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Fulltext Short-term consumption of Gelam honey reduces Triglyceride level

Samat, S., Mohd Nor, N., Hussein, F. N., Eshak, Z., Ismail, W. I. W.

International Food Research Journal, 2017;24(4):1519-1524.
MyJurnal

The study was carried out to evaluate short-term administration of Gelam honey. A single oral
administration of the honey at a dose of 5000 mg/kg body weight on male Sprague Dawley rats
(test group) for 14 days did not produce any signs of toxicity, behavioral changes, mortality, changes on gross appearance or histopathological changes of internal organs. The examinations
of signs, animal behavior and health monitoring showed no abnormalities in the test group as
compared to the rats unfed with the honey (control group). The test group had progressive increased both body weight and in the meal pattern analysis. However, triglycerides level was found significantly decreased in the test group. It suggested that the honey might have a decent effect in controlling the blood triglyceride level. Polyphenol contents in the honey may play the role to reduce the trigyceride level. Biochemical test for aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT), urea, creatinine, cholesterol and glucose of rats in the test group were in the normal range compared to the control. There were no significant changes in the absolute and relative organ weight between the two groups. As a conclusion, tested dose of Gelam honey is safe and has medical potential. Meanwhile, lethal dose (LD50) of the honey was found to be greater than 5000 mg/kg body weight. Long period of Gelam honey consumption should be conducted to observe and confirm those effects.
Adverse events following immunisation of COVID-19 vaccine among health care workers in the first phase of vaccination

Rahmat H, Leelavathi M, Wan Ismail WF

Med J Malaysia, 2022 Nov;77(6):637-642.
PMID: 36448378

INTRODUCTION: The new COVID-19 vaccine was met with worldwide overwhelming uncertainties pertaining to its safety profile, effectiveness, and potential adverse reactions when it was first introduced. This led to vaccine refusal and delay in vaccine uptake in many countries including Malaysia. The objective of this study was to determine the Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI) to the COVID-19 vaccine.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted among healthcare workers who received the COVID-19 vaccine during the first phase of immunisation from eight public primary clinics in Johor Bahru district. Data were collected between May and September 2021 using a self-administered questionnaire.
RESULTS: A total of 240 healthcare workers participated and all of them received the Pfizer Messenger RNA vaccine. Our study found that a large majority of vaccine recipients (87.5%, n=210) experienced AEFI to COVID-19 vaccine for either the first, second, or both doses. More than 80% of them experienced more than one type of AEFI. The most common AEFI reported during the first and second dose was localised symptom such as pain at injection site (60-68%), pain on the injected arm (52-61%), and swelling at injection site (32-33%). Common systemic symptoms were fever (22- 57%), myalgia (20-45%), and dizziness (24-26%). Although a large majority experienced AEFI, these reactions were mostly of mild to moderate severity (47.3-73.6%). The mean duration of AEFI onset was within 30 minutes to about 1 day (0.33-22.5 hours) of injection and lasted between 30 minutes and 2.5 days. There was no association between demographic characteristic of participants and severity of AEFI to COVID-19 vaccine. Mean duration of fever was significantly (p=0.005) longer after the second dose (34.2 hours) of vaccine compared to first (20.6 hours) CONCLUSION: This study shows that a large majority of COVID-19 vaccine recipients experienced AEFI; however, these reactions were mostly of mild to moderate severity and lasted between 30 minutes and 2.5 days. A large majority experienced more than one type of AEFI. The most common AEFI was localised reactions consisting of pain and swelling at the injection site and pain on the injected arm. The most common systemic reactions were fever, myalgia, and dizziness. Duration of fever was significantly longer after the second dose.
Fulltext catena-Poly[[(5,5,7,12,12,14-hexa-methyl-1,4,8,11-tetra-aza-cyclo-tetra-deca-1,7-diene)copper(II)]-μ-chlorido-[dichloro-cuprate(II)]-μ-chlorido]

Yamin BM, Ismail W, Daran JC

Acta Crystallogr Sect E Struct Rep Online, 2012 Jul 1;68(Pt 7):m886-7.
PMID: 22807730 DOI: 10.1107/S1600536812024932

In the title compound, [Cu₂Cl₄(C₁₆H₃₂N₄)](n), the central Cu(II) anion of the macrocyclic complex cation is weakly linked to two Cl atoms of the tetrachloridocuprate anion with Cu-Cl distances of 3.008 (3) and 3.220 (3) Å, respectively, forming a chain parallel to [10-1]. The geometry of the Cu-macrocyclic complex is distorted octa-hedral with the bridging Cl atoms occupying the axial position at an angle of 173.44 (7)° about the central Cu(II) atom. The tetrachloridocuprate anion adopts a distorted tetra-hedral geometry. In the crystal, the chain is stabilized by intra- and inter-molecular N-H⋯Cl hydrogen bonds.
Understanding Telerehabilitation Technology to Evaluate Stakeholders' Adoption of Telerehabilitation Services: A Systematic Literature Review and Directions for Further Research

Niknejad N, Ismail W, Bahari M, Nazari B

Arch Phys Med Rehabil, 2021 07;102(7):1390-1403.
PMID: 33484693 DOI: 10.1016/j.apmr.2020.12.014

OBJECTIVES: To examine the adoption of telerehabilitation services from the stakeholders' perspective and to investigate recent advances and future challenges.
DATA SOURCES: A systematic review of English articles indexed by PubMed, Thomson Institute of Scientific Information's Web of Science, and Elsevier's Scopus between 1998 and 2020.
STUDY SELECTION: The first author (N.N.) screened all titles and abstracts based on the eligibility criteria. Experimental and empirical articles such as randomized and nonrandomized controlled trials, pre-experimental studies, case studies, surveys, feasibility studies, qualitative descriptive studies, and cohort studies were all included in this review.
DATA EXTRACTION: The first, second, and fourth authors (N.N., W.I., B.N.) independently extracted data using data fields predefined by the third author (M.B.). The data extracted through this review included study objective, study design, purpose of telerehabilitation, telerehabilitation equipment, patient/sample, age, disease, data collection methods, theory/framework, and adoption themes.
DATA SYNTHESIS: A telerehabilitation adoption process model was proposed to highlight the significance of the readiness stage and to classify the primary studies. The articles were classified based on 6 adoption themes, namely users' perception, perspective, and experience; users' satisfaction; users' acceptance and adherence; TeleRehab usability; individual readiness; and users' motivation and awareness.
RESULTS: A total of 133 of 914 articles met the eligibility criteria. The majority of papers were randomized controlled trials (27%), followed by surveys (15%). Almost 49% of the papers examined the use of telerehabilitation technology in patients with nervous system problems, 23% examined physical disability disorders, 10% examined cardiovascular diseases, and 8% inspected pulmonary diseases.
CONCLUSION: Research on the adoption of telerehabilitation is still in its infancy and needs further attention from researchers working in health care, especially in resource-limited countries. Indeed, studies on the adoption of telerehabilitation are essential to minimize implementation failure, as these studies will help to inform health care personnel and clients about successful adoption strategies.
Optimizing the setting of medical interactive rehabilitation assistant platform to improve the performance of the patients: A case study

Gharaei N, Ismail W, Grosan C, Hendradi R

Artif Intell Med, 2021 10;120:102151.
PMID: 34629147 DOI: 10.1016/j.artmed.2021.102151

Tele-rehabilitation is an alternative to the conventional rehabilitation service that helps patients in remote areas to access a service that is practical in terms of logistics and cost, in a controlled environment. It includes the usage of mobile phones or other wireless devices that are applied to rehabilitation exercises. Such applications or software include exercises in the form of virtual games, treatment monitoring based on the rehabilitation progress and data analysis. However, nowadays, physiotherapists use a default profiling setting for patients carrying out rehabilitation, due to lack of information. Medical Interactive Rehabilitation Assistant (MIRA) is a computer-based (virtual reality) rehabilitation platform. The profile setting includes: a level of difficulty, percentage of tolerance and maximum range. To the best of our knowledge, there is a lack of optimization in the parameter values setting of MIRA exergames that could enhance patients' performance. Generally, non-optimal profile setting leads to reduced effectiveness. Therefore, this study aims to develop a method that optimizes the profile setting of each patient according to the estimated (desired) optimal results. The proposed method is developed using unsupervised and supervised machine learning techniques. We use Self-Organizing Map (SOM) to cluster patient records into several distinct clusters. K-fold cross validation is applied to construct the prediction models. Classification And Regression Tree (CART) is utilized to predict the patient's optimal input setting for playing the MIRA games. The combination of these techniques seems to improve the efficiency of the standard (default) way in predicting the optimal settings for exergames. To evaluate the proposed method, we conduct an experiment with data collected from a rehabilitation center. We use three metrics to quantify the quality of the results: R-squared (R2), Mean Absolute Error (MAE) and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE). The results of experimental analysis demonstrate that the proposed method is effective in predicting the adequate parameter setting in MIRA platform. The method has potential to be implemented as an intelligent system for MIRA prediction in healthcare. Moreover, the method could be extended to similar platforms for which data is available to train our method on.
Fulltext Facile Coaxial Electrospinning Synthesis of Polyacrylonitrile/Cellulose Acetate Nanofiber Membrane for Oil-Water Separations

Al-Rajabi MM, Almanassra IW, Khalil AKA, Atieh MA, Laoui T, Khalil KA

Polymers (Basel), 2023 Nov 30;15(23).
PMID: 38232019 DOI: 10.3390/polym15234594

Oil-contaminated water and industrial oily wastewater discharges have adversely affected aquatic ecosystems and human safety. Membrane separation technology offers a promising solution for effective oil-water separation. Thus, a membrane with high surface area, hydrophilic-oleophobic properties, and stability is a promising candidate. Electrospinning, a straightforward and efficient process, produces highly porous polymer-based membranes with a vast surface area and stability. The main objective of this study is to produce hydrophilic-oleophobic polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and cellulose acetate (CA) nanofibers using core-shell electrospinning. Incorporating CA into the shell of the nanofibers enhances the wettability. The core PAN polymer improves the electrospinning process and contributes to the hydrophilicity-oleophobicity of the produced nanofibers. The PAN/CA nanofibers were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and surface-wetting behavior. The resulting PAN/cellulose nanofibers exhibited significantly improved surface-wetting properties, demonstrating super-hydrophilicity and underwater superoleophobicity, making them a promising choice for oil-water separation. Various oils, including gasoline, diesel, toluene, xylene, and benzene, were employed in the preparation of oil-water mixture solutions. The utilization of PAN/CA nanofibers as a substrate proved to be highly efficient, confirming exceptional separation efficiency, remarkable stability, and prolonged durability. The current work introduces an innovative single-step fabrication method of composite nanofibers, specially designed for efficient oil-water separation. This technology exhibits significant promise for deployment in challenging situations, offering excellent reusability and a remarkable separation efficiency of nearly 99.9%.
Parental Knowledge on Nephrotic Syndrome and Disease Relapse in children

Diong SC, Syed Zakaria SZ, Rasat R, Wan Ismail WJ

Med J Malaysia, 2019 08;74(4):288-295.
PMID: 31424035

INTRODUCTION: Parental knowledge on nephrotic syndrome and disease relapse is important for early recognition and treatment of relapse to prevent the complications. Parental knowledge on nephrotic syndrome was reported to be inadequate from published studies. To date, there is no study on parental knowledge on childhood nephrotic syndrome in Malaysia. This study is thus aimed at to determine the level of knowledge on NS and disease relapse among parents of children with nephrotic syndrome and determine factors that influence knowledge on nephrotic syndrome and disease relapse.
STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in Paediatric Nephrology Clinic, Hospital Selayang from November 2016 to November 2017. Seventy-eight parents were recruited based on universal sampling. Selfadministered questionnaire in Bahasa Malaysia and English was designed through focus group discussion with five subject matter experts and validated through content validity. Data was analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics 23.0.
RESULTS: Majority of parents or guardians (91%) were able to answer more than 50% of the questions correctly. Of these, 56% were able to answer more than 75% of the questions correctly. A 'cut-off' of 75% was defined as good knowledge. Parents of children with frequent relapses had higher parental knowledge and this was statistically significant (p=0.025).
CONCLUSION: Parental knowledge on nephrotic syndrome and disease relapse was still inadequate as only 56% parents had good knowledge. The main areas of deficit in parental knowledge were related to medications, infections, home urine dipstick monitoring, and recognition of warning signs during relapse.
Fulltext Improving patient rehabilitation performance in exercise games using collaborative filtering approach

Ismail W, Al-Hadi IAA, Grosan C, Hendradi R

PeerJ Comput Sci, 2021;7:e599.
PMID: 34322590 DOI: 10.7717/peerj-cs.599

Background: Virtual reality is utilised in exergames to help patients with disabilities improve on the movement of their limbs. Exergame settings, such as the game difficulty, play important roles in the rehabilitation outcome. Similarly, suboptimal exergames' settings may adversely affect the accuracy of the results obtained. As such, the improvement in patients' movement performances falls below the desired expectations. In this paper, a recommender system is incorporated to suggest the most preferred movement setting for each patient, based on the movement history of the patient.
Method: The proposed recommender system (ResComS) suggests the most suitable setting necessary to optimally improve patients' rehabilitation performances. In the course of developing the recommender system, three methods are proposed and compared: ReComS (K-nearest neighbours and collaborative filtering algorithms), ReComS+ (k-means, K-nearest neighbours, and collaborative filtering algorithms) and ReComS++ (bacterial foraging optimisation, k-means, K-nearest neighbours, and collaborative filtering algorithms). The experimental datasets are collected using the Medical Interactive Recovery Assistant (MIRA) software platform.
Result: Experimental results, validated by the patients' exergame performances, reveal that the ReComS++ approach predicts the best exergame settings for patients with 85.76% accuracy.
Fulltext Geometric feature descriptor and dissimilarity-based registration of remotely sensed imagery

Kahaki SMM, Arshad H, Nordin MJ, Ismail W

PLoS One, 2018;13(7):e0200676.
PMID: 30024921 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0200676

Image registration of remotely sensed imagery is challenging, as complex deformations are common. Different deformations, such as affine and homogenous transformation, combined with multimodal data capturing can emerge in the data acquisition process. These effects, when combined, tend to compromise the performance of the currently available registration methods. A new image transform, known as geometric mean projection transform, is introduced in this work. As it is deformation invariant, it can be employed as a feature descriptor, whereby it analyzes the functions of all vertical and horizontal signals in local areas of the image. Moreover, an invariant feature correspondence method is proposed as a point matching algorithm, which incorporates new descriptor's dissimilarity metric. Considering the image as a signal, the proposed approach utilizes a square Eigenvector correlation (SEC) based on the Eigenvector properties. In our experiments on standard test images sourced from "Featurespace" and "IKONOS" datasets, the proposed method achieved higher average accuracy relative to that obtained from other state of the art image registration techniques. The accuracy of the proposed method was assessed using six standard evaluation metrics. Furthermore, statistical analyses, including t-test and Friedman test, demonstrate that the method developed as a part of this study is superior to the existing methods.
Ewing Sarcoma presenting as a gluteal mass in adult woman: Diagnostic approach and its challenges

Tuan Sharif SE, Alzallal O, Wan Ismail WF, Md Zin RR

Malays J Pathol, 2020 Apr;42(1):121-125.
PMID: 32342941

INTRODUCTION: Sarcomas of the Ewing family of tumours are aggressive neoplasms occurring in bone and soft tissue of mostly children and young adults. It usually affects male more than female with peak incidence 10 to 15 years of age, and rarely encountered in adults especially in more than 40 years old. It is an aggressive, rare tumour with a tendency toward recurrence after resection and early metastasis.
CASE REPORT: We reported a rare case of Ewing Sarcoma in a 62-year-old woman who had an unusual clinical presentation. She had right painless buttock swelling only for a month. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed soft tissue sarcoma originated from right gluteal muscle. The diagnosis of Ewing sarcoma (ES) was made in a limited diagnostic material in an initial tru-cut biopsy, followed by an excision supported by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and Fluorescent In-Situ Hybridization (FISH).
DISCUSSION: The purpose of this study is to document ES in an adult woman and its diagnostic challenges in histopathologic perspective.
Reducing charging effects in scanning electron microscope images by Rayleigh contrast stretching method (RCS)

Wan Ismail WZ, Sim KS, Tso CP, Ting HY

Scanning, 2011 Jul-Aug;33(4):233-51.
PMID: 21611953 DOI: 10.1002/sca.20237

To reduce undesirable charging effects in scanning electron microscope images, Rayleigh contrast stretching is developed and employed. First, re-scaling is performed on the input image histograms with Rayleigh algorithm. Then, contrast stretching or contrast adjustment is implemented to improve the images while reducing the contrast charging artifacts. This technique has been compared to some existing histogram equalization (HE) extension techniques: recursive sub-image HE, contrast stretching dynamic HE, multipeak HE and recursive mean separate HE. Other post processing methods, such as wavelet approach, spatial filtering, and exponential contrast stretching, are compared as well. Overall, the proposed method produces better image compensation in reducing charging artifacts.
Fulltext Design and analysis of water quality monitoring and filtration system for different types of water in Malaysia

Razman NA, Wan Ismail WZ, Abd Razak MH, Ismail I, Jamaludin J

Int J Environ Sci Technol (Tehran), 2023;20(4):3789-3800.
PMID: 35729914 DOI: 10.1007/s13762-022-04192-x

Water pollution always occurs in Malaysia due to industrial, construction, agriculture, and household activities. River pollution can disturb water supply that eventually affects business and household activities. Thus, water quality monitoring system is needed to detect contaminated water. We developed a water quality monitoring and filtration system controlled by Arduino. The proposed system was designed in Proteus software and ThingSpeak platform was used for real-time monitoring. The main objective of the study was to compare water quality of river, lake and tap water in terms of pH, temperature, turbidity, electrical conductivity and oxidation-reduction potential. If the water quality was not satisfied, the water sample would be filtered through filtration system. Water turbidity level, pH, temperature, electrical conductivity, and oxidation-reduction potential for filtered and nonfiltered water were compared and analyzed according to international and national water quality standard. Besides that, statistical analysis such as box plot and one-way analysis of variance test was applied to validate data from the system. The real-time water quality monitoring system was implemented through data storage, data transfer, and data processing. The system was connected to wireless fidelity whereas the output data was sent to the user and monitored by ThingSpeak. The system can be further upgraded and scaled up to be applied in the main tank at our home or factory. The outcome of this research can be used as a reference for further study on lake and river pollution monitoring system.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13762-022-04192-x.
Fulltext Community behavioral change and management of COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Indonesia

Tjahjadi B, Soewarno N, Adibah Wan Ismail W, Kustiningsih N, Nasihatun Nafidah L

J King Saud Univ Sci, 2023 Feb;35(2):102451.
PMID: 36415666 DOI: 10.1016/j.jksus.2022.102451

OBJECTIVES: This study aims to investigate the effect of information and motivation on behavioral change related to the COVID-19 pandemic management in Indonesia. It also examines the role of behavioral skills in mediating the information-behavioral change relationship and the motivation-behavioral change relationship.
METHOD: This study employs the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to test the research hypotheses. Using the online survey method to collect data, 845 responses were obtained from several main islands of Indonesia.
RESULTS: The results of the study show that information and motivation positively influence people's behavior changes. Behavioral skills mediate the influence of information and motivation on behavioral change. This study contributes to the development of the information-motivation-behavior model (IMB-Model). It also provides additional knowledge on pandemic management in the research setting of Indonesia as a country that has complex characteristics in terms of religion and belief, demography, culture, economy, and politics.
CONCLUSIONS: This study concludes that the success of Indonesia in dealing with the pandemic greatly depends on the success of changing the community behavior. Providing reliable and consistent information enhances people's motivation to build their behavioral skills. With increased behavioral skills, people have changed their behavior in fighting against COVID-19 by obeying health protocols, participating in vaccination programs, and practicing a healthier lifestyle.
Water treatment and artificial intelligence techniques: a systematic literature review research

Ismail W, Niknejad N, Bahari M, Hendradi R, Zaizi NJM, Zulkifli MZ

Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2023 Jun;30(28):71794-71812.
PMID: 34609681 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-021-16471-0

As clean water can be considered among the essentials of human life, there is always a requirement to seek its foremost and high quality. Water primarily becomes polluted due to organic as well as inorganic pollutants, including nutrients, heavy metals, and constant contamination with organic materials. Predicting the quality of water accurately is essential for its better management along with controlling pollution. With stricter laws regarding water treatment to remove organic and biologic materials along with different pollutants, looking for novel technologic procedures will be necessary for improved control of the treatment processes by water utilities. Linear regression-based models with relative simplicity considering water prediction have been typically used as available statistical models. Nevertheless, in a majority of real problems, particularly those associated with modeling of water quality, non-linear patterns will be observed, requiring non-linear models to address them. Thus, artificial intelligence (AI) can be a good candidate in modeling and optimizing the elimination of pollutants from water in empirical settings with the ability to generate ideal operational variables, due to its recent considerable advancements. Management and operation of water treatment procedures are supported technically by these technologies, leading to higher efficiency compared to sole dependence on human operations. Thus, establishing predictive models for water quality and subsequently, more efficient management of water resources would be critically important, serving as a strong tool. A systematic review methodology has been employed in the present work to investigate the previous studies over the time interval of 2010-2020, while analyzing and synthesizing the literature, particularly regarding AI application in water treatment. A total number of 92 articles had addressed the topic under study using AI. Based on the conclusions, the application of AI can obviously facilitate operations, process automation, and management of water resources in significantly volatile contexts.
Fulltext Potential Roles of Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni in Abrogating Insulin Resistance and Diabetes: A Review

Mohd-Radzman NH, Ismail WI, Adam Z, Jaapar SS, Adam A

Evid Based Complement Alternat Med, 2013;2013:718049.
PMID: 24324517 DOI: 10.1155/2013/718049

Insulin resistance is a key factor in metabolic disorders like hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia, which are promoted by obesity and may later lead to Type II diabetes mellitus. In recent years, researchers have identified links between insulin resistance and many noncommunicable illnesses other than diabetes. Hence, studying insulin resistance is of particular importance in unravelling the pathways employed by such diseases. In this review, mechanisms involving free fatty acids, adipocytokines such as TNF α and PPAR γ and serine kinases like JNK and IKK β , asserted to be responsible in the development of insulin resistance, will be discussed. Suggested mechanisms for actions in normal and disrupted states were also visualised in several manually constructed diagrams to capture an overall view of the insulin-signalling pathway and its related components. The underlying constituents of medicinal significance found in the Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni plant (among other plants that potentiate antihyperglycemic activities) were explored in further depth. Understanding these factors and their mechanisms may be essential for comprehending the progression of insulin resistance towards the development of diabetes mellitus.
Frequencies of A(TA)7TAA, G71R, and G493R mutations of the UGT1A1 gene in the Malaysian population

Yusoff S, Van Rostenberghe H, Yusoff NM, Talib NA, Ramli N, Ismail NZ, et al.

Biol. Neonate, 2006;89(3):171-6.
PMID: 16210851

Gilbert syndrome is caused by defects in the uridine diphosphate glucuronosyltransferase 1A1 (UGT1A1) gene. These mutations differ among different populations and many of them have been found to be genetic risk factors for the development of neonatal jaundice.
Fulltext Psychometric Properties of Malay Obsessive-compulsive Inventory-child Version (OCI-CV) in Malaysian Perspectives

Fitri Sarnin E, Sharip S, Badilla Idris I, Mohd Hashim S, Salwina Wan Ismail W, Nazri Abdul Rahman F, et al.

Scand J Child Adolesc Psychiatr Psychol, 2022 Jan;10(1):114-122.
PMID: 36514488 DOI: 10.2478/sjcapp-2022-0012

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of reliability and validity of OCI-CV in a non-clinical sample of Malaysian children and adolescents.
METHOD: Participants of school-age and adolescent students from Klang Valley School completed the 21-item Malay OCI-CV using Google Form. OCI-CV English version was translated backward and forward to the Malay language. Face validity was conducted first before distributing the questionnaire to the participants. Exploratory Factor analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was conducted to evaluate the psychometric properties of OCI-CV.
RESULTS: A total of 102 school-age children and adolescents with a mean age of 15.96 years (male: 41.2%, female: 58.8%) participated in the study. The Malay OCI-CV showed high internal consistency, with Cronbach Alpha values of 0.90 for the whole scale. EFA showed multifactorial components. Five factors were labelled as "Washing / Ordering, Doubting, Obsessions, Checking, and Hoarding,". In the CFA, the five-factor model indicates adequate fit indices of (χ2/df = 1.51, RMSEA = .071, GFI = .824, AGFI = .769, NFI = .724, CFI = .880).
CONCLUSION: The Malay OCI-CV has good psychometric properties and is suitable for use in the Malaysian context. Further validation studies should be conducted among a clinical population to enhance the generalization of this finding.
The rate of blood culture contamination and common organisms isolated in Malaysian public hospitals

Mokhtar NA, Ting SY, Zainol Abidin NZ, Abdul Hameed A, Mohamed Z, Mustapa NI, et al.

Malays J Pathol, 2024 Aug;46(2):307-314.
PMID: 39207008

INTRODUCTION: Blood culture contamination remains a dilemma issue in the diagnosis of bloodstream infection. However, to date, there is no national data on blood culture contamination and the common organism isolated in Malaysia. This is a pioneer multi-centre study involving public hospitals with medical microbiologists in Malaysia to determine the blood culture contamination rate and the common organism isolated.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective cross-sectional study involved record review of all blood culture results over 9 months period from 1st January 2018 until 30th September 2018 in 27 government hospitals in Malaysia. For each positive culture result, the type of isolated organism was classified to represent true bacteraemia or contamination.
RESULTS: We analysed 448,109 blood culture records from the participating hospitals. The blood culture positivity rate was 12.5% (57395 of 448109) and 25.0% (14367 of 57395) of the positive blood culture represents contamination. The national blood culture contamination rate in Malaysia was 3.2%. The contamination rate in the adult population was significantly higher than the paediatric population (3.6% vs. 2.6%; p<0.001). The blood contamination rate by institution ranged from 1.5% to 6.8%. The most frequently isolated microorganisms in the contaminated cultures were coagulase-negative staphylococci (71.0%).
CONCLUSION: Blood culture contamination is a major issue that warrants priority in recognition, and interventions should be implemented to reduce the blood contamination rate in Malaysia.

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