As the Malaysian population ages, the burden of age-related cognitive disorders such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease will increase concomitantly. This is one of the sub-study under a research project titled by quantify the cost of age-related cognitive impairment in Malaysia, which was undertaken to develop a clinical pathway for Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and Dementia. The clinical pathway (CP) will be used to support the costing studies of MCI and Dementia. An expert group discussion (EGD) was conducted among selected experts from six (6) government hospitals from different states of Malaysia, Ministry of Health, and United Nations University, International Institute for Global Health, UKM and UPM. The expert group includes psychiatrist specialists and public health medicine specialists. A total of 15 participants took part in the EGD. The group was presented with the different approach in managing MCI and Dementia. Finally, the group came to the consensus agreement on the most appropriate and efficient ways of managing the two conditions. In the EGD, an operational definition for MCI and Dementia was agreed upon and a pathway was developed for the usual practice in the Malaysian health system. A typical case used, as a reference is a 60-year-old patient referred to a memory clinic with complaint of “forgetfulness”. After three outpatient visits in the clinic, the diagnosis of MCI and Dementia could be clinically established. The clinical pathways covered all active clinical and non-clinical management of the patient over a period of one year. The experts identified the additional resources required to manage these patients for the whole spectrum of lifetime based on the expected life expectancy. The Clinical pathway (CP) for MCI and Dementia was successfully developed in EGD with strong support from practitioners in the health system. The findings will help the researchers to identify all-important clinical activities and interventions that will be included in the costing study.
Danielle Levesque is an Assistant Professor at the University of Maine, USA, where she studies hibernation and torpor in mammals. She received her Bachelor's degree in Wildlife Biology from McGill University, Canada, in 2006, before completing her PhD with Barry Lovegrove at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, in 2014. She then completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at University of Malaysia Sarawak with Andrew Alek Tuen before moving to Maine in 2015.
Vehicle to Everything (V2X) communications and services have sparked considerable interest as a potential component of future Intelligent Transportation Systems. V2X serves to organise communication and interaction between vehicle to vehicle (V2V), vehicle to infrastructure (V2I), vehicle to pedestrians (V2P), and vehicle to networks (V2N). However, having multiple communication channels can generate a vast amount of data for processing and distribution. In addition, V2X services may be subject to performance requirements relating to dynamic handover and low latency communication channels. Good throughput, lower delay, and reliable packet delivery are the core requirements for V2X services. Edge Computing (EC) may be a feasible option to address the challenge of dynamic handover and low latency to allow V2X information to be transmitted across vehicles. Currently, existing comparative studies do not cover the applicability of EC for V2X. This review explores EC approaches to determine the relevance for V2X communication and services. EC allows devices to carry out part or all of the data processing at the point where data is collected. The emphasis of this review is on several methods identified in the literature for implementing effective EC. We describe each method individually and compare them according to their applicability. The findings of this work indicate that most methods can simulate the EC positioning under predefined scenarios. These include the use of Mobile Edge Computing, Cloudlet, and Fog Computing. However, since most studies are carried out using simulation tools, there is a potential limitation in that crucial data in the search for EC positioning may be overlooked and ignored for bandwidth reduction. The EC approaches considered in this work are limited to the literature on the successful implementation of V2X communication and services. The outcome of this work could considerably help other researchers better characterise EC applicability for V2X communications and services.
Background: Use of laptops and hand-held devices increase the risk of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). More time spent on this activity adopting faulty postures, higher the risk of developing such injuries. This study addresses training on office ergonomics with emphasis on sustainable behavior change among employees to work in safe postures, as this is a top priority in the corporate environment, today.
Aim: To explore training intervention methods that ensure wider coverage of awareness on office ergonomics, thereby promoting safer working and suggesting sustainable programs for behavior change and job enrichment.
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted (2012 - 2017), encompassing corporate office employees of multinational corporations selected from India, Dubai (U.A.E), Nairobi (East Africa), Durban (South Africa), South East Asian countries (Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Sri Lanka).Participant employees (n= 3503) were divided into two groups to study the effect of interventions'; i.e., (a) deep training: 40 minute lecture by the investigator with a power point presentation (n= 1765) using a mock workstation and (b) quick training: live demonstrations of 10 minutes (n= 1738) using a live workstation.
Results: While deep training enhanced awareness in 95.51% and quick training in 96.59% globally, the latterwas much appreciated and educated maximum employees. From statistical analysis, quick training was found superior in providing comprehensive training and influencing behavior modification in India, but all over the world it was found highly superior in knowledge enlargement, skills enrichment in addition to providing comprehensive training (P< 0.05). In countries, located to West of India, it significantly influenced behavior modification.
Conclusion: As because few employees attend deep training lectures, the quick 10-minute program is highly promising as it is practical, replicable, yields increased awareness with wider employee coverage in a much shorter time, instilling a feeling of caring and confidence amongst them towards a robust office ergonomics program. This could lead to propose as a best practice for corporate offices globally.
The emergence of research about the biological effects of electromagnetic field (EMF) have growing concern among
researchers. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects on the brain of rats periodically exposed to 0.1 mT EMF.
Total 24 adult male Sprague Dawley rats were subdivided randomly to 4 groups: 2 control groups (C1 6 hours: 6 h/
day for 5 days; C2 20 hours: 20 h/day for 5 days) and 2 treatment groups which exposed to 0.1 mT EMF (T1 6 hours:
6 h/day for 5 days; T2 20 hours: 20 h/day for 5 days). A significant decrease in the pyramidal cell number was higher
as the exposure duration to EMF was extended (T1, p
There are two main reasons that motivate people to detect outliers; the first is the researchers' intention; see the example of Mr Haldum's cases in Barnett and Lewis. The second is the effect of outliers on analyses. This article does not differentiate between the various justifications for outlier detection. The aim was to advise the analyst about observations that are isolated from the other observations in the data set. In this article, we introduce the eigenstructure based angle for outlier detection. This method is simple and effective in dealing with masking and swamping problems. The method proposed is illustrated and compared with Mahalanobis distance by using several data sets.
The purpose of this study is to highlight the experiences of individuals who participate in the Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) training program held at various universities in Malaysia. In response to a mailing request sent to 40 individuals who had undertaken a RCR training program, 15 participants agreed to be interviewed. The results of the study showed that the three main reasons for participating in the training were as follows: anticipation for knowledge gained; personal experience with research misconduct; and establishing a new network of researchers. In terms of the positive effects gained from undertaking the training, the participants highlighted an increased awareness of the issues and problems related to research misconduct; the need to promote integrity in research conduct; a change in the way they conduct their research; and a change in the way they confront and address misconduct. The findings of this study should be valuable for policy makers and those involved in the management of research programs and ethics, as it demonstrated the importance of RCR training in equipping researchers with the necessary knowledge to conduct research responsibly, and to avoid research misconduct.
Matched MeSH terms: Research Personnel/psychology*
Objective: EpiNet was established to encourage epilepsy research. EpiNet is used for multicenter cohort studies and investigator-led trials. Physicians must be accredited to recruit patients into trials. Here, we describe the accreditation process for the EpiNet-First trials.
Methods: Physicians with an interest in epilepsy were invited to assess 30 case scenarios to determine the following: whether patients have epilepsy; the nature of the seizures (generalized, focal); and the etiology. Information was presented in two steps for 23 cases. The EpiNet steering committee determined that 21 cases had epilepsy. The steering committee determined by consensus which responses were acceptable for each case. We chose a subset of 18 cases to accredit investigators for the EpiNet-First trials. We initially focused on 12 cases; to be accredited, investigators could not diagnose epilepsy in any case that the steering committee determined did not have epilepsy. If investigators were not accredited after assessing 12 cases, 6 further cases were considered. When assessing the 18 cases, investigators could be accredited if they diagnosed one of six nonepilepsy patients as having possible epilepsy but could make no other false-positive errors and could make only one error regarding seizure classification.
Results: Between December 2013 and December 2014, 189 physicians assessed the 30 cases. Agreement with the steering committee regarding the diagnosis at step 1 ranged from 47% to 100%, and improved when information regarding tests was provided at step 2. One hundred five of the 189 physicians (55%) were accredited for the EpiNet-First trials. The kappa value for diagnosis of epilepsy across all 30 cases for accredited physicians was 0.70.
Significance: We have established criteria for accrediting physicians using EpiNet. New investigators can be accredited by assessing 18 case scenarios. We encourage physicians with an interest in epilepsy to become EpiNet-accredited and to participate in these investigator-led clinical trials.
Advancements in science and technology have not only brought hope to humankind to produce disease-free offspring, but also offer possibilities to genetically enhance the next generation's traits and capacities. Human genetic enhancement, however, raises complex ethical questions, such as to what extent should it be allowed? It has been a great challenge for humankind to develop robust ethical guidelines for human genetic enhancement that address both public concerns and needs. We believe that research about public concerns is necessary prior to developing such guidelines, yet the issues have not been thoroughly investigated in many countries, including Malaysia. Since the novel often functions as a medium for the public to express their concerns, this paper explores ethical concerns about human genetic enhancement expressed in four Malay science fiction novels namely Klon, Leksikon Ledang, Transgenesis Bisikan Rimba and Transgenik Sifar. Religion has a strong influence on the worldview of the Malays therefore some concerns such as playing God are obviously religious. Association of the negative image of scientists as well as the private research companies with the research on human genetic enhancement reflects the authors' concerns about the main motivations for conducting such research and the extent to which such research will benefit society.
Introduction: The New Zealand White (NZW) rabbit model is commonly used for the research of
posterolateral intertransverse lumbar arthrodesis. The standard approach reported by many researchers are a muscle splitting approach through the intermuscular plane between multifidus and longissimus muscles. Methods: In this research the fusion bed was exposed by retracting the three groups of paraspinal muscles (multifidus, longissimus and iliocostalis) medially. Results: This alternative method showed good exposure of the transverse processes and intertransverse membrane with less bleeding from the muscles observed. No death due to surgical complication was observed out of twenty-four rabbits operated. Conclusion: An easy and safe method for performing posterolateral intertransverse lumbar arthrodesis was demonstrated and recommended as an alternative approach for surgery on New Zealand White rabbits.
The benefit mobile technology brings is not limited to learning and entertainment but it also modifies human aspect of social communication. Despite the high number of previous research available concerning smartphones, there is still a gap of research that needs to be addressed such as its effect towards social competence. As the social system becomes complex, communication technology evolves to ensure the social needs are accomplished. For this study, 236 students aged between 13-14 years old were recruited and given a set of questionnaire which comprised Mobile Phone Problem Use Scale, Social Competence Scale for Teenagers and Self Scoring Self-Control Scale. In this study, the researcher attempted to examine the effect of excessive smartphone usage on social competence with self-control as mediator. Regression analysis was used to estimate the effect between the variables. The result indicates that there is negative relationship between excessive smartphone usage and social competence. However, when self-control is tested in the model as a mediator, excessive smartphones usage was not prevalent to predict social competence. This concludes to the apparent role of self-control as a mediator. The implication of study has contributed to the practical importance and methodological aspect of studies involving social competence and self-control.
Relapse is a common phenomenon among former addicts who has undergone a preventive and rehabilitation treatment program. Relaps is a condition of using drugs more than one times after stopping them for a certain period of time depending on one's resistance to a drug withdrawal syndrome. There are various factors that affect the former drug addicts became relaps. Hence, the focus of this study is to explain the external factors of relaps among adult male drug addicts in Cure and Care Service Centre, Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan. This study is a qualitative research that has been using a phenomenology approach using face-to-face interviews and further observation among eight drug addicts who are undergoing rehabilitation programs at CCSC Kuala Pilah. Sample selection was done through purposive sampling techniques and data were analyzed using thematic analysis through an inductive approach that focused on coding to obtain some key themes. The result of the study indicates the external factors such as family, peer and environmental factors play a great role in influencing of relapse. In conclusion, these identified factors illustrate the external influences that cause drug addicts to relapse. Therefore, the researcher proposes a post-rehabilitation module or program done by the responsible agencies after the addicts completed the rehabilitation program as guidance for them to the right direction for efficient recovery.
Introduction: With an increase in national nursing shortage, organizational commitment is extremely
important for retention of nurses. This predictive study determines the level of organizational commitment and the predictive ability of perceived organizational support, components of job satisfaction, including pay, task requirement, organizational policies, autonomy, interaction and professional status as well as years of experience on organizational commitment. Method: Data were collected from 416 nurses in four state hospitals in Malaysia, using self-administered questionnaires. The hospitals were selected from each region in Peninsular Malaysia and samples were selected by a random sampling method. Questionnaires, including demographic data, Organizational Commitment Questionnaires, Survey of Perceived Organizational Support,and Index Work Satisfaction were distributed by researcher and research assistants. Stepwise multiple regression technique was used to analyze the data. Results: The results discovered that (1) nearly half of the subjects (48.07%) reported high level of organizational commitment. (2) Professional status, autonomy, interaction, task requirement and years of experience could predict the organizational commitment (ß = 0.52, 0.17, p < 0.01); ß= 0.13, 0.11, 0.09, p < 0.05 respectively). Overall, all predictors explained 33% of variability
in the organizational commitment among nurses in state hospitals. Conclusions: This study found that nurses in state hospitals were highly committed to their organizations. Results of this study provide information for nurse administrators to consider and maintain these factors in nursing practice to foster a high level of organizational commitment among Malaysian nurses.
The finite element method is gaining acceptance in predicting mechanical response of various loading configurations and material orientations for failure analysis of composite laminates. Both fabrication of laminate samples and experimental procedures are often expensive and time consuming, and hence impractical, especially during the initial design stage. Finite element analyses require minimal amounts of input data, and the resulting stress and strain distributions can be determined throughout each individual ply. Using ANSYSTM, a commercially available finite element package, failure loads were predicted by simulating a uniaxial tensile loading on HTS40/977-2 Carbon/Epoxy composite with [+/-4512s lamination scheme. Two built-in failure theories in ANSYSTM features, viz., Maximum Stress and Tsai-Wu were applied in the simulation. The stress-strain and load-extension curves for both actual testing and FEA were then compared and the results are in good agreement. This paper is intended for researchers who have used or are considering using ANSYSTM for the prediction of failure in composite materials.
Science of the Total Environment recently discussed how open access and predatory journals affect the flow of scientific knowledge in an unfortunate way. Now, South Korea's Ministry of Education is intervening to establish a system that will help its researchers avoid the growing global number of fake conferences of low academic and scientific merit. Here, we discuss solutions to this problem with respect to what is needed. Particularly, a list similar to that of Beall's for predatory conferences, without restricting researchers' academic freedom.
Evidence thus far still supports the contention that fish derived omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA, are good for heart patients. But this controversy tells us something about the medical research, and the acquisition and application of medical knowledge. Being scientists, doctors try to perform studies as rigorously as possible with randomised, placebo-controlled trials and using tests of statistical significance. But since the studies are on humans, with all their individual differing habits and inconsistencies, different results are produced by different researchers. And so while medicine is a science, in that the trials are scientifically conducted, the interpretation of the results, and in particular its application for the individual patient, is very much an art. A good doctor, like the good artist, must spend much time, energy and effort sieving through the good from the not so good data before coming out with the correct picture. Only by keeping an unbiased, inquisitive mind can the evidence be reviewed to solve the problem at hand. Almost always, the balance of data will favour a particular stand. In this day when newspapers are full of medical articles, a family physician has to be educated, interested and inquisitive to be a source of accurate and relevant information for the patients.
In this study, various methods and applications of flat plate solar collectors are discussed and pictorial representations are presented. Low temperature applications of flat plate collectors are identified in solar cooking, solar water heating, space and air heating, industrial heating plants and in agricultural produce drying processes. Basic equations, as presented by many researchers in the performances of flat plate collectors, are also presented. The review discusses the analysis of losses from flat plate collectors towards obtaining the overall heat loss coefficient which indicate the performance of flat plate collectors.
Introduction: The purpose of this article is to review the definitions of food security and food insecurity as well as the concepts related to food security.
Methodology: This is a systematic review on a few papers, research, and articles according to studies and research by various organizations, experts, scholars on food security in developed and developing countries.
Result: The first definition of food security was given to reflect the comprehensive concerns on the availability of world food supplies. The definition was expanded to incorporate accessibility of food for all people at all times. Then, the complex definitions of food security incorporated food accessibility and availability as well as the quality of food intake. Latest definition integrates the social aspect of food that should be accessed in a socially acceptable way. Broad definition of food insecurity and several terms that closely related were also discovered. The four main concepts of food security from these definitions were identified; availability, accessibility, acceptability and adequacy. These concepts of food security are relevant to micro, meso and macro levels of social and administrative organizations. Conclusion: Understanding definitions and concepts of food security can assist researchers, policy makers and program implementers to conduct research that address the issues of food security.