The aim of this study to assess the efficiency of flushing
method of Dental Unit Waterline (DUWL) system in reducing the
number of microorganism. Water samples were taken before and after
two minutes of flushing from air-water syringes system in ten randomly
selected dental units in a Dental Teaching Centre. These samples
were immediately transferred to the microbiology laboratory in the cool
box within 8 hours for the heterotrophic plate count (HPC) test. Paired
t-test was used to analyse number of microbe before and after flushing.
The numbers of colony forming unit (CFU) ranged from 13,000 to
120,000CFU/ml in unflushed samples, and 3,000 to 15,000CFU/ml in
flushed samples. The mean HPC post-flushing was lower than preflushing [8360.00 (4561.48) vs 63300.00 (44587.12) CFU/ml]. The
mean HPC between pre- and post-flushing was significantly different
(P=0.004, 95% CI 22039.52, 87840.48). The coliform count from the
control was 140 CFU/ml. In conclusion, flushing method of DUWL
system significantly reduces the number of microorganisms in the
dental unit. However, the level of microorganisms still does not meet
the standard guideline by Environmental Protection Agency for safe
drinking water, which should be below 500 CFU/ml. In our opinion, the
duration of flushing should be increased and additional chemical
treatments of the dental units should be implemented to ensure the
safety of patients and dental personnel.
Oral cancer remains as a worldwide health issue. In Malaysia, oral neoplasm contributed about 10.6% death at the government hospitals. The significant consequences of delaying referral and poor prognosis of oral cancer was mainly due to the lack of knowledge among public. This study aims to determine the level of awareness and knowledge on oral cancer among students with non-medical background in Kepala Batas, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia. A cross sectional study using questionnaires were conducted among systematically randomly selected 275 non-medical background students aged 18 years old and above. The association of smoking habit with oral cancer awareness and knowledge was evaluated using chi-square test. Factors associated with the knowledge were determined at both univariable and multivariable levels using simple logistic and multiple logistic regression analyses respectively. Oral cancer awareness level was high among the students (85%) even though knowledge on early signs of oral cancer was low (19 years old has 1.96 time the odds compared to students aged ≤19 to have poor knowledge while Malay has 4.28 time the odds compared to Indian to have poor knowledge. Although smoking was observed as the most recognisable risk factor of oral cancer (82%), the smoking prevalence was relatively high (46.9%). The smokers in this study had low awareness and knowledge on oral cancer compared to the non-smoker. Hence, preventive measures adopting knowledge transfer should be proposed to enhance individual awareness and knowledge on oral cancer with Smoking cessation programme to help the smoker to quit smoking
Abnormal malignant growth of breast cells often occurs among women after menopause. But, recently, breast cancer (BC) is increasing in trend among young women, mainly in Asian countries. Breast cancer in young women (BCYW) usually presented with higher grades, advanced stage, and aggressive subtype. The survival of BCYW is poor with a more progressive and higher chance of recurrence and metastasis. Treatment for BCYW usually is more intensive and extensive, which causes more side effects that potentially lead to psychosocial issues. This article review highlights the unique and complex issues of BCYW in Malaysia and around the world.
Introduction: Geriatric Giants are the impairment that appear in older people. It comprises of impaired cognition,
urinary incontinence, instability, fall and immobility. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of Geriatric Giants among older people living in three different living environment; own home, pondok and old folks home.
Methods: This comparative study involved 471 respondents from Kelantan. There were 157 participants each from
own home, pondok and old folks home. The prevalence of Geriatric Giants were determine by 10 minutes comprehensive screening which was developed to diagnose and manage the Geriatric Giants (WHO, 2007) and prevalence
were compared using chi-square tests or Fisher exact test. Results: Prevalence of dementia among respondents of old
folks home (11.5%), pondok (6.4%) and own home (0.6%). Prevalence of urinary incontinence among respondents
of own home (22.3%), old folks home (16.6%) and pondok (14.0%). Prevalence of instability among respondents of
old folk home (31.2%), pondok (27.4%) and own home (14.0%). Prevalence of fall among respondents of pondok
(33.1%), old folks home (24.25) and own home (19.7%). Old folk home respondents had the highest prevalence of
moderate and severe immobility There were significant difference in prevalence of dementia ((Fisher exact p value
Hope leads to lower depression and anxiety and is associated with improved quality of life of cancer patients. In this
study, Hope Scale (HS) was translated into Malay, and the psychometric properties of the Malay version of the Hope
Scale were investigated among Malaysian cancer patients. Concurrent translation and back translation of the original
English version of the Hope Scale were performed, and the Malay version was administered to 195 cancer patients
with different cancer diagnoses at baseline assessment and 2 months later at follow-up. The Hope Scale (Malay) total
score (Cronbach’s α = 0.72; intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) = 0.67) and its domains (Cronbach’s α [pathway] =
0.7; Cronbach’s α [agency] = 0.7; ICC[Pathway] = 0.64; ICC[Agency] = 0.70) demonstrated acceptable internal consistencies and
test-retest reliability. Convergent and discriminant validities were also achieved by the Hope Scale (Malay). The Hope
Scale (Malay) demonstrated construct validity, as confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that the items in the Hope
Scale (Malay) best fit into two domains, which was true for the original English version. The Hope Scale (Malay) had
acceptable psychometric properties and thus is suitable for assessing hope in Malaysian cancer patients.
Introduction: Laboratory turnaround time (LTAT) is considered a reliable indicator of the quality and efficiency of a laboratory’s service. LTAT achievement, particularly of urgent tests, remains unsatisfactory and challenging in many clinical laboratories especially in tertiary health care centres with high workload and restricted resources. The unresolved issue of unsatisfactory urgent renal profile (RP) LTAT below the standard performance goal prompted our interest to improve laboratory’s handling of urgent test request. We thus implemented the Lean principle in the management of urgent test requests using urgent RP as the test model. Methods: The implementation of laboratory Lean involved 4 steps process; (1) Development of burning platform for change (2) Identification of waste (3) Plan- ning and implementation of control measures (4) Measuring, monitoring, and sustaining the improvement. Urgent RP LTAT and the percentage of the request met the time requirement determined based on the data extracted from laboratory information system (LIS) before and after the implementation of Lean was compared to assess the effec- tiveness. Results: Urgent RP LTAT after the implementation of Lean was reduced i.e 35 min (before) vs 31 min (after), with the percentage of LTAT met the time requirement was significantly increased above the set target i.e 82.8% (before) to 93.5% (after) with P-value = 0.001. Conclusion: Implementation of innovation using Lean management has significantly improved urgent RP LTAT achievement, thus optimised urgent test management in our Chemical Pathology laboratory. Lean is a strongly recommended strategy to improve urgent test LTAT especially in laboratories with restricted resources.
Objective: It is important to investigate the association between spousal support
and psychology of cancer patients, thus a validated instrument to measure the
degree of perceived spousal support is required. We translated and evaluated the
psychometric properties of the Sources of Social Support Scale-Malay version
(SSSS-Malay) among Malaysian cancer patients.
Methods: In this study, the
SSSS-Malay and Hope Scale-Malay [used to compare with the SSSS-Malay to
assess discriminant validity] were administered to 195 Malaysian cancer patients
during baseline assessment. The SSSS-Malay was re-administered 2 months
after the baseline assessment during follow-up.
Results: The SSSS-Malay total
score (Cronbach’s α = 0.70, intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) = 0.72) and
its domains (Cronbach’s α ranging from 0.70 to 0.83, intraclass correlation
coefficient ranging from 0.6 to 0.76) exhibited good internal consistencies and
good test-retest reliability. The SSSS-Malay also demonstrated good convergent
and discriminant validities. However, confirmatory factor analysis of the SSSSMalay
showed that it was best fit into a 3-factor model instead of the 4-factor
model of the original English version.
Conclusion: The SSSS-Malay
demonstrated good psychometric properties for use in Malaysian cancer
patients.
Introduction: Posttraumatic growth (PTG) is a positive psychological change in
life that occurs as a result of struggle with highly challenging life crises. There is
a growing need to explore posttraumatic growth (PTG) in cancer patients, as
higher PTG may enhance well-being of patients.
Objectives: The aim of this
study was to translate the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory-Short Form (PTGISF)
into the Malay language and evaluate its psychometric properties for
assessing Malaysian cancer patients in future studies.
Methods: Two parallels
forward and backward translations of the PTGI-SF into the Malay language
were conducted. The test was administered to 195 cancer patients. Reliability
was evaluated by testing internal consistency (Cronbach’s α) and calculating the
test-retest intra-class correlation coefficient, and validity was examined by
determining face, convergent, and discriminant validities and using
confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).
Results: The Malay version of the PTGI-SF
and its five domains demonstrated good internal consistencies and acceptable
test-retest reliability. All 10 items of this version were highly correlated with
their own domains and thus exhibited convergent validity. Discriminant validity
was achieved, as all domains of the Malay PTGI-SF was not highly correlated
with the domains of the Source of Social Support Scale. CFA resulted in a bestfitting
5-factor model.
Conclusion: The Malay version of the PTGI-SF is a
suitable tool for measuring PTG in Malaysian cancer patients.
Introduction: Breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer death among women. The purpose of this study is to determine the 5-years survival rate and prognostic factors among breast cancer patients in a tertiary oncological centre in Penang, Malaysia. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted at the Advanced Medical and Dental Institute, Universiti Sains Malaysia. All 214 cases of breast cancer diagnosed from 1st January 2008 until 31st December 2012 were selected and retrospectively followed-up until 31st December 2017. The survival status for this study was referring to the record of the National Registration of Malaysia. Kaplan-Meier with Log-rank test and Cox regression were used for the univariable and multivariable analysis, respectively. Results: The mean (SD) age at diagnosis was 50.98 (±10.75) years. The majority of the patients were Malay (55.7%) and married (96.5%). After controlling for the effect of underlying comorbidities, lymph nodes involvement, marital status, vascular involvement and adjuvant therapy; it was found that marital status (adj HR= 3.63, 95% CI 1.17-11.24) and lymph nodes involve- ment (adj HR=2.36, 95% CI 1.17-4.76) were the significant prognostic factors. Conclusion: This study re-emphasizes the role of marital status and lymph nodes involvement as independent predictors of the long-term survival of breast cancer patients. Further studies are needed to assess the promising benefit of personalized treatment and specific supportive care given to the patients with these risk factors for better cancer experience and survival.