Kecergasan fizikal adalah kebolehan tubuh badan untuk berfungsi secara efisien dan efektif, menikmati masa kesenggangan untuk sihat, menghindari penyakit, dan untuk bertindak balas ketika keadaan kecemasan. Aktiviti fizikal berkait rapat dengan tahap kecergasan fizikal seseorang. Aktiviti fizikal adalah pergerakan badan yang dihasilkan oleh rangka otot yang akan mengakibatkan pengeluaran tenaga. Kualiti kehidupan bagi rakyat di Malaysia dipercayai akan memberi kesan terhadap pertumbuhan pembangunan fizikal di sesebuah tempat tersebut. Kawasan bandar ialah kawasan yang diwartakan serta kawasan tepu bina yang bersempadan dengannya dan gabungan kedua-dua kawasan ini mempunyai penduduk seramai 10,000 orang atau lebih semasa Banci Penduduk dan Perumahan 2000. Kawasan selainnya yang diwartakan dan mempunyai jumlah penduduk kurang daripada 10,000 orang serta kawasan yang tidak diwartakan, dikelaskan sebagai luar bandar. Perbezaan kawasan tempat tinggal di kawasan yang dibezakan oleh saiz penduduk boleh dikaitkan dengan perbezaan dalam tabiat makan, akses untuk ke tempat kemudahan sukan dan peluang untuk aktiviti fizikal, dan lain-lain lagi. Pendedahan-pendedahan ini terhadap alam sekitar juga mungkin menentukan gaya kehidupan serta risiko terhadap kardiovaskular dan ia mungkin dikaitkan dengan tahap kecergasan. Justeru, kajian ulasan ini dijalankan untuk mengenalpasti faktor yang mempengaruhi tahap kecergasan dalam kalangan remaja dan kanak-kanak di kawasan bandar dan luar bandar.
Thermal processing of green coconut water (GCW) caused non-enzymic browning and development of rancidity. Effect of the addition of several combinations of ascorbic acid (AA) (0 to 100 ppm) and sodium metabisulfite (SMB) (0 to 30 ppm) on brown discolouration and rancidity of GCW during elevated thermal processing (121°C for 5 min at 15 psi) was investigated. Addition of AA and/or SMB significantly (P
The prevalence of Campylobacter spp. in retailed sushi were examined using the techniques of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in combination with most probable number (MPN) to quantify the bacteria in 150 samples obtained from three supermarkets. The average prevalence of Campylobacter spp. in retailed sushi was 26.6% with 32%, 16% and 32% from supermarket I, II and III, respectively. Campylobacter jejuni was found to be the predominant species in retailed sushi with 82.49% of all Campylobacter spp. positive samples. Campylobacter coli was not detected in all samples. The maximum MPN number of Campylobacter spp. in retailed sushi purchased from supermarket I, II and III ranged from 3.6-11.0 MPN/g, 9.4->1100 MPN/g and 27-1100 MPN/g, respectively. The isolation of C. jejuni from a variety of ready-to-eat retail sushi may indicate that these products can act as possible vehicles for the dissemination of food-borne campylobacteriosis.
Consumption of banana flower as a vegetable is popular among many countries in Southeast
Asia. In this study, banana flowers of six different Malaysian cultivars namely, pisang Abu
(Musa balbisiana cv P. Abu), pisang Berangan (Musa acuminata cv P. Berangan), pisang
Nipah (Musa balbisiana cv P. Nipah), pisang Susu (Musa acuminata cv P. Susu), pisang
Mas (Musa acuminate cv P. Mas) and pisang Rastali (Musa paradisiaca cv P. Rastali) were
investigated for their antioxidant and anti-hyperglyemic properties. The total poly phenolic
content and antioxidant activities, the α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory potentials of the
banana flower extracts were studied in vitro using relevant assays. Among the six cultivars,
cultivar Susu was found to have the highest phenolic content (80.13 ± 4.64 mg of GAE/g of
extract) and displayed the highest ABTS+ and DPPH radical scavenging activities (24.73 ±
0.04 and 25.10 ± 0.15 µmole of Trolox equivalent/g of extract). The anti-amylase and antiglucosidase
activity of the banana flowers extracts were in the range of 47.31-62.58% and
74.98-91.62%, respectively. All banana flower extracts inhibited the activity of α-glucosidase
better than α-amylase at the concentration of 200 µg/ml. This study concluded that the extracts
of Malaysian banana flowers were potent sources of natural antioxidants, which can be used as
postprandial hyperglycemia regulators.
Sesame Cracker or Kuih Bijan is a popular traditional Malays snack in Malaysia. The simplest
formulation of Sesame Cracker dough includes glutinous rice flour, sugar, and water. In order
to reduce the negative effect caused by dough stickiness, the effect of mixing period (3 to 7
minutes), water (41.6 to 45.6%) and sugar (1 to 9%) on dough stickiness of sesame cracker
dough were studied using Texture Analyzer and Chen-Hoseney methodologies (i.e. Chen-
Hoseney Dough Stickiness Cell). The result obtained showing that the increment of mixing
time, water and sugar addition, increased the dough stickiness, work of adhesion/adhesiveness
and dough strength/cohesiveness. However, overmixing of dough had led to the decrease of
these parameters.
Night work and rotating shift work are found to be detrimental to the health of workers. A cross sectional analytical study was conducted among the employees of a public medical centre in Kuala Lumpur. A total of 380 employees participated in the health screening and questionnaire survey. The majority of the respondents were Malays, females, and with mean age of 49 years old. The shift workers persistently had higher but non-significant proportions of being overweight/obesity and unhealthy clinical indicators such as systolic and diastolic blood pressure, fasting blood glucose and lipid profile except waist circumferences and HDL-cholesterol. There were also slightly more shift workers diagnosed with diabetes mellitus, hypertension or coronary heart disease (p>0.05). Although the present study could not provide established evidence for a relationship between shift work and cardiovascular risks, this could serve as a pilot study for future studies in this area.
Termitomyces are delicious edible mushrooms found in Africa and South-East Asia including Malaysia. These mushrooms were found to grow symbiotically with termites around termite nests. Numerous efforts have been made worldwide to develop a cultivation method for these mushrooms. Unfortunately, none of those attempts were successful. The main obstacles encountered were the difficulty to identify and isolate pure termitomyces culture. The problem became prevalent as the culture gets contaminated by other fungi. Termitomyces can easily be identified by its mushroom fruiting body eventually but certainly not at the mycelium and hyphea stages. In this study a simple PCR-based genetic marker detection method for confirmation of termitomyces at any culture stage was developed. Using this method, four distinctive PCR assays
were developed using specific PCR primers designed based on the DNA sequence of the termitomyces mushroom. The PCR results showed that the PCR assays using intact termitomyces
DNA as template was not suitable for this purpose. However, PCR using BamHI and EcoRI predigested termitomyces DNA as template showed identical polymorphism pattern for both
termitomyces mushroom DNA and termitomyces culture DNA. Thus, the method reported here can be used for the identific.
The unsustainable harvesting of sea cucumbers in the Straits of Malacca poses a danger of collapsing population of this marine resource. Recent survey revealed the absence of commercially important sea cucumber species like Stichopus horrens was alarming since there were a lot of taxonomical complications in identifying species from this genus. The knowledge of taxonomy and ecology is an integral part in determining resource management strategies and conservation of marine resources like sea cucumber.
Tumour-induced or oncogenic osteomalacia (OOM) is a rare paraneoplastic syndrome characterized by bone pain and muscle weakness. A biochemical profile consisting of normocalcaemia, hypophosphataemia, phosphaturia, increased serum alkaline phosphatase and inappropriately low serum levels of 1, 25-dihydroxyvitamin-D is diagnostic. OOM is usually caused by an osseous or soft-tissue tumour of mesenchymal origin that secretes phosphaturic substances leading to increased urinary phosphate wasting. These tumours are small and slow growing. The diagnosis continues to be easily missed and when eventually made, localization of the tumour can be difficult. We describe the case of a young man who presented with severe generalized pain associated with muscle weakness. He was extensively investigated and eventually diagnosed to have OOM 3 years after initial presentation. Specialized investigations were necessary to localize the offending tumour.
The incidence of tuberculosis (TB) is currently increasing. HIV induced immuno-suppression modifies the clinical presentation of TB. Our aim is to determine the differences in clinical presentation of HIV-TB co-infection based on their CD4 counts. This retrospective study looked at cases of adult active TB and HIV-1 co-infection treated in Penang Hospital from January 2004 to December 2005. Of the 820 patients treated for active TB, HIV-1 seropositivity rate was 12.6% (103 patients). Majority of HIV-1 co-infected patients presented with prolonged insidious and non-specific symptoms like weight loss, fever and night sweats. The clinical presentation of TB depended on the stage of HIV-1 infection and associated degree of immunodeficiency. Compared to the less immuno-compromised HIV-1 and TB co-infected population (CD4 > 200/mm3 ), patients with CD4 counts ≤ 200 are more likely to have atypical chest radiographs (P = 0.009). During active TB, the Mantoux test was positive in 12 (14.5%) HIV-1 infected patients with a CD4 counts ≤ 200/mm3 and in 16 (80%) of those with CD4 counts > 200/mm3 (P = 0.0001). In our series, the AFB smear / AFB culture and type of TB did not show obvious correlation with CD4 counts. Therefore to diagnose TB in severely immuno-compromised HIV patients, we need to have a high index of suspicion.
In this study, a polluted site at Kg. Pasir Puteh was assessed for heavy metal pollution by using
transplanted caged mussel (Perna viridis) from a relatively clean population, Sg. Melayu; both are located in the Strait of Johore. For control purposes, the P. viridis from Kg. Pasir Puteh were also simultaneously transplanted in Sg. Melayu at the same time. It was found that Zn was the metal which got accumulated fastest in the transplanted mussel while Cd was the slowest. This study indicated that the byssus of Perna viridis was most effective for biomonitoring of Cd, Ni, Pb and Zn, while the shell could be used for the biomonitoring of Cu, Ni and Pb and the total soft tissue for the biomonitoring of Ni since they were able to accumulate and eliminate the respective metals well. By using mussel as a biomonitor, the present study found that Kg. Pasir Puteh, which is located in the eastern part of the Strait of Johore, had significantly higher contamination and bioavailabilities of Cd, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb and Zn. Therefore, the use of the transplanted caged mussels is very useful for heavy metal assessment purposes since it can increase the validity of data interpretation by minimizing ecological factors.
Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the concentrations of chitosan and glycerol for coating Berangan banana (Musa sapientum cv. Berangan). The effects of main edible coating components, chitosan (0.5-2.5%, w/w) and glycerol (0-2%, w/w) on weight loss, firmness, total colour difference, total soluble solids content (TSS) and titratable acidity (TA) of coated banana were studied during 10 days of storage at 26±2°C and 40-50% relative humidity. Results showed that the experimental data could be adequately fitted into a second-order polynomial model with coefficient of determination (R 2 ) ranging from 0.745 to 0.930 for all the variables studied. In general, the chitosan concentration appeared to be the most significant (P< 0.1) factor influencing all variables except for TSS. The optimum concentration of chitosan and glycerol were predicted to be 2.02% and 0.18%, respectively. Statistical assessment showed insignificant difference between experimental and predicted values.
Thirty extracted mandibular premolars were randomly divided into 3 groups. Canals were cleaned, obturated and the teeth incubated. Guttapercha removal was performed using: Hedström files with xylene (Group 1); ProFile® alone (Group 2) and combination of both (Group 3). Time required to remove the gutta-percha was recorded. Postoperative radiographs were taken. Specimens were split longitudinally and photographed. Amount of gutta-percha left at coronal, middle and apical thirds was calculated by computer (QWIN software) and the photographs were also evaluated visually by two endodontists. Results showed that the combined technique was fastest in removing gutta-percha. Radiographically, more residual was left in Group 2. Although computer analysis also showed more residual was left in Group 2, they were in a small percentage and there were no significant differences (P>0.05, SPSS paired-samples T test) among groups. Although there were significant differences between the two evaluators in their scoring, both generally agreed (Kappa’s analysis= 0.64) there was more guttapercha residual in Group 2 compared to Group 3 in the apical thirds. Although the differences in efficacy of guttapercha removal among these techniques were not significant, the use of ProFile® increased the speed of the procedure. The combined technique showed the most superior efficacy in gutta-percha removal.
The adsorption equilibrium time and effects of pH and concentration of ¹⁴C-labeled chlorpyrifos
O,O-diethyl O-(3, 5, 6 trichloro-2-pyridyl)-phosphorothiote in soil were investigated. Two types of Malaysian soil under oil palm were used in this study; namely clay loam and clay soil obtained from the Sungai Sedu and Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) Estates, respectively. Equilibrium studies of chlorpyrifos between the agricultural soil and the pesticide solution were conducted. Adsorption equilibrium time was achieved within 6 and 24 hours for clay loam and clay soil, respectively. It was found that chlorpyrifos adsorbed by the soil samples was characterized by an initial rapid adsorption after which adsorption remained approximately constant. The percentage of ¹⁴C-labeled chlorpyrifos adsorption on soil was found to be higher in clay loam than in clay soils. Results of the study demonstrated that pH affected the adsorption of chlorpyrifos on both clay loam and clay soils. The adsorption of chlorpyrifos on both types of soil was higher at low pH with the adsorption reduced as the pH increased. Results also suggest that chlorpyrifos sorption by soil is concentration dependent.
Currently, great emphasis is placed on the development and intervention of psychology in sports in order to address the problem of athletes’ failure to achieve peak performance in actual competitions. This problem is primarily due to internal factors, such as anxieties, as well as external factors, such as the high pressure of the competitive environments athletes encounter. In this study, the cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety and self confidence levels amongst elite and sub-elite Malaysian volleyball players are defined (male sample n = 50; female sample n = 35; age range between 17 to 25 years). These parameters were measured using the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory (CSAI-2), in which the questionnaires were completed by all respondents 30 minutes prior to the start of a competition. The findings indicated that there was a significant difference (p < 0.005) in cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety and self-confidence among elite and sub-elite Malaysian (male and female) volleyball athletes. According to the findings, the competitive anxiety levels of the sub-elite athletes were higher than the elite, mainly due to the inability of the sub-elite athletes to control their emotions using psychological skills. In order to minimize this problem, a novel approach that involves using virtual reality to reduce the athletes’ competitive anxiety was proposed. This approach utilizes a 3D immersive environment that was developed based on the challenging real-world situations encountered during a volleyball match. The design and development of this approach is predicted to enhance athletes’ psychological skills, and in turn ensure that they can achieve peak performance under high pressure conditions.
The purpose of the study was to examine the developmental pathways of elite youth swimmers. Swim-related developmental activities of elite and sub-elite youth swimmers were examined. Fifteen elite (8 males; 7 females) and 15 subelite (5 males; 10 females) youth swimmers were recruited for the study. A semistructured questionnaire was used to record retrospectively the hours engaged in swim-related activities (i.e., structured and unstructured activities) from beginning of career. No significant differences were found for swim-related developmental milestones for both elite and sub-elite swimmers. Overall, the elite swimmers accumulated more hours in swim-related activities than the sub-elites between 6-15 years of age. Although the former accumulated more hours in both structured and unstructured swimming activities between 6-12 years of age, no significant differences were found between the groups. However, the elite swimmers accumulated significantly more hours in structured swimming activities between 13-15 years of age. Both groups had analogous developmental pathways during childhood but the onset of adolescence led to different outcomes. The increased hours in structured practice during adolescence is suggested to have influenced the level of attainment in swimmers. Incremental amount of training at certain age period is critical in developing optimum performance in sports.
Digital elevation model (DEM) generation from stereo images is an effective and economical method in topography mapping. This paper used the stereo pair methodology to generate the digital elevation model (DEM) from PRISM (Panchromatic Remote-Sensing Instrument Satellite) sensor which is onboard of ALOS (Advanced Land Observing Satellite). The pair of forward-backward is used as stereoscopic imagery in this study. Ten ground control points (GCPs) are collected with residual error 0.49 pixels to generate an absolute DEM. This generated DEM with 2.5 m spatial resolution is then matched with the 90 m spatial resolution of
SRTM (Space Shuttle Radar Topography Mission) DEM to compare the result. Although SRTM-DEM has a much coarser resolution, the positional accuracy of the matching is found. The difference of the height from the mean sea level (MSL) between the SRTM-DEM and the PRISM-DEM is analyzed and the correlation between the two DEMs is R²=0.8083. The accuracy of the DEM generated is given by the RMSE value of 0.8991 meter.
Dermoid cysts are anatomic embryonic abnormalities that are rarely seen in the oral cavity. Histologically, they are further classified as epidermoid, dermoid or teratoid. We report a case in which an 18- year-old girl who developed an epidermoid cyst presenting as a large sublingual swelling occupying the entire floor of the mouth causing snoring and speech difficulty. We emphasized on the clinical steps in achieving an accurate diagnosis, possible differential diagnosis, necessary imaging techniques and management of epidermoid cyst.
Known as ‘belangkas’ in Malaysia, horseshoe crabs have been used by locals for food, bait and as fertilizer. Currently, these ancient mariners are gaining a lot of attention as the amoebocyte from their blood are harvested by the biomedical industry for use to detect human pathogens in patients, injectable drugs and intravenous devices.
Setting a question paper for test, quiz, and examination is one of the teachers’ tasks. The factors that are usually taken into consideration in carrying out this particular task are the level of difficulty of the questions and the level of the students’ ability. In addition, teachers will also have to consider the number of questions that have impact on the examination. This research describes a model-based test theory to study the confidence intervals for the projected number of items of a test, given the reliability of the test, the difficulty of the question, and the students’ ability. Using the simulated data, the confidence intervals of the projected number of items were examined. The probability coverage and the length of the confidence interval were also used to evaluate the confidence intervals. The results showed that the data with a normal distribution, the ratio variance components of 4:1:5 and reliability equal to 0.80 gave the best confidence interval for the projected number of items.