A total of fifty anurans, comprising of Rana limnocharis and Bufo melanostictus
were collected from Sungai Pinang, Balik Pulau, Penang. The prevalence, mean intensity and
distribution of parasite species along the digestive tract were reported. Seven species of parasites
were recorded. Blood parasites recovered were trypansomes and microfilariae
Parasites and bacteria are reported in the faeces of birds in the current study. Fresh
faecal samples of the large-billed crow (Corvus spp.) were collected from the study site at Bangsar,
an urban setting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. These samples were transported to laboratory and
analysed for parasites and bacteria. Pre-prepared XLD agar plates were used for culturing the
bacteria in the laboratory. Using the API 20ETM Test Strips, 9 different species of bacteria were
identified belonging to the family Enterobacteriacea. They were Citrobacter freundii, Enterobacter
cloacae, Proteus mirabilis, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Kluyvera ascorbata, Salmonella arizonae,
Salmonella typhi, Shigella flexneri and Shigella sonnei. The protozoan parasites detected include
Cryptosporidium spp., Cyclospora spp., Blastocystis spp., and Capillaria hepatica and Ascaris
lumbricoidus ova. Environmental air samples collected on agar plates using an air sampler in
the area only produced fungal colonies. Some of these pathogens found in the crows are of
zoonotic importance, especially Cryptosporidium, Blastocystis, Cyclopsora, Salmonella, Shigella
and Kluyvera. The finding of Kluyvera spp. in crows in our current study highlights its zoonotic
potential in an urban setting
The efficacy and residual efficacy of commercial baits, Quick Bayt® (0.5% w/w
imidacloprid) and Agita® (10.0% w/w thiamethoxam) against synanthropic flies were evaluated
under field conditions. Efficacy was evaluated based on knockdown percentage (KD %). The bait
efficacy and residual efficacy evaluation were conducted for a period of 3 weeks and 6 weeks
respectively. Baits were applied onto bait targets and placed on fly-count targets to facilitate the
counting of flies. All baits were applied according to the manufacturer’s recommended application
rate. Three replicate treatments for each type of bait were placed at the study site each week. The
number of flies feeding on baits and the knocked down flies were counted and collected. The
efficacy of Agita® and Quick Bayt® did not differ significantly (t-test, P>0.05) over the 3-week
period, even though Quick Bayt® had a slightly higher KD% than Agita®. In the residual efficacy
evaluation, the (knockdown) KD% of Quick Bayt® was consistent at around 36% for the first five
weeks but dropped to 33.8 ± 0.4% on the sixth week. The KD% for Agita® on the first week was
33.6 ± 12.2% and remained relatively consistent for the first 4 weeks at around 31%. KD% dropped
to 16.7 ± 3.3% on week 5 and to 15.7 ± 1.2% on week 6. The difference in residual efficacy of the
two baits was significant (t-test, p
A semi laboratory experiment using 3 cohorts of Aedes albopictus adults was performed
to obtain age-specific mortality and fecundity information and to derive statistical estimates of
some population growth parameters. Life expectancy was calculated for both males and females.
The following population parameters were estimated: intrinsic rate of increase (rm= 0.21), net
reproductive (replacement) rate (Ro= 68.70), age at mean cohort reproduction (To=10.55 days),
birth rate (B=0.23), death rate (D=0.02) and generation time (G=20.14 days). The high rm/B (0.91)
and B/D (11.50) ratios indicated the high colonizing ability of Ae. albopictus in nature.
MeSH terms: Aedes; Animals; Biometry; Birth Rate; Female; Fertility; Laboratories; Life Expectancy; Male; Population Growth; Reproduction
The adult population and species composition of mosquitoes collected in Ranau, Sabah
are described. A total of 5956 mosquitoes representing 8 genera and 41 species were collected
using human landing catch, indoor and outdoor. Anopheles maculatus was the most common
species (15.6%) followed by Culex quinquefasciatus (12.8%), Culex pseudovishnui (12.1%),
A n o p h e l e s b a l a b a c e n s i s ( 1 1 . 1 % ) , C u l e x v i s h n u i ( 9 . 7 % ) , A e d e s v e x a n s ( 9 . 6 % ) , C u l e x
tritaeniorhyncus (6.6%), Anopheles donaldi (5.6%) and others in very small percentage.
MeSH terms: Animals; Anopheles; Culex; Dermatologic Agents; Malaysia
Flourescent antibody test (FAT) was applied to determine the cross-reactivities of
monoclonal (mAb), polyclonal (pAb) antibodies to Neospora, Toxoplasma and Cryptosporidium
and antisera from cattle naturally infected with Neospora canium against antigens from a number
of sources. Both mAb and pAb to Neospora reacted strongly (FAT titre up to 2560) with the
homologous antigens and demonstrated weak titre (80) or no reaction with both Toxoplasma and
Cryptosporidium antigens. Also mAb and pAb to Toxoplasma gondii reacted at titres of 80 - 640
with homologous antigens and at titres of 10-40 with N. caninum. No cross-reactions with either
mAb or pAb antibodies to N. caninum and T. gondii were observed with Cryptosporidium
parvum. The same results were observed with C. parvum mAb when tested with both N. caninum
and T. gondii antigens. Sera from cattle naturally infected with N. caninum had titres ranging
from 80- 640 with N. caninum antigens, and 10- 40 with T. gondii and C. parvum antigens. At low
dilutions, the complete surfaces of Neospora and Toxoplasma parasites were fluorescent, while
in higher dilutions only dotted fluorescence appeared on the apical complex. These results
indicated the presence of cross-reactivity between Neospora and Toxoplasma but not with
Cryptosporidium. Accordingly the recommended cut-off antibody titre for diagnosis of neosporosis
is 80.
Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of two dust mites, Sturnophagoides
brasiliensis and Sturnophagoides halterophilus, are presented to provide an improved
visualization of the taxonomic characters of these mites. Sturnophagoides halterophilus can be
differentiated from S. brasiliensis by their expanded genu and femur of leg I. The differences in
morphology of male and female S. brasiliensis are also discussed.
Amoebic serodiagnosis at Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM), Kelantan employs
an indirect haemagglutination assay (IHA) which detects anti-Entamoeba histolytica antibodies
in patients’ serum samples. In an amoebiasis endemic area such as Kelantan, interpretation of a
positive IHA result can be problematic due to the high background antibody levels. The TechLab
E. histolytica II ELISA is a commercial kit for detection of specific Gal/GalNAc lectin antigen in
stool samples, and has been reported to be able to detect the antigen in serum samples from
patients with amoebic liver abscess (ALA). Thus in this study we investigated the usefulness of
TechLab E. histolytica II ELISA for diagnosis of ALA by comparing it with IHA. This is a cross
sectional study involving 58 suspected ALA patients who were admitted to the surgical ward,
HUSM, Kelantan. The diagnosis of ALA was established based on clinical symptoms and signs,
ultrasound and/or CT scan results. The serum specimens obtained from the patients were tested
with IHA (Dade Behring Diagnostics, Marburg, Germany) and TechLab E. histolytica II ELISA
(Techlab, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA) according to the manufacturers’ instructions. Of the 58
patients, 72.4% (42) were positive by IHA and only 8.6% (5) were positive by the TechLab E.
histolytica II ELISA. Agreement between the IHA and ELISA was poor (kappa value 0.019, p=0.691).
There was also no correlation between ELISA results and IHA antibody titers. The TechLab E.
histolytica II ELISA was not sensitive in detecting amoebic antigen in samples from ALA patients.
In addition the results of the test did not correlate with the IHA anti-E. histolytica antibody titres.
Therefore, the TechLab E. histolytica II ELISA was found not to be useful for serological diagnosis
of ALA at HUSM
Insects found associated with corpse can be used as one of the indicators in estimating
postmortem interval (PMI). The objective of this study was to compare the stages of decomposition
and faunal succession between a partially burnt pig (Sus scrofa Linnaeus) and natural pig (as
control). The burning simulated a real crime whereby the victim was burnt by murderer. Two
young pigs weighed approximately 10 kg were used in this study. Both pigs died from pneumonia
and immediately placed in an oil palm plantation near a pig farm in Tanjung Sepat, Selangor,
Malaysia. One pig was partially burnt by 1-liter petrol while the other served as control. Both
carcasses were visited twice per day for the first week and once thereafter. Adult flies and larvae
on the carcasses were collected and later processed in a forensic entomology laboratory. Results
showed that there was no significant difference between the rate of decomposition and sequence
of faunal succession on both pig carcasses. Both carcasses were completely decomposed to remain
stage after nine days. The species of flies visiting the pig carcasses consisted of blow flies
(Chrysomya megac ephala, Chrysomya ruf i fac i e s , Hemipyr e l l ia l igur r i ens ) , flesh fly
(Sarcophagidae.), muscid fly (Ophyra spinigera), soldier fly (Hermetia illucens), coffin fly
(Phoridae) and scavenger fly (Sepsidae). The only difference noted was in the number of adult
flies, whereby more flies were seen in the control carcass. Faunal succession on both pig carcasses
was in the following sequence: Calliphoridae, Sarcophagidae, Muscidae, Phoridae and lastly
Stratiomyidae. However, there was overlap in the appearance of members of these families.
Blowflies continued to oviposit on both carcasses. Hence postmortem interval (PMI) can still be
estimated from the partially burnt pig carcass.
A survey of Caseous Lymphadenitis (CLA), a bacterial infection in sheep and goats was conducted on small ruminant farms in two districts in Perak, namely Kinta and Hilir Perak. The objective of this survey is to determine the status of CLA infection in small ruminants. A total of 8 farms were screened, involving a total of 579 animals. Agar Gel Precipitation Test (AGPT) and Enzyme Linked Immuno Absorbent Assay (ELISA) were conducted on serum samples obtained from the animals. Results show that 8.5% of the animals had a positive reaction for AGPT test. It was found that 36 samples (17%) were found positive using both AGPT and ELISA methods, 9 samples (4%) were found positive only using AGPT method, 14 samples (6%)were found positive only using ELISA and 157 samples (73%) were found negative using both methods. Since there is no available data on the prevalence of the disease in the country, further epidemiological studies as well as reliable diagnostic detection methods need to be assessed for aiding in control and eradication programmes for this disease.
This study was conducted to examine the effect of malathion on the development of
Chrysomya megacephala. A total of 12 adult Sprague-Dawley rats was divided into 4 groups.
Each animal in the 4 groups was given orally 0 (control), 10, 25 and 50ml/kg body weight of
malathion, respectively. Chrysomya megacephala larvae were then allowed to grow on the liver
of carcass. Larvae development was estimated by means of weight and length, time of adult
emergence and survival rate. Results indicated that for the first 6 to 30 hours, larvae from control
group developed more rapidly than larvae feeding on tissue containing malathion. However, the 3
doses of malathion did not exhibit significant impact on larvae length and weight. The time
required for adult emergence was significantly greater for malathion-treated colony which was
10 days compared to 7 days in control colony. Control larvae of C. megacephala had higher survival
rate compared to larvae exposed to the three different doses of malathion. Analysis of the tissues
indicated that all rats and fly samples were positive for malathion. Malathion concentration was
highest in liver. It was concluded that the presence of malathion altered the development rate of
C. megacephala and thus disrupted normal postmortem interval estimation.
Studies have shown that organisational excellence is influenced amongst others by top management leadership and management quality, human resource management and customer focus. This is clearly illustrated by international organisational excellence models, e.g the Malaysian Prime Minister Quality Award, the American Quality Award, EFQM Excellence and Deming Prize Criteria Models.
With the objective of finding out how well the Pathology Department, Hospital Tuanku Ja'afar Seremban fares, a study was conducted in early 2006 and a repeated study performed in 2007 after remedial actions and continuous improvement activities have been undertaken by the department leadership and top management. The study was performed on the staff (internal customer) to gauge the degree of satisfaction in the areas of leadership, resource management and customer focus.
The study showed an increased in the overall satisfaction i.e. 65.43% in 2007 compared to 18.29% in 2006. The staff of the department have appreciated that the current leadership has been strengthened and the management has shown improved caring, professionalism and team work as stipulated by the Ministry of Health's Corporate Culture. There has also been increased sense of belonging, feeling being cared for, appreciated and loved by the management. This has led staff being more proud of the organisation and 88.1% have maintained that they have worked very hard in 2007 study compared to 57.69% in 2006 study. This study has shown that top management and leadership commitment and being staff or internal customer focus, while instituting changes in the organisation would inevitably lead to increased staff satisfaction and this in turn leads to improved staff participation and contribution to the organisation.
Customer satisfaction is one of the main priority to any service provider. It indicates process and quality involved in delivering of services. However, satisfaction level varies from one service to another. In Indonesia, satisfaction study is seldom done on Posyandu activity. This study tries to understanding this issue. A cross sectional study was conducted on Posyandu services located in urban and rural areas of South Sumatera, Indonesia from November 2005 until January 2006 with 125 respondents in urban area and 123 respondents in rural area using multi stages random sampling. Data was collected via structured questionnaires using SERVQUAL score method based on five dimensions : tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. The results showed that the proportion of satisfied customers was higher at 74% particularly in the rural area. Satisfied respondents were significantly associated with age, education, income and distance to Posyandu services. The most satisfying dimension were tangible and reliability especially in the urban area, but not for responsive and empathy dimension. Overall, the mean SERVQUAL score of all dimension was higher for the urban as compared to the rural area, implying that customer perceptions are much better from what was expected.
Responsive and empathy dimension were the main barrier affecting customer satisfaction. Staff development efforts such as training, refreshing and others form of organizational development strategies, therefore, need to be incorporated into its current managerial practice in order to improve the health services delivery and increase customers' satisfaction.
MeSH terms: Consumer Behavior; Cross-Sectional Studies; Delivery of Health Care; Empathy; Indonesia; Perception; Personal Satisfaction; Surveys and Questionnaires; Staff Development; Reproducibility of Results
Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disorder with many vascular complications, leading to significant morbidity and mortality. The prevalence of Type 2 diabetes mellitus in Malaysia has risen dramatically from 6.3% (NHMS 1 in 1986); to 8.3% (NHMS 2 in 1996); and to 14.9% (NHMS 3 in 2006). An audit was conducted on patient's medical records from selected MOH health facilities to assess the control of diabetes using HbA1c. The response rate was 69.6% and the control of diabetes was poor. Only 18.4% of patients with valid HbA1c had value less than 6.5%. This is notably worst amongst patients from younger age groups. Many recommended investigations such as fundoscopy and urine microalbumin had not been done regularly. Efforts to look for various vascular complications were under-reported. About 45% of patients had been treated with 2 oral antidiabetic agents; mainly the sulphonylureas and the biguanides. Only 13.3% of patients were on insulin despite having poorly controlled disease. There is an urgent need to improve the management of diabetes mellitus in these areas:- (i) improving the glycemic control status (particularly among younger diabetic patients) with early and optimal use of oral diabetic drugs and insulin; (ii) stringent monitoring of glycemic control with adequate funds for regular performance of HbA1c (at least every 6 monthly for all diabetic patients) (iii) organizing regular updates or interactive programme for diabetes healthcare providers from primary, secondary and tertiary care; (iv) ensuring regular and prompt review of diabetic complications so that the complications can be dealt with early; (v) producing more diabetes educators to strengthen and standardize the diabetes education programme; and promote patients adherence to non-pharmacological and pharmacological interventions.
MeSH terms: Ambulatory Care Facilities; Biguanides; Blood Glucose; Cross-Sectional Studies; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2; Financial Management; Health Facilities; Health Personnel; Hospitals; Humans; Hypoglycemic Agents; Insulin; Malaysia; Medical Records; Morbidity; Sulfonylurea Compounds; Prevalence; Diabetes Complications; Tertiary Healthcare
Acute Gastroenteritis (AGE) is common world wide and is a major health problem. The commonest cause is from contaminated water or food. Common infective agents are Rotavirus, Staph. aureus and Bacillus cereus. There was an AGE outbreak in Ipoh City from late August till early October 2006. Epidemiological and laboratory investigations were done. Fresh stool samples were taken from symptomatic patients. Water and food sampling were also done. Descriptive analysis of the outbreak was done. A total of 170 patients, mostly between 1 - 5 years of age, were affected. The highest incidents were seen in Bercham. Fever and diarrhea were the prominent features. Two stool samples (13.3%) were positive for E.coli and rotavirus respectively. Twelve of the twenty (60%) water samples taken were contaminated with coliform and fecal matter. Twenty-one of the eighty ((26.3%) food samples taken grew either E.coli, Staph. aureus or Bacillus cereus. It was concluded that a general source was responsible for this problem. The water supply to Ipoh City and the surrounding area is the most likely source. Novovirus was suspected as the organism involved because of the self-limiting and mild nature of the illness that occurred in this outbreak.
The AGE outbreak in Kinta District in September 2006 is due to contaminated
water supply from two water treatment
MeSH terms: Bacillus cereus; Diarrhea; Disease Outbreaks; Escherichia coli; Gastroenteritis; Humans; Malaysia; Rotavirus; Water; Water Pollution; Water Supply; Water Purification
The purpose of the present study is to provide a critical review on the revolution of the "compliance" concepts from compliance to adherence, and adherence to concordance for both pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies. A comprehensive literature search was performed using online databases from Library of University Putra Malaysia, and Pub Med based on the keywords. The present study showed that both quantitative and qualitative studies cannot be neglected in assessing adherence and its related problems. One of major findings from the present review is that "compliance" was no longer suitable for current treatments and it is important to define concepts of the terms used (adherence or concordance) correctly and clearly. The findings reflected that researchers placed greater value on medication adherence than non-pharmacological adherence. There were three general factors related to treatments adherence, namely socio-economic factor, treatments-related factor and disease-related factor. The findings showed that both qualitative and quantitative studies found consistent results for most of the factors, except for the experience of diseases symptoms. Both study design contribute important values to the adherence studies and future studies should incorporate both quantitative and qualitative studies to understand adherence in both pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments.
MeSH terms: Libraries; Malaysia; Research Design; Research Personnel; Universities; Qualitative Research; Medication Adherence
This is a cross sectional study to assess the performance of Putrajaya Health Clinic in meeting the client's expectation among 403 clients who came to seek medical treatment through a systematic random sampling in the month of July 2006. Our aim is not only to reduce dissatisfaction among clients but also try to meet their expectations; we have adopted SERVQUAL method which defined satisfaction as the difference between perceptions and expectations. We would also like to refer this dissatisfaction as not able to meet clients' expectations. It was found that there were only 6.9% of clients dissatisfied in Putrajaya Health Clinic, but they had not been able to meet 81.5% of clients' expectation. As for demographic characteristics, there appeared to be a significant association between client's satisfaction and age, gender, ethnicity and educational level. For outpatient's, the greatest dissatisfaction is in the dimension of Reliability. Clients were not happy with the waiting time at the clinic. Apart from recruiting more staff, management should develop a comfortable waiting environment to reduce the agony of waiting.
MeSH terms: Ambulatory Care Facilities; Cross-Sectional Studies; Ethnic Groups; Humans; Malaysia; Outpatients; Personal Satisfaction; Reproducibility of Results; Patient Satisfaction
Caring practice is one of the three core values of Corporate Culture of Ministry of Health Malaysia, initiated in 1991. A cross sectional study was conducted to determine the extent of hospital healthcare personnel practicing the element of caring. Self-administered questionnaires were mailed to all staff working in public hospitals followed by reminder letters and telephone calls. A total of 37,267 responded out of 69,385 personnel working in the hospitals with a response rate of 53.7%. Results showed that about half of the respondents perceived that they practice caring value of the corporate culture (49.5%) and only 33.3% perceived that their colleagues practiced it. The practice of caring value was highest among clinical specialists (65.4%) and lowest among the clerks (22.1%). Nurses perceived that 40.4% of their colleagues practiced caring values while the clerks perceived only 17.0% of their colleagues practice it. In conclusion, caring value is not being well practiced by healthcare staff especially among the support staff. There is a need for further research to study the reasons for poor caring practice by healthcare personnel and develop strategies to improve the situation.
MeSH terms: Cross-Sectional Studies; Empathy; Hospitals, Public; Malaysia; Nurses; Postal Service; Surveys and Questionnaires; Specialization; Telephone; Organizational Culture
Tujuan menjalankan kajian ini adalah untuk mengetahui tahap kekerapan penyelidikan yang berkaitan dengan kesihatan mental yang dijalankan di fasiliti Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia. Sebanyak 258 fasiliti Kementerian Kesihatan yang terlibat dalam kajian ini meliputi Hospital Mental, Hospital dengan perkhidmatan Pakar Psikiatri, Hospital tanpa perkhidmatan Pakar Psikiatri dan Pejabat Kesihatan Daerah. Borang kajiselidik telah dihantar melalui pos kepada Pengarah Hospital dan Pegawai Kesihatan Daerah dengan kadar maklumbalas 70.2%. Hasil kajian mendapati hanya 23(13.1%) fasiliti sahaja yang menjalankan kajian mengenai kesihatan mental. Sebanyak 37 kajian berkaitan kesihatan mental telah dijalankan bagi tahun 2003-2004. Penyebab utama penyelidikan kurang dijalankan disebabkan oieh peruntukan yang tidak mencukupi dan tiada kepakaran untuk menjalankan penyelidikan yang berkaitan dengan kesihatan mental. Antara penyebab lain adalah kekurangan anggota, NGO tidak berminat dan tiada latihan. Kesimpulannya menunjukkan tahap penyelidikan kesihatan mental di fasiliti Kementerian Kesihatan masih rendah.
Researchers all over the world have continuously contributed knowledge on common human cancers and its related risks. Despite these mountains of information, the trend of cancer problems has not significantly declined and perhaps in certain occasion, it gradually increased affecting those who are previously known to be less risky'. Cancer is still identified to be one of the top leading killer worldwide and is also the main source of psychosocial burden of the community particularly to the caregiver' Its problems are expected to be further increased as human beings are constantly modified and manipulated by unpredictable and dynamic human activities and globalization phenomena. Furthermore, the current advances in cancer therapy and others clinical interventions are not always guaranteed of a permanent cure, improve survival or prognosis, sustainable compliances, prolonging life and improving quality of life, thus the mortality and its associated biological and management complications are still prevalence. (Copied from article).
MeSH terms: Humans; Human Activities; Neoplasms; Prognosis; Quality of Life; Research Personnel; Residence Characteristics; Risk; Prevalence; Caregivers; Internationality