Loss of teeth can affect masticatory efficiency in older adults. This may result in avoidance or modifications in food
choices and lead to lower intake of important nutrients among older individuals. The aim of this study was to determine
the association between tooth loss and body mass index, BMI, among older adults in Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan. A
cross-sectional study was carried out on 428 older adults aged 50 years and above from selected villages in district of
Kuala Pilah. Respondents were interviewed to collect information on their demographic characteristics. Number of tooth
loss was determined through oral assessment, followed by anthropometric assessment to calculate the BMI of respondents.
Findings showed that majority of the respondents were overweight and obese, 40.4% and 19.9% respectively, while only
a small proportion was underweight, 3.9%. The proportion of edentulism (total tooth loss) was 18.3% and majority of
the older adults had lost more than 12 teeth (77.1%) and less than 4 pairs of occluding posterior teeth (86.0%). Total
and partial tooth loss was found to be not significantly associated with BMI. In relation to the arrangement of teeth,
older adults with reduced number of posterior occluding pairs of teeth were more likely to experience unsatisfactory
BMI (OR = 3.61, 95% CI: 1.48, 8.76). This may suggest that functional arrangement of the tooth in the oral cavity is more
important than the number of tooth loss alone. Thus, maintaining an optimum number of teeth for chewing is essential
for maintenance of ideal BMI.
Introduction: Myopia has been regarded as an important cause of blindness and visual impairment by WHO. Due to higher incidence of myopia in a preterm baby with ROP, early detection and visual rehabilitation need to commence as soon as possible to give the children better quality of life and prevent blindness in this population. To determine the prevalence of ROP and refractive status in premature infants in Sabah Women and Children Hospital, Kota Kinabalu in 2018. To establish the relationship between low BW and GA with the presentation of ROP.
Student Information Management System (SIMS) is a computerized system for education that can be used to manage student information and data. PASTI An-Nur is chosen as a case study in developing the system. Thus, several problems are identified that PASTI An-Nur faces due to the
implementation of a manual system in the admission process. The first problem is the paper-based registration form that is prone to lose, misplaced and less secure. As for the payment process, arise a problem in term of higher error rate when checking and calculating the payments. The biggest downfall for PASTI An-Nur is the amount of space used to store all the students' files.
These problems bring inefficiency since the world is changing to computerized, where data management become one of the most significant issues nowadays. So, the aim of developing the Preschool Management System (PRESIMS) is for helping the staffs and teachers in managing the
students' information. The Adapter Waterfall model was used in developing this system. Additionally, usability heuristics was used also as a theory to guide the development of this system. The system has been tested with the four (4) users and two (2) experts. The testing method is the ISO/IEC 9126- 4 approach to measure usability metrics, including efficiency, effectiveness, and satisfaction. Whereas, for the experts, heuristic evaluation is used to bring six (6) usability principles into implementation for testing. The result of the testing is very satisfying, which shows 75.5% of efficiency, 83.33% of effectiveness and three (3) out of four (4) users very satisfied with the system. The result of heuristic evaluation also shows a successful implementation of the system. The details of the result are discussed in this paper and expected to meet the users' specification and it is ready to go live.
This study presented the implementation of a small-scale (50 W) solar energy harvesting system coupled with an electrolyzer and proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell. The energy from the solar panel would be utilized by the electrolyzer to produce hydrogen gas. The hydrogen gas would be used, in turn, by the PEM fuel cell to generate electricity which supports both DC and AC load. Excess energy from the solar panel is also used to charge the lead-acid backup battery. Analysis of the system showed that 400 mL of hydrogen gas could be produced within every 17 minutes in optimal conditions; between 11 am until 4 pm with bright sunlight. For every 400 mL of hydrogen gas, the PEM fuel cell could sustain continuous operation of a 5V 500 mA DC load for 95 seconds. Theoretically, more than 7000 mL of hydrogen gas could be produced within 5 hours in strong sunlight, which could power up a 50 mA and 500 mA load for 4.7 hours and 28 minutes respectively, during evening or night operations. The proposed system could complement the traditional battery-based storage system while remaining as a clean source of energy production.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the image quality and diagnostic accuracy of coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) using 640-slice scanner. Advancement of multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) technology with higher spatial, temporal resolution, and increasing detector array have improved the image quality and diagnostic accuracy of CCTA. A total of 25 patients (12 men and 13 women) underwent CCTA examination was chosen and data was acquired by 640-slice scanner. All 16 segments of coronary arteries were evaluated by two reviewers using a 4-likert scale for qualitative assessment. In quantitative assessment, the evaluation of 4 main coronary arteries were analysed in terms of signal intensity (SI), image noise, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR). All 25 patients with a mean age of 52.88 ± 14.75 years old and body mass index (BMI) of 24.24 ± 3.28 kg/m2 were analysed. In qualitative assessment, from the total of 400 segments, 379 segments (95%) had diagnostic value while 21 segments did not have diagnostic value, which means 5% artefact was detected. In quantitative assessment, there was no statistical differences in gender, race, and BMI (p>0.05). Overall evaluation showed that higher SI at the left main artery (LM) at 393.7 ± 47.19. Image noise was higher at right coronary artery (RCA) at 39.01 ± 13.97. SNR and CNR showed higher at left anterior descending (LAD) with 12.73 ± 5.17 and LM 9.14 ± 4.2, respectively. In conclusion, this study indicates that 640-slice MDCT has higher diagnostic value in CCTA examination with 95% vessel visibility with 5% artefact detection.
Most of the hospitals in Malaysia still utilise manual inspection by medical
personnel to determine the health conditions of the patients. The data
collected from the medical equipment would have to be analysed and verified
by the hospital. Frequently, many patients need medical inspections.
However, to provide a precise diagnosis, medical personnel requires more
time. This limitation can be addressed by the development of automated and
wireless health monitoring systems with health diagnostic feature supported
by artificial intelligence (AI). In this project, the objective is to develop a
prototype of a wireless (non-invasive) heartbeat monitoring system with
supervised learning. This system monitors the heartbeat activity and predicts
the condition of the user's heartbeat. Technically, a photoplethysmographybased (PPG-based) heartbeat sensor is used to build a heartbeat sensing
device with a Bluetooth feature that communicates with an Android
application. The Android application is developed to receive heartbeat data
from the device and feed the data into an AI classification model to predict
the heartbeat condition of the user. This AI classifier was built from
heartbeat data collected from 10 healthy people. The additional heartbeat
dataset was generated based on a sound source of heartbeat information to
increase the volume of the training dataset. The completion of this project
implementation results in a wireless heartbeat monitoring system that can be
applied regardless of location and time. The accuracy of the AI prediction is
99 % when evaluated with a testing dataset. The empirical accuracy obtained
by testing the system with actual implementation is 90 %.
Introduction: The purpose of this study was to determine the usefulness of SPECT-CT in differentiating metastatic and degenerative disease of the spine. Methods: Twenty-eight patients aged 50 years and above diagnosed with various cancers were referred for whole body (WB) planar bone scintigraphy. Those with a maximum three foci of tracer up- take in the spine were selected for the study. SPECT-CT of these areas of uptake was performed and the lesions were classified as degenerative, indeterminate or metastasis. A repeat study (WB planar bone scintigraphy and SPECT-CT) was performed between 3 to 12 months later. These areas of uptake were reassessed and compared with the first WB planar bone scintigraphy and SPECT-CT. The second SPECT-CT was used as the standard for the diagnosis. Results: Thirty-seven lesions in 28 patients were assessed. The sensitivity of the first WB planar bone scintigraphy, second WB planar bone scintigraphy and first SPECT-CT is 75%, 62.5% and 75% respectively. The specificity of the first WB planar bone scintigraphy, second WB planar bone scintigraphy and first SPECT-CT is 86%, 93%, 90% respectively. There was 2.7% of ‘indeterminate lesion’ in the first WB planar bone scintigraphy, 5.4% in the second WB planar bone scintigraphy, and 5.4% in the first SPECT-CT. The indeterminate lesions were resolved in the second SPECT-CT. Conclusion: SPECT- CT is useful in differentiating degenerative disease from metastatic lesions in the spine.
Plants have been a good source of therapeutic agents for thousands of years;
an impressive number of modern drugs used for treating human diseases are derived from
natural sources. The Theobroma cacao tree, or cocoa, has recently garnered increasing
attention and become the subject of research due to its antioxidant properties, which are
related to potential anti-cancer effects. In the past few years, identifying and developing
active compounds or extracts from the cocoa bean that might exert anti-cancer effects
have become an important area of health- and biomedicine-related research. This review
provides an updated overview of T. cacao in terms of its potential anti-cancer compounds
and their extraction, in vitro bioassay, purification, and identification. This article also
discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the techniques described and reviews the
processes for future perspectives of analytical methods from the viewpoint of anti-cancer
compound discovery.
Kajian ini dilakukan bertujuan untuk menentukan prevalens kandidiasis dalam kalangan wanita yang berumur 20 hingga 59 tahun di Hospital Umum Sarawak melalui pemeriksaan ke atas lumuran Pap lazim. Prevalens jangkitan ini dikaji dalam kalangan lima kumpulan etnik yang utama iaitu kaum Iban, Cina, Melayu, Bidayuh dan Orang Ulu. Penyaringan mikroskopik dijalankan ke atas lumuran Pap lazim sejumlah 300 sampel slaid yang telah diproses dan dicelup menggunakan pencelupan Papanicolaou. Berdasarkan maklumat pada borang permohonan penyaringan lumuran Pap, tanda dan gejala jangkitan diambil kira sebagai petunjuk penting semasa penyaringan kerana melalui tanda dan gejala jangkitan, lumuran Pap mempunyai hubungan yang rapat dengan ciri-ciri gambaran sitomorfologi jangkitan yang berlaku ke atas sel-sel epitelium sekiranya ia mengalami jangkitan. Kategori umur untuk setiap golongan etnik juga dijadikan sebagai salah satu faktor pengukur bagi menilai tahap kekerapan jangkitan. Hasil kajian menunjukkan Candida sp. telah dapat dikesan sebanyak 12.7% daripada jumlah spesimen. Jangkitan berlaku pada kesemua kumpulan etnik dan juga pada kesemua golongan umur 20 hingga 59 tahun. Kesemua kes turut menunjukkan tanda dan gejala jangkitan. Hasil kajian ini menunjukkan pentingnya menjalankan ujian penyaringan lumuran Pap bagi mengesan jangkitan kandida di samping sebagai saringan awal pengesanan kanser serviks.
The effect of different drying methods on the degradation of flavonoids in Centella asiatica was evaluated. C. asiatica leaf, root and petiole were dried using air-oven, vacuum oven and freeze drier. Flavonoid was determined utilizing reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). Results of the study revealed the presence of high concentration of flavonoids in C. asiatica leaf, root and petiole, which include, naringin (4688.8 ± 69 μg/100 g, 3561.3 ± 205 μg/ 100 g, and 978.3 ± 96 μg/ 100 g), rutin (905.6 ± 123 μg/ 100 g, 756.07 ± 95 μg/ 100 g, and 557.25 ± 58 μg/ 100 g), quercetin (3501.1 ± 107 μg/ 100 g, 1086.31 ± 90 μg/ 100 g, and 947.63 ± 83 μg/ 100 g) and catechin (915.87 ± 6.01 μg/ 100 g, 400.6 ± 67 μg/ 100 g, and 250.56 ± 18 μg/ 100g). Luteolin, kaempferol and apigenin on the other hand, were inconsistently present in some parts of C. asiatica. Air-oven treatment resulted in the highest total flavonoids degradation followed by vacuum oven and freeze dried with percent degradation of 97%, 87.6% and 73%, respectively. Catechin and rutin were found to be the most stable flavonoids with percent degradation up to 35%, 66% and 76% for freeze dried, vacuum oven and air oven, respectively.
In developing ergonomically sound furniture, there is a need in evaluating anthropometrics from various aspect such as gender differences. The objectives of this study was to evaluate anthropometrics differences between genders of children in Malaysia in order to determine the need in having specified chairs for each gender. Represented by four states in Malaysia, a total of 2400 children were involved in the study. A custom made measurer and an anthropometer were used to measure the subjects. Six body measurements, which are, sitting shoulder height, sitting subscapular height, shoulder breadth, buttock popliteal length, popliteal height and hip width were documented for evaluation. From this study, there were some significant differences on some body parts while other body parts were similar to male and female. Therefore, chairs are needed to be made according to the suitability of both gender.
Numerical studies of blood flow system of aorta coronary sinus conduit were carried out using ANSYSTMCFD simulation. A different model of conduit, which differs in the inlet diameter, was investigated. Theinvestigated inlet diameters are 3 mm, 4 mm and 5 mm. Pressure drop from 80 mmHg to 15 mmHgwas achieved for all the models. The comparison chart was produced to compare the pattern of pressurereduction as well as velocity distribution in each model. From the analysis of coronary sinus conduit,it was found that a narrow tube needs to be incorporated into the conduit produced. This is to inducea venturi effect to reduce the pressure drop of blood within a specific throat length. As conclusion, amodel of 3 mm inlet and a throat diameter of 1.13 mm show satisfactory result for pressure reductionfrom 80 mmHg to 15 mmHg. This particular model also has a lower peak velocity at the inlet zone ofthe throat section, which is more preferable in terms of Reynolds number.
Objective: A study was conducted at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Center (UKMMC) adult psychiatric clinic from June 2006 to December 2006. The aim was to assess the rate of the metabolic syndrome in a group of outpatients with mood disorders and schizophrenia and also to determine the relationship of this condition with sociodemographic factors and psychiatric illness characteristics.
Methods: A total of 51 subjects agree to participate of which 100 were approached. The International Diabetes Federation (IDF)(2005) criteria are used for the diagnosis of metabolic syndrome and Diagnostic Statistical Manual Version IV (DSM-IV) criteria are used to made psychiatric diaognosis.
Results: The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was found to be 37.2% and was significantly higher amongst mood disorders patient. However the metabolic syndrome is not associated with the anti psychotic therapy (p=0.41).
Conclusion: This study suggests that it is important for the psychiatrist to monitor metabolic syndrome in any of their patients.
Study site: Psychiatric clinic, Pusat Perubatan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (PPUKM), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Calcium carbonate (CaCO3
) plays a crucial role in influencing the growth of osteoblast. This study was conducted
to compare the performance of alginate/cockle shell powder nanobiocomposite (nCP) bone scaffold developed from
naturally occurring CaCO3 with alginate/calcium carbonate (CC) bone scaffold developed using synthetic CaCO3. The
study compares the performance of the scaffold in supporting the growth of osteoblast through in vitro evaluations as
well as initial biocompatibility observations through in vivo methods. Both scaffolds were developed using the mixture
of 40% alginate solution with either 60% of nano cockle shell powder or synthetic CaCO3 to obtain a three dimensional
scaffold structure. In vitro evaluation on calcium release and ALP enzyme activity was conducted on both scaffolds seeded
with osteoblast on day’s three, five and seven using commercial kits. In vivo observations using histological methods
were further conducted by implanting osteoblast seeded scaffold subcutaneously at the dorsum of 8 albino mice for 21
days. Findings from in vitro studies showed a significant increase (p < 0.05) in the release of calcium and ALP enzyme
activity in nCP scaffolds on day seven compared to days three and five of CC scaffold. Histological observations using
H&E and von Kossa staining showed infiltration and proliferation of osteoblast on both scaffolds as well as early stage
bone tissue formation. Formation of new blood vessels within the scaffolds was also observed in nCP scaffold. Both the
developed scaffolds were noted to support osteoblast growth and new tissue formation with better potentials displayed by
nCP scaffolds comparatively. This study shows that naturally occurring CaCO3 obtained from cockle shells in the form
of nano powder has good potentials to be used as a biomaterial for bone tissue engineering applications.
Among athletes, endurance is one of the key elements to victory. In addition to
training, athletes normally used supplement to prevent fatigue during the event. With
prolonged and intense activity, our body started to experience decrease in muscle
performance due to several factors such as oxidative stress, dehydration and
accumulation of lactic acid in the body fluids. The free radicals generated during
intense exercise will expose the cells to oxidative damages. In the event of
dehydration, there will be significant losses of water and functional electrolytes during
intense exercise which affected the body fluid balance. Fatigue will also occur during
reduced oxygen in aerobic metabolism which later caused accumulation of lactic acid
in the muscle. This will change the pH balance toward more acidic and caused the
muscles to lose contractile efficiency. In addition, fatigue can also be studied using rats
as model organism. Results from this activity can be useful to analyse cellular
metabolism and physiology effects of the tested rats toward physical exercise.
Therefore, this review aims to discuss the causes of fatigue through oxidative stress,
dehydration and lactic acid accumulation. In addition, the effectiveness of using rats as
a model system in measuring fatigue is also included in illustrating examples on fatigue
assessment in vivo.
Introduction: Auditory hallucination (AH) is often unexplored in depth in clinical practice. This study sought
to ascertain the relationship between AH, depressive symptoms and quality of life (QOL) and its association
with socio-demographic and clinical variables.
Methods: This was a cross sectional study done in a
psychiatry unit involving 60 schizophrenic patients between 18 to 60 years old. Psychotic Symptom Rating
Scale – Auditory Hallucination subscale (PSYRATS-AH), Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia (CDSS)
and World Health Organization Quality of Life-Brief scale (WHOQOL-BREF) were used as instruments.
Results: Alcohol intake was found to be significantly associated with the severity of AH. A significant
moderate positive correlation was found between AH total score and CDSS (r=0.53, p
The probability of the construction accident to happen is high due the nature of
Construction work that involves complex activities, methods, machineries, materials
and hazards. The occupational safety and health (OSH) law and regulations are
mandatory for every construction project to uphold. Responsibilities to ensure the
safety and health at the workplace lies with those who create the risk and with those
who work with the risk. The owner or client of the construction project has the upper
hand in determining the standard of OSH implementation in their project through
contract documents. If the contract documents comprehensively spell out OSH
requirements and cover all OSH cost, then the issues of contractor not implementing
OSH measures could be minimized. The objective of this study is to identify
Occupational Safety and Health requirements (OSH) in the contract document of
selected construction projects. To achieve this objective, a total of seven contract
document was collected from several construction companies. The qualitative analysis
was performed to identify the extent of OSH requirements and costs are being
mentioned in the contract documents. The finding shows that most of the contract
document contains very little emphasis on OSH requirements and budgeting. Only one
contract contains, an appendix that spell out about the safe work practices for
construction works. The visible allocated budget for OSH requirements for all seven
contracts is very minute range from 0.21% to 1.99% of contract value. In order to
ensure that occupational safety and health is properly implemented, safety needs must
be included in the budget because implementation it is not free, this can be achieved
by making it a permanent feature in all bills of quantity of the project.
Aim: The Shortened Dental Arch (SDA) concept, proposed as a strategy to prevent prosthodontics overtreatment, is defined as a specific type of dentition with an intact anterior region and a reduction in the occluding pairs of posterior teeth. While this concept has been accepted worldwide, little is known about such a situation in Malaysia. This study was undertaken to determine the attitudes, awareness and opinion of dentists working at the Faculty of Dentistry, Universiti Teknologi MARA Malaysia (UiTM) towards the SDA concept. Methods and Methods: All dentists (n=71) working at the Faculty of Dentistry, UiTM were invited to participate in a paper-based questionnaire survey to assess their attitudes, awareness and perception towards the SDA concept. Results: The response rate was 59% (n=42). Overall, 85.7% of respondents were aware of the Kayser’s SDA concept. A majority of them (61.1%) learnt about it through undergraduate studies. Only some respondents reported patients’ dissatisfaction in chewing (29.4%), appearance (8.8%) and comfort (6.3%) following application of the concept. Most participants disagreed that missing molar teeth should be replaced in all patients (52.4%), and supported the application of SDA concept in clinical practice (88.1%). However, some would choose to replace missing molars for older patients in order to provide posterior support (90.5%), prevent anterior wear (52.4%) and improve masticatory function (83.3%). Conclusion: Respondents’ awareness and support for the SDA concept suggested its acceptance as a possible strategy in patient care.
Introduction: Self-harm is an important global health concern as it is a strong predictor and risk factor for completed suicide. This paper is aimed to estimate the incidence rate of self-harm and to describe the profiles of people who self-harmed in 2011. Methods: This is a descriptive study based on secondary data retrieved from the Ministry of Health (MOH) of Malaysia hospitals’ discharge records from the 1st of January to 31st of December 2011. Results: The overall self-harm rate was 16.6 per 100 000 population (n= 4 815). Adults in the state of Johor had the highest rate of self-harm. There were more female self-harmers within the peak age group of 20-29 years. Indians, Muslims and those who were unmarried had the highest rates of self-harm. Male mostly used unspecified chemical (45.89%) while female used non-opioid analgesics (24.79%). Conclusions: In 2011, the rate of self-harm was 16.6 per 100 000 population with slightly higher rate observed among adult females compared to males and twice as high among girls than boys. Less lethal methods of self-harm were employed.
Ki-67 expression is strongly correlated with tumour cell proliferation and growth. It is widely used as a proliferation marker in the routine pathological investigation. The nuclear protein Ki- 67 (pKi67) is recognised prognostic and predictive indicator for the biopsies assessment for cancer patients. Clinically, pKi67 has been revealed to associate with metastasis and the clinical stage of tumours. Furthermore, it has been presented that the expression of Ki-67 is significantly higher in malignant tissues with poorly differentiated tumour cells, as compared with normal tissue. The Ki-67 labelling index plays a vital role as an independent prognostic factor for survival rate, which includes all stages and grade categories. There is an association between the ratios of Ki-67 positive malignant cells and patient survival. This review provides an overview of recent advances in detecting Ki-67 in ovarian carcinoma.