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Home environmental interventions for prevention of respiratory tract infections: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Kua KP, Lee DSWH

Rev Environ Health, 2021 Sep 27;36(3):297-307.
PMID: 33544536 DOI: 10.1515/reveh-2020-0169

OBJECTIVES: Poor housing conditions have been associated with increased risks of respiratory infections. This review aims to determine whether modifying the physical environment of the home has benefits in reducing respiratory infections.
CONTENT: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of the effectiveness of home environmental interventions for preventing respiratory tract infections. Ten electronic databases were searched to identify randomized controlled trials published from inception to July 31, 2020. Random-effects meta-analyses were used to assess the study outcomes. Our search identified 14 eligible studies across 12 countries, which comprised 87,428 households in total. The type of interventions on home environment included kitchen appliance and design, water supply and sanitation, house insulation, and home heating. Meta-analysis indicated a potential benefit of home environmental interventions in preventing overall respiratory tract infections (Absolute RR=0.89, 95% CI=0.78-1.01, p=0.07; Pooled adjusted RR=0.72, 95% CI=0.63-0.84, p<0.0001). Subgroup analyses depicted that home environmental interventions had no significant impact on lower respiratory tract infections, pneumonia, and severe pneumonia. A protective effect against respiratory infections was observed in high income country setting (RR=0.82, 95% CI=0.78-0.87, p<0.00001).
SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK: Home environmental interventions have the potential to reduce morbidity of respiratory tract infections. The lack of significant impact from stand-alone housing interventions suggests that multicomponent interventions should be implemented in tandem with high-quality health systems.

Matched MeSH terms: Environment*
Fulltext Sea-snake bite; a survey of fishing villages in northwest Malaya

REID HA, LIM KJ

Br Med J, 1957 Nov 30;2(5056):1266-72.
PMID: 13479694
Matched MeSH terms: Environment*
Planning Accessibility Strategies and Connectivity for Malaysian Urban Built Environment

Abd Samad NA, Said I, Abdul Rahim A

Stud Health Technol Inform, 2018;256:367-377.
PMID: 30371497

Access to our buildings relies to the accessibility of its external environment and the route taken. Developments and planning in urban areas has many several requirements and restrictions. Planning accessibility for Malaysian built environment is achievable by designing in compliance to the requirements enforced by authorities. Accessible design is commonly associated with providing facilities for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs), the issue that is often brought up is the inaccessibility of the external environment and lacking of seamless connectivity between buildings and the outdoor. The intention is to formulate accessibility strategies and work out planning process on how accessibility can be achieved. Universal Design will be the basis for the design and planning concept to accommodate all users to enjoy our urban built environment. It is notable that developed countries advances more in terms of implementing and enforcing accessibility measures via legislative and regulatory documents, government strategies and initiatives within its planning approach than the developing nations. The methodology will be looking into the establishment of strategies and measures of international and local planning policy, local and action plans of City of London as selected Local Authority to be analyzed its inclusive policy has been successfully implemented in their jurisdiction. The findings, discussions and result will be an outcome of generating a framework of accessibility strategies that is derived from interviews and government documents accordingly to targeted Malaysian urban areas focusing the City of Petaling Jaya and Putrajaya and how it can be improvised. Therefore, an interpretation of adopting accessibility planning strategies of developed country, to be adapted locally according to Malaysian legislation, culture and lifestyles.

Matched MeSH terms: Environment Design*
Effects of environment and genotype on phenolic acids in wheat in the HEALTHGRAIN diversity screen

Fernandez-Orozco R, Li L, Harflett C, Shewry PR, Ward JL

J Agric Food Chem, 2010 Sep 08;58(17):9341-52.
PMID: 20707366 DOI: 10.1021/jf102017s

Phenolic acid content and composition have been determined in 26 wheat genotypes grown in Hungary over three consecutive years and at three additional locations (France, United Kingdom, and Poland) during the third year. Fractions comprising free, soluble conjugated, and bound phenolic acids were analyzed using HPLC with measurements being made for individual phenolic acids in each fraction. Statistically significant differences in phenolic acid content occurred across the different growing locations with the average total phenolic acid content being highest in the genotypes grown in Hungary. The growth year in Hungary also had a large impact, especially on the free and conjugated phenolic acid contents. Certain genotypes were more resistant to environmental impacts than others. Of the genotypes with high levels of total phenolic acids, Lynx, Riband, Tommi, and Cadenza were most stable with respect to their total contents, whereas Valoris, Herzog, and Malacca, also high in phenolic acid content, were least stable. Of the three fractions analyzed, the free and conjugated phenolic acids were most variable and were also susceptible to the effect of environment, whereas bound phenolic acids, which comprised the greatest proportion of the total phenolic acids, were the most stable.

Matched MeSH terms: Environment*
Fulltext Association between Landscape Factors and Spatial Patterns of Plasmodium knowlesi Infections in Sabah, Malaysia

Fornace KM, Abidin TR, Alexander N, Brock P, Grigg MJ, Murphy A, et al.

Emerg Infect Dis, 2016 Feb;22(2):201-8.
PMID: 26812373 DOI: 10.3201/eid2202.150656

The zoonotic malaria species Plasmodium knowlesi has become the main cause of human malaria in Malaysian Borneo. Deforestation and associated environmental and population changes have been hypothesized as main drivers of this apparent emergence. We gathered village-level data for P. knowlesi incidence for the districts of Kudat and Kota Marudu in Sabah state, Malaysia, for 2008-2012. We adjusted malaria records from routine reporting systems to reflect the diagnostic uncertainty of microscopy for P. knowlesi. We also developed negative binomial spatial autoregressive models to assess potential associations between P. knowlesi incidence and environmental variables derived from satellite-based remote-sensing data. Marked spatial heterogeneity in P. knowlesi incidence was observed, and village-level numbers of P. knowlesi cases were positively associated with forest cover and historical forest loss in surrounding areas. These results suggest the likelihood that deforestation and associated environmental changes are key drivers in P. knowlesi transmission in these areas.

Matched MeSH terms: Environment*
Evaluating the effect of lane width and roadside configurations on speed, lateral position and likelihood of comfortable overtaking in exclusive motorcycle lane

Ibrahim MKA, Hamid H, Law TH, Wong SV

Accid Anal Prev, 2018 Feb;111:63-70.
PMID: 29172046 DOI: 10.1016/j.aap.2017.10.023

Construction of exclusive motorcycle lanes is one of the measures to reduce motorcycle fatalities. Previous studies highlighted the risk of crashes with roadside objects and the tendency of motorcyclists to ride with excessive speed on exclusive motorcycle lanes. However, the risk of same-direction crashes on exclusive motorcycle lanes was not explored in much detail, especially on the impact of lane geometry and roadside configurations. This study used naturalistic riding data to determine the effects of lane width and roadside configurations on overtaking speed, lateral position and likelihood of comfortable overtaking on tangential sections of an exclusive motorcycle lane. Twenty-nine recruited motorcyclists rode the instrumented motorcycles along a 20km stretch of an exclusive motorcycle lane along a major urban road. Results revealed that both the roadside configurations and lane width significantly affect the participants' lateral position, while the roadside configurations only affects the overtaking speed. Participants' overtaking speeds and the front motorcycles' lateral position contribute significantly to the likelihood of comfortable overtaking in exclusive motorcycle lanes. The findings highlight the importance of micro-level behavior indicators in improving the design and overall safety of the exclusive motorcycle facility.

Matched MeSH terms: Environment Design*
Sensor-less force-reflecting macro-micro telemanipulation systems by piezoelectric actuators

Amini H, Farzaneh B, Azimifar F, Sarhan AAD

ISA Trans, 2016 Sep;64:293-302.
PMID: 27329852 DOI: 10.1016/j.isatra.2016.05.006

This paper establishes a novel control strategy for a nonlinear bilateral macro-micro teleoperation system with time delay. Besides position and velocity signals, force signals are additionally utilized in the control scheme. This modification significantly improves the poor transparency during contact with the environment. To eliminate external force measurement, a force estimation algorithm is proposed for the master and slave robots. The closed loop stability of the nonlinear micro-micro teleoperation system with the proposed control scheme is investigated employing the Lyapunov theory. Consequently, the experimental results verify the efficiency of the new control scheme in free motion and during collision between the slave robot and the environment of slave robot with environment, and the efficiency of the force estimation algorithm.

Matched MeSH terms: Environment
Fulltext Mining personal data using smartphones and wearable devices: a survey

Habib ur Rehman M, Liew CS, Wah TY, Shuja J, Daghighi B

Sensors (Basel), 2015 Feb 13;15(2):4430-69.
PMID: 25688592 DOI: 10.3390/s150204430

The staggering growth in smartphone and wearable device use has led to a massive scale generation of personal (user-specific) data. To explore, analyze, and extract useful information and knowledge from the deluge of personal data, one has to leverage these devices as the data-mining platforms in ubiquitous, pervasive, and big data environments. This study presents the personal ecosystem where all computational resources, communication facilities, storage and knowledge management systems are available in user proximity. An extensive review on recent literature has been conducted and a detailed taxonomy is presented. The performance evaluation metrics and their empirical evidences are sorted out in this paper. Finally, we have highlighted some future research directions and potentially emerging application areas for personal data mining using smartphones and wearable devices.

Matched MeSH terms: Environment
Fulltext Genomic Insights of Pectobacterium carotovorum Strain M022 Quorum-Sensing Activity through Whole-Genome Sequencing

Chan KG, Tan WS

Genome Announc, 2015;3(1).
PMID: 25676763 DOI: 10.1128/genomeA.01554-14

Pectobacterium carotovorum is known to cause serious damage to various major crops worldwide. Here, we report the draft genome of Pectobacterium carotovorum strain M022, a freshwater isolate from a Malaysian waterfall, which has been reported as a plant pathogen and is able to communicate with N-acylhomoserine lactone-mediated quorum sensing.

Matched MeSH terms: Environment
Fulltext Cross-sectional survey of multi-centre patient registries in malaysia

Sharmini S, Jamaiyah H, Jaya Purany SP

Malays Fam Physician, 2010;5(1):13-8.
PMID: 25606180 MyJurnal

This survey set out to describe patient registries available in the country, to determine their security features, data confidentiality, extent of outputs produced and data quality of the registries.

Matched MeSH terms: Environment
Thermoseparating aqueous two-phase systems: Recent trends and mechanisms

Leong YK, Lan JC, Loh HS, Ling TC, Ooi CW, Show PL

J Sep Sci, 2016 Feb;39(4):640-7.
PMID: 26447739 DOI: 10.1002/jssc.201500667

Having the benefits of being environmentally friendly, providing a mild environment for bioseparation, and scalability, aqueous two-phase systems (ATPSs) have increasingly caught the attention of industry and researchers for their application in the isolation and recovery of bioproducts. The limitations of conventional ATPSs give rise to the development of temperature-induced ATPSs that have distinctive thermoseparating properties and easy recyclability. This review starts with a brief introduction to thermoseparating ATPSs, including its history, unique characteristics and advantages, and lastly, key factors that influence partitioning. The underlying mechanism of temperature-induced ATPSs is covered together with a summary of recent applications. Thermoseparating ATPSs have been proven as a solution to the demand for economically favorable and environmentally friendly industrial-scale bioextraction and purification techniques.

Matched MeSH terms: Environment
Towards a new paradigm: Activity level balanced sustainability reporting

Samudhram A, Siew EG, Sinnakkannu J, Yeow PH

Appl Ergon, 2016 Mar 27.
PMID: 27029522 DOI: 10.1016/j.apergo.2016.03.004

Technoeconomic paradigms based economic growth theories suggest that waves of technological innovations drove the economic growth of advanced economies. Widespread economic degradation and pollution is an unintended consequence of such growth. Tackling environmental and social issues at firm levels would help us to overcome such issues at macro-levels. Consequently, the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) reporting approach promotes firm level economic, environmental and social performances. Incorporating Zink's (2014) 3-pillar presentation model, this paper indicates that economic, social and environmental performances tend to be reported at firm level. All three pillars are not covered evenly at the activity levels. Thus, a loophole is identified whereby excellent environmental performance at activity levels could potentially leave poor social performance undisclosed. A refinement of the TBL paradigm, whereby all three pillars are covered at the activity level, is suggested, to enhance sustainability reporting.

Matched MeSH terms: Environment; Environmental Pollution
Fulltext Clustering Transmission Opportunity Length (CTOL) Model over Cognitive Radio Network

Mohamad MH, Sali A, Hashim F, Nordin R, Takyu O

Sensors (Basel), 2018 Dec 10;18(12).
PMID: 30544655 DOI: 10.3390/s18124351

This paper investigated the throughput performance of a secondary user (SU) for a random primary user (PU) activity in a realistic experimental model. This paper proposed a sensing and frame duration of the SU to maximize the SU throughput under the collision probability constraint. The throughput of the SU and the probability of collisions depend on the pattern of PU activities. The pattern of PU activity was obtained and modelled from the experimental data that measure the wireless local area network (WLAN) environment. The WLAN signal has detected the transmission opportunity length (TOL) which was analyzed and clustered into large and small durations in the CTOL model. The performance of the SU is then analyzed and compared with static and dynamic PU models. The results showed that the SU throughput in the CTOL model was higher than the static and dynamic models by almost 45% and 12.2% respectively. Furthermore, the probability of collisions in the network and the SU throughput were influenced by the value of the minimum contention window and the maximum back-off stage. The simulation results revealed that the higher contention window had worsened the SU throughput even though the channel has a higher number of TOLs.

Matched MeSH terms: Environment
Vision-based lane departure warning framework

Em PP, Hossen J, Fitrian I, Wong EK

Heliyon, 2019 Aug;5(8):e02169.
PMID: 31440587 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e02169

Collisions arising from lane departures have contributed to traffic accidents causing millions of injuries and tens of thousands of casualties per year worldwide. Many related studies had shown that single vehicle lane departure crashes accounted largely in road traffic deaths that results from drifting out of the roadway. Hence, automotive safety has becoming a concern for the road users as most of the road casualties occurred due to driver's fallacious judgement of vehicle path. This paper proposes a vision-based lane departure warning framework for lane departure detection under daytime and night-time driving environments. The traffic flow and conditions of the road surface for both urban roads and highways in the city of Malacca are analysed in terms of lane detection rate and false positive rate. The proposed vision-based lane departure warning framework includes lane detection followed by a computation of a lateral offset ratio. The lane detection is composed of two stages: pre-processing and detection. In the pre-processing, a colour space conversion, region of interest extraction, and lane marking segmentation are carried out. In the subsequent detection stage, Hough transform is used to detect lanes. Lastly, the lateral offset ratio is computed to yield a lane departure warning based on the detected X-coordinates of the bottom end-points of each lane boundary in the image plane. For lane detection and lane departure detection performance evaluation, real-life datasets for both urban roads and highways in daytime and night-time driving environments, traffic flows, and road surface conditions are considered. The experimental results show that the proposed framework yields satisfactory results. On average, detection rates of 94.71% for lane detection rate and 81.18% for lane departure detection rate were achieved using the proposed frameworks. In addition, benchmark lane marking segmentation methods and Caltech lanes dataset were also considered for comparison evaluation in lane detection. Challenges to lane detection and lane departure detection such as worn lane markings, low illumination, arrow signs, and occluded lane markings are highlighted as the contributors to the false positive rates.

Matched MeSH terms: Environment
Fulltext Cultural construction of psychiatric illness in Malaysia

Razak AA

Malays J Med Sci, 2017 Mar;24(2):1-5.
PMID: 28894398 DOI: 10.21315/mjms2017.24.2.1

The concept of the cultural construction of illness is important in terms of understanding people's behaviour. In this article, this idea is applied to psychiatric illness in Malaysia to explore how it is informed by sociocultural elements, a process that will help us understand the psychiatric expression and help-seeking behaviour of the country's population.

Matched MeSH terms: Environment
Fulltext Neurosciences at Universiti Sains Malaysia Represent Malaysia to Support Global Precision Brain Health

Abdullah JM

Malays J Med Sci, 2019 May;26(3):1-23.
PMID: 31303847 DOI: 10.21315/mjms2019.26.3.1

The combined effort of the neuroscience and psychology cluster at the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM)-fundamental, applied and clinical-has moved the institution to the number two position in the country, behind Universiti Malaya. The strategy to join the Global Brain Consortium (GBC) and put Malaysia on the map to address the GBC mission, vision, focus areas and outcomes began recently, in May 2019.

Matched MeSH terms: Environment
Fulltext KESEDARAN KEUSAHAWANAN DALAM KALANGAN PELAJAR INSTITUT LATIHAN PERINDUSTRIAN (ILP) JABATAN TENAGA MANUSIA DI TERENGGANU

WAN NAQIYAH WAN ABDUL MAJID, ROHANA AHMAD

UMT Journal of Undergraduate Research, 2021;3(1):87-98.
MyJurnal

Keusahawanan sering dianggap sebagai subjek yang lebih cenderung kepada pelajar dalam bidang perniagaan tetapi tidak untuk pelajar yang mempunyai pelbagai kemahiran yang terlibat dalam bidang teknikal. Namun, ini adalah satu tanggapan yang tidak seharusnya wujud kerana Malaysia seharusnya perlu mengenal pasti kesedaran keusahawanan dalam bidang teknikal. Pada masa kini, kesedaran keusahawanan dalam bidang teknikal tertentu adalah kurang lantaran program keusahawanan lazimnya lebih tertumpu kepada pelajar InstitusiPengajian Tinggi (IPT). Misalnya, Pembangunan Keusahawanan Bumiputera adalah lebih tertumpu kepada golongan siswazah IPT, belia dan wanita. Dasar Pembangunan Keusahawanan IPT juga diperkenalkan agar modal insan dengan daya pemikiran, atribut dan nilai keusahawanan dalam kalangan IPT tempatan dapat dilahirkan. Tujuan kajian ini dijalankan adalah untuk mengenal pasti tahap kesedaran keusahawanan dalam kalangan pelajar Institut Latihan Perindustrian (ILP) di Terengganu berhubung dengan faktor keusahawanan dari aspek individu usahawan yang berbeza serta struktur dan persekitaran perniagaan. Seterusnya, mengkaji hubungan antara kesedaran keusahawanan dengan pembolehubah tidak bersandar lain yang berkait dengan kajian seperti ciri keusahawanan dan cabaran keusahawanan. Kaedah kuantitatif telah digunakan dan borang soal selidik diedarkan kepada 280 orang pelajar. Hasil analisis regresi berganda menunjukkan bahawa cabaran keusahawanan merangkumi sikap dan minat, kemahiran keusahawanan serta pendidikan dan pengetahuan keusahawanan merupakan elemen paling signifikan yang mempengaruhi kesedaran keusahawanan dalam kalangan pelajar berkemahiran diILP untuk menjadi seorang usahawan. Oleh itu, adalah sangat penting bagi kerajaan Malaysiauntuk memberi perhatian terhadap cabaran yang dihadapi oleh para pelajar ini dan mengambil tindakan terhadap segala kemungkinan yang boleh mempengaruhi atau memberi kesan kepada minat pelajar terhadap keusahawanan pada masa akan datang.

Matched MeSH terms: Environment
Perspectives on the use of algae as biological indicators for monitoring and protecting aquatic environments, with special reference to malaysian freshwater ecosystems

Omar WM

Trop Life Sci Res, 2010 Dec;21(2):51-67.
PMID: 24575199

Algal communities possess many attributes as biological indicators of spatial and temporal environmental changes. Algal parameters, especially the community structural and functional variables that have been used in biological monitoring programs, are highlighted in this document. Biological indicators like algae have only recently been included in water quality assessments in some areas of Malaysia. The use of algal parameters in identifying various types of water degradation is essential and complementary to other environmental indicators.

Matched MeSH terms: Environment; Environmental Monitoring
Fulltext Perspectives on the use of algae as biological indicators for monitoring and protecting aquatic environments, with special reference to Malaysian freshwater ecosystems

Wan Maznah Wan Omar

Trop Life Sci Res, 2010;21(2):-.
MyJurnal

Algal communities possess many attributes as biological indicators of spatial and temporal environmental changes. Algal parameters, especially the community structural and functional variables that have been used in biological monitoring programs, are highlighted in this document. Biological indicators like algae have only recently been included in water quality assessments in some areas of Malaysia. The use of algal parameters in identifying various types of water degradation is essential and complementary to other environmental indicators.

Matched MeSH terms: Environment; Environmental Monitoring
Abundance, Fishing Season and Management Strategy for Blue Swimming Crab (Portunus pelagicus) in Pangkajene Kepulauan, South Sulawesi, Indonesia

Wiyono ES, Ihsan

Trop Life Sci Res, 2018 Mar;29(1):1-15.
PMID: 29644012 DOI: 10.21315/tlsr2018.29.1.1

In order to manage blue swimming crabs in Pangkajene Kepulauan, management measures are required. Since the environment which affects the abundance of the blue swimming crab varies seasonally, it is necessary to take into account the seasonal nature with the aim of developing a management strategy. The objectives of this study are to define the abundance of and fishing season of blue swimming crabs in the Pangkajene Kepulauan waters, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. The fishing season was analysed using seasonal index analysis, while fish abundance was analysed by means of Equilibrium-Schaefer. The result of this study demonstrated that fishermen allocate their fishing gear all year, although the fish catch is seasonal. Based on analysis of the result, the fishing season for the blue swimming crabs is short. The peak fishing season starts in May and finishes in June. However, in order to enable their families to earn a living, fishermen operated their fishing gear throughout the year. As a result, both catch landing and effort were close to maximum sustainable yield (MSY). In order to reduce fishing pressure, it is necessary to reduce fishing gear and have a seasonal arrangement regarding fishing gear allocation.

Matched MeSH terms: Environment

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