Introduction: Early childhood development (ECD) refers to cognitive, emotional and social development of young children. First three years of life are very crucial for ECD because during this time, brain grows fastest and is most responsive and receptive. Plenty of new connections (synapses) are formed in brain so that children acquire 85% of adult’s brain volume by this age. Proper nutrition and positive stimulation are essential during this time. Play positively stimulates the brain and helps to create more, healthy inter-neuronal connections. The objective of this review was to make a constellation of research works and explore to learn the concept of ECD and its relationship with play. Methods: An extensive literature search was done using the key words: ‘early childhood development and play’; ‘play and brain development in children’; ‘neuroplasticity and play’; ‘how do children learn’; ‘synaptic connections and early childhood development’; and ‘can play make children intelligent’. The databases explored for the resources included Medline (PubMed), PsycINFO, Teacher Reference Center, Child Encyclopedia, Health & Education Advice & Resource Team (HEART) database, Catholic Relief Services database, UNICEF & World Bank databases, and Cochrane review. Results: The result of the review work showed that play has a temporal and linear relationship with cognitive and social development among preschool children. Conclusion: In this era of screen addiction, parents spend free time in social media and the kids playing or watching video games. It is contextual to propagate the concept of ECD and raise the awareness so that parents are motivated to spend more time playing with their children. No investment in human capital can be worth more than this.
Introduction: Zika infection was declared as Public Health Emergency of International Concern since year 2015. Despite of no new reported case via National Surveillance System for flavivirus, an underestimated seroprevalence might occur as the country contributes to the Asian lineage of the virus. Methods: Systematic literature search using PICO framework and PRISMA checklist across four databases for articles published from year 2013-2018 yielded 189 results, 37 articles accepted by titles following criteria were subjected to abstract screening, leaving 8 articles with clear risk proceed to full text analysis using Cochrane checklist and GRADE assessment. Results: There were four high quality articles and four low quality articles based on biases in studies. Blood product management and vac-cination are strategies strongly recommended to be implemented as Zika response while vector control and family planning are public health measures to be proposed as policy if feasible. Successful factors to improve Zika surveil-lance and management includes developing algorithm for blood product management, anti-Zika vaccine research, algorithm for new-born screening, participation of policy makers, healthcare capacity building, raising healthcare and public awareness on the infection, international funding, utilization of technology in data management and bio-logical control of vector. Conclusion: Implementation of Zika response as policy is timely, should be evidence-based and follow guidelines from WHO / CDC / FDA US after cost-effectiveness evaluation for Malaysia setting.
As the sugar intake of Malaysians is one of the highest in the Asia Pacific region, we wanted to investigate how this high prevalence of ‘sweet tooth’ is influenced by biological determinants like age, gender, ethnicity and Body Mass Index (BMI). Therefore, this study was to determine the demographic and BMI differences of preference, intake frequency and craving of a list of sweet beverages and food among Malaysian subjects. Convenience sampling was performed around Kuala Lumpur, with informed consents, involving 367 multi-ethnic subjects (163 males, 204 females; 83 Malays, 201 Chinese, 83 Indians; 209 lean, 158 overweight). Demographics and anthropometric measurements were taken and questionnaire on the preference/frequency/craving of a list of 22 sweet food and beverages with a 7 point hedonic scale (from 1= very unpleasant/never/never crave to 7 = very pleasant/at least once a day/ always crave) was performed. Females significantly preferred more, took less frequently but had equal craving of sweet foods compared to males. Lean subjects and those
The pandemic of obesity is of great concern as its associated co-morbidities are devastating; causing lifelong burden to individual’s health and is economically costly to a country. Factors that lead to obesity are a combination of environmental and genetic factors. The Pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) gene resides in chromosome 2p23.3, and its protein is composed of 241 amino acids which is responsible for the production of polyhormones that regulate appetite and food intake. The study aimed to investigate the prevalence of the RsaI single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) site in the 5’-untranslated region (UTR) of POMC and its possible association with obesity among 302 multi-ethnic Malaysian subjects (142 obese, 160 non-obese; 120 males, 182 females) from the Kampar Health Clinic. Subjects were recruited by convenience sampling with informed consent and socio-demographic data as well as anthropometric measurements were taken. Subjects were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction - restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis using DNA extracted from blood. The distribution of the RsaI genotypes was significantly different among the different ethnicities, but the mutated RsaI (- / -) genotype was rare as it only occurred in 8.9% of the subjects. With the frequency of the RsaI (-) allele of 0.31, it was associated with the percentage of skeletal muscles (p
Introduction: To date, lung cancer has become increasingly prevalent and remains the leading cause of cancer-related death in both sexes, globally. Despite the advances of cancer treatment, systemic chemotherapy remains as the major treatment option for lung cancer. Nevertheless, the trend of chemotherapy resistance has restricted the efficacy of the chemotherapy treatment, thus leading the urge to develop an alternative chemotherapeutic agent which could give a promising treatment effect. Short peptides have acquired increasing interest as promising therapeutics due to its anticancer potential, rapid kinetics, high potency and low biocompatibility issue. In search of novel anti-cancer leads, the main objective of this study is to evaluate the in vitro antiproliferative properties of hybridized peptide analogues against human lung adenocarcinoma (A549) cell line. Methods: ND and DN analogues were designed based on two parent peptides, NDC1 and NDC2, through fragments hybridization approach. Modification of amino acid residues at specific positions of NDC1 and NDC2 was done at the C-terminal. Then, MTT assay was performed to examine the antiproliferative activities of NDC1, NDC2, NDs and DNs against A549 cells at concentrations ranging from 2-256μg/mL for 24 hours. Results: Findings obtained showed that the parental peptides, NDC1 and NDC2, exhibited IC50 values of 47.5±4.950μg/mL and 239±9.899μg/mL, respectively. All NDs showed excellent antiproliferative activities with IC50 values ranging from 22-71μg/mL. Nevertheless, all DNs did not display antiproliferative activity when tested up to 256μg/mL. We speculated that increased valine and isoleucine with decreased aspartic acid composition in NDs might be associated with their intermediate cytotoxicity strength, comparing with the parent peptides. However, the location of other amino acids in the peptide sequence should still be further investigated as it contributes to the peptide structure, hence leading to its selectivity and potency. Conclusion: As a conclusion, NDs could be further explored to develop a potent anti-cancer therapeutic drug.
Introduction: Sleep deprivation is a concern in young adults and the use of mobile phone is very common in this population. This study aimed to measure and correlate the sleep quality, pattern of sleep and problematic mobile phone use in young medical students. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Problematic Mobile Phone Use Scale (PMPUS) and Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) among medical students in a Malaysian medical college. Correlation among the variables was done using bi-variate analysis followed by Pearson correlation coefficient and 2-tailed significance. A level for p 0.05 was con- sidered as statistically significant. Results: We found significant positive correlation between poor sleep quality and total problematic mobile phone use as well as its sub dimensions, namely deprivation, adverse outcomes and control disorder. PSQI score showed significant negative correlation with different patterns of MEQ like moderate evening, late sleepers, moderate morning and early risers. Positive correlation of the PSQI with sub dimension of PMPUS re- flects unhealthy dependency on mobile phone in this population. Conclusion: Our study revealed that the unhealthy use of mobile phone adversely affected sleep quality in the cohort of young medical students. It is thus important for medical schools to formulate policies and create educational programs vis-a-vis sleep health and to increase aware- ness regarding controlled mobile phone usage.
Study site: Indian campus of a Malaysian-Indian University
Introduction: Hypertension is a condition where there is persistently raised pressure in the blood vessels. In Malay-sia, higher prevalence of hypertension could be explained by lifestyle factors such as higher rates of obesity, excess dietary intake of sodium and fat and lack of physical activity. The main objective of this study was to determine the prevalence, risk factors and co-morbidities of hypertension in villagers aged 18 years and above in Kampung Tajau Laut, Kudat, Sabah. Methods: Non-probability convenience sampling method was used to select a total of 210 villagers for interview, anthropometric examinations and blood pressure measurements. House to house and face to face interview by trained year four medical students done using a pretested validated questionnaire. The ques-tionnaire contained data on socioeconomic status, tobacco use, physical activity, diet, extra-salt use, family history of hypertension, co-morbidity, anthropometric measurements and blood pressure. Results: Respondents noted to be hypertensive were 67.6%, and out of this, 61.3% were undiagnosed. There was a significant association between hypertension and family history (Chi-squared test=38.280, p=0.000), hypertension and smoking status (Chi-squared test=7.673, p= 0.006), hypertension and obesity (Chi-squared test= 8.731, p=0.003), hypertension and gender (Chi-squared test=5.126, p=0.024), hypertension and age (Chi-squared test=26.110, p=0.000) of respondents. There was no significant association between hypertension with vegetable intake, fruit intake, physical activity, marital status, ethnicity, economic status, level of education, and occupational status of respondents. Half of the known hyperten-sive respondents have comorbidities with most commonly being dyslipidaemia and diabetes mellitus. Conclusion: Hypertension was found to have a significant association with family history, smoking status, obesity, age and gender among the studied population.
Introduction: Pesticides may influence the physicochemical properties of soil and the water quality parameters, which is vital in maintaining soil fertility and producing high quality crops. Objective: This study aims to determine the relationship between the concentration of pesticides, the physicochemical properties of the paddy soil samples and the water quality parameters of paddy water samples. Methods: A total of 72 soil and 72 water samples were collected in Tanjung Karang, Malaysia. The paddy soil and water were extracted using Quick, Easy, Cheap, Efficient, Rugged and Safe (QuEChERS) and solid phase extraction (SPE) techniques respectively. The concentrations of pesti- cides were analysed in ultra-high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS). The relationship of the concentration of target pesticides and the paddy soil and water physicochemical properties were studied using Spearman correlation. Results: In paddy soil, the concentration of propiconazole shows moderate positive correlation with manganese (Mn) (r = 0.587) (p 0.01). Meanwhile buprofezin-total organic carbon (TOC) (r = -0.55) (p 0.01), imidacloprid-cation exchange capacity (CEC) (r = -0.519) (p 0.01), pymetrozine-sodium (Na) (r = -0.588) (p 0.01), and trifloxystrobin-calcium (Ca) (r = 0.566) (p 0.01) showed moderate negative correlation. Whereas in water, trifloxystrobin showed significant positive correlation with turbidity (r = 0.718) (p 0.01) and te- buconazole showed negative correlation to dissolved oxygen (DO) (r = 0.634) (p 0.01). Conclusion: The presence of pesticides in paddy field may influence the soil and water quality, thus regular monitoring of pesticides usage and nutrient management in soil is deemed important.
The generation of municipal solid waste (MSW) in South East Asian and developing countries has become a serious concern worldwide. Population growth, urbanization, economic productivity and demand for consumption had accelerated the amount of waste generation each year. This paper presents a short definition of MSW landfill, an overview of current status of MSW landfills in Malaysia and generation of solid waste in Malaysia and other neigh- bouring countries.
Introduction: Age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) is an ocular degenerative disorder that associated with impairment of central vision. Oxidative stress plays an important role in the pathogenesis of ARMD. The aim of this study was to determine the level of antioxidant enzymes (catalase and glutathione peroxidase) in tears among Malay ARMD patients. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted between September 2015 and November 2017 among Malay ARMD patients. Schirmer paper was used to collect the tear samples. The level of catalase and glu- tathione peroxidase level in tears was evaluated using commercially available oxidative stress marker kits. Results: A total of 136 Malay ARMD patients were recruited into the study with 68 controls. Mean tear catalase and gluta- thione peroxidase levels were significantly lower in ARMD patients (1348.97 SD 109.11 µM and 453.87 SD 41.96 U/L respectively) as compared to the control group (1453.38 SD 38.87 µM and 502.28 SD 34.29 U/L respectively) (P
Introduction: A cross-sectioned study was carried out on 1016 drug addicts from Johor state to better understand their profile.
Method: A structured questionnaire prepared in three languages was used to collect the data which was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences.
Result & Discussion: The overall mean age of the respondents was 33.8 (95% CI= 33.3 - 34.4) years and ranged from 16 to 61 years. ANOVA post hoc multiple comparison tests showed that there was a significant difference in the mean age between Malays and Chinese (p<0.05). The majority of the respondents were Malay (79.6%) and had secondary education (72.1%) or primary education (21.7%). The majority (79%) was either semi-skilled or unskilled. More than 70% had mores than five siblings. About 36% of the respondents had past a history of discipline problem at school. The majority (99.6%) of the drugs addicts had smoked before and more than 90% were currently smoking. More than 80% had consumed alcoholic beverages. The majority did not use condom when they had sex. Only 24% stated that they did use a needle or syringe that had previously been used by someone else. Less than 4% had either bleached or boiled the needle or syringe that had previously been used by someone else. About 17% were tested positive for HIV. The mean age at which the respondents first started injecting drugs was 21.5 (95% CI= 20.7 - 22.2) years. ANOVA post hoc multiple comparison tests showed that there was no significant difference in the mean age of the different ethnic groups at which the respondents first started injecting drugs. The majority (84.2%) of the drug addicts started injecting drugs between 10 and 20 years of age. Friends introduced 80% of the drug addicts to drugs. The common reasons given for first taking drugs was " I was curious about the feeling of taking drugs (43.6%), "my friends asked me to try" (23.4%), "to release tension" (15.6%) and 5% stated "to try for fun", and 3% that they were "depressed". The majority (64.2%) of the drug addicts spend RM 500 or more per month on drugs and more than 10% of them spend as much as RM 1000 or more per month.
Conclusion: These results indicate an urgent need for a more comprehensive prevention program involving family, schools, commmunities and the media and aimed at reducing drug abuse. Keywords: Profile, drug addicts, Malaysia
Introduction: The need for ARV (Anti Retro Viral) for the population aged 15-49 years increased from 145,706 in 2011 to 248,903 in 2016. People with HIV/AIDS who received ARVs were estimated at 16.60% in 2011 increased to 18% in 2016. In Indonesia up to September 2014, there were 108,060 people with HIV/AIDS who received ARV therapy from 33 provinces and 300 districts / cities. There were 19,670 people with HIV/AIDS who stopped ARV, 15,046 were not followed up due to various causes and as many as 14,547 died. Methods: This research used a quasi-experimental methods with non equivalent control group design and used a pretest, posttest 1 and posttest 2. There was two groups, the first group was treated using SMS (Short Message Service) reminder and leaflets and the second group was treated with the usual method (counselling). Results: Research with the Mann-Whitney statistical test shows that after 1 month of treatment, there was differences in the average score of knowledge (p value = 0.001), attitude (p value = 0.008), and adherence of Antiretroviral Consumption (p value = 0.010) between the intervention group and the control group. After 2 months of treatment, there was differences in the average knowledge score (p value = 0.001), attitude (p value = 0.001), and adherence of Antiretroviral Consume (p value = 0.001) between the intervention group and the control group. Conclusion: There is the interventions that able to improve the knowledge, attitudes and adherence of taking antiretroviral at PLWHA.
Introduction: The ability of nurses to conduct triage greatly influences the success rate of help when patients expe- rience emergency. The aim of the study was to determine the factors associated with the accuracy of the implemen- tation of triage in the X Hospital's Emergency Departments. Methods: The research method that the researcher used was cross sectional approach. The number of samples were 32 respondents. Questionnaire and observation were used to collect the data. Results: Respondents characteristics (age, sex, education, and tenure) with the accuracy of the triage were obtained by age with p value = 0.386, p value = 1,000 for gender, p value = 0.242 for education, and years of work with p value = 0.000162. Knowledge of respondents with the implementation of the determination of triage p value = 0.045 and motivation of respondents with the accuracy of the implementation of triage p value
= 0.0017. Conclusion: The accuracy of the implementation of triage has no relationship with characteristics (age, sex, education), there is a relationship between knowledge, motivation and years of work with the implementation's accuracy of triage in the Emergency Room X Hospital. Suggestions are expected by the Hospital to make guidelines, triage algorithms, training, regeneration to improve nurse triage knowledge.
Introduction: Worldwide fractures among individuals are a major public health problem. As a result, fracture are the most common cause of severe enduring pain and physical disability, and they affect innumerable globally. It has been studied that nutrients that contain high protein helps in the fracture healing process. Eels contains many nutrients, such as phosphate, calcium, protein, collagen and amino acids that can help bone growth. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of eel flour (Monopterus albus) at multilevel dose content to accelerate the healing process of fracture in male Rattus novergicus Wistar Albino rat. Methods: This study design include experimental study with post-test only on controls group. The wok was conducted from May-June 2019 in the Laboratory of Anat- omy of Stikes Piala Sakti Pariaman. The sampling was purposive sampling technique with a sample size of 24 rats. Results: The results of the ANOVA test have proved that administration of eel flour accelerates the healing process of the fracture showing 0.000, followed by Post Hoc LSD to determine the test of significant differences between groups. Conclusion: It was observed that with the increase in the dose of flour given to Wistar Albino rat fracture healing process became faster. From the present study it was evident that consumption of eel flour can accelerate the process of fracture healing. But there is need for further testing on humans as an effort to test the safety of the dose.
Introduction: Diabetes characterized by hyperglycemia can cause long term damages and malfunction of different organ and systems, especially the eye, kidney, nerve and cardiovascular systems. The main problem in Diabetes Mellitus patients is a difficulty in regulating blood glucose levels. Various attempts were made to reduce blood sugar levels so that patients can be free from insulin. Exercise and diet are the primary therapies in DM patients, but apart from that, relaxation techniques can help patients reduce stress and anxiety levels, which will ultimately have a good effect on lowering glucose levels in the blood. Benson relaxation techniques modified with aromatherapy are expected to provide a relaxing effect so that this condition can have a better impact on reducing blood glucose. The present study aims to look at the effect of Benson relaxation exercises and aromatherapy on blood glucose levels. Methods: The researchers intervened in two groups of respondents. The intervention group conducted Benson relax- ation exercises and aromatherapy while the control group only conducted Benson relaxation. Results: Differences in the average blood glucose levels before and after exercise in the intervention group and in the control group has been observed. Relaxation conditions will provide a good impact for DM patients because at the time of relaxation stress hormones that trigger an increase in blood glucose levels, will not be released by the body. Conclusion: Present study shows that Benson relaxation exercise and aromatherapy is effective for lowering glucose levels.
Introduction: Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) is the most common childhood cancer. The leukemia affects not only the quality of life (QOL) of children but also their caregivers. This study aimed to identify the Quality of Life of parents of children with ALL and to find out the association between QOL of parents of children with ALL and the selected demographic variables. Methods: A descriptive study was conducted to assess the QOL among parents of children with ALL. Non-probability purposive sampling technique was followed to select 70 parents of children with ALL attending oncology Outpatient Department in selected hospitals of Kolkata, West Bengal. Semi-structured inter- view was conducted and the ‘Adult Carer Quality of Life (ACQOL)', the standardized questionnaire was used to assess the quality of life. Results: The study findings revealed that majority (71.43%) of the parents were mother, maximum (77.14%) parents were belonged to the 30-40 years of age group, majority (42.86%) of the parents spent more than 60 hours per week for caring. It was found that majority of the clients 48 (68.57%) had perceived their quality of life as ‘Mid-range'. There was a significant association between QOL and monthly family income and time (in hours) spent for caring per week. Conclusion: The study was believed to be a helpful guide for future study on assessment of Quality of Life of any other caregivers in a large sample for better generalization.
One of the vascular disorders that occurs in the elderly is hypertension. The most severe consequence of this com- plications is stroke. Prevention of hypertension with non-pharmacological therapy like listening to classical music (eg. Mozart). Classical music can stimulate alpha waves in the brain, releasing a peptide called beta-endorphin. This causes a sense of tranquility so that the heart rhythm decreases, and blood pressure drops. The sample in this study were 17 respondents, aged over 60 years. The result of this case report showed an average systolic reduction of 21 mmHg. Before intervention, 53% suffered from stage 2 hypertension (mean systolic 162 mmHg) and after the intervention with classical music therapy for 12 days, 65% recovered with stage 1 hypertension (average systolic 141 mmHg). So, the interventions of listening to classical music, can maintain balance in blood pressure among hypertension patient.
Mentoring has been used in various forms for centuries in education business, and industry. Changes in health main- tenance over the years have stemmed in a nursing lack and insufficient nursing staff. There is evolving proof to hold up the importance of mentorship in other specialties. But in nursing division the proof of mentorship is not properly identified. Mentorship systems are a scheme to help to retain nursing profession. Research reveals mentoring to be valuable for nurse and new graduate nurses to improve retention and reduce their stress. Therefore, the purpose of the survey is to understand recognize attributes of mentorship systems that influenced nursing education programs. The methodologies employed in this study were systematic review. Initial thematic analysis revealed four themes as potential contributions of mentoring to facilitate health care flow amongst nurses. The outcomes of literature review were incorporated to create conceptual model.
Introduction: Aedes sp can transmit various diseases including dengue fever, chikungunya whose symptoms are almost similar to dengue fever. In the recent times a new case is the virus outbreak of Zika. Many efforts have been made to suppress the density of the vector populations with the control of Aedes sp mosquitoes. One of them is by using vegetable larvicides namely garlic solution (Allium sativum). Methods: This research is a pseudo experiment with posttest design with a control group. The aim of this research study is to know the effectiveness of garlic solution in killing the larva Aedes sp. This research sample is 484 tails that are bred by the researchers themselves. The con- centrations used in this study were 0%, 60%, 70%, 80% and 90% with 5 repetitions. The free variable in this study is the concentration of garlic solution and the bound variable is the larva Aedes sp. Results: The results of the study using one-way ANOVA test (p = 0.001) indicate that there are differences in the larvae deaths between each con- centration. Observation by using the Abbot formula at a concentration of 60% it is found to be susceptible in killing of Aedes sp larvae due to the death of larvae at 100%. Conclusion: This means there is a direct relation between the increasing concentration of garlic solution and the number of dead larvae of Aedes sp. So, garlic can be one of the alternatives in vector control that is safe for the environment.
Introduction: Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disease and noted to be incidence is intensifying globally and contem- plated as epidemic. The study is aimed to assess the coronary artery disease risk profile associated diabetes mellitus patient and to identify the clinical pharmacist care services in the management and to control the risk burden in the clinical practice. Method: A prospective observational study was conducted among the consecutive patients of coronary artery disease associated diabetic patients in a tertiary care teaching hospital over 6 months period. A sam- ple of 150 patients was recruited in the study. Data analysis was done with graph pad prism software 5.01. Results: The present study revealed that coronary artery disease in diabetes was more prevalent in age group between 41-50 years. About 54.66% patients with hyperlipidemia were at risk to develop the coronary artery disease complication. Glycated hemoglobin test was detected in 40% of the patient showing abnormal levels and around 43.33% of patient had an abnormal fasting blood sugar level. The study showed only 32% of patients was prescribed Insulin & oral hy- poglycemic agents and 13 % were treated with statins. Conclusion: It could be concluded that the causative factors should be controlled and treated with an early need for amalgamation of clinical pharmacist care services with the health care team on life style modification counseling could ultimately improve the patient health outcomes and also lowers progression of coronary artery disease risk complications among diabetic patients.