The medical-and-demographic processes as a starting point for the planning of means and resources for the short- and average-term future are forecasted in the paper on the basis of long-term peculiarities of the natural-science data and with respect for the social-and-economic crisis now underway in the country.
Four species have been known to bring on human malaria, the most severe disease being caused by Plasmodium falciparum. In 2007, after returning from Malaysia, a Finnish tourist was found to be infected with a fifth Plasmodium species, P. knowlesi which usually infects macaques. Over the past few years, hundreds of human cases have been found in Malaysia. The clinical disease caused by P. knowlesi appears less severe than P. falciparum infection, but more severe than infection with other malaria-causing species. Diagnosis is based both on PCR and microscopy. P. knowlesi is currently. considered as the fifth species causing malaria in humans.
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in a sediment core collected from Langkawi Island of the Andaman Sea, Malaysia were determined by GC/MS, the vertical variations of concentration and distributions of PAHs were investigated. In combining with 210Pb-dating, the PAHs sedimentary record in the last 100 years was reconstructed and their possible sources were also discussed. The sigmaPAH concentration ranged from 13.2-60.1 ng x g(-1) in the whole sedimentary section (0-56 cm) with the dominant compounds of phenanthrene, naphthalene and perylene. The sediments contaminated to a lesser extent comparing with the surrounding waters. Before the 1920s, the concentrations of PAHs were considered to be the background level, which was implied from the natural inputs. The historical records of PAHs in the core showed that two distinct peaks which represented the input time of 1960s and 1980s, respectively, inferred that there were some relatively dramatically land-based inputs, and human activities leaded a clear impact to these waters during these periods. Furthermore, PAHs diagnostic ratios indicated that PAHs in the core sediments were mainly of pyrolytic origin (combustion), accompanied with minor petroleum origin. These were related with agriculture, industry, ocean import and export, and shipping activities in the surrounding regions. Meanwhile as the vital communication line, the marine transportation of the Strait of Malacca had influenced the environmental quality of the Andaman Sea. Meanwhile, based on the sedimentary record, PAHs concentrations were found to correlate positively with humanism activities and socioeconomic development (Gross Domestic Production) in the surrounding regions.
Redescription of the female of Setaria thomasi Sandosham, 1954, parasite of Sus scrofa jubatus; description of the female of Papillosetaria malayi n.sp. from Tragulus javanicus. The study of the buccal region of Papillosteria leads the authors to consider this genus as an ancestral form of Setaria.
Description of the male Pterygodermatites nycticebi (Mönnig, 1920) unknown until the present study, and a study of the cephalic and cuticular structures of the female. This rictularid has a morphological evolution comparable to that of other males of the Rictulariidae parasitic in viverrid carnivores and in primates.
Description of a new species of Oxyurid: Syphacia (Syphatineria) callosciuri n. sp. parasite of a Sciurid rodent Callosciuris caniceps in Malaysia. In rodents belonging to the genus Callosciurus in Malaysia two species: S callosciuri n. sp. and S. owyangi Quentin, 1975, show morphological characteristics which are intermediate between the primitive Syphacia and two different lines of species parasite of recent rodents. These observations appear to indicate that the adaptation of Syphacia of Sciurids to the modern rodents has occured in South-East Asia.