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Experience of the first survey of the pilot project of Asian Quality Assurance Survey program

Lee KN, Yoon SY, Cho HI

Southeast Asian J. Trop. Med. Public Health, 2002;33 Suppl 2:30-43.
PMID: 12755265

The Asian Network for Clinical Laboratory Standardization (ANCLS) decided to start her First Inter-laboratory Quality Assurance survey at the business meeting during the Second Asian Colloquium on October 21-22, 2000 in Kobe, Japan. The first survey materials of Asian Quality Assurance Survey (AQuAS) were distributed in July 2001 to 21 hospitals in the field of chemistry and 22 hospitals in the field of hematology among total 24 participating laboratories from seven Asian countries: Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The survey methods in chemistry and in hematology were somewhat different. In chemistry the survey material was considered as unknown but handled similarly to the sample from the patient. Nineteen routine tests were performed only once. The hematology samples were considered as unknown but handled similarly to control or calibration material. Five parameters were tested five times repetitively and their average for each parameter was calculated. All the results were supposed to be sent back to the office within two weeks. Although it took more than two weeks, the return rate was 100%. The analysis was performed in several ways such as all the results together, by instruments and by methods. Mean, standard deviation (SD), standard deviation index (SDI), coefficient of variation (CV) and variance index score (VIS) were to be calculated in chemistry, and in hematology the same parameter were to be calculated except CV and VIS. In the first survey, the CV in chemistry was not calculated and the analysis by instrument or by methodology was also not attempted since there were not enough participating hospitals to do such analysis. In hematology the analysis was done by instrument only. The survey process was carried out successfully though there were some difficulties in communication tools, transportation methods and handling of specimens due to different weather conditions, and returning the report in the correct unit and to the correct place. The submitted data were acceptable for analysis. There were some differences in the units of measurement in different countries or laboratories. It was necessary to convert some of the units. Some laboratories apparently do not perform certain tests such as calcium, potasium and gamma-glutamyltransferase (gamma-GT). The gamma-GT is the most frequently not performed test. With the experience of this first survey, all the members involved in the survey have been trained well to do future surveys.

Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
The direct cost of treating bronchial asthma in a teaching hospital in Malaysia

Chan PW, Hussain S, Ghani NH, Debruyne JA, Liam CK

Southeast Asian J. Trop. Med. Public Health, 2002 Sep;33(3):600-3.
PMID: 12693597

A pilot study to evaluate the direct cost of treating 51 adults and 50 children with bronchial asthma was conducted. All aspects of the medical care provided over a 6-month period were considered. The mean treatment costs per month were US dollars 22.97 (adults) and US dollars 15.56 (children). The cost of maintenance therapy accounted for 55.5% and 73.4% of the total direct cost treatment for adults and children respectively. Only 27 (52.9%) adults and 17 (34.0%) children paid for their inhaled prophylactic drugs, amounting to 12.3% of the total maintenance therapy costs. Thirteen (25.4%) adults and 9 (18.0%) children were using alternative therapy at a monthly cost of US dollars 41.50 and US dollars 16.77 respectively. A substantial proportion of the direct cost of asthma treatment is heavily subsidized in Malaysia. Adequate attention to the allocation of the health budget, to ensure the optimal provision of health care, is warranted.

Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
Development and validation of a new vision screening test algorithm for public use mobile application- A pilot study

Siti Nor Aishah AR, Mutalib A, Asma H, Baig AA, Naing NN, Hashim SE, et al.

Med J Malaysia, 2020 11;75(6):685-690.
PMID: 33219178

OBJECTIVES: To design and develop a simple vision test algorithm for mobile application and perform a pilot study to determine its validity and reliability as a tool for vision test in the community.
METHODS: A simple visual acuity test algorithm in the form of a single letter E display was designed as the optotype for development of a mobile application. The standardised optotype is presented at random to test visual acuity for corresponding level of 3/60, 6/60, 6/18, and 6/12. The final result is auto-generated based on the classification of the WHO for visual impairment and blindness. The Snellen chart was used as the gold standard to determine its validity while five different users were involved to determine its inter-rater reliability. A pilot study was performed between April till November 2019, in the Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin Medical Centre (UMC) at Kuala Nerus and Mooris Optometrist Centre at Marang, Terengganu. A total of 279 participants aged four years old and above were involved in this study.
RESULTS: The highest sensitivity was found at the vision level cut-off point of 6/12 with the percentage of 92.7% and 86.8% for the right and left eye, respectively. The specificity was more than 89% for all vision levels in both eyes. The Krippendorff's alpha value for the inter-rater reliability was 0.87 and 0.83.
CONCLUSION: The relatively high level of validity and reliability obtained indicate the feasibility of using the designed optotype to develop a valid and reliable mobile app for vision test. The app can be used to screen vision by nonmedical persons, at anytime and anywhere to help improve public awareness and capability to correctly determine their visual status.

Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
Fulltext In vivo detection of monosodium urate crystal deposits by Raman spectroscopy-a pilot study

Abhishek A, Curran DJ, Bilwani F, Jones AC, Towler MR, Doherty M

Rheumatology (Oxford), 2016 Feb;55(2):379-80.
PMID: 26342227 DOI: 10.1093/rheumatology/kev339

Study done in England

Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
Fulltext Knowledge, attitude and practice on bats-borne diseases among village residents: a pilot study

Nurul Azmawati, M., Hariz, M.S., Mohd Dzulkhairi, M.R., Shalinawati, R., Ilina, I.

Medicine & Health, 2018;13(2):48-57.
MyJurnal

Ebola virus disease (EVD), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV), rabies and Nipah infections were examples of diseases that were related to bats and shook the world with a series of outbreak and epidemic. Through the understanding of bats as potential public health risk, awareness had become vital to prevent another outbreak. This pilot study was done to evaluate the appropriateness of the questionnaires and to determine preliminary data on knowledge, attitude and practices of bats-related infections. Residents of a village were recruited by randomly choosing houses from a list obtained from the local head village. Knowledge, attitude and practice were assessed using a 56-items questionnaire. The study recruited 100 respondents. The questionnaire’s Cronbach Alpha score was 0.817. Majority of the respondents were found to have good knowledge (71%), attitude (99%) and practice (64%) relating to bat-related infection. There was a weak positive correlation between knowledge and practice towards bat-related infections among residents of the study population. Majority (80%) of respondents did not aware that bats can cause rabies, and 84% did not know about rabies vaccination. The result of this pilot study provides a limited but valuable insight into bat-related infection. Overall, respondents had good knowledge, attitude and practice scores towards bats-related infection. However, more awareness is needed to key areas lacking such as in educating awareness about rabies in bats.

Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
Fulltext The development of friendship instrument in chemistry and engagement of school of quantitative sciences in Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) students

Nurul Izzati Binti Hasnun, Nurul Aziera Binti Zainol Abidin, Nurhana Binti Roslan, Mohamad Shukri Bin Abdul Hamid

Malaysian Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2019;4(8):85-112.
MyJurnal

Friendship is a topic that should be emphasized and studied, and it can be positive or negative. There are many forms of friendship that can be termed, but it may also differ from one's perspective and certain characteristics of a person. The value of friendship is very important to study in order to know the level of our friendships. In college student development, peer influence can also influence student engagement in engaging in their college activities. It can be seen in terms of involvement in sports activities, curriculum activities and more. The main purpose of this study was to develop of Friendship instrument in chemistry and engagement of SQS UUM students and find the relationships between genders with chemistry and engagement. Using Factor Analysis in order to develop valid and reliable of the friendship Instrument based on chemistry and engagement. In order to study the validity of the data, face validity was used before the instrument was distributed in which the pilot study was conducted. To determine which factor is best, the analysis uses varimax rotation and selects which component is best and meets the criteria. Normality test was used to find the data was normal or nonnormal. Spearman Correlation and Chi Square Test method used in the non-normal data to find the relationship of selected variables.

Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
Fulltext Protection motivation theory-based questionnaire validation to predict acceptance of healthcare workers towards uptake of pertussis vaccine

Michal Christina Steven, Jeffery Stephen

Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences, 2020;16(3):60-66.
MyJurnal

Introduction: Pertussis is known to cause infection and reinfection to everyone irrespective of ages and countries. Therefore, adults do require vaccination for protection against pertussis infection especially the HCW. However, the pertussis vaccine coverage is low among HCW due to low-risk perception. Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) is one of the most cited theories to explain risk perception and intention to change. Therefore, we developed a questionnaire based on the subconstructs of the PMT to assess the acceptance of the pertussis vaccine amongst the HCWs in Sabah and Sarawak. The motive of this study is to validate this questionnaire to see its validity and reli- ability. Method: Data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire via an online survey (Monkey Survey). The questionnaire was given to 250 HCW. Items that were identified as a problem were modified to increase reli- ability. Further validation was done among 853 HCWs working in various parts of Sabah and Sarawak. Results: The Cronbach alpha of the overall construct of PMT during the first pilot study was 0.66 and improved to 0.82. Principal components factor analysis using varimax rotations showed that the first four factors explained 28%, 2%, 9% and 5% of the variance respectively. Both the one level and two-level modelling indicated that it’s a good fit model. Conclu- sion: The study instrument that was developed for the study has been tested and proven to be relevant to assess the risk perception of an HCW towards pertussis.

Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
Fulltext Knowledge and perception on blood safety issues among blood donors at the National Blood Centre: a pilot study [Abstract]

Tan PP, Mohamed Fauzi, H., Chang CT, Ahmad NH, Bahar B, Mangantig E, et al.

Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences, 2019;15(102):54-54.
MyJurnal

ABSTRACTS FOR INTERNATIONAL HEALTH AND MEDICAL SCIENCES CONFERENCE 2019 (IHMSC 2019)
Held at Taylor’s University Lakeside Campus, Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia, 8-9th March, 2019
Introduction: Unsafe blood products cause transfusion-transmissible infections among blood receivers. The knowledge and perception of blood donors is important as it is associated with their donation behaviour and hence the safety of blood products. There was no previous study that assessed the knowledge and perception on blood safety issues among blood donors to date. The objective of this study was to assess the knowledge and perception of blood
donors on blood safety issues.
Methods: This was a pilot study conducted to pilot test the self-developed questionnaire by the researchers. The questionnaire was available in the Malay language. One-hundred-thirty donors at the National Blood Centre were recruited to complete the self-administered questionnaire. Health sciences professionals, medical students and non-Malaysians were excluded in this study.
Results: A total of 130 donors comprising of 70 males (53.8%) and 60 females (46.2%) responded. The mean age of the respondents is 32.48±8.86 years. Most of the respondents were Malay (55.4%), single (49.2%), working in private sector (46.9%) and regular donor (68.5%). More than half of the respondents did not know that dengue, Zika and mad-cow disease can be contracted through blood transfusion. Ten percent of the respondents answered that bisexual people are eligible to donate blood. 40.7% of the donors agreed to check their HIV status through blood donation. Majority of the donors (60.7%) agreed that the donors’ blood is safe if the screening test is negative. Whereas, 33.9% of the donors disagreed that they shall be responsible if their blood causes infection.
Conclusion: Several knowledge gaps and inappropriate perception among the respondents were identified and these might affect the safety of the blood products. Targeted measures should be taken to rectify donors’ knowledge and perception in order to minimise inappropriate blood donor behaviours and reduce unsafe blood products.

Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
Evaluating the contribution of a wildlife health capacity building program on orangutan conservation

Unwin S, Commitante R, Moss A, Bridges E, Farmer KH, Jaya RL, et al.

Am J Primatol, 2021 May 21.
PMID: 34018623 DOI: 10.1002/ajp.23273

One Health is increasingly being used as a tool in ecosystem protection. The Orangutan Veterinary Advisory Group (OVAG) is working to address One Health concerns in Pongo spp. (orangutan) welfare and conservation. Orangutans are vital contributors to the ecosystem health of their range areas. Strengthening national capacity is crucial to make a lasting difference in the currently bleak outlook for orangutan species survival. OVAG is a capacity strengthening and expertise network that brings together all those working with orangutans, in- and ex-situ, to share knowledge, skills, and to collectively learn. Using the One Health paradigm embedded to enhance professional development, the OVAG network is successfully supporting conservation outcomes and impact. As part of our adaptive management approach, and to assess individual and organizational change attributable to the capacity strengthening work of OVAG, we evaluated technical skill test data, program satisfaction data, and asked participants to complete a self-reflective survey. This pilot study of our work demonstrates statistically significant improvements in conservation medicine (t = 5.481, p

Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
Fulltext The Validation of Questionnaire on End-of-Life Care Knowledge, Perceptions, and Preferences among End-Stage Renal Disease Patients on Hemodialysis

Rozi NRB, Ali WASRW, Draman CRB, Pasi HB

Indian J Palliat Care, 2021 02 17;27(1):99-103.
PMID: 34035625 DOI: 10.4103/IJPC.IJPC_221_20

Introduction: End-of-life care issues for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients are still not fully highlighted in trials and clinical practice. Due to the inadequacy, exploring patients' knowledge, perceptions, and preferences is essential to improve the delivery of care. This was performed using questionnaires which have been a widely useful tool in medical researches. Up to date, there was no published, validated questionnaire developed in Malaysia for such purposes yet.
Objective: This study aimed to develop and validate the questionnaire on end-of-life care knowledge, perceptions, and preferences among hemodialysis (HD) patients.
Subject and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 92 HD patients from 14 centers. It involved four phases including (i) developing the questionnaire and pretesting, (ii) improving and editing and redistribution to respondents for the pilot study, (iii) factor analysis (FA), and (iv) internal consistency reliability testing.
Results: The result of FA with varimax rotation performed identified three domains for the 41 items, with 10-20 items in each domain. All the 41 analyzed items had a good factor loading of more than 0.4 with the lowest value of 0.421 and were nicely fit into three respective domains: knowledge, perceptions, and preferences. Internal consistency reliability analysis Cronbach's α values were between 0.5 and 0.7 for all domains, higher than the level set for this study (0.5).
Conclusion: The questionnaire was successfully validated and considered a useful tool in describing ESRD patients' end-of-life care knowledge, perceptions, and preferences.

Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
Fulltext Taste Sensitivity and Taste Preference among Malay Children Aged 7 to 12 Years in Kuala Lumpur-A Pilot Study

Lim LS, Tang XH, Yang WY, Ong SH, Naumovski N, Jani R

Pediatr Rep, 2021 May 18;13(2):245-256.
PMID: 34069893 DOI: 10.3390/pediatric13020034

The taste and food preferences in children can affect their food intake and body weight. Bitter and sweet taste sensitivities were identified as primary taste contributors to children's preference for consuming various foods. This pilot study aimed to determine the taste sensitivity and preference for bitter and sweet tastes in a sample of Malaysian children. A case-control study was conducted among 15 pairs of Malay children aged 7 to 12 years. Seven solutions at different concentrations of 6-n-propylthiouracil and sucrose were prepared for testing bitterness and sweet sensitivity, respectively. The intensity of both bitter and sweet sensitivity was measured using a 100 mm Labelled Magnitude Scale (LMS), while the taste preference was rated using a 5-point Likert scale. The participants were better at identifying bitter than sweet taste (median score 6/7 vs. 4/7). No significant differences were detected for both tastes between normal-weight and overweight groups (bitter: 350 vs. 413, p = 0.273; sweet: 154 vs. 263, p = 0.068), as well as in Likert readings (bitter 9 vs. 8: p = 0.490; sweet 22 vs. 22: p = 0.677). In this sample of Malay children, the participants were more sensitive to bitterness than sweetness, yet presented similar taste sensitivity and preference irrespective of their weight status. Future studies using whole food samples are warranted to better characterize potential taste sensitivity and preference in children.

Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
Fulltext Effectiveness of a Community-Based Muscle Strengthening Exercise Program to Increase Muscle Strength Among Pre-frail Older Persons in Malaysia: A Pilot Study

Raja Adnan RNE, Mat Din H, Ashari A, Minhat HS

Front Public Health, 2021;9:610184.
PMID: 33968874 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.610184

Deterioration in muscle mass and muscle strength is common among the frail older persons, cause functional dependence and decrease in the quality of life. Therefore, the identification of cost-effective interventions to prevent or ameliorate frailty is crucially needed. The aim of this study is to determine the effectiveness of a Community-based Muscle Strengthening Exercise (COME) program to increase muscle strength among pre-frail older persons. This study was a quasi-experimental study. A total of 32 older persons aged 60 years and older with pre-frail symptoms were recruited from the community center. The COME was developed based on the Growing Stronger program and the Otago Home Exercise Program. COME was designed to strengthen all of the major muscle groups in the upper and lower extremities. The exercise program was conducted for 12 weeks and divided into 3 parts; (1) to strengthen the body slowly and gently, using only body weight, (2) to introduce dumbbells and ankle weights to increase strength and (3) to add various new ways to boost strength even more. Functional tests were measured before and after the intervention. The results revealed non-significant p-value for pre- and post-intervention comparison for all study outcomes. Observing the values of mean difference, the study intervention was shown to have slightly improved the time up and go (Mean difference = -0.25), and sit-to-stand duration (Mean difference = -0.41) as well as the handgrip strength (Mean difference = 0.68) among the participants. On the assessment of Cohen ES, all three improvements exhibited small effect sizes. Sit-to-stand duration was shown to have most benefited from the intervention with highest ES among the outcome variables (ES = 0.20). COME intervention program among pre-frail older persons showed favorable trend toward improvement of upper and lower extremities muscle strength. This study should be further tested in randomized control trial to confirm its effectiveness.

Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
Fulltext Associations between Socio-Demographic Factors and Hypertension Management during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Preliminary Findings from Malaysia

Elnaem MH, Kamarudin NH, Syed NK, Huri HZ, Dehele IS, Cheema E

Int J Environ Res Public Health, 2021 09 03;18(17).
PMID: 34501893 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18179306

The perspectives of hypertensive patients on the state of hypertension control during the ongoing pandemic restrictions have not been extensively studied in Malaysia. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the impact of socio-demographic factors, health literacy, and adherence on the overall hypertension management in a group of Malaysian hypertensive patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. An anonymous, online cross-sectional study was conducted over three months that involved a group of Malaysian adults with hypertension. A validated, self-administered 30-item questionnaire was prepared in Malay and English languages on Google Forms. The link was then distributed to participants on social media (Facebook and WhatsApp). Following survey validation, a pilot study with 30 participants who met the inclusion criteria was carried out. The total scores for health literacy, adherence, and pandemic impact on hypertension control were calculated and compared across all independent variables. In a total of 144 study participants, controlled blood pressure was reported in 77% (N = 111). There were good levels of adherence and health literacy scores but moderate levels of pandemic impact scores. The total adherence scores showed a statistically significant difference between age groups (χ2 = 6.48, p = 0.039) and those who reported having controlled and uncontrolled blood pressure (U = 1116, p = 0.001). Moreover, the analysis revealed statistically significant differences in total pandemic impact scores based on the age group (χ2 = 15.008, p = 0.001), household income (χ2 = 6.887, p = 0.032), employment (U = 1712, p = 0.006), and marital status (U = 520.5, p < 0.001). The youngest age group (18-39) years, the lowest income group, unemployed and unmarried individuals, had significantly higher pandemic impact scores. This denotes that those individuals were more prone to be negatively affected by the pandemic regarding their hypertension management. Most participants reported relatively controlled blood pressure and good levels of health literacy as well as adherence amidst the pandemic. To a moderate extent, study participants perceived that the pandemic had a negative effect on hypertension management. The perceived negative impact of the pandemic was attributed to several socio-demographic factors, such as age, household income, employment, and marital status.

Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
Fulltext Cognitive-behavioural social skills training in primary school children with behavioural problems: lessons learnt from a pilot study

Azizah Othman, Kok, Wei Wee, Rohani Mohd Shahidi

Malaysian Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, 2011;17(1):0-0.
MyJurnal

The report describes a pilot study of cognitive-behavioural social skills program conducted on primary school children in Kelantan, Malaysia. Designs: Uncontrolled pre- and post- single design study. Methods: Children aged 9 - 11 referred by school teachers for behavioural problems were put into Petersen’s Stop-Think-Do cognitive-behavioural social skills program for 6 sessions delivered by a clinical psychologist. Main outcome measure was Goodman’s Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaires; to assess child’s emotional and behavioural functioning rated by parents and children themselves. Results: The results showed positive short-term effects of the program at improving some aspects of children’s psychological functioning, however they are not significant. Findings are limited to several issues including subjects’ drop-out, problems in generalizing learnt behaviour, and the use of single outcome measure. Conclusion: Whilst the program could possibly improve children behavioural functioning more dramatically, the implementation of such program in school setting must be organized in full collaboration and assistance from the parents and school administrators.

Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
Fulltext End-of-life attitudes in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) amongst final year medical students at International Medical University, Malaysia

Sangeetha Poovaneswaran, Anuradha Poovaneswaran, Thiruselvi Subramaniam

International e-Journal of Science, Medicine & Education, 2014;8(1):32-33.
MyJurnal

With recent medical advances and the availability of newer sophisticated technologies, critically ill patients tend to survive longer. Thus, decisions to forgo life-sustaining medical treatment generate challenging issues that all doctors must face. The aim of this pilot study was to assess attitudes towards end-of-life care in ICU which included futile therapy (withholding and withdrawing therapy) among final year medical students who had received the same degree of clinical exposure and training in medical school. The results revealed varying attitudes and views towards end-of-life care in ICU suggesting other factors such as religion, ethnicity and culture may influence decision making.

Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
Fulltext Influence of immunology knowledge on healthcare and healthy lifestyle

Abu Kassim NL, Saleh Huddin AB, Daoud JI, Rahman MT

PLoS One, 2016;11(7):e0159767.
PMID: 27467083 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0159767

Completing a course in Immunology is expected to improve health care knowledge (HCK), which in turn is anticipated to influence a healthy lifestyle (HLS), controlled use of health care services (HCS) and an awareness of emerging health care concerns (HCC). This cross-sectional study was designed to determine whether these interrelationships are empirically supported. Participants involved in this study were government servants from two ministries in Malaysia (n = 356) and university students from a local university (n = 147). Participants were selected using the non-random purposive sampling method. Data were collected using a self-developed questionnaire, which had been validated in a pilot study involving similar subjects. The questionnaire items were analyzed using Rasch analysis, SPSS version 21 and AMOS version 22. Results have shown that participants who followed a course in Immunology (CoI) had a higher primary HCK (Mean = 0.69 logit, SD = 1.29 logits) compared with those who had not (Mean = -0.27logit, SD = 1.26 logits). Overall, there were significant correlations among the HLS, the awareness of emerging HCC, and the controlled use of HCS (p <0.001). However, no significant correlations were observed between primary HCK and the other variables. However, significant positive correlation was observed between primary HCK and controlled use of HCS for the group without CoI. Path analysis showed that the awareness of emerging HCC exerted a positive influence on controlled use of HCS (β = 0.156, p < .001) and on HLS (β = 0.224, p < .001). These findings suggest that having CoI helps increase primary HCK which influences controlled use of HCS but does not necessarily influence HLS. Hence, introducing Immunology at various levels of education and increasing the public awareness of emerging HCC might help to improve population health en masse. In addition, further investigations on the factors affecting HLS is required to provide a better understanding on the relationship between primary HCK and HLS.

Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
Pilot scale production of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-4-hydroxybutyrate) biopolymers with high molecular weight and elastomeric properties

Huong KH, Azuraini MJ, Aziz NA, Amirul AA

J Biosci Bioeng, 2017 Jul;124(1):76-83.
PMID: 28457658 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbiosc.2017.02.003

Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-4-hydroxybutyrate) [(P(3HB-co-4HB)] copolymer receives attention as next generation biomaterial in medical application. However, the exploitation of the copolymer is still constrained since such copolymer has not yet successfully been performed in industrial scale production. In this work, we intended to establish pilot production system of the copolymer retaining the copolymer quality which has recently discovered to have novel characteristic from lab scale fermentation. An increase of agitation speed has significantly improved the copolymer accumulation efficiency by minimizing the utilization of substrates towards cell growth components. This is evidenced by a drastic increase of PHA content from 28 wt% to 63 wt% and PHA concentration from 3.1 g/L to 6.5 g/L but accompanied by the reduction of residual biomass from 8.0 g/L to 3.8 g/L. Besides, fermentations at lower agitation and aeration have resulted in reduced molecular weight and mechanical strength of the copolymer, suggesting the role of sufficient oxygen supply efficiency in improving the properties of the resulting copolymers. The KLa-based scale-up fermentation was performed successfully in maintaining the yield and the quality of the copolymers produced without a drastic fluctuation. This suggests that the scale-up based on the KLa values supported the fermentation system of P(3HB-co-4HB) copolymer production in single-stage using mixed-substrate cultivation strategy.

Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
Impact of virtual reality games on psychological well-being and upper limb performance in adults with physical disabilities: A pilot study

Singh DKA, Rahman NNA, Seffiyah R, Chang SY, Zainura AK, Aida SR, et al.

Med J Malaysia, 2017 04;72(2):119-121.
PMID: 28473675 MyJurnal

INTRODUCTION: There is limited information regarding the effects of interactive virtual reality (VR) games on psychological and physical well-being among adults with physical disabilities. We aimed to examine the impact of VR games on psychological well-being, upper limb motor function and reaction time in adults with physical disabilities.
METHODS: Fifteen participants completed the intervention using Wii VR games in this pilot study. Depressive, Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS) and Capabilities of Upper Extremity (CUE) questionnaires were used to measure psychological well-being and upper limb motor function respectively. Upper limb reaction time was measured using reaction time test.
RESULTS: Results showed that there was a significant difference (p<0.05) in DASS questionnaire and average reaction time score after intervention.
CONCLUSION: There is a potential for using interactive VR games as an exercise tool to improve psychological wellbeing and upper limb reaction time among adults with disabilities.

Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
Fulltext Faculty development: DOPS as workplace-based assessment

Shahid Hassan

Education in Medicine Journal, 2011;3(1):32-43.
MyJurnal

Background: In order to achieve the desired performance of graduates a number of traditional evaluation exercises have been practiced to assess their competence as medical students. Many of these assessments are done in a controlled environment and mostly reflect on tests of competence than performance. Mini-CEX or direct observed procedural skills (DOPS) are the real performance-based assessment of clinical skills. Increased opportunity for observation and just-in-time feedback from the role model superiors produce a positive educational impact on students learning. This also provides trainees with formative assessment to monitor their learning objectives. However, to implement assessment strategies with Mini-CEX or DOPS needs to develop institution’s clear policy for a different teaching and learning culture of workplace based assessment. It also needs to develop user friendly rating form, checklist, elaboration of clinical competence and its attributes and procedural guidelines for practice. A precise role of these tools in the assessment of postgraduate program must be established before practicing them to evaluate and monitor trainee’s progress.
Objective: To determine DOPS for its acceptability and feasibility as a method of formative assessment of clinical skills in postgraduate program of Otolaryngology and Head-Neck Surgery.
Method: A total of 25 trainees were assessed for DOPS by 8 supervisors in this 12-weeks pilot study. A faculty development program for faculty members and trainees was run for DOPS. Trainees were advised to undertake at least one DOPS encounter out of 42 shortlisted procedures. Assessors were asked to mark trainees by completing a rating form using a checklist developed for each procedure. Trainees and assessors were asked to endorse their opinion on feasibility and acceptance of DOPS for practice of formative assessment in future. Data was analyzed to determine feasibility and acceptability of DOPS in assessment program. Result: Faculty development and trainees orientation in DOPS were found satisfactory for its acceptance and feasible for its practice. Trainees were mostly assessed in outpatient clinical setting. Majority reported higher rating of satisfaction by assessors and trainees. Among clinical skills higher rating was received in procedural skills performed by the senior trainees. Conclusion: DOPS was found feasible for practice of formative assessment of trainees in postgraduate program of Otolaryngology and Head-Neck Surgery in School of Medical Sciences (SMS) at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). It was well accepted by the trainees to help monitor their quality of procedural skills as self-directed learning.

Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects
Fulltext Comparison of fusion of different algorithms in mapping of Melaleuca Forest in Marang district, Malaysia

Saberioon, M.M., Mardan, M., Nordin, L., Mohd Sood, A.

Pertanika Journal of Science & Technology, 2011;19(3):97-105.
MyJurnal

Melaleuca cajuputi and Acacia auriculiformis trees are major sources of nectar and pollen for Apis dorsata and the colonies are a major source of honey to the rural poor, honey hunters. Honey is a supplementary income to many of these people (including school children) in the Marang district, Terengganu. In this study, Marang area with 270 square kilometers was chosen as pilot study area in Terengganu state for mapping M. cajuputi and A. auriculiformis as two dominant species in low land secondary forest in Terengganu state.To inventory and produce land use map of Melaleuca forest in Marang area, in this study SPOT-5 satellite image in multispectral mode with 10 meter resolution which is acquired in 2007 as optical satellite was utilized. Most images from optical satellites have some null data from ground because of clouds and shadow of clouds. To solve this problem, Hue, Saturation and value (HSV) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) were used as fusion techniques to replace null data with microwave data which taken from Radarsat-1 image in C-band with 25 meter resolution image. Accordingly, fusion technique which was used in this research not only was a technique to improve information but also caused the accuracy increasing than land use map by just only SPOT-5 image. Also between two different fusion techniques, PCA shows the better result than HSV as two different fusion techniques.

Matched MeSH terms: Pilot Projects

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