The surface facial imagings have many applications in medical fields. The recent past has seen great advances in three dimensional imaging which include laser scanning or stereophotogrammetry. Here, we reviewed various systems with reference to image acquisition, advantages and disadvantages. Examples of important clinical application with reference to the human face are also discussed. Finally, a 3D imaging system at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) is described.
This study was aimed at identifying the effectiveness of hospital-based pulmonary rehabilitation programme as compared to home-based pulmonary programme in improving the condition of the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Hospital. A total of 35 patients aging between 17 to 78 years old were randomised either to hospital (48.6%, n = 20) or home (43%, n = 15) -based pulmonary rehabilitation by the Physiotherapists. For the hospital-based rehabilitation programme, the patients were scheduled to come to the hospital twice a week for eight weeks. For home-based rehabilitation programme, subjects were scheduled to come to the Physiotherapy Department twice to learn on the exercises that need to be carried out before they are allowed to do on their own at home. Each subject was given a diary to record the exercises that have been done. A telephone call is made once a week for monitoring purpose. Assessment of lung function, six-minute-walk test and Borg score were carried out before and after the eight-week rehabilitation is conducted. The Results showed that there was no significant change in lung function for both groups before and after rehabilitation. There is a significant different (p < 0.05) in 6MWT before and after rehabilitation for hospital-based pulmonary rehabilitation patients. However, the difference is not significant (p > 0.05) for home-base pulmonary rehabilitation patients. The results also show that there exist no significant correlation between lung function and 6MWT even though there is an increase in walking distance at baseline or the eighth week. In conclusion, hospitalbased pulmonary rehabilitation is more effective than the home-based pulmonary rehabilitation in improving the exercise endurance which would helps in reduce dyspnoea among COPD patients.
Keywords: Home-based pulmonary programme; Hospital-based pulmonary programme; COPD; Lung function
Demographic, economic and social changes have had major impact on health and illness globally, including in Malaysia, and present significant challenges to the structure and delivery of health services. While these changes have influenced the epidemiology of disease, the diagnosis, experience and response to changes in health status for individuals and their families are influenced by additional environmental and personal factors. We describe these factors in relation to our ongoing research program on personal and social aspects of impairment and disability. The Resilience study aims to understand how people with impairments and their families live with chronic health conditions, how these conditions impact on self-esteem, social relationships and societal participation, and how structure, context and environment affect individual functioning, disability and well-being. We described our methodology and summarize the baseline data that will inform our future enquiries.
The Mahmood Merican Award is an annual award for the best original scientific or clinical study submitted by young trainees in orthopaedic surgery in Malaysia, for presentation during the annual scientific meeting of the Malaysian Orthopaedic Association (MOA). This award was initiated in 1997 to encourage high standard of research and scientific presentations among young trainees.A cash prize of RM 1,000 was donated by Dato Dr Mahmood Merican. All Award finalists will represent MOA as ambassadors to regional orthopaedic association meetings, a duty that will be fully sponsored by MOA.
Questions on Key Features Problems (KFP) are an important component of the theory paper for Part 1 of the membership examination of the Academy of Family Physicians of Malaysia (MAFP) and the Fellowship for the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (FRACGP).This paper will attempt to provide information on the format and marking scheme of KFP. Expected answers for some KFP cases will be discussed and common errors made by candidates highlighted with suggestions on how to avoid them.
The distribution, enrichment and pollution status of metals in sediment cores from the Sabah-Sarawak coastal waters were studied. Seven sediment cores were taken in July 2004 using a gravity box corer. The metals of Cu, Zn and Pb were analyzed by ICP-MS to assess the pollution status of the sediments. The sediment fine fraction and organic carbon content was also analyzed. Enrichment Factor (EF), Geoaccumulation Index (Igeo) and Pollution Load Index (PLI) was calculated as criteria of possible contamination. The results showed that collected sediments were composed with clay, silt and sand as 12 – 74%, 27 – 72% and 0 – 20%, respectively. Meanwhile, organic carbon contents were relatively low and constant over time, based on sediment depth profiles, and it did not exceed 5% at any sampling station. The average metal concentrations in sediment cores at all sampling station were distributed in the ranges of 1.66 ± 1.36 – 6.61 ± 0.12 μgg-1 for Cu, 26.55 ± 1.04 – 57.94 ± 1.58 μgg-1 for Zn and 3.99 ± 0.10 – 14.48 ± 0.32μgg-1 for Pb. According to calculations of EF, Igeo and PLI, it can be concluded that concentrations of Cu, Zn and Pb were not significantly affected by pollution from anthropogenic sources at the seven sampling locations. Thus, the metal content of Cu, Zn and Pb in sediment should not cause pollution problem to the marine environment of Sabah-Sarawak coastal waters and further response measures are not needed.
An entomological study was conducted in Tanjung Sepat, Selangor, Malaysia in May until September 2007 revealing five species of butterflies (all from family Nymphalidae) were attracted to pig carcasses placed in an oil palm plantation. Euploea mulciber (Cramer 1777), Hypolimnas bolina (Linnaeus 1758), Elymnias hypermnestra (Linnaeus 1763), Mycalesis mineus (Linnaeus 1758) and Ypthima baldus (Fabricius 1775) came to the carcasses at different stages of decomposition. From this study, we know that nymphalid butterflies are attracted to carcasses but their roles are most probably unimportant in post-mortem estimation.