There are several methods available for assessment of sodium intake, including dietary and urinary excretion, which are fraught with methodological difficulties. Therefore, the aim of this study was to validate dietary and urinary excretion methods against 24-hour urinary excretion method in estimating sodium intake in Malaysian adults. A cross-sectional study has been carried out between November to December 2015. About 1568 adults aged 18 to 59 years old have participated from 16 study sites located in the 13 states and two federal territories of Malaysia. The study collected basic socio-demographic data and habitual dietary intake by Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ). Respondents were also asked to complete a two-day food intake diary (2FD) and collect their 24-hours urine and spot urine using standard protocols. A total of 1116 adults successfully completed the survey, yielding a response rate of 71%. Sodium intake from 24-hour urine excretion was estimated at 2585.9mg/day which is above the recommendation by World Health Organization (WHO). The 2FD showed the nearest mean estimate to the reference method but the spot urine with Tanaka’s predictive equation showed the least bias. The estimation of sodium from spot urine alone or with Kawasaki’s predictive equation and FFQ method showed poor mean estimates and a large bias compared to the reference method. The 2FD and spot urine with Tanaka’s prediction equation can be good alternatives for estimating daily sodium intake at the population level but not at the individual level.
Objectives/Research Problem:Melastoma malabathricum L., (Melastomaceae) is a medicinally important plant known as “Senduduk”. Traditionally, the leaves are used to relieve diverse pain-related ailments. Present study aims to examine the antinociceptive activity of methanolic extract of M. malabathricum (MEMM) leaves and its fractions via in vivo models of nociception.
Materials and Method: Extracts (100, 250, 500 mg/kg) were administered orally 60 minutes prior to subjection to the respective test, n=6/group. Evaluation of MEMM antinociceptive activity; chemically (acetic acid-induced abdominal constriction; ACT, formalin-induced paw licking test; FT) and thermally (hot plate test; HT) models of nociception and elucidation of mechanisms of action involved; role of opioid, vanilloid receptors, glutamatergic system and NO/cGMP pathway were determined. Continuously, MEMM, partitioned into three fractions: petroleum ether (PEMM), ethyl acetate (EAMM), and aqueous (AQMM) extracts and determine the most potent fraction. Therefore, experiment ED50 and its 95% confidence intervals (CI) values were conducted, and ACT was used to screen. Calculation, obtained, PEMM, the most effective was further used to assess the antinociceptive properties. Phytochemical screening, HPLC and GC-MS analysis were performed.
Results and Discussion: First stage, MEMM exhibited significant (P
Objectives/Research Problem: A total of 6.3% of American adults showed specific craving to sweet foods and this was proven analogous to sweet foods intake. We attempted to measuresweet craving among Malaysians through the development of Sugar Craving Assessment Tool for Malaysians (MySCAT). The aim of this research was to explore the pattern of sugar craving and sugar intake among Malay adults.
Materials and Method: Subjects (age19 to 59 years old) were recruited among Kuantan residents from multiple centres. A total of 219 volunteers were recruited and they completed MySCAT questionnaire, in which the respondents rated their craving for 30 sweet foods and beverages from 0 (Never) to 4 (Always). Body mass index (BMI) was obtained from height and weight measurements.
Results and Discussion: Subjects consisted of 58 males and 161 females with mean age 29.6±10.7 y, BMI 23.5±4.4 kg/m2 total MySCAT score of 41.1±14.9. Results indicated that the most craved items were sugar sweetened beverages (mean score 2.46±1.18), fruit juices (2.16±1.08) and drinks with sweetened condensed milk (median 2.00, IQR = 2.00). A subset of 100 subjects also completed FFQ Sugar (mean age 21.2±1.6 y, BMI 21.0±3.1 kg/m2. Sugar intake was 79.5 g/day and contributed the most by sugar-sweetened beverages (56.5%) followed by non-carbonated soft drinks (13.9%) and sweets & chocolates (5.6%). Sugar intake was significantly higher in male (95.4 g/day) than female (54.3 g/day, p
The effects of radiation on man and his health had been noticed since the early years after the discovery of X-rays. These biological concerns were more commonly known as “radio-sensitiveness” in the early publications. Later, the term radiation protection was introduced to express the need for protective measures to be promoted, formulated, implemented, evaluated and sustained to reduce the biological effects associated with radiation exposure. The principles of radiation protection were then supported with the concepts of justification, ALARA and “Benefits against the risks”. But these could not ensure that the application of radiation protection has been optimized. Amidst the technological advancements associated with radiation based imaging modalities in healthcare for more than 120 years, those advancements have yet to be able reduce the impact of these modalities being a source of risks upon the more beneficial role as a
diagnostic tool. This paper reports a review on radiation protection from articles indexed in an online database. Considering that the titles of the articles contain the core subject matter that a publication carries, data were retrieved on those titles with the term “radiation protection”. Publications from 2008 to middle of November 2017 and aligned to Medicine and Health professions were included for further elaborations. The data were classified into four subject areas; education and training, administration and organization, practice and research. Discussions within each classification and their individual sub-classifications, supported by selected publications to the classification, highlight the importance of the particular subject area to the overall concept of radiation protection. Lessons learnt from the classifications could provide the necessary guidance on how one should adopt and adapt the concept of radiation protection holistically. The discussions that are presented are seen within the professional obligation in adhering to the principles of
radiation protection.
Foodborne diseases (FBD) can occur along the whole series of food production from the sources and processing until serving for consumers. Among the sources of food, meat is a major concern since it is come from animal origin where the pathogens might transmit to human and/or contaminate microbes from infected meat handlers to consumers at any time. Abattoir operators – managers and workers, and the authorities – Veterinary and Halal officers, play the key role in conversion of live food animals to healthy and edible halal meat and useful animal products fit for human consumption. Abattoir operators, abattoir operating procedures including animal handling and meat process need to abide the standard operating procedures (SOP) as guided by the authority for the safety of meat in meeting the requirements for public health. It is also to be in lines with the halal rules and regulations from the perspective of Islam so that to achieve halal food and products which are beneficial for both physical and spiritual. A number of researches have conducted in the prevalence of FBD but lack of prevention with combination of halal-compliance especially in ruminant abattoir areas. The researcher aims to do preliminary study for developing the required Operator Manual of Ruminant Abattoirs (OMRA) on prevention of FBD and also for halal compliance. This preliminary study will be looking into the process of ruminant abattoir by literature search if its premises, staffs, animal handling and the equipment used are in accordance with the halal compliance and prevention of FBD. From visiting two abattoirs and online data sources, gathering relevant information for ruminant abattoir and halal meat of Malaysia is done. Based on the preliminary findings, the three major accreditations of Malaysia which are MS1500:2009 guidelines of Department of Standards Malaysia, JAKIM (Jabatan Agama Kemajuan Islam Malaysia/ Department of Islamic Development Malaysia) 2008 & 2011 Malaysian halal meat protocols, and DVS (Department of Veterinary Services of Malaysia) code of veterinary practice 2012 respectively. They are compared and analyzed to get the required information for further developing OMRA for the benefits of meat industry, health ministry, global halal market authority and all consumers.
The purpose of this study is to validate Sugar Craving Assessment Tool (MySCAT) among type II diabetes mellitus patients. A total of 168 respondents were recruited to participate in this cross sectional study. It was conducted in out-patient health clinics in Kuala Terengganu and Kuantan. Patients’ sugar craving and dietary behavior were measures using structured questionnaires which were MySCAT, three-day dietary recall and demographic data. The interview sessions were conducted by a dietician. MySCAT internal consistency test had a Cronbach’s alpha value of 0.75 and showed a significant correlation (r=0.56, p < 0.001) with actual sugar intake collected via three days diet recall. ROC analysis reported a cut-off point for MySCAT as 16.5; the sensitivity value of 0.83 and 1-specificity of 0.38. 62% of respondents were categorized as cravers and 38% as non-cravers. Male and female repondents had no significant differences in craving status. The mean intake of sugar was 46 g/day (SD= 2.26), respondents had a relatively high intake of sugar in comparison to their recommendation. This study found that MySCAT provides an easy efficient tool which is sensitive enough to identify those with sugar craving problem. It also provides an overview of patients’ dietary intake and points out their problem with dietary intake compliance. We suggest MySCAT as an important tool that can assist dietitians in their consultation session.
In Malaysia, breast cancer is the commonest cancer among women indicating that early diagnosis and screening practice is important to increase the survival rate. Breast self-examination (BSE), clinical breast examination (CBE) and mammography are the main screening practices for breast cancer. Knowledge and awareness of breast cancer can play an important role in aiding early detection of breast cancer. Little is known about the knowledge of breast cancer and screening practices among the non-academic staff in IIUM, Kuantan. As such this study aims to determine the knowledge and screening practices of breast cancer amongst the non-academic staff at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), Kuantan Campus. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 100 nonacademic staff from ten different departments in IIUM, Kuantan from March to April 2017. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire on knowledge of breast cancer and screening practices. The relationship between socio-demographic characteristics and knowledge of breast cancer and breast cancer screening practices were carried out using chi-square. No significance difference was found between knowledge of breast cancer and socio-demographic factors. However significant relationships were found between the age of respondents and BSE as well as the level of education of respondents and CBE. Most non-academic staff possessed an average level of knowledge on breast cancer and screening practices due to possibly ease of access to information. Low performance of breast screening practices was indicated possibly due to lack of awareness, misconception of the need and benefits derived from such screening practices.
Tissue engineering (TE) research serves to overcome the major obstacles in organ transplantation. This paper summarizes the progress of TE in Malaysia. The online database of Elsevier’s SCOPUS was accessed. Publications related to TE from 1960 till 2017 were scrutinized. The results show an increasing trend in tissue engineering research and development in Malaysia. The search result identified and examined 264 original article publications. It is hoped that the outcomes of this study could serve as a point of reference for researchers on the status of TE research and development in Malaysia. The findings of this study could assist TE researchers in Malaysia to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and obstacles towards further enhancement in their activities. Consolidating, realigning and re-strategizing those initiatives should also be seen within the context of nurturing potential and budding researchers in TE.
This paper aims to synthesize available literature on occupational noise in Malaysia and to relate this to the current noise management practices and control. The review focuses on several main
scopes; i) history of occupational noise management in Malaysia; ii) legislative developments and legal precedents of occupational noise in Malaysia ; and iii) the hearing conservation programs (HCP) and hearing loss prevention programs (HLPP). Narrative review and synthesis. Related publications and references were identified through several ways: i) by structured searches in PubMed, Google scholar, Web of Knowledge and Science Direct using the combinations of ‘occupational noise’, ‘noise induced hearing loss; ‘hearing’, ‘knowledge’, awareness’, ‘hearing conservation program’, ‘hearing protection devices’ as key words ii) by inspecting the reference lists of relevant articles. The number of publications within the audiology which address this topic, is rather limited. All the above mentioned scopes were discussed and synthesis of literature from other related fields such as medical, health and occupational safety and health were also referred to facilitate the discussion. This paper concludes that there are an emerging trend for the studies of occupational noise Malaysia in the literature. However, the effectiveness of HCP in Malaysia, and to what extent it is accepted and being implemented is yet to be investigated.
Head and neck cancer (HNC) is among the common cancer in Malaysia. Depending on the location of the cancer in head and neck region, each type of HNC has its own characteristics and prevalence to specific gender and ethnicity. The remote and inaccessible location of the cancer also cause the difficulty to detect the cancer. This make the cancer usually diagnosed at late stage and make the treatment very challenges and ended with low survival rate of post-treatment among HNC patients. In fact, the detection of HNC at early stage could promise high successful recovery rate. This situation demand lots of studies to explore the carcinogenesis of HNC and searching for robust diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic biomarkers. MicroRNA (miRNA) is a class of non-coding RNA that regulate cellular physiology at post-transcriptional level. miRNAs expression has
been found to deregulate in various disease state, including cancer. A few studies revealed that miRNAs can behave as oncogenic and tumour suppressor in HNC. Even HNC is common in Malaysia, the studies of miRNA in HNC are still scarce. In this review article, we highlight the studies of miRNA in HNC that have been published by Malaysian researchers with aim to call more Malaysian researchers to focus on miRNA researches in HNC.
The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of different inter-stimulus intervals to the Cortical Auditory Evoked Potential (CAEP) findings in adult participants. Nineteen normal hearing individuals aged between 20 and 24 years old participated in this study. CAEP were measured by presenting 1000 Hz tone burst stimulus at 70dBnHL at three different inter-stimulus intervals (ISI)s of 2000, 909 and 555 ms in randomized order. Results revealed significant changes in the CAEP’s amplitude as a function of ISI with a reduction of P1-N1 amplitude of up to 50%. N2 peak was absent in some subjects using short ISI (555 ms). This study concluded that the use of very short ISI (e.g. 555 ms) may not be appropriate clinically because it can reduce the CAEP wave amplitude
and can cause an absence of peak N2. In contrast, the use of short ISI may be useful for other clinical applications that may benefit from neural habituation and refractoriness, for example to predict the potential future outcome of speech and mental disorders.
This study was designed to examine the relationship between attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control towards parents’ intention in sending their child to the audiologist. A sample of 76 parents with hearing impaired child all over the Peninsular of Malaysia was involved in this research. A set of questionnaires was used for data collection. The theory of planned behavioral (TPB) was able to explain the link between human intention and their behavior. In this study, the researcher looked at parents’ behavior in bringing their child to Audiologist. In order to achieve this a set of questionnaires was adapted from Jusoh (2011) and was administered to a group of parents with hearing loss (HL) children. The result showed that there were correlations between attitude, subjective norms as well as perceived behavioral control and parents’ intention in sending their child to the audiologist. However, there was no correlation between intentions and behavior towards the same intention.
The purpose of this study was to translate and adapt the Vestibular Rehabilitation Benefit Questionnaire (VRBQ) into Malay (My-VRBQ). This is to add on to the limited number of
vestibular questionnaire available in Malay version. After the permission from the original
author was obtained, the process of adaptation began with forward-translation by the author with
audiological background and a linguistic expert. Then, the process of backward translation into
English were completed by three bilinguals who were proficient in both Malay and English. The final version of the draft was evaluated for its content validity, which was conducted by five professionals with audiological or speech pathology backgrounds. Additionally, its face validity was determine amongst 32 respondents with diverse backgrounds. Ten participants diagnosed with vestibular problems were recruited in the My-VRBQ for internal consistency validation process. They were enlisted from two hospitals in the East Coast of Malaysia. Based on the comments and
suggestions made by the validators; some changes in terms of the appropriateness of the instructions, items and the sentence structure were made. In the consistency analysis, the My-VRBQ revealed good internal consistency based on Cronbach alpha values (0.77 to 0.96). A translated and validated My-VRBQ has the potential to be used clinically to document vestibular rehabilitation benefits. Nevertheless, future studies are encouraged to further support the present study findings.
Gynura procumbens, commonly known as ‘sambung nyawa’ in Malaysia has been used
traditionally as remedies for anti-inflammatory, anti-hyperlipidimic and anti-hyperglycemic. The
purpose of the present study was to qualitatively evaluate the antimicrobial effects of Gynura procumbens extracts. effects of the sample were determined by disc diffusion method against two bacteria and two fungi namely E. coli, S. aureus, C. albicans and S. cerevisiae. The results showed that the acidic extract of G. procumbens has positive reactions towards E. coli, S. aureus and C. albicans with the presence of zone of inhibition at the concentration of 150 mg/mL. Following the positive reaction, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the acidic extract was then evaluated by broth dilution method. The MIC of E. coli and S. aureus were determined at concentration 37.5 mg/mL and 75 mg/mL for C. albicans. It indicated that acidic extracts at lower concentration could inhibit the bacteria, but high concentration of extracts was required in the inhibition of the fungi. It can be concluded that, the present study proves that there is potential of antimicrobial effects in Gynura procumbens leaves extracts.
Porcupine bezoar (PB) has been previously reported to possess various medicinal properties. However, its potential as an anticancer agent against human cancers is still poorly studied and understood. Hence, in this study, porcupine bezoar (PB) aqueous extract was evaluated for its potential as a safe anticancer agent. Initially PB was infused in water for 18 h to get PB aqueous extract which was preliminary tested for total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), DPPH activity in order to confirm the presence of bioactive agents as antioxidants in PB. Later, PB aqueous extract was subjected to A375 (Melanoma) (IC50, cell proliferation assay) and HGF-1
(normal cell, for cytotoxicity assay) to evaluate its anticancer potential. PB aqueous extract showed 11.68 μg/mL ± 0.67 TPC value expressed as gallic acid equivalents while TFC was not detected confirming the absence of flavonoids in PB aqueous extract. IC50 for DPPH was found to be 0.79 μg/mL ± 0.07. The IC50 result for A375 was found to be 10.1 µg/mL ± 0.17. PB aqueous extract showed significant antiproliferation pattern at 24, 48 and 72 hours exposures. The data from this study suggest the potential alternative use of PB in developing natural antioxidants and antiproliferative agents for improving human health.
Schizophrenia is a devastating mental disorder that affects people’s normal life with heterogeneous features of its clinical presentation, as well as its molecular attribute. In order to identify the potential molecular aberration, particularly single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) which could be important in the aetiology of schizophrenia, polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-DNA sequencing approach was utilized for targeting the exon (and intron) 9 of the Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome type 4 (HPS4) gene. DNAs were extracted from peripheral blood of nine schizophrenic patients and one normal individual prior to PCR-DNA sequencing. Following DNA sequencing, a SNP (A>G) which is rs713998 at nucleotide position 22618 of exon 9 of the HPS4 gene was observed in eight schizophrenia samples. Moreover, DNA sequencing results also revealed an intronic aberration/SNP which is rs3747129 (C>T) at nucleotide position 22789 of intron 9 of the HPS4 gene in four schizophrenia samples. A SNP which is rs739289 (G>T) at nucleotide position 22677 of the intron was also found in eight schizophrenia samples. The importance of both the exonic and intronic aberrations is yet to be confirmed with further research involving larger population and other relevant clinical parameters. That notwithstanding, these preliminary results suggested that single nucleotide aberrations, particularly SNPs might have a role in the development of schizophrenia
Malnutrition is a major public health problem worldwide. More than half of under-five child deaths are due to undernutrition, mainly in developing countries. Ethiopia is among the highestin Sub-Saharan Africa. While,Somali regionis the worstin Ethiopia.
Patient’s self-perceived handicap inventory is an important tool for modern’s health care management including hearing loss. The HHIA is a selfreporting outcome measurement invented to identify hearing-impaired patients’ complaints for appropriate client-centred rehabilitation program. HHIA has been
reported among one of the valid self-perceived hearing handicap measures, and could even addressed issues for patient with mild and unilateral hearing loss. This study aims to translate HHIA into Malay language (HHIA-M) and to adapt the questionnaire culturally for clinical use among Malaysian population.
Aluminum (Al) is a standard material that has been used as a filter for ionising radiation however for polyvinyl chloride (PVC) there is no solid evidence to support but has been recommended. PVC has been selected as a potential filter material due to it is a long lasting constructing material and very durable, which can be used in a variety of application. The purpose of this study was to observe the effect of PVC on entrance surface dose (ESD) values as compare to the standard X-ray filter of Al. The effect of varying thickness of the materials and difference exposure settings were observed and compared to each other. From this study, the percentage difference for both PVC and Al thickness is less than ± 25.00 % shows that PVC has a potential to be used as one of the filter materials due to its ability to reduce the ESD value
In medical imaging practice, the act of removing any clothes from the region of interest is justified as to prevent the presence of artefacts on radiographs. However, by doing so, the ‘aurah’ of the patients, especially for the Muslims, are not observed and can be considered as violating their privacy if they are not well-informed beforehand. Previous studies have proved that radiographs with the presence of some fabric materials on the region of interest are radiographically acceptable. Therefore, the aims of this study are to tackle the issue of exposing one’s ‘aurah’ for a knee x-ray examination to take place and also to add insufficiency from the previous studies.