Displaying publications 21 - 40 of 426 in total

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  1. Al-Amery SM, Ngeow WC, Nambiar P, Naidu M
    Int J Oral Maxillofac Surg, 2018 Sep;47(9):1153-1160.
    PMID: 29735199 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijom.2018.04.013
    The lingual guttering technique for third molar surgery carries the risk of injury to the lingual nerve if the surgical bur comes into direct contact with it. This study investigated the extent of nerve injury caused by two different burs, a tungsten carbide bur and the Dentium implant bur; the latter is designed to be soft tissue friendly. This study also examined whether ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging are able to detect any injury inflicted. This cadaveric research involved subjecting 12 lingual nerves to the drilling effect of two different burs at two different speeds. The amount of damage caused was measured using different imaging modalities to assess their ability to detect the injury inflicted. At high speed, the Dentium bur caused a deeper and wider laceration than the carbide bur. At low speed, the laceration depths and widths caused by the two burs did not differ significantly. Ultrasound scanning was able to detect the nerve laceration at damaged sites observed using optical coherence tomography. Thus, a carbide bur (at low speed) would be preferable for lingual bone guttering, as it causes less laceration to the lingual nerve. In the event of a suspected injury, ultrasound scanning would provide an objective evaluation of the amount of nerve damage in vivo.
    Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
  2. Misra S, Khor GL, Mitchell P, Haque S, Benton D
    BMC Pediatr, 2015;15:79.
    PMID: 26174581 DOI: 10.1186/s12887-015-0393-9
    BACKGROUND: Sleep is important for children as it directly impacts their mental and physical development. Sleep is not only influenced by the timing but also the macronutrient (carbohydrate and protein) content of meals. Glycaemic index (GI) and glycaemic load (GL) describe the quality of carbohydrates in a food and the burden of these foods on the body's blood glucose response. Diets with a high GI/GL may increase the risk of developing obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus in adulthood. The present study is piloted to evaluate the short-term impact of milk products with differing glycaemic properties on the sleep patterns of toddlers.
    METHODS: Toddlers were recruited from various day care centres. Informed consent was obtained from both the mothers and the centres. A double-blind randomised controlled trial with a between-subjects design was adopted. The toddlers were randomised to either one of two types of milk with a differing GI ("Low" = 23 and "High = 65") for a period of 3.5 days. There were no other dietary restrictions imposed except that the enrolled child did not consume any other milk during the study period. The sleep patterns were recorded using a Phillips Actiwatch-2, which was worn on the wrist for 24 h over 4 days. The parameters used to measure the sleep pattern were sleep-onset latency (SOL), total sleep time (TST), wake after sleep onset (WASO) and sleep efficiency (SE).
    RESULTS: A total of 56 toddlers completed the study. The toddlers had a mean age of 19.9 +/- 4.3 months. There were no significant differences (p > 0.05) between the two GI groups for SOL, TST, WASO and SE at the end of the feeding period.
    CONCLUSIONS: Sleep patterns of toddlers on low-GI milk did not differ from those with high-GI milk consumed over a short period. Future studies should consider the glycaemic effects of other foods, along with milk with differing GI, consumed for a longer feeding duration.
    TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrial.gov NCT01589003.
    Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
  3. Zainul Rashid MR, Lim JF, Nawawi NH, Luqman M, Zolkeplai MF, Rangkuty HS, et al.
    Gynecol Endocrinol, 2014 Mar;30(3):217-20.
    PMID: 24552449 DOI: 10.3109/09513590.2013.860960
    Gestational hypertension (GH) remains one of the main causes of high maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality worldwide with the highest incidence among primigravidae of about 10%-15%. However, it was noted that the incidence of GH in primigravidae who conceived following assisted reproductive technique (ART) or intrauterine insemination (IUI) supplemented with dydrogesterone during the first trimester was low.

    Study site: Obstetrics and Gynecology
    Department, Pusat Perubatan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia PPUKM
    Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
  4. Ahmad B, Ramadas A, Quek KF, Md Zain AZ
    BMC Endocr Disord, 2014 Apr 08;14:31.
    PMID: 24708715 DOI: 10.1186/1472-6823-14-31
    BACKGROUND: Diabetes education and self-care remains the cornerstone of diabetes management. There are many structured diabetes modules available in the United Kingdom, Europe and United States of America. Contrastingly, few structured and validated diabetes modules are available in Malaysia. This pilot study aims to develop and validate diabetes education material suitable and tailored for a multicultural society like Malaysia.

    METHODS: The theoretical framework of this module was founded from the Health Belief Model (HBM). The participants were assessed using 6-item pre- and post-test questionnaires that measured some of the known HBM constructs namely cues to action, perceived severity and perceived benefit. Data was analysed using PASW Statistics 18.0.

    RESULTS: The pre- and post-test questionnaires were administered to 88 participants (31 males). In general, there was a significant increase in the total score in post-test (97.34 ± 6.13%) compared to pre-test (92.80 ± 12.83%) (p 85%) at post-test (84.1%) compared to pre-test (70.5%) (p pilot study suggest contextualised content material embedded within MY DEMO maybe suitable for integration with the existing diabetes education programmes. This was the first known validated diabetes education programme available in the Malay language.
    Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
  5. Mutalib HA, Kaur S, Ghazali AR, Chinn Hooi N, Safie NH
    PMID: 25802534 DOI: 10.1155/2015/135987
    Purpose. An open-label pilot study of virgin coconut oil (VCO) was conducted to determine the safety of the agent as ocular rewetting eye drops on rabbits. Methods. Efficacy of the VCO was assessed by measuring NIBUT, anterior eye assessment, corneal staining, pH, and Schirmer value before instillation and at 30 min, 60 min, and two weeks after instillation. Friedman test was used to analyse any changes in all the measurable variables over the period of time. Results. Only conjunctival redness with instillation of saline agent showed significant difference over the period of time (P < 0.05). However, further statistical analysis had shown no significant difference at 30 min, 60 min, and two weeks compared to initial measurement (P > 0.05). There were no changes in the NIBUT, limbal redness, palpebral conjunctiva redness, corneal staining, pH, and Schirmer value over the period of time for each agent (P > 0.05). Conclusion. VCO acts as safe rewetting eye drops as it has shown no significant difference in the measurable parameter compared to commercial brand eye drops and saline. These study data suggest that VCO is safe to be used as ocular rewetting agent on human being.
    Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
  6. Kuan JW, Law CS, Wong XQ, Ko CT, Awang ZH, Chew LP, et al.
    Appl Radiat Isot, 2016 Oct;116:13-21.
    PMID: 27472826 DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2016.07.016
    Radioimmunotherapy is an established treatment modality in Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The only two commercially available radioimmunotherapies - (90)Y-ibritumomab tiuxetan is expensive and (131)I-tositumomab has been discontinued from commercial production. In resource limited environment, self-labelling (131)I-rituximab might be the only viable practical option. We reported our pioneer experience in Malaysia on self-labelling (131)I-rituximab, substituting autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and a patient, the first reported case, received high dose (131)I-rituximab (6000MBq/163mCi) combined with BEAM conditioning for autologous HSCT.
    Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
  7. Molla AH, Fakhru'l-Razi A, Abd-Aziz S, Hanafi MM, Roychoudhury PK, Alam MZ
    Bioresour Technol, 2002 Dec;85(3):263-72.
    PMID: 12365494
    Twenty seven filamentous fungal strains representing five genera; Aspergillus, Penicillium, Trichoderma, Myriodontium and Pleurotus were isolated from four sources; domestic wastewater sludge cake (SC) from IWK (Indah Water Konsortium) wastewater treatment plant, palm oil mill effluent compost from Sri Ulu palm Oil Processing Mill, compost of plant debris, and fungal fruiting bodies from a rotten wood stump. Thirty-three strains/isolates were tested for their ability to convert domestic wastewater sludge into compost by assessing biomass production and growth rate on sludge enriched media. The strains/isolates Aspergillus niger, SS-T2008, WW-P1003 and RW-P1 512 produced the highest dry biomass at higher sludge supplemented culture media from their respective group (Aspergillus, Trichoderma, Penicillium and Basidiomycetes, respectively). This implied these strains are better adapted for growth at higher sludge rich substances, and subsequently may be efficient in bioconversion/biodegradation of sludge. The fungi isolated from ecological closely related sources were more amendable to adaptation in a sludge rich culture media.
    Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
  8. Qazi A, Raj RG, Tahir M, Waheed M, Waheed M, Khan SU, et al.
    ScientificWorldJournal, 2014;2014:872929.
    PMID: 24711739 DOI: 10.1155/2014/872929
    Existing opinion mining studies have focused on and explored only two types of reviews, that is, regular and comparative. There is a visible gap in determining the useful review types from customers and designers perspective. Based on Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and statistical measures we examine users' perception about different review types and its effects in terms of behavioral intention towards using online review system. By using sample of users (N = 400) and designers (N = 106), current research work studies three review types, A (regular), B (comparative), and C (suggestive), which are related to perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and behavioral intention. The study reveals that positive perception of the use of suggestive reviews improves users' decision making in business intelligence. The results also depict that type C (suggestive reviews) could be considered a new useful review type in addition to other types, A and B.
    Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
  9. Musa R, Ramli R, Yazmie AW, Khadijah MB, Hayati MY, Midin M, et al.
    Compr Psychiatry, 2014 Jan;55 Suppl 1:S65-9.
    PMID: 23433218 DOI: 10.1016/j.comppsych.2013.01.001
    Studies from Western countries have observed that couples undergoing infertility treatment suffer various physical and psychological difficulties at a higher frequency than the comparable general population. These relate to treatment challenges and other psychosocial stressors, often influenced by coping style, personality factors and available support systems. There is paucity of studies in non-Western populations.
    Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
  10. Abidin ZZ, Ismail N, Yunus R, Ahamad IS, Idris A
    Environ Technol, 2011 Jul;32(9-10):971-7.
    PMID: 21882550
    Many coagulants, mainly inorganic, are widely used in conventional water and wastewater treatment. Recent studies reported the occurrence of some chronic diseases associated with residual coagulant in treated wastewater. The use of alternative coagulants which are biodegradable and environmentally friendly could alleviate the problem associated with these diseases. This work investigates the capability of Jatropha curcas seed and presscake (the residue left after oil extraction) to reduce the turbidity of wastewater through coagulation. The coagulant was prepared by dissolving Jatropha curcas seed and presscake powder into solution. Then jar tests were conducted on kaolin solution as the model wastewater. The Jatropha seed was found to be an effective coagulant with more than 96% of turbidity removal at pH 1-3 and pH 11-12. The highest turbidity removal was recorded at pH 3 using a dosage of 120 mg/L. The flocs formed using Jatropha were observed to be bigger and to sediment faster when compared with flocs formed using alum. The turbidity removal was high (>98%) at all turbidities (100 NTU to 8000 NTU), suggesting its suitability for a wide range of industrial wastewater. The performance of Jatropha presscake after extraction of oil was also comparable to the fresh seed and alum at highly acidic and highly alkaline conditions. The addition of Jatropha did not significantly affect the pH of the kaolin samples after treatment and the sludge volume produced was less in comparison to alum. These results strongly support the use of Jatropha curcas seed and presscake as a potential coagulant agent.
    Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
  11. Rijal OM, Abdullah NA, Isa ZM, Noor NM, Tawfiq OF
    PMID: 23367155 DOI: 10.1109/EMBC.2012.6347220
    Selected landmarks from each of 47 maxillary dental casts were used to define a Cartesian-coordinate system from which the positions of selected teeth were determined on standardized digital images. The position of the i-th tooth was defined by a line of length (l(i)) joining the tooth to the origin, and the angle (θ(i)) of this line to the horizontal Cartesian axis. Four teeth, the central incisor, lateral incisor, canine and first molar were selected and their position were collectively used to represent the shape of the dental arch. A pilot study using clustering and principal component analysis strongly suggest the existence of 3 groups of arch shape. In this study, the homogeneity of the 3 groups was further investigated and confirmed by the Dunn and Davies-Bouldein validity indices. This is followed by an investigation of the probability distribution of these 3 groups. The main result of this study suggests 3 groups of multivariate (MV) normal distribution. The MV normal probability distribution of these groups may be used in further studies to investigate the issues of variation of arch shape, which is fundamental to the practice of prosthodontics and orthodontics.
    Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
  12. Ngeow WC, Dionysius DD, Ishak H, Nambiar P
    J Oral Sci, 2009 Jun;51(2):231-7.
    PMID: 19550091
    The anterior loop is defined as where the mental neurovascular bundle crosses anterior to the mental foramen then doubles back to exit the mental foramen. It cannot be seen clinically but can be detected in 11-60% of panoramic radiographs. As this anatomical structure is important in determining the placement position of endosseous implants in the mandibular premolar region, a pilot study was undertaken to determine its visibility on dental panoramic radiographs in dentate subjects of various age groups. One or more anterior loops were visible in 39 (40.2%) radiographs encompassing 66 sites (34.4%). Interestingly, anterior loops were most commonly observed bilaterally, followed by on the right side of the mandible only. An anterior loop on the left side only was observed in just 1 radiograph. Visibility of anterior loops reduced as the age of subjects increased. More than half (58.1%) of subjects aged 20-29 years exhibited at least one anterior loop; this gradually reduced to only 15 percent of subjects aged 50 and older. There was no association between visualization of the anterior loop and subject gender.
    Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
  13. Heikal MY, Aminuddin BS, Jeevanan J, Chen HC, Sharifah S, Ruszymah BH
    Med J Malaysia, 2008 Jul;63 Suppl A:34.
    PMID: 19024970
    Normal tracheal mucociliary clearance is the key to maintaining the health and defense of respiratory airway. Therefore the present of cilia and mucous blanket are important for tracheal epithelium to function effectively. In the present study, we prepared a tissue engineered respiratory epithelium construct (TEREC) made of autologous respiratory epithelium cells, fibroblast and fibrin from sheep owns blood which replaced a created tracheal mucosal defect. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed encouraging result where immature cilia were present on the surface of TEREC. This result indicates that engineered respiratory epithelium was able to function as normal tissue.
    Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
  14. Al-Hinai KH, Benkara Mohd N, Rozullyah Zulkepely N, Md Nor R, Mohd Amin Y, Bradley DA
    Appl Radiat Isot, 2013 Dec;82:126-9.
    PMID: 23978507 DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2013.07.013
    We describe two example pilot efforts to help define new thermoluminescent dosimeter media. The first concerns ZnS:Mn nanophosphors, prepared by chemical precipitation using zinc and sodium sulfate, doped with manganese sulfate at concentrations varying from 1 to 3mol. The second concerns chemical vapor deposited diamond, produced as a thin film or as amorphous carbon on a single-crystal silicon substrate, each deposited under the same conditions, use being made of the hot filament-chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD) technique. The gas concentrations used were 1% CH4 in 99% H2 and 25% CH4 in 75% H2. Characterization of formations used FESEM, XRD and EDX. The nanophosphors consisted of particles of sizes in the range 85-150nm, the thermoluminescence (TL)-based radiation detection medium giving rise to a single peaked glow curve of maximum yield at a temperature of 250°C at a heating rate of 5°C/s. The TL response increased linearly with radiation dose, ZnS doped to 2mol of Mn being found the most sensitive. Regarding chemical vapor deposited (CVD) carbon, inappreciable TL was found for the resultant ball-like amorphous carbon films, graphite, and the silicon substrate, whereas CVD diamond films showed a promising degree of linearity with dose. For both the ZnS and diamond samples, TL signal fading was appreciable, being some 40% per day for ZnS and>50% per day for CVD films even under storage in the dark at room temperature, making it apparent that there is need to adjust parameters such as the size of nanoparticles.
    Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
  15. Sharoni SKA, Abdul Rahman H, Minhat HS, Shariff Ghazali S, Azman Ong MH
    BMJ Open, 2017 06 08;7(6):e014393.
    PMID: 28600363 DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-014393
    OBJECTIVE: A pilot self-efficacy education programme was conducted to assess the feasibility, acceptability and potential impact of the self-efficacy education programme on improving foot self-care behaviour among older patients with diabetes in a public long-term care institution.

    METHOD: A prequasi-experimental and postquasi-experimental study was conducted in a public long-term care institution in Selangor, Malaysia. Patients with diabetes aged 60 years and above who fulfilled the selection criteria were invited to participate in this programme. Four self-efficacy information sources; performance accomplishments, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion and physiological information were translated into programme interventions. The programme consisted of four visits over a 12-week period. The first visit included screening and baseline assessment and the second visit involved 30 min of group seminar presentation. The third and fourth visits entailed a 20-min one-to-one follow-up discussion and evaluation. A series of visits to the respondents was conducted throughout the programme. The primary outcome was foot self-care behaviour. Foot self-efficacy (efficacy-expectation), foot care outcome expectation, knowledge of foot care, quality of life, fasting blood glucose and foot condition were secondary outcomes. Data were analysed with descriptive and inferential statistics (McNemar's test and Wilcoxon signed-rank test) using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences V.20.0.

    RESULTS: Fifty-two residents were recruited but only 31 met the inclusion criteria and were included in the analysis at baseline and at 12 weeks postintervention. The acceptability rate was moderately high. At postintervention, foot self-care behaviour (p<0.001), foot self-efficacy (efficacy-expectation), (p<0.001), foot care outcome expectation (p<0.001), knowledge of foot care (p<0.001), quality of life (physical symptoms) (p=0.003), fasting blood glucose (p=0.010), foot hygiene (p=0.030) and anhydrosis (p=0.020) showed significant improvements.

    CONCLUSION: Findings from this pilot study would facilitate the planning of a larger study among the older population with diabetes living in long-term care institutions.

    TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ACTRN12616000210471; Pre-results.
    Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
  16. Puah SM, Lian LH, Chew CH, Chua KH, Tan SY
    Lupus, 2007;16(9):750-4.
    PMID: 17728371 DOI: 10.1177/0961203307079454
    The aim of the present study was to investigate the association of C4 gene mutations with systemic lupus erythematosus, in 130 Malaysian SLE patients and 130 healthy controls. Generally, various PCR approaches were used to screen the mutations of the C4 genes, which included 2 bp (+TC) insertions at codon 1213 in exon 29, 1 bp deletions (-C) at codon 811 in exon 20, 1 bp (-C), 2 bp (-GT) deletions at codons 522 and 497 in exon 13 and null alleles. No mutations located at exons 13, 20 and 29 of the C4 gene, were detected amongst the patient and control samples in this study. C4A*Q0 was found in two out of the 130 control samples, while C4B*Q0 was present in two out of the 130 SLE patients. Overall, our results do not demonstrate a significant association to these known C4 mutations identified by previous studies, in the Malaysian scenario.
    Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
  17. Marhani Midin, Nik Ruzyanei Nik Jaafar, Ruzanna Zam Zam, Che Khatijjah Bee Mohd Ali
    MyJurnal
    Objective: To describe the setting up of a pilot project on weight management programme for patients with severe mental illness (SMI) in a general hospital setting, the effectiveness of the programme on 5 patients and the feasibility of such programme to be developed in our local setting. Methods: Key staff members from relevant disciplines were involved through out the programme, which was based on dietary education, exercise and behavioural techniques. It was conducted weekly for physical exercise and biweekly for topic discussion with a total duration of 16 weeks. Results: Patients achieved means (SDs) weight loss of 1.78 (2.83) kg; BMI reduction of 0.92 (1.41) kg/m2; and reduction of waist circumference of 6.8 (4.97) cm. Factors associated with positive health outcome were high baseline BMI, high educational level and committed family members. Conclusion: The programme appears to be effective for patients and is feasible to be developed in Malaysian hospitals.
    Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
  18. Shadli RM, Pieter MS, Yaacob MJ, Rashid FA
    Brain Inj, 2011;25(6):596-603.
    PMID: 21534737 DOI: 10.3109/02699052.2011.572947
    The influence of apolipoprotein (APOE) on neuropsychological outcome was investigated in 19 patients (25.79 ± 7.22 years) with mild-to-moderate traumatic brain injury and 14 matched healthy control subjects (27.43 ± 6.65 years).
    Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
  19. De S, Nagandla K, Kanagasabai S
    MyJurnal
    Introduction: Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT) is a novel method of teaching-learning used in various disciplines of science and humanities. It is a technique that scaffolds the students learning process by reducing the cognitive load which is the load related to the executive control of working memory. Just in time teaching underpins the concept that expertise in learning originates from the knowledge already stored in long term memory and with subsequent interaction between the learner and teacher motivates enhanced active learning and optimizes the intellectual performance.
    Objective: The objective of the study is to assess the acceptability of JiTT over traditional lecture teaching among the medical students.
    Method: In a cross sectional pilot study, three hundred thirty five students participated in a questionnaire based study that grades the various aspects of the traditional lecture series. After the implementation of JiTT method for a period of four months, three hundred two students completed the questionnaire, grading the same variables for JiTT. The analysis was done by using SPSS version 11 applying Paired t test and McNemar's Test.
    Result: The results of our study highlighted that JiTT technique was perceived superior to traditional teaching with statistically significant outcomes in the clarity of the topic (p=0.003,) duration of the session (p=0.002), knowledge gained and orientation for exams (p=0.044). The students perceived JiTT method as less monotonous (p=0.005) increasing their alertness during these sessions (p=0.002).
    Conclusion: We therefore propose that Just-in-Time Teaching method is a more interactive and acceptable teaching-learning tool shifting the nature of teaching to a more student-centric approach as perceived by the medical students. This is the first pioneer study on JiTT to be performed on undergraduate medical students so far.
    Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
  20. Chua SS, Lai PSM, Sim SM, Tan CH, Foong CC
    BMC Med Educ, 2019 Apr 05;19(1):101.
    PMID: 30953493 DOI: 10.1186/s12909-019-1525-y
    BACKGROUND: The success of interprofessional collaboration in healthcare services requires a paradigm shift in the training of future health profession practitioners. This study aimed to develop and validate an instrument to measure Student Acceptance of Interprofessional Learning (SAIL) in Malaysia, and to assess this attribute among medical and pharmacy students using a prescribing skills training workshop.

    METHODS: The study consisted of two phases. In Phase 1, a 10-item instrument (SAIL-10) was developed and tested on a cohort of medical and pharmacy students who attended the workshop. In Phase 2, different cohorts of medical and pharmacy students completed SAIL-10 before and after participating in the workshop.

    RESULTS: Factor analysis showed that SAIL-10 has two domains: "facilitators of interprofessional learning" and "acceptance to learning in groups". The overall SAIL-10 and the two domains have adequate internal consistency and stable reliability. The total score and scores for the two domains were significantly higher after students attended the prescribing skills workshop.

    CONCLUSIONS: This study produced a valid and reliable instrument, SAIL-10 which was used to demonstrate that the prescribing skills workshop, where medical and pharmacy students were placed in an authentic context, was a promising activity to promote interprofessional learning among future healthcare professionals.

    Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
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