Displaying publications 21 - 40 of 533 in total

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  1. Spencer C, Navaratnam V
    Drug Alcohol Depend, 1980 Jun;5(6):421-7.
    PMID: 7379698
    The present paper is the third and concluding part of a study of the secondary school population of two of Malaysia's thirteen states, Penang and Selangor. Since completion of the two earlier papers, the research team has investigated the pattern and nature of drug use among the equivalent population in a third state, Kelantan, and has again found essentially the same pattern of results: youthful drug use is most clearly related to precocious self-assertion, and a set of beliefs and attitudes about drugs and drug taking, and is largely unrelated to indicators of social deprivation or personal problems. The significance of this repeated finding in Kelantan is that, in this much more rural and traditional state, adult and established patterns of drug use had historically differed considerably from those found in the two more urban and cosmopolitan states of Penang and Selangor. Our findings indicate that the new pattern of drug use by youth has transcended the older cultural differences between the states, and is in turn explained by a more universally familiar set of characteristics in adolescent development.
    Matched MeSH terms: Social Environment*
  2. Spencer C, Navaratnam V
    Drug Alcohol Depend, 1980 Jun;5(6):411-9.
    PMID: 7379697
    Those Malaysian secondary schoolchildren who have ever used an illicit drug do not differ significantly in terms of social class background, ethnicity or rural/urban location, from the majority of their contemporaries who have not used drugs. The cross-sectional data show a rapid secular trend towards the sexes being equally involved in drug use. Significant differences between ever and never users are, however, found in their attitudes towards drug taking and their beliefs about the properties of drugs, although both groups share the same rather negative image of the typical drug user. Thus, drug users have accepted some of the attitudes towards drug issues which are normative in the non-user group, whilst developing other attitudes which are consistent with their continuing use. It is argued that adolescent drug abuse in Malaysia is not to be linked specifically with social deprivation, but should be seen as being part of the life style of particular groups in all strata of society.
    Matched MeSH terms: Social Environment*
  3. Caldecott JO
    Folia Primatol., 1980;33(4):291-309.
    PMID: 7419138
    Sympatric gibbon species Hylobates lar and H. syndactylus were censused on a mountain in Malaya (West Malaysia). Habitat quality was assessed between 380- and 1,525-m altitudes. H. syndactylus was found to occur up to altitudes higher than does H. lar, and this is discussed with reference to the two species' divergent foraging strategies indicated by previous research. It is suggested that gibbons are restricted in their altitudinal range by an increasingly unfavourable ratio of food consumed to energy expended in its location, caused by a reduced food-source density and more difficult terrain at higher elevations.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment*
  4. United States. Department of State. Bureau of Public Affairs
    Backgr Notes Ser, 1985 Apr.
    PMID: 12178106
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment
  5. Arshat H, Othman R, Kuan Lin Chee, Abdullah M
    JOICFP Rev, 1985 Oct;10:10-5.
    PMID: 12313881
    PIP:
    The NADI program (pulse in Malay) was initially launched as a pilot project in 1980 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It utilized an integrated approach involving both the government and the private sectors. By sharing resources and expertise, and by working together, the government and the people can achieve national development faster and with better results. The agencies work through a multi-level supportive structure, at the head of which is the steering committee. The NADI teams at the field level are the focal points of services from the various agencies. Members of NADI teams also work with urban poor families as well as health groups, parents-teachers associations, and other similar groups. The policy and planning functions are carried out by the steering committee, the 5 area action committees and the community action committees, while the implementation function is carried out by the area program managers and NADI teams. The chairman of each area action committee is the head of the branch office of city hall. Using intestinal parasite control as the entry point, the NADI Integrated Family Development Program has greatly helped in expanding inter-agency cooperation and exchange of experiences by a coordinated, effective and efficient resource-mobilization. The program was later expanded to other parts of the country including the industrial and estate sectors. Services provided by NADI include: comprehensive health services to promote maternal and child health; adequate water supply, proper waste disposal, construction of latrines and providing electricity; and initiating community and family development such as community education, preschool education, vocational training, family counseling and building special facilities for recreational and educational purposes.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment
  6. Lee RL
    Soc Sci Med, 1985;21(11):1289-96.
    PMID: 4095582
    This paper examines four drug rehabilitation systems in Malaysia from an organizational perspective. It focuses on authority structures in rehabilitation centres and their impact on rehabilitees' identities. The findings show that there are important differences between government-run and private centres in terms of administration and approach to therapy. Some policy implications are derived from a comparison of these systems.
    Matched MeSH terms: Social Environment
  7. Thambypillai V
    Soc Sci Med, 1985;21(7):819-23.
    PMID: 4071118 DOI: 10.1016/0277-9536(85)90130-3
    A questionnaire on smoking habits was administered to 4106 Form IV school children in Kuala Lumpur. The period of survey was from 9 to 20 April 1984. 2099 boys and 2007 girls were studied and their mean age was 16.1 years. 32.8% of the students had been initiated to smoking and the mean age of initiation was 13.3 years. The prevalence of smoking was found to be 9.8% and the mean duration of smoking was 2.5 years. Most of the smokers and occasional smokers were boys. About 42% of the smokers wished to stop smoking and only 1% of the non-smokers intended to smoke in the future. The study recommended that health education programmes should be started earlier in school.
    Matched MeSH terms: Social Environment
  8. Chen ST
    Med J Malaysia, 1986 Mar;41(1):72-6.
    PMID: 3796354
    A child's growth achievement depends on his genetic endowment and the environment in which he lives; Comparative studies of children of similar racial origin but growing under different environmental conditions have shown differences in their body size and shape. In general higher income families produce offspring with higher mean birth weight. This is largely due to better nutrition and care of mothers during pregnancy and childhood. Children from higher socioeconomic groups are on an average larger in size in terms of weight, height, head circumference, midarm circumference, crown-rump length and leg length. This is largely due to a better home environment including sanitation, nutrition, health and care enjoyed by the better-off children. .Generally urban children are larger than rural children mainly due to economic differences between the two areas. In most countries the secular trend to children getting larger still continues reflecting an improvement of living conditions with time. Unlike body size, body shape is less influenced by the environment and the change in body proportion brought about by environment is not permanent. In developing countries, children from higher socioeconomic families have generally thicker skinfolds. On the average, infants and preschool children of European ancestry have thicker triceps skinfolds compared with Negroes and Asians living in comparable environments. It is possible that this is due to long term adaptation to different climatic conditions.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment*
  9. UNESCO. Regional Office for Education in Asia and the Pacific
    PMID: 12342774
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment*
  10. Bennett EL
    Folia Primatol., 1986;47(1):26-38.
    PMID: 3557228
    Data are presented from a long-term study of banded langurs in three contrasting rain forest habitats in Peninsular Malaysia. Results from different sites and months are used to correlate ranging patterns with food availability and other environmental variables. Day range lengths are correlated with availability of preferred foods; the degree of territoriality is related to the distribution and size of food sources and length of time for which any one of these produces favoured food items.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment*
  11. Tan Poo Chang, Kwok Kwan Kit, Tan Boon Ann, Shyamala Nagaraj, Tey Nai Peng, Siti Norazah Zulkifli
    Asia Pac Popul J, 1987 Mar;2(1):3-20.
    PMID: 12341034
    PIP: Morality in Peninsular Malaysia has reached a level that is quite similar to that prevailing in the low mortality countries. This article systematically documents changes in mortality levels and differentials in Malaysia over time and relates these to changes in development indicators and health-related policies. Remedial measures undertaken by the authorities including the expansion of hospital and health services into the estates, together with a comprehensive malaria-eradication program, improvements in sanitation laws, and increased provision of public utilities and education, resulted in beriberi being eliminated and the incidence of malaria, typhus, and smallpox being greatly reduced by the time of World War II. The gain in life expectancy over the period of 1957-1979 was greatest for the Malay, the most significant period being 1957-1967, which saw the introduction of rural health programs. The infant mortality rate and the neonatal and post-neonatal rates declined substantially for all ethnic groups in Peninsular Malaysia for the same time period. Although the lower infant mortality of the Chinese can be explained by their advantageous socioeconomic position the same reason cannot explain the lower decline in infant mortality levels of the Indians. Much still needs to be done to narrow, if not to eliminate, the existing mortality differentials of different groups in the country. Overall, the quality of life of the general population can be further enhanced by reducing the high mortality level of disadvantaged groups.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment
  12. Chen PCY
    Soc Sci Med, 1988;26(10):1073-7.
    PMID: 3393924 DOI: 10.1016/0277-9536(88)90225-0
    In Sarawak, some tribes stay in communal longhouses whilst others live in villages of single dwellings. The present study looks into the question of whether there is an association between the prevalence of leprosy and tuberculosis with the quantum of social contact that occurs in these two types of settlement patterns. It was found that the prevalence of leprosy and tuberculosis is significantly higher among longhouse dwellers compared with single house dwellers. It was also noted that social groups tended to be larger and to persist for much longer among longhouse dwellers than among those in single dwellings. This lends support to the evidence that social contact in longhouses is more extensive and contributes towards a higher prevalence of leprosy and tuberculosis.
    Matched MeSH terms: Social Environment*
  13. Chen ST
    J Singapore Paediatr Soc, 1989;31(3-4):178-85.
    PMID: 2638722
    126 Malay children from higher income families were followed-up regularly from birth to six years of age in the University Hospital, Kuala Lumpur. Their developmental performance was compared to that of Denver children. Generally, Malaysian and Denver children appear to be similar in their development during the first six years of life except for some minor differences in the personal-social, language and gross motor sectors. Malaysians appear to be slower in self-care but more advanced in "helping around the house", "playing interactive games" and in "separating from mother". They were slightly slower in gross motor function during the first year of life but more advanced during the second year of life. However, they were slightly more advanced in language development. The differences in development between the two groups of children are discussed and it is concluded that the differences can partly be explained by differences in socio-economic or cultural differences between the two groups of children. However, the influence of genetic factors cannot be dismissed.
    Matched MeSH terms: Social Environment
  14. Hinrichsen D
    Earthwatch, 1989.
    PMID: 12285899
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment; Environmental Pollution*
  15. Koh HL, Lim PE, Midun Z
    Environ Monit Assess, 1991 Oct;19(1-3):349-59.
    PMID: 24233952 DOI: 10.1007/BF00401324
    Coastal waters in South Johore, Malaysia are polluted to various degrees. The major pollution sources are domestric wastes from human settlements, agro-based wastes from palm oil mills and rubber processing factories, industrial effluents from industrial estates and discharges from animal farms. These pollution problems have adversely affected resources such as fisheries, recreational potential as well as the general aesthetic quality of the coastal environment particularly the Inner Johore Strait. Hence proper management and control measures are urgently needed to protect and further enhance the water quality to ensure environmentally sustainable development. This study examines various management options to control the pollution in the Inner Johore Strait. The options involve partial opening as well as complete removal of the Causeway to improve the tidal flow for more effective dilution and dispersion of pollutants. Computer simulation models are used to assess the impacts of the proposed options.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment; Environmental Monitoring; Environmental Pollutants
  16. Kitatani K
    Earthwatch, 1991;?(41):5-6.
    PMID: 12284002
    PIP: At the Population and Natural Resources Workshop of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) General Assembly in Perth, Australia, December 1990, population and quality of life issues were stressed as one of the central items to be placed on the 1992 Agenda of the UN Conference on Environment. The pace of environmental degradation is quickening, the causes are becoming more entrenched, and indecision will narrow our options. Poverty and population growth are making development unsustainable. Technological miracles will not appear to restore balance. Deforestation, soil erosion, decertification and loss of water resources are fueling urbanization. Therefore the World Commission on Environment and Development, known as the Brundtland Commission, ranks human resources development as a top priority in sustainable development and quality of life. Human resources can be improved by providing maternal and child care, family planning and improving the status of women. Successful family planning programs as seen in Thailand and Malaysia can show results very quickly once national population policies, institutions and capacity are in place.
    Matched MeSH terms: Environment*
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