A helminthological examination of 367 wood rats, Rattus tiomanicus, in an oil-palm. estate 24 miles north of Kuala Lumpur conducted during 1973 revealed 8 species of helminths: 5 nematodes. Angiostrongylus malaysiensis (54.2% of the rats infected), Hepatojarakus malayae (48.5%), Nippostrongylus braziliensis (48.0%), Gongylonema neoplasticum (0.3%), Syphacia muris (17.7%); 3 cestodes, Hymenolepis diminuta (6.0%), Hymenolepis nana (7.6%), Hydatigera taeniaeformis (cysticercus) (12.0%) and 1 pentastomid, Armillifer sp. (nymph) (0.8%). Overall helminthic infection rates seemed to be higher than those previously reported in this host species.
Sympatric gibbon species Hylobates lar and H. syndactylus were censused on a mountain in Malaya (West Malaysia). Habitat quality was assessed between 380- and 1,525-m altitudes. H. syndactylus was found to occur up to altitudes higher than does H. lar, and this is discussed with reference to the two species' divergent foraging strategies indicated by previous research. It is suggested that gibbons are restricted in their altitudinal range by an increasingly unfavourable ratio of food consumed to energy expended in its location, caused by a reduced food-source density and more difficult terrain at higher elevations.
MeSH terms: Altitude; Animals; Cercopithecidae; Environment*; Feeding Behavior; Female; Hylobates*; Malaysia; Male; Population Density*; Species Specificity; Temperature; Trees; Hominidae*
Two hundred and nineteen patients with skeletal tuberculosis have been reviewed analysing the site of the lesion and the treatment given. Operative management is advocated since the results of this approach are encouraging.
The monthly medians of the distances traveled daily by siamang and lar gibbons are negatively correlated with rainfall and positively correlated with the separate and combined abundance of different food categories. The latter correlations indicate that the apes follow a policy of cutting their losses by reducing travel when food abundance falls.
The possible depression of cell-mediated immunity by long-term Brugia malayi infection in jirds (Meriones unguiculatus) was investigated. Different groups of infected jirds were sensitized with dinitrofluorobenzene, sheep red blood cells, Dirofilaria immitis adult antigens and B. malayi adult antigens. The 24-hour delayed type hypersensitivity skin response to testing with antigen was measured as an in vivo correlate of cell-mediated immunity. The delayed-type hypersensitivity responses to dinitrofluorobenzene, sheep red blood cells and D. immitis antigens were normal but the response to B. malayi antigens was significantly depressed, confirming that long-term B. malayi infection depresses cell-mediated immunity and that this depression is specific to B. malayi antigens.
Demographic and drug abuse characteristics of 3,484 new drug abuse contacts presenting to the General Hospital, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia are reported. The large majority were heroin inhalers. They were different from the traditional Eastern opium inhalers and similar to Western heroin injectors in that they were young, male, single, and frequently unemployed. These features and the relative underrepresentation of Chinese suggest that the Chinese of this study did not learn narcotic abuse from opium-smoking relatives.
Three human saliva genetic markers, namely, salivary peroxidase (SAPX), Pm, and Ph proteins, were investigated in the three major ethnic groups of Malaysia: Malays, Chinese, and Indians. For Pm, the allelic frequencies of Pm+ for Malays, Chinese, and Indians are 0.385 +/- 0.030, 0.282 +/- 0.026, and 0.289 +/- 0.026 respectively. For Ph, the allelic frequencies of Ph+ are 0.082 +/- 0.016 for Malays, 0.109 +/- 0.017 for Chinese, and 0.062 +/- 0.013 for Indians. For SAPX, the allelic frequencies of SAPX1 in Malays, Chinese, and Indians are 0.762 +/- 0.027, 0.755 +/- 0.027, and 0.723 +/- 0.026 respectively.
MeSH terms: Alleles; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; Gene Frequency; Humans; Malaysia; Peroxidases/genetics*; Phenotype; Polymorphism, Genetic*; Salivary Proteins and Peptides/genetics*; European Continental Ancestry Group*; Asian Continental Ancestry Group*
PIP: In 1976 the United Nations's Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific launched a comparative study on integrated family planning programs in a number of countries in the region. In November 1979 the study directors from the participating countries meet in Bangkok to discuss the current status of the studies in their countries. The Korean and Malaysian studies were completed, the Bangladesh study was in the data collecting phase, and the Pakistani research design phase was completed. The meeting participants focused their attention on the findings and policy implications of the 2 completed studies and also discussed a number of theorectical and methodological issues which grew out of their research experience. The Malaysian study indicated that group structure, financial resources, and the frequency and quality of worker-client contact were the most significant variables determining program effectiveness. In the Korean Study, leadership, financial resources, and the frequency and quality of contact between agencies were the key variables in determining program effectiveness. In the Malaysian study there was a positive correlation between maternal and child health service performance measures and family planning service performance measures. This finding supported the contention that these 2 types of service provision are not in conflict with each other but instead serve to reinforce each other. Policy implications of the Korean study were 1) family planning should be an integral part of all community activities; 2) family planning workers should be adequately supported by financial and supply allocations; and 3) adequate record keeping and information exchange procedures should be incorporated in the programs.
MeSH terms: Asia; Asia, Southeastern; Delivery of Health Care; Developing Countries; Evaluation Studies as Topic*; Family Planning Services; Far East; Health; Health Planning*; Health Services; Humans; International Agencies; Korea; Malaysia; Maternal Health Services*; Maternal-Child Health Centers; National Health Programs; Organizations; Primary Health Care; United Nations*
MeSH terms: Asia; Asia, Southeastern; Demography; Developing Countries; Far East; Health Services Research*; Indonesia; International Agencies; Japan; Korea; Organizations; Population Control; Research; United Nations*; Developed Countries
This discussion of an episode of mass hysteria in a Malay college in West Malaysia examines stress and conflict in relation to the interpretive process within a specific social setting. Unlike previous studies, which conceptualize mass hysteria as a cathartic response to accumulated stress, the present study treats stress as a matter of definition in a specific sociocultural context rather than as an objective given from which predictions can be made. Objections are raised to the logic of explanations that attribute mass hysteria to environmental stress. What is of concern is how meanings are assigned to events that are experienced as stressful, how participants and observers explain these events, and the consequences that follow from their interpretations.
MeSH terms: Conflict (Psychology); Cultural Characteristics*; Culture*; Female; Humans; Hysteria/psychology*; Interpersonal Relations; Malaysia; Mass Behavior*; Medicine, Traditional; Psychophysiologic Disorders/psychology; Social Conditions*; Spiritualism