Case: A male infant was born at 36th week period of gestation with a birth weight of 1.99kg following an uneventful intrauterine period. At birth, he was noted to have multiple skin nodules. The largest nodule measuring 4.0 x 2.0 x 1.5 cm was at his pre-auricular area. It was initially fleshy and reddish in color. A few days later, it turned black and subsequently the black skin overlying the mass fell off, leaving a firm underlying mass with the appearance of a cauliflower. Other skin lesions, which were firm in consistency, were found on the medial aspect of his right supraorbital ridge, right mid-arm, right mid-thigh, plantar surface of his right big toe and his scalp. They were either skin-colored or reddish in colour, measuring between 1.0 and 2.0 cm in diameter. He also had hepatomegaly and splenomegaly palpable at 5 cm and 3 cm below the subcostal margins, respectively
The recognition of microcalcifications and masses from digital mammographic images are important to aid the detection of breast cancer. In this paper, we applied morphological techniques to extract the embedded structures from the images for subsequent analysis. A mammographic phantom was created with embedded structures such as micronodules, nodules and fibrils. For the preprocessing techniques, intensity transformation of gray scale was applied to the image. The structures of the image were enhanced and segmented using dilation for a morphological operation with morphological closing. Next, low pass Gaussian filter was applied to the image to smooth and reduce noises. It was found that our method improved the detection of microcalcifications and masses with high Peak Signal To Noise Ratio (PSNR).
Tinospora crispa Miers (Menispermaceae) is a climbing vine with stems rich in warts. The plant is called Akar Seruntum or Patawali in Malaysia and is widely used for treating skin complaints, malaria, bacterial abscess, high blood pressure and diabetes. In the present study, the stems of T. crispa were collected from the locality and succesively extracted with petroleum ether, followed by chloroform and ethanol. The insecticidal active extract (ethanol extract) was subjected to column chromatography of silica gel eluted with a gradient mobile phase containing hexane, chloroform and ethanol. Among the chemical constituents isolated are n-tetracosyl trans-ferulate and n-octacosyl alcohol, along with three known aporphine alkaloids; N-formylnornuciferine, N-acetylnornuciferine and lysicamine. All compounds were identified by comparing their spectroscopic data (UV, IR, 1H NMR, MS) with data from corresponding values in the literature. Isolation of n-tetracosyl trans-ferulate and noctacosyl alcohol is reported the first time for T. crispa.
The prevalence of cleft lip and palate in human is 1 in 500 live births worldwide. Non·syndromic clefts are a complex trait with both genetic and environmental etiology. The aim ofthe study was to assess the association between maternal exposure to second-hand smoke during pregnancy and ruk of having cleft child. Unmatched case-control study was carried out among Malays in Kelantan.
1 Case and control subjects were denned as mothers of cleft children and mothers of normal children respectively. The cleft children were recruited from the Combined Cleft Clinic at Kota Bharu Dental Clinic. Normal chiMren were selected at Orthodontic Clinic, Kota Bharu. A total of 184 cases and controb with age range from 17 to 50 years were interviewed using the standard craniofacial
registration form. Multiple Logistic Regression modeling was used to estimate adjusted odds ratio of factors associated with non-syndromic oral cleft. Signijicant factors include history of miscarriage (OR: 3.40; 95% C1:1.05, 11 .08) p=0.042; duration of exposure to second-hand smoke for 15-30 minutes (OR: 2.41; 95% C1:1.42, 4.09) p 30 minutes (OR: 5.16; 95% C1:Z.87, 9.28) p
Individuals with Diabetes Mellitus (DM) are at increased risk for developing
diabetic ocular complications. This study was carried out to determine factors
influencing eye screening among Diabetes Mellitus patients. The descriptive findings of
participants’ sociodemographic data will be discussed. (Copied from article).
A method based on Computational Fluids Dynamics (CFD) was used to analyse the flow
behaviour in the Biodiesel reactor with 6-blade at 45° pitch blade turbines. The study, which was based
on the turbulent flow, had been associated with three sizes of the blades installed in the reactor by using
the standard k-ε turbulence model. The study also included the pitch blade turbines that were installed
at three clearances from the bottom in the reactor by using the standard k-ε turbulence model. The
results showed that the flow behaviours differed for the three various locations, which were installed at
C=T/4, C=T/2, and C=3T/4 for D=T/3. The results also showed that the flow behaviour had been
different for the three impeller diameters installed at C=T/4. Besides, good quantitative agreement for
velocity distribution was obtained. Good velocity distribution in the reactor was produced by D=T/3.
Moreover, a comparison between the three impeller diameters in terms of velocity distribution
suggested that the discharge flow from the smaller impeller had stronger axial flow during the mixing
process.
This study aims to investigate a visual status and prevalence of visual problems in relation to eye safety and health amongst
visual display terminal (VDT) users in industries. A visual profile questionnaire (VPQ) and visual tests were conducted on workers
from 9 type of industries aged 20 to 60 years old in between October 2015 and June 2016. Workers with a history of exposure to VDT
more than 2 hours a day were used as a baseline for recruitment. Respondents who did not complete the visual profile questionnaires
(VPQ) and visual tests were excluded from the study. A total of 1214 respondents with mean aged of 39.33 ± 9.80 years have completed
the study. Most respondents show moderate to high in vision problems in related to VDT, low knowledge on visual hazards and policy
in relation to eye safety and health at the workplace and high percentage of not getting proper eye tests while serving their industries.
Visual Profile (VP) is needed as a key indicator to profile eye safety measures and the need for policy to help prevent eye problems and
improve employees’ productivity at workplace.
Objective: As Internet use becomes ubiquitous among adolescents, Internet
addiction turns out to be as a potential problem in adolescents. The aim of
this cross-sectional study was to examine the prevalence of internet addiction
and its associated factors among the adolescents in Malaysia.
Methods: The
association between internet addiction and attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD) symptoms was also examined in this cross-sectional study,
which was conducted at four secondary schools in Malaysia. In this study,
Malaysian Version of Internet Addiction Test (MVIAT), Conners-Wells
Adolescent Self-report: Short Form (CASS:S), The Conners Teachers Rating
Scale: Short Form (CTRS:S) and The Conners’ Parents Rating Scale: Short
For (CPRS: S) were used.
Results: The results demonstrated 28.6% of the
subjects were addicted to the internet and there was a positive association
with ADHD symptoms. Male gender, early age of first internet use, longer
total time of internet use are associated with internet addiction problem
among the adolescents. Internet addiction has become highly prevalent
among the adolescent in Malaysia.
Conclusions: It is important to provide
support for this group of adolescent with internet use problem. Measure to
prevent the worsening of the situation and future research on the causal
factors of internet addiction such as ADHD is needed.
Mild steel is the most common metal used in industry. However, mild steel easily corrodes when exposed to environment. One way to protect mild steel from corrodes is by coating it with more noble metal like copper and its alloys. In this study, copper and Cu-Ni alloys were successfully coated on the mild steel substrate by electrodeposition technique using alkaline citrate solutions containing Cu and Ni ions precursors. The reaction and mechanisms of the electrodeposition of copper and Cu-Ni alloys on the mild steel substrate were investigated by cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry methods. Surface morphology of the coatings was examined by FESEM. The elemental compositions of the coatings were confirmed by EDAX analysis. The molar ratios of Cu-Ni solutions have affected the formation of the coatings. Corrosion study shows that copper coated mild steel can improve the corrosion resistance of the mild steel in 0.5 M NaCl. Cu-Ni coating prepared from Cu60-Ni40 showed the highest corrosion resistance. The order of the corrosion resistance of the samples in 0.5 M NaCl at 25 oC is Cu60-Ni40> Cu75- Ni25> Cu90-Ni10> Cu100> mild steel.
Background: The prevalence of asthma among children is common. In Malaysia, the clinical observations have demonstrated that many children with asthma were not properly assessed and did not get proper treatment. Hence, poor asthma control could cause disruption to the child's ability to get enough sleep, to pay attention, to participate in school activities and thus affecting their quality of life.nagement
Aim: The objective was to determine the effect of PAEP to change the quality of life of children, parents' mapractice and parents' technique of using an inhaler for their asthmatic children.
Methods: The study design was a one group pre-test-post-test intervention study. The respondents consisted of 78 parents with asthmatic children, aged between 8 to 12 years old. Parents were required to answer the Paediatric Quality of Life Inventory Questionnaire, Management Behaviour Survey for Familial Caregivers and skills of inhaler technique using the checklist at the Paediatric Clinic Hospital USM. Following that were given a date to attend PAEP and were assessed two months later for postintervention. The analysis for PedsQL, Management Behaviour Survey for Familial Caregivers and skill of inhaler technique was done by using paired t-test. A total of 70 parents completed the study.
Results: The study showed that the mean age for children with asthma was 9.31 years. PedsQL pre-intervention scores were 75.8%, and post-intervention 82.8%. The Mean of Management Behaviour Surveyfor Familial Caregivers scores increased from 53.16 to 62.33 pre-intervention and post-intervention, respectively. While the mean skill scores for inhaler user had increased from 3.43 to 7.13 for the MDI with a spacer. The findings showed statistical significance with P-values (<0.001) for PedsQL, Management Behaviour Survey for Familial Caregivers and skill scores for inhaler use.
Conclusion: The PAEP had improved the children's quality of life, parents management practice andinhaler skills among parents with asthmatic children.
Keywords : Prevalence, asthma, quality of life
Study site: Paediatric clinic, Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM), Kelantan, Malaysia
One of the ways to calculate dividend for an investment is by using average lowest balance (ALB) concept. The existing calculation of dividend based on ALB concept can only be done yearly. This paper discusses on the development of a general formula to calculate the accumulated amount for any period of time, based on the ALB concept that considers different yearly dividend rates. The patterns for each variable and coefficient for the calculated yearly accumulated amount were analysed. The general forms of each variable and coefficient were then combined to form the general formula for calculating the accumulated amount. Validity of the general formula is confirmed by calculating the percentage errors and proven by using mathematical induction.
Affordable and greener materials were extensively studied in electrode fabrication for Liion
based batteries but less interest was shown to proton battery. Hence, in this work,
a methodology on preparing a natural based binder for proton battery was reported. 2-
Hydroxyethyl Cellulose (2HEC) was chosen to replace PVDF commercial binder in electrode
for ZnSO4|MnO2 proton battery configuration. SEM image shows good surface formation
for both anode and cathode with good porous structure. OCV result shows that the cell
improved the stable voltage of reference cell of 0.7 V to 0.9 V after 24 hours. The first
discharge of the cell took 6 hours and 49 minutes at 0.005mA and shows good potential for
rechargebility test.
This paper compared the composition and performance of portfolios constructed by employing different risk measures utilizing the Malaysian share market data in three diverse economic scenarios. The risk measures considered were the mean-variance (MV) and their alternatives; the semi-variance (SV), mean absolute deviation (MAD) and conditional value at risk (CVAR). The data were divided into three sub-periods representing the growth period in the economy, financial crisis and the recovery period. The results of this study showed different optimal portfolios’ performances and compositions for the three economic periods. Nevertheless, among the risk models tested, CVAR(0.99) model gave the highest portfolio skewness. High skewness means that the probability of getting large negative returns is decreased. As a conclusion, for the Malaysian stock market, the CVAR(0.99) model is the most appropriate portfolio optimization model for downside risk aversion investors in all three economic scenarios.
This study proposes a simple methodology to estimate the power-law tail index of the Malaysian stock exchange by using the maximum likelihood Hill’s estimator. Recursive procedures base on empirical distribution tests are use to determine the threshold number of observations in the tail estimation. The threshold extreme values can be selected bases on the desired level of p-value in the goodness-of-fit tests. Finally, these procedures are apply to three indices in the Malaysian stock exchange.
In this research we introduce an analyzing procedure using the Kullback-Leibler information criteria (KLIC) as a statistical tool to evaluate and compare the predictive abilities of possibly misspecified density forecast models. The main advantage of this statistical tool is that we use the censored likelihood functions to compute the tail minimum of the KLIC, to compare the performance of a density forecast models in the tails. Use of KLIC is practically attractive as well as convenient, given its equivalent of the widely used LR test. We include an illustrative simulation to compare a set of distributions, including symmetric and asymmetric distribution, and a family of GARCH volatility models. Our results on simulated data show that the choice of the conditional distribution appears to be a more dominant factor in determining the adequacy and accuracy (quality) of density forecasts than the choice of volatility model.
B. subtilis under certain types of media and fermentation conditions can produce surfactin, a biosurfactant which belongs to the lipopeptide class. Surfactin has exceptional surfactant activity, and exhibits some interesting biological characteristics such as antibacterial activity, antitumoral activity against ascites carcinoma cells, and a hypocholesterolemic activity that inhibits cAMP phosphodiesterase, as well as having anti-HIV properties. A cost effective recovery and purification of surfactin from fermentation broth using a two-step ultrafiltration (UF) process has been developed in order to reduce the cost of surfactin production. In this study, competitive adsorption of surfactin and proteins at the air-water interface was studied using surface pressure measurements. Small volumes of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and β-casein solutions were added to the air-water interface on a Langmuir trough and allowed to stabilise before the addition of surfactin to the subphase. Contrasting interfacial behaviour of proteins was observed with β-casein showing faster initial adsorption compared to BSA. On introduction of surfactin both proteins were displaced but a longer time were taken to displace β-casein. Overall the results showed surfactin were highly surface-active by forming a β-sheet structure at the air-water interface after reaching its critical micelle concentration (CMC) and were effective in removing both protein films, which can be explained following the orogenic mechanism. Results showed that the two-step UF process was effective to achieve high purity and fully functional surfactin.
The accuracy of financial time series forecasts often rely on the model precision and the availability of actual observations for forecast evaluations. This study aimed to tackle these issues in order to obtain a suitable asymmetric time-varying volatility model that outperformed in the forecast evaluations based on interday and intraday data. The model precision was examined based on the most appropriate time-varying volatility representation under the autoregressive conditional heteroscedascity framework. For forecast precision, the evaluations were conducted under three loss functions using the volatility proxies and realized volatility. The empirical studies were implemented on two major financial markets and the estimated results are applied in quantifying their market risks. Empirical results indicated that Zakoian model provided the best in-sample forecasts whereas DGE on the other hand indicated better out-of-sample forecasts. For the type of volatility proxy selection, the implementation of intraday data in the latent volatility indicated significant improvement in all the time horizon forecasts.
Biosurfactants are microbially produced surface active agents that offer better biodegradability and lower toxicity than chemically synthesized surfactants because of their biogenetic origin. One of the most surface-active biosurfactants known is surfactin, a cyclic lipopeptide produced by various strains of Bacillus subtilis. In this study, the cleaning potential of surfactin on ultrafiltration (UF) membranes fouled with BSA was studied using centrifugal UF devices of 50 kDa and 100 kDa MWCO polyethersulfone (PES) membranes. Mechanisms of bovine serum albumin (BSA) displacement by surfactin on fouled UF membranes were studied using dynamic light scattering (DLS) technique and surface tension measurements. Hydrodynamic diameter and surface tension measurements of BSA-surfactin mixtures showed that the surfactin was efficient in displacing BSA fouled on UF membranes due to strong electrostatic repulsive interactions involved at pH8.5. This study demonstrated that surfactin can be used to effectively clean fouled UF membranes.
This study investigates the value-at-risk (VaR) using nonlinear time-varying volatility (ARCH model) and extreme-value-theory (EVT) methodologies. Similar VaR estimation and prediction are observes under the EVT and heavy-tailed long-memory ARCH approaches. The empirical results evidence the EVT-based VaR are more accurate but only at higher quantiles. It is also found that EVT approach is able to provide a convenient framework for asymmetric properties in both the lower and upper tails which implies that the risk and reward are not equally likely for the short- and long-trading positions in Malaysian stock market.
This article study the influences of structural break to the fractionally integrated time-varying volatility model in Malaysian stock markets from year 1996 to 2006. A fractionally integrated autoregressive conditional heteroscedastic (FIGARCH) model combines with sudden changes of volatility is develops to study the possibility of structural change in Asian financial crisis and currency crisis. Our empirical results evidence substantially reduction in long memory clustering volatility after the inclusion of sudden changes in the volatility. Finally, the estimation, diagnostic and model selection evaluations indicate that the fractionally integrated model with structural change is out-performed compared to the standard model.