This study was done in all UNIMAS medical students from year 1 to year 5 in the year 2004. A questionnaire was used. 290 students participated with a response rate of 72.5%. There were more male students snoring than female (ratio 5.9:1.3). The habitual snoring percentages for all years, first year and final year medical students are 7.2, 9.9 and 3.6 respectively and these are comparatively and relatively low with other studies reported in the last 10 years, and the reasons for this are unknown. However it was interesting to note in this study and others that there are relatively more snoring medical students in the first year than subsequent years. Significant positive correlation of snoring was found with the factors of gender, weight, height and sleep apnoea, all having p<0.0005, but no significant correlation was found in others including examination results.
Objective: The purpose of the present study was to identify reverse culture shock among returnee high school students. Methods: It was an observational study conducted at an International High School of Islamabad, Pakistan on overseas-experienced returnee Pakistani students. A 15 statements questionnaire was used to measure reverse culture shock. Results: Mean index score on survey questionnaire was 4 indicative that these returnees were experiencing high reverse culture shock. Conclusion: For being feeling different in own cultural set up the returnees usually suffer from reverse culture shock and develop personal problems associated with it.
Abstract: A total of 307 Malaysian children and their parents were surveyed to ascertain the prevalence of mental health problems amongst urban primary and secondary school children. The results indicated that secondary school children report slightly higher rates of depressive symptoms, whereas primary school children report higher rates of social problems. There was also a discrepancy between child and parents reports of children’s emotions and behaviours. Children’s self-reports of aggressive behaviours where higher than their parents’ reports. Alternatively, parents reported lower levels of their childrens’ emotional problems, as compared with the childrens’ self-report. When gender was taken into consideration, females were reported to be more aggressive, withdrawn, and have more attention problems when compared with males.
Introduction: Family Environment Scale (FES) was developed by Moos1, has ten subscales and was categorized into three dimensions.Objective:The objective of this study was to develop factor structure for the Malay-translated version of the FES subscales. Methodology: The study used Malay translated version of FES by Khairani et. al2. This study was a multi centre, cross-sectional study, involving four secondary schools consisted of adolescents, aged between 12-17 years old and a total of 295 participants were enrolled in this study. Exploratory factor analyses was done across two groups of analysis set on the subscales with Cronbach’s alpha more than 0.50 and 0.53 respectively. Results: Two distinct factors were extracted across the four subscales consisted of Cohesion, Conflict and Organization in factor 1 and only Control in factor 2. Conclusion: The finding indicated that element of Cohesion, Conflict and Organization has a good indicator of a good family relationship.
We report a 35 year-old Iranian female who presented with a sudden onset of left sided hemiparesis associated with temporary loss of consciousness of about 3 minutes. Neurological examination revealed a power of 0/5 over the left upper/lower limbs but reflexes were normal and plantar reflex was downgoing and equivocal. A computed tomography scan was done and it revealed mild bilateral frontal atrophy and a temporal arachnoid cyst which was decidedly an incidental finding and it did not have any relation to the clinical presentation. Electroencephalogram and other laboratory findings were all normal. When the psychiatric team interviewed her, it was revealed that the patient had recently experienced a major stressful event just prior to the hemiparesis. On further interview, the patient had complained of delusions of persecution, delusions of reference and also auditory hallucinations for approximately a year prior to admission. There have been only a spatter of reports of conversion symptoms seen in patients with schizophrenia and this is such a case.
The functional behavior of the thyroid is fundamental in most diseases and represents the basis for diagnosis and therapy. The status can be euthyroidism, hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism. The psychiatric manifestation varies in different thyroid status. Those with hypothyroidism were described to have depression, psychosis and cognitive dysfunction. Meanwhile, those with hyperthyroidism were found to have psychosis, aggression, anxiety as well as cognitive impairment.
Objective: To illustrate the results of dichotomizing a continuous variable in a prediction model. Method: 202 patients who were discharged from the psychiatric ward, University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) from 27th August 2007 to 15th April 2008 were recruited. The general psychopathology was measured with Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS-24). The information on age, gender, race, marital status, occupation, psychiatric diagnosis, first onset, electroconvulsive therapy, substance use, oral treatment and depot injection were collected. On follow up, the patients who had early readmission.
It has been long known that affective disorders as a result of organic brain diseases are not uncommon. Neurological disorders seem to be significant as risk factors for newly diagnosed mania in the elderly. It has been theorized that lesions in the right cerebral hemisphere and limbic structures may produce symptoms suggestive of mania. Even though specific areas of involvement had not been determined, this case discussed below clearly reports a right sided lesion. One of the reasons why not much is known yet about this clinical entity is the rarity of this occurrence. In fact, in one large scale study, only 2 patients out of 700 were identified with mania.
Background: Having a validated questionnaire in any field would nurture a research path in that particular area. The aim of this study was to validate the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales 21-item (DASS-21) Bahasa Malaysia (BM) version among clinical subjects who were diabetic patients. Objectives: To determine the reliability and construct validity of the BM DASS by looking at internal consistency and exploratory factor analysis respectively. Methods: The BM DASS was administered to a total of 153 diabetic patients. These patients were selected when they came to 15 retail pharmacies all over the Klang Valley. Results: The BM DASS-21 had very good Cronbach’s alpha values of 0.75, 0.74 and 0.79, respectively for depression, anxiety and stress subscales. For construct validity, it also had good factor loading values for 17 out of 21 items (.31 to .75). Conclusions: The results of this study entrenched the evidence that the BM DASS-21 had excellent psychometric properties and therefore it is suitable to be used for the Malaysian clinical population.
Objective: The aim of this study is to translate the original English version of List of Threatening Experiences (LTE) into Malay and to test the reliability on a group of medical students. Method: The LTE was translated into Malay and back-translated. The Malay LTE (LTE-M) was then tested on a total of 237 medical students. They were given LTE-M, General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and English version of LTE. A week later, these students were again given the LTE-M. Results: The parallel and test-retest reliability were satisfactory for 7 out of the 12 event categories (Kappa=0.67- 0.88). However 3 event categories were not reported. There was no statistical significant difference in the BDI and GHQ scores between the students with and without threatening experiences. Conclusion: The parallel and test-retest reliability of the LTE-M were acceptable. An association between the threatening experiences and increased disorders was not established.
The Sudan occupies area of land in East Africa, almost one million square miles, or 2.5 million squares km2. It shares boundaries with nine countries: two of which are Arab, Egypt, Libya, Kenya, Uganda, The Congo, Chad, The Republic of Central Africa, Ethiopia and Eritrea. The country is situated in a strategic important geographical location that links the Arab world to Sub Saharan Africa, where the Sudanese population and those of the neighboring countries move freely across most of these borders .Sudan geography, climate, and multi-ethnic and cultural backgrounds remain the major health determinant. Sudan is the largest country in Africa. The heart of the country, in terms of population, lies at the confluence of the Blue and White Niles. The complex of the "three towns," comprising the three largest cities, Khartoum, Khartoum North and Omdurman, is situated there and contains almost 20% of the population. The total population of Sudan was about 39.39 million (projected from 2009 census). the urban population was estimated at 33%. About 2.2 million are still entirely nomadic. Sudan’s peoples are as diverse as its geography. There are about 19 major ethnic groups and a further 597 subgroups. Sudan is rich in terms of natural and human resources, but economic and social development have been below the expectation.
Research publication is an essential part of scientific research process. Writing is a means of communication of scientific work, a means to disseminate the research findings to the public and also to their peers. A scientific paper is a written and published report describing original research results. Getting a paper published in a well-respected peer-reviewed journal is an important goal for any researcher. It is an indication of research success. There are many reasons why people write and this ranged from pure altruism to pleasure to intellectual pursuits to contribute to the scientific knowledge, to improve patient care and to benefit the community and mankind. Reasons to write vary from one individual to another individual. Writing can be difficult and it is seen as a chore, such as, fulfilling a minimum requirement of an organization to get a job, a job confirmation or a promotion, and career development.
Preferred body sizes appear to decrease markedly with increasing exposure to contemporäry notions of slimness and economic modernity, and reduce even further in industrial settings as socio-economic status increases. Recently a study examining physical attractiveness preferences in Britain and Malaysia, shows that preference for slim ideals varies according to socio-economic status. Malaysians in
Britain and Kuala Lumpur preferred slimmer female bodies than observers in semiurban Kota Kinabalu, who in turn preferred slimmer figures than rural observers in East Malaysia. This study has important implications for the study of body image and eating disorders in Malaysia.
The vital importance of the mental health of a nation for the overall well being of the population and socioeconomic development is increasingly recognized. In Malaysia, psychiatric disorders were responsible for 8.6% of the total Disability Adjusted Life Years and were ranked fourth as the leading cause of burden of disease by disease categories. More and more evidence shows that physical illnesses are strongly associated with psychiatric disorders. Those with physical illnesses have much higher risk of developing psychiatric disorders compared to that without. The mechanisms of co-morbidity of psychiatric and physical illness are complex. It is a two-way interaction and there are five different possible ways to describe this.
Most general hospitals in the country have a psychiatric department. According to the Malaysia Mental Health Regulations 2010, "a psychiatric facility shall ensure that each patient has a care plan for the management of the patient during the treatment and upon discharge of the patient". However not every psychiatric department has a trained consultation-liaison psychiatrist. In Malaysia there are only a few numbers of psychiatrists that have undergone a formal sub-specialty training in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry.
The problem of illicit drug use has been a long standing problem in Malaysia. It is well recognized that drug mis-use is associated with many social, economic and health problems, including mental health problems. Anxiety disorders have consistently been cited as the commonest type of psychiatric disorder in drug users. In Malaysia, many drug users are incarcerated in rehabilitation centres and prison. They form a different type of population as compared to the drug user in the general population, due to the effects of incarceration. With this in mind, a study was carried out in a rehabilitation centre, looking at anxiety disorders. Utilizing the SCID, we found current and lifetime diagnoses for anxiety disorders at 63.4% and 67.6% respectively. Suggestions are made in regards to our findings.
Objectives: To study relationship of depressive symptoms to hypertension. Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out on respondents from Kampung Awal. Hypertension was defined as self-reported or by measurement using a mercury sphymomanometer and depressive symptoms were evaluated by CES-D scale. Results: A total 103 respondents were studied. The male:female ratio was 1:1.5 with mean age of 41.8 years. Majority had formal education up to secondary school. 45% were government servant and over 95% subjects had income of RM1000 or less per each family member per month. 21.4% (n=22) self-reported to have hypertension and 7.8%(n=91) met the criteria for incident hypertension. 7.8% met the criteria for both. Mean score based on CES-D was 13.08. 32.0% subjects had depression. 54 subjects reported never experienced any strain for past 6 months and 24 reported to have 2 or more .61 subjects were overweight with mean value of BMI=26.19 kg/m2. Self-reported hypertension and incident hypertension were strongly associated with age but only selfreported hypertension was strongly associated with overweight. However, there was no significant association between hypertension with chronic strains and depressive symptoms. Conclusions: Depressive symptomatology was not associated with hypertension in this survey. Women had a significant risk in having depressive symptoms. Age =45 years & overweight were significant risks for hypertension. A prospective study will be more useful in the future to find out the association between depression and hypertension.
Schizophrenia poses challenges in diagnosis and treatment strategies when the predominant clinical features represent another spectrum of disorder like eating disorders. Nevertheless, symptoms of eating disorder in schizophrenia are not entirely uncommon although never included in the diagnostic criteria. We reported a case of a woman who first presented at seventeen years old with food refusal and underlying psychosis resulting in severe weight loss, but defaulted treatment for almost a decade. In 2009, she presented again with sinus bradycardia and secondary amenorrhoea. In this report, we discussed about the patient’s vulnerability for psychosis and its psychodynamic drive which led to a complex symptoms manifestation. Our aim is to highlight its diagnostic dilemma and suggestions to treatment strategies unique to this presentation.
Depression is usually discussed as an adult problem; however there is a need to recognize it being a significant problem for children. Rarely is depression focused on how it affects parenting and child outcomes, particularly for young children.Often women are victims of violence, and the devastating effects of depression are significant in such households. However one must not ignore, the effect depression has on parenting, where in these contexts, women themselves, become the perpetrators of violence. When mothers are not well-2 central parental functions are threatened: the ability to foster healthy relationships and to carry out the practical functions of parenting2.When this is not carried out, one sees obvious reductions in young children’s behavioral, cognitive, and social and emotional functioning. Neuroscience is clearly evident that the primary ingredient for healthy early brain development is the quality of the earliest relationships from a baby’s primary caregiver.
The population of incarcerated sex offenders in Malaysia is steadily growing. Objective: This is a descriptive study to look at what clinical and developmental characteristic are present amongst the sex offenders in Malaysia, which could be possible mitigating factors. Methods: Data was collected from offenders located in 3 prisons where the offenders are held. Results: a total of 147 prisoners participated in the study. Slightly more than half of the victims were below the age of 18, of which 10% were below the age of 12. Three quarters of offenders were thirty years and older, while 12% were below 18 years. However their problems begun much earlier in their life with 50% of the offenders reporting that they had difficulties in their
primary support group, resulting in them feeling their families were less expressive, their parents were distant and unsupportive.29% of the offenders had not lived with their parents from the age of 16. More than half of the offenders reported academic, behavior and developmental difficulties; they reported losing interest in their studies and were struggling during their schooling days. 43% had history of aggressive behaviour during their adolescent years and 76% had peers who often indulged in risky behaviors. 85% of the offenders were Muslim. 40% made the criteria of Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder and conduct disorder while a quarter were diagnosed with having personality disorder. Slightly more than half of the offenders had alcohol and drug-related problems, 36% had history of previous crimes, mainly drug and theft offence. Conclusion: The findings show that the sex offenders are indeed a heterogeneous group with pervasive familial, behaviour, academic and social problems which are possible risk that can be identified early in the lives of offenders.