The fasting lipid profile of a sample of Malays, Chinese and Indians in Peninsular Malaysia was studied to see whether these might explain differences in the rate of coronary heart disease mortality amongst the three ethnic groups. Fifty healthy subjects were studied from each of the three groups. They were matched for age, body mass index, gender and smoking habits, if any. The total cholesterol/HDL-cholesterol ratio and LDL-cholesterol/HDL-cholesterol ratio were found to be statistically higher in the Indians than in the Malays and the Chinese. The differences between the Indians and the Chinese were statistically more significant than the differences between the Indians and the Malays. Our findings may partially explain the higher predisposition of the Indian community in Malaysia to CHD mortality and are consistent with those of other studies performed on Indian communities living outside the Indian subcontinent.
Frogs caught from two States (Selangor and Langkawi) in Malaysia were examined for spargana of Spirometra sp. Infected frogs usually show no marks of infection but some had swelling and bleeding at the infection site. The size and weight of the infected frogs did not correlate with the infection status. The infection status in relation to human health is discussed.
OBJECTIVE: This study examines the extent to which preventive and promotive advice is integrated into the clinical practice of doctors.
STUDY DESIGN: Using a cross-sectional descriptive survey design, the study compares the performance of doctors in giving healthy lifestyle advice for five clinical conditions, their perceived practice and their rating on the importance of disseminating selected key lifestyle messages.
DATA EXTRACTION METHODS: A total of 28 volunteers were trained to simulate the five clinical conditions which required related health advice and to rate the doctors' performance with the use of a prepared checklist. Simulated patient ratings of 343 doctor-patient encounters provided the data on doctors' health promotion efforts for the selected clinical conditions. A post-visit self-administered questionnaire survey of a sub-sample of 100 doctors gave an insight into their opinions and perceived practice.
PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Only in 49% of the instances was a health promotion message given. The doctors' encouraging interest in health education and health promotion and their positive perceptions of their volume of healthy lifestyle counselling were not borne out in actual clinical practice.
CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that the extent of preventive and promotive health education in both the public and private health sectors is unacceptably low. The matter needs to be addressed through training programmes as well as the formulation of clear health promotion priorities and strategies in Malaysia.
This study deals with personality variables of medical students in relation to their academic success in the preclinical stage. One hundred and one students completed the 16PF Questionnaire at the beginning of their medical course and the scores were analysed in relation to their marks obtained at the end of the 2-year preclinical stage. This study shows that the 16PF Questionnaire can be a useful instrument for identifying personality variables in candidates who are likely to have academic problems and those who are likely to do well in the preclinical stage of a medical course. Students of urban origin and the eldest in the family performed better in their preclinical years. Performance was not related to sex, ethnic group, family size of entrance qualification into medicine. Personality variables of being enthusiastic, venturesome, self-opinionated, imaginative, experimenting, resourceful and driven correlate positively with performance, whereas being self-assured has negative correlation. Problem students were more reserved, emotionally less stable and more apprehensive than non-problem students.
A study to determine the prevalence of goitre and abnormal thyroid status during pregnancy in Malaysian women was conducted. Two hundred and three women (Malay = 85, Chinese = 47 and Indian = 71) in the third trimester and with no known thyroid disease were studied. There was a marked racial disparity in the prevalence of goitre: Indian 61%, Malay 28% and Chinese 29% (p = 0.001). The serum thyrotropic hormone (TSH) was significantly higher in Indians (median: 1.36 uIU/ml) compared to Malays (1.14 uIU/ml, p = 0.009). The serum albumin was also significantly lower in Indians (mean +/- sd; 36.12 +/- 3.9 mmol/l) compared to Malays (39.3 +/- 4.8 mmol/l) or Chinese (39.1 +/- 5.2) (p < 0.001). Thyroid antibody was detected in 14.6% of these women with no significant racial difference in its prevalence. Three women were found to be thyrotoxic but none were hypothyroid. This study found a high prevalence of goitre among the pregnant Indian women, probably related to the protein malnutrition state. The high prevalence of positive thyroid antibody in our population indicates that a high percentage of women are at risk of developing postpartum thyroiditis.
A sequential algorithm is developed for the non-linear dual-sorption model developed by Chandrasekaran et al. [1,2] which monitors pharmacokinetic profiles in percutaneous drug absorption. In the experimental study of percutaneous absorption, it is often observed that the lag-time decreases with the increase in the donor concentration when two or more donor concentrations of the same compound are used. The dual-sorption model has sometimes been employed to explain such experimental results. In this paper, it is shown that another feature observed after vehicle removal may also characterize the dual-sorption model. Soon after vehicle removal, the plots of the drug flux versus time become straight lines on a semilogarithmic scale as in the linear model, but the half-life is prolonged thereafter when the dual-sorption model prevails. The initial half-life after vehicle removal with a low donor concentration is longer than that with a higher donor concentration. These features, if observed in experiments, may be used as evidence to confirm that the dual-sorption model gives an explanation to the non-linear kinetic behaviour of a permeant.
The competence of general practitioners (GPs) in diagnosing anxiety neurosis was assessed using standardized patients (SPs) unknown to the doctors. Out of a computer-generated random sample of 100 general practitioners in Kuala Lumpur, 42 volunteered to participate in the study. The results showed that the GPs can be divided into three groups: group A made the correct diagnosis and informed the SPs about their condition (11.9%); group B prescribed tranquillizers and did not inform the SPs of the actual diagnosis but instead said that they were either normal or were suffering from some stress (28.6%); and group C made various diagnoses of physical disorder or did not detect any abnormality at all (59.5%). Thus about 40% of the doctors considered an emotion-related disorder and only 12% of the doctors were confident enough to make and inform the patient of the actual diagnosis. Group A significantly (P < 0.001) asked higher numbers of relevant questions in the signs and symptoms section of the history than the other two groups. No differences between the three groups were observed in the other two sections of history-taking (personality, family, social and precipitating factors), in the general and specific physical examination and interpersonal skills. Generally, with the exception of the interpersonal skills section, the doctors performed less than 40% of the expected tasks in every section. The study highlighted the lack of competence in making a definite diagnosis of anxiety disorder. Among those who apparently made the diagnosis (group B) or made the diagnosis with certainty (group A), there was no demonstration of appropriate treatment behaviour with respect to pharmacological intervention.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
In a review of 112 patients with SLE nephritis treated between 1976 and 1982, 31 were known to have died. Renal failure (32.2%) was the commonest cause of death. Gastrointestinal haemorrhage (16%), infections (12.8%) and central nervous system involvement (6.5%) were important causes of death. Thirteen out of 17 patients dying in the presence of renal failure had initially presented with renal impairment. Renal biopsies in 16 patients who have died showed diffuse proliferative glomerulonephritis in all except 1 patient, and uraemia was the commonest cause of death in these patients. Pregnancies terminating in abortions were followed by complications in 5 patients. Discontinuation of steroid therapy by patients was followed by complications, and ended in death in 6 patients.
The esterification of palm-based 9,10-dihydroxystearic acid (DHSA) and 1-octanol in hexane as catalyzed by lipase from Rhizomucor meihei (Lipozyme IM) followed Michaelis-Menten kinetics. The esterification reaction follows a Ping-Pong, Bi-Bi mechanism. The maximum rate was estimated to be 1 micromol min(-1) mg(-1) catalyst in hexane at 50 degrees C, and the Michaelis-Menten constants for DHSA and 1-octanol were 1.3 M and 0.7 M, respectively.
Intestinal parasites of importance to man are Enterobius vermicularis, the soil-transmitted helminthes (STH)--Ascaris lumbricoides Tricburis trichiura, bookworms (Necator americans/Ancylostoma duodenale) and Strongyloides stercoralis and the protozoa Entamoeba histolytica and Giardia duodenalis. Other protozoa such as Cryptosporidium sp. and Isopora sp. are becoming important in causing prolonged diarrhea in immunocompromised patients. It is estimated that almost 1 billion, 500 million and 900 million people worldwide are infected by the major nematode species--A. lumbricoides, T. trichiura and hookworms respectively. Most of the infections are endemic and widely distributed throughout poor and socio-economically deprived communities in the tropics and subtropics. Environmental, socio-economic, demographic and health-related behavior is known to influence the transmission and distribution of these infections. In giardiasis, one study indicates that age < or = 12 years and the presence of family members infected with Giardia were risk factors for infection. Most of the infections occur in children and both genders are equally affected. Epidemiological studies of STH infections have shown that the prevalence and intensity of infection are highest among children 4-15 years of age. The frequency of distribution of STH infections is over-dispersed and highly aggregated. areas reinfection can occur as early as 2 months post-treatment, and by 4 months, almost half of the population treated become reinfected. By 6 months the intensity of infection was similar to pretreatment level.
One hundred primary TKR surgeries done between January 1994 and December 1999 were reviewed after a mean follow-up of 37.4 months. The rate of superficial and deep wound infection were 2% and 9% respectively. The most common organism in wound infection was Staphylococcus aureus. The factors that were significantly associated with superficial wound infection were diabetes mellitus (p = 0.005) and rheumatoid arthritis (p = 0.0000). The factors that were significantly associated with deep wound infection were diabetes mellitus (p = 0.000). There was no significant difference between duration of surgery, and the mean age among patients with and without wound infections.
The first representative of the genus Cerapus in Malaysian waters, Cerapus bumbumiensis sp. nov. is described from specimens sampled from Pulau Bum Bum, Sabah (east Malaysia). The main identifying characteristics of this new amphipod species are: pereonites 1, 2 with constriction; male gnathopod 2 carpochelate, carpus large with long defining posterior tooth and well-developed anterodistal tooth; pereopod 6 coxa with fine hair/fringe setae ventrally; and telson with deep cleft. An updated identification key for the 23 known species in the genus is also presented.
We analytically investigate two separated qubits inside an open cavity field. The cavity is initially prepared in a superposition coherent state. The non-locality correlations [including trace norm measurement induced non-locality, maximal Bell-correlation, and concurrence entanglement] of the two qubits are explored. It is shown that, the generated non-locality correlations crucially depend on the decay and the initial coherence intensity of the cavity field. The enhancement of the initial coherence intensity and its superposition leads to increasing the generated non-locality correlations. The phenomena of sudden birth and death entanglement are found.
Malaysia is a multi-ethnic country with an osteoporosis prevalence of 24.1% in 2005. Only few study reported on osteoporosis awareness. Aim of this study was to investigate the awareness and knowledge regarding osteoporosis among persons attending orthopaedic clinic at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur. A total of 368 participants (male and female) aged 20 years old or older, was assessed using the Osteoporosis Questionnaire (OPQ). The mean total OPQ score was 1.7 (SD ± 3.08; range -5 to 9; maximum possible score 20). Subjects with family history of osteoporosis and high education level were found to have significantly higher OPQ scores (p<0.05). However, there was no significant difference (p>0.05) with respect to different age groups, gender, ethnicities, and menopausal status. The main source of osteoporosis knowledge was magazine/newspaper (45.9%). An overall low score indicates that new strategies to increase awareness of osteoporosis among the public is urgently required.