Honey is a sweet liquid food of high nutritional value and it provides immense health benefits. It is highly concentrated with sugar and contains mostly glucose and fructose, which will crystallize over a period of time. Crystallisation of honey will affect its quality, as well as consumers’ acceptability. Storage condition is one of the factors that influence the crystallisation of honey. Different types of honey may need different storage conditions to retain the quality. This research was conducted with the aims to study the crystallisation behaviour of the selected Malaysian honeys and to determine the storage conditions that influence the formation of crystal. The crystallisation of Malaysian honeys (Hutan, Kelulut, Acacia, Gelam) stored at 25, 4 and -20oC for different storage times of 0, 5, 14, 30, 60 and 180 days was analyzed by a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), and sugar composition was analyzed using a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The results showed that Hutan honey had the greatest crystal formation at the storage temperature of 4oC even after 14 days of storage. Glucose compositions in Hutan and Gelam honeys were also high which were 33.49 ± 0.53% and 33.93 ± 0.15 %, respectively. The enthalpy value for the storage temperature of 25oC, which represents the amount of heat needed to melt crystals present in honey, was the lowest (0.37 ± 0.1 – 2.56 ± 0.5 J/g) compared to other storage temperatures, which showed only a small amount of crystals was formed at this temperature. Thus, this study suggested that the crystallisation behaviour of Malaysian honeys is influenced by the storage condition and will be different for each type of honey.
Management of bipolar disorder (BD) is challenging due to its multiple and complex facets of presentations as well as various levels of interventions. There is also limitation of treatment accessibility especially at the primary care level. Local evidence-based clinical practice guidelines address the importance of integrated care of BD at various levels. Primary care physicians hold pertinent role in maintaining remission and preventing relapse by providing systematic monitoring of people with BD. Pharmacological treatment in particular mood stabilisers remain the most effective management with psychosocial interventions as adjunct. This paper highlights the role of primary care physicians in the management of BD.
OBJECTIVE: Develop, implement and evaluate the effectiveness of a peer-led education program related to HIV/AIDS among university students.
METHOD:
DESIGN: randomized controlled trial with 276 university students at Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences University Putra Malaysia (UPM), Serdang in 2011.
INTERVENTION: A peer-led education program on HIV prevention by university students.
OUTCOME: differences in knowledge, attitude and risk behavior practices related to HIV between baselines, immediate follow-up after intervention and after three months.
RESULTS: Significant improvement in sound knowledge in the intervention group as compared to the control group (Odds ratio, 1.75; 95% CI 1.01, 3.00; p=0.04) and improvement in good attitude related to HIV (Odds ratio 2.22; 95% CI 1.37, 3.61; p=0.01). The odds of high substance risk behavior was significantly reduced in the intervention group as compared to the control group (Odds ratio 0.07; 95% CI 0.02, 0.34; p=0.01). The association between good knowledge and intervention was modified by the different time points (baseline, immediately after intervention and 3 months after intervention), ethnicity and gender.
CONCLUSION:
Peer-led education program in HIV prevention improves knowledge, attitude and substance risk behavior. Changes in sexual risk behavior may require a longer follow-up.
The exponential growth of human population and anthropogenic activities have led to the increase of global surface water contamination especially in river, lakes and ocean. Safe and clean surface water sources are crucial to human health and well-being, aquatic ecosystem, environment and economy. Thus, water monitoring is vital to ensure minimal and controllable contamination in the water sources. The conventional surface water monitoring method involves collecting samples on site and then testing them in the laboratory, which is time-consuming and not able to provide real-time water quality data. In addition, it involves many manpower and resources, costly and lack of integration. These make surface water quality monitoring more challenging. The incorporation of Internet of Things (IoT) and smart technology has contributed to the improvement of monitoring system. There are different approaches in the development and implementation of online surface water quality monitoring system to provide real-time data collection with lower operating cost. This paper reviews the sensors and system developed for the online surface water quality monitoring system in the previous studies. The calibration and validation of the sensors, and challenges in the design and development of online surface water quality monitoring system are also discussed.