MyMedR

Displaying all 3 publications

Abstract:

Sort:

Assessment of abdominal obesity using 3D body scanning technology

Suhana Japar, Thamilvaani Manaharan, Asma Ahmad Shariff, Abdul Majid Mohamed, Amir Feisal Merican Aljunid Merican

Sains Malaysiana, 2017;46:567-573.

Abdominal obesity is an important contributor for health risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus and hypercholesterolemia. Therefore, the application of a proper method is important prerequisite in performing abdominal obesity assessment. In this study, we applied 3D body scanning technology to measure waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HC) and waist to hip ratio (WHR) precisely in an effort to improve the current health assessment for abdominal obesity. A total of 200 Malaysian women with sedentary lifestyle, aged between 18 and 60 years participated in this study. Paired t-test was used to determine the differences between the automated (3D body scanner) and manual measurements of WC, HC and WHR. 3D body scanner measurements show that 27% of subjects had mild abdominal obesity (80 - 90 cm) and 34.5% of subjects had severe abdominal obesity (≥90 cm) based on WC cutoff points. Based on WHR cutoff points, 57% of subjects had abdominal obesity (≥0.85) while the remaining were without abdominal obesity (<0.85). Lower percentages of abdominal obesity prevalence were reported for both WC and WHR categories using manual measurements. We also found that in normal BMI category, 8.5% of subjects have mild abdominal obesity based on automated measurements while only 5.5% of subjects were identified on manual measurements. The result of this study indicated that 3D body scanner provided better assessment method as it enables detection of abdominal obesity in more subjects based on WC and WHR categories. Public agencies are encouraged to consider the application of 3D body scanning in health assessment of abdominal obesity.
Tualang honey consumption enhanced hippocampal pyramidal count and spatial memory performance of adult male rats

Mohd Amiruddin Kamarulzaidi, Zulkifli Mohd. Yusoff MY, Abdul Majid Mohamed, Durriyyah Sharifah Hasan Adli

Sains Malaysiana, 2016;45:215-220.

As a natural anti-oxidant source, Tualang honey, produced by wild bees nesting on the Tualang tree (Koompassia excelsa) is expected to have positive influence on health, including memory. This study investigated the effect of Tualang honey on the cell count of memory formation related hippocampal pyramidal neuron and on spatial memory performance (SMP) of rats using the radial arm maze (RAM). Sprague Dawley male rats (n=24), 7-8 weeks old were divided into two groups; experimental group group force-fed 1 mL/100 g body weight with 70% honey (HG); and the control group with 0.9% saline (CG) for 12 weeks. Nissl staining technique (with cresyl violet) was employed for neurohistological analysis of the hippocampal tissue. Six randomly selected rats from each group were used for the neuronal soma counting of pyramidal cell layer CA1, CA3a and CA3c regions. Two-way ANOVA analysis showed positively significant differences between treatment and control groups for SMP comparison of working memory and reference memory components, as well as the number of pyramidal neurons. Hence, this positive effects of Tualang honey, as demonstrated behaviorally and neurohistologically, supported report that Tualang honey could improve memory and deter hippocampal morphological impairments; possibly due to its high anti-oxidant properties.
Fulltext Epidemiology and risk factors of pesticide poisoning in Malaysia: a retrospective analysis by the National Poison Centre (NPC) from 2006 to 2015

Kamaruzaman NA, Leong YH, Jaafar MH, Mohamed Khan HR, Abdul Rani NA, Razali MF, et al.

BMJ Open, 2020 06 01;10(6):e036048.
PMID: 32487578 DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-036048

OBJECTIVE: Pesticide poisoning is a global health problem, and its progressive deterioration is a major cause of concern. The objective of this study is to assess epidemiological characteristics and identify risk factors of pesticide poisoning in Malaysia.
SETTING: Pesticide poisoning database of Malaysia National Poison Centre (NPC) from 2006 to 2015.
PARTICIPANTS: Telephone enquiries regarding pesticide poisoning were made by healthcare professionals. Information received by the NPC was entered into a retrievable database of standardised Poison Case Report Form, as adapted from the World Health Organization (WHO).
OUTCOMES: The outcome of the study is to provide an overview of national epidemiological profile of pesticide poisoning. High-risk groups of people and their circumstances were also identified to ensure that appropriate measures are strategised.
RESULTS: Within the study period, a total of 11 087 pesticide poisoning cases were recorded. Sixty per cent of these cases were intentional in nature and most were found among male individuals (57%) of the Indian race (36.4%) aged between 20 and 29 years (25.5%), which occurred at home (90%) through the route of ingestion (94%). The highest number of poisoning was due to herbicides (44%) followed by agricultural insecticides (34%), rodenticides (9.9%), household insecticides (9.5%) and fungicides (0.5%). In addition, 93.6% of intentional pesticide poisoning cases were caused by suicide attempts. The results of this study show that there was an increasing trend in pesticide poisoning incidents over the 10-year duration. This indicates that pesticide poisoning is a prevalent public health problem in Malaysia, resulting in an average incidence rate of 3.8 per 100 000 population.
CONCLUSIONS: Deliberate pesticide ingestion as a method of suicide has become a disturbing trend among Malaysians. Therefore, regulation of highly hazardous pesticides must be enforced to ensure controlled and limited access to these chemicals by the public.

Filters

Please provide feedback to Administrator ([email protected])

External Links