Introduction: Discrepancies of nicotine content labelling of e-liquid products has been reported and it may
have existed to circumvent legal requirements that imposes restrictions on the sale of nicotine-containing
products in the market. Mandatory labelling requirement of e-liquid products is still pending in Malaysia.
This case study aimed to examine labelling discrepancies of e-liquid refill products declared as nicotine-free
sold in e-commerce platform in Malaysia. Methods: A total of 10 Malaysian-made e-liquid refill samples
were purchased via a popular e-commerce platform available to Malaysian. The e-liquid refills were
specifically chosen because it was declared to contain zero-nicotine. Nicotine concentrations were
measured using a Gas-chromatography with flame-ionisation detector (GC-FID). Results: About 80% (n = 8)
of the purchased e-liquid samples were contained nicotine despite being declared as nicotine-free.
The average nicotine levels were 1.092 (0.989) mg/mL. Conclusion: This case study confirmed the
presence of labelling discrepancies which non-comply with the existing Malaysian Poison Act.
Such non-compliance will contribute to the sale of unrestricted nicotine products. As a result, it will increase
addiction among novice smokers because e-liquid refills declared as “nicotine free” contained nicotine.
Implementation of stringent legal requirement on the nicotine content of local e-liquid products is
urgently needed as it will support the accomplishment of Malaysian Tobacco Endgame.
The aim is to investigate the dental development (DD) in children with hypodontia and hyperdontia compared to age, gender, and race matched controls.A match-pair case control study was conducted among children aged 5 to 14-year-old, attending the Dental Polyclinic, IIUM, from December 2011 until September 2014. Willem’s method was used to analyze the dental age (DA) using panoramic radiograph. The difference between dental age of hypodontia/hyperdontia children and the controlswas analyzed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). The differences between dental and chronological ages (CA) and the differences in DA and CA with the numbers of missing teeth were analyzed using t-test. Intra-class correlation coefficient between examiners ranged from 0.98-0.99. The result is that27 hypodontia and 12 hyperdontia samples were recruited and compared to a total of 78 matched controls. Both male (n=12) and female (n=15) hypodontia children had statistically significant delay in DD (p=0.000). There was no significant difference in the DD of male (n=7, p=0.811) and female (n=5, p=0.235) in hyperdontia children compared to the matched controls. No differences were observed between DA and CA with the number of missing teeth. Unlike hyperdontia children, hypodontia children showed delayed DD in comparison to age, gender, and race matched controls. There was no association between magnitudes of dental development delay in hypodontia children with the number of missing teeth. This study provides valuable baseline information for provision of better treatment planning for those hypodontia and hyperdontia children that may involve inter-disciplinary management.
Islam provides a comprehensive way of life where the revelations bestowed by Allah from the Quran and Hadithcover all aspects that leads to a well-balanced life. This study compiles all the Quranic verses related to visual functions which may serve as a reference for Muslims as well as non-Muslim primary eye care practitioners during their patients’ treatment and consultation. A website named “Search Truth” on http://www.searchtruth.com/was used as a tool to identify the Quranic verses related to visual function by typing in the keywords “eye/eyes”, “see”, “light”, “sight” and “vision” in the search boxes provided in the website. The program embedded in the website then listed the Quranic verses based on their English translation containing the respective keywords. The listed Quranic verses and their translations were verified manually using the Holy Quran Tafseer. The frequency of Quranic verses for each chosen keyword was determined. There were 34 Quranic verses related to visual function and could be explained scientifically. The frequency of Quranic verses related to visual function under the classification of “eye/eyes”, “light”, “see”, “sight” and “vision” were 15, 8, 3, 7 and 1 respectively. The fundamentals of visual functions may be explained scientifically based on the Quranic verses.
To investigate the depression, anxiety and stress, stressors and relieving factors among dental students at Kulliyyah of Dentistry (KOD). Materials and methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted among 222 dental students. Their socio-demographic data, self-reported depression, anxiety and stress (DASS-21) scores, causes and relieving factors were collected using validated semi-structured pre-tested questionnaires. The data was analysed using percentages, chi-square test and Binary logistic regression tests with SPSS version 24. Results:The prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress was 41%, 68.9% and 34.2% respectively.Cross analysis showed that academic-related and laboratory or clinical related reasons were significantly associated with the depressive symptoms [(X2= 15.86, p
Chitin is a biopolymer that forms the exoskeleton of arthropods, and found in the shells of crustacea and in the cell walls of certain fungi and algae. Commercially, chitin is obtained from processing the outer skeleton of crustacea such as shrimp, crab, prawn, and crayfish. Extraction of chitin was carried out using various chemical procedures. The study aim is to examine characteristic of chitin for different aging of Leucaena leucephala pods using hydrochloric acid (HCl). Different aging of the raw materials was used to study their effect of nitrogen content in the pods. In this study, chitin in Leucaena leucephala was extracted using chemical methods by using hydrochloric acid (HCl). The extracted chitin was then characterized by using elemental analyzer. The results obtained revealed that the percentage of nitrogen and carbon content in the samples was significantly reduced after extraction. Elemental analysis, the N% value in younger pods is closer to the theoretical value than adult pods. The purity of chitin in younger pods is higher than chitin in the adult pods.
Maintenance acts as a significant role in smoothening the operations in power plants. Risk and failure are some of the common problems in power plant leading to unexpected outages such as boiler shutdown or tube leakage. The rectification of these problems requires ceasing operations of the boiler which leads to a loss in the revenue annually. Therefore, this work was focused on prioritizing the maintenance activities and optimize the operational duration and cost by implementing risk-based maintenance (RBM) and particle swarm optimization (PSO). Previous literature implores that, RBM is commonly used in oil and gas industries to predict the risk or failure of the equipment. In this work, the RBM method was adopted accordingly to the power plant industries. The methodology is segregated into two main phases. First, the ranking and prioritization maintenance activities were performed using RBM. Then, the optimization of the operational duration and cost were simulated by PSO approached in MATLAB. The main outcome of this research is to act as a reference in adopting the best approaches to improve the power plant performance.
Introduction: Chinese Herbal Medicine (CHM) is becoming increasingly popular among cancer patients worldwide. While health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in relation to cancer outcomes has attracted global attention, there are few studies on CHM use and HRQoL among cancer patients in Malaysia. This study attempted to determine the association between use of CHM, including the types, reasons, and beliefs, and HRQoL among Malaysian cancer patients.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 120 cancer patients (60 male and 60 female) recruited from government oncology clinics in Johor state. A purposive non-probability sampling was applied to recruit respondents.
Results: Use of CHM was reported by about half of the patients (49.2%). Common types of CHM used included Chinese herbal extracts (27.5%), Sabah snake grass (12.2%), and ginger (11.5%). The median score for overall belief in CHM significantly differed between
CHM users (71.7%) and non-users (65.0%) (p<0.001). The HRQoL was generally reported as ‘good’ with high scores for overall functioning scales and low scores for symptom scales. However, no significant difference in HRQoL between CHM users and non-users was noted. ‘Social Functioning’ scores between both groups showed a significant difference (p < 0.001) with respect to sex, with females scoring higher than males. No significant association was noted between CHM use and socio-demographic characteristics except for sex.
Conclusion: There is a high prevalence of self-prescription of CHM among the cancer patients studied. Nonetheless use of CHM did not show any significant difference in terms of quality of life among CHM users.
Study site: Oncology clinics, Hospital Sultan Ismail (Johor Bahru) and Hospital Sultanah Nora Ismail (Batu Pahat), Johor, Malaysia
Many reports have revealed that the abundance of microalgae in shrimp ponds vary with changes in environmental factors such as light, temperature, pH, salinity and nutrient level throughout a shrimp culture period. In this study, shrimp cultivation period was divided into three stages (initial = week 0–5, mid = week 6–10 and final = week 11–15). Physical and chemical parameters throughout the cultivation period were studied and species composition of microalgae was monitored. Physical parameters were found to
fluctuate widely with light intensity ranging between 182.23–1278 µmol photon m–2s–1, temperature between 29.56ºC –31.59ºC, dissolved oxygen (DO) between 4.56–8.21 mg/l, pH between 7.65–8.49 and salinity between 20‰–30‰. Ammonium (NH4+-N), nitrite (NO2– -N), nitrate (NO3– -N), and orthophosphate (PO43– -P) concentrations in the pond at all cultivation stages ranged from 0.017 to 0.38 mg/l, 0.24 to 2.12 mg/l, 0.06 to 0.98 mg/l and 0.16 to 1.93 mg/l respectively. Statistical test (ANOVA) showed that there were no significant difference (p
Part of the undergraduate training in dental school is treating dental patients under close supervision of trained supervisors. Islam emphasises the highest quality in service rendered. Aim: To evaluate parent’s satisfaction with their children’s dental care provided by undergraduate dental students at the Student Polyclinic, Kulliyyah of Dentistry (KOD), International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). Materials and Methodology: This is a cross-sectional descriptive study. A self-administered questionnaire with questions on accessibility and availability, physical environment, service quality, interpersonal communication, cost of treatment, efficacy and treatment outcome was distributed to parents whose children received dental treatment anytime January 2013 to October 2013. Data collected was analysed using the Independent Sample T-Test, and Mann-Whitney Test. Results: 70 questionnaires were completed and analysed. The results showed that the average level of parental satisfaction was high. The parents were most satisfied with students’ interpersonal communication. The level of satisfaction of parents of female children is higher than parents of male children although the difference was not significant. No significant differences were found in relation to which parent accompanied the child for treatment and the parent’s education level. However, the parent’s level of satisfaction is associated with type of occupation, where non-health-related workers expressed higher level of satisfaction (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Parents were generally satisfied with the care that their children received, mainly with the aspect of students’ interpersonal communication and physical environment of the clinic. The results also indicated that level of satisfaction is associated with the nature of the parent’s occupation.
Objective: To evaluate the root debridement skill in periodontology pre-clinical module among dental students and to estimate the effectiveness of conducting periodontology pre-clinical module before entering clinical module. Materials and Method: : A total of 47 pre-clinical dental students (Year 2) were included in this study. Single rooted extracted teeth were collected, mounted on acrylic resin and set into the level of 1/3 of the root length. Each of them were instructed to prepare a mounted teeth and to perform root debridement procedure on the labial surface of the tooth only within 10 minutes using Gracey curette #5/6. The similar samples were distributed back to the same students (which were already in clinical year (year 4) to repeat the same procedure on the lingual surface of the same tooth. Root surface roughness was evaluated by using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and profilometer for both labial and lingual surfaces. Statistical analysis was done using Mann-Whitney U test and T-test. Significance level of p ≤ 0.05 was assumed for all analysis. Results: SEM photomicrographs of root surfaces with magnifications of 100x and 800x revealed that there were incomplete removal of the dental calculus in both surfaces and significant roughness root surfaces noted. Conclusion: : No significant differences noted between the students’ root debridement skill in the pre-clinical and also clinical year. Objectives of the current module were fulfilled but in order to meet the highest standard, current module need to be improved in the future.
Objective: To determine the prevalence of bimaxillary protrusion in general and the prevalence of skeletal Class I and dental Class I bimaxillary protrusion/ proclination among orthodontic patients attending postgraduate orthodontic clinic at Faculty of Dentistry, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Sungai Buloh, Malaysia. Materials and Methods: This is a cross sectional study which was carried out in two stages. The first part involves a random selection of 100 extra-oral profile photographs taken from postgraduate orthodontic residents’ patient list. The photographs were taken using Canon digital SLR camera EOS 70D with macro lens EF 100mm (Canon Inc., Tokyo, Japan) with patients in natural head position. The photographs were visually analysed for its bimaxillary protrusion features by two operators. The second part comprises of analyses of extra-oral profile photographs as well as intra-oral photographs of right buccal segment view which was conducted in two separate sittings. In the first sitting, five assessors analysed 259 extra - and intra-oral photographs followed by 40 photographs assessed in the second sitting for skeletal and dental Class I bimaxillary protrusion/ proclination. Statistical analysis for Kappa score was performed to assess the agreement between assessors using SPSS version 23 and Stata version 13. Results: The first part of the study showed an average prevalence of 34% with bimaxillary protrusion in 100 orthodontic patients. Whilst in the second part, prevalence of skeletal and dental Class I bimax ranging from 28 -33 per cent and 38-40 per cent respectively with very good and good inter-reliability agreement for both component. Conclusion: The prevalence of bimaxillary protrusion in general among UiTM orthodontic patients was found to range from 31 per cent to 37 per cent. Whilst the prevalence of skeletal and dental Class I bimax ranging from 28-33 per cent and 38-40 per cent respectively.
This study investigated the jumping performance and lower limbs kinematics among boys with Down syndrome. The participants (n = 23) were required to perform standing broad jump test and their jumping performance was evaluated using Motor Skills Inventory for locomotor skills analysis. In addition, the jumping performance was also recorded for lower limb kinematic analysis using 2-Dimensional video recording tools. Results revealed that 91.3% of the participants scored ‘Poor’ values of standing broad jump distances. Based on the Motor Skills Inventory analysis, five participants were grouped as ‘Rudimentary’, nine participants were ‘Functional’ and the other nine participants were ‘Mature’ level of motor development. Based on these three groups, further analysis was conducted on the lower limbs kinematics during jumping performance (three phases: take off, jump peak height and landing). Finding showed that there were no significant differences on lower limb kinematics between the groups during these three phases of jumping. Proper intervention strategies are needed in order to improve the jumping skills among children with Down syndrome.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the in vitro antibacterial activities of methanol and aqueous extracts of P. pellucida aerial part (PPAP) against four multi-drug resistant organisms; methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus, extended-spectrum beta-lactamase and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae and four foodborne pathogens; Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium. The antibacterial potentialities of the plant extracts were evaluated at 250 mg/ml and 500 mg/ml. Only susceptible bacteria were further determined for minimum inhibitory (MIC) and minimum bactericidal (MBC) concentrations. The best extract of a single dose of 5000 mg/kg PPAP methanol extract was acutely tested on female rats by adapting the OECD guidelines No 425. Findings obtained indicated that only PPAP methanol extract was found to be a potent inhibitor towards Bacillus cereus with the MIC and MBC values at 3.91 mg/ml and 7.81 mg/ml respectively. Toxicity study revealed that there was neither mortality nor morbidity and absent of abnormalities on all rats examined.
The objective of this study is to characterized chitin from Leucaena leucephala pods at different aging stages with hydrochloric acid HCl by using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR). Leucaena leucephala is chosen to be used in this study because it is abundantly and can be found easily along the road as it is widely spread in Malaysia and available throughout the year. Leucaena leucephala is not fully utilized yet and it could potential for new source for chitin. Results from FTIR shows that Amide I band in Leucaena leucephala before and after extraction range of 1650-1600cm-1 and is not divided into two peaks which make it appear close to a β-chitin. Beside, Amide I band of Leucaena leucephala before and after extraction is appearing wide (U-shaped) rather than sharp therefore the chitin from Leucaena leucephala is determined to be in the form of β- chitin.
ABSTRACT
Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of hypnosis 1) to reduce dental anxiety in periodontal patients, and
2) to increase periodontal patients’ compliance through the reduction of dental anxiety. Methods: This was a
randomized control trial of 22 patients (13 males, 9 females; 40.14 ± 19.59 years) who underwent non-surgical
periodontal therapy in the Postgraduate and Undergraduate Clinics. Patients were divided into the case, H,
(hypnosis; n=11) and controlled, N, (no hypnosis; n=11) groups, where patients’ dental anxiety level was assessed
twice for both groups using IDAF-4C+ during the first visit and the second visit. The compliance was evaluated
during the follow-up visit. Results: The result showed statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) in the H
group during the second visit indicating a reduction in dental anxiety as compared to N group. However, there
were no statistically significant differences (p > 0.05) in the pattern of reduction of blood pressure between both
case and control groups. Based on the heart rate, patients were found to be more relaxed with hypnotherapy
at the beginning of the treatment but halfway through, patients without hypnotherapy had a more significant
reduction in heart rate level. Conclusion: Hypnotic suggestions were found to help reduce patient’s fear and
anxiety. However, the compliance of the patients with or without hypnotherapy proved to have a similar outcome.
Statistics is one of the most important quantitative subjects in higher education. However, statistics subject is unappealing to many average students with varying background. Traditional teaching method of statistics which tend to emphasize on rote learning and heavy calculations can cause students to have negative perception thus stir anxiety towards statistics learning. Therefore, to address all these negative perceptions, it is important for educators to make a significant improvement in their teaching approach to make learning more dynamic, meaningful and inspiring. This study is aimed primarily to highlight the factors of a research instrument used to evaluate the implementation of a developed interactive learning tool namely XRace game board in providing active learning. An exploratory factor analysis suggested that out of 33 variables evaluated, there are six domains which account for 71.78% of the total variance which considerably reduce the complexity of the data set with 28.82% loss of information. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin value is 0.895 and Bartlett's test p-value=0.000 < 0.05 indicate factor analysis is feasible for this data set. There is no item removed since the communalities values are all above moderate (min=0.583, max=0.837). The principal component analysis with Varimax rotation method revealed six domains in term of Motivation, Novelty, Fun learning, Commercialization, Product features and Eco friendly. The results suggested that these six important domains were considered in the evaluation of the learning tool and the possibility of utilizing it in teaching any difficult courses in an interesting and engaging way without loss of rigor.
The taxonomic status of the Southeast Asian spotted barb, Barbodes binotatus (Teleostei: Cyprinidae), has puzzled researchers because of large but inconsistent geographic variation of its body melanin marking pattern. In this study, the authors appraise the differentiation of B. binotatus and two closely related species, Barbodes rhombeus and saddle barb, Barbodes banksi, in Peninsular Malaysia using mitochondrial and nuclear markers. The results of this study reveal that the Peninsular Malaysia populations of each of the three species form largely reciprocal monophyletic lineages that differ from each other by a minimum of 2.3% p-genetic distance using COI gene. Nonetheless, specimens of B. binotatus in Peninsular Malaysia are only distantly related to specimens of B. binotatus in Java (type locality). The monophyly of B. banksi is not refuted although specimens of Peninsular Malaysia are genetically distinct from those of Sarawak (type locality). The authors discuss alternative hypotheses whether each of these three valid species is a single species or each of the main five genetic lineages revealed in this study represents a distinct species. Preliminary investigations reveal a mito-nuclear discordance at one locality in Peninsular Malaysia where B. binotatus and B. banksi co-occur. Further studies should inform on the extent of reproductive porousness between these two lineages and others.
The objective of the present study is to examine sociodemographic factors associated with consumption of confectionery among obese and non-obese adults in Malaysia. Secondary analysis of the Malaysian Adult Nutrition Survey (MANS) 2014 was performed. The survey was conducted in urban and rural areas in the 14 states of Malaysia, including the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur. Adults aged 18 years and above (n = 2696) were interviewed. The dependent variable was the total servings of confectionery consumed per week. An ordered logistic regression model was used to examine the associated sociodemographic factors in the decision of people to consume 0, 1-2, 3-5 and ≥6 servings of confectionery. Marginal effects of sociodemographic variables on confectionery consumption were calculated. Analyses stratified by bodyweight group were conducted. The results showed that income, education, gender, ethnicity, and employment status were significantly associated with consumption of confectionery. In particular, income, education, gender, ethnicity and employment status affected confectionery consumption, but not the other way around. However, no relationship was evidenced between age, marital status, household location and confectionery consumption. In conclusion, sociodemographic factors were related to consumption of confectionery. Policies aimed at discouraging consumption of confectionery should focus primarily on high income earners, well-educated individuals and Bumiputera.
Recent research suggesting the existence of potential source of pectin from roselle calyces. Pectin was successfully extracted from seven different varieties of roselle calyces. Pectin extraction was conducted using hydrochloric acid (HCl, 0.03 N, pH 1.5) or ammonium oxalate (0.25% w/v, pH 4.6) at 85⁰C for 1 h. Chemical characteristics of the HCl- and ammonium oxalate extracted pectin were compared. Results indicated that ammonium oxalate exhibited greater efficiency in pectin extraction than HCl. Highest pectin yield at 18.7% was obtained by ammonium oxalate extraction of roselle calyx variety Acc.6 compared to only 9.77% by HCl extraction. The lowest pectin yield at 11.3% and 5.78% were observed respectively in ammonium oxalate and HCl extractions of roselle calyx variety UKMR-3. Some important characteristics of ammonium oxalate extracted pectin of roselle Acc.6 were 5.98% moisture, 3.81% ash, 4.64% methoxyl content, 42.24% anhydrouronic acid (AUA) and degree of esterification (DE) 60%. This study suggested that the high DE% roselle pectin is an alternative source of pectin for food industry.