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Fulltext A study of psychophysical factor (heart rate) for driver fatigue using regression model

Mohammad Firdaus, A., Mohamad, M., Ruzy Haryati, H., Kalthom Husain, Seri Rahayu, K.

Malaysian Journal of Public Health Medicine, 2018;18(102):1-9.
MyJurnal

Driving activity has become more important as this medium being practical, it is also cheaper and faster in
connecting human from one to another place. However, in some occurrence, it can cause accidents as they become
fatigued while driving. Driver fatigue is one of the top contributors to the road accidents and can be dangerous as
other road safety issues such as drink driving. Worst is, there are no laws regulating driver fatigue. Therefore, the
main purpose of this study is to develop the regression model of apsychophysical factor for drivers’ fatigue which can
predict the relationship between the process input parameters and output responses. The study was participated by
ten subjects. The heart rate was taken and recorded using heart rate monitor. Design Expert 8.0.6 software was used
for the regression analysis. The modeling validation runs werewithin the 90% prediction intervals of the developed
model and the residual errors were less than 10%. The R
2
value is 0.9400 whichmeans that the linear regression line
passed exactly through all points. The significant parameters that influenced the heart rate were also identified.The
parameters are time exposure, type of road, and gender.
Fulltext Factors associated with good response in methadone therapy in a Malaysian district hospital

Firdaus A. Ghani, Lily Ismail, Norazlina Aziz, Izzat Tajjudin, M. Radzniwan A. Rashid

Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences, 2019;15(3):14-19.
MyJurnal

Introduction: Methadone maintenance treatment is effective in reducing opiate use, related crime and HIV risk be- haviors. However, the number of patients dropping out of treatment or continue misusing drugs are significant. Pri- mary screening of such patients could be useful in the development of guidelines targeted to prevent such incident. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of good treatment responders and whether socio-demographic factors and methadone dosage are associated with good responses. Methods: Respondents were studied from No- vember 2009 until April 2010 and involved all patients that had undergone methadone therapy from November 2005 to November 2009. Data was obtained from medical and pharmacy records. Missing data was obtained directly from patients via direct interviewing. Patients were considered to have a good response if they stay in the programme and have negative urinalysis result within 6 months of enrolment. Results: 66 out of 104 patients have a good response in methadone therapy. There is an association between good response in methadone therapy and educational level (p=0.045) and district of origin (p=0.041). However, there were no associations with methadone dosage. Conclusion: Higher educational level of at least secondary school education was found to be a good predic- tor of good response to methadone therapy. Patients who originated from nearby areas have better outcomes. This could be due to the direct observation therapy which could have an effect on non-compliance of patients who lived far away. This suggests the need to provide methadone therapy in local areas for better accessibility and compliance.
Fulltext Attitude towards sex: study of secondary schoolchildren in Selangor state

Maha, A., Azhar, M. Z., Sherina, M. S., Sharmili, V., Rampal, L., Abdah, A., et al.

Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences, 2010;6(1):33-61.
MyJurnal

Introduction: HIV/AIDS is one of the leading health problems worldwide. There is an increasing rate among the ages between 13 to 49 years old. School based intervention is an important component of community-based interventions for HIV/AIDS and is the best stage to promote abstinence which is best maintained among those not sexually experienced. Objectives: This study was carried out to determine attitude towards sex among secondary school children in Selangor state. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was used. Four out of nine districts in Selangor state were selected at random. Students were divided according to gender, academic performance (good or poor) with no behavioural problems
and students with evidence of behaviour problems (at risk). Results: Out of 149 students, the majority (56.4%) were females. The majority of students did not think sex should be discussed in depth and do not speak to parents, teachers, religious teachers, counselors, relatives, doctors or nurses but speak to friends regarding sex. More than half watch pornography. A significantly higher percentage of male students in the weak and at-risk group admit to thinking of intimacy (hugging and kissing) with the opposite gender. A higher number of these students would try sex out of curiosity, for fun, because it was difficult to say ‘no’ to and that they would like it. A significantly higher percentage will try sex because they did not want to hurt their girlfriends’ feeling by saying ‘no’. While the majority of students think intimacy will end in sex, a significantly higher percentage of male at-risk students think just talking with the opposite gender will end in sex. The majority of male students responded feeling attracted to the picture of a girl in sexy clothing but a significantly higher percentage of at-risk students also felt attracted to the picture of a girl properly attired. A significantly higher percentage of male at-risk students say parents do not say sex before marriage is wrong and a significantly higher percentage of
male students of weak and at-risk groups say girlfriends say sex before marriage is okay. A significantly higher percentage of weak and at-risk students speak to doctors regarding sex and think sex should be discussed in depth. Conclusion: Weak and at-risk male students appeared to have a more vulnerable attitude towards sex. This may predispose them to risky sexual behaviours leading to HIV/AIDS. Poor academic performance and behaviour problems may not be different as potential sexual risk predictors. The information obtained will be useful in designing intervention programmes in the prevention of HIV/AIDS.
Fulltext Factors influencing the intention of Indonesian nursing students to work in rural areas

Firdaus A, Efendi F, Hadisuyatmana S, Aurizki GE, Abdullah KL

Fam Med Community Health, 2019;7(3):e000144.
PMID: 32148718 DOI: 10.1136/fmch-2019-000144

Objective: The aim of this study was to analyse the factors associated with the intention of Indonesian nursing students to work in rural areas.
Design: This was a cross-sectional study. The instrument used was a self-developed questionnaire consisting of 13 questions. The data were analysed using the χ2 statistics test and binary logistic regression with a level of significance <0.05.
Setting: The study was conducted at a public nursing school located in urban Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, in December 2017.
Participants: A total of 714 nursing students from four different programmes were involved.
Results: This study found that almost 60% of nursing students were reluctant to work in rural areas. Of the three variables which were significant in the χ2 analysis, only two were significant following the logistic regression test, namely the class programmes of undergraduate regulars (OR=2.274; 95% CI 1.326 to 3.900), profession regulars (OR=2.262; 95% CI 1.110 to 4.607) and rural place of origin (OR=1.405; 95% CI 1.036 to 1.906).
Conclusion: The education programme and place of origin were associated with the intention of nursing students to work in rural areas. Therefore, the recruitment of prospective nurses should consider these factors by considering the local context.
Fulltext Understanding COVID-19 Halal Vaccination Discourse on Facebook and Twitter Using Aspect-Based Sentiment Analysis and Text Emotion Analysis

Feizollah A, Anuar NB, Mehdi R, Firdaus A, Sulaiman A

Int J Environ Res Public Health, 2022 May 21;19(10).
PMID: 35627806 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19106269

The COVID-19 pandemic introduced unprecedented challenges for people and governments. Vaccines are an available solution to this pandemic. Recipients of the vaccines are of different ages, gender, and religion. Muslims follow specific Islamic guidelines that prohibit them from taking a vaccine with certain ingredients. This study aims at analyzing Facebook and Twitter data to understand the discourse related to halal vaccines using aspect-based sentiment analysis and text emotion analysis. We searched for the term "halal vaccine" and limited the timeline to the period between 1 January 2020, and 30 April 2021, and collected 6037 tweets and 3918 Facebook posts. We performed data preprocessing on tweets and Facebook posts and built the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) model to identify topics. Calculating the sentiment analysis for each topic was the next step. Finally, this study further investigates emotions in the data using the National Research Council of Canada Emotion Lexicon. Our analysis identified four topics in each of the Twitter dataset and Facebook dataset. Two topics of "COVID-19 vaccine" and "halal vaccine" are shared between the two datasets. The other two topics in tweets are "halal certificate" and "must halal", while "sinovac vaccine" and "ulema council" are two other topics in the Facebook dataset. The sentiment analysis shows that the sentiment toward halal vaccine is mostly neutral in Twitter data, whereas it is positive in Facebook data. The emotion analysis indicates that trust is the most present emotion among the top three emotions in both datasets, followed by anticipation and fear.
How the social media impact women's psychological well-being in the patriarchal structure? The moderating effect of social capital

He L, Firdaus A, Gong J, Dharejo N, Aksar IA

BMC Public Health, 2024 Feb 23;24(1):581.
PMID: 38395820 DOI: 10.1186/s12889-024-18013-y

BACKGROUND: Despite technological, political and economic progress, Pakistan is still a traditionally patriarchal society, and cultural norms curb women's freedom of socialization, which contributes to poor mental health. The digital technology spaces are rampant with male dominance, and offline cultural behaviours are replicated. Therefore, the current research in Pakistan intends to focus solely on women, their social media uses and the consequent impact on their psychological well-being. Furthermore, the mediation role of social capital is explored, which is linked to women's socialization. In virtual communication, women can expand their connection or remain limited to known people.
METHODS: An online survey collected 240 responses from women social media users. The questionnaire was divided into demographics, social media use patterns like access, online time, frequency of use, social media uses, online social capital and psychological well-being. The obtained responses were statistically analyzed using Smart PLS.
RESULTS: Pakistani women use social media extensively; however, their uses are culturally influenced. The women use social media and socialize online but do not openly disclose their personalities and emotions to extend the connection. They seek information only from acquaintances and do not trust newly developed online contacts. Therefore, the mediation role of bonding social capital is significant, referring to the importance of close ties and trust in psychological well-being. Though virtual spaces provide an opportunity for bridging social capital, women use social media for socialization; however, it doesn't contribute to women's psychological well-being.
CONCLUSION: Despite the higher penetration of digital technologies, cultural power still rules in developing countries like Pakistan. Social media uses are gender- and culturally specific, contributing to psychological well-being and developing social capital. The results from Pakistani society recommend ensuring a secure digital experience for women to get maximum benefits from social media and enhance their psychological well-being.
Root Exploit Detection and Features Optimization: Mobile Device and Blockchain Based Medical Data Management

Firdaus A, Anuar NB, Razak MFA, Hashem IAT, Bachok S, Sangaiah AK

J Med Syst, 2018 May 04;42(6):112.
PMID: 29728780 DOI: 10.1007/s10916-018-0966-x

The increasing demand for Android mobile devices and blockchain has motivated malware creators to develop mobile malware to compromise the blockchain. Although the blockchain is secure, attackers have managed to gain access into the blockchain as legal users, thereby comprising important and crucial information. Examples of mobile malware include root exploit, botnets, and Trojans and root exploit is one of the most dangerous malware. It compromises the operating system kernel in order to gain root privileges which are then used by attackers to bypass the security mechanisms, to gain complete control of the operating system, to install other possible types of malware to the devices, and finally, to steal victims' private keys linked to the blockchain. For the purpose of maximizing the security of the blockchain-based medical data management (BMDM), it is crucial to investigate the novel features and approaches contained in root exploit malware. This study proposes to use the bio-inspired method of practical swarm optimization (PSO) which automatically select the exclusive features that contain the novel android debug bridge (ADB). This study also adopts boosting (adaboost, realadaboost, logitboost, and multiboost) to enhance the machine learning prediction that detects unknown root exploit, and scrutinized three categories of features including (1) system command, (2) directory path and (3) code-based. The evaluation gathered from this study suggests a marked accuracy value of 93% with Logitboost in the simulation. Logitboost also helped to predicted all the root exploit samples in our developed system, the root exploit detection system (RODS).
Fulltext Towards a systematic description of the field using bibliometric analysis: malware evolution

Mat SRT, Ab Razak MF, Kahar MNM, Arif JM, Mohamad S, Firdaus A

Scientometrics, 2021;126(3):2013-2055.
PMID: 33583978 DOI: 10.1007/s11192-020-03834-6

Malware is a blanket term for Trojan, viruses, spyware, worms, and other files that are purposely created to harm computers, mobile devices, or computer networks. Malware commonly steals, encrypts, damages, and causes a mess in these devices. The growth of malware attacks has a consequence on the growth and attractiveness of mobile features in mobile devices. Most malware research aims to probe the different methods of preventing, analysing, and detecting malware attacks. This paper aims to demonstrate an exhaustive knowledge map of the Android malware by collecting a ten (10) year dataset from the Web of Science database. A bibliometric analysis was employed for analysing articles published between 2010 and 2019. Using the keyword "malware", 5622 articles were retrieved. After scrutinising with the keywords of "Android malware", 1278 articles were then collected. This study provides an overview of the articles, productivity, research area, the Web of Science categories, authors, high-cited articles, institutions, and impact journals examining malware. Research activities are continued by placing terms in the classification of malware detection systems that outline important areas in malware research. From the analysis, it can be concluded that the highest number of publications focusing on malware studies came from the continent of Asia. Additionally, this study discusses the challenges of malware studies in the recent research studies as well as the future direction.
Fulltext Malware detection using static analysis in Android: a review of FeCO (features, classification, and obfuscation)

Jusoh R, Firdaus A, Anwar S, Osman MZ, Darmawan MF, Ab Razak MF

PeerJ Comput Sci, 2021;7:e522.
PMID: 34825052 DOI: 10.7717/peerj-cs.522

Android is a free open-source operating system (OS), which allows an in-depth understanding of its architecture. Therefore, many manufacturers are utilizing this OS to produce mobile devices (smartphones, smartwatch, and smart glasses) in different brands, including Google Pixel, Motorola, Samsung, and Sony. Notably, the employment of OS leads to a rapid increase in the number of Android users. However, unethical authors tend to develop malware in the devices for wealth, fame, or private purposes. Although practitioners conduct intrusion detection analyses, such as static analysis, there is an inadequate number of review articles discussing the research efforts on this type of analysis. Therefore, this study discusses the articles published from 2009 until 2019 and analyses the steps in the static analysis (reverse engineer, features, and classification) with taxonomy. Following that, the research issue in static analysis is also highlighted. Overall, this study serves as the guidance for novice security practitioners and expert researchers in the proposal of novel research to detect malware through static analysis.
Fulltext A static analysis approach for Android permission-based malware detection systems

Mohamad Arif J, Ab Razak MF, Awang S, Tuan Mat SR, Ismail NSN, Firdaus A

PLoS One, 2021;16(9):e0257968.
PMID: 34591930 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0257968

The evolution of malware is causing mobile devices to crash with increasing frequency. Therefore, adequate security evaluations that detect Android malware are crucial. Two techniques can be used in this regard: Static analysis, which meticulously examines the full codes of applications, and dynamic analysis, which monitors malware behaviour. While both perform security evaluations successfully, there is still room for improvement. The goal of this research is to examine the effectiveness of static analysis to detect Android malware by using permission-based features. This study proposes machine learning with different sets of classifiers was used to evaluate Android malware detection. The feature selection method in this study was applied to determine which features were most capable of distinguishing malware. A total of 5,000 Drebin malware samples and 5,000 Androzoo benign samples were utilised. The performances of the different sets of classifiers were then compared. The results indicated that with a TPR value of 91.6%, the Random Forest algorithm achieved the highest level of accuracy in malware detection.
Fulltext Do Privacy Stress and Brand Trust still Matter? Implications on Continuous Online Purchasing Intention in China

Gong J, Said F, Ting H, Firdaus A, Aksar IA, Xu J

Curr Psychol, 2022 Feb 19.
PMID: 35221631 DOI: 10.1007/s12144-022-02857-x

The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to unprecedented transformations in consumer behaviour. Less is known about how consumers react to privacy stress while being compelled to continuously purchase online during the pandemic. Therefore, underpinned by the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) theory, this paper aims to examine the impacts of perceived Internet risk, self-efficacy, privacy stress, and trust on consumers' continuous purchasing intention in China. Few studies have examined the mediating roles of privacy stress and brand trust in continuous purchasing intention. This research thus adds value by exploring the underlying mechanisms that explain how these factors affect purchasing intention where consumers have little choice but to make purchase online continuously. It employs a quantitative research design and uses a survey questionnaire to collect data. A total of 535 consumers responded and the data were analysed via PLS-SEM. We found mixed results for the direct and indirect paths. Perceived Internet risk, platform trust, and self-efficacy showed significant impacts on privacy stress and brand trust. While brand trust had a significant impact on continuous online purchase intention, contrary to previous literature, privacy stress did not. Moreover, while brand trust was found to be a significant mediator, privacy stress exerted no mediating effect. The results assist marketing practitioners, organizations, and policymakers in improving consumers' online shopping experience in uncertain times by addressing the issues of trust and privacy. Specifically, we provide the foundation for future policies and strategies that build consumers' trust and secure consumers' privacy, especially in highly uncertain contexts.
Nanocellulose-graphene hybrid composites: Fabrication, characterization, applications and environmental impact

Yusuf J, Firdaus AHM, Sapuan SM, Rashid U, Ilyas RA, Hassan MR, et al.

Int J Biol Macromol, 2024 Nov 04.
PMID: 39505165 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2024.137244

Nanocellulose-graphene hybrid composites for high-performance uses have been the focus of recent research. In contrast to graphene, which has great conductivity and mechanical strength, nanocellulose possesses special qualities like renewability and biocompatibility but lacks electrical conductivity. Since graphene-nanocellulose has such promising features, efforts to make flexible electronic composites employing them have accelerated. However, the environmental impacts are needed to be addressed prior to the applications of these hybrid composites. This review article explores environmental aspects for nanocellulose-graphene hybrid composites because of their sustainability, which is a major step in the right direction. The article also emphasizes how these composites have the potential to transform several industries and open the door to a more environmentally friendly future. This paper explores into the most recent developments in nanocellulose-graphene hybrid composites, highlighting its environmental benefits and adaptability. These composites offer remarkable performance by combining the strength and conductivity of graphene with the mechanical, electrical, and thermal capabilities of nanocellulose.
Fulltext Efficacy and Safety of Cyclosporine in Acute Myocardial Infarction: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Rahman FA, Abdullah SS, Manan WZWA, Tan LT, Neoh CF, Ming LC, et al.

Front Pharmacol, 2018;9:238.
PMID: 29970999 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2018.00238

There are various studies that have addressed the use of Cyclosporine among patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). However, to date there is hardly any concise and systematically structured evidence that debate on the efficacy and safety of Cyclosporine in AMI patients. The aim of this review is to systematically summarize the overall evidence from published trials, and to conduct a meta-analysis in order to determine the efficacy and safety of Cyclosporine vs. placebo or control among patients with AMI. All randomized control trial (RCT) published in English language from January 2000 to August 2017 were included for the systematic review and meta-analysis. A total of six RCTs met the inclusion and were hence included in the systematic review and meta-analysis. Based on the performed meta-analysis, no significant difference was found between Cyclosporine and placebo in terms of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) improvement (mean difference 1.88; 95% CI -0.99 to 4.74; P = 0.2), mortality rate (OR 1.01; 95% Cl 0.60 to 1.67, P = 0.98) and recurrent MI occurrence (OR 0.65; 95% Cl 0.29 to 1.45, P = 0.29), with no evidence of heterogeneity, when given to patients with AMI. Cyclosporine also did not significantly lessen the rate of rehospitalisation in AMI patients when compared to placebo (OR 0.91; 95% Cl 0.58 to 1.42, P = 0.68), with moderate heterogeneity (I2 = 46%). There was also no significant improvement in heart failure events between Cyclosporine and placebo in AMI patients (OR 0.63; 95% Cl 0.31 to 1.29, P = 0.21; I2 = 80%). No serious adverse events were reported in Cyclosporine group across all studies suggesting that Cyclosporine is well tolerated when given to patients with AMI. The use of Cyclosporine in this group of patients, however, did not result in better clinical outcomes vs. placebo at improving LVEF, mortality rate, recurrent MI, rehospitalisation and heart failure event.
Diabetic foot infection and surgical treatment in a secondary health care centre in Malaysia

Ng BW, Muhammad Firdaus A, Mohd Syafiqq Al Hakim HR, Nur Sa'idah MS, Loi KW, Ong KC, et al.

Med J Malaysia, 2020 01;75(1):29-32.
PMID: 32008016

INTRODUCTION: Diabetic foot infection is often associated with high morbidity, disability and poor quality of life. This study focuses on the demography, the number of repetitive surgery and length of stay in hospital of patients with diabetic foot infection.
METHOD: This is a retrospective observational study. Patients who were admitted to the Orthopaedic ward of Hospital Segamat (HS), Johor, Malaysia from January 2016 to December 2018 and required surgical intervention were included in the study. Data was collected from the computer system of HS and medical notes of patients.
RESULTS: 35.6% of the total orthopaedic emergency surgeries performed were for patients with diabetic foot infection, 25% of the surgical procedures performed were major amputations of lower limb and 40% of the patients with diabetic foot infection required more than one surgical operation.
DISCUSSION: The demographics of the patients is consistent with the demographics of Malaysia where majority of them are Malays followed by Chinese, Indians and others. Despite being only 10% of total admission to the department, this group of patients contributed to 35.6% of the total emergency surgeries performed. The amputation rate in the centre is comparable to the other local studies. The average length of stay in hospital was found to be shorter compared to overseas due to different rehabilitation protocols.
Fulltext IgG avidity assay: a tool for excluding acute toxoplasmosis in prolonged IgM titer sera from pregnant women

Emelia O, Rahana AR, Mohamad Firdaus A, Cheng HS, Nursyairah MS, Fatinah AS, et al.

Trop Biomed, 2014 Dec;31(4):633-40.
PMID: 25776588 MyJurnal

An accurate diagnosis for toxoplasmosis is crucial for pregnant women as this infection may lead to severe sequelae in the fetus. The value of IgG avidity assay as a tool to determine acute and chronic toxoplasmosis during pregnancy was evaluated in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC). In this study, 281 serum samples from 281 pregnant women in various trimesters were collected. These samples were assayed using specific anti-Toxoplasma IgM and IgG antibodies, followed by IgG avidity test. The overall seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis in pregnant women was 35.2% (33.5% for anti-Toxoplasma IgG and 1.8% for both anti-Toxoplasma IgG and IgM antibodies). Of 5 (1.8%) serum samples positive for IgM ELISA, 4 had high-avidity antibodies, suggesting past infection and one sample with borderline avidity index. Two samples with low avidity were from IgM negative serum samples. The IgG avidity assay exhibited an excellent specificity of 97.6% and a negative predictive value (NPV) of 95.6%. The study also demonstrated no significant correlation between avidity indexes of the sera with IgG (r=0.12, p=0.24) and IgM (r=-0.00, p=0.98), suggesting the complementary needs of the two tests for a better diagnosis outcome. These findings highlight the usefulness of IgG avidity assay in excluding a recently acquired toxoplasmosis infection in IgM-positive serum sample.
Fulltext Barriers to effective research supervision in clinical specialist training: Experience from a medical school in Malaysia

Lee YK, Ng CJ, Sim JH, Firdaus A, Foong CC, Hong WH, et al.

Malays Fam Physician, 2021 Nov 30;16(3):77-86.
PMID: 34938395 DOI: 10.51866/oa1222

Introduction: A compulsory research component is becoming increasingly common for clinical residents. However, integrating research into a busy clinical training schedule can be challenging. This study aimed to explore barriers to research supervision in specialist training programmes from the perspectives of clinical supervisors and trainees at a Malaysian university hospital.
Methods: Qualitative interviews and focus group discussions were conducted (December 2016 to July 2017) with clinical supervisors (n=11) and clinical trainees (n=26) utilising a topic guide exploring institutional guidelines, research culture and supervisor-student roles. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically to identify barriers to research supervision.
Results: Supervisors and trainees from 11 out of 18 departments participated. Both clinical supervisors and trainees struggled to successfully integrate a compulsory research component into residency training. Among the reasons identified included a lack of supervisory access due to the nature of clinical rotations and placements, clashing training priorities (clinical vs research) that discouraged trainees and supervisors from engaging in research, poor research expertise and experience among clinical supervisors hampering high-quality supervision, and a frustrating lack of clear standards between the various parties involved in research guidance and examination.
Conclusion: Both clinical supervisors and trainees struggled to successfully integrate a compulsory research component into residency training. This was not only an issue of resource limitation since questions regarding clinical priorities and unclear research standards emerged. Thus, institutional coordinators need to set clear standards and provide adequate training to make research meaningful and achievable for busy clinical supervisors and trainees.

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