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  1. Mazrura Sahani, Hidayatulfathi Othman, Nadia Atiqah Mohd Nor, Rozita Hod, Zainudin Mohd Ali, Mohamad Naim Mohmad Rasidi, et al.
    Sains Malaysiana, 2012;41:261-269.
    Kajian ekologi nyamuk merupakan kajian yang penting dalam merangka sesuatu aktiviti kawalan penyakit bawaan nyamuk. Satu kajian ekologi nyamuk Aedes telah dijalankan di Senawang, Negeri Sembilan dari Julai 2009 hingga Febuari 2010. Senawang terletak di pinggir bandaraya Seremban yang merupakan kawasan perindustrian kecil dan sederhana dengan jumlah penduduk yang padat. Kajian ekologi vektor ini bertujuan menentukan komposisi nyamuk secara keseluruhan terutamanya kepadatan populasi Aedes, masa kemuncak gigitan nyamuk, mengenal pasti kehadiran tempat pembiakan nyamuk dan menentukan hubung kait antara nyamuk Aedes dengan faktor persekitarannya seperti suhu, kelembapan relatif, halaju angin dan curahan hujan. Pensampelan nyamuk Aedes menggunakan empat kaedah iaitu perangkap cahaya (CDC), tangkapan nyamuk berumpan kaki (BLC), ovitrap dan kajian Aedes. Terdapat dua spesies nyamuk di lokasi kajian yang didominasi oleh Ae. albopictus (93.29%) dan Ae. aegypti (0.11%). Terdapat dua masa kemuncak gigitan nyamuk Ae. albopictus iaitu awal pagi (0700-0900 pagi) dan lewat petang (jam 1700-1900). Suhu persekitaran, kelembapan relatif dan kelajuan angin didapati mempunyai kaitan dengan gigitan nyamuk Aedes pada perumah (p < 0.05). Taburan hujan didapati tidak mempunyai hubungan dengan kepadatan nyamuk Aedes (r = -0.137, n =6 , p > 0.05). Kepadatan nyamuk Ae. albopictus adalah tinggi di lokasi kajian dengan Indeks Ovitrap 100% bagi kesemua stesen. Kajian Aedes mendapati daripada 30 bekas yang positif larva, 93.33% daripadanya didominasi oleh Ae. albopictus. Kajian ini menunjukkan kepadatan Ae. albopictus adalah tinggi dan berpotensi membawa penyakit demam denggi dan chikungunya di lokasi kajian. Penjagaan persekitaran perlu ditekankan kepada masyarakat setempat untuk mengawal penyebaran penyakit-penyakit tersebut.
  2. Omar A, Yusoff MF, Hiong TG, Aris T, Morton J, Pujari S
    Int J Public Health Res, 2013;3(2):297-305.
    PMID: 26451348 MyJurnal
    INTRODUCTION: Malaysia participated in the second phase of the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) in 2011. GATS, a new component of the Global Tobacco Surveillance System, is a nationally representative household survey of adults 15 years old or above. The objectives of GATS Malaysia were to (i) systematically monitor tobacco use among adults and track key indicators of tobacco control and (ii) track the implementation of some of the Framework Convention of Tobacco Control (FCTC)-recommended demand related policies.
    METHODS: GATS Malaysia 2011 was a nationwide cross-sectional survey using multistage stratified sampling to select 5112 nationally representative households. One individual aged 15 years or older was randomly chosen from each selected household and interviewed using handheld device. GATS Core Questionnaire with optional questions was pre-tested and uploaded into handheld devices after repeated quality control processes. Data collectors were trained through a centralized training. Manuals and picture book were prepared to aid in the training of data collectors and during data collection. Field-level data were aggregated on a daily basis and analysed twice a week. Quality controls were instituted to ensure collection of high quality data. Sample weighting and analysis were conducted with the assistance of researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, USA.
    RESULTS: GATS Malaysia received a total response rate of 85.3% from 5112 adults surveyed. Majority of the respondents were 25-44 years old and Malays.
    CONCLUSIONS: The robust methodology used in the GATS Malaysia provides national estimates for tobacco used classified by socio-demographic characteristics and reliable data on various dimensions of tobacco control.
    Study name: Global Adults Tobacco Survey (GATS-2011)
  3. Husna Maizura, A.M., Khebir, V., Chong, C.K., Azman Shah, A.M., Azri, A., Lokman Hakim S.
    MyJurnal
    In October 2011, the National International Health Regulations (IHR) 2005 Focal Point for Malaysia received notification from the United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of a probable Sarcocystis outbreak amongst 23 travellers from six countries who had vacationed on Tioman Island between June and August 2011. The Ministry of Health, Malaysia (MOH) in collaboration with the Department of Veterinary Services, Malaysia (DVS) conducted a cross sectional study in November 2011 to determine the presence of Sarcocystosis among humans, animals and in the environment in Tioman Island. Epidemiological investigations conducted involved a community health survey of 44 residents in Kampung Salang, Tioman and review of outpatient attendance cards for suspected or confirmed cases of Sarcocystosis. Twenty-eight fresh stool samples were collected and sent to the National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL) for detection of Sarcocystis oocysts using fluorescence microscopy. Water samples taken from 27 water sampling points around the island were processed and analysed under the fluorescence microscope using ultraviolet (UV) light at the Institute for Medical Research (IMR) to detect the presence of Sarcocystis sporocyst. DVS collected 84 faecal samples from four types of domesticated animals and then analysed them at the Veterinary Services Centre in Tioman Island for Sarcocystis oocysts and other parasitic ova and cysts using qualitative Floatation Technique. The results showed that Sarcocystis was not present in humans, animals and in the environment in Tioman Island during the study period. Further surveillance among humans, wildlife and the environment is needed to determine Sarcocystis endemicity in Tioman Island.
  4. Sathyabama R
    Med J Malaysia, 2019 Oct;74(5):372-376.
    PMID: 31649211
    OBJECTIVE: To explore socio-demographics and clinical characteristics of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) at Child Development Clinic (CDC), Penang Hospital.

    STUDY DESIGN: A record review study of 331 children with ASD attending CDC, Penang Hospital from September 2013 to April 2017.

    RESULTS: Out of 331 children with ASD, 82.5% were males, 17.5% females, with male to female ratio of 4.7:1. Mean age at consultation was 5 years and 6 months (SD 31.68 months) with age range from 19 months to 18 years and 4 months. 85.8% were term infants with normal birth weight. History of speech regression was noted in 14.8%, epilepsy and genetic disorders in 9.4% and 5.7% respectively. Sleep problems was reported in 29.3%, dietary issues 22.1%, challenging behaviour 24.2% and ADHD 14.2%. Mean age of the father and mother at birth was 33.6 and 31.6 years respectively.

    CONCLUSION: In this study, we report a higher male to female ratio and mean age at referral with some similar rates of neurodevelopmental and medical comorbidities and relatively younger parental age with higher parental education levels.
  5. Singh VP, Gan JY, Liew WL, Kyaw Soe HH, Nettem S, Nettemu SK
    Dent Res J (Isfahan), 2019 2 13;16(1):29-35.
    PMID: 30745916
    Background: Periodontitis is a public health concern since it is a major factor in tooth loss worldwide and has association with many systemic diseases. Sleep is a complex and essentially biological process and a critical factor for maintaining mental and physical health. Since inflammation is characteristic of both chronic periodontitis and sleep deprivation, few studies in recent years present the contradictory results regarding this potential association. The objective of the present study was to investigate the association between quality of sleep and chronic periodontitis.

    Materials and Methods: A total of 200 individuals participated in this study. All participants underwent a comprehensive clinical periodontal examination. Case-control were identified using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/American Academy of Periodontology case definitions for periodontal disease. The quality of sleep was assessed by Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. The univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to test the influence of variables (quality of sleep, age, sex, ethnicity, education, and socioeconomic status), in the occurrence of periodontitis. Odds ratio (OR) and respective confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated and reported. P =0.05 was considered statistically significant.

    Results: The prevalence of poor quality of sleep was 56.75% in cases (periodontitis group) and 43.24% in control group. There was positive association between quality of sleep and chronic periodontitis (OR = 3.04; 95% CI = 1.42-6.5; P = 0.004). In multivariate logistic regression analysis, only the age was significantly related to the periodontitis (OR = 1.11; 95% CI = 1.07-1.41; P < 0.001), other variables failed to reach the significant level.

    Conclusion: Poor quality of sleep was significantly associated with chronic periodontitis. Only the age was significantly related to periodontitis among the other covariable measured.
  6. Rosenthal VD, Maki DG, Mehta Y, Leblebicioglu H, Memish ZA, Al-Mousa HH, et al.
    Am J Infect Control, 2014 09;42(9):942-56.
    PMID: 25179325 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajic.2014.05.029
    We report the results of an International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) surveillance study from January 2007-December 2012 in 503 intensive care units (ICUs) in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. During the 6-year study using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) U.S. National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) definitions for device-associated health care-associated infection (DA-HAI), we collected prospective data from 605,310 patients hospitalized in the INICC's ICUs for an aggregate of 3,338,396 days. Although device utilization in the INICC's ICUs was similar to that reported from ICUs in the U.S. in the CDC's NHSN, rates of device-associated nosocomial infection were higher in the ICUs of the INICC hospitals: the pooled rate of central line-associated bloodstream infection in the INICC's ICUs, 4.9 per 1,000 central line days, is nearly 5-fold higher than the 0.9 per 1,000 central line days reported from comparable U.S. ICUs. The overall rate of ventilator-associated pneumonia was also higher (16.8 vs 1.1 per 1,000 ventilator days) as was the rate of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (5.5 vs 1.3 per 1,000 catheter days). Frequencies of resistance of Pseudomonas isolates to amikacin (42.8% vs 10%) and imipenem (42.4% vs 26.1%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates to ceftazidime (71.2% vs 28.8%) and imipenem (19.6% vs 12.8%) were also higher in the INICC's ICUs compared with the ICUs of the CDC's NHSN.
  7. Furuya-Kanamori L, Liang S, Milinovich G, Soares Magalhaes RJ, Clements AC, Hu W, et al.
    BMC Infect Dis, 2016;16:84.
    PMID: 26936191 DOI: 10.1186/s12879-016-1417-2
    BACKGROUND: Chikungunya and dengue infections are spatio-temporally related. The current review aims to determine the geographic limits of chikungunya, dengue and the principal mosquito vectors for both viruses and to synthesise current epidemiological understanding of their co-distribution.
    METHODS: Three biomedical databases (PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science) were searched from their inception until May 2015 for studies that reported concurrent detection of chikungunya and dengue viruses in the same patient. Additionally, data from WHO, CDC and Healthmap alerts were extracted to create up-to-date global distribution maps for both dengue and chikungunya.
    RESULTS: Evidence for chikungunya-dengue co-infection has been found in Angola, Gabon, India, Madagascar, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nigeria, Saint Martin, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand and Yemen; these constitute only 13 out of the 98 countries/territories where both chikungunya and dengue epidemic/endemic transmission have been reported.
    CONCLUSIONS: Understanding the true extent of chikungunya-dengue co-infection is hampered by current diagnosis largely based on their similar symptoms. Heightened awareness of chikungunya among the public and public health practitioners in the advent of the ongoing outbreak in the Americas can be expected to improve diagnostic rigour. Maps generated from the newly compiled lists of the geographic distribution of both pathogens and vectors represent the current geographical limits of chikungunya and dengue, as well as the countries/territories at risk of future incursion by both viruses. These describe regions of co-endemicity in which lab-based diagnosis of suspected cases is of higher priority.
    Erratum: Furuya-Kanamori L, Liang S, Milinovich G, Magalhaes RJ, Clements AC, Hu W, Brasil P, Frentiu FD, Dunning R, Yakob L. Erratum to: Co-distribution and co-infection of chikungunya and dengue viruses. BMC Infect Dis. 2016 Apr 29;16:188. doi: 10.1186/s12879-016-1519-x. PubMed PMID: 27129475; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4851825.
  8. Uppal PK
    Ann N Y Acad Sci, 2000;916:354-7.
    PMID: 11193645
    A pig-borne virus causing viral encephalitis amongst human beings in Malaysia was detected in 1997 by the Ministry of Health. Initially, the disease was considered to be Japanese encephalitis. Subsequently, it was thought to be a Hendra-like viral encephalitis, but on 10th April, 1999 the Minister of Health announced this mysterious and deadly virus to be a new virus named Nipah virus. The virus was characterized at CDC, Atlanta, Georgia. The gene sequencing of the enveloped virus revealed that one of the genes had 21% difference in the nucleotide sequence with about 8% difference in the amino acid sequence from Hendra virus isolated from horses in Australia in 1994. The virus was named after the village Nipah. In all, the Ministry of Health declared 101 human casualties, and 900,000 pigs were culled by April, 1999. The worst affected area in Malaysia was Negri Sembilan. The symptoms, incubation period in human being and pigs, animal to human transmission, threat of disease to other livestock, and control program adopted in Malaysia is described.
  9. Alias H, Mohd Nazi NA, Lau Sie Chong D
    Front Pediatr, 2019;7:73.
    PMID: 30937299 DOI: 10.3389/fped.2019.00073
    Background: Low physical activity (PA) level has been reported among survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The present study was performed to determine the level of participation in general PA and physical education in school (PES) among children with ALL who completed intensive chemotherapy and identify possible barriers that influence adherence to PA and PES. Methods: A cross-sectional, single-center study was conducted over 1 year in a tertiary pediatric hematology and oncology referral center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A total of 47 children with ALL aged 7-18 years old who were off-treatment and attended school on a regular basis were recruited. A modified structured questionnaire adapted from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, Division of Adolescent and School Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was used to assess the children's level of PA and PES participation. Results: Among the 47 children will ALL included herein, 11 (23.4%) were physically active for at least 60 min a day for 5 days or more, following CDC recommendations. The median duration from completion of intensive chemotherapy was 4.95 years (25th, 3.29; 75th, 7.95). Younger age at study entry (median, 8.7 years old vs. 12.2 years old) and younger age at diagnosis (median, 2.9 years old vs. 4.3 years old) were significantly associated with higher PA level. Almost all children (45/47, 95.7%) participated in PES. Barriers to non-participation in PES mainly included exhaustion or fear of injury. Conclusions: Majority of the children with ALL included herein had low levels of daily PA after intensive chemotherapy. Nonetheless, their participation in PES was encouraging. PA should thus be promoted during and after cessation of ALL treatment to prevent long-term health risks and improve overall quality of life.
  10. Yun K, Matheson J, Payton C, Scott KC, Stone BL, Song L, et al.
    Am J Public Health, 2016 Jan;106(1):128-35.
    PMID: 26562126 DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2015.302873
    OBJECTIVES: We conducted a large-scale study of newly arrived refugee children in the United States with data from 2006 to 2012 domestic medical examinations in 4 sites: Colorado; Minnesota; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Washington State.

    METHODS: Blood lead level, anemia, hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, tuberculosis infection or disease, and Strongyloides seropositivity data were available for 8148 refugee children (aged < 19 years) from Bhutan, Burma, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Iraq, and Somalia.

    RESULTS: We identified distinct health profiles for each country of origin, as well as for Burmese children who arrived in the United States from Thailand compared with Burmese children who arrived from Malaysia. Hepatitis B was more prevalent among male children than female children and among children aged 5 years and older. The odds of HBV, tuberculosis, and Strongyloides decreased over the study period.

    CONCLUSIONS: Medical screening remains an important part of health care for newly arrived refugee children in the United States, and disease risk varies by population.

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