Background: Drug abuse is a serious global health problem. Globally, 269 million people or 5.3 percent of the population aged 15‒64 years used drugs in 2018. Evidence shows that most drug addicts start using drugs in adolescence (<15-years-old). Adolescents need role models who are able to guide them; teachers have important roles as they are primary role models for students. Therefore, teachers should have positive beliefs to guide students effectively, i.e. they should have good awareness about the threat of drug abuse and high confidence to implement required prevention. This research developed an alternative electronic delivery method of learning material to empower teachers in preventing drug abuse. This study aimed to compare the effect of the electronic and a printed teaching module on teachers' beliefs about drug abuse prevention. Methods: 260 junior high school teachers were selected randomly. These teachers were split into two groups. Before intervention, a questionnaire was completed by both groups. The teachers then completed the learning material: electronic module in the first group and printed module in the second group. One month later, data was collected from both groups using the same questionnaire to assess the beliefs of the teachers Results: There was significant positive effect on teachers' beliefs, both in electronic module and printed module groups. All categories of beliefs at one month after intervention were significantly higher than those at baseline (P<0.001). Based on between group comparison analysis of mean changes, perceived susceptibility in electronic module group was significantly higher than printed module group (P<0.001), while perceived severity, benefits, barriers and efficacy were not significantly different (P>0.05). Conclusions: Electronic and printed module intervention significantly increased teachers' beliefs in drug abuse prevention. The printed module was still effective to be used as learning media, while the electronic module was an alternative with some advantages.
Forty three (n=43) genomic DNA of Escherichia coli (11 isolates from eggs and 32 isolates from imported beef meats) were characterized by shiga toxin 1 (stx1), enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus-PCR (ERIC-PCR) and random amplified polymorphic DNA-PCR (RAPD-PCR) analyses. In the shiga toxin 1 (stx1) gene detection with primer stx 1F (5’-TTCTTCGGTATCCTATTCCC-3’) and stx 1R (5’- CTGTCACAGTAACAACCGT-3’), 9 E. coli of beef meats isolates were positive toward sxt1 gene. The results of the ERIC-PCR and RAPD-PCR were analyzed using GelCompar II software. ERIC-PCR with primer ERIC1 (5’-CACTTAGGGGTCCTCGAATGTA -3’) and ERIC2 (5’-AAGTAAGTGACTGGGGTGAGCG-3’) discriminated the E. coli into 6 clusters and 10 single isolates at 80% similarity. RAPD-PCR with primer Gen8 and Gen9, produced 10 clusters and 15 single isolates and 12 clusters and 14 single isolates of 80%, respectively. These results demonstrated that both ERIC-PCR and RAPD-PCR are useful and suitable tools for molecular typing of those isolates examined.
Introduction: According to the Youth Behaviour Risk Factor Surveillance (YBRFSS, 2011) in Malaysia, the prevalence of smokers nationally among Form 1, 2 and 4 students government secondary school students was 9.1% (ever smokers) and 8.7% (current smokers). However, there is limited information on the prevalence of smoking among religious secondary school students and self-esteem as risk factor. Thus, this study was conducted to determine the prevalence and factors associated with smoking among the religious secondary school students in Petaling district, Selangor.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 899 students. The schools were selected using cluster sampling and self-administered questionnaire was used. Data was analyzed using chi-square test and multivariate logistic regression to identify the independent factors for smoking.
Results: The response rate was 94%. The prevalence of ever smoking was 10.1%; 3.9% among female and 18.6% among male. The median age (interquartile range) of smoking initiation was 12.00 (4.01) years. The results showed that independent factors for smoking were: males (OR= 5.47); age group 14-15 years (OR=2.82) and 16-17 years (OR=3.63) and having low self -esteem (OR=6.24).
Conclusion: prevalence of ever smokers is higher when compared to YBRFSS, (2011) and it was revealed that most of the smokers started smoking even before secondary school. The results also revealed the importance of promoting self-esteem. Efforts in smoking prevention should therefore be focused on curbing the initiation of the acts and improving students’ self-worth.
Genomic DNA of Vibrio parahaemolyticus were characterized by antibiotic resistance, enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus-polymerase chain reaction (ERIC-PCR) and random amplified polymorphic DNA-polymerase chain reaction (RAPD-PCR) analysis. These isolates originated from 3 distantly locations of Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Melaka (East coastal areas), Malaysia. A total of 44 (n = 44) of tentatively V. parahaemolyticus were also examined for the presence of toxR, tdh and trh gene. Of 44 isolates, 37 were positive towards toxR gene; while, none were positive to tdh and trh gene. Antibiotic resistance analysis showed the V. parahaemolyticus isolates were highly resistant to bacitracin (92%, 34/37) and penicillin (89%, 33/37) followed by resistance towards ampicillin (68%, 25/37), cefuroxime (38%, 14/37), amikacin (6%, 2/37) and ceftazidime (14%, 5/37). None of the V. parahaemolyticus isolates were resistant towards chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, ceftriaxone, enrofloxacin, norfloxacin, streptomycin and vancomycin. Antibiogram patterns exhibited, 9 patterns and phenotypically less heterogenous when compared to PCR-based techniques using ERIC- and RAPD-PCR. The results of the ERIC- and RAPD-PCR were analyzed using GelCompare software. ERIC-PCR with primers ERIC1R and ERIC2 discriminated the V. parahaemolyticus isolates into 6 clusters and 21 single isolates at a similarity level of 80%. While, RAPD-PCR with primer Gen8 discriminated the V. parahaemolyticus isolates into 11 clusters and 10 single isolates and Gen9 into 8 clusters and 16 single isolates at the same similarity level examined. Results in the presence study demonstrated combination of phenotypically and genotypically methods show a wide heterogeneity among cockle isolates of V. parahaemolyticus.
A total of 24 strains of Vibrio alginolyticus were isolated from cockles (Anadara granosa) and identified for VibA and gyrB genes. All V. alginolyticus isolates were then tested against nine different antibiotics. In this study, the highest percentage of antibiotic resistance was obtained against penicillin (37.50%), followed by ampicillin, vancomycin (12.50%) and erythromycin (8.33%). All of V. alginolyticus isolates were susceptible against streptomycin, kanamycin, tetracycline, chloramphenicol and sulfamethoxazole. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay has confirmed the presence of four antibiotic resistance genes of penicillin (pbp2a), ampicillin (blaOXA), erythromycin (ermB) and vancomycin (vanB). Out of 24 V. alginolyticus isolates, 2 isolates possessed the tdh-related hemolysin (trh) (strains VA15 and VA16) and none for the thermostable direct hemolysin (tdh) gene. Both strains of the tdh-related hemolysin (trh) were susceptible to all antibiotics tested. The multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) index ranging between 0.2 and 0.3 with 5 antibiograms (A1-A5) was observed. Combination of enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus-polymerase chain reaction (ERIC-PCR) and antibiotic resistance indicated 18 genome types which showed genetic heterogeneity of those V. alginolyticus isolates. The results demonstrated the presence of V. alginolyticus strain found in cockles can be a potential risk to consumers and can contribute to the deterioration of human health in the study area. Thus, it is essential for local authority to provide the preventive measures in ensuring the cockles are safe for consumption.