The uniaxial compressive strength test is a destructive and time consuming test. A number of non-destructive methods using portable testing equipment are more applicable and easier to conduct. This paper presents the results of a systematic approach to determine the uniaxial compressive strength of rock material using the Schmidt hammer rebound test. A total of five distinct locations (Graham Coast, Davis Coast, Nanson Island, Danco Coast and Trinity Island) were tested using the Schmidt rebound hammer test. Peninsula Antarctic located at northwest of Antarctic region comprising of igneous and metamorphic rocks. Statistical analysis of the results at 95% confidence level showed the Schmidt rebound value of the Graham Coast ranges from 40±1.7 to 41±1.3 with standard deviation of 8.2 to 6.4. The rebound value for Davis Coast was 39±1.6 with standard deviation of 7.7. Rocks from Nanson Island and Danco Coast have the Schmidt rebound value of 54±1.7 with standard deviation of 8.0 and 36±1.3 with standard deviation of 6.2, respectively. The Schmidt rebound value of rocks at Trinity Island ranges from 29±1.4 to 32±1.7 with standard deviation of 6.8 to 8.1. Thus, the respective uniaxial compressive strengths of rock materials from Graham Coast, Davis Coast, Danco Coast, Nanson Island and Trinity Island were 73-108, 50, 59, 164 and 45-59 MPa. The respective ISRM strength classification of rock materials of Graham Coast, Davis Coast, Danco Coast, Nanson Island and Trinity Island were strong (R4) to very strong rock (R5), medium strong rock (R3), strong rock (R4), very strong rock (R5) and medium strong (R3) to strong rock (R4). The results showed a mean of quantification of rock material strength based on the Schmidt Hammer rebound test in Antarctic Peninsula.
Acanthamoeba is a free-living amoeba and opportunistic protozoa that causes infection to humans. One of its primary infections is Acanthamoeba keratitis that occurs mostly amongst contact lens users. There are some difficulties in providing effective treatment to the patients as the cysts of Acanthamoeba spp. are very resistant towards most of the antimicrobial agents. Thus, study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of antimicrobial agents comprising 0.1% propamidine isethionate (Brolene®) and 0.3% ciprofloxacin (Ciloxan®) towards two clinical isolates of Acanthamoeba spp. (HUKM 74 and HS 72). Besides that, the minimum cysticidal concentration (MCC) of the tested antimicrobial agents were also determined. Propamidine isethionate and ciprofloxacin showed cysticidal activities at therapeutic dosage against both Acanthamoeba spp. isolates. The minimum cysticidal concentration for propamidine isethionate was between 62.5-125 µg/ml while for ciprofloxacin was 375 µg/ml. Both the clinical isolates of Acanthamoeba belonged to group II (Polyphagids).
Giant haemangioma of the tongue is a disease which can
obstruct the oropharyngeal airway and is presented with
obstructive symptoms. Due to its vascularity, inserting
laryngoscope for intubation can cause high risks, such as
inducing bleeding. Hypoxia and excessive bleeding must be
anticipated while securing the airway. We present a case of
novel usage of dexmedetomidine as a conscious sedation agent
for awake fibre optic intubation in a 9-year-old child with
obstructive symptoms secondary to a huge tongue
haemangioma, who was presented for interventional
sclerotherapy of the lesion.
The low back is usually associated with the lumbar spine which supports the entire weight of the upper body and significantly, is vital to the body mobility. Injury to the surrounding soft tissues can cause mild to debilitating symptoms due to muscle strain and ligament sprain. The causes of injury to the lower back are probably due to sudden twisting movement, poor posture position at work and manual handling of heavy objects or with twisting or bending movements while lifting. An Ergonomic Risk Assessment was carried out on a dental laboratory worker who complained of unresolved low back ache after a year on treatment and follow up at the outpatient department of a health clinic. From the various investigative methods used, it was found that the worker in question was placed in a situation that will over time encourage her to develop musculoskeletal disease. Our recommendations for change include immediate awareness and training in ergonomic principles of work and to report all cases so that appropriate action can be taken, reassess the workstation and environment of work, job enrichment, and creating a conducive environment for work. Once the changes have been implemented, a review will be necessary in three months time.
Background: Existing techniques of predicting difficult laryngoscopy are inadequate requiring evaluation of Maxillopharyngeal Angle (MP-A) on lateral cervical radiograph described. Objectives: This study aimed to compare MP-A test with Modified Mallapati Test (MMT) in predicting their diagnostic values and Area Under Curve of Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve (AUCROCC) of both test. Methods: This is a double blinded interventional study of 93 patients. Each patient’s MMT score was assessed during preoperative assessment and subsequent MP-A test done by obtaining lateral cervical radiograph with the head in neutral position. Laryngeal view was assessed using Cormack-Lehane grade after induction of anesthesia, was used as reference standard to determine the diagnostic values of MMT and MP-A respectively. Results: The MP-A compared to MMT in predicting difficult larngoscopy had higher sensitivity (77.78 vs 44.44) specificity (88.10 vs 67.86) and accuracy (87.10 vs 65.59) with higher Odd Ratio(26.12 vs 1.68). The AUCROCC was significantly higher in MP-A test 0.83(95%CI: 0.67, 0.99) (P = 0.001) vs MMT 0.56(95%CI: 0.36, 0.76) (P = 0.546) with LR+ of 6.53 vs 1.38. Conclusion: The Maxillopharyngeal Angle test was superior in predicting difficult laryngoscopy as compared to Modified Mallampati Test.
Background: Quality of Work Life (QWL) is a subset of the quality of life which expresses the interactions between workers and their total working environment with individual or human dimension. Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of QWL among Malaysian workers. Methods: 2740 respondents (1921 males and 819 females) were randomly selected from 11 different industries from all states of Malaysia. Respondents were aged between 18 to more than 55 years and were a local OSH Personnel and local general workers. Face to face interviews were conducted in all the selected industries using a structured questionnaire form adapted from Malaysian OSH Profile 2016. Respondents have completed the questionnaire under instructions and supervision of the research team. Results: Majority of the respondents were male (70.1%) and from manufacturing industries (76.3%). 50% of the respondents identified a high level of QWL in each component like not having a stress with the work load (85.5%), good work environment (78.4%), family life (83.1% and 83.6%), enough income and distribution (58.9%), good communication and harmonies relationship between colleagues and boss (93.4% and 88.7%), good facilities (88.6%), welfare at work (71.3%) and productive working condition (80.8%). There is a significant difference between QWL and type of industries [F(10)=12.897, p=0.001] where agriculture industry had the highest QWL. There is significant difference between QWL and gender (p=0.009) where male reported higher QWL compared to female. Conclusion: These findings could be used by the organizations in order to enhance its performance, productivity, employees’ commitment and satisfaction.
The stability of the limestone cliff at Gunung Kandu, Gopeng, Perak, Malaysia was assessed based on the Slope Mass
Rating (SMR) system on 53 cross sections of the Gunung Kandu hill slopes. The slopes of Gunung Kandu were identified
as class I (very good) to IV (poor). The kinematic analysis showed that 12 out of 53 hill slopes of Gunung Kandu were
identified as having potential wedge, planar and toppling failures. The assessment showed that the stability of the western
flanks can be classified as stable to unstable with the probability of failure from 0.2 to 0.6. The stability of the eastern and
southern flanks range from very stable to partially stable with the probability of failure from 0.0 to 0.4. While the stability
of northern flanks are from very stable to stable with the probability of failure of 0.0 - 0.2. This systematic approach
offers a practical method especially for large area of rock slope stability assessment and the results from probability of
failure values will help engineers to design adequate mitigation measures.
The limestone hill of Batu Caves is slowly being turned into a recreation park for slope climbing, base jumping and cave exploring. Quantitative assessment on the stability of the cave is essential to ensure the safety of tourists and visitors. The aim of this study was to quantitatively assess the stability of Gua Damai, Batu Caves, Selangor, Malaysia by using the Q system for rock mass classification, together with other factors such as cave width and thickness of the cave roof. The stability of the limestone cave wall was evaluated using Slope Mass Rating (SMR). A discontinuity survey conducted along the slopes beneath the opening of the cave showed that the rock mass comprised of four major joint sets labeled as J1, J2, J3, and J4 with the dip directions and angles of 110˚/73˚, 325˚/87˚, 243˚/39˚ and 054˚/30˚, respectively. The result of kinematic analysis showed that the dip direction/dip angle of a potential wedge failure was 051˚/59˚. By referring to the ratio of cave roof thickness with cave width, the results showed that the cave is stable. Based on the relationship between Q system and the cave width, the stabilities of Section 4 of Gua Damai is stable while Section 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8 require supports. Based on SMR, the cave walls stability at Portion c, d, and f were not stable while Portion a, b, e and g were stable. Overall, the most stable part of the cave is Section 4 followed by Sections 5 and 2. Sections 1, 3 and 8 are moderately stable while Sections 6 and 7 have poor stability.
The Boddart's goggle-eyed mudskipper, Boleophthalmus boddarti (Perciformes, Gobiidae) is an amphibious fish, inhabiting brackish waters of estuaries and builds burrows in soft mud along the intertidal zone. In this paper, the complete mitochondrial genome sequence of B. boddarti was firstly determined. The circle genome (16,727 bp) comprises 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, 2 rRNA genes and 1 control region. The overall base composition of B. boddarti is 29.1% for C, 28.9% for A, 25.9% for T, and 16.0% for G, with a slight A + T bias of 54.8%. The termination-associated sequence, conserved sequence block domains, and a 131-bp tandem repeat were found in the control region. It has the typical vertebrate mitochondrial gene arrangement.
In South-East Asian dipterocarp forests, many trees synchronize their reproduction at the community level, but irregularly, in a phenomenon known as general flowering (GF). Several proximate cues have been proposed as triggers for the synchronization of Southeast Asian GF, but the debate continues, as many studies have not considered geographical variation in climate and flora. We hypothesized that the spatial pattern of GF forests is explained by previously proposed climatic cues if there are common cues for GF among regions. During the study, GF episodes occurred every year, but the spatial occurrence varied considerably from just a few forests to the whole of Peninsular Malaysia. In 2001, 2002 and 2005, minor and major GF occurred widely throughout Peninsular Malaysia (GF2001, GF2002, and GF2005), and the geographical patterns of GF varied between the episodes. In the three regional-scale GF episodes, most major events occurred in regions where prolonged drought (PD) had been recorded prior, and significant associations between GF scores and PD were found in GF2001 and GF2002. However, the frequency of PD was higher than that of GF throughout the peninsula. In contrast, low temperature (LT) was observed during the study period only before GF2002 and GF2005, but there was no clear spatial relationship between GF and LT in the regional-scale episodes. There was also no evidence that last GF condition influenced the magnitude of GF. Thus, our results suggest that PD would be essential to trigger regional-scale GF in the peninsula, but also that PD does not fully explain the spatial and temporal patterns of GF. The coarse relationships between GF and the proposed climatic cues may be due to the geographical variation in proximate cues for GF, and the climatic and floristic geographical variations should be considered to understand the proximate factors of GF.
Palm and soya oils were converted to monoglycerides via transesterification of triglycerides with glycerol by one step process to produce renewable polyols. Thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPPUs) were prepared from the reaction of the monoglycerides which act as polyol with 4,4'-methylenediphenyldiisocyanate (MDI) whereas, thermosetting polyurethanes (TSPUs) were prepared from the reaction of glycerol, MDI and monoglycerides in one pot. Characterization of the polyurethanes was carried out by FT-IR, (1)H NMR, and iodine value and sol-gel fraction. The TSPUs showed good thermal properties compared to TPPUs as well as TSPUs exhibits good properties in pencil hardness and adhesion, however poorer in flexural and impact strength compared to TPPUs. The higher percentage of cross linked fraction, the higher degree of cross linking occurred, which is due to the higher number of double bond presents in the TSPUs. These were reflected in iodine value test as the highest iodine value of the soya-based thermosetting polyurethanes confirmed the highest degree of cross linking. Polyurethanes based on soya oil showed better properties compared to palm oil. This study is a breakthrough development of polyurethane resins using palm and soya oils as one of the raw materials.
Oxidative stress is caused by imbalance between the productions of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and antioxidant defense mechanisms. Palm oil antioxidants such as tocotrienol rich fraction (TRF) is known to have neuroprotective effects on neurones by acting against free radical induced neuronal cell death. This study was undertaken to elucidate the effect of TRF on oxidative DNA damage and cognitive functions in experimental rats.
The aim of this study was to determine the cost-effectiveness of using baseline neuromonitoring (BNM) compared with multimodality monitoring (M3) for severe traumatic brain injury (TBI).
To determine whether or not multimodality monitoring technique would result in a better outcome score than single modality monitoring in severely head injured patients.
Few attempts have been made to determine the risk factors for diabetic retinopathy which is a major cause of visual impairment and blindness. One hundred and forty patients of diabetes mellitus were studied to determine the prevalence and types of retinopathy, and its relation to various risk factors. Nearly half (48.6%) of the patients suffered from retinopathy. The significant associated risk factors were long duration of diabetes, proteinuria and elevated serum creatinine level. However, there was no significant association between the prevalence of retinopathy and high levels of serum cholesterol, C-peptide levels, associated hypertension, and glycaemic control of diabetes mellitus. An effective screening programme for detection of retinopathy in the patients of diabetes as a regular practice is encouraged.
Study site: Diabetic clinic, Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM), Kelantan, Malaysia
Post-digestion treatment is an important step during sample preparation to facilitate the removal of undigested materials for better detection of ingested microplastics. Sieving, density separation with zinc chloride solution (ZnCl2), and oil extraction protocol (OEP) have been introduced in separating microplastics from sediments. The clean-up methods are rarely highlighted in previous studies, especially in the separation of microplastics from marine biota. Thus, this study proposed and compared the suitability of three techniques, which can reduce the number of undigested particles from the digestate of GIT and gills. Our result has shown excellent removal of non-plastics materials and reduces the coloration of filter paper in all treated samples. Both sieving and density separation achieved optimum post-digestion efficiencies of >95% for both GIT and gill samples, which former showed no effect on polymer integrity. Additionally, high recovery rate was obtained for the larger size microplastics (>500 μm) with approximately 97.7% (GIT) and 95.7% (gill), respectively. Exposure to the ZnCl2 solution led to a significant loss of smaller size PET and changed the absorption spectrums of all tested polymers. Particle morphology determined by SEM revealed such exposure eroded the surface of PET fragments and elemental analysis has shown detectable peaks of zinc and chlorine appeared. Low microplastics recoveries were achieved through OPE and residue of oil was observed from the infrared spectrum of all tested polymer. The findings demonstrate sieving with size fractioning can provide exceptional removal of non-plastics materials from the digestate of GIT and gill samples.
Microplastics are tiny plastic particles with size below 5 mm, prevalence in marine environments and the occurrence have been reported in commercial marine fish worldwide. Microplastics' abilities to absorb various marine contaminants raised considerable concern on their role as a vector to spread harmful pollutants to the alienated environment. This study focussed on the occurrence of microplastics in gastrointestinal tract (GIT) and gills of 158 fishes across 16 species from two locations in Malaysia coastal waters. Microplastics were detected approximately 86% in the GIT and 92% in the gills of examined fish. High incident of microplastics was detected in fishes from the area that is close to an urban area with average microplastics incident reaching up to 9.88 plastics items/individuals. Meanwhile, only 5.17 microplastics per individual were recorded in fishes from a less urbanised area. Isolated microplastics comprised 80.2% of fibres, 17.7% of fragments and the remaining was derived from filaments (3.1%). Infrared and Raman spectroscopy analysis of selected microplastics revealed the chemical composition of microplastics which comprised of polyethene (PE), polypropylene (PP), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polystyrene (PS) and polyethylene terephthalates (PET). FESEM images indicate, different surface characteristics of microplastics as a result of environmental exposure. Further, elemental analysis using EDX for green PE fragments showed the uneven distribution of chromium (Cr) and iron (Fe) on the surface, suggesting the adherence of heavy metals on the surface of microplastics. Overall findings indicate the widespread distribution of microplastics in commercial marine fishes from Malaysia waters and could potentially lead to human exposure through fish consumption.
This study describes the pathological changes, antibody response, isolation and distribution patterns following exposure of non-pregnant goats to live Brucella melitensis. Eighteen healthy adult female goats were divided into two equal groups. Group 1 was infected via conjunctival sac with 109 cfu/ml of B. melitensis, while Group 2 was similarly exposed to sterile PBS. Serum and swabs from the eyes and vagina were collected at 5-day intervals. On days 15, 30 and 75 post-infection, 3 goats from each group were killed before the conjunctiva, ovary, oviduct, uterine horn, uterine body and vagina, the submandibular, prescapular and supramammary lymph nodes, the mammary gland, liver, spleen, urinary bladder and synovial membranes were collected for bacterial isolation and pathological study. Exposure of non-pregnant goats to B. melitensis did not produce clinical signs and gross lesions but produced mild necrosis and inflammation in the lymph nodes, the organs of reproductive tract, the mammary gland and urinary bladder. In general, microscopic lesions were most severe in the D75 goats, followed by D30 and D15 goats. Brucella melitensis was most frequent and significantly (p
This study presents the isolation of SNC from sago starch and its performance as proficient particle emulsifier. It highlights the impact of SNC on the stability and rheological properties of oil-in-water (o/w) emulsions. The percentage yield of the SNC obtained was equivalent to 25 ± 0.1% (w/w) with particle diameters ranging from 25 to 100 nm. A series of Pickering emulsion at different ratios of oil (5%-35% v/v) and SNC (1%-4% w/v) was prepared for further investigations. The mean droplet diameter of emulsions obtained was ranged from 19.12 to 35.96 μm, confirming the effects of both SNC and oil content on the droplet's diameter distribution. Formulations with 4.0 wt% of SNC exhibited the maximum stability against coalescence. Results obtained have justified that the SNC can be used as an alternative solid emulsifier in producing stable emulsion with desired properties for various applications.
Early detection of a dengue outbreak is an important first step towards implementing effective dengue interventions resulting in reduced mortality and morbidity. A dengue mathematical model would be useful for the prediction of an outbreak and evaluation of control measures. However, such a model must be carefully parameterized and validated with epidemiological, ecological and entomological data. A field study was conducted to collect and analyse various parameters to model dengue transmission and outbreak. Dengue prone areas in Kuala Lumpur, Pahang, Kedah and Johor were chosen for this study. Ovitraps were placed outdoor and used to determine the effects of meteorological parameters on vector breeding. Vector population in each area was monitored weekly for 87 weeks. Weather stations, consisting of a temperature and relative humidity data logger and an automated rain gauge, were installed at key locations in each study site. Correlation and Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ADL) model were used to study the relationship among the variables. Previous week rainfall plays a significant role in increasing the mosquito population, followed by maximum humidity and temperature. The secondary data of rainfall, temperature and humidity provided by the meteorological department showed an insignificant relationship with the mosquito population compared to the primary data recorded by the researchers. A well fit model was obtained for each locality to be used as a predictive model to foretell possible outbreak.