Introduction: The magnitude of drowning as one of the leading causes of death among children in Malaysia may have been underestimated. Little is known on the level of awareness on water safety among parents as it might be associated with appropriateness and adequacy of the supervision. This study aims to describe perceptions of water safety among parents of primary school children. Methods: A cross-sectional survey with 719 respondent conduct- ed to obtain information on parents self-reported on their children’s water-involved activity and swimming ability, self-estimated ability to rescue their child and perceptions of the risk of drowning and water safety for their children. Results: The result revealed that about 21.6% of respondents did not perceive drowning as one of the unintentional injury leading causes of death among children. Parents reported that their children had experienced a near- drown- ing incident (16.1%), and only 12.2% of the child had attended a formal swimming lesson. Majority of the parents did not involve in any water safety program (98.7%), can’t swim (61.6%), not been certified in CPR (87.3%) and not confident (87.3%) to perform resuscitation (CPR). Respondents also perceived their children could swim (42.1%), and they felt confident when their child in the water (45.6%). There were statistical differences between parents who reported their child had a near-drowning experience with their perception of children’s swimming ability. Conclu- sion: An exploration of parent’s perception of water safety provided an overview of the need for promoting aware- ness on drowning risk and water safety education in this country.
Air pollution in steel making operations effect to respiratory health. This study aimed to measure the dust exposure and evaluate the respiratory health among steel workers. A cross sectional study was conducted among 402 male workers. Respiratory symptoms using British Medical Research Council (BMRC) Questionnaire while lung function was measured The airborne dust [PM2.5, PM10, and Total Particulate Matter (TPM)] were monitored by Handheld 3016 Counter. All the parameters studied exceeded the limit of Malaysian guideline standard. Prevalence of chronic phlegm, chest of tightness, and shortness of breath were 35.8 %, 32.8 %, 23.4 %, and 22.4 %, respectively. significant differences between shortness of breath and work section (2=9.236, p=0.026) and %FEV1/FVC with work section [F (3, 3.98=3.194), p=0.025]. Smoking was associated with chronic cough (Adj OR =1.07, 95% CI: phlegm (Adj OR =1.05, 95% CI: 1.03 - 1.08), and shortness of breath (Adj OR = 1.05, 95% CI: 1.00 past respiratory illnesses was associated with chest tightness (Adj OR = 2.24, 95% CI: 1.04 - 4.84) and (Adj OR = 4.16, 95% CI: 1.92 - 9.92). Duration of employment was associated with FEV1 (β=-0.025, 0.020) while past respiratory illnesses was associated with %FEV1/FVC (β =-1.784, 95% CI: -3.017 workers are at risk of developing respiratory symptoms and lung function impairment.
The study objective is to examine the effects of the identified attributes (i.e. employee characteristics and ergonomics) that influences the chronic back pain disabilities acquired and benefits awarded via the recognition of workplace relatedness. As these factors are considered in work- related chronic back pain, we hypothesized that the ascertainment of work relatedness would depend on employees’ workplace conditions (poor ergonomic practices) and innate personal conditions (excellent pre-existing medical health). Two set of data was collected from a registry owned by a social security organization in 2012. Factor analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the data. As predicted, workplace conditions and employees’ pre- existing medical health status mediated occupational back pain to develop disability and monetary benefit relationships. In conclusion, the results support the importance of obtaining workplace evidence and employees’ pre- existing medical health status that produces stronger relationship in terms of the amount of benefits to be given compared to the lesser effects on disability. Both models with different samples showed consistent SEM results. The proposed model would be applicable in the heterogenous Asian setting and that occupational back pain consensus is the key element in providing effective social security protection.
The Invasive Tear Break Up Time (TBUT) and Non-invasive Tear Break Up Time (NIBUT) is compared. Invasive TBUT was measured after the instillation of fluorescein on the tarsal conjunctiva and assessed with Slit Lamp Biomicroscopy (SLB), whereas the NIBUT was measured using the Oculus Keratograph 5M (OK5M). The OK5M was invented to overcome the limitation of most other non-invasive method which results in inter-examiner variability. In measuring the NIBUT, the OK5M presents two measurements, NIKf-BUT (the first break up area in second) and NIKav-BUT (the average break up area in second). Hence, the difference between these two measurements was also determined. The result obtained from SLB and OK5M were compared to determine the agreement between these two methods. 50 subjects (30 females, 20 males) were selected among the IIUM Kuantan population. The result showed a significant difference (p
Introduction: Collagen and gelatin are essential protein in vertebrates and extensively used in various industries. Methods: In this study, acid-solubilized collagen and gelatin were extracted from the scales of three different species of freshwater fish namely Kelah (Tombroides), Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and Snakehead fish (Channidae) and then further quantified using Bradford assay and separated by molecular weight using SDS-PAGE. Results: The extracted collagen in Tilapia fish scale was found to be the highest with 0.018 of protein absorbance among the other three fish; Kelah fish (0.017) and Snakehead fish (0.011). For gelatin, Snakehead fish scales showed the highest amount of total protein concentration followed by Tilapia and Kelah fish with 0.467, 0.144 and 0.037 μg/μL per g, respectively. Based on the SDS-PAGE results, collagen from all the three freshwater fishes were identified as a type 1 (molecular weight approximately from 95 to 130 kDa) collagen. As for gelatin, only gelatin from Snakehead fish scale was identified to be a type 1(molecular weight approximately from 95 to 130 kDa) while the other two freshwater fishes showed no clear band due to high viscosity of the gelatin produced. Conclusion: It can be said that the fishes investigated in this study have a potential to be the alternative source of collagen and gelatin.
Malaysian is one of the highest sugar consumers in the Asia Pacific region. There has been no available report quantifying sugar intake among Malaysian until Malaysian Adult Nutrition Survey
(MANS) 2003 study was done. However, data concerning sugar consumption among university students is scarce. This study was conducted to assess sugar sweetened beverages intake among International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) Kuantan students. A total of 42 of IIUM Kuantan students was recruited by convenience sampling method. A questionnaire consisting of 3 days
food record was distributed to all participants as a tool for data collection. Food record was analyzed using the Nutritionist Pro software prior to statistical analysis with SPSS version 12.0. P value was set as p
Over the last decade, Malaysia has witnessed a steady rise in obesity rate. The overweight and obese now comprise of half its 30 million population. This figure is broken down into 30 percent in the overweight category and 17.7 percent in the obese category, according to the 2015 National Health and Morbidity Survey.1 This is an increase of four times from what was reported in 1996, at 4.4 percent.2 World Health Organization (WHO) definition of obesity is body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more, calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared.3 As the general population get heavier, the average BMI of ICU admissions have also increased. From the International Nutrition Survey (INS) 2014, the average BMI of critically ill patients admitted to Serdang Hospital was 26 kg/m2 higher than the Asian average at 23.6 kg/m2 . 4 Being obese puts the patients at a greater risk of heart disease, hypertension, stroke, diabetes, sleep apnoea, fatty liver disease, osteoarthritis, and many other serious medical conditions.
Lasers have been identified as one of the preventive tools that can be utilised to prevent white spot lesion in ortho- dontic practice. The aim of this scoping review was to evaluate the current scientific literature on the use of lasers specifically to prevent white spot lesion in orthodontic cases. Search was performed in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus and EBSCO databases from the past ten years. The records obtained were peruse considering specific in- clusion and exclusion criteria. From the total of 1123 studies that were evaluated, 68 papers were included for this review. A variety of laser types has been reported including Er;YAG, Er,Cr:YSGG, Argon and CO2 lasers. CO2 laser has a good number of evidence of it’s positive result and can be suggested to be use in clinical practise. However, since most data for the other type of lasers were derived from in vitro studies, they must be interpreted with care. Randomised clinical trials would be beneficial to give more meaningful evidence for clinicians to adopt lasers in their practice.
Al Quran and Al Hadith are not book of sciences, but books of Divine guidance which can be referred to inspire in understanding things including the scientific nature of creation. This study was performed to compile the Quranic verses (Juz 16-30) and Hadith of Sahih Muslim which are related to visual function with scientifically proven facts. Five keywords were chosen based on the process of seeing which were “light”, “eye/eyes” and “sight” and the synonyms of sight which were “vision” and “see”. Search engine, Search Truth was used to help gather the verses and hadiths comprising the keywords. Cross reference with the original copy of the Holy Quran and book of Sahih Muslim was done to ensure the authenticity of the Quranic verses and hadiths. Existing scientific facts regarding the revelation were then gathered to support the findings.There were 377 Quranic verses (Juz 16-30) containing the words “light”, “eye/eyes” and “sight” (and its synonyms). Out of this, only 6 Quranic verses have relation to visual function and have been scientifically proven. For hadith of Sahih Muslim, there were 1285 hadiths containing the words “light”, “eye/eyes” and “sight” (and its synonyms). Out of 1285 hadiths only 8 hadiths of Sahih Muslim found to have relation to visual function and has scientifically proven facts.
The hydromagnetic mixed convection flow of Cassonnano fluid under the influence of chemical reaction,thermal radiation and heat generation or absorption is investigated. The flow is induced due to unsteady nonlinearly stretching sheet saturated in a porous medium. The governing nonlinear coupled partial differential equations are converted into the system of coupled ordinary differential equations using similarity transformations and then solved numerically via Keller box method. The effects of pertinent parameters on velocity, temperature and nanoparticles concentration as well as wall shear stress, heat and mass transfer rate are analyzed and displayed graphically. The results for skin friction coefficient and local Nusselt number are compared with previously published work and found to be in good agreement. Findings demonstrate that increase in Casson parameter enhanced the friction factor and heat transfer rate. It is noticed that the heat transfer rate is declined with increment in Brownian motion and thermophoresis parameters. The nanoparticles concentration is seen to be higher in generative chemical reaction and opposite effect is observed in destructive chemical reaction. Increase in unsteadiness parameter decreased the fluid velocity, temperature and nanoparticles concentration. The magnitude of wall shear stress is also reduced with increase in unsteadiness and porous medium parameters.
The number of commuting accidents in Malaysia is increasing every year and therefore it is essential to understand the underlying factors that influence the drivers’ way of driving among Malaysian workers. This study aims to deter- mine the risk factors of driving behaviour among workers through a cross-sectional study involving 153 manufactur- ing workers in Petaling Jaya, Selangor. Self-administered survey consisting standardized questionnaire were used to collect information on sociodemographic, working background, driving experience, job strain (JCQ) and EDS (ESS) among respondents. The most reported risky driving behaviour was lapses followed by ordinary violation, errors and aggressive violation. There were 36.6% of respondents reported to have job strain and 53.6% reported to have EDS. In bivariate analyses, younger age, higher education level, job tenure, longer years of having driving license and positive EDS were significantly correlated with more risky driving behaviour but after all inter-relationship between these factors were controlled, only EDS was found significant.
The issue of overwork due to numerous responsibilities among academicians is getting a serious
attention in educational literature. Academicians have to fulfil many responsib ilitie s simultaneously,
including teaching, conducting research, writing, publication, holding administrative posts,
involvement in committees and community services, and other professional works which may
improve the image of their university. Thus, the o bjecti ves of this study are to examine the
academicians’ perceptions on their academic and non academic responsibilities and investigate the
relationship between the respondents’ length of service with academic workloads and administrative
posts. This stud y has used self administered questionnaires, which have been distributed to 391
lecturers from various faculties on the Campus of UiTM Cawangan Terengganu. Results obtained
from 119 academicians have indicated that a majority of the respondents have chosen to be in the
teaching and learning track for their performance evaluation purpose. This is consistent with the
findings that they have spent most of their working hours to fulfil their academic workloads. In
addition, the non academic responsibilities hav e requ ired them to work beyond office hours in
performing their duties. Overall, the findings of this study have shown that most academicians have
spent more time on the academic responsibilities. On the other hand, the correlation has revealed that
the lo nger t he length of service of the respondents, the more academic workloads will be given and
the higher their chances to be appointed as administrators. This has implied that the academicians will
be responsible for higher positions and a wide range of tas ks as they become more experienced and at
a senior level.
Recreation centre become one of the centres for a family to bring their children for recreation and leisure activity. Moreover, the recreation centre is the place for education, research, and awareness to the public. The main objective of this study is to investigate factors that relate to tourist perception in their reference to their interest, expectations, satisfaction, and a general understanding of the recreation centre. The antecedent factors are awareness of the surrounding environment, visitor experiences, and destination image. This research using a quantitative method via a survey questionnaire and a domestic tourist as a sample. A sample is consist of 384 respondent of domestic tourists who visited the recreation centre in Malaysia. This survey has been done in Zoo Negara, Aquaria KLCC, and FRIM, Kepong. The results show the majority of respondents are female, age below 26 years old, single, obtained higher education, working, and had an income below RM1000. The respondents are mostly from Selangor and their purpose of visit to the recreation centre is for leisure and recreation. The major source of information to visit the recreation centre was from the internet. There were have a significant relationship between an antecedent factor with tourist perception towards the recreation centre in Malaysia. The result of this study will help marketers and management of recreation centres to understand the perceptions of their future visitors. Based on the study, it is should be used as an initial benchmark for the future study, however, they may execute a depth analysis on the tourism that related to the recreation centre in Malaysia.
Expert system is a system that emulates experts to aid in decision making. This system can be applied in various categories such as diagnosis, prediction, interpretation, and others. Expert System to Diagnose Dengue Fever is a web-based system which is integrated with prolog language in order to provide rules for dengue fever detection. The aims of this research are to study dengue fever symptoms and other illnesses related to the fever, to design an inference engine, and to build an expert system. The challenges faced while developing this expert system were the complexity of prolog codes and their integration with the web development. In this system, rules were developed by prolog language which define dengue fever and accuracy based on input from the user. This system is expected to aid users in self-detecting early symptoms of dengue fever before seeing the doctors.
Actinomyces naeslundii is an oral microbiome that has been suggested to involve in actinomycosis particularly in immunocompromised patients. However, studies have also shown that the bacterium can inhibit the colonisation of Candida albicans and cariogenic bacterium, Streptococcus mutans. Even though various studies have been conducted to characterise A. naeslundii, however, the role of the bacterium in the oral cavity either to induce pathogenicity or to improve oral health remain unclear. The objective of this study is to determine the role of A. naeslundii in the oral cavity using bioinformatic tools with the hypothesis that A. naeslundii possesses genome similarity to oral probiotics. Materials and method: The study was conducted by data mining of the genomic sequences of A. naeslundii NCTC10301 from GenBank. Following that, genomic comparison was performed with 25 species of well-known probiotics. MAUVE version 2.3.1 was used to find similarities between A. naeslundii with the known probiotics through identification of potential relevance probiotic properties in A. naeslundii. Phylogenetic tree was constructed using PHYLIP package to identify evolutionary relationship of A. naeslundii with the known probiotics. The 16s rRNA sequences of A. naeslundii and known probiotics were harvested from GenBank using BLAST. Finally, the functions of all A. naeslundii genes that shared similarity with known probiotics were identified using INTERPRO. Result: Genome comparison analysis of the present study showed that A. naeslundii genome exhibited high similarity to Bifidobacterium species such as B. animalis subsp. lactis, B. bifidum, B. longum and B. breve. In addition, phylogenetic tree analysis showed that Bacillus species, B. subtilis and B. cereus , appeared to clade together with A. naeslundii, with bootstrap value of 98%. Conclusion: A. naeslundii had high similarity with probiotic Bifidobacterium species thus supported the hypothesis of the present study that A. naeslundii possesses genome similarity to oral probiotic.
Vertebrobasilar Dolichoectasia (VBD) is a condition characterized by abnormal elongation, dilatation and tortuosity of the vertebrobasilar system. It is usually asymptomatic but rarely, it can present with cranial nerve compression symptoms. We present a case of simultaneous trigeminal neuralgia and hypoglossal nerve palsy due to compression by VBD. Neuroimaging plays an important role in diagnosing this condition so that further treatment can be provided.
Introduction: The number of road accidents involving workers was on the rise, with more than 30,000 cases recorded and 76.9% involved motorcyclists and pillion riders. Despite of numerous studies have been conducted to explore the causes of this worrisome condition, little is known on the influence of working quality to riding behaviour. Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 187 riders (male: 66.3%; female: 33.7%) with average age was 33 years were randomly selected civil servants in Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur, and Selangor. Self-administered questionnaire was used to collect information on socio-demographic and working background, riding experience, quality of working life (WRQoL) and riding behaviour (SMRBQ). Results: The most prevalent unsafe riding behaviour reported was tailgating the vehicles in front (88.2%) and speeding (70.6%). In multiple linear regressions, being male (β = 0.16, p = 0.03), type of motorcycle (β = 0.14, p = 0.04), and stress at work (β = 0.20, p < 0.01), predict erroneous riding. Whereas, lower educational level (β = 0.17, p = 0.02), stress at work (β = 0.19, p = 0.01), and lower job satisfaction (β = 0.15, p = 0.04) predict poorer helmet use behaviour. Also, male and younger riders reported to have higher level of time and money opportunistic riding behaviour. Conclusion: Findings of the study suggests that riding behaviour can be improved by increasing the quality of working life among workers such as work related stress, job satisfaction and also control at work. Thus, program planner should consider WRQoL in designing intervention related to road safety program.
Masak lemak cili padi merupakan hidangan tradisional Melayu berasal dari Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. Walaupun, ia popular dan disukai di kalangan rakyat Malaysia, ia jarang disediakan oleh golongan bekerjaya dan mempunyai masa yang terhad di rumah. Selain itu, faktor kesukaran untuk mencari bahan mentah dan menyediakan hidangan serta mengekalkan rasa dan kualiti masakan juga menyebabkan hidangan ini jarang disediakan di rumah . Melihat potensi dan keperluannya, satu kajian telah dijalankan untuk menghasilkan Kiub Masak Lemak Cili Padi (KMLCP). Kajian ini dijalankan untuk meninjau tahap penerimaan responden terhadap KMLCP. Instrumen soal selidik menggunakan skala Hedonic telah diedarkan secara rawak kepada 30 orang responden. Data telah dianalisis secara deskriptif dengan menggunakan SPSS versi 21. Analisis menunjukkan bahawa KMLCP diterima pada tahap baik oleh responden dengan nilai min 4.66. Kesimpulannya, KMLCP ini diterima secara optimistik oleh responden.
The relationship between typicality and novelty was discussed in order to identify the significant emotional value arising in the compact car design of Malaysian manufacturers. Typicality and novelty usually are associated with the aesthetic preference of human artefacts as in this study in compact car design. Considering a typical product is rarely new and, conversely, a novel product often labelled as typical, the positive effects of both features seem incompatible. This paper discusses the history of the Malaysian manufacturer’s compact car design according to its timeline and the current market based on its model and achievement. Furthermore, the relationship between compact car design such as the limitation of emotional value arising through typicality and novelty of specific compact car design and how it triggers the user’s perception through its aesthetics form. Hence, a pilot study was conducted to validate a set of stimulus and questionnaires as a way to formulate an actual survey. Finally, the outcome of this study will suggest a way forward in exploring typicality and novelty through a reliable method of compact car design
The purpose of this study is to identify the ergonomic aspects in the
workplace and examining the occupational diseases due to ergonomics issues.
This study provide the analysis of the ergonomic aspects and occupational
diseases towards job performance nurses in general hospitals in Malaysia. In
order to conduct this study, the researchers will collect the data from primary and
secondary data. The survey will be stratified from peoples who are working at
hospital specifically, nurses. The expected outcomes and implication of this
study is the development of employees’ health and wellbeing in which basically
it is in line with the government's commitment of "1Care for 1Malaysia", that was
implemented under the Economic Transformation Program (ETP) and to respond
Industrial Revolution 4.0. Due to the increasing cases of Musculoskeletal
Disorders (MSDs) and job stress among employees, especially among nurses, a
study of the ergonomic aspects and occupational diseases towards job
performance is crucial.