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  1. Species diversity and distribution of mud crab in Marudu Bay mangrove forest reserve, Sabah, Malaysia
    Nurul Ain Mohd Sharif, Noor Amalia Shaiful Kahar, Muhammad Ali Syed Hussein, Julian Ransangan, Annita Seok-Kian Yong
    Borneo Journal of Marine Science and Aquaculture, 2019;3(1):18-24.
    MyJurnal
    Sabah has extensive mangrove forests surrounded by oceanic waters which provide suitable habitat for many species of animals including mud crabs (Scylla spp.). This study was conducted to obtain information on the species composition, distribution and catch per unit effort in Marudu Bay, Sabah. Samplings were done monthly in five mangrove areas along the river channels in Marudu Bay (06°33’N; 114°44’E) from October 2012 to September 2013 using collapsible baited crab traps. From a total of 1859 mud crab specimens caught in Marudu Bay, three species were identified. Scylla tranquebarica was the dominant species forming 78% of the total followed by S. paramamosain 13% and S. olivacea 8%. The number of males (n=1224) was higher compared to females (n=635) with an average sex ratio male : female of 1.0:0.5. The catch per unit effort (CPUE) showed an average value of 0.55 trap-1 day-1 and revealed a declining trend throughout the sampling. S. tranquebarica was widely distributed in all the rivers surveyed, however, it mostly occurred in near the lower reaches of the river near the areas open to the sea where average water salinity ranged from 12.98 to 14.28 ppt and the environment favoured the growth of Rhizophora sp. Other species, S. paramamosain and S. olivacea, were mostly found in upstream areas covered generally by Nypa sp. and where average water salinity varied from 6.93 to 7.50 ppt. The information on the species composition, distribution and CPUE of the mud crabs in Marudu Bay can be useful for mud crab fisheries resources management in Sabah.
  2. Recent progress in integrated fixed-film activated sludge process for wastewater treatment: A review
    Waqas S, Bilad MR, Man Z, Wibisono Y, Jaafar J, Indra Mahlia TM, et al.
    J Environ Manage, 2020 Aug 15;268:110718.
    PMID: 32510449 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.110718
    Integrated fixed-film activated sludge (IFAS) process is considered as one of the leading-edge processes that provides a sustainable solution for wastewater treatment. IFAS was introduced as an advancement of the moving bed biofilm reactor by integrating the attached and the suspended growth systems. IFAS offers advantages over the conventional activated sludge process such as reduced footprint, enhanced nutrient removal, complete nitrification, longer solids retention time and better removal of anthropogenic composites. IFAS has been recognized as an attractive option as stated from the results of many pilot and full scales studies. Generally, IFAS achieves >90% removals for combined chemical oxygen demand and ammonia, improves sludge settling properties and enhances operational stability. Recently developed IFAS reactors incorporate frameworks for either methane production, energy generation through algae, or microbial fuel cells. This review details the recent development in IFAS with the focus on the pilot and full-scale applications. The microbial community analyses of IFAS biofilm and floc are underlined along with the special emphasis on organics and nitrogen removals, as well as the future research perspectives.
  3. Assessment of Dimensional Stability, Biodegradability, and Fracture Energy of Bio-Composites Reinforced with Novel Pine Cone
    Jha K, Tyagi YK, Kumar R, Sharma S, Huzaifah MRM, Li C, et al.
    Polymers (Basel), 2021 Sep 24;13(19).
    PMID: 34641075 DOI: 10.3390/polym13193260
    In this investigation, biodegradable composites were fabricated with polycaprolactone (PCL) matrix reinforced with pine cone powder (15%, 30%, and 45% by weight) and compatibilized with graphite powder (0%, 5%, 10%, and 15% by weight) in polycaprolactone matrix by compression molding technique. The samples were prepared as per ASTM standard and tested for dimensional stability, biodegradability, and fracture energy with scanning electron micrographs. Water-absorption and thickness-swelling were performed to examine the dimensional stability and tests were performed at 23 °C and 50% humidity. Results revealed that the composites with 15 wt % of pine cone powder (PCP) have shown higher dimensional stability as compared to other composites. Bio-composites containing 15-45 wt % of PCP with low graphite content have shown higher disintegration rate than neat PCL. Fracture energy for crack initiation in bio-composites was increased by 68% with 30% PCP. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of the composites have shown evenly-distributed PCP particles throughout PCL-matrix at significantly high-degrees or quantities of reinforcing.
  4. Structural probing of HapR to identify potent phytochemicals to control Vibrio cholera through integrated computational approaches
    Tahir Ul Qamar M, Ahmad S, Khan A, Mirza MU, Ahmad S, Abro A, et al.
    Comput Biol Med, 2021 11;138:104929.
    PMID: 34655900 DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2021.104929
    Cholera is a severe small intestine bacterial disease caused by consumption of water and food contaminated with Vibrio cholera. The disease causes watery diarrhea leading to severe dehydration and even death if left untreated. In the past few decades, V. cholerae has emerged as multidrug-resistant enteric pathogen due to its rapid ability to adapt in detrimental environmental conditions. This research study aimed to design inhibitors of a master virulence gene expression regulator, HapR. HapR is critical in regulating the expression of several set of V. cholera virulence genes, quorum-sensing circuits and biofilm formation. A blind docking strategy was employed to infer the natural binding tendency of diverse phytochemicals extracted from medicinal plants by exposing the whole HapR structure to the screening library. Scoring function criteria was applied to prioritize molecules with strong binding affinity (binding energy 
  5. Robust biometric system using session invariant multimodal EEG and keystroke dynamics by the ensemble of self-ONNs
    Rahman A, Chowdhury MEH, Khandakar A, Tahir AM, Ibtehaz N, Hossain MS, et al.
    Comput Biol Med, 2022 Mar;142:105238.
    PMID: 35077938 DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2022.105238
    Harnessing the inherent anti-spoofing quality from electroencephalogram (EEG) signals has become a potential field of research in recent years. Although several studies have been conducted, still there are some vital challenges present in the deployment of EEG-based biometrics, which is stable and capable of handling the real-world scenario. One of the key challenges is the large signal variability of EEG when recorded on different days or sessions which impedes the performance of biometric systems significantly. To address this issue, a session invariant multimodal Self-organized Operational Neural Network (Self-ONN) based ensemble model combining EEG and keystroke dynamics is proposed in this paper. Our model is tested successfully on a large number of sessions (10 recording days) with many challenging noisy and variable environments for the identification and authentication tasks. In most of the previous studies, training and testing were performed either over a single recording session (same day) only or without ensuring appropriate splitting of the data on multiple recording days. Unlike those studies, in our work, we have rigorously split the data so that train and test sets do not share the data of the same recording day. The proposed multimodal Self-ONN based ensemble model has achieved identification accuracy of 98% in rigorous validation cases and outperformed the equivalent ensemble of deep CNN models. A novel Self-ONN Siamese network has also been proposed to measure the similarity of templates during the authentication task instead of the commonly used simple distance measure techniques. The multimodal Siamese network reduces the Equal Error Rate (EER) to 1.56% in rigorous authentication. The obtained results indicate that the proposed multimodal Self-ONN model can automatically extract session invariant unique non-linear features to identify and authenticate users with high accuracy.
  6. Fulltext Evaluation of pharmaceutically compounded oral caffeine on the impact of medication adherence and risk of readmission among preterm neonates: A single-center quasi-experimental study
    Ambreen G, Kumar M, Ali A, Shah SAA, Saleem SM, Tahir A, et al.
    PLoS One, 2022;17(11):e0275655.
    PMID: 36350877 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0275655
    BACKGROUND: Caffeine is available in an ampoule, used via parenteral and enteral routes in preterm neonates to treat apnea of prematurity (AOP) in neonates of gestational age ≥ 35-40 weeks. A longer duration of therapy has a higher risk of medication non-adherence due to higher costs and inappropriate dosage forms. Pharmaceutically compounded oral caffeine (PCC) could be an appropriate alternate dosage form. The researchers aimed to determine the impact of PCC on medication-related factors influencing medication adherence (MA) and the frequency of hospital readmission with apnea (HRA) in preterm neonates.

    METHODS: We conducted a single-center quasi-experimental study for this quality improvement project using PCC among the preterm neonates admitted in a tertiary care level-III NICU at the Aga Khan University Hospital Karachi, Pakistan, received caffeine therapy, and survived at discharge. The researchers compared pre-PCC data (April-December 2017) with post-PCC data (April-Dec 2018) each for nine months, with three months intervals (January-March 2018) of PCC formulation and implementation phase. The study was conducted according to the SQUIRE2.0 guidelines. The Data were collated on factors influencing MA, including the cost of therapy, medication refill rates, and parental complaints as primary outcome measures. The Risk factors of HRA were included as secondary outcomes.

    RESULTS: After PCC implementation cost of therapy was reduced significantly from Rs. 97000.0 (729.0 USD) to Rs. 24500.0 (185.0 USD) (p<0.001), significantly higher (p<0.001) number of patients completed remaining refills (77.6% pre-phase vs 97.5% post-phase). The number of parental complaints about cost, ampoule usage, medication drawing issue, wastage, inappropriate dosage form, and longer duration of therapy reduced significantly in post-phase. HRA reduced from 25% to 6.6% (p<0.001). Post-implementation of PCC (RR 0.14; 95% CI: 0.07-0.27) was a significant independent risk factor for reducing HRA using a multivariate analysis model. Longer duration of caffeine therapy after discharge (RR 1.05; 95% CI: 1.04-1.04), those who were born in multiple births (RR 1.15; 95% CI: 1.15-1.15), and those who had higher number of siblings were other significant independent risk factors for HRA.

    CONCLUSIONS: PCC dispensation in the appropriate dosage form at discharge effectively reduced cost, non-adherence to therapy, and risk of hospital readmissions. This neonatal clinical and compounding pharmacist-led model can be replicated in other resource-limiting setting.

  7. UHPLC-MS phytochemical profiling, biological propensities and in-silico studies of Alhagi maurorum roots: a medicinal herb with multifunctional properties
    Saleem H, Sarfraz M, Khan KM, Anwar MA, Zengin G, Ahmad I, et al.
    Drug Dev Ind Pharm, 2020 May;46(5):861-868.
    PMID: 32352878 DOI: 10.1080/03639045.2020.1762199
    The biological, chemical, and in silico properties of methanol and dichloromethane (DCM) extracts of Alhagi maurorum roots with respect to the antioxidant, enzyme inhibition, and phytochemical composition were evaluated. Total bioactive contents were determined spectrophotometrically, and the individual secondary metabolites composition was assessed via ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS) analysis. Antioxidant capacities were evaluated using a panoply of assays (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2'-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) free radical scavenging, ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), cupric reducing antioxidant power (CUPRAC), phosphomolybdenum total antioxidant capacity (TAC), and metal chelating activity (MCA)). The enzyme inhibition potential was studied against acetylcholinesterase (AChE), butyrylcholinesterase (BChE), α-amylase, α-glucosidase, tyrosinase, urease and lipoxygenase (LOX) enzymes. The methanol extract was found to contain higher total phenolic (105.91 mg GAE/g extract) and flavonoid (2.27 mg RE/g extract) contents which can be correlated to its more substantial antioxidant potential as well as AChE, BChE, tyrosinase and α-glucosidase inhibition. However, the DCM extract was the most effective against α-amylase (1.86 mmol ACAE/g extract) enzyme inhibition. The UHPLC-MS analysis of methanol extract identified the tentative presence of a total of 18 secondary metabolites, including flavonoids, saponins, phenolic and terpenoid derivatives. Three compounds named emmotin A, luteolin 5,3'-dimethyl ether, and preferrugone were further investigated for their in silico molecular docking studies against the tested enzymes. The selected compounds were found to have higher binding interaction with AChE followed by BChE, α-glucosidase, α-amylase, and tyrosinase. The results of the present study have demonstrated A. mauroram to be considered as a lead source of natural antioxidant and enzyme inhibitor compounds.
  8. Fulltext The 3D Printability and Mechanical Properties of Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) as Additives in Urethane Dimethacrylate (UDMA) Blends Polymer for Medical Application
    Abu Bakar AA, Zainuddin MZ, Abdullah SM, Tamchek N, Mohd Noor IS, Alauddin MS, et al.
    Polymers (Basel), 2022 Oct 25;14(21).
    PMID: 36365512 DOI: 10.3390/polym14214518
    The integration of additive manufacturing (3D printing) in the biomedical sector required material to portray a holistic characteristic in terms of printability, biocompatibility, degradability, and mechanical properties. This research aims to evaluate the 3D printability and mechanical properties of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) as additives in the urethane dimethacrylate (UDMA) based resin and its potential for medical applications. The printability of the PHB/UDMA resin blends was limited to 11 wt.% as it reached the maximum viscosity value at 2188 cP. Two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was also conducted to assess the significant effect of the varied PHB (wt.%) incorporation within UDMA resin, and the aging duration of 3D printed PHB/UDMA on mechanical properties in terms of tensile and impact properties. Meanwhile, the increasing crystallinity index (CI) of X-ray diffraction (XRD) in the 3D printed PHB/UDMA as the PHB loading increased, indicating that there is a strong correlation with the lower tensile and impact strength. FESEM images also proved that the agglomerations that occurred within the UDMA matrix had affected the mechanical performance of 3D printed PHB/UDMA. Nonetheless, the thermal stability of the 3D printed PHB/UDMA had only a slight deviation from the 3D printed UDMA since it had better thermal processability.
  9. Fulltext Potential impact of ultrasound, pulsed electric field, high-pressure processing and microfludization against thermal treatments preservation regarding sugarcane juice (Saccharum officinarum)
    Mukhtar K, Nabi BG, Arshad RN, Roobab U, Yaseen B, Ranjha MMAN, et al.
    Ultrason Sonochem, 2022 Nov;90:106194.
    PMID: 36242792 DOI: 10.1016/j.ultsonch.2022.106194
    Sugarcane juice (Saccharum officinarum) is a proven nutritious beverage with high levels of antioxidants, polyphenols, and other beneficial nutrients. It has recently gained consumer interest due to its high nutritional profile and alkaline nature. Still, high polyphenolic and sugar content start the fermentation in juice, resulting in dark coloration. Lately, some novel techniques have been introduced to extend shelf life and improve the nutritional value of sugarcane juice. The introduction of such processing technologies is beneficial over conventional processes and essential for producing chemical-free, high-quality, fresh juices. The synergistic impact of these novel technologies is also advantageous for preserving sugarcane juice. In literature, novel thermal, non-thermal and hurdle technologies have been executed to preserve sugarcane juice. These technologies include high hydrostatic pressure (HHP), ultrasound (US), pulsed electric field (PEF), ultraviolet irradiation (UV), ohmic heating (OH), microwave (MW), microfludization and ozone treatment. This review manifests the impact of novel thermal, non-thermal, and synergistic technologies on sugarcane juice processing and preservation characteristics. Non-thermal techniques have been successfully proved effective and showed better results than novel thermal treatments. Because they reduced microbial load and retained nutritional content, while thermal treatments degraded nutrients and flavor of sugarcane juice. Among non-thermal treatments, HHP is the most efficient technique for the preservation of sugarcane juice while OH is preferable in thermal techniques due to less nutritional loss.
  10. Fulltext An IoMT-Enabled Smart Healthcare Model to Monitor Elderly People Using Machine Learning Technique
    Khan MF, Ghazal TM, Said RA, Fatima A, Abbas S, Khan MA, et al.
    Comput Intell Neurosci, 2021;2021:2487759.
    PMID: 34868288 DOI: 10.1155/2021/2487759
    The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) enables digital devices to gather, infer, and broadcast health data via the cloud platform. The phenomenal growth of the IoMT is fueled by many factors, including the widespread and growing availability of wearables and the ever-decreasing cost of sensor-based technology. The cost of related healthcare will rise as the global population of elderly people grows in parallel with an overall life expectancy that demands affordable healthcare services, solutions, and developments. IoMT may bring revolution in the medical sciences in terms of the quality of healthcare of elderly people while entangled with machine learning (ML) algorithms. The effectiveness of the smart healthcare (SHC) model to monitor elderly people was observed by performing tests on IoMT datasets. For evaluation, the precision, recall, fscore, accuracy, and ROC values are computed. The authors also compare the results of the SHC model with different conventional popular ML techniques, e.g., support vector machine (SVM), K-nearest neighbor (KNN), and decision tree (DT), to analyze the effectiveness of the result.
  11. Fulltext Conservation tillage improves productivity of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) under reduced irrigation on sandy loam soil
    Sher A, Arfat MY, Ul-Allah S, Sattar A, Ijaz M, Manaf A, et al.
    PLoS One, 2021;16(12):e0260673.
    PMID: 34932582 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0260673
    Sunflower production is significantly lower in arid and semi-arid regions due to various crop management problem. Conservation of tillage provides the most excellent opportunity to reduce degradation of soil reserves and increase soil productivity. The main objective of this study was to investigate the combined effects of conservation tillage and drought stress on growth and productivity of different sunflower hybrids. Experimental treatments included two sunflower hybrids ('NK-Senji' and 'S-278'), two drought stress treatments (i.e., well-watered and drought stress at flowering and grain filling stages) and three tillage practices (i.e., conservation, minimum and deep tillage). The results indicated that morphological and physiological parameters, and yield-related traits were significantly (P≤0.05) affected by all individual factors; however, their interactive effects were non-significant. Among sunflower hybrids, 'NK-Senji' performed better for morphological, physiological, and yield-related traits than 'S-278'. Similarly, conservation tillage observed better traits compared to the rest of the tillage practices included in the study. Nonetheless, conservation tillage improved growth and yield-related traits of hybrid 'NK-Senji' under drought stress. Hence, it is concluded that conservation tillage can improve the productivity of sunflower under low moisture availability. Therefore, conservation tillage could be suggested in the areas of lower water ability to improve sunflower production. Nonetheless, sunflower hybrids or varieties need thorough testing for their adaptability to conservation tillage and low moisture availability before making recommendations.
  12. Fulltext Smartphone apps as a technological innovation for weight reduction: a systematic review and meta-analysis. [Abstract]
    Muhammad Faiz Mohd Ishak, Safirah Jaan Jaafar, Noor Hazmi Noor Hassim, Azmawati Mohammed Nawi, Rohaizat Mohd Hassan, Norfazilah Ahmad
    Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences, 2019;15(106):51-51.
    MyJurnal
    ABSTRACTS FOR THE 1ST INTERNATIONAL BORNEO HEALTHCARE AND PUBLIC HEALTH CONFERENCE AND 4TH BORNEO TROPICAL MEDICINE AND INFECTIOUS DISEASE CONGRESS
    New Frontiers in Health: Expecting the Unexpected
    Held at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences,
    Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia On 3rd-5th September 2019

    Introduction: Obesity is a global epidemic with major healthcare implications and costs. The availability of Smart-phone app as a new technological innovation developed is increasing rapidly. This new technological innovation can have a huge potential for interventions to help weight loss and combat obesity. To perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies to compare the effectiveness of Smartphone apps compared with other methods to promote weight loss and obesity. Methods: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of relevant studies identified by a search of independently screened studies for inclusion criteria and extracted data. We included arti-cles that assessed any (Smartphone/Mobile phone app intervention with anthropometric measurement like weight/BMI, waist circumference), adult or children population then exclude articles in which the primary outcome is not weight/BMI/Waist circumference, non-original articles (Reviews, Editorials, Non-research letters), case reports or case series, non RCT study design, participant with co-morbidities or condition like pregnancy and Intervention using SMS or any text messaging. Results: We included 7 articles in this systematic review and meta-analysis. This me-ta-analysis shows that smartphone app interventions compared with conventional or other interventions is non-sig-nificant decreases in body weight, with the pooled estimates of the net change in body weight being -1.62 kg (95% CI –3.61 to 0.36; I2 = 93%). Pooled results indicated a non-significant net difference in BMI between smart phone app and control intervention groups (WMD 0.26 kg/m2, 95% CI -0.83 to 1.34; I2 = 68%). For waist circumference, there is non-significant net difference in BMI between smart phone app and control intervention groups (WMD -5.2 cm 95% CI --0.15 to 4.60; I2 = 93%). Conclusion: Smartphone apps intervention alone is not producing substantial evidence of weight loss despite there might be effective for certain groups. However, there are still explorable pros-pect on the use of smartphone app in combination of other approach to assist and promote weight loss as the use of smartphone are proven to influence health related behavioural modification.
  13. Fulltext microRNA-221 and tamoxifen resistance in luminal-subtype breast cancer patients: A case-control study
    Amiruddin A, Massi MN, Islam AA, Patellongi I, Pratama MY, Sutandyo N, et al.
    Ann Med Surg (Lond), 2022 Jan;73:103092.
    PMID: 35079352 DOI: 10.1016/j.amsu.2021.103092
    Background: Around 70% of breast cancers (BCs) are estrogen receptor-α (ERα)-positive. Adjuvant endocrine therapy is used to reduce estrogen levels and inhibit signal transduction through the ER. The anti-estrogen drugs that are most commonly used in endocrine therapy belong to the selective ER modulator (SERM) class and include tamoxifen. Although it has been used for three decades in cases of early-stage and ERα-positive BC, resistance to tamoxifen is a common problem. microRNAs (miRNAs) have a potential role in demonstrating BC resistance to tamoxifen therapy. Hence, there is a need to investigate the expression of miRNA-221 (miR-221) in luminal-subtype BC patients receiving tamoxifen therapy.

    Methods: This case-control study investigated luminal-subtype BC patients who had undergone endocrine therapy for at least 1 year. The case group comprised patients with local or metastatic recurrence, and the control group comprised patients without local or metastatic recurrence.

    Results: There was a significant difference in miR-221 expression (p = 0.005) between the case and control groups. There were no significant differences between the groups that were positive and negative for the progesterone receptor (PR) (p = 0.25), had high and low marker of proliferation Ki-67 levels (p = 0.60), were positive and negative for lymphovascular invasion (p = 0.14), and had stage 2 and stage 3 cancer (p = 0.25).

    Conclusion: miR-221 expression was higher in tamoxifen-resistant BC cases. miR-221 is a potential biomarker of tamoxifen resistance.

  14. Fulltext Linking Corporate Social Responsibility to Workplace Deviant Behaviors: Mediating Role of Job Satisfaction
    Memon KR, Zada M, Ghani B, Ullah R, Azim MT, Mubarik MS, et al.
    Front Psychol, 2021;12:803481.
    PMID: 35035376 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.803481
    The purpose of this article is to present a mechanism through which the deviant work behaviors of employees can be dealt-with positively through corporate good deeds in the form of fulfilling social responsibilities. Based on the spirit of social identity theory and social exchange theory, the study explores the relationships of various deviant behaviors with corporate social responsibility (CSR) through the mediation mechanism of job satisfaction. Data were collected from 385 employees of 40 large manufacturing organizations involved in CSR activities operating in Pakistan. A self-report survey was conducted using a close-ended questionnaire. Data analysis was performed using SEM through Mplus 7. The results reveal that both internal and external CSR contribute to the reduced level of turnover intention, counterproductive work behaviors, and prohibitive voice behaviors. Job satisfaction fully mediates the relationship for internal CSR while partially mediates for external CSR. The study encourages the practitioners to avail approaches that convey the feelings of care, concern, and safety, representing internal CSR practices through diverse HR interventions, organizational support, and justice. They should also keep up the socially responsible behaviors aiming toward the larger community.
  15. Fulltext Reliability and validity of the physical activity questionnaire for older children (PAQ-C) in Malay language
    Nor Azian Mohd Zaki, Norhafizah Sahril, Mohd Azahadi Omar, Muhammad Hasnan Ahmad, Azli Baharudin, Noor Safiza Mohd Nor
    Int J Public Health Res, 2016;6(1):670-676.
    MyJurnal
    Introduction Physical activity assessment in children is the first step in assessing the
    relationship between activity and health, as well as the determinants of
    childhood physical activity and changes in activity level.Physical Activity
    Questionnaire for Older Children (PAQ-C) is self- administered
    questionnaire to assess physical activity among older children. The objective
    of this study was to determine the validity and reliability of Physical Activity
    Questionnaire for Older Children in Malay language PAQ-C (M).

    Methods The validation study was done among 73 students aged 10 to 17 years old.
    The PAQ-C was translated into Malay language using forward and backward
    translation. The evaluation of the psychometric properties included internal
    consistency, test-retest reliability and criterion validity. Reliability of PAQ-C
    (M) was determined using Cronbach alpha and intra-class correlation
    coefficient (ICC). The PAQ-C (M) was administered twice in one week
    interval to assess test-retest reliability. Criterion validity was assessed
    between PAQ-C (M) and 3 Day Physical Activity Recall (3DPAR).

    Results The internal consistency of PAQ-C (M) assessment calculated in this study
    was α = 0.75 and α = 0.77 for assessments one and two, respectively. The
    ICC between individual items of PAQ-C (M) was 0.59 to 0.91, indicating
    moderate to good correlation. The Spearmen correlation coefficient between
    PAQ-C (M) and 3DPARwas acceptable (r=0.60, p
  16. Fulltext A survey on the usage and demand of medical radioisotope & radiopharmaceuticals in Malaysia
    Muhammad Fakhrurazi Ahmad Fadzil, Siti Selina Abdul Hamid, Siti Najila Mohd Janib, Azahari Kasbollah, Syed Asraf Fahlawi Wafa
    Journal of Nuclear and Related Technologies, 2015;12(2):38-53.
    MyJurnal
    Medical radioisotope is a small quantity of radioactive substance used in safe, cost effective, for the
    purpose of diagnostic and therapy of various diseases. In Malaysia, the emerging of new nuclear
    medicine centers or institutions in both government and private sectors rose abruptly for the past few
    years. Currently, there are no data available on the usage and demand of medial radioisotope or
    radiopharmaceuticals. Understanding the usage trending and demand of radiopharmaceuticals and
    medical radioisotope is essential when related to technology changes in order to meet the market size
    of these radiopharmaceuticals. Survey result found out that the highest demand and the highest usage
    among all radioisotopes are Technetium-99m and Radioiodine isotopes such as the Iodine-131, Iodine-
    131 MIBG, Iodine-123 and Iodine-123 MIBG. Currently, most of the medical isotopes and
    radiopharmaceuticals are currently imported. Technetium-99m is the backbone of nuclear medicine
    whereby more than 80% of Nuclear Medicine services utilize this radioisotope. Technetium-99m supply
    chain is unstable globally and in coming future, two main reactors (Canada & Holland) that produces
    60% of world Molybdenum-99 will shut down the operation and supply of Molybdenum-99 will be
    disrupted. As for radioiodine services, currently, Iodine-123 can't be obtained in Malaysia and
    neighboring countries due to its short half-life. Iodine-123 is useful in diagnostic of thyroid related
    diseases. As for PET services, the highest demands are F-18 FDG and Gallium-68 Generator for the
    moment. However the survey data still did not, include most of the PET centers in the Klang Valley,
    northern area (Penang) and the new upcoming PET center in Southern Region (Malacca and Johor).
    It is important for Malaysia to self-produced medical radioisotope and radiopharmaceuticals to meet
    the market and local demand of these medical isotopes.
  17. Fulltext Evaluation of medication use in Malaysian predialysis patients
    Salman M, Khan AH, Adnan AS, Syed Sulaiman SA, Shehzadi N, Asif N, et al.
    Saudi J Kidney Dis Transpl, 2017 5 26;28(3):517-523.
    PMID: 28540887 DOI: 10.4103/1319-2442.206451
    Chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients suffer from multiple comorbidities and complications as a cause or consequence of kidney disease. Information regarding medication- prescribing patterns in predialysis patients is sparse. We conducted a retrospective study to evaluate the medication prescription patterns among predialysis patients. Medical records (both paper based and computerized) of patients at CKD Resource Centre, Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia, were reviewed. A total of 615 eligible cases were included in the study. The mean number of medications prescribed per patient was 8.22 ± 2.81, and medication use was correlated to the renal function (stage 3a < stage 3b < stage 4 < stage 5; P <0.001). The top three prescribed medication groups were found to be lipid-lowering agents, calcium channel blockers, and antiplatelet agents. Some medication classes such as nonaluminum/noncalcium phosphate binders, erythropoietin-stimulating agents, and renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system blockers, particularly in advanced stage, were found to be underutilized. In conclusion, predialysis patients are prescribed a large number of medications. Our findings highlight the need for assessing the impact of current medication-prescribing patterns on morbidity and mortality rates in Malaysian predialysis population.
  18. Prevalence and prediction of pressure ulcers in admitted stroke patients in a tertiary care hospital
    Farid J, Amin R, Sheikh MA, Irfan M, AlRuwaili R, Alruwaili M, et al.
    J Tissue Viability, 2022 Nov;31(4):768-775.
    PMID: 35941057 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtv.2022.07.010
    Pressure ulcer (PU) is a localized injury to the skin or underlying tissues usually over a bony prominence, which results due to pressure or pressure in combination with shear. It is an expensive health care problem that have deterring impact on the length of hospitalization and cause extra nursing care time. Moreover, PUs negatively impacts patients' health related quality of life. High PUs prevalence figures were found in specialized hospital units such as intensive care unit (ICU), orthopedics, surgery, and also in stroke patients in medical units. The major purpose of this study is to assess the frequency of pressure ulcers in stroke patients at Ayub teaching hospital. The methodology used for carrying out the research was cross-sectional study conducted during months of September, October, and November 2020. Questionnaire was used to collect the data and well-informed written consent was taken from the patients. A total of 120 stroke patients were initially included with the intention to study the frequency of PUs among them. Different age groups were taken but majority (48.3%) belonged to the age group 31-60 years. Maximum patients were hypertensive (65%), while few of them were diabetic (35%). From the results of proposed work, it is found that out of 120 stroke patients, 75.8% presented with ischemic stroke while 24.2% presented with hemorrhagic stroke. 8.3% that is 10 out of 120 stroke patients developed pressure ulcers of grade 1 (1.7%), grade 2 (1.7%), grade 3 (2.5%), and grade 4 (2.5%) mostly in the sacral region (6.7%) and also on ankle (0.8%), and shoulder (0.8%) respectively. Patients in the study group had unsatisfactory hygiene (6.7%) were malnourished (11.7%) and were not using preventive mattresses (79.2%). Those at the risk of developing pressure ulcers were not being repositioned (6.7%) and did not had awareness (10%). Prevention and treatment used in ward is 100%. Conclusively, the frequency of pressure ulcers in stroke patients was determined to be 8.3% and the most frequent localization was sacrum. The PU care in this hospital is appropriate but still could be improved further by improving risk assessment, prevention specially use of air mattress and patient education regarding PUs. The main objective of the study is to identify the frequency of PUs in stroke patients and to highlight various factors that would avoid PUs development.
  19. Development of a single-run liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis for the detection of 11 multiclass contaminants of emerging concern using a direct filtration method
    Razak MR, Aris AZ, Sukatis FF, Zaki MRM, Zainuddin AH, Haron DEM, et al.
    J Sep Sci, 2023 Jan;46(1):e2200282.
    PMID: 36337037 DOI: 10.1002/jssc.202200282
    In toxicological analysis, the analytical validation method is important to assess the exact risk of contaminants of emerging concern in the environment. Syringe filters are mainly used to remove impurities from sample solutions. However, the loss of analyte to the syringe filter could be considerable, causing an underestimate of the analyte concentrations. The current study develops and validates simultaneous liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis using a direct filtration method to detect four groups of contaminants of emerging concern. The adsorption of the analyte onto three different matrices and six types of syringe filters is reported. The lowest adsorption of analytes was observed in methanol (16.72%), followed by deionized water (48.19%) and filtered surface lake water (48.94%). Irrespective of the type of the matrices, the lowest average adsorption by the syringe filter was observed in the 0.45 μm polypropylene membrane (15.15%), followed by the 0.20 μm polypropylene membrane (16.10%), the 0.20 μm regenerated cellulose (16.15%), the 0.20 μm polytetrafluoroethylene membrane (47.38%), the 0.45 μm nylon membrane (64.87%) and the 0.20 μm nylon membrane (71.30%). In conclusion, the recommended syringe filter membranes for contaminants of emerging concern analysis are polypropylene membranes and regenerated cellulose, regardless of the matrix used.
  20. Fulltext Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) Sensors for Hip Implant: A Numerical and Computational Feasibility Investigation Using Finite Element Methods
    Hafizh M, Soliman MM, Qiblawey Y, Chowdhury MEH, Islam MT, Musharavati F, et al.
    Biosensors (Basel), 2023 Jan 02;13(1).
    PMID: 36671914 DOI: 10.3390/bios13010079
    In this paper, a surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensor for hip implant geometry was proposed for the application of total hip replacement. A two-port SAW device was numerically investigated for implementation with an operating frequency of 872 MHz that can be used in more common radio frequency interrogator units. A finite element analysis of the device was developed for a lithium niobate (LiNBO3) substrate with a Rayleigh velocity of 3488 m/s on COMSOL Multiphysics. The Multiphysics loading and frequency results highlighted a good uniformity with numerical results. Afterwards, a hip implant geometry was developed. The SAW sensor was mounted at two locations on the implant corresponding to two regions along the shaft of the femur bone. Three discrete conditions were studied for the feasibility of the implant with upper- and lower-body loading. The loading simulations highlighted that the stresses experienced do not exceed the yield strengths. The voltage output results indicated that the SAW sensor can be implanted in the hip implant for hip implant-loosening detection applications.
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