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Fulltext The strategies used by the school health team during the delivery of sexual health information to unmarried adolescents in Malaysia

Abdul Hamid SH, Fallon D

Belitung Nurs J, 2022;8(5):438-445.
PMID: 37554494 DOI: 10.33546/bnj.2223

BACKGROUND: Adolescents' sexual health is vital to overall health and well-being to achieve sustainable development goals. Yet, research on the strategies used by Malaysian school health teams regarding their experiences of providing sexual health information to adolescents is sparse.
OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to explore the experiences of school health teams in Malaysia who provide unmarried adolescents with sexual health information either during school health visits or at health clinics, with a particular interest in the strategies they use to educate these young people.
METHODS: This qualitative study used semi-structured interview data from twenty participants from four multidisciplinary school health teams. The participants included staff nurses, medical officers, and family medicine specialists. The transcripts were analysed for common themes.
RESULTS: Four main themes were identified: discourse on risk, being selective, using scare tactics and maintaining own honour. The findings indicate that the interactions between school health teams and unmarried adolescents were not always 'adolescent friendly'. The school health teams tended to use discourses of 'risk' or scare tactics to encourage abstinence in the adolescents they advised. Staff were also selective about the information they gave, prioritising notions of 'maintaining honour' over 'safer sex' messages.
CONCLUSION: This study revealed how school health teams perceived sexual health education to be about moral issues and social attitudes. Influenced by both culture and religion, the sexual health services provided were underpinned by a 'moral' approach and promoted abstinence. However, most of the nurses in this study held the belief that sexual health knowledge acts as an encouragement for sexual activity. Thus, as part of school health teams, nurses need to embrace evidence that improved sexual health education may delay sexual initiation and prevent unintended pregnancy and HIV/STDs.
Growth performance of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) in aquaponic systems with varying densities of Vietnamese coriander (Persicaria odorata)

Abdul Hamid SH, Sakinah Din WN, Lananan F, Endut A

Chemosphere, 2024 Sep;363:142998.
PMID: 39097110 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.142998

Mass cultivation of high-value aromatic herbs such as Vietnamese coriander and Persicaria odorata required specific soil, nutrients, and irrigation, mostly found in the limited natural wetland. This study aimed to evaluate the capacity of P. odorata at different densities in nutrient removal and the growth performance of African catfish, Clarias gariepinus in aquaponic systems. P. odorata was cultivated for 40 d with less than 10% water exchange. The effects of increasing crop densities, from zero plants for the control, 0.035 ± 0.003 kg/m2 in Treatment 1, 0.029 ± 0.002 kg/m2 in Treatment 2, and 0.021 ± 0.003 kg/m2 in Treatment 3, were tested on the growth performance of C. gariepinus with an initial density of 3.00 ± 0.50 kg/m3. The specific growth rate (SGR), daily growth rate of fish (DGRf), and survival rate (SR) of the C. gariepinus were monitored. Nutrient removal, daily growth rate of plant (DGRp), relative growth rate (RGR), and the sum of leaf number (Ʃn) of the P. odorata plant were also recorded. It was found that nutrient removal percentage significantly increased with the presence of P. odorata at different densities. The growth performance of C. gariepinus was also affected by P. odorata density in each treatment. However, no significant difference was observed in the DGRp and RGR of the P. odorata (p>0.05), except for Ʃn values. Treatment 1 had the highest Ʃn number compared to Treatment 2 and Treatment 3, showing a significant difference (p<0.05). This study demonstrates that the presence of P. odorata significantly contributes to lower nutrient concentrations, supporting the fundamental idea that plants improve water quality in aquaponic systems.
Treatment of African catfish, Clarias gariepinus wastewater utilizing phytoremediation of microalgae, Chlorella sp. with Aspergillus niger bio-harvesting

Nasir NM, Bakar NS, Lananan F, Abdul Hamid SH, Lam SS, Jusoh A

Bioresour Technol, 2015 Aug;190:492-8.
PMID: 25791330 DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2015.03.023

This study focuses on the evaluation of the performance of Chlorella sp. in removing nutrient in aquaculture wastewater and its correlation with the kinetic growth of Chlorella sp. The treatment was applied with various Chlorella sp. inoculation dosage ranging from 0% to 60% (v/v) of wastewater. The optimum inoculation dosage was recorded at 30% (v/v) with effluent concentration of ammonia and orthophosphate recording at 0.012mgL(-1) and 0.647mgL(-1), respectively on Day 11. The optimum dosage for bio-flocculation process was obtained at 30mgL(-1) of Aspergillus niger with a harvesting efficiency of 97%. This type of development of phytoremediation with continuous bio-harvesting could promote the use of sustainable green technology for effective wastewater treatment.
Physical profile and chemical composition of a novel fabricated Kaolina as alternative growing media in aquaponics

Abdul Hamid SH, Lananan F, Kasan NA, Yasmin Sayid Abdullah SH, Endut A

Chemosphere, 2022 Nov;307(Pt 4):136005.
PMID: 35973500 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.136005

The physical profile and chemical composition of growing media are vital in evaluating fish waste filtration efficiency and plant growth performance in aquaponics. The present study reported and compared the physical and chemical evaluation of the novel fabricated Kaolina, gravel, and commercially used lightweight expanded clay aggregate (LECA) as growing medias in aquaponics. Field emission scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (FESEM-EDX) was utilized to analyze the growing media's chemical composition and structural characterization. The resultant effect of these growing medias on water quality and the growth performance of Clarias gariepinus and Lactuca sativa were also reported. Kaolina exhibited an excellent physical profile (42.95 ± 1.39%) in water absorption capacity as compared to LECA (35.90 ± 1.28%) and gravel (1.97 ± 0.25%), showing a significant difference at p