Displaying publications 1 - 20 of 163 in total

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  1. Alaa H, Shah SA
    Asian Pac J Cancer Prev, 2019 08 01;20(8):2339-2343.
    PMID: 31450904 DOI: 10.31557/APJCP.2019.20.8.2339
    Cancer is responsible for substantial burden on communities and more specifically on less developed countries. The incidence of cancer is on the rise due to population growth and aging, also due to increment of the risk factors such as smoking, increasing weight, low physical activity associated with adoption of western lifestyle. Around 14 million cases of new cancer and 8 million deaths from cancer is estimated to occur by 2012. This cross-sectional study was conducted in Baghdad from June 2016 to October 2016. Participants were selected according to our inclusion criteria, namely aged between 18 to 40 years and not being diagnosed with any chronic diseases. Those who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were 700 participants who completed the questionnaire. Results showed that most of our participants had low perceived susceptibility to cancer risk (62.4%), low perceived severity (59.8%), but good perceived benefits of screening (56.6%). Hierarchal linear regression analysis showed that sociodemographic factors of gender, marital status, and education level were statistically significant. Moreover, factors of health behaviour such as practice towards health and preventive behaviour were associated with the outcome. Finally, treatment control and emotional factors were mostly predicting the outcome. Perceived susceptibility to cancer along with its psychological factors and behaviour were important contributors to self-perceived health in this study. Hence there is association between perception and future morbidity and mortality, thus it is crucial for public health policy. Comprehensive health programs that include health promotion campaigns and proper health care services that deals with secondary prevention.
  2. Yaakup H, Eng TC, Shah SA
    Asian Pac J Cancer Prev, 2014;15(12):4885-91.
    PMID: 24998558
    BACKGROUND: Successful implementation of pain management procedures and guidelines in an institution depends very much on the acceptance of many levels of healthcare providers.

    AIM: The main purpose of this study was to determine the level of knowledge and attitudes regarding pain among nurses working in tertiary care in a local setting and the factors that may be associated with this.

    MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional research study used a modified version of the Nurses' Knowledge and Attitudes Survey (NKAS) regarding pain. Basic demographic data were obtained for further correlation with the level of pain knowledge.

    RESULTS: A total of 566 nurses, 34 male and 532 female, volunteered to participate in this study. The response rate (RR) was 76%, with an overall mean percentage score of 42.7±10.9 (range: 5-92.5). The majority of participants were younger nurses below 40 years of age and more than 70% had worked for less than 10 years (6.6±4.45). Up to 92% had never had any formal education in pain management in general. The total mean score of correct answers was 58.6±9.58, with oncology nursing staff scoring a higher percentage when compared with nurses from other general and critical care wards (63.52±9.27, p<0.045). Only 2.5% out of all participants obtained a score of 80% or greater. The majority of the oncology nurses achieved the expected competency level (p<0.03).

    CONCLUSIONS: The present findings give further support for the universal concern about poor knowledge and attitudes among nurses related to the optimal management of pain. The results indicated that neither number of years working nor age influenced the level of knowledge or attitudes of the practising nurses. Oncology nursing staff consistently scored better than the rest of the cohort. This reflects that clinical experience helps to improve attitudes and knowledge concerning better pain management.

  3. Yusof AS, Isa ZM, Shah SA
    Asian Pac J Cancer Prev, 2013;14(2):1151-4.
    PMID: 23621204
    BACKGROUND: Changes in dietary practices are known to be associated with changes in the health and disease pattern of a population. This study aimed to qualitatively explore the perception of colorectal cancer patients regarding causes of colorectal cancer and the influence of diet.

    MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twelve respondents from three major ethnicities in Malaysia were selected from the quantitative study on dietary pattern and colorectal cancer carried out earlier in this study. In-depth interviews (IDI), conducted from April until June 2012, were mainly in the Malay language with additional use of English and continued until the saturation point was reached. All interviews were autorecorded so that verbatim transcriptions could be created.

    RESULTS: Causes of colorectal cancer were categorized into internal and external factors. The majority of respondents agreed that there is an association between Western foods and colorectal cancer. Malaysian traditional diet was not related to colorectal cancer as less preservative agents were used. Malaysian diet preparation consisting of taste of cooking (spicy, salty and sour foods) plus type of cooking (fry, grilled and smoked) were considered causes of colorectal cancer. All respondents changed their dietary pattern to healthy food after being diagnosed with colorectal cancer. Advice from doctors regarding suitable food for colorectal cancer was useful in this regard.

    CONCLUSIONS: Eating outside, use of food flavoring ingredients and preservative agents were considered to be the main factors causing colorectal cancer. All respondents admitted that they changed to a healthy diet after being diagnosed with colorectal cancer.

  4. Subahir MN, Shah SA, Zainuddin ZM
    Asian Pac J Cancer Prev, 2009;10(6):1015-20.
    PMID: 20192575
    INTRODUCTION: In Malaysia, prostate cancer is ranked 6th among male cancer and expected to increase in the future. Several factors have shown to be related to prostate cancer such as sociodemographic, lifestyle, diet, occupational exposure, medical and health status. This is the first time a similar study was conducted in Malaysia to recognize the risk factors for prostate cancer patients who came for treatment at University Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC).

    METHODS: Prostate cancer cases diagnosed between 2003 and 2008 which met with the inclusion criteria were included in the study. One hundred and twelfth (112) pairs of cases and controls matched by age and ethnicity were analysed. McNemar Odds Ratios (OR(M)) were calculated using McNemar Calculator software for univariate analysis while conditional logistic regression was used for multivariate analysis, both using SPSS version 12.0.

    RESULTS: Most of the prostate cancer patients (68.8%) that came for treatment in UKMMC were above 70 years old. The majority were Chinese (50.0%) followed by Malay (46.4%) and Indian (3.6%). Multivariate analysis showed cases were more likely to have a first-degree relative with a history of cancer (OR= 3.77, 95% CI= 1.19-11.85), to have been exposed to pesticides (OR= 5.57, 95% CI= 1.75-17.78) and consumed more meat (OR= 12.23, 95% CI= 3.89-39.01). Significantly reduced risks of prostate cancer were noted among those consuming more vegetables (OR= 0.12, 95% CI= 0.02-0.84), more tomatoes (OR= 0.35, 95% CI= 0.13-0.93) and those who had frequent sexual intercourse (OR= 0.44, 95% CI= 0.19-0.96).

    CONCLUSION: Some lifestyle and occupation factors are strong predictors of the occurrence of prostate cancer among patients in UKMMC. More importantly, with the identification of the potentially modifiable risk factors, proper public health intervention can be improved.

  5. Kamarudin R, Shah SA, Hidayah N
    Asian Pac J Cancer Prev, 2006 Jan-Mar;7(1):51-4.
    PMID: 16629515
    Breast cancer is the most common female cancer and the commonest cause of death due to cancer for women in Malaysia. This study was performed to identify the relationship with lifestyle factors. A case-control study was conducted among females with breast cancer who came for treatment to the Breast Clinic Hospital Kuala Lumpur in July until September 2004. A total of 203 female patients were recruited as cases along with 203 patients who attended the Outpatient Clinic, Hospital Kuala Lumpur during the study period as the controls. The study showed women who did not exercise regularly to have four times higher risk (adjusted odds ratio is 3.49, 95% CI is 1.84 to 6.62) compared to those who exercised regularly. Women with a high fat diet were also at elevated risk (adjusted odds ratio 3.84, 95% CI is 1.20 to 12.34) compared to those consuming a low fat diet. Women without breast cancer generally had a longer duration of lifetime lactation with a median of thirty-three months compared to women with breast cancer (twenty months, p<0.05). Women who did not take oral contraceptive pills but had breast-fed their child have a 56.0% lower risk (crude odds ratio 0.44, CI is 0.22 to 0.87) compared to women who did not take oral contraceptive pill and also did not breast-feed their child. If they had breast fed for thirteen months and above, they faced a 61.0% lower risk (crude odds ratio 0.39, 95% CI is 0.17 to 0.87). There was a significant inverse trend for lifetime lactation and breast cancer risk. In conclusion certain life styles of women are associated with a higher risk of breast cancer development. Therefore, the promotion of a healthy life style should be emphasized.
    Study site: Breast Clinic, Outpatient clinic, Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  6. Mohd Shariff N, Shah SA, Kamaludin F
    Int J Mycobacteriol, 2016 Mar;5(1):51-8.
    PMID: 26927990 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijmyco.2015.11.001
    The number of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis patients is increasing each year in many countries all around the globe. Malaysia has no exception in facing this burdensome health problem. We aimed to investigate the factors that contribute to the occurrence of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis among Malaysian tuberculosis patients. An unmatched case-control study was conducted among tuberculosis patients who received antituberculosis treatments from April 2013 until April 2014. Cases are those diagnosed as pulmonary tuberculosis patients clinically, radiologically, and/or bacteriologically, and who were confirmed to be resistant to both isoniazid and rifampicin through drug-sensitivity testing. On the other hand, pulmonary tuberculosis patients who were sensitive to all first-line antituberculosis drugs and were treated during the same time period served as controls. A total of 150 tuberculosis patients were studied, of which the susceptible cases were 120. Factors found to be significantly associated with the occurrence of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis are being Indian or Chinese (odds ratio 3.17, 95% confidence interval 1.04-9.68; and odds ratio 6.23, 95% confidence interval 2.24-17.35, respectively), unmarried (odds ratio 2.58, 95% confidence interval 1.09-6.09), living in suburban areas (odds ratio 2.58, 95% confidence interval 1.08-6.19), are noncompliant (odds ratio 4.50, 95% confidence interval 1.71-11.82), were treated previously (odds ratio 8.91, 95% confidence interval 3.66-21.67), and showed positive sputum smears at the 2nd (odds ratio 7.00, 95% confidence interval 2.46-19.89) and 6th months of treatment (odds ratio 17.96, 95% confidence interval 3.51-91.99). Living in suburban areas, positive sputum smears in the 2nd month of treatment, and was treated previously are factors that independently contribute to the occurrence of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. Those with positive smears in the second month of treatment, have a history of previous treatment, and live in suburban areas are found to have a higher probability of becoming multidrug resistant. The results presented here may facilitate improvements in the screening and detection process of drug-resistant patients in Malaysia in the future.
  7. Mohamad Hanif EA, Shah SA
    Asian Pac J Cancer Prev, 2018 Dec 25;19(12):3341-3351.
    PMID: 30583339
    Breast cancer treatments leads to variable responses. Hormonal therapy is beneficial to receptor positive breast cancer
    subtypes and display better clinical outcome than triple negative breast cancers (TNBCs) with FEC (5-Fluorouracil,
    Epirubicin and Cyclophosphamide) the mainstay chemotherapy regiment. Owning to their negative expressions of
    estrogen (ER), progesterone (PR) and HER2 receptors, disease recurrence and metastasis befalls some patients indicating
    resistance to FEC. Involvement of epigenetic silencing through DNA methylation, histone methylation, acetylation and
    sumoylation may be the key player in FEC chemoresistance. Epigenetic and molecular profiling successfully classified
    breast cancer subtypes, indicating potential driver mechanisms to the progression of TNBCs but functional mechanisms
    behind chemoresistance of these molecular markers are not well defined. Several epigenetic inhibitors and drugs have
    been used in the management of cancers but these attempts are mainly beneficial in hematopoietic cancers and not
    specifically favourable in solid tumours. Hypothetically, upon administration of epigenetic drugs, recovery of tumour
    suppressor genes is expected. However, high tendency of switching on global metastatic genes is predicted. Polycomb
    repressive complex (PRC) such as EZH2, SETD1A, DNMT, is known to have repressive effects in gene regulation and
    shown to inhibit cell proliferation and invasion in breast cancers. Individual epigenetic regulators may be an option
    to improve chemo-drug delivery in cancers. This review discussed on molecular signatures of various breast cancer
    subtypes and on-going attempts in understanding underlying molecular mechanisms of epigenetic regulators as well
    as providing insights on possible ways to utilize epigenetic enzymes/inhibitors with responses to chemotherapeutic
    drugs to re-program cellular and biological outcome in TNBCs.
  8. Shah SA, Mahmood MI, Ahmad N
    Asian Pac J Cancer Prev, 2020 Nov 01;21(11):3137-3144.
    PMID: 33247668 DOI: 10.31557/APJCP.2020.21.11.3137
    BACKGROUND: The recent data shows reduced uptake on cancer screening where the Perception towards cancer screening by the public is one of the favorable factor might influence the screening uptake. Therefore, this study aims to determine the predictors of poor cancer screening perceptions among the population in Johor, Malaysia.

    METHODS: This was a cross sectional study of 1,312 respondents selected using a multistage design. Questionnaires relating to the demographic characteristics, socioeconomic profiles, social and physical environment, knowledge and perception of cancer screening were gathered. Multiple logistic regression models were used to examine the variables and their association with poor perceptions of cancer screening.

    RESULTS: Overall, 871(66.4%) respondents had poor perceptions of cancer screenings; 68.4% among males and 64.4% among females. In the multivariable analysis in the category of income, the bottom 40% and lower middle 40%, had not subscribed to health insurance, had poor social support, absence of any family history of cancer or comorbid illnesses, no previous attendance for cancer screening and poor knowledge of cancer, all of which were associated with their poor cancer screening perceptions.

    CONCLUSION: One way of developing cancer screening services to detect cancer in its early stage could include efforts to reach people with less awareness about cancer screening tests, lower socioeconomic status, and inadequate social support. Particular consideration should be taken to locate those who never had health insurance or attended cancer screening tests to provide the appropriate resources.

  9. Hanisah A, Omar K, Shah SA
    J Prim Health Care, 2009 Mar;1(1):20-5.
    PMID: 20690482
    AIM: The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of facial acne and its impact on the quality of life among adolescents attending secondary schools in Muar, Malaysia.
    METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted where 409 samples were selected using stratified cluster random sampling from two secondary schools in Muar, involving Form 1 to Form 5 students. Students were diagnosed clinically and the severity of facial acne was assessed using Global Acne Grading System. A self-reported Cardiff Acne Disability Index was used to assess the quality of life among adolescents who had acne.
    RESULTS: The prevalence of facial acne among the adolescents was 67.5% (n = 276). Facial acne increased with increasing age (p = 0.001). It was more common among males (71.1%) than females (64.6%), p = 0.165. The males also had a higher prevalence of severe acne (p = 0.001). The quality of life was affected by the severity of acne. Students with severe acne had higher levels of Cardiff Acne Disability Index (rho = 0.521).
    CONCLUSION: Facial acne is a common disorder and appears to have a considerable impact on quality of life among adolescents. The above findings should alert health care professionals and the school authorities to actively identify, manage and educate adolescents with facial acne.
  10. Shariff NM, Shah SA, Kamaludin F
    J Glob Antimicrob Resist, 2019 12;19:274-279.
    PMID: 31100500 DOI: 10.1016/j.jgar.2019.05.009
    OBJECTIVE: Little is known about the treatment outcomes of HIV-negative drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) patients in Malaysia. With respect to this issue, this study aimed to determine factors associated with unsuccessful treatment outcomes among drug-resistant TB patients at the Institute of Respiratory Medicine, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

    METHODS: This retrospective cohort study involved laboratory-confirmed drug-resistant TB patients from January 2009 to June 2013. Multiple logistic regression was used to model the outcome, which was subsequently defined according to the recent definition by the WHO. Data were analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows version 22.0.

    RESULTS: Among the 403 patients who were analysed, 66.7% of them were found to have achieved successful outcomes (cured or completed treatment) while the remaining 33.3% had unsuccessful treatment outcomes (defaulted, treatment failure or died). Multivariable analysis showed that the type of resistance [polyresistant (aOR = 3.00, 95% CI 1.14-7.91), multidrug resistant (MDR) (aOR = 5.37, 95% CI 2.65-10.88)], ethnicity [Malay (aOR = 2.86, 95% CI 1.44-5.71), Indian (aOR = 3.04, 95% CI 1.20-7.70)], and treatment non-compliance (aOR = 26.93, 95% CI 14.47-50.10) were the independent risk factors for unsuccessful treatment outcomes among this group of patients. Notably, the odds of unsuccessful treatment outcome was also amplified among Malay MDR-TB patients in this study (aOR = 13.44, 95% CI 1.99-90.58).

    CONCLUSION: In order to achieve better treatment outcomes for TB, effective behavioural intervention and thorough investigation on ethnic disparities in TB treatment are needed to promote good compliance.

  11. Yusof AS, Isa ZM, Shah SA
    Asian Pac J Cancer Prev, 2012;13(9):4713-7.
    PMID: 23167408
    OBJECTIVES: This systematic review of cohort studies aimed to identify any association between specific dietary patterns and risk of colorectal cancer (CRC). Dietary patterns involve complex interactions of food and nutrients summarizing the total diet or key aspects of the diet for a population under study.

    METHODS AND MATERIALS: This review involves 6 cohort studies of dietary patterns and their association with colorectal cancer. An exploratory or a posteriori approach and a hypothesis-oriented or a priori approach were employed to identify dietary patterns.

    RESULTS: The dietary pattern identified to be protective against CRC was healthy, prudent, fruits and vegetables, fat reduced/diet foods, vegetables/fish/poultry, fruit/wholegrain/dairy, healthy eating index 2005, alternate healthy eating index, Mediterranean score and recommended food score. An elevated risk of CRC was associated with Western diet, pork processed meat, potatoes, traditional meat eating, and refined grain pattern.

    CONCLUSION: The Western dietary pattern which mainly consists of red and processed meat and refined grains is associated with an elevated risk of development of CRC. Protective factors against CRC include a healthy or prudent diet, consisting of vegetables, fruits, fish and poultry.
  12. Mohd Shariff N, Shah SA, Kamaludin F
    J Glob Antimicrob Resist, 2016 09;6:102-107.
    PMID: 27530850 DOI: 10.1016/j.jgar.2016.04.005
    The emergence of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) is a major public health threat. However, little is known about the predictors of death in drug-resistant TB in Malaysia. This study aimed to determine the predictors of death in drug-resistant TB patients, including multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB), in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This study adopted a retrospective cohort study design and involved laboratory-confirmed drug-resistant TB patients (n=426) from January 2009 to June 2013. A Cox regression model and Kaplan-Meier curves were used to model the outcome measure. Data were analysed by using SPSS v.20.0 for Windows. In this study, 15.3% (n=65) of the patients died. Among the study patients, 70.9% were monoresistant TB cases, 9.4% were poly-resistant TB and 19.7% were MDR-TB. MDR-TB [adjusted hazard ratio (aHR)=2.23, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.26-3.95], ethnicity [Malay (aHR=5.95, 95% CI 2.30-15.41), Chinese (aHR=4.01, 95% CI 1.38-11.66) and Indian (aHR=3.76, 95% CI 1.19-11.85)], coronary heart disease (aHR=6.82, 95% CI 2.16-21.50), drug abuse (aHR=3.79, 95% CI 2.07-6.93) and treatment non-compliance (aHR=1.81, 95% CI 1.01-3.27) were independent predictors of poorer survival in the multivariate Cox regression analysis. This study suggests that MDR-TB, local ethnicity, coronary heart disease, history of drug abuse and treatment non-compliance are factors predicting poor survival in drug-resistant TB patients. More emphasis should be given to the management of drug-resistant TB patients with these characteristics to achieve better treatment outcomes.
  13. Taha M, Shah SA, Sultan S, Ismail NH, Yousuf S
    Acta Crystallogr Sect E Struct Rep Online, 2014 Feb 01;70(Pt 2):o131.
    PMID: 24764858 DOI: 10.1107/S1600536813034636
    The title phenyl-hydrazine derivative, C16H16N2O4, has a crystallographically imposed centre of symmetry. Except for the methyl group, all non-H atoms are almost coplanar (r.m.s. deviation = 0.0095 Å). Intra-molecular O-H⋯N hydrogen bonds are observed, generating S(6) graph-set ring motifs.
  14. Eng TC, Yaakup H, Shah SA, Jaffar A, Omar K
    Asian Pac J Cancer Prev, 2012;13(6):2749-52.
    PMID: 22938453
    BACKGROUND: Breaking bad news to cancer patients is a delicate and challenging task for most doctors. Better understanding of patients' preferences in breaking bad news can guide doctors in performing this task.

    OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to describe the preferences of Malaysian cancer patients regarding the communication of bad news.

    METHODOLOGY: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in the Oncology clinic of a tertiary teaching hospital. Two hundred adult cancer patients were recruited via purposive quota sampling. They were required to complete the Malay language version of the Measure of Patients' Preferences (MPP-BM) with minimal researcher assistance. Their responses were analysed using descriptive statistics. Association between demographic characteristics and domain scores were tested using non-parametric statistical tests.

    RESULTS: Nine items were rated by the patients as essential: "Doctor is honest about the severity of my condition", "Doctor describing my treatment options in detail", "Doctor telling me best treatment options", Doctor letting me know all of the different treatment options", "Doctor being up to date on research on my type of cancer", "Doctor telling me news directly", "Being given detailed info about results of medical tests", "Being told in person", and "Having doctor offer hope about my condition". All these items had median scores of 5/5 (IQR:4-5). The median scores for the three domains were: "Content and Facilitation" 74/85, "Emotional Support" 23/30 and "Structural and Informational Support" 31/40. Ethnicity was found to be significantly associated with scores for "Content and Facilitation" and "Emotional Support". Educational status was significantly associated with scores for "Structural and Informational Support".

    CONCLUSION: Malaysian cancer patients appreciate the ability of the doctor to provide adequate information using good communication skills during the process of breaking bad news. Provision of emotional support, structural support and informational support were also highly appreciated.

  15. Baharom N, Hassan MR, Ali N, Shah SA
    PMID: 22853701 DOI: 10.1186/1747-597X-7-32
    BACKGROUND: Methadone Maintenance Therapy (MMT) is one of the popular choices for drug substitution therapy and is fairly new in Malaysia. Aside from its role in harm reduction against HIV infection, MMT programme may potentially enhances clients' quality of life. This study aims to identify the impact of MMT programme on clients' quality of life after 6 months in treatment and to explore factors that may be associated with changes in their quality of life.
    METHODS: In this retrospective report review, 122 subjects from 2 government MMT clinics were selected from the district of Tampin, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. The raw score from the WHO Quality of Life questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF), at baseline and 6 months after therapy were collected and converted to 0-100 scale form to give quality of life scores for four domains; physical, psychological, social relationships and environment. Other variables of interest were socio-demography, age when joining MMT programme, age and duration of illicit drug use, HIV and Hepatitis C status, and the Opiate Treatment Index (OTI) score on drug use, sexual and social aspect at the baseline. Statistical analysis used the SPSS version 16.
    RESULTS: There was significant improvement in all four domains of quality of life, after 6 months of MMT. The largest improvement was for psychological domain (mean score difference 15.54 ± 20.81). Multivariable linear regression analysis showed that, for the physical domain, there was no significant predictor. For both the psychological and social domains, having tertiary education is a significant predictor for improvement in both aspects of quality of life. Negative HIV status is associated with improvement for the environment domain.
    CONCLUSIONS: There was a significant short term improvement in the quality of life of MMT clients who stayed in the programme for at least 6 months in the district of Tampin, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia.
    Study site: MMT clinic, Tampin, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia.
  16. Abdul Rahman HI, Shah SA, Alias H, Ibrahim HM
    Asian Pac J Cancer Prev, 2008 Oct-Dec;9(4):649-52.
    PMID: 19256754
    BACKGROUND: In Malaysia, acute leukemia is the most common cancer among children below the age of 15. A case-control study was here conducted for cases from the Klang Valley, Malaysia, who received treatment at the National University of Malaysia Hospital (HUKM) and Kuala Lumpur General Hospital (GHKL). The main objective was to determine any association with environmental factors.

    METHODS: Case subjects were children aged below 15 years and diagnosed with acute leukemia in HUKM and GHKL between January 1, 2001 and May 30, 2007. Control subjects were children aged below 15 years who were diagnosed with any non-cancerous acute illnesses in these hospitals. A total of 128 case subjects and 128 control subjects were enrolled in this study. The information was collected using a structured questionnaire and a global positioning system (GPS) device. All factors were analyzed using unmatched logistic regression.

    RESULTS: The analysis showed that the occurrence of acute leukemia among children was strongly determined by the following factors: family income (odds ratio (OR) 0.19, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.09-0.42), father with higher social contact (OR 7.61, 95% CI: 3.78-15.4), number of elder siblings (OR 0.36, 95% CI: 0.18-0.77), father who smokes (OR 2.78, 95% CI: 1.49-5.16), and the distance of the house from a power line (OR 2.30, 95% CI: 1.18-4.49).

    CONCLUSIONS: Some socioeconomic, demographic, and environmental factors are strong predictors of the occurrence of acute leukemia among children in Klang Valley, Malaysia. In terms of environmental factors, it is recommended that future housing areas should be developed at least 200 m away from power lines.
  17. Muhammad NA, Omar K, Shah SA, Muthupalaniappen L, Arshad F
    Asia Pac J Clin Nutr, 2008;17(4):597-602.
    PMID: 19114396
    BACKGROUND: Worldwide the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children is escalating. Parents’ recognition of overweight or obesity in their own children is very important for a successful intervention in these children. This study examined parental perception of their children’s weight status, and its association with their knowledge on nutrition and obesity.
    MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a cross sectional study of parents with children aged 9 to 12 years, in a primary school of Kuala Lumpur. Parents responded to a self-administered questionnaire which contains parental perception of their child weight status as well as knowledge on nutrition and obesity. The parents’ perception of the children’s weight status was then compared with the actual measured weight status.
    RESULTS: There were 204 parents who participated in the study. Parents were found to underestimate their child weight status and 38.2% were inaccurate in their perception. The mean score of knowledge on nutrition and obesity was 78.5±14.4; and this did not associate with the accuracy of their perception on the child weight status. Parents showed inadequate knowledge in food pyramid and preparation of low fat meals.
    CONCLUSION: The Malaysian Health Campaigns had resulted in overall good knowledge on nutrition and obesity in the parents except in few domains. However, this was insufficient to make the parents recognize the growing overweight and obesity problem in their children.
    Key Words: overweight, obesity, children, parental perception, knowledge
  18. Ali Shah SA, Laude A, Faye I, Tang TB
    J Biomed Opt, 2016 Oct;21(10):101404.
    PMID: 26868326 DOI: 10.1117/1.JBO.21.10.101404
    Microaneurysms (MAs) are known to be the early signs of diabetic retinopathy (DR). An automated MA detection system based on curvelet transform is proposed for color fundus image analysis. Candidates of MA were extracted in two parallel steps. In step one, blood vessels were removed from preprocessed green band image and preliminary MA candidates were selected by local thresholding technique. In step two, based on statistical features, the image background was estimated. The results from the two steps allowed us to identify preliminary MA candidates which were also present in the image foreground. A collection set of features was fed to a rule-based classifier to divide the candidates into MAs and non-MAs. The proposed system was tested with Retinopathy Online Challenge database. The automated system detected 162 MAs out of 336, thus achieved a sensitivity of 48.21% with 65 false positives per image. Counting MA is a means to measure the progression of DR. Hence, the proposed system may be deployed to monitor the progression of DR at early stage in population studies.
  19. Anouar el H, Zakaria NS, Alsalme A, Shah SA
    Mini Rev Med Chem, 2015;15(14):1148-58.
    PMID: 26205959
    A natural pentacyclic triterpenoid oleanolic acid 1 and its biotransformed metabolites 2-3 are potential α-glucosidase inhibitors. To elucidate the inhibitory mechanism of compounds 1, 2 and 3 against α-glucosidase, we calculated (i) their electronic and optical properties using DFT and TD-DFT at the B3LYP/6-31G(d) level in gas and IEF-PCM solvent; and (ii) their binding energies to α-glucosidase via docking study. DFT results showed that the α-glucosidase inhibtion is mainly depend on the polarity parameters of the studied compounds. Docking results revealed that the activity increased with binding energies (i.e. the stability of ligand-receptor complex). The specroscopic data of oleanolic acid 1 and its metabolites 2 and 3 are well predicetd for 13C NMR chemical shifts (R2=99%) and 1H NMR chemical shifts (R2=90%); and for (ii) UV/vis spectra. The assignments and interpretation of NMR chemical shifts and bathochromic shift of λMAX absorption bands are discussed.
  20. Mahmood MI, Shah SA, Ahmad N, Rosli NM
    J Cancer Educ, 2018 04;33(2):269-277.
    PMID: 27448613 DOI: 10.1007/s13187-016-1081-7
    The aim of this study was to demonstrate the construct validity of a newly developed cancer screening perception scale as a measure of the perception of cancer screening in general among high-risk but healthy asymptomatic groups.The cancer screening perception scale (CSPS) was developed based on extensive literature reviews guided by The Health Belief Model. Fifty-five written items were initially pooled, reviewed by experts for face validity, pretested by 25 healthcare workers and translated into Malay using simple back translation. The scale was then distributed to 300 respondents from two health clinics for construct validation purposes. The obtained data were analyzed using the varimax rotation method for exploratory factor analysis (EFA). The data was submitted for further confirmatory factor analysis using AMOS software.Based on EFA, the results produced five constructs as predicted: perceived severity, perceived susceptibility, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, and cues for action. Two items with low factor loading and unrelated to the recovered domains were removed. Perceived barriers and cues for action had three and two sub-domains respectively which were further confirmed to fit the measurement and structural models. CFA demonstrated the scale fitted GFI = 0.936, CFI = 0.935, RMSEA = 0.076, NORMEDCHISQ = 2.162. The scale discriminated between the domains. Cronbach's alpha for perceived severity, perceived susceptibility, perceived benefits, perceived barrier, and cues for action were 0.907, 0.877, 0.940, 0.864 and 0.938, respectively.The cancer screening perception scale with its promising psychometric properties is now available to measure risks to high-risk but healthy, asymptomatic groups aged 18 and above and can also be used for larger scale study purposes.
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