2005. Field surveys showed that M. tanarius can be found from the state of Perlis in the north, to the state of Johor in the south. From the observation, M. tanarius is a commonly found species along the highways and the road sides, whether as single individuals or as mono-stands. It can be seen growing together with other pioneer species of shrubs or trees. The study also shows the growing pioneer species in disturbed habitats and the creation of new space to meet before the displacement process other quality species grows in the forest opening. This study is first surveys involving M.tanarius species including the entire state in peninsular Malaysia. It is intended for the collection and distribution -related service information management for the study of phenology of collecting seeds to be planting material.
  11. Ling, Jen Hua, Tang, Howe Sheng, Wen, Kam Leong, How, Teck Sia
    MyJurnal
    This paper presents an experimental study to investigate the effects of circular transverse opening in the reinforced concrete beam. Understanding its behaviour would allow such beams to be safely used, particularly for the passage of pipes and ducting. A total of eleven beams with a cross-sectional area of 150 mm x 300 mm and a clear span of 1500 mm were tested under four-point load setup until failure. This comprised two beams without opening as the control beams, six beams with an opening (50 mm, 75 mm and 100 mm in diameter) positioned at the mid-span and near to the support, and three beams with the reinforcement at the opening. The effects of the opening size, the position of the opening and different reinforcing methods on beam performance were studied. The beam failed with severe cracking surrounding the opening. The test results showed that the opening affected the ultimate strength and ductility of the beam. For the beam without reinforcement at the opening to maintain 80% strength, the opening size should not exceed 0.25 times the beam’s height. The diagonal bar reinforcing method was found effective in reinforcing the opening not exceeding 1/3 of beam height.
  12. Ting, Huong Yong, Tang, Kimberly Wen Wen
    MyJurnal
    Image processing techniques have been widely used as a non-destructive method to determine the maturity of agriculture products. In the past few decades, numerous fruit maturity grading systems have been proposed and developed. However, there is no system or technique is reported to determine the maturity for Sarawak’s brinjal. Therefore, in this research, a colour image processing-based method is proposed in order to determine the maturity of Sarawak’s brinjal based on the skin colour. Ripe Sarawak’s brinjal has yellow or orange colour skin while unripe Sarawak’s brinjal has green colour skin. The proposed method consists of four main phases which are image acquisition, image pre-processing, features extraction, and classification. CIELAB colour model is used in this proposed method. The RGB value extracted from the image is converted into CIELAB colour space in order to obtain the CIELAB value. The maturity of the Sarawak’s brinjal is determined based on the colour difference between the fruit and the reference colour. In the experiment, a total of 48 Sarawak’s brinjal sample with 24 sample for each grade (ripe and unripe) were prepared. 12 out of 24 samples from each grade were used for thresholding. From the experimental results, a total of 23 Sarawak’s brinjals were correctly classified out of 24 Sarawak’s brinjal sample, accounts for nearly 96% of accuracy.
  13. Norafida Bahari, Nik Azuan Nik Ismail, Jegan Thanabalan, Ahmad Sobri Muda
    MyJurnal
    In this article, we evaluate the effectiveness of Cone Beam Computed Tomography, through a case study, in assessing the complication of intracranial bleeding during an endovascular treatment of brain arteriovenous malformation when compared to Multislice-Detector Computed Tomography performed immediately after the procedure. The image quality of Cone Beam Computed Tomography has enough diagnostic value in differentiating between haemorrhage, embolic materials and the arteriovenous malformation nidus to facilitate physicians to decide for further management of the patient.
  14. Sarah Yaziz, Ahmad Sobri Muda, Wan Asyraf Wan Zaidi, Nik Azuan Nik Ismail
    MyJurnal
    Background : The clot burden score (CBS) is a scoring system used in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) to predict patient outcome and guide treatment decision. However, CBS is not routinely practiced in many institutions. This study aimed to investigate the feasibility of CBS as a relevant predictor of good clinical outcome in AIS cases.Methods: A retrospective data collection and review of AIS patients in a teaching hospital was done from June 2010 until June 2015. Patients were selected following the inclusion and exclusion criteria. These patients were followed up after 90 days of discharge. The Modified Rankin scale (mRS) was used to assess their outcome (functional status). Linear regression Spearman Rank correlation was performed between the CBS and mRS. The quality performance of the correlations was evaluated using Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves.Results: A total of 89 patients with AIS were analysed, 67.4% (n=60) male and 32.6% (n=29) female. Twenty-nine (29) patients (33.7%) had a CBS ≥6, 6 patients (6.7%) had CBS
  15. Bazli Md Yusoff, Ahmad Aizuddin Mohamad Jamali, Mohd Syafiek Abdul Haq Saifuddin, Mohd Shafie Abdullah, Abdul Rahman Izaini Ghani
    MyJurnal
    Dural arteriovenous fistulas (DAVFs) are abnormal connections between branches of the intracranial arteries and dural veins or sinuses. Advancements in the technique of endovascular embolization has made it the treatment of choice for DAVFs. The goal of treatment is to completely occlude the fistula orifice while maintaining the normal cerebral venous drainage. Depending on the site of the DAVF, endovascular treatment has its own challenges to the performing physician. In this case report, we will discuss complex anterior cranial fossa DAVFs, treatment approaches, and complications of the treatment.
  16. Mathan Raj, Shahizon Azura Mukari, Wan Asyraf Wan Zaidi, Ahmad Sobri Muda
    MyJurnal
    Objective: Clinically assessing the status of cerebral collaterals is thought to provide invaluable diagnostic and prognostic data in managing acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients. In this study we present a report, based on commonly used collateral grading system, assessing the correlation between the collateral status seen on CT angiography and patients’ functional outcome at Day 90 in our institution.Method: Patients presenting to the Emergency Department within 6 hours of onset of stroke from January 2010 until December 2014 were chosen for the study. CT angiography source images were retrospectively reviewed and given a “collateral score” (CS) by a radiologist who was blinded to the patient’s clinical information on presentation, as well as theclinical outcomes at 90 days. Patients’ mRS score at 90 days was obtained retrospectively and compared against the “collateral score”. Results: 87 patients were enrolled into this study, of which 60 (69%) were male and 27 (31%) were female with a mean age of 60.3 years. In this study, 56 (64.4%) patients had a collateral score (CS) ≥ 2 and 31 (35.6%) patients had a CS < 2. Out of 56 patientswho had a CS ≥ 2, 51 of them (91%) had good clinical outcome with a mRS ≤ 2. All the patients who had CS < 2 showed poor clinical outcome with a mRS > 2. The collateral score predicts accurately the clinical outcome with an area under the curve (ROC) of 0.75 (95% CI, 0.675-0.871, P=0.001). There is significant Spearman correlation between CS and the clinical outcome at Day 90, in patients with AIS during CTA analysis.Conclusion: Our data supports the potential use of CS analysis in predicting clinical outcome of patients with AIS. Nevertheless, further study on a larger scale is strongly suggested to verify the reliability and reproducibility of CS assessment in CTA analysis prior to reperfusion in AIS patients.
  17. Cheong, Kah Yein, Kong, Sieng Huat, Mohd. Ambar Yarmo
    MyJurnal
    A modified controlled chemical co-precipitation of alkaline aqueous ferrous and ferric salt solution at pH 8 with continuous addition of ammonia solution 25% under a degassed atmosphere was performed to synthesis magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles. Formation of magnetite nanoparticles was conducted by adjusting the ferric to ferrous ions in the ratio of 1:1, 1:2 and 2:1. Further investigation on the surfactant-coated magnetite nanoparticles by using 8% surfactant sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) was also studied. The synthesized magnetite nanoparticles were characterized by Transmission electron microscope (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffractometer (XRD). TEM results shows that magnetite nanoparticles which were synthesized with ferric/ferrous ratio 2:1 are in sphere shape and have the smallest particle size distribution range which is about 12-17 nm. The particles size distribution range of coated magnetite was decreased to 11-15 nm after coated with 8% surfactant SDS. XPS results indicated that the produced magnetite nanoparticles consisted of elemental iron and oxygen at 72.76% and 22.27% respectively. The phase and face-centered cubic structure of magnetite nanoparticle was also confirmed by XRD. Magnetite nanoparticle synthesized with ferric to ferrous ratio of 2:1 and coated with 8% surfactant SDS shows the best crystallinity among all samples with particle distribution size range from 11-15 nm.
  18. Lim, Yong Tat, Ling, Jen Hua
    MyJurnal
    This paper reviews the structural performances of reinforced concrete beams and slabs filled with lightweight materials to identify the research gaps in the area for future research development. Data is extracted from the research works done by different researchers. It was then recomputed to analyze the effects of concrete replacement regions, geometrical properties and spacing of lightweight materials on the ultimate strength of the structural elements. The lightweight materials were found to be more effective in reducing the weight of the slab without significantly affecting its strength as compared with the beam. The lightweight materials are recommended to have round corners, spaced out and positioned at the neutral axis or the compressive region for better strength performance so that the effective strength to weight ratio exceeds 1.0.
  19. Abdul Fattah Ab Razak, Ting Ung Hua, Mohd Syafiq Abdullah, Norhasmillah Abu Hassan
    MyJurnal
    In this study, the effect of soaking condition towards Mung bean Vigna radiata water absorption and Mung bean extracted crude protein were investigated. This research was conducted to fulfill the fundamental study on the development of Mung bean beverage. The factorial design was employed to investigate the effect of soaking condition by 3 factors, namely concentration of NaHCO3 (0.0%, 0.5% and 1.0%), temperature (30oC, 60oC and 90oC) and time (30 minutes, 60 minutes and 90 minutes), under 19 runs and 2 responses: water absorption (%) and crude protein (%). The data were then statistically analysed using Design Expert 7.0 software and results were generated under Anova table (p < 0.05), interaction model graph and cube view, to predict the optimum soaking condition which best suits the required responses. It was found that the combination of 90 minutes soaking time, 30oC of soaking temperature and 1.0% NaHCO3 concentration yielded the highest percentage of water absorption and crude protein.
  20. Lau, Poh Lin, Affam, Augustine Chioma
    MyJurnal
    Organophosphates (OPs) are insecticide used to replace the persistence organochlorines (OCs). OPs are the effective insecticide used to control pests to enhance crops productions. Due to the strong recalcitrant properties, OPs cannot totally be degraded by conventional wastewater treatment process and the effluent causes negative impacts to the environment. The effectiveness of the AOPs is relied on the strong radical namely hydroxyl radicals (•OH) which can convert the pollutants into less harmful products. Photocatalysis is one of the AOPs widely practiced in water treatment process. A good photocatalyst must able to promote the electron from its valance band to the conduction band and the prevent the photogenerated electrons from returning to its valance band. The electron generated was further reacted with oxygen to form peroxyl radicals, •O2-. The hole (h+) formed was then react with water molecule to form •OH. Titanium dioxide, TiO2 is well known photocatalyst which only can be activated under ultra-violet light. Visible light photocatalysts are in the current research trend as they are found to be an effective method to degrade contaminants in wastewater. Various type of dopants has been doped on the TiO2 with different method purposely to shift the absorption of light from the UV light region to visible light region. The purpose of this review is to present the studies on different preparation method of the modified TiO2 and application of the modified TiO2 in degrading different types of OP pesticides. Finally, the need for present and further research on OPs wastewater also briefly discussed.
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