The population of Malaysia is approximately 14 million and theoretically 1 in 2500 marriages are between heterozygotes for thalassaemia and 1 in 10,000 children can be expected to have thalassaemia major. Hypertransfusion is not possible because of insufficient blood supplies and each child requires an iron chelator, Desferal, at US$5800 a year for life: this high cost makes it sizeable proportion of the 'active reproductive' population. Abortion is not legal and antenatal diagnosis has not bee established. An approach to the prevention of this disease would be public education and identification of carriers. Numerous techniques have been utilised in population screening for traits of thalassaemia and haemoglobinopathy. These include osmotic fragility tests; blood smear examination for basophilia, microcytosis, and hypochromia; and genetic studies. Blood smear examinations are extremely subjective and interpretations depend upon the skills of a trained technologist. Osmotic fragility tests although cheap are cumbersome and require accurate preparations of saline solutions. Genetic studies are not available in the region. The medical examination for entrance to colleges and institutions includes investigative procedures such as chest x-ray and urine examinations. In addition a blood sample could be analysed for the red cell parameters. A similar study could be attempted for all secondary school leavers. The current estimated cost on the Coulter S as in this study was 80 cents (U.S.) in contrast to the prohibitive costs of managing a case of transfusion-dependent thalassaemia. These two groups would cover a sizeable proportion of the 'active reproductive' population. Analysis of the red cell parameters provides useful information for the identification of carriers of alpha-, beta-, delta-beta-thalassaemia and HbE. Additional studies which include haemoglobin analysis and serum ferritin would provide the necessary evidence for the confirmation of these findings.
Hereditary haemolytic anaemias, in particular, thalassaemia and the haemoglobinopathies, have been found to be a significant cause of hereditary haemolytic disease in West Malaysia. Theoretically 1 in 2500 marriages are between heterozygotes for beta-thalassaemia and 1 in 10,000 children can be expected to have thalassaemia major. An approach to the prevention of this disease would be public education and identification of carriers: to develop some approach to the identification and genetic counselling of beta-thalassaemia trait.
Periods of extreme food abundance, such as irregular masting events, can dramatically affect animal populations and communities, but the extent to which anthropogenic disturbances alter animal responses to mast events is not clear. In South-East Asia, dipterocarp trees reproduce in mast fruiting events every 2-10 years in some of the largest masting events on the planet. These trees, however, are targeted for selective logging, reducing the intensity of fruit production and potentially affecting multiple trophic levels. Moreover, animal responses to resource pulse events have largely been studied in systems where the major mast consumers have been extirpated. We sought to evaluate the influence of human-induced habitat disturbance on animal responses to masting in a system where key mast consumers remain extant. We used motion-triggered camera traps to quantify terrestrial mammal and bird occurrences in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, relative to variation in fruit biomass from 69 plant families during a major (2014) and minor (2015) masting event and a non-mast year (2013), in both logged and unlogged forests. Bearded pigs (Sus barbatus) showed the clearest responses to masting and occurrence rates were highest in unlogged forest in the year following the major mast, suggesting that the pulse in fruit availability increased immigration or reproduction. We also detected local-scale spatial tracking of dipterocarp fruits in bearded pigs in unlogged forest, while this was equivocal in other species. In contrast, pigs and other vertebrate taxa in our study showed limited response to spatial or temporal variation in fruit availability in logged forest. Our findings suggest that vertebrates, namely bearded pigs, may respond to masting via movement and increased reproduction, but that these responses may be attenuated by habitat disturbance.
After twenty-four years of government efforts, the latest national recycling rate in Malaysia rose from 5% in 1993 to approximately 24.6% in 2017. However, the practice of solid waste recycling in developing countries is still challenging compared to developing countries. Especially in Malaysia, a multi-ethnic country where people with different ethics have different living lifestyles. Still, Malaysia faces rapidly increasing solid waste and management costs, lacks appropriate data on solid waste management and recycling, lacks awareness of the 3R's (reduce, reuse and recycle) culture and lacks policies to promote 3R's culture. In addition, prior to the enforcement of ACT 672, information and networks between stakeholders have been limited for more than 20 years. Some scholars believe that the success of recycling practices is mainly influenced by community recycling behaviours. Therefore, in order to improve and evaluate the effectiveness of current national solid waste recycling management systems, research and assessment of community recycling behaviours are essential. This paper aims to evaluate the factors that attract communities to implement recycling in their daily lives and to obtain data through quantitative survey methods. Face-to-face questionnaires are conducted through purposive sampling and collected data is further analysed by PASW statistical tools. The comparison between recyclers and non-recyclers are presented in terms of frequency, means scores and radar chart. The results indicate that policy makers involved in the planning, organisation, and implementation of community recycling programs have to focus on strategies that engage community members and adopt recycling practices to improve environmental impact by changing their attitudes. Based on the results of means scores, the type of age, occupation and place of life must be taken into consideration in order to organize future recycling campaigns or awareness programs. In conclusion, the information will help policymakers make better solid waste recycling management to meet the needs of the public.
A full-year study of sickness absence was done on 148 workers in a bus company. 58.8% of the workers took one or more than one day of absence while 42.2% took no absence at all. Sickness absence rates were 1.64 spells per person, 2.26 days per person and mean length of spell was 1.38 days per spell. The figures were low compared with Western countries or Singapore. Indian had higher absence rates and bus drivers and conductors had less days and spells of absence than office staff and mechanics in the same company.
471 ovarian tumours were available for study from 1980 to 1987. Epidemiological breakdown by race, age and the histological type of the tumours was obtained. The diagnosis of the individual tumours was based on the World Health Organisation (WHO) histological classification of ovarian tumours. There were 324 (68.8%) benigh and 147 (31.2%) malignant tumours. 253 (53.7%) of the tumours were seen in the Malays. The third decade was the peak age for the benigh tumours, and for the malignant tumours, the fourth and fifth decades. 138 (42.6%) of the benign ovarian tumours were cystic teratomas and 45 (30.6%) of the malignant tumours were cystadenocarcinoma.
A total of 941 screening tests for HBV antigen and antibody were done. These included 342 male adults, 492 female adults and 107 children under 15 years. Most of them had no clinical symptoms. There were 18 cases of active hepatitis of various causes. Percentage of positive for HBsAg: adult male 12.3%, adult female 6.5%, children under 15 years 1.9%, overall 8.1%. Percentage of positive for anti-HBs antibody: 18.5%.
Study site: private laboratory, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia
The plasma cholinesterase baseline levels in Malaysian workers are within the guidelines used. There is a need to carry out close monitoring of workers handling organophosphate s even in a well-run, modern factory where there are no hazards in the plant operation. Abnormal results are mainly because many of our workers are unaware of the health hazards and do not follow orders properly, ie personal hygiene, such as washing of hands before eating, etc. The use of temporary workers should be discouraged because of poor compliance with rules and difficulty in follow up. Product stewardship and education of farmers, sprayers and end users are of paramount importance. Finally there is a great need for educaiton of everyone from factory workers, farmers, sprayers to the general public.