MyMedR

Displaying all 8 publications

Abstract:

Sort:

Use of complementary and alternative medicine in pregnancy and its impact on obstetric outcome

Yusof J, Mahdy ZA, Noor RM

Complement Ther Clin Pract, 2016 Nov;25:155-163.
PMID: 27863606 DOI: 10.1016/j.ctcp.2016.09.005

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the prevalence of use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in a Malaysian antenatal population and its impact on obstetric outcome.

DESIGN: Cross sectional study.

SETTING: Obstetric Unit, Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah, Alor Setar, Kedah.

MATERIAL AND METHOD: Women attending antenatal clinic and Patient Admission Centre (PAC) above 30 weeks gestation were given structured questionnaires to fill. Pregnancy outcome measures were documented and analyzed in relation to the information gathered through the questionnaire. SPSS Version 21 was used to analyze all data obtained.

RESULTS: Out of 447 women, the overall prevalence of CAM usage in pregnancy was 85.2%. It was popular among pregnant mothers aged between 26 and 35 years old and most commonly used in the third trimester (p = 0.0.010) to facilitate labour. Other sociodemographic factors such as race, parity, education, occupation and residence were not significantly important. Traditional herbs was the commonest type of CAM used in pregnancy (58.3%) followed by selusuh (24.3%). About 78.5% of the CAM users delivered vaginally (p = 0.020) but a significant proportion (14.3%) had fetal distress (p = 0.035) compared to non CAM users. The most common type of herbs used was akar kayu bunga Fatimah (37.7%) and gamat (13.4%). In our study, usage of selusuh product and akar kayu bunga Fatimah had a significant impact in achieving vaginal delivery and shortened the duration of labour particularly in multiparae. The usage of Kacip Fatimah and Salindah was associated with preterm labour (p = 0.04)Tongkat Ali herbal coffee had a significant association with hypertensive disorders in pregnancy (p = 0.011) and fetal distress (p = 0.04) Meanwhile, the usage of Jamu Mustika Ratu was significantly associated with low birth weight in grandmultiparae (p = 0.026)and spirulina was significantly associated with oligohydramnios (p = 0.04).

CONCLUSION: Usage of CAM in pregnancy in the Malaysian population is of high prevalence CAM in pregnancy has beneficial and adverse obstetric outcomes. More research is needed to establish the safety of usage of various forms of CAM in pregnancy.

Study site: Obstetric Unit, Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah, Alor Setar, Kedah.
Fulltext Posterior Ethmoid Nodular Fasciitis

Baki AM, Ramli R, Noor RM, Mohamad I, Jais M

Medeni Med J, 2020;35(3):276-280.
PMID: 33110682 DOI: 10.5222/MMJ.2020.90093

Nodular fasciitis (NF) is an uncommon and benign tumour-like fibroblastic proliferation that is difficult to distinguish from sarcoma both clinically and histologically. In addition, it is a type of lesion characterised by having a potential for spontaneous regression. NF is frequently misdiagnosed due to its rapid growth, rich cellularity, and mitotic figure. Although NF is only rarely diagnosed in children, the head and neck represent the most common locations for NF among this population. The cause of NF remains unknown, however trauma is believed to be an important triggering factor. We describe an unusual case of NF in the posterior ethmoid sinus in a six-year-old boy with no history of trauma. The NF was incidentally noted on a computed tomography scan after the patient complained of a squint. The diagnosis of NF was also supported by histopathology and specific immunohistological staining. A surgical biopsy was performed, and no recurrence was observed after one year.
Fulltext Intelligent advisory speed limit dedication in highway using VANET

Jalooli A, Shaghaghi E, Jabbarpour MR, Noor RM, Yeo H, Jung JJ

ScientificWorldJournal, 2014;2014:629412.
PMID: 24999493 DOI: 10.1155/2014/629412

Variable speed limits (VSLs) as a mean for enhancing road traffic safety are studied for decades to modify the speed limit based on the prevailing road circumstances. In this study the pros and cons of VSL systems and their effects on traffic controlling efficiency are summarized. Despite the potential effectiveness of utilizing VSLs, we have witnessed that the effectiveness of this system is impacted by factors such as VSL control strategy used and the level of driver compliance. Hence, the proposed approach called Intelligent Advisory Speed Limit Dedication (IASLD) as the novel VSL control strategy which considers the driver compliance aims to improve the traffic flow and occupancy of vehicles in addition to amelioration of vehicle's travel times. The IASLD provides the advisory speed limit for each vehicle exclusively based on the vehicle's characteristics including the vehicle type, size, and safety capabilities as well as traffic and weather conditions. The proposed approach takes advantage of vehicular ad hoc network (VANET) to accelerate its performance, in the way that simulation results demonstrate the reduction of incident detection time up to 31.2% in comparison with traditional VSL strategy. The simulation results similarly indicate the improvement of traffic flow efficiency, occupancy, and travel time in different conditions.
The effect of mild hearing loss on academic performance in primary school children

Khairi Md Daud M, Noor RM, Rahman NA, Sidek DS, Mohamad A

Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol, 2010 Jan;74(1):67-70.
PMID: 19913305 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijporl.2009.10.013

To determine the prevalence of mild hearing loss and its association with academic performance among primary school children.
Fulltext A Lightweight Radio Propagation Model for Vehicular Communication in Road Tunnels

Qureshi MA, Noor RM, Shamim A, Shamshirband S, Raymond Choo KK

PLoS One, 2016;11(3):e0152727.
PMID: 27031989 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0152727

Radio propagation models (RPMs) are generally employed in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs) to predict path loss in multiple operating environments (e.g. modern road infrastructure such as flyovers, underpasses and road tunnels). For example, different RPMs have been developed to predict propagation behaviour in road tunnels. However, most existing RPMs for road tunnels are computationally complex and are based on field measurements in frequency band not suitable for VANET deployment. Furthermore, in tunnel applications, consequences of moving radio obstacles, such as large buses and delivery trucks, are generally not considered in existing RPMs. This paper proposes a computationally inexpensive RPM with minimal set of parameters to predict path loss in an acceptable range for road tunnels. The proposed RPM utilizes geometric properties of the tunnel, such as height and width along with the distance between sender and receiver, to predict the path loss. The proposed RPM also considers the additional attenuation caused by the moving radio obstacles in road tunnels, while requiring a negligible overhead in terms of computational complexity. To demonstrate the utility of our proposed RPM, we conduct a comparative summary and evaluate its performance. Specifically, an extensive data gathering campaign is carried out in order to evaluate the proposed RPM. The field measurements use the 5 GHz frequency band, which is suitable for vehicular communication. The results demonstrate that a close match exists between the predicted values and measured values of path loss. In particular, an average accuracy of 94% is found with R2 = 0.86.
Fulltext A Rare Intraorbital Mass: An Isolated Mucocele

Che Mat CMH, Mustapha F, Noor RM, Ramli R, Mohamad I

Medeni Med J, 2020;35(4):344-348.
PMID: 33717628 DOI: 10.5222/MMJ.2020.01057

Mucocele is a mucous filled benign cystic lesion. It develops due to obstruction of any natural os-tium of the paranasal sinus. Even though being benign, it has capability to erode and cause thinning the adjacent bony structures. Isolated intraorbital mucocele without paranasal sinus disease is a rare condition. We present a 39-year-old female patient with right medial canthal swelling without any nasal symptoms, and normal nasoendoscopic finding. Imaging revealed the lesion as a right ethmoidal mucocele with normal paranasal sinuses. However intraoperatively, it was an isolated intraorbital lesion, lateral to lamina papyracea with thick-yellowish mucin discharge.
Perceived impacts of Urban Heat Island phenomenon in a tropical metropolitan city: Perspectives from stakeholder dialogue sessions

Aghamohammadi N, Ramakreshnan L, Fong CS, Noor RM, Hanif NR, Sulaiman NM

Sci Total Environ, 2022 Feb 01;806(Pt 1):150331.
PMID: 34571225 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150331

The stakeholders' perceptions on the impacts of Urban Heat Island (UHI) are critical for reducing exposure and influencing their response to interventions that are aimed at encouraging a behaviour change. A proper understanding of the UHI impacts on the society, economy and environment is deemed an essential motivating factor for the stakeholders to work towards UHI mitigations in the local context. This study adopted an inductive qualitative approach using Stakeholder Dialogue Sessions (SDSs) to assess the perceived impacts of UHI among various stakeholders, comprising policy makers, academicians, developers and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO), in a tropical metropolitan city. The results revealed five themes such as deterioration of public health, acceleration of urban migration patterns and spending time in cooler areas, reduction of workers' productivity, increased energy consumption by the households and deterioration of environmental quality and natural resources that were categorized into social, economic and environmental impacts. Although most of the stakeholders were quite unfamiliar with the term UHI, they still display a good understanding of the potential impacts of UHI due to their posteriori knowledge and ability to rationalize the physical condition of the environment in which they live. The findings provide useful insights and valuable information to the local authorities to tailor necessary actions and educational campaigns to increase UHI awareness among the stakeholders. Being among the earlier studies to use a qualitative approach to attain the aforementioned objective, the findings are crucial to determine the level of understanding of the stakeholders on the impact of UHI. Through this study, the authors have highlighted the gaps and needs for knowledge improvements aimed at behaviour change among the stakeholders.
Distribution of HPV genotypes in cervical cancer in multi- ethnic Malaysia

Hamzi Abdul Raub S, Isa NM, Zailani HA, Omar B, Abdullah MF, Mohd Amin WA, et al.

Asian Pac J Cancer Prev, 2014;15(2):651-6.
PMID: 24568473

BACKGROUND: Cervical cancer is the third commonest type of cancer among women in Malaysia. Our aim was to determine the distribution of human papilloma virus (HPV) genotypes in cervical cancer in our multi-ethnic population.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a multicentre study with a total of 280 cases of cervical cancer from 4 referral centres in Malaysia, studied using real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) detection of 12 high risk-HPV genotypes.
RESULTS: Overall HPV was detected in 92.5% of cases, in 95.9% of squamous cell carcinomas and 84.3%of adenocarcinomas. The five most prevalent high-risk HPV genotypes were HPV 16 (68.2%), 18 (40%), 58 (10.7%), 33 (10.4%) and 52 (10.4%). Multiple HPV infections were more prevalent (55.7%) than single HPV infections (36.8%). The percentage of HPV positive cases in Chinese, Malays and Indians were 95.5%, 91.9% and 80.0%, respectively. HPV 16 and 18 genotypes were the commonest in all ethnic groups. We found that the percentage of HPV 16 infection was significantly higher in Chinese (75.9%) compared to Malays (63.7%) and Indians (52.0%) (p<0.05), while HPV 18 was significantly higher in Malays (52.6%) compared to Chinese (25.0%) and Indians (28%) (p<0.05). Meanwhile, HPV 33 (17.9%) and 52 (15.2%) were also more commonly detected in the Chinese (p<0.05).
CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that the distribution of HPV genotype in Malaysia is similar to other Asian countries. Importantly, we found that different ethnic groups in Malaysia have different HPV genotype infection rates, which is a point to consider during the implementation of HPV vaccination.