Displaying publications 1 - 20 of 59 in total

Abstract:
Sort:
  1. Abu Taha A, Abu-Zaydeh AH, Ardah RA, Al-Jabi SW, Sweileh WM, Awang R, et al.
    Zoonoses Public Health, 2016 09;63(6):449-57.
    PMID: 26752329 DOI: 10.1111/zph.12249
    Antibiotics are considered to be among the most commonly sold drug classes in Palestine. Resistance to antibiotics has increased for reasons relating to the use and misuse of antibiotics. The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge, and attitudes regarding antibiotic use and awareness about resistance among adults visiting the emergency departments at hospitals in North Palestine. A self-administered cross-sectional questionnaire survey involving participants aged 18 or over was conducted from June 2012 to February 2013. Adults who visited the emergency departments at hospitals in North Palestine were included. Demographic characteristics, knowledge and attitudes towards antibiotic use were included in the questionnaire. Poor and good knowledge were defined as a total knowledge score of 0-7 and 8-15 of 15 questions, respectively. Attitude scores of 0-3 and 4-7 of 7 questions were considered poor and good, respectively. A total of 375 questionnaires were included in the study. A response rate of 83.3% was attained. About 55.0% of the participants had a good knowledge and 56.5% had a good attitude towards rational antibiotic use. A significant positive correlation was shown between participants' knowledge scores and participants' attitude scores towards antibiotic use (R = 0.344, P = 0.001. Participants with a high family income were more likely to be aware of appropriate antibiotic use than participants with a low family income (P-value <0.001). Participants with a higher educational level (university) had a good attitude towards rational antibiotic use than those with a lower education level (P-value <0.001). This study has documented important knowledge and attitude gaps in antibiotic use. These findings will help health policymakers in Palestine to implement intervention programmes to rationalize antibiotic use. Continuing medical education, professional development and training workshops for healthcare professionals regarding rational use of antibiotics and health risks associated with the spread of antibiotic resistance are needed. In addition, minimizing non-prescription use of antibiotics and increasing the public awareness about the health and economic hazards of antibiotic resistance are also required.
  2. Fathelrahman AI, Li L, Borland R, Yong HH, Omar M, Awang R, et al.
    Tob Induc Dis, 2013 Sep 18;11(1):20.
    PMID: 24330614 DOI: 10.1186/1617-9625-11-20
    BACKGROUND: We examined the impact of cigarette pack warning labels on interest in quitting and subsequent quit attempts among adult smokers in Malaysia and Thailand.

    METHODS: Two overlapping cohorts of adults who reported smoking factory- made cigarettes from Malaysia and Thailand were interviewed face-to-face (3189 were surveyed at baseline and 1781 re-contacted at Wave 2; 2361 current smokers were surveyed at Wave 2 and 1586 re-contacted at Wave 3). In Thailand at baseline, large text only warnings were assessed, while at Wave 2 new large graphic warnings were assessed. In Malaysia, during both waves small text only warnings were in effect. Reactions were used to predict interest in quitting, and to predict making quit attempts over the following inter-wave interval.

    RESULTS: Multivariate predictors of "interest in quitting" were comparable across countries, but predictors of quit attempts varied. In both countries, cognitive reactions to warnings (adjusted ORs; 1.57 & 1.69 for Malaysia at wave 1 and wave 2 respectively and 1.29 & 1.19 for Thailand at wave 1 and wave 2 respectively), forgoing a cigarette (except Wave 2 in Malaysia) (adjusted ORs; 1.77 for Malaysia at wave 1 and 1.54 & 2.32 for Thailand at wave 1 and wave 2 respectively), and baseline knowledge (except wave 2 in both countries) (adjusted ORs; 1.71 & 1.51 for Malaysia and Thailand respectively) were positively associated with interest in quitting at that wave. In Thailand only, "cognitive reactions to warnings" (adjusted ORs; 1.12 & 1.23 at wave 1 and wave 2 respectively), "forgoing a cigarette" (adjusted OR = 1.55 at wave 2 only) and "an interest in quitting" (adjusted ORs; 1.61 & 2.85 at wave 1 and wave 2 respectively) were positively associated with quit attempts over the following inter-wave interval. Salience was negatively associated with subsequent quit attempts in both Malaysia and Thailand, but at Wave 2 only (adjusted ORs; 0.89 & 0.88 for Malaysia and Thailand respectively).

    CONCLUSION: Warnings appear to have common mechanisms for influencing quitting regardless of warning strength. The larger and more informative Thai warnings were associated with higher levels of reactions predictive of quitting and stronger associations with subsequent quitting, demonstrating their greater potency.

  3. Yong HH, Borland R, Hammond D, Sirirassamee B, Ritthiphakdee B, Awang R, et al.
    Tob Control, 2008 Feb;17(1):46-52.
    PMID: 18218808 DOI: 10.1136/tc.2007.021964
    To examine the impact of tobacco advertising policy on adult smokers' awareness of tobacco promotion in two developing countries--Malaysia and Thailand.
  4. Elton-Marshall T, Xu SS, Meng G, Quah AC, Sansone GC, Feng G, et al.
    Tob Control, 2015 Nov;24 Suppl 4:iv6-13.
    PMID: 26420242 DOI: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2015-052616
    In 2009, China changed its health warnings on cigarette packs from side-only text warnings to two text-only warnings on 30% of the bottom of the front and back of the pack. Also in 2009, Malaysia changed from similar text warnings to pictorial health warnings consistent with Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Article 11 Guidelines.
  5. Awang R, Abd Rahman AF, Wan Abdullah WZA, Lajis R, Abdul Majid MI
    Med J Malaysia, 2003 Aug;58(3):375-9.
    PMID: 14750377
    This report describes inquiries relating to poisoning cases which were received by the National Poison Centre of Malaysia from the years 1996 to 2000. The study utilized data from the NPC report forms. Only data relating to patient contact with a poison or chemical were included in the analysis. The poison centre received an average of 186 poisoning inquiries per year. Doctors remained the highest group of caller to the poison centre throughout the five-year period. Nearly 50% of all inquiries was regarding pesticide poisoning and this trend remained constant during the five-year period. Overall, the findings showed that poisoning inquiries relating to patient care were lower than in Japan and the United States.
  6. Zyoud SH, Waring WS, Al-Jabi SW, Sweileh WM, Awang R
    Springerplus, 2016;5(1):1534.
    PMID: 27652107 DOI: 10.1186/s40064-016-3240-z
    BACKGROUND: Analysis of the most influential publications within paracetamol poisoning treatment can be helpful in recognizing main and novel treatment issues within the field of toxicology. The current study was performed to recognize and describe the most highly cited articles related to paracetamol poisoning treatment.
    METHODS: The 100 most highly cited articles in paracetamol poisoning treatment were identified from the Scopus database in November 2015. All eligible articles were read for basic information, including total number of citations, average citations per year, authors' names, journal name, impact factors, document types and countries of authors of publications.
    RESULTS: The median number of citations was 75 (interquartile range 56-137). These publications were published between 1974 and 2013. The average number of years since publication was 17.6 years, and 45 of the publications were from the 2000s. A significant, modest positive correlation was found between years since publication and the number of citations among the top 100 cited articles (r = 0.316; p = 0.001). A total of 55 journals published these 100 most cited articles. Nine documents were published in Clinical Toxicology, whereas eight documents were published in Annals of Emergency Medicine. Citations per year since publication for the top 100 most-cited articles ranged from 1.5 to 42.6 and had a mean of 8.5 citations per year and a median of 5.9 with an interquartile range of 3.75-10.35. In relation to the origin of the research publications, they were from 8 countries. The USA had the largest number of articles, 47, followed by the UK and Australia with 38 and nine articles respectively.
    CONCLUSIONS: This study is the first bibliometric assessment of the top 100 cited articles in toxicology literature. Interest in paracetamol poisoning as a serious clinical problem continues to grow. Research published in high-impact journals and from high income countries is most likely to be cited in published paracetamol research.
    KEYWORDS:Acetaminophen; Bibliometric; Citations; N-acetylcysteine; Paracetamol; Poisoning; Scopus
  7. Zyoud SH, Al-Jabi SW, Sweileh WM, Al-Khalil S, Alqub M, Awang R
    Springerplus, 2015;4:626.
    PMID: 26543761 DOI: 10.1186/s40064-015-1431-7
    Bibliometric studies, which involve the use of statistical methods, are increasingly being used for research assessment. A bibliometric analysis was conducted to evaluate the publication pattern of methaemoglobinaemia research output at the global level based on the Scopus database. We analysed selected documents with "methemoglobinemia", or "methaemoglobinaemia" as a part of the title and reported the following parameters: trends of publication output, country of publication, journal pattern, collaborative measures, citations pattern, and institute productivity. A total of 1770 articles were published worldwide. The time trend for the number of articles showed an increase after 2000. The highest number of articles related to methaemoglobinaemia was from the USA (24.8 %), followed distantly by the UK (4.5 %), India (3.7 %), and France (3.7 %). No data related to methaemoglobinaemia were published from 152 countries. The total number of citations at the date of data collection was 10,080, with an average of 5.7 citations per document. The USA and UK had the highest h-index of 31 and 14, respectively, and six countries had an h-index of 9-14. It is notable that Canada was ranked eighth in the number of publications but fourth in h-index and India was ranked third in the number of publications but eighth in h-index. Furthermore, Canada produced the most internationally collaborated papers out of the total number of publications for each country (16.1 %), followed by the UK (13.9 %). This bibliometric analysis provides data contributing to a better understanding of the methaemoglobinaemia research field. The number of publications on methaemoglobinaemia increased significantly after 2000. The USA was the most productive country as measured by total publications. The USA and UK achieved the highest h-index in the field of methaemoglobinaemia research, signifying a higher quality of research than other countries.
  8. Zyoud SH, Al-Jabi SW, Sweileh WM, Awang R
    SAGE Open Med, 2014;2:2050312114523424.
    PMID: 26770709 DOI: 10.1177/2050312114523424
    BACKGROUND: Bibliometric studies are increasingly being used for research assessments. Bibliometric indicators involve the application of statistical methods to scientific publications to obtain the bibliographics for each journal. The main objective of this study was to conduct a bibliometric evaluation of Human & Experimental Toxicology retrieved from the Scopus database.
    METHODS: This study obtained data from Scopus published from 1 January 2003 till 31 December 2012. The keywords entered in Scopus to accomplish the objective of this study were 'Human', 'Experimental' and 'Toxicology' as 'Source Title'. Research productivity was evaluated based on a methodology developed and used in other bibliometric studies by analysing (a) total and trends in Human & Experimental Toxicology contributions in research between 2003 and 2012; (b) Human & Experimental Toxicology authorship patterns and productivity; (c) collaboration patterns; and (d) the citations received by the publications.
    RESULTS: There were 1229 research articles published in Human & Experimental Toxicology. Of the articles included, 947 (77.1%) were original articles and 104 (8.5%) were review articles. The Hirsch-index of the retrieved documents was 35. The largest number of publications in Human & Experimental Toxicology was from the United States (19.6%), followed by India (12.8%) and Turkey (10.9%). The total number of citations was 9119, with a median (interquartile range) of 3 (1-9) in 6797 documents. The highest median (interquartile range) number of citations was 8 (2.7-12.7) for France, followed by 7.5 (2-22.5) for Iran and 6 (3-13.5) for the United Kingdom. The country most often citing articles that were published in Human & Experimental Toxicology was the United States, which made citations in 1508 documents, followed by India with citations in 792 documents.
    CONCLUSION: The documents in Human & Experimental Toxicology focus principally on original data, with very few review articles. Review articles tend to have higher citation rates than original articles, and hence, the editors and authors of Human & Experimental Toxicology might usefully promote the submission of reviews in the future to improve the impact of the journal.
    KEYWORDS: Bibliometric; Scopus; citations; human and experimental toxicology
  9. Fathelrahman AI, Awang R, Bashir AA, Taha IA, Ibrahim HM
    Pharm World Sci, 2008 Dec;30(6):759-63.
    PMID: 18704750 DOI: 10.1007/s11096-008-9245-0
    OBJECTIVE: The services of the Ministry of Health Drug Information Center--Khartoum State were evaluated by assessing users' satisfaction.

    METHOD: Four hundred and twenty-three subjects were recruited from center records using a systematic random sampling technique. Subjects who consented were interviewed by telephone using a specially designed semi-structured questionnaire. Descriptive as well as comparative analyses were carried out. Differences between groups were tested using the Chi-square test when applicable.

    RESULTS: The majority of users surveyed (89.6%) had called the center from within Khartoum State and 10.4% of users had called from other states. Of the enquiries, 36.1% were from pharmacists, 29.5% from physicians, and 22.3% from laypersons. The vast majority (93.1%) of respondents were educated to degree level or higher. Approximately one fifth, one half, and one third of the users surveyed had consulted the center >5 times, 2-5 times, and once, respectively. More than 90% of users rated the services provided as good to excellent and 94.7% declared their probable intention to continue utilizing the center in the future.

    CONCLUSION: The center succeeded in satisfying and retaining its users by providing an acceptable quality of service.

  10. Zyoud SH, Awang R, Sulaiman SA
    Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf, 2012 Feb;21(2):207-13.
    PMID: 21812068 DOI: 10.1002/pds.2218
    The present study examines the relationship between the dose of acetaminophen reported to have been ingested by patients and the occurrence of serum acetaminophen levels above the 'possible toxicity' line in patients presenting at the hospital after acetaminophen overdose. The prognostic value of patient-reported dosage cut-offs of 8, 10 and 12 g was determined.
  11. Zyoud SH, Awang R, Sulaiman SA, Al-Jabi SW
    Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf, 2011 Feb;20(2):203-8.
    PMID: 21254292 DOI: 10.1002/pds.2060
    Acetaminophen overdose may be accompanied by electrolyte disturbances. The basis for electrolyte change appears to be due to increased fractional urinary electrolyte excretion.
  12. Zyoud SH, Awang R, Sulaiman SA, Al-Jabi SW
    Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf, 2010 Oct;19(10):1064-70.
    PMID: 20712021 DOI: 10.1002/pds.1955
    To investigate the relationship between different types of adverse drug reaction (ADR) and late time to N-acetylcysteine (NAC) infusion in patients presenting to the hospital with acetaminophen overdose.
  13. Zyoud SH, Awang R, Sulaiman SA, Al-Jabi SW
    Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf, 2010 May;19(5):511-7.
    PMID: 20333776 DOI: 10.1002/pds.1940
    Acetaminophen poisoning is a common clinical problem, and early identification of patients with more severe poisoning is key to improving outcomes.
  14. Fathelrahman AI, Omar M, Awang R, Borland R, Fong GT, Hammond D, et al.
    Nicotine Tob Res, 2009 Mar;11(3):248-53.
    PMID: 19246625 DOI: 10.1093/ntr/ntn029
    This paper is concerned with the effects of cigarette pack warning labels on quitting intentions. We examined whether different responses among smokers toward cigarette pack warning labels could predict quit intentions and self-efficacy in quitting. Variables studied were "noticing warning labels during last month," "reading or looking closely at warning labels," "avoiding looking at labels during last month," "thinking about health risks of smoking because of the warning labels, "more likely to quit because of the warning labels," and "stopping from having a cigarette when about to smoke one because of the labels."
  15. Zawahir S, Omar M, Awang R, Yong HH, Borland R, Sirirassamee B, et al.
    Nicotine Tob Res, 2013 Feb;15(2):482-91.
    PMID: 22949569 DOI: 10.1093/ntr/nts161
    Finding ways to discourage adolescents from taking up smoking is important because those who begin smoking at an earlier age are more likely to become addicted and have greater difficulty in quitting. This article examined whether anti smoking messages and education could help to reduce smoking susceptibility among adolescents in two Southeast Asian countries and to explore the possible moderating effect of country and gender.
  16. Zyoud SH, Al-Jabi SW, Sweileh WM, Awang R, Waring WS
    J Occup Med Toxicol, 2015;10:17.
    PMID: 25949270 DOI: 10.1186/s12995-015-0062-9
    BACKGROUND: Methanol poisoning is on the rise and has been associated with high morbidity and mortality; it has resulted in growing research in the field of toxicology. The aim of this study was to reveal underlying patterns in scientific outputs related to methanol poisoning at the global level by evaluating different bibliometric indices.

    METHODS: We searched for publications that contained specific words regarding methanol poisoning in Scopus database.

    RESULTS: A total of 912 articles, with 8,317 citations and with an average of 9.1 citations per document, were retrieved on methanol poisoning, and the bulk of the articles were published from the USA (20.9%), followed by Spain (4.4%), Canada (4.3%), India (3.1%), and France (3.0%). The articles were published belonging to 57 countries. No data related to methanol poisoning were published from 155 (73.1%) out of 212 countries. Twenty-one documents (2.3%) were published in Clinical Toxicology, whereas 18 (2.0%) were published in The Lancet.

    CONCLUSIONS: Scientific production related to methanol poisoning is increasing. articles have been published in a wide range of journals with a variety of subject areas, most notably clinical toxicology; and the country with the greatest production was the USA.

  17. Zyoud SH, Al-Jabi SW, Sweileh WM, Al-Khalil S, Zyoud SH, Sawalha AF, et al.
    J Occup Med Toxicol, 2015;10:35.
    PMID: 26388930 DOI: 10.1186/s12995-015-0078-1
    BACKGROUND: Environmental and health-related effects of solid waste material are considered worldwide problems. The aim of this study was to assess the volume and impact of Arab scientific output published in journals indexed in the Science Citation Index (SCI) on solid waste.
    METHODS: We included all the documents within the SCI whose topic was solid waste from all previous years up to 31 December 2012. In this bibliometric analysis we sought to evaluate research that originated from Arab countries in the field of solid waste, as well as its relative growth rate, collaborative measures, productivity at the institutional level, and the most prolific journals.
    RESULTS: A total of 382 (2.35 % of the overall global research output in the field of solid waste) documents were retrieved from the Arab countries. The annual number of documents published in the past three decades (1982-2012) indicated that research productivity demonstrated a noticeable rise during the last decade. The highest number of articles associated with solid waste was that of Egypt (22.8 %), followed by Tunisia (19.6), and Jordan (13.4 %). the total number of citations over the analysed years at the date of data collection was 4,097, with an average of 10.7 citations per document. The h-index of the citing articles was 31. Environmental science was the most researched topic, represented by 175 (45.8 %) articles. Waste Management was the top active journal. The study recognized 139 (36.4 %) documents from collaborations with 25 non-Arab countries. Arab authors mainly collaborated with countries in Europe (22.5 %), especially France, followed by countries in the Americas (9.4 %), especially the USA. The most productive institution was the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, with 6.3 % of total publications.
    CONCLUSIONS: Despite the expected increase in solid waste production from Arab world, research activity about solid waste is still low. Governments must invest more in solid waste research to avoid future unexpected problems. Finally, since solid waste is a multidisciplinary science, research teams in engineering, health, toxicology, environment, geology and others must be formulated to produce research in solid waste from different scientific aspects.
    KEYWORDS: Arab world; Bibliometric; SCI; Solid waste
  18. Raja NS, Karunakaran R, Ngeow YF, Awang R
    J Med Microbiol, 2005 Sep;54(Pt 9):901-903.
    PMID: 16091445 DOI: 10.1099/jmm.0.46169-0
    Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) are formidable organisms renowned for their ability to cause infections with limited treatment options and their potential for transferring resistance genes to other Gram-positive bacteria. Usually associated with nosocomial infections, VRE are rarely reported as a cause of community-acquired infection. Presented here is a case of community-acquired infection due to vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium. The patient had been applying herbal leaves topically to his cheek to treat a buccal space abscess, resulting in a burn of the overlying skin. From pus aspirated via the skin a pure culture of E. faecium was grown that was resistant to vancomycin with a MIC of >256 microg ml-1 by the E test and resistant to teicoplanin by disc diffusion, consistent with the VanA phenotype. The organism was suspected of contaminating the leaf and infecting the patient via the burnt skin. This case highlights the need for further studies on the community prevalence of VRE among humans and animals to define unrecognized silent reservoirs for VRE, which may pose a threat to public health.
  19. Hassan NB, Hasanah CI, Foong K, Naing L, Awang R, Ismail SB, et al.
    J Hum Hypertens, 2006 Jan;20(1):23-9.
    PMID: 16177812 DOI: 10.1038/sj.jhh.1001930
    This cross-sectional study was aimed to identify the predictors of medication noncompliance in hypertensive patients. The study was conducted at the Family Medicine Clinic, Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kelantan, Malaysia, which is a university-based teaching hospital. All hypertensive patients aged 40 or over-registered from January to June 2004, who had been on treatment for at least 3 months, were screened. Previously validated self-administered questionnaires were used to assess the compliance and psychosocial factors. A total of 240 hypertensive patients were recruited in the study. Of these, 55.8% were noncompliant to medication. Logistic regression showed that age (adjusted odds ratio (OR): 0.96; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.92-0.997; P: 0.035), patient satisfaction (adjusted OR: 0.97; 95% CI: 0.93-0.998; P: 0.036) and medication barrier (adjusted OR: 0.95; 95% CI: 0.91-0.987; P: 0.009) were significant predictors of medication noncompliance. Therefore, younger age, poor patient satisfaction and medication barrier were identified as independent psychosocial predictors of medication noncompliant in hypertensive patients.
  20. Lee WB, Fong GT, Dewhirst T, Kennedy RD, Yong HH, Borland R, et al.
    J Health Commun, 2015;20(10):1166-76.
    PMID: 26054867 DOI: 10.1080/10810730.2015.1018565
    Antismoking mass media campaigns are known to be effective as part of comprehensive tobacco control programs in high-income countries, but such campaigns are relatively new in low- and middle-income countries and there is a need for strong evaluation studies from these regions. This study examines Malaysia's first national antismoking campaign, TAK NAK. The data are from the International Tobacco Control Malaysia Survey, which is an ongoing cohort survey of a nationally representative sample of adult smokers (18 years and older; N = 2,006). The outcome variable was quit intentions of adult smokers, and the authors assessed the extent to which quit intentions may have been strengthened by exposure to the antismoking campaign. The authors also tested whether the impact of the campaign on quit intentions was related to cognitive mechanisms (increasing thoughts about the harm of smoking), affective mechanisms (increasing fear from the campaign), and perceived social norms (increasing perceived social disapproval about smoking). Mediational regression analyses revealed that thoughts about the harm of smoking, fear arousal, and social norms against smoking mediated the relation between TAK NAK impact and quit intentions. Effective campaigns should prompt smokers to engage in both cognitive and affective processes and encourage consideration of social norms about smoking in their society.
Filters
Contact Us

Please provide feedback to Administrator (afdal@afpm.org.my)

External Links