Developmental disabilities in young children are common, and the prevalence is estimated as high as 0.1-1.75% in the children population for each disabilities. With increasing awareness and health expectation, more children with Developmental disabilities are presenting to health care professionals, and at earlier age. Literatures also suggested the importance of early intervention programme in determining the outcome of this group of children. Therefore, it is vital for health professionals who have direct contact with young children are competent in detecting children with possible Developmental disabilities, and have the basic knowledge about some of the common disorders in order to discuss the issues with the parents. It is also important to work with the various resources available in the local community, such as non-governmental organisations for children with special needs, schools offering special education programmes and inclusive classes, and the allied health who provide cares to this group of young children and their family. A lot of information are also available online, and may be offered to help parents gaining more understanding regarding these Developmental disabilities.
Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is one of the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. It is relatively uncommon in young adults as compared to the older population. Our objective was to assess the prevalence, demographic distribution, and risk factors for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in patients less than 45 years of age admitted to a Malaysian tertiary care centre.
Tooth wear is the non-carious loss of tooth tissue due to attrition, erosion and/or abrasion. The amount of wear that accelerates physiological tooth wear is referred as pathological tooth wear. This study aims to determine the prevalence and mean scores according to mouth quadrant of raw tooth wear (RTW) and pathological tooth wear (PTW) and investigate sex association with PTW among 16-year-old secondary school children in Kota Bharu, Kelantan. This cross-sectional study involves 688 participants randomly selected from eight government secondary schools. The Smith and Knight Tooth Wear Index (TWI) was used. Data were analyzed using a simplified Microsoft Excel program developed based on the index to quantify PTW. Bar graphs were plotted to highlight the mean scores according to mouth quadrant. About 44% of participants were male and 56% were female. The prevalence of RTW and PTW among subjects was 100% and 20.1% respectively. It was found that 32.8% of tooth surfaces were affected with RTW and 0.7% of study subjects already had exposed dentine. The most affected quadrant for RTW and PTW was the upper and lower incisal quadrant respectively. Males had 92% more odds of developing tooth wear compared to females. In conclusion, all subjects have some degree of wear. About one-fifth of the study subjects were affected by PTW. The patterns of wear were similar to those encountered in the Western societies. There was statistically significant association between sex and PTW.
A 48 years old Malay lady with a case of painless soft fluctuant swelling of left parotid gland is reported. The lesion was found to be a cystic lesion through the pre operative examinations and investigations. The cyst was completely excised, taking care not to injure the lower division of the facial nerve. Post recovery was uneventful with no defect of the facial nerve functions. The histologic picture confirmed that the cyst was lymphoepithelial cyst which is so called “branchial cyst”. Through the literature reviews of parotid lymphoepitelial cyst the discussions on prevalence, origin, diagnosis, histological finding, investigation and the modes of treatment are made. The ultra sound was found to be valuable in the pre operative evaluation of the parotid swelling furthermore it is non-invasive, harmless, painless and relatively quick.
The purpose of this study was to identify the most common forms of age-related cataracts and to estimate possible risk factors for age-related cataracts in a sample of cataract patients at the National University of Malaysia Hospital. Thirty five patients (17 males and 18 female) with cataracts were recruited from the ophthalmology ward and clinic at the hospital. The age range of the patients was between 39 to 93 years (mean 64.9 11.5 years). The Lens Opacities Classification System (Locs) III was used to grade nuclear, cortical and posterior subcapsular lens opacities. Grading of the cataract was carried out and the following information was collected: initial visual acuity and best-corrected visual acuity, demographic details, health history, dietary intake of antioxidants and lifetime ocular ultraviolet B exposure. Analyses were conducted using a standard case-control design. T-tests were used to assess the significance of continuous variables and chi-squared tests were used for categorical variables. The overall prevalence of cortical cataract was 34.4% (12 patients), nuclear cataract was 60.0% (21 patients), and posterior subcapsular cataract was 57.1% (20 patients). No significant potential risk factor was found for nuclear cataracts. In the case of posterior subcapsular cataract, hypertension was the only potential significant risk factor (x2 = 4.38, p = 0.036), and in the case of cortical cataract, cigarette smoking was the only significant risk factor. Although lifetime effective ocular UV-B exposure was found to be not a significant potential risk factor, but it was seen that for cortical cataracts, the mean difference of lifetime effective ocular UV-B exposure between those with cortical and those without cortical cataracts was larger compared to others with nuclear and posterior subcapsular cataracts. Hypertension was found to be a potential significant risk factor for posterior subcapsular cataract whereas cigarette smoking was a potentially significant risk factor for cortical cataract. Although not statistically significant, lifetime effective ocular UV-B exposure maybe a potential risk factor for cortical cataract.
Objective: Postgraduate medical training has always been regarded as a highly stressful environment to students. This article described an initial finding on prevalence and sources of stress among postgraduate students. Method: This is a cross-sectional study conducted on postgraduate students in the School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia. Sample size as calculated for this preliminary study was 38 and convenient sampling method was applied. The 12 items General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and Postgraduate Stressors Questionnaire (PSQ) were administered during a workshop involving postgraduate students. Data was analysed using SPSS version 12. Results: Thirty three participants participated in this study. This study found that the prevalence of distressed postgraduate students was 36.4%. The top ten stressors were tests and examinations, large amount of content to be learnt, time pressure to meet deadlines, doing work beyond
ability, work overload, unfair assessment by superior, fears of making mistakes that can lead to serious consequences, doing work that mentally straining, work demands affect my personal and home life, and lack of time to review what have been learnt. Conclusion: This study found that there was a high prevalence of distressed postgraduate students. It also found that the major stressors were related to academic and performance pressure.
Iodine deficiency is still prevalent worldwide and it is the main cause of goiter, thyroid dysfunction and mental retardation. The aim of the study was to determine the iodine status and goiter prevalence among the school children in Terengganu. The representative sample consists of 1163 primary school children aged 8-10 years old randomly selected from urban and rural schools in Terengganu using stratified systematic random sampling technique. Urinary iodine levels in spot urine were determined by in house modified micro-method while goiter assessment was carried out by palpation of thyroid gland. The status of iodine deficiency was determined by the median urinary iodine concentrations (UIC) and total goiter prevalence (TGP) in accordance with the WHO criteria. The result showed the median [inter-quartile range (IQR)] urinary iodine concentrations was 78.7µg/L (50.1µg/L -120.0µg/L) indicating the iodine intake was slightly lower than recommended range of 100 µg/L. The rural school children had a significantly lower Iodine levels (median UIC=72.4µg/L, IQR=46.7µg/L -113.0µg/L) than the urban school children (median UIC=87.7µg/L, IQR=54.5 µg/L - 127.5µg/L). The total goiter prevalence (TGP) was 5.7%. The prevalence of goiter was significantly higher in rural (TGP=6.9%) compared to urban areas (TGP=3.6%). The study revealed that school children in Terengganu showed mild iodine deficiency and the condition is more pronounced in children from rural areas. The findings emphasize the importance of intervention implementation, universal salt iodization to ensure sufficient intake of iodine among the Terengganu school children.
Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) is a systematic, semi-structured activity carried out in the field by a multidisciplinary team that is designed to obtain new information and hypotheses about rural life. This article reports the results of an RRA conducted in Kampung Paris 1 (KGP1), Kinabatangan, Sabah under the Annual Health Promotion Program of the School of Medicine, Universiti Malaysia Sabah. A systematic random sampling was used to recruit the villagers and data was obtained through compilation of pre-existing data, field observation, structured interviews with key informants and villagers. Cardiorespiratory diseases were prevalent in KGP1. Common water sources such as rain water collected in dug wells in KGP1 were unhygienic. Dangerous toxic fumes were produced by the burning of municipal wastes nearby village houses. The villagers of KGP1 were exposed to various farm animals, which may harbor zoonoses. Health care services are limited in KGP1. Villagers who were not poor (>RM897) represented 48% of the population, followed by the poor (RM503-897), 20% and the hardcore poor (1.00 person per bedroom. Poor water hygiene, polluted air from open burning, exposure to farm animals, poverty, poor education, overcrowding and inadequate health care services were among the few possible factors affecting the health of villagers in KGP1. Formal rigorous research should be conducted in the future to facilitate specific health interventions in areas of need such as KGP1.
It all started with a SSM research. SSM, which is an abbreviation for ‘Special Study Module’ is a unique module in the curriculum of the Medical Faculty National University of Malaysia (UKM), where each students were required to do a medical research in the field that we have interest in. Being interested in the field of public health, 3 of my friends and I did a research on the prevalence of tuberculosis in Cheras using the graphic informational system (GIS) to map each case of tuberculosis on the map of Kuala Lumpur. Our supervisor was Associate Professor Dr Shamsul Azhar, who is himself an expert on the field of GIS study and has been doing his PhD research using the same system in Niigata University, Japan for almost 4 years. During one of our SSM meetings, he mentions that the post-graduate students in UKM has done several visits to Niigata University and brought up the idea that maybe the undergraduate students like us could do the same. (Copied from article).
Fogging activity has become one of the important methods in tackling dengue outbreaks nowadays. Despite this, it is an occupation that has known hazards namely noise and pesticides which can affect the body organs. Based on this knowledge, a cross sectional study was conducted to determine the association between hearing impairment and serum cholinesterase level among foggers from five randomly selected Health District Offices in Selangor. A total of 200 workers comprising of 100 workers exposed to fogging activity and another 100 workers not exposed were randomly selected for this study. Data was obtained through self administered questionnaire, audiometric testing and serum cholinesterase level measurement. The overall prevalence of hearing impairment was 16% with foggers having significant higher prevalence (24%) compared to the non foggers (8%) (χ2=9.52, p=0.002). Measurement of serum cholinesterase showed that exposed workers had lower level compared to the non exposed group. Similarly, those who have hearing impairment had also lower serum cholinesterase level although it was not statistically different. Among all studied factors, age and duration of exposure to fogging activities were statistically different with hearing impairment (p
Background: A cross-sectional study on work-related stressors among nurses in a public teaching hospital had also attempted to explore functions of coping strategies in determining stress.
Materials and Methods: A structured bilingual questionnaire (English-Malay) on symptoms and sources of stress, and coping style measure was disseminated to medical and surgical nurses working in a teaching hospital in Kuala Lumpur. Socio demographic information and stress management methods were inquired. Frequency in workplace stressors were assessed using Nursing Stress Scale. Stress symptoms and home-life stressors were evaluated using Personal Stress Inventory. Measurement of coping strategies was performed using Coping Orientation for Problems Experienced questionnaire.
Results: A total of 181 questionnaires were disseminated and 151 (83.4%) were satisfactorily completed by nurses. It was found that the prevalence of work-related stress among medical and surgical nurses was 49.3% (N=74/150). Analysis of dichotomized outcome (between Stress and No stress group) illustrated high workload (t-value=4.122; p
Despite the debates of the benefits of continuing mammography screening among elderly women, studies in Malaysia have shown that the prevalence of breast examination declines after age 45 years and for mammogram per se, the prevalence of examination increases until age of 64. This study aims to determine the prevalence of mammogram screening among elderly women in Hulu Langat, Selangor and its relationship with factors such as demographic factors, family history of breast cancer, perceived health status, perceived general psychological factor and lifestyle factors. Data used were from a cross sectional study of health status among community in Hulu Langat area by the Department of Community Health, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia carried out from the year 1998 till 2002. However this paper focused on the database involving elderly women age 60 and above. The sample population was 652. The mean (standard deviation) age was 67.17 (5.995). Only 8.3% of the elderly women claimed to ever had mammogram screening done. Hence, the prevalence of mammogram screening is still low among elderly women in Hulu Langat. Having family history of breast cancer (p < 0.001) and perceived positive psychological status (p=0.003) had shown significant associations with mammogram screening among them. It is therefore important for researcher to further look into the reasons behind this and qualitative exploration is highly recommended.
Objective: To study the demographic data of patients and the pattern of crime in the study group, to look at the outcome of assessment by psychiatrist on fitness to plea and insanity at time of offense and to assess association between the nature of crime with presence of psychopathology during the crime. Method: This is a retrospective study. All available case notes for 342 forensic admissions from January 2007 until March 2010 were reviewed. All related information on 135 patients that committed violent crime was taken for analysis. Result: Majority of patients were male, Malay, single, education up to secondary school and unemployed. Only 38% of patients had encountered psychiatric services, 20% had previous imprisonment and 49% had history of substance usage. In cases involving victims (87%), 64% the victims were known to the patient, 53% had hallucination or delusion or both at the time of crime and 90% was found to have some diagnosis of mental illness after psychiatrist assessment. Only 81% of formal forensic reports were available in the case note and it showed 94% were fit to plea and 82% were at sound mind at the time of offense. Conclusion: Substance abuse had high prevalence among the patient. Almost 2/3 never had any encounter with psychiatric services before the admission. Even with the high percentage of patient diagnosed with mental illness, they were still found to be fit to plea in court and are at sound mind at the time of offense
About 60% of people with mental illness developed co-morbid medical and physical illness that invariably worsens their lives. However, most of the studies regarding this issue were done either in the out-patient or community settings, ignoring long stay inpatients. Locally, no data exists among long stay patients in psychiatric institutions. The aim of this retrospective study was to look at the prevalence of physical illness among long-stay patients and to compare the occurrence of physical illness before and after admission to the psychiatric institution. We found that 85 (63.4%) out of 134 subjects there was suffering with co-morbid physical and medical illnesses. There were 33 (24.6%) subjects with hyperlipidaemia, 22 (16.4%) subjects with hypertension and 17 (12.7%) subjects with diabetes. Approximately 75 (55.9%) subjects developed medical illness after admission. In conclusion, long-stay psychiatric patients are at a high risk of developing medical problems that tends to begin after admission to the psychiatric institution.
Study site: Hospital Bahagia, Ulu Kinta, Perak, Malaysia
Previous studies have shown that the experience of infertility is linked with psychological responses such as depression, anxiety, guilt, social isolation, and decreased self-esteem in both men and women. The prevalence of depression among infertile women ranges from 8% to 54%. Treating gynecologists and healthcare professionals seldom recognized the psychosocial distress in women undergoing fertility treatment. Therefore this paper reviewed the bio-psychosocial response towards infertility among women with infertility.
Objective: The objective of the present study was to determine the prevalence and factors contributing to psychological morbidity among doctors in Sana’a city, Yemen. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among 442 Yemeni doctors. The (GHQ12) was used as a measure of psychological morbidity. Sources of job stress were determined using a 37-item scale questionnaire. Results: The prevalence of psychological morbidity was 68.1 %. Gender, age range of 30 – 39 years old, chewing Khat, type of residence and income were significantly associated with psychological morbidity (p
The objectives of this study were predicting the transmission and survival of L. monocytogenes in cooked ham during supply chain. Cooked ham are frequently contaminated with L. monocytogenes during postprocessing steps through contact on surface of processing, handling, packaging equipment. Transfer rate of L. monocytogenes on static and dynamic condition in various surface type was investigated. The prevalence and level of L. monocytogenes in cooked ham at plant as well as the prevalence of unsatisfactory processing at retail were studied. A Monte Carlo simulation model was created by using @risk. The simulation predicted that the prevalence was 11.76 % with 90% confidence interval of 2% to 25% and estimated level was -4.02 log CFU/cm2. It was estimated to be occurred on slicing step at plant. Our results suggest that, the prevalence and level of L. monocytogenes can be reduced by Good Handling Process application and/or HACCP application.
Aimed of this study was to determine the presence of Vibrio cholerae in cockles (Anadara granosa)
from different coasts in Malaysia and to measure the biosafety of V. cholerae in raw cockles at wet market in Malaysia using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in combination with the most probable number (MPN) method. A total of 100 samples from 4 different wet markets in the West and East were examined for the presence of V. cholerae. The prevalence of V. cholerae between the two coasts was not significant different. In fact, the 74% of samples from West coast area was found positive while the 69% for samples collected in the East coast. West coast samples showed a prevalence of 60% for the wet market A=, 64% for B=, 88% for C= and 84% for the market D); East coast samples showed the same percentage with 72% for the wet markets E, F and H, followed by wet market G with 60%.With the MPN-PCR method, using 80 samples of raw cockles obtained from 4 wet markets, the occurrence of V. cholerae detected was of 95%. The frequency of V. cholerae in raw cockles obtained from wet market I and L was higher (100%) compared to other wet market (Wet market B=, 90%; Wet market C=, 95%).The density of V. cholerae detected in all samples ranged from 24000 MPN/g, but most of the samples (24 samples) were in category >24000 MPN/g concentration. V. cholerae was present in raw cockles in higher number. Hence, these results demonstrate the presence of pathogenic V.cholerae in cockles harvested and reveal the potential risk of illness associated with their consumption. This study will be the first biosafety assessment of V. choleare in raw cockles in Malaysia and it will provide significant insights about Malaysian scenario.
Postpartum depression is the most prevalent emotional problem during a women's lifespan. Untreated postpartum depression may lead to several consequences such as child, infant, fetal, and maternal effects. The main purpose of this article is to briefly describe different theoretical perspectives of postpartum depression. A literature search was conducted in Psych Info, PubMed, and Science Direct between 1950 and 2015. Additional articles and book chapters were referenced from these sources. Different theories were suggested for developing postpartum depression. Three theories, namely, biological, psychosocial, and evolutionary were discussed. One theory or combinations of psychosocial, biological, and evolutionary theories were considered for postpartum depression. The most important factor that makes clinicians' choice of intervention is their theoretical perspectives. Healthcare providers and physicians should help women to make informed choices regarding their treatment based on related theories.
Vibrio parahaemolyticus is prevalent in tropical marine environment in all seasons and can cause seafood-borne gastroenteritis. A total of 251 suspected isolates were tested including 60 from frozen shrimp, 50 from cultured live shrimp, 67 from sediments of culture ponds and 74 from water were subjected to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting the toxR gene for confirmation as V. parahaemolyticus. Of the 128 toxR positive isolates, 15% of the isolates from culture environment (from live shrimp, sediments and water) and 7% of frozen shrimp samples were positive for the tdh and trh genes. Since urease production could be a marker of trh but not tdh in V. parahaemolyticus, a total of 189 of the 251 suspected V. parahaemolyticus isolates were tested for urease production and 41% of the isolates were found to be positive for urease production. However not all urease positive strains of V. parahaemolyticus were positive for either tdh or trh genes. Detection of virulent strains in shrimp culture environment in Malaysia suggests a probable risk for health of people consuming raw shrimp.