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Fulltext A qualitative exploration of Malaysian doctors' perceptions towards complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) [Abstract]

Farooqui M, Othman CN, Hassali AA, Saleem F, Ul Haq N, Sadeeqa S

Value Health, 2014 Nov;17(7):A789.
PMID: 27202944 DOI: 10.1016/j.jval.2014.08.425

Objectives: The study aims to assess doctors’ perceptions towards Complementary and Alternative Medicines (CAM) in their medical practice, factors that affect the referral of CAM and suggestions to improve CAM in medical practice.
Methods: A qualitative research approach was adopted to gain a better understanding of the current perceptions and practice held by doctors’ within their medical professions. In order to gain a wide perspective of the issue, eleven doctors were purposively selected who were working in academics, hospitals and in the community health clinics. Participants were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide. A saturation point was reached after the 10th interview, and no new information emerged with the subsequent interviews. All interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed by means of a standard content analysis framework.
Results: The doctors expressed a range of views on CAM that can be divided into two major themes: doctors’ knowledge and understanding towards CAM and doctors’ viewpoint on CAM in their professional practice. A key factor which affected doctor’s perspectives on CAM was the lack of scientific evidences. The attitudes on CAM were basically shaped based on their personal CAM use rather than knowledge gained during an academic course. Lack of knowledge on CAM was also attributing to the doctors’ reluctance in CAM discussion with their patients. Though addition of CAM courses into the medical curriculum was proposed by some of the doctors; the practical implication was criticized as some found medical curriculum heavily packed with the biomedical courses.
Conclusions: Majority of the doctors in this study were skeptical and uncertain about CAM due to lack of scientific evidence. Doctor-patient communication on CAM can only be improved when doctors’ knowledge on CAM can be improved by providing necessary training on CAM.

Matched MeSH terms: Malaysia
Fulltext Cough as a key symptom in asthma, allergic rhinitis, COPD and rhinosinusitis and its impact in Asia. [Abstract]

Wang DY, Ghoshal AG, Razak Bin Abdul MA, Lin HC, Thanaviratananich S, Bagga S, et al.

Value Health, 2014 Nov;17(7):A776-7.
PMID: 27202870 DOI: 10.1016/j.jval.2014.08.351

Objectives: Respiratory diseases represent significant impact on health care resources. A cross-sectional, observational study, Asia-Pacific Burden of Respiratory Diseases (APBORD), was conducted to examine burden of disease in adults with respiratory diseases across 6 countries - India, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand. We examined the extent to which cough is a presenting symptom and reason for medical visits for participants with Asthma, Allergic Rhinitis (AR), COPD or Rhinosinusitis.
Methods: Participants aged ≥18 years, presenting to a physician with primary diagnosis of Asthma, AR, COPD or Rhinosinusitis were enrolled. Participants completed a survey which contained questions related to demographics, respiratory symptoms, health care resource use and quality of life.
Results: A total of 13,902 participants were screened, of which 7,030 were eligible and 5,250 enrolled. The highest percentage of participants receiving care for a respiratory disorder had primary diagnosis of AR 14.0%, (95%CI: 13.4%, 14.6%), followed by Asthma 13.5% (12.9%, 14.1%), Rhinosinusitis 5.4% (4.6%, 5.3%) and COPD 4.9%, (5.0%, 5.7%). Cough or coughing up phlegm was reported as symptom by more than half the participants. Cough or coughing up phlegm was reported as the main reason for medical visit by more than 20% of participants. Among all symptoms reported, cough was most frequently reported by participants with a primarydiagnosis of COPD (73%), followed by Asthma (61%), Rhinosinusitis (59%), and AR (47%). In addition, cough was the most frequently reported main reason for seeking medical care among participants with a primary diagnosis of COPD (43%), for Asthma (33%), for Rhinosinusitis (13%), and for AR (11%).
Conclusions: Cough is a prominent symptom and major driver of medical care for patients with Asthma, Allergic Rhinitis, COPD or Rhinosinusitis. These data suggest that patients presenting with cough should be investigated comprehensively for any underlying more serious respiratory disorders to help with appropriate disease management.

Matched MeSH terms: Malaysia
Riparian reserves within oil palm plantations conserve logged forest leaf litter ant communities and maintain associated scavenging rates

Gray CL, Lewis OT, Chung AY, Fayle TM

The Journal of applied ecology, 2015 Feb;52(1):31-40.
PMID: 25678717

The expansion of oil palm plantations at the expense of tropical forests is causing declines in many species and altering ecosystem functions. Maintaining forest-dependent species and processes in these landscapes may therefore limit the negative impacts of this economically important industry. Protecting riparian vegetation may be one such opportunity; forest buffer strips are commonly protected for hydrological reasons, but can also conserve functionally important taxa and the processes they support.We surveyed leaf litter ant communities within oil palm-dominated landscapes in Sabah, Malaysia, using protein baits. As the scavenging activity of ants influences important ecological characteristics such as nutrient cycling and soil structure, we quantified species-specific rates of bait removal to examine how this process may change across land uses and establish which changes in community structure underlie observed shifts in activity.Riparian reserves had similar ant species richness, community composition and scavenging rates to nearby continuous logged forest. Reserve width and vegetation structure did not affect ant species richness significantly. However, the number of foraging individuals decreased with increasing reserve width, and scavenging rate increased with vegetation complexity.Oil palm ant communities were characterized by significantly lower species richness than logged forest and riparian reserves and also by altered community composition and reduced scavenging rates.Reduced scavenging activity in oil palm was not explained by a reduction in ant species richness, nor by replacement of forest ant species by those with lower per species scavenging rates. There was also no significant effect of land use on the scavenging activity of the forest species that persisted in oil palm. Rather, changes in scavenging activity were best explained by a reduction in the mean rate of bait removal per individual ant across all species in the community.Synthesis and applications. Our results suggest that riparian reserves are comparable to areas of logged forest in terms of ant community composition and ant-mediated scavenging. Hence, in addition to protecting large continuous areas of primary and logged forest, maintaining riparian reserves is a successful strategy for conserving leaf litter ants and their scavenging activities in tropical agricultural landscapes.

Matched MeSH terms: Malaysia
Ten-year mortality in older patients attending the emergency department after a fall

Tan MP, Kamaruzzaman SB, Zakaria MI, Chin AV, Poi PJ

Geriatr Gerontol Int, 2015 Jan 22.
PMID: 25613422 DOI: 10.1111/ggi.12446

METHODS: Information on sociodemographics, dependency using the Barthel index and fall characteristics were collected from consecutive patients attending the ED over a 6-month period. Barthel score was reassessed at 12 months. Ten-year mortality data were obtained through the National Registry Department.
RESULTS: A total of 198 participants, with a mean age (standard deviation) of 76.2 years (6.3 years) and 74% women, were recruited. Of these, 70% sustained falls indoors, while 49% of falls occurred between 06.00 to 12.00 hours. Total Barthel scores were significantly lower at 1-year follow up compared with baseline (median [interquartile range], 20 [2] vs 18 [5], P Malaysia

Matched MeSH terms: Malaysia
Fulltext Evaluation of psychometric properties of the malay version perceived stress scale in two occupational settings in malaysia

Al-Dubai S, Ganasegeran K, Barua A, Rizal A, Rampal K

Ann Med Health Sci Res, 2014 Jul;4(Suppl 2):S104-7.
PMID: 25184074 DOI: 10.4103/2141-9248.138023

BACKGROUND: The 10-item version of Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) is a widely used tool to measure stress. The Malay version of the PSS-10 has been validated among Malaysian Medical Students. However, studies have not been conducted to assess its validity in occupational settings.
AIM: The aim of this study is to assess the psychometric properties of the Malay version of the PSS-10 in two occupational setting in Malaysia.
SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This study was conducted among 191 medical residents and 513 railway workers. An exploratory factor analysis was performed using the principal component method with varimax rotation. Correlation analyses, Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin, Bartlett's test of Sphericity and Cronbach's alpha were obtained. Statistical analysis was carried out using statistical package for the social sciences version 16 (SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA) software.
RESULTS: Analysis yielded two factor structure of the Malay version of PSS-10 in both occupational groups. The two factors accounted for 59.2% and 64.8% of the variance in the medical residents and the railway workers respectively. Factor loadings were greater than 0.59 in both occupational groups. Cronbach's alpha co-efficient was 0.70 for medical residents and 0.71 for railway workers.
CONCLUSION: The Malay version of PSS-10 had adequate psychometric properties and can be used to measure stress among occupational settings in Malaysia.
KEYWORDS: Factor structure; Malaysia; Occupational; Perceived stress scale; Psychometric properties; Validity

Matched MeSH terms: Malaysia
Fulltext Utilization of geotextile tube for sandy and muddy coastal management: a review

Lee SC, Hashim R, Motamedi S, Song KI

ScientificWorldJournal, 2014;2014:494020.
PMID: 24955408 DOI: 10.1155/2014/494020

Threats to beaches have accelerated the coastal destruction. In recent decades, geotextile tubes were used around the world to prevent coastal erosion, to encourage beach nourishment, and to assist mangrove rehabilitation. However, the applications of geotextile tube in sandy and muddy coasts have different concerns as the geological settings are different. Applications of geotextile tubes in sandy beaches were mainly to prevent coastline from further erosion and to nourish the beach. However, for the muddy coasts, mangrove rehabilitation and conservation were additional concerns in coastal management schemes. The mangrove forests are natural barriers which can be found on the muddy coasts of many tropical countries. In this paper, the viability of geotextile tubes in sandy and muddy beaches was analysed. The advantages and disadvantages of the utilization of geotextile tubes in coastal management were discussed based on the experiences from the tropical countries such as Mexico, Malaysia, and Thailand. From the case studies, impressive improvements in coastal restoration after installation of geotextile tubes were shown. Based on the discussion, several recommendations to improve the application of geotextile tubes were suggested in this paper.

Matched MeSH terms: Malaysia
Surfactants in the sea-surface microlayer and atmospheric aerosol around the southern region of Peninsular Malaysia

Jaafar SA, Latif MT, Chian CW, Han WS, Wahid NB, Razak IS, et al.

Mar Pollut Bull, 2014 Jul 15;84(1-2):35-43.
PMID: 24930738 DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2014.05.047

This study was conducted to determine the composition of surfactants in the sea-surface microlayer (SML) and atmospheric aerosol around the southern region of the Peninsular Malaysia. Surfactants in samples taken from the SML and atmospheric aerosol were determined using a colorimetric method, as either methylene blue active substances (MBAS) or disulphine blue active substances (DBAS). Principal component analysis with multiple linear regressions (PCA-MLR), using the anion and major element composition of the aerosol samples, was used to determine possible sources of surfactants in atmospheric aerosol. The results showed that the concentrations of surfactants in the SML and atmospheric aerosol were dominated by anionic surfactants and that surfactants in aerosol were not directly correlated (p>0.05) with surfactants in the SML. Further PCA-MLR from anion and major element concentrations showed that combustion of fossil fuel and sea spray were the major contributors to surfactants in aerosol in the study area.

Matched MeSH terms: Malaysia
Genetic diversity and population structure of long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis) populations in Peninsular Malaysia

Nikzad S, Tan SG, Yong Seok Yien C, Ng J, Alitheen NB, Khan R, et al.

J Med Primatol, 2014 Dec;43(6):433-44.
PMID: 24930735 DOI: 10.1111/jmp.12130

The genetic diversity and structure of long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) in Peninsular Malaysia, a widely used non-human primate species in biomedical research, have not been thoroughly characterized.

Matched MeSH terms: Malaysia
Fulltext Lessons from the confidential enquiry into maternal deaths, Malaysia

Ravichandran J, Ravindran J

BJOG, 2014 Sep;121 Suppl 4:47-52.
PMID: 25236633 DOI: 10.1111/1471-0528.12944

Malaysia has successfully reduced maternal mortality through several efforts which, in the broad sense, include (i) the overall socio-economic development of the country; (ii) strengthened health services; and (iii) specific efforts and initiatives for the reduction of maternal mortality, one of which is the audit of maternal deaths by the confidential enquiry into maternal deaths.

Matched MeSH terms: Malaysia
Fulltext Phylogenetic study of six species of Anopheles mosquitoes in Peninsular Malaysia based on inter-transcribed spacer region 2 (ITS2) of ribosomal DNA

Sum JS, Lee WC, Amir A, Braima KA, Jeffery J, Abdul-Aziz NM, et al.

Parasit Vectors, 2014;7:309.
PMID: 24993022 DOI: 10.1186/1756-3305-7-309

Molecular techniques are invaluable for investigation on the biodiversity of Anopheles mosquitoes. This study aimed at investigating the spatial-genetic variations among Anopheles mosquitoes from different areas of Peninsular Malaysia, as well as deciphering evolutionary relationships of the local Anopheles mosquitoes with the mosquitoes from neighbouring countries using the anopheline ITS2 rDNA gene.

Matched MeSH terms: Malaysia
Acne prevalence, severity and risk factors among medical students in Malaysia

Muthupalaniappen L, Tan HC, Puah JW, Apipi M, Sohaimi AE, Mahat NF, et al.

Clin Ter, 2014;165(4):187-92.
PMID: 25203331 DOI: 10.7417/CT.2014.1731

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Acne is a common skin disorder which can cause physical scaring and impact the quality of life. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence, severity and the risk factors for developing acne among medical students in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM).
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross sectional study among UKM medical students from academic year 1 to 5 was conducted from July 2011 to May 2012. A total of 361 students were selected by stratified cluster sampling method. Baseline data of the students, risk factors, height and weight were recorded. Acne severity was graded using the Comprehensive Acne Severity Scale (CASS).
RESULTS: The prevalence of acne among medical students is 68.1% (n=246). Males and females were almost equally affected (1:1.1). Majority students with acne were graded as almost clear (55.7%, n=137), mild (35.0%, n=86), moderate (7.7%, n=19), and severe (1.6%, n=4). More than half of them had developed acne scars (59.0%, n= 213). Males were found to be at higher risk of developing acne compared to females (p<0.05, OR=4.734; 95%CL=2.726-8.222). They are also at higher risk of developing moderate and severe grades of acne compared to females (p=0.001). The odds for developing acne was higher when mother (p=0.029; OR=1.752; 95%CL=1.058-2.902) or father (p=0.027; OR=1.852; 95%CL=1.072-3.201) had acne. When both parents were affected by acne the odds of developing acne was 3 times. (p=0.025; OR=3.056; 95%CL=1.153-8.094).
CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that the prevalence of acne among medical students is high. Hence, it is important to identify those at risk and provide optimal treatment to prevent scarring and possible low self esteem among these future doctors.
KEYWORDS: acne vulgaris; medical; prevalence; risk factors; severity; students

Matched MeSH terms: Malaysia
Fulltext Multiplex amplification refractory mutation system (MARMS) for the detection of β-globin gene mutations among the transfusion-dependent β-thalassemia Malay patients in Kelantan, Northeast of Peninsular Malaysia

Hanafi S, Hassan R, Bahar R, Abdullah WZ, Johan MF, Rashid ND, et al.

Am J Blood Res, 2014;4(1):33-40.
PMID: 25232503

The aim of this study was to adapt MARMS with some modifications to detect beta mutation in our cohort of thalassemia patients. We focused only on transfusion-dependent thalassemia Malay patients, the predominant ethnic group (95%) in the Kelantanese population. Eight mutations were identified in 46 out of 48 (95.83%) beta thalassemia alleles. Most of the patients (54.2%) were compound heterozygous with co-inheritance Cd 26 (G>A). The frequencies of spectrum beta chain mutation among these patients are presented in Table 2. Among the transfusion dependent beta thalassemia Malay patients studied, 26 patients were found to be compound heterozygous and the main alleles were Cd 26 (G>A). Compound heterozygous mutation of Cd 26 (G>A) and IVS 1-5 (G>C) were 12 (46.2%), Cd 26 (G>A) and Cd 41/42 (TTCT) were 9 (34.6%), Cd 26 (G>A) and IVS 1-1 (G>C) were 2 (7.7%) respectively. Meanwhile the minority were made of a single compound heterozygous of Cd 26 (G>A) and Cd 71/72, Cd 26 (>A) and Cd 17 (A>T), Cd 26 (G>A) and -28 (G>A) respectively. Twenty out of forty six patients were shown to have homozygous of IVS 1-5 (G>C) were 2 (10.0%), Cd 26 (G>A) were 15 (75.0%), Cd 19 (A>G) were 1 (5.0%), and IVS 1-1 (G>T) were 2 (10.0%). The beta chain mutations among the Kelantanese Malays followed closely the distribution of beta chain mutations among the Thais and the Malays of the Southern Thailand. The G-C transition at position 5 of the IVS 1-5 mutation was predominant among the Malay patients. In conclusion, this method has successfully identified the mutation spectrum in our cohort of transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia patients, and this method is equally effective in screening for mutation among thalassemia patients.

Matched MeSH terms: Malaysia
New species and records of Apseudomorpha (Crustacea: Tanaidacea) from Taiwan

Tzeng YW, Hsueh PW

Zootaxa, 2014;3869(3):313-37.
PMID: 25283919 DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3869.3.6

The present study reports the first record of Apseudomorpha from Taiwan and includes descriptions of three new species and one new species record. Paradoxapseudes pangcahi sp. nov. differs from the most similar congener, Paradoxapseudes littoralis, by having one segment less in the antennal flagellum and fewer segments in the uropod endopod. Pseudoapseudomorpha tagopilosus sp. nov. is distinguished from its most similar congener, Pseudoapseudomorpha ornata, by having one long lateral seta on pleonite 4, a four-segmented antennular outer flagellum, and a male with smaller and thinner 'small' cheliped than that of the female and with vestigial pleopods on pleonite 3. Indoapseudes multituberculata sp. nov. stands out from its congeners by having pleopods only on the last two pleonites in females, many small tubercles terminally on the pleotelson, and mandibular palp article 1 with noticeable distal teeth. The Synapseudes species recorded in the present study morphologically agrees with Synapseudes hansmuelleri that was originally described from the Tioman Archipelago, Malaysia, South China Sea. Morphological comparisons between each of the three newly described species and its congeners are tabulated.

Matched MeSH terms: Malaysia
A new species of Opecarcinus Kropp & Manning, 1987 (Crustacea: Brachyura: Cryptochiridae) associated with the stony corals Pavona clavus (Dana, 1846) and P. bipartita Nemenzo, 1980 (Scleractinia: Agariciidae)

Van Der Meij SE

Zootaxa, 2014;3869(1):44-52.
PMID: 25283897 DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3869.1.4

A new species of Opecarcinus Kropp & Manning, 1987, is described from Indonesia and Malaysia. Opecarcinus cathyae sp. nov. is associated with the scleractinian corals Pavona clavus (Dana, 1846) and P. bipartita Nemenzo, 1980, inhabiting crescent-shaped cavities or tunnels on the coral surface. The new species is the ninth assigned to the genus. It can be separated from congeners by the anterolateral orientation of the cornea, the carapace with shallow transverse depressions, lacking longitudinal depressions, and the smooth dorsal margin of the fifth female pereiopod carpus. The distinctive colour pattern can be used as a diagnostic character in live specimens.

Matched MeSH terms: Malaysia
Recycling of Malaysia's electric arc furnace (EAF) slag waste into heavy-duty green ceramic tile

Teo PT, Anasyida AS, Basu P, Nurulakmal MS

Waste Manag, 2014 Dec;34(12):2697-708.
PMID: 25242607 DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2014.08.015

Recently, various solid wastes from industry such as glass waste, fly ash, sewage sludge and slag have been recycled into various value-added products such as ceramic tile. The conventional solutions of dumping the wastes in landfills or incineration, including in Malaysia are getting obsolete as the annual huge amount of the solid wastes would boost-up disposal cost and may cause permanent damage to the flora and fauna. This recent waste recycling approach is much better and greener as it can resolve problems associated with over-limit storage of industrial wastes and reduce exploration of natural resources for ceramic tile to continuously sustain the nature. Therefore, in this project, an attempt was made to recycle electric arc furnace (EAF) slag waste, obtained from Malaysia's steel making industry, into ceramic tile via conventional powder compaction method. The research work was divided into two stages. The first stage was to evaluate the suitability of EAF slag in ceramic tile by varying weight percentage of EAF slag (40 wt.%, 50 wt.% and 60 wt.%) and ball clay (40 wt.%, 50 wt.% and 60 wt.%), with no addition of silica and potash feldspar. In the second stage, the weight percentage of EAF slag was fixed at 40 wt.% and the percentage of ball clay (30 wt.% and 40 wt.%), feldspar (10 wt.% and 20 wt.%) and silica (10 wt.% and 20 wt.%) added was varied accordingly. Results obtained show that as weight percentage of EAF slag increased up to 60 wt.%, the percentage of apparent porosity and water absorption also rose, with a reduction in tile flexural strength and increased porosity. On the other hand, limiting the weight percentage of EAF slag to 40 wt.% while increasing the weight percentage of ball clay led to a higher total percentage of anorthite and wollastonite minerals, resulting in higher flexural strength. It was found that introduction of silica and feldspar further improved the flexural strength due to optimization of densification process. The highest flexural strength, lowest apparent porosity and water absorption of EAF slag based tile was attained at the composition of 40 wt.% EAF slag--30 wt.% ball clay--10 wt.% feldspar--20 wt.% silica. The properties of ceramic tile made with EAF slag waste (up to 40 wt.%), especially flexural strength are comparable to those of commercial ceramic tile and are, therefore, suitable as high flexural strength and heavy-duty green ceramic floor tile. Continuous development is currently underway to improve the properties of tile so that this recycling approach could be one of the potential effective, efficient and sustainable solutions in sustaining our nature.

Matched MeSH terms: Malaysia
Short taxonomic review of little-known Phaneropterinae (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) from Malay Peninsula

Tan MK

Zootaxa, 2014;3826(2):329-40.
PMID: 24990050 DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3826.2.3

The taxonomy of three genera of little-known Phaneropterinae from Malay Peninsula (Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia) is reviewed: Cesasundana Koçak & Kemal, 2009, Elbenia Stål, 1876 and Macedna Karsch, 1891. One new species each from the genera Cesasundana and Elbenia are described from Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia respectively: Cesasundana lorniensis sp. n. and Elbenia fraser sp. n. Keys to species of Cesasundana and Elbenia are also included. The taxonomic position of monotypic genus Macedna is validated, male is redescribed and the female is described for the first time.

Matched MeSH terms: Malaysia
Fulltext Predictors of frequent oral analgesic use in rheumatoid arthritis

Das Gupta E, Tee HS, Sakthiswary R

Pak J Med Sci, 2014 Sep;30(5):976-81.
PMID: 25225510 DOI: 10.12669/pjms.305.5112

Objective: The main objective of this study was to determine the predictors of frequent oral analgesic use among Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) patients who were prescribed with the above medication on an ‘as needed’ basis.
Methods: Patients with RA were recruited consecutively from the Rheumatology outpatient clinics in this cross-sectional study. The sociodemographic data, frequency of oral analgesic intake, Patient Global Assessment (PGA) scores and HAQ (Health Assessment Questionnaire) scores were determined by interviewing the subjects. Subjects were divided into 2 groups; frequent users (3 days and above in a week) and less frequent users (less than 3 days in a week).
Results: In a total of 112 subjects, 39 (34.8%) were frequent analgesic users. Both the HAQ and PGA scores were significantly higher among the frequent users (p < 0.05). Using multivariate analysis, the HAQ scores (p=0.015, odds ratio 3.161 [95% confidence interval of 1.246-8.015]) and PGA scores (p=0.039 odds ratio 1.291 [95% confidence interval of 1.012-1.646]) were found to be independent predictors of frequent analgesic use.
Conclusions: Our study confirms that the frequency of analgesic intake in Rheumatoid Arthritis has a significant relationship with patient-reported functional capacity and well being.
KEY WORDS: Analgesic, Rheumatoid arthritis.

Study site: Rheumatology clinic, Hospital Tunku Jaafar, Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia

Matched MeSH terms: Malaysia
Fulltext The modelled raindrop size distribution of Skudai, Peninsular Malaysia, using exponential and lognormal distributions

Yakubu ML, Yusop Z, Yusof F

ScientificWorldJournal, 2014;2014:361703.
PMID: 25126597 DOI: 10.1155/2014/361703

This paper presents the modelled raindrop size parameters in Skudai region of the Johor Bahru, western Malaysia. Presently, there is no model to forecast the characteristics of DSD in Malaysia, and this has an underpinning implication on wet weather pollution predictions. The climate of Skudai exhibits local variability in regional scale. This study established five different parametric expressions describing the rain rate of Skudai; these models are idiosyncratic to the climate of the region. Sophisticated equipment that converts sound to a relevant raindrop diameter is often too expensive and its cost sometimes overrides its attractiveness. In this study, a physical low-cost method was used to record the DSD of the study area. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to test the aptness of the data to exponential and lognormal distributions, which were subsequently used to formulate the parameterisation of the distributions. This research abrogates the concept of exclusive occurrence of convective storm in tropical regions and presented a new insight into their concurrence appearance.

Matched MeSH terms: Malaysia
Fulltext Long-term assessment of an innovative mangrove rehabilitation project: case study on Carey Island, Malaysia

Motamedi S, Hashim R, Zakaria R, Song KI, Sofawi B

ScientificWorldJournal, 2014;2014:953830.
PMID: 25097894 DOI: 10.1155/2014/953830

Wave energy and storm surges threaten coastal ecology and nearshore infrastructures. Although coastal structures are conventionally constructed to dampen the wave energy, they introduce tremendous damage to the ecology of the coast. To minimize environmental impact, ecofriendly coastal protection schemes should be introduced. In this paper, we discuss an example of an innovative mangrove rehabilitation attempt to restore the endangered mangroves on Carey Island, Malaysia. A submerged detached breakwater system was constructed to dampen the energy of wave and trap the sediments behind the structure. Further, a large number of mangrove seedlings were planted using different techniques. Further, we assess the possibility of success for a future mangrove rehabilitation project at the site in the context of sedimentology, bathymetry, and hydrogeochemistry. The assessment showed an increase in the amount of silt and clay, and the seabed was noticeably elevated. The nutrient concentration, the pH value, and the salinity index demonstrate that the site is conducive in establishing mangrove seedlings. As a result, we conclude that the site is now ready for attempts to rehabilitate the lost mangrove forest.

Matched MeSH terms: Malaysia
Fulltext Transmission and control of Plasmodium knowlesi: a mathematical modelling study

Imai N, White MT, Ghani AC, Drakeley CJ

PLoS Negl Trop Dis, 2014 Jul;8(7):e2978.
PMID: 25058400 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0002978

INTRODUCTION: Plasmodium knowlesi is now recognised as a leading cause of malaria in Malaysia. As humans come into increasing contact with the reservoir host (long-tailed macaques) as a consequence of deforestation, assessing the potential for a shift from zoonotic to sustained P. knowlesi transmission between humans is critical.
METHODS: A multi-host, multi-site transmission model was developed, taking into account the three areas (forest, farm, and village) where transmission is thought to occur. Latin hypercube sampling of model parameters was used to identify parameter sets consistent with possible prevalence in macaques and humans inferred from observed data. We then explore the consequences of increasing human-macaque contact in the farm, the likely impact of rapid treatment, and the use of long-lasting insecticide-treated nets (LLINs) in preventing wider spread of this emerging infection.
RESULTS: Identified model parameters were consistent with transmission being sustained by the macaques with spill over infections into the human population and with high overall basic reproduction numbers (up to 2267). The extent to which macaques forage in the farms had a non-linear relationship with human infection prevalence, the highest prevalence occurring when macaques forage in the farms but return frequently to the forest where they experience higher contact with vectors and hence sustain transmission. Only one of 1,046 parameter sets was consistent with sustained human-to-human transmission in the absence of macaques, although with a low human reproduction number (R(0H) = 1.04). Simulations showed LLINs and rapid treatment provide personal protection to humans with maximal estimated reductions in human prevalence of 42% and 95%, respectively.
CONCLUSION: This model simulates conditions where P. knowlesi transmission may occur and the potential impact of control measures. Predictions suggest that conventional control measures are sufficient at reducing the risk of infection in humans, but they must be actively implemented if P. knowlesi is to be controlled.

Matched MeSH terms: Malaysia

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