PIP: Family planning in Malaysia is discussed. Family planning began in Malaysia about 15 years ago through the efforts of voluntary family Planning Associations in the various Malay states. In 1966 the Malaysian Parliament passed the National Family Planning Act setting up the National FAmily Planning Board to formulate policies and methods for the promotion and spread of family planning knowledge and practice on the grounds of health of mothers and children and welfare of the family. In 1967, the board set a target of 40,000 new acceptors of family planning and 90% of the target was reached. This represents 3% of the child-bearing married women aged 15-49. The target for 1968 of 65,000 new acceptors is being achieved. A survey of acceptors is to be carried out from December 1968 to April 1969 to ascertain how many women who accepted family planning continue to practice it. Malaysia's crude birth rate declined from 46.2 in 1957 to 37.3 in 1966 before the government program was instituted. Abortion attempts have been frequent. The main method of contraception used is oral contraceptives. According to a 1957 survey, 31% of the married women in the metropolitan areas and 2% of rural women were using contraception. Presently, in Malaysia there is a need to: 1) train personnel to provide services, 2) inform and motivate families to accept family planning, 3) continue a broad educational program, 4) reform Malaysia's antiquated abortion law, and 5) integrate family planning services more fully into the general health services of the country.
PIP: The initial results of a study conducted to develop guidelines for the clinical management of family planning acceptors with regard to return of fertility following contraceptive use, are presented. 193 parous women attending an urban family planning clinic were interviewed regarding their last pregnancy conceived after stopping a method of contraception. The average interval to pregnancy was 3.9, 2.8 and 1.8 months for ex-users of oral pills, intrauterine devices and conventional methods of contraception, respectively, with median delays to conception of 1.9, 1 and within the 1st month for the 3 categories. In comparison, 149 women who had not used any method at all took 7.3 months before becoming pregnant. Selected variables including age and parity, duration of use and problems encountered, and outcome of pregnancy are further analysed. Follow-up investigations and treatment are recommended 12 months after stopping oral pills and 6 months after removal of intrauterine device for those who have not yet conceived.
Genetic research into Southeast Asia's "negritos" has revealed their deep-rooted ancestry, with time depth comparable to that of Southwest Pacific populations. This finding is often interpreted as evidence that negritos, in contrast to other Southeast Asians, can trace much of their ancestry directly back to the early dispersal of Homo sapiens in the order of 70 kya from Africa to Pleistocene New Guinea and Australia. One view on negritos is to lump them and Southwest Pacific peoples into an "Australoid" race whose geographic distribution had included Southeast Asia prior to the Neolithic incursion of "Mongoloid" farmers. Studies into Semang osteology have revealed some hints of Southwest Pacific affinities in cranial shape, dental morphology, and dental metrical "shape." On the other hand, the Andamanese have been shown to resemble Africans in their craniometrics and South Asians in their dental morphology, while Philippine negritos resemble Mongoloid Southeast Asians in these respects and also in their dental metrics. This study expands the scope of negrito cranial comparisons by including Melayu Malays and additional coverage of South Asians. It highlights the distinction between the Mongoloid-like Philippine negritos and the Andamanese and Semang (and Senoi of Malaya) with their non-Mongoloid associations. It proposes that the early/mid-Holocene dispersal of the B4a1a mitochondrial DNA clade across Borneo, the Philippines, and Taiwan may be important for understanding the distinction between Philippine and other negritos.
Benthic species, though ecologically important, are vulnerable to genetic loss and population size reduction due to impacts from fishing trawls. An assessment of genetic diversity and population structure is therefore needed to assist in a resource management program. To address this issue, the two-spined yellowtail stargazer (Uranoscopus cognatus) was collected within selected locations in the Indo-West Pacific (IWP). The partial mitochondrial DNA cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 and the nuclear DNA recombination activating gene 1 were sequenced. Genetic diversity analyses revealed that the populations were moderately to highly diversified (haplotype diversity, H = 0.490-0.900, nucleotide diversity, π = 0.0010-0.0034) except sampling station (ST) 1 and 14. The low diversity level, however was apparent only in the matrilineal marker (H = 0.118-0.216; π = 0.0004-0.0008), possibly due to stochastic factors or anthropogenic stressors. Population structure analyses revealed a retention of ancestral polymorphism that was likely due to incomplete lineage sorting in U. cognatus, and prolonged vicariance by the Indo-Pacific Barrier has partitioned them into separate stock units. Population segregation was also shown by the phenotypic divergence in allopatric populations, regarding the premaxillary protrusion, which is possibly associated with the mechanism for upper jaw movement in biomechanical feeding approaches. The moderate genetic diversity estimated for each region, in addition to past population expansion events, indicated that U. cognatus within the IWP was still healthy and abundant (except in ST1 and 14), and two stock units were identified to be subjected to a specific resource management program.
"Urban concentration (or primacy) and inequality (in size distribution of income) are expected to follow bell shaped curves through the development process. Spatial convergence (through investments in transportation etc.) is expected to precede income convergence. Using longitudinal data from six Asian countries (Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and India) this paper shows that (i) the bell shapes for urban concentration and income inequality generally hold, and (ii) the temporal relationship between the curve peaks is determined by geographical factors (for urban concentration); income inequality is seen to be more policy amenable."
Today, insular Southeast Asia is important for both its remarkably rich biodiversity and globally significant roles in atmospheric and oceanic circulation. Despite the fundamental importance of environmental history for diversity and conservation, there is little primary evidence concerning the nature of vegetation in north equatorial Southeast Asia during the Last Glacial Period (LGP). As a result, even the general distribution of vegetation during the Last Glacial Maximum is debated. Here we show, using the stable carbon isotope composition of ancient cave guano profiles, that there was a substantial forest contraction during the LGP on both peninsular Malaysia and Palawan, while rainforest was maintained in northern Borneo. These results directly support rainforest "refugia" hypotheses and provide evidence that environmental barriers likely reduced genetic mixing between Borneo and Sumatra flora and fauna. Moreover, it sheds light on possible early human dispersal events.
Seagrass species in the tropics occur in multispecies meadows. How these meadows are maintained through species co-existence and what their ecological drivers may be has been an overarching question in seagrass biogeography. In this study, we quantify the spatial structure of four co-existing species and infer potential ecological processes from these structures.
One of the available tools for mapping the geographical distribution and potential suitable habitats is species distribution models. These techniques are very helpful for finding poorly known distributions of species in poorly sampled areas, such as the tropics. Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) is a recently developed modeling method that can be successfully calibrated using a relatively small number of records. In this research, the MaxEnt model was applied to describe the distribution and identify the key factors shaping the potential distribution of the vulnerable Malayan Sun Bear (Helarctos malayanus) in one of the main remaining habitats in Peninsular Malaysia. MaxEnt results showed that even though Malaysian sun bear habitat is tied with tropical evergreen forests, it lives in a marginal threshold of bio-climatic variables. On the other hand, current protected area networks within Peninsular Malaysia do not cover most of the sun bears potential suitable habitats. Assuming that the predicted suitability map covers sun bears actual distribution, future climate change, forest degradation and illegal hunting could potentially severely affect the sun bear's population.