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  1. Eye donation - awareness and willingness among attendants of patients at various clinics in Melaka, Malaysia
    Bhandary S, Khanna R, Rao KA, Rao LG, Lingam KD, Binu V
    Indian J Ophthalmol, 2010 12 16;59(1):41-5.
    PMID: 21157071
    AIM: Corneal blindness accounts for 3.42% of blindness in Malaysia; the rate of eye donation is low. The aim of the study was to assess the awareness about eye donation and willingness to donate eyes among attendants of patients at various clinics in Melaka, Malaysia.

    MATERIALS AND METHODS: This observational study was conducted on attendants who accompanied patients (n = 400) visiting various outpatient departments of the General Hospital and two peripheral clinics in Melaka between August and October 2007. The participants answered a questionnaire (Malay and English versions) which included demographic profile, awareness of eye donation, knowledge regarding facts of eye donation, and willingness to donate eyes. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression was performed at 5% level of significance.

    RESULTS: Awareness of eye donation was observed in 276 (69%) participants. Multivariate analysis showed that awareness was more among females when compared to males (P = 0.009). Of the 276 participants who were aware of eye donation, only 34.42% were willing to donate eyes. Willingness was more among the Indian race (P = 0.02) and males (P = 0.02). Educational status did not influence the willingness to donate eyes.

    CONCLUSIONS: Although majority of participants were aware of eye donation, willingness to donate eyes was poor.

    Matched MeSH terms: Sex Factors
  2. Fulltext Blood pressure control among diabetic hypertensives under cardiology follow-up at a regional hospital in rural Malaysia
    Azarisman SM, Aszrin A, Marzuki AO, Fatnoon NN, Hilmi A, Hadzri MH, et al.
    Southeast Asian J. Trop. Med. Public Health, 2010 Jul;41(4):973-81.
    PMID: 21073073
    Three hundred thirty-one consecutive patients presenting with hypertension to the outpatient medical clinic of Tengku Ampuan Afzan Hospital, Kuantan, Malaysia were screened and 150 patients with concurrent diabetes were enrolled into a cross-sectional study. The majority of patients were male (60.6%) with a mean age of 60.0 +/- 11.0 years. The mean systolic blood pressure (SBP) was 140.9 +/- 20.1 mmHg and the mean diastolic blood pressure (DBP) was 81.7 +/- 9.8 mmHg. Only 38.0% (57/150) of patients had blood pressures within recommended guidelines (130/80 mmHg). The mean blood pressure in this group was 123.7 +/- 8.5/76.4 +/- 5.6 mmHg. The majority of patients were on either 2 (41.3%) or 3 (31.3%) anti-hypertensives. Females had a significantly higher SBP 145.4 +/- 22.7 vs. 138.0 +/- 17.8 mmHg in males (p = 0.026). The level of blood pressure control in diabetics was unsatisfactory, especially in females and the elderly. A reassessment of priorities in the management of patients with concurrent hypertension and diabetes is therefore, urgently needed.

    Study site: outpatient medical clinic of Tengku Ampuan Afzan Hospital,
    Matched MeSH terms: Sex Distribution
  3. Sociodemographic and health-lifestyle determinants of obesity risks in Malaysia
    Tan AK, Dunn RA, Samad MI, Feisul MI
    Asia Pac J Public Health, 2011 Apr;23(2):192-202.
    PMID: 20460299 DOI: 10.1177/1010539509359535
    The purpose of this study was to examine the sociodemographic and health-lifestyle factors that affect the likelihood of obesity among Malaysians. Data were obtained from the Malaysian Non-Communicable Disease Surveillance-1. The cross-sectional population-based survey consisted of 2447 observations, with an obesity prevalence rate of 17.2%. Based on logit regression analysis, the results suggest that obesity risks in Malaysia are affected by gender, education level, family history, health conditions, smoking status, and ethnic backgrounds. Specifically, Malaysians more likely to be obese are females (5.3%), lower educated (0.9%), those with history of family illnesses (4.8%), and nonsmokers (6.4%). However, Chinese (9.3%) and other (5.5%) ethnic groups are less likely to be obese when compared with Malays. Based on these results, several policy implications are discussed vis-à-vis obesity risks in Malaysia.
    Study name: Malaysia Non-Communicable Disease Surveillance-1 (MyNCDS-1) survey
    Matched MeSH terms: Sex Distribution
  4. Prevalence of obesity and factors associated with it in a worksite setting in Malaysia
    Cheong SM, Kandiah M, Chinna K, Chan YM, Saad HA
    J Community Health, 2010 Dec;35(6):698-705.
    PMID: 20458526 DOI: 10.1007/s10900-010-9274-1
    Socio-economic status, lifestyle behaviors, and psychosocial factors have been implicated in the development of overweight and obesity. This study aims to observe the prevalence of overweight and obesity in an academic worksite and to examine the possible association between variables such as socio-economic characteristics, work factors, psychosocial factors, and weight control behaviors and obesity. In this study, the target population were full-time academic and non-academic staff. Body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) were computed to determine obesity. A pretested self-administered questionnaire was used to obtain information on socio-demographic factors, work related factors, psychosocial factors, and weight control behaviors. Data were obtained on 367 adults of whom 39.2% were males and 60.8% females. Overweight was seen in 31.9% of males and 26.5% of females while 16.1% of them were obese, irrespective of gender. Central obesity was noted in about 37% of males and 39% of females. The results showed that socio-demographic factors (age, gender, and education) and psychosocial factors (perceived health status, body weight perception, and weight-control goals) were significantly associated with BMI. Working hours were also significantly associated with BMI. However, weight control practices (diet-control practices and physical activity practices) were not significantly associated with BMI. In conclusion, this study found a higher prevalence of overweight and obesity among employees of a selected public university in comparison to the general population. Socio-demographic, psychosocial factors, and working hours were found to contribute to obesity in this sample of adults.
    Matched MeSH terms: Sex Distribution
  5. Neural network diagnostic system for dengue patients risk classification
    Faisal T, Taib MN, Ibrahim F
    J Med Syst, 2012 Apr;36(2):661-76.
    PMID: 20703665 DOI: 10.1007/s10916-010-9532-x
    With the dramatic increase of the worldwide threat of dengue disease, it has been very crucial to correctly diagnose the dengue patients in order to decrease the disease severity. However, it has been a great challenge for the physicians to identify the level of risk in dengue patients due to overlapping of the medical classification criteria. Therefore, this study aims to construct a noninvasive diagnostic system to assist the physicians for classifying the risk in dengue patients. Systematic producers have been followed to develop the system. Firstly, the assessment of the significant predictors associated with the level of risk in dengue patients was carried out utilizing the statistical analyses technique. Secondly, Multilayer perceptron neural network models trained via Levenberg-Marquardt and Scaled Conjugate Gradient algorithms was employed for constructing the diagnostic system. Finally, precise tuning for the models' parameters was conducted in order to achieve the optimal performance. As a result, 9 noninvasive predictors were found to be significantly associated with the level of risk in dengue patients. By employing those predictors, 75% prediction accuracy has been achieved for classifying the risk in dengue patients using Scaled Conjugate Gradient algorithm while 70.7% prediction accuracy were achieved by using Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm.
    Matched MeSH terms: Sex Factors
  6. AMI screening using linguistic fuzzy rules
    Ainon RN, Bulgiba AM, Lahsasna A
    J Med Syst, 2012 Apr;36(2):463-73.
    PMID: 20703704 DOI: 10.1007/s10916-010-9491-2
    This paper aims at identifying the factors that would help to diagnose acute myocardial infarction (AMI) using data from an electronic medical record system (EMR) and then generating structure decisions in the form of linguistic fuzzy rules to help predict and understand the outcome of the diagnosis. Since there is a tradeoff in the fuzzy system between the accuracy which measures the capability of the system to predict the diagnosis of AMI and transparency which reflects its ability to describe the symptoms-diagnosis relation in an understandable way, the proposed fuzzy rules are designed in a such a way to find an appropriate balance between these two conflicting modeling objectives using multi-objective genetic algorithms. The main advantage of the generated linguistic fuzzy rules is their ability to describe the relation between the symptoms and the outcome of the diagnosis in an understandable way, close to human thinking and this feature may help doctors to understand the decision process of the fuzzy rules.
    Matched MeSH terms: Sex Factors
  7. Suicide trends in Singapore: 1955-2004
    Chia BH, Chia A, Yee NW, Choo TB
    Arch Suicide Res, 2010;14(3):276-83.
    PMID: 20658381 DOI: 10.1080/13811118.2010.494147
    The objective of this study was to investigate suicide trends in Singapore between 1955 and 2004. Suicide cases were identified from the Registry of Birth and Death, Singapore, and analyzed using Poisson regression. Overall, suicide rates in Singapore remained stable between 9.8-13.0/100,000 over the last 5 decades. Rates remain highest in elderly males, despite declines among the elderly and middle-aged males in recent years. Rates in ethnic Chinese and Indians were consistently higher than in Malays. While the rates among female Indians and Chinese have declined significantly between 1995 and 2004, some increase was noted in female Malays. Although there was no increase in overall suicide rates, risk within certain population segments has changed over time.
    Matched MeSH terms: Sex Distribution
  8. Cephalometric analysis of Malay children with and without unilateral cleft lip and palate
    Ebin LE, Zam NM, Othman SA
    Aust Orthod J, 2010 Nov;26(2):165-70.
    PMID: 21175027
    To investigate the craniofacial morphology of Malay children with repaired UCLP and compare the data with non-cleft Malay children.
    Matched MeSH terms: Sex Factors
  9. Cross-national comparisons of socioeconomic differences in the prevalence of leisure-time and occupational physical activity, and active commuting in six Asia-Pacific countries
    Bauman A, Ma G, Cuevas F, Omar Z, Waqanivalu T, Phongsavan P, et al.
    J Epidemiol Community Health, 2011 Jan;65(1):35-43.
    PMID: 20943821 DOI: 10.1136/jech.2008.086710
    This study describes physical activity patterns and their association with socioeconomic factors in six countries in the Asia-Pacific region, and examines whether physical activity associations with socioeconomic status follow similar patterns across the six countries.
    Matched MeSH terms: Sex Distribution
  10. Fulltext Clinical features of Malaysian children hospitalized with community-acquired seasonal influenza
    Sam IC, Abdul-Murad A, Karunakaran R, Rampal S, Chan YF, Nathan AM, et al.
    Int J Infect Dis, 2010 Sep;14 Suppl 3:e36-40.
    PMID: 20153233 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2009.10.005
    OBJECTIVES: The clinical impact of seasonal influenza is understudied in tropical countries. The aim of this study was to describe the clinical features and seasonal pattern of influenza in children hospitalized in Malaysia, and to identify predictors of severe disease.
    METHODS: Children hospitalized with community-acquired, laboratory-confirmed influenza at a teaching hospital in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia during 2002-2007 were identified retrospectively. Clinical data were collected, and predictors of severe disease were identified by multivariate logistic regression. All influenza cases from 1982 to 2007 were also analyzed for seasonal patterns.
    RESULTS: A total of 132 children were included in the study, 48 (36.4%) of whom had underlying medical conditions. The mean age was 2.5 years and 116 (87.9%) were <5 years old. The most common presenting features were fever or history of fever, cough, rhinitis, vomiting, and pharyngitis. Severe influenza was seen in 16 patients (12.1%; nine previously healthy), including 12 (9.1%; eight previously healthy) requiring intensive care. There were three (2.3%) deaths. Severe disease was associated with age <12 months, female sex, and absence of rhinitis on admission. Influenza was seen year-round, with peaks in November-January and May-July.
    CONCLUSIONS: Seasonal influenza has a considerable impact on children hospitalized in Malaysia, in both the healthy and those with underlying medical conditions.

    Study site: University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC)
    Matched MeSH terms: Sex Factors
  11. Childhood cruelty to animals: a tri-national study
    Mellor D, Yeow J, Mohd Hapidzal NF, Yamamoto T, Yokoyama A, Nobuzane Y
    Child Psychiatry Hum Dev, 2009 Dec;40(4):527-41.
    PMID: 19449100 DOI: 10.1007/s10578-009-0142-0
    Childhood cruelty to animals is a symptom of conduct disorder that has been linked to the perpetration of violence in later life. Research has identified several factors associated with its etiology, including social factors. However, no cross-cultural studies on this phenomenon have been reported. This study investigated childhood cruelty to animals in Japan, Australia and Malaysia. Parents of 1,358 children between the ages of 5 and 13 years completed the Children's Attitudes and Behaviours towards Animals questionnaire (CABTA) which assesses Typical and Malicious Cruelty to animals. Analyses revealed no overall differences between children from these countries on either scale. However, younger boys were more likely to be cruel than younger girls in each country, and younger children in Australia and Japan were more likely to be cruel that older children in those countries. The findings are discussed in relation to previous research, and recommendations for future studies are suggested.
    Matched MeSH terms: Sex Factors
  12. Fulltext Awareness of school students on sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and their sexual behavior: a cross-sectional study conducted in Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
    Anwar M, Sulaiman SA, Ahmadi K, Khan TM
    BMC Public Health, 2010;10:47.
    PMID: 20113511 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2458-10-47
    BACKGROUND: Sexually transmitted Infections (STIs) rank among the most important health issues for the people especially the young adults worldwide. Young people tend to engage in sexual activity at younger ages in the past decade than in the 1970s, and 1980s. Knowledge is an essential precursor of sexual risk reduction. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Pulau Pinang, Malaysia, to produce the baseline information about school students' awareness and perception about sexually transmitted Infections (STIs) and their sexual activity to help establish control and education programmes.
    METHODS: Students from form 4 (aged between 15 to 16 years), form 5 (aged between 16 to 17 years) and form 6 (aged between 18 to 20 years) in their class rooms were approached and asked to complete self administered and anonymous pre-validated questionnaires. SPSS for windows version 13 was used to analyze the results statistically and results were presented in tabular form.
    RESULTS: Data was collected from 1139 students aged between 15 to 20 years, 10.6% of which claimed that they never heard about STIs. Sexual experience related significantly with gender, race, and education level. Approximately 12.6% claimed to have sexual experience of which 75.7% had their sexual debut at 15-19 years and 38.2% were having more than 3 partners. Sexual experience was found to be significantly associated with gender (p = 0.003), ethnicity (p = 0.001) and education level (p = 0.030). However, multiple partner behaviour was significantly associated only with gender (p = 0.010). Mean knowledge score was 11.60 +/- 8.781 and knowledge level was significantly associated with religion (p = 0.005) education level (p = 0.000), course stream (p = 0.000), socioeconomic class (p = 0.000) and sexual experience (p = 0.022).
    CONCLUSIONS: It was concluded that school students have moderate level of knowledge about STIs although they are sexually active. Interventions such as reinforcing the link between STIs and HIV/AIDS, assessing the current status of sexuality education in schools and arranging public talks and seminars focusing on STIs prevention education are needed to improve their awareness.
    Matched MeSH terms: Sex Factors
  13. Genetic susceptibility to childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia shows protection in Malay boys: results from the Malaysia-Singapore ALL Study Group
    Yeoh AE, Lu Y, Chan JY, Chan YH, Ariffin H, Kham SK, et al.
    Leuk. Res., 2010 Mar;34(3):276-83.
    PMID: 19651439 DOI: 10.1016/j.leukres.2009.07.003
    To study genetic epidemiology of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in the Chinese and Malays, we investigated 10 polymorphisms encoding carcinogen- or folate-metabolism and transport. Sex-adjusted analysis showed NQO1 609CT significantly protects against ALL, whilst MTHFR 677CT confers marginal protection. Interestingly, we observed that NQO1 609CT and MTHFR 1298 C-allele have greater genetic impact in boys than in girls. The combination of SLC19A1 80GA heterozygosity and 3'-TYMS -6bp/-6bp homozygous deletion is associated with reduced ALL risk in Malay boys. Our study has suggested the importance of gender and race in modulating ALL susceptibility via the folate metabolic pathway.
    Matched MeSH terms: Sex Characteristics
  14. Fatal lightning strikes in Malaysia
    Murty OP, Kian CK, Ari Husin MH, Nanta Kumar RK, Mohammed Yusuf WY
    Am J Forensic Med Pathol, 2009 Sep;30(3):246-51.
    PMID: 19704405 DOI: 10.1097/PAF.0b013e31819d20a4
    Lightning strike is a natural phenomenon with potentially devastating effects and represents one of the important causes of deaths from environmental phenomena. Almost every organ system may be affected as lightning current passes through the human body taking the shortest pathways between the contact points. A 10 years retrospective study (1996-2005) was conducted at University Hospital Kuala Lumpur (20 cases) also including cases during last 3 years from Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah, Klang (7 cases) from the autopsy reports at Forensic Pathology Units of these 2 hospitals. Both these hospitals are attached to University of Malaya. There were 27 fatal cases of lightning strike with male preponderance(92.59%) and male to female ratio of 12.5:1. Majority of victims of lightning strike were from the age group between 30 and 39 years old. Most of the victims were foreign workers. Indonesians workers contributed to 59.26% of overall cases. Majority of them were construction workers who attributed i.e.11 of 27 cases (40.74%). Most of the victims were brought in dead (37.04%). In majority of the cases the lightning incidence occurred in the evenings, with the frequency of 15 of 27 cases (62.5%). The month of December represented with the highest number of cases (5 cases of 23 cases); 2004 had the highest incidence of lightning strike which was 5 (19.23%). Lightning strike incidence occurred when victims had taken shelter (25.9%) under trees or shades. Lightning strike in open areas occurred in 10 of 27 cases (37.0%). Head and neck were the most commonly affected sites with the incidence of 77.78% and 74% respectively in all the victims. Only 29.63% of the cases presented with ear bleeding.
    Matched MeSH terms: Sex Distribution
  15. Serum folate concentration, cognitive impairment, and DNA damage among elderly individuals in Malaysia
    Lee LK, Shahar S, Rajab N
    Nutr Res, 2009 May;29(5):327-34.
    PMID: 19555814 DOI: 10.1016/j.nutres.2009.05.006
    The notion that dietary factors affect cognitive function and subsequently the risk of dementia has increased over the years from a global viewpoint. Because low folate intake has been described to impair cognitive function, we tested the hypothesis that low serum folate concentration is associated with cognitive impairment and an attenuated increase in DNA damage. We investigated the relationship between serum folate concentration, cognitive impairment, and DNA damage among elderly people attending health clinics in Klang Valley, an urban area in Malaysia. Two hundred thirty-two participants, composed of 115 men (49.6%) and 117 women (50.4%), were involved; none of the patients were diagnosed with neuropsychiatric problems, nor where they terminally ill. Sociodemography and health variables were assessed through face-to-face interview. Cognitive impairment review was conducted through an Elderly Cognitive Assessment Questionnaire. The estimation of dietary intake, serum folate concentration, and DNA damage was individually analyzed using validated Dietary History Questionnaires, immunoassay methods, and an Alkaline Comet Assay study (10 mL of peripheral venous blood), respectively. Results indicated that more men had cognitive impairment (33.0%) and DNA damage (27.0% for percentage DNA in tail, 22.6% tail moment) compared with women (25.6%, 15.4%, and 15.4%, respectively) (P < .05 for all parameters), recording an average folate deficiency value of 13.9% (0.2% higher than women). Multivariate binary logistic regression analysis outlined the association of cognitive impairment with older age (odds ratio [OR], 2.74; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.35-5.57), smoking habits (OR, 5.12; 95% CI, 2.48-10.57), poor serum folate concentration (OR, 3.46; 95% CI, 1.26-9.52), and DNA damage (percentage DNA in tail) (OR, 13.70; 95% CI, 1.36-138.29). In conclusion, this study highlighted the important role of serum folate concentration for cognitive function and provided a concise picture regarding the elevated levels of oxidative DNA damage in peripheral lymphocytes.
    Matched MeSH terms: Sex Factors
  16. Sex differences on the Multitalent Perception Inventory among Malaysian students
    Palaniappan AK
    Percept Mot Skills, 2007 Dec;105(3 Pt 2):1052-4.
    PMID: 18380099
    Malaysian high school students, 142 boys and 154 girls (M age= 13.3 yr., SD = 0.3) were compared on a talent measure, the Khatena-Morse Multitalent Perception Inventory. Boys obtained significantly higher means on the overall score of Versatility and the talent areas of Artistry, Creative Imagination, Initiative, and Leadership. Further replications involving other age groups and nationalities are recommended.
    Matched MeSH terms: Sex Factors
  17. First description of the male of Phlebotomus betisi Lewis and Wharton, 1963 (Diptera: Psychodidae)
    Khadri MS, Depaquit J, Bargues MD, Ferté H, Mas-coma S, Lee HL, et al.
    Parasitol Int, 2008 Sep;57(3):295-9.
    PMID: 18378490 DOI: 10.1016/j.parint.2008.01.003
    The male of Phlebotomus (Larroussius) betisi is described from Malayan caves. Several males have been caught in association with P. betisi females. Males and females have been associated by ecology, biogeography, morphology and molecular biology (homology of the ND4 mtDNA sequences).
    Matched MeSH terms: Sex Characteristics
  18. Prevalence and causes of functional low vision in school-age children: results from standardized population surveys in Asia, Africa, and Latin America
    Gilbert CE, Ellwein LB, Refractive Error Study in Children Study Group
    Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci, 2008 Mar;49(3):877-81.
    PMID: 18326706 DOI: 10.1167/iovs.07-0973
    Data on the prevalence and causes of functional low vision (FLV) in adults and children are lacking but are important for planning low-vision services. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence and causes of FLV among children recruited in eight population-based prevalence surveys of visual impairment and refractive error from six countries (India [2 locations]; China [2 locations]; Malaysia, Chile, Nepal, and South Africa).
    Matched MeSH terms: Sex Distribution
  19. Review article: Use of renal registry data for research, health-care planning and quality improvement: what can we learn from registry data in the Asia-Pacific region?
    Lim TO, Goh A, Lim YN, Morad Z
    Nephrology (Carlton), 2008 Dec;13(8):745-52.
    PMID: 19154324 DOI: 10.1111/j.1440-1797.2008.01044.x
    We review renal registry data from the Asia-Pacific region with an emphasis on their uses in health care and in dialysis care in particular. The review aims to demonstrate the information value of registry data. While renal registry provides a useful data resource for epidemiological research, there are severe methodological limitations in its application for analytical or therapeutic research. However, it is the use of renal registry data for public health and health-care management purposes that registry really comes into its own, and it is primarily for these that governments have invested in national patient and disease registries. We apply data from several renal registries in the Asia-Pacific region to illustrate its wide application for planning dialysis services, for evaluating dialysis practices and health outcomes, with a view to improving the quality of dialysis care. In the course of preparing the review, we have found that the quality and accessibility of renal registry data were highly variable across the region. Given the value of renal registry, every country in the Asia-Pacific region should establish one or should ensure that their current registries are better resourced and developed. Greater data sharing and collaboration among registries in the region could help advance the nephrology to serve our patients better.
    Matched MeSH terms: Sex Factors
  20. Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection among asymptomatic healthy blood donors in Northern Peninsular Malaysia
    Sasidharan S, Uyub AM
    Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg, 2009 Apr;103(4):395-8.
    PMID: 19211121 DOI: 10.1016/j.trstmh.2008.11.021
    Helicobacter pylori infection is recognized as being strongly associated with chronic gastritis, duodenal ulceration and, probably, gastric carcinoma. Seroepidemiological studies have shown that a large proportion of healthy people have antibodies against H. pylori. A serological study was conducted in asymptomatic healthy blood donors in Northern Peninsular Malaysia to assess the seropositivity for H. pylori and to investigate the relationship with ethnic group, gender, ABO blood group and age. A total of 5370 serum samples collected from 3677 male and 1693 female donors in different age groups, and who had no gastrointestinal complaints, were studied with an in-house ELISA for the presence of H. pylori IgG and IgA antibodies. Seven hundred and sixty subjects (14.2%) were seropositive. The overall seropositivity did not differ with ethnicity, gender, ABO blood group and age among asymptomatic healthy blood donors in Northern Peninsular Malaysia.
    Matched MeSH terms: Sex Factors
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