Malaysian construction firms have increasingly gained investment opportunities in foreign countries pushed by the competitive and saturated domestic market. However, the entry location decision involves complex factors to be considered by these firms prior to their international operations. Currently, based on a secondary data obtained from the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) Malaysia, there are twelve (12) firms that are actively operating in international markets. The main objective of this preliminary study is to develop an entry location assessment criteria (ELAC) model based on the performance of Malaysian construction firms in international markets. The ELAC formula was derived through a development of taxonomy criteria from previous studies. The construction firms’ performance was analyzed and ranked using a weightage score characterized under three (3) dimensions of country with the taxonomy criteria. First dimension involves entry location decision to countries in ASEAN, Non-ASEAN and both regions, while the second dimension involves entry location decision to ASEAN, Asia, Africa, United States of America and Europe while the third dimension involves entry location decision to countries categorized as Developing Countries (DLC); Least Developed Country (LDC); Newly Industrialized Countries (NIC); Developed Countries (DC); and Highly Developed Countries (HDC). The ELAC score shows that three (3) construction firms which are, Sapura Energy Berhad (66%), Gamuda Berhad (53%) and Sime Darby Berhad (50%) have sustained international operations in various locations by obtaining an ELAC score of more than 50% by venturing to ASEAN countries, developing countries and developed countries. Even though his study is limited to Malaysian construction firms, it provides significant information and contributes to the current knowledge in international market expansion. This ELAC model is useful especially for construction firms that are just beginning to explore foreign business opportunities or for the global players that are expanding geographically to new international markets.
Introduction: Police work has been recognised worldwide as a very stressful job. Those especially in road traffic control department encounter an additional possible cause of fatigue which is noise exposure that rarely being explored. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among traffic police officers in Kuala Lumpur to assess their level of fatigue and its risk factors including noise exposure, work stressors and individual factors. A total of 171 traffic police officers in Kuala Lumpur participated in this study. A set of questionnaires on socio-demographics, work characteristics, perception regarding noise pollution, PSQ and CIS were distributed to 200 traffic police officers in Kuala Lumpur. Five locations with heavy traffic volume in Kuala Lumpur were selected for ambient noise measure- ment, three times a day during peak hour by SLM. Results: The mean age, job tenure and BMI of respondents was 30.49±7.12yo, 4.73±4.62 years and 24.83 respectively. Most of them were Malay (81.9%), married (60.8%), and secondary school graduated (84.8%). The traffic noise exposure levels ranged between 69.50 dB(A) to 82.80 dB(A) (mean = 76.77±4.39 dB(A). Almost 20% of respondents reported to have fatigue level that puts them at risk for sub- sequent work disability. After considering several potential factors, lower educational levels (β=-3.67, p
Introduction: Multidrug resistance bacteria is alarming worldwide. A lot of research were done and are ongoing to search for the best, convenient and economically affordable ways to fight them. With the latest genome editing tool; Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) technology, this research was performed to develop a novel strategy to genetically modify the genome and inhibit the growth of Klebsiella pneumoniae (UPM ESBLKP1), an Extended Spectrum Beta Lactamases (ESBL) organism. Methods: A CRISPR-Cas9 vector was construct- ed together with guide RNAs designed specifically for the targeted uppP gene, a gene responsible for bacterial cell growth and protection. Results: The growth and cell wall integrity of the modified Klebsiella pneumoniae (UPM ESBLKP1) were significantly inhibited and reduced, respectively. Interestingly, wild type Klebsiella pneumoniae showed a normal growth curve while modified strains showed a faster doubling rate when supplemented with Luria-Bertani media. In contrast, slower growth rate of modified strain was observed in the M9 minimal media. This explained the higher doubling rate of mutants on nutrient rich medium earlier is being related to gene recovery. They grew slowly in the minimal media as they were adapting to a new environment while recovering the uppP gene and surviving, proving the success of its gene modification. Conclusion: The developed CRISPR-gRNA system was able to modify the targeted Klebsiella pneumoniae gene hence providing an opportunity to develop a new drug for Klebsiella pneumoniae infection as an alternative to antibiotics.
This conceptual study highlights the relationship between several variables that influence guest’s satisfaction to use self-service technologies in hotel industry. Nowadays, with all kinds of technologies at one’s fingertips, it makes a lot of sense to do without human contact. The evolution of reservation systems, the internet, the smartphone and other technologies now provide significant convenience and savings to hotel guests. In order to facilitate efficient and effective service delivery, hotels are introducing self-service technologies (SSTs) at an increasing pace. By understanding this relationship, it will provide different perspectives of guest’ satisfaction to use SSTs. The objective of this study is to discuss the factors that influence guest’s satisfaction in using SSTs in hotel industry. By referring to the previous research on SSTs, it was found that ease of use, reliability, technology readiness, and interactivity were among the factors enormously discussed by previous researcher. Previous studies have dealt with the consumer’s intention in influencing them to use SSTs in Tourism and Hospitality Industry but only few highlighted the relationship between SSTs with consumer’s satisfaction in hotel industry. Therefore, in this study, researchers will try to gather the literatures that may support the fact that most of hotel business should focus more on the SSTs in enhancing guest experience while staying at hotel premise directly satisfying their needs and wants.
As age advances most of body system will follow a process of deterioration too and the same goes for reproductive health. There is a gap between the prevalence of reproductive health disorders and rates of treatment. This gap among middle aged and older men is still wide compared to other chronic disease. In Islam, seeking medical treatment for the cure of diseases is part of the Prophet’s tradition and the Prophet (PBUH.) said in the Hadith the following: “For every disease there is a medicine, and if that medicine is applied to the disease, he will recover by Allah’s Leave.” Therefore the aim of this study is to identify a health seeking behaviour among men in for men’s health (MH) disorders in Kuantan. A cross sectional study was conducted among 157 respondents from four governments agencies and the data was collected using self-administered questionnaire modified from a valid and reliable measure. The results showed that 68.2% of the respondents (n=107) have high attitude in seeking for health regarding men’s health while for the rest of the respondents (n=50, 31.8%) have low attitude in seeking for MH. Men from the Service factor are perceived the highest compared the other two factors which are cultural and economic factors. This study showed that MH that includes reproductive disorders has always been taken lightly by the community itself. A Lack of awareness regarding ME issue causes men to ignore the importance of health screening. This should be improved in order to produce a healthy community for better Ummahsince good heredity begins with good ME.
Expression of beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (bHCG) mRNA in early cleavage cell stages is important in predicting embryo viability at blastocyst stage of development. Embryo viability is crucial for in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment to be successful in terms of increment of implantation and pregnancy rate. In order to establish fertilization outside the human body, optimum condition mimicking the natural body environment like hormones and growth factors as well as impeccable timing must be established. ImamMuslim narrated from Hudhayfa ibn Asad that the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said: “After the sperm-and-ovum drop (nut.fa) has been [in the uterus] forty-two days, Allah sends it an angel that gives it form and fashions its hearing, sight, skin, flesh, and skeleton”. Therefore the aim of this study is to find the significant association of bHCG expression with early cell stage cleavages and its relationship as predictive marker for potential embryo implantation. Our study focuses on leftover frozen embryos from eight patients consists of six pregnant patients and two non-pregnant patients. We assessed the human bHCG mRNA expression at different cell cleavage stages in these frozen embryos using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Our results have shown three out of eight patients with five to ten cells of blastomeres were expressed with bHCG. This study indicated that bHCG was expressed on froze-thawed late cleavage stage of embryos in IVF patients.
This study was conducted to determine the effects of increased edible palm oil consumption on community health status in the aboriginal communities in Tual Post (treatment group) and Sinderut Post (control group), Kuala Lipis, Pahang. Nutritional status, blood pressure, lipid profiles, fasting blood glucose (FBG), vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) levels and lipid peroxidation product (malonaldehyde) levels were taken as indicators of health status. This is a pre-and post-controlled community trial in which similar variables were measured in each group. Every family of 2–6 household members was given 2–5 kg cooking palm oil per month for a period of 18 months. All subjects were measured for height (cm), weight (kg) and waist-hip ratio (WHR). For calorie intake measurement, house-to-house interviews were conducted using 24-hour dietary recall method. Blood pressure, percent body fat, lipid profiles, namely total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglyceride and fasting blood glucose (FBG) were also measured. Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) levels and lipid peroxidation products (MDA) were also determined. There was a significant increase (p
An unhealthy dietary practice as a result of environmental and societal changes is increasingly exposed to adults. These unhealthy practices lead to an increased cardiometabolic risk, and obese adults are at a higher risk as compared to normal-weight adults. The best strategy to promote healthy lifestyle practices among Malaysian obese adult is still fragmented. Materials and Methods: A single-centre randomised controlled trial was carried out to determine the effect of the lifestyle modification intervention (LMI) with the motivational construct, in comparison to the current standard LMI on the dietary macronutrient intake among obese adults. The dietary macronutrient intake and changes in body weight were assessed at baseline and after six months. Seventy-nine participants completed the study. Results: Our finding showed that six months of LMI with motivational construct resulted in a higher reduction of total fat and cholesterol from the dietary intake as compared to the control. In addition, the participants in the intervention group had a significant body weight loss after six months (-1.97 kg, 95% CI: -0.324, 1.360, t(39) = 3.397, p= 0.002). Conclusion: This study demonstrates that the intervention had a meaningful impact on improving the dietary macronutrient intake, which is beneficial to support body weight loss in obese adults. Future trials with additional nutritional biomarkers are needed to extend these findings.
This study examined the effects of drying temperatures (25 and 45 °C) on the physical properties
of different formulations of gelatin/CMC/chitosan composite films. The physical properties
of each formulated film were assessed via Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) spectroscopy,
X-Ray Diffractometry (XRD), Water Vapour Permeability (WVP) and biodegradability. The
incorporation of CMC and chitosan significantly influenced film properties. Increased chitosan
concentrations reduced the film’s amorphous character by increasing its crystalline structure.
The blended films also exhibited amino peaks that shifted from 1542 to ~1548 cm-1 while NH
and/or OH peaks shifted from 3384 to 3288 cm-1. Formulation E had the second lowest WVP
for both drying condition and the highest weight loss for biodegradability after burial in soil for
5 days. In conclusion, different temperature did not affect the properties of film produced and
formulation E qualified as ‘high quality packaging material’ with promising potential for the
food packaging industry.
Objective: To determine the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of sleep among medical students of IIUM towards and to determine the impact of socio-demographic data on the knowledge, attitude and practice. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among 106 students from first, second and third year medical students of IIUM. Verbal consent was taken from the students who were willing to take part in this study. Student knowledge about sleep was studied using a questionnaire. Results: A total of 106 medical
students completed the survey, there were 54 female and 52 male. The mean age of the students was 20 ± 0.56 and ranged from 18 to 22 years. In terms of their sleep knowledge, the mean ± SD knowledge, attitude and practice scores were 81.8 ± 16.8, 65.9 ±15.3 and 176 ± 26.3 respectively. In univariate analysis, there was a significant difference between parents’ marital status regarding knowledge of the students (p = 0.03). There was a significant difference between gender regarding attitude of the students (p=0.05). In
multivariate analysis, gender and smoking status were significantly affected the overall KAP. Conclusion: This study showed that sleep medicine knowledge was generally low among medical students. Therefore, educational strategies to improve knowledge regarding sleep-related problems and the development of proper sleep practices among medical students are needed.
Environmental factors such as temperature, lighting and noise have very significant impact to workers’ health, safety, comfort, performance and productivity. In an ergonomically design industrial work environment, these factors need to be control at their optimum levels. The main objective of this study is to find the effect of temperature, illuminance and sound pressure level on workers’ productivity in automotive industry. To perform this study a workstation in an automotive component manufacturing was selected as the location of the study. Results of data analysis showed there were relationships between temperature, illuminance and noise on workers’ productivity. Later, the authors’ developed multiple linear equation models to represent the relationships between temperature, illuminance and noise on the workers’ productivity. These multiple linear equation models could be used to predict the production rate for the workstation by referring to the value of temperature, illuminance and noise level.
Anthropometric Test Devices (ATDs) of different nominal percentile values have long been used as human surrogates in automotive crash testing. The Hybrid III family, which is one of the widely used ATDs in frontal crash test, was designed based on the anthropometry dimensions of US adults. Thus, this paper aims to assess the anthropometric differences between Malaysian adults and Hybrid III dummies in terms of 5th percentile (small female), 50th percentile (midsize male) and 95th percentile (large male). A series of anthropometric parameters of Malaysian adults was obtained from a database of 1321 subjects with 708 males and 613 females. The results revealed that the current midsize male population differs from the ATD’s statures and body weights by about 35 and 40 percentile points, respectively. This demonstrates that the current ATDs are not truly representative of the current Malaysian adults, which may potentially lead to different injury responses in road traffic crashes. Thus, car manufacturers may as well consider this discrepancy issue in developing their future models especially with regards to safety.
Infectious bursal disease (IBD), also known as the Gumboro disease, has been a great
concern for poultry industry worldwide. The first outbreak of IBD due to very virulent (vv) IBD virus
(IBDV) infection in Malaysia was reported in 1991. The major economic impact of the disease is high
mortality and poor performance. The virus causes immunosuppression where if the infected chicken
recovered from the acute disease, they become more susceptible to infections of other pathogens and
fail to respond to vaccines. Therefore, prevention is important and vaccination has become the
principal control measure of IBDV infection in chickens. The conventional attenuated live and killed
vaccines are the most commonly used vaccines. With the advancement of knowledge and technology,
new generation of genetically-engineered vaccines like viral vector and immune complex vaccines
have been commercialised. Moreover, hatchery vaccination is becoming a common practise, in
addition to farm vaccination. Currently, the disease is considerably under controlled with the
introduction of vaccination. However, occasional field outbreaks are still commonly reported. The
demand for vaccines that could suit the field situation continues to exist. The endemicity of disease,
presence of challenge in the farm and maternally derived antibody in chicks are affecting the choice
vaccine as well as the vaccine development and vaccination strategies. In this review, advances made
in various vaccines that have been commercialised or under development, and challenges that they
face, are outlined. Furthermore, how the emergence of vvIBDV affect the progress of vaccine
development and influence its vaccination strategy are discussed.
Primary thyroid lymphoma is a rare disorder accounting for about 2% of all malignant lymphomas and less than 5% of thyroid malignancies. It is an aggressive disease with poor outcome. The majority of thyroid lymphomas are non-Hodgkin lymphomas of Bcell origin. Majority of cases occur in women in the sixth decade. We report two cases of primary thyroid lymphoma and highlight the clinical issues and challenges posed by this rare disease. Both cases presented with respiratory obstructive symptoms that required surgical intervention. The optimal management for a primary thyroid lymphoma be it chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery or monoclonal antibodies is still debatable. The role for surgery has evolved through the years but its importance in emergency situations should not be overlooked. Both our patients had to undergo surgery but only one patient received additional chemotherapy and radiotherapy. These two case reports illustrated the difficulties in managing this rare disorder.
Food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) is a practical tool for the measurement of usual food intake in large surveys because it gives a quick approximation to 'true' dietary intake. This study was carried out to compare the semiquantitative FFQ with three day 24-hour diet recalls (24-hr DR) in assessing intake of energy, total fat, fatty acids and vitamin A, C and E among Malaysian women. This semi-quantitative FFQ which was developed specifically for the Malay and Indian ethnicities has 200 food items and categorized according to three mealtimes namely breakfast, lunch or dinner and morning or afternoon snacks. A total of 51 Malay and 28 Indian women aged between 30 to 60 years were selected as study subjects. The result of the study shows that majority of study subjects were within the normal EI/BMR ratio when their energy intake was assessed by semi-quantitative FFQ (70%) and 24-hr DR (74%). However, 10% of study subjects became over-reporters when their intakes were assessed using the semi-quantitative FFQ. Analysis of t-test shows there is no significant difference (p > 0.05) on the mean intake of energy, total fats, saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids and vitamin A, C and E between semi-quantitative FFQ and 24-hr DR. Percent mean differences were also less than 10% for all nutrients included in this study. This indicates that the semi-quantitative FFQ can produce comparable results with 24-hr DR. Energy adjusted correlation coefficient values for all studied nutrients were total fat (r = 0.64, p = 0.02), saturated fatty acids (r = 0.59, p = 0.01), monounsaturated fatty acids (r = 0.52, p = 0.03), polyunsaturated fatty acids (r = 0.57, p = 0.02), vitamin A (r = 0.69, p = 0.01), retinol (r = 0.55, p = 0.01), beta carotene (r = 0.74, p = 0.01), vitamin C (r = 0.64, p = 0.02) and vitamin E (r = 0.69, p = 0.01). Cross-classification for both methods into quartiles of intake resulted in correct classification into the same or adjacent quartile from 82% to 96% of the study subjects. Only 3% of the subjects were grossly misclassified. As a conclusion, this semi-quantitative FFQ gives estimation as good as 24-hr DR for intakes of energy, total fat, fatty acids and vitamin A, C and E among Malaysian women specifically for the Malay and Indian ethnicities. This semi-quantitative FFQ is a useful tool in dietary intake assessment for research use especially for epidemiological study on diet and disease relationship such as cardiovascular, cancer and diabetes.
The unstable living situation in Iraq in the last 10 years after 2003 war affected the daily life of most Iraqis, and especially the children. The objective of this study was to explore the effects of an unstable living environment on children’s health. A community-based qualitative study was done to collect data from 20 mothers of children (age 7 to 8years old) through in-depth interview (IDI). Data was recorded using tape recorders and was later transcribed and analyzed using qualitative thematic analysis techniques. The majority of mothers interviewed said the past nine years of unstable security in the capital had affected their daily life; some mothers also expressed concern about their child’s nutritional status, their eating habits during the school day, and the unhealthy food being sold at school canteens. As a conclusion, the unstable living situations in Baghdad city after the last war had affected the cognitive and nutritional development of children. More precautions should be taken by parents to ensure their children safety in the future.
Osteoporosis dikenali sebagai penyakit senyap kerana tidak mempunyai tanda-tanda awal. Ini disebabkan oleh kepadatan tulang yang berkurangan secara perlahanlahan seiring dengan peningkatan usia. Insiden penyakit ini semakin meningkat setiap tahun di seluruh dunia. Mengukur ketumpatan mineral tulang (BMD) menggunakan densitometry tulang konvensional (DXA) adalah praktikal dalam diagnosis osteoporosis tetapi kosnya adalah tinggi dan tidak dapat dilaksanakan dalam masyarakat. Untuk mengukur ketumpatan tulang, “quantitative ultrasound” (QUS) adalah teknik yang agak moden untuk diagnosis osteoporosis. Ianya agak mudah, konsisten, lebih murah dan kaedah yang selamat berbanding dengan teknik densitometry yang lain. Kedua-dua parameter QUS yang diukur pada masa kini adalah ultrasound jalur pengecilan (BUA) dan kelajuan bunyi (SOS). QUS juga dapat menjangka risiko patah. Ianya kini digunakan untuk memantau tindakbalas kepada rawatan anti-osteoporosis. Kajian in-vitro menunjukkan bahawa indeks QUS berhubungkait dengan BMD, bentuk tulang mikro dan parameter mekanikal. Oleh yang demikian, QUS berupaya untuk menjadi teknik baru untuk penilaian tulang.
The presence of heavy metals in aquatic systems has become a serious problem. Heavy metals can haveadverse effects on the environment as well as on human health. As a result, much attention has beengiven to new technologies for removal of heavy metal ions from contaminated waters. In this study,Microwave Incinerated Rice Husk Ash (MIRHA), a locally available agricultural waste, was used for theremoval of Cd (as a representative heavy metal) from synthetic wastewater by batch adsorption process.The effects of pH, initial metal concentration, and contact time on Cd removal efficiency were studied.pH 4 was found to be the optimum. The removal efficiency was found to be correlated with the initialmetal concentration and contact time between adsorbent and adsorbate. Cd adsorption kinetics followedthe pseudo-second-order model and implied chemisorption. The adsorption equilibrium of Cd can bewell described by the Freundlich isotherm model.
Substantial studies reported musculoskeletal disorders among the working population in the developed country, however, a limited number of studies were conducted in Malaysia. The objective of this cross sectional study was to determine the physical activity risk factors for low back pain among automotive workers in Selangor. Modified Risk Factors Questionnaire (RFQ) was used to assess physical activity with the occurrence of low back pain. The significant physical activities associated with the 12 months point prevalence are lifting weight (
The positive response to tamoxifen in ERa-positive breast cancer patients is usually of a short duration as many
of the patients eventually develop resistance. Our preliminary results show that aloe emodin extracted from
the leaves of the Aloe barbadensis Miller demonstrated a cytotoxicity that is selective to ERa-positive breast
cancer cells (MCF-7), but not to ERa-negative breast cancer cells (MDA-MB-231) and to the control cells (MCF-
10A). The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that aloe emodin may enhance the response of
MCF-7 cells to treatment with tamoxifen. MCF-7 cells were treated with aloe emodin alone, tamoxifen alone
or a combination of emodin and tamoxifen, at their respective IC50 concentrations and at different time points
of 24 hours, 48 hours and 72 hours. The respective IC50s were the concentrations of aloe emodin and tamoxifen
required to achieve 50% inhibition of the cells in the study. Cell viability and apoptosis were determined using
trypan blue exclusion and DNA fragmentation assays, respectively. The involvement of RAS/MEKs/ERKs genes
of MAPK signalling pathways with aloe emodin was determined using QuantiGene 2.0 Plex assay. Data was
evaluated using the one-way ANOVA test. Our findings showed that aloe emodin enhanced the cytotoxicity of
tamoxifen on MCF-7 cells through apoptosis by downregulation of MEK1/2 genes. Our research may provide a
rational basis for further in vivo studies to verify the efficacy of a combination of aloe emodin and tamoxifen
on the viability of ERa-positive-breast cancer cells.