OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to determine the knowledge about asthma and the prevalence, disclosure and evaluation of the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) among asthmatic patients.
METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 95 patients diagnosed with asthma in a primary healthcare centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia using a self-administered questionnaire.
RESULTS: Ninety-five patients with a mean age of 47.06 years (±12.8) participated, the majority were female (66.7%), Malay (72.6%). The prevalence of ever-CAM use was 61.1%. The non-ever-CAM users' mean age was 51±13.9 years while the ever-CAM users' mean age was 44.5 ±11.5 years (P = 0.021). Sixty-three females (66.8%) used CAM compared to 14 males (43.8%) (P = 0.014). Thirty-six (62.1%) CAM users had not discussed use of CAM with their doctors. The main reason of non-disclosure was the doctor never asked (55.6%), and the main sources of information about CAM were family and relatives (46.6%). There was no significant difference between use of CAM and knowledge about asthma. The majority of asthmatic patients used rubs (39%), foods (16.9%) and herbs (16.9%). About 76% of asthmatic patients perceived CAM as good for their disease management. On linear multiple regression, Malay race (P = 0.026) and female gender (P = 0.006) were significant predictors of CAM use.
CONCLUSION: Use of CAM among asthmatic patients is relatively high, particularly among females. The majority of asthmatic patients valued the use of CAM. Non-disclosure was high in this study. Health education of asthmatic patients about CAM is highly recommended.
KEYWORDS: Asthma; Malaysia; complementary and alternative medicine; disclosure
Study site: Primary care clinic, Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Rhodamine B (RhB) is among the toxic dyes due to the carcinogenic, neurotoxic effects and ability to cause several diseases for humans. The adsorption with agricultural waste adsorbent recorded high performance for the RhB removal. The current review aimed to explore the efficiency of different adsorbents which have been used in the few last years for removing RhB dye from wastewater. The data of adsorption of RhB using agricultural wastes were collected from the Scopus database in the period between 2015 and 2021. The use of agricultural wastes and adsorbents as a replacement for the activated has received high attention among researchers. The RhB removal methods by microbial enzymes and biomass occurred between 76 and 90.1%. In comparison, the adsorption with agricultural wastes such as activated carbon white sugar reached 98% within 12 min. The adsorption process has a wide range of pH (3-10) due to the zwitterionic forms of RhB. Gmelina aborea leaf activated carbon is among the agriculture wastes absorbents that exhibited 1000 mg g-1 of the adsorption capacity. It appeared that the agricultural wastes adsorbents have a high potential for removing RhB from the wastewater.
The current study assessed the implications of substituting fish meal (FM) with black soldier fly larvae meal (BSFLM) on sustainable African catfish (Clarius gariepinus) production. Five isocaloric experimental diets were formulated and 168-days feeding trials were performed with 1400 improved strains of African catfish. Fish fed with 50% BSFLM expressed the lowest and highest feed conversion ratio, and daily weight gain and specific growth rate. Fillets from fish fed diet with 50 and 75% BSFLM inclusion expressed higher lauric (11.4-16.7%) and linoleic acids. Omega-6 fatty acid was 19-fold higher in fillets from fish fed diet with 75%BSFLM. There was 5-8% and 9-11% higher crude protein in fillet from fish fed diet with 50 and 75% BSFLM, respectively. Essential amino acids in the fillets, particularly lysine [11 - 18g/kg] and methionine [11 - 27g/kg] values were significantly higher in catfish fed diet with BSFLM diets than with FM. Diet integrated with 50% BSFLM showed the best return on investment (105.2%) and cost-benefit ratio (1.05). Integration of 50-75% BSFLM into African catfish diet offers a sustainable and cost-effective alternative to conventional fish feed, with promising long-term nutritional and health benefits for the aquaculture industry.