Background: Haemodialysis has been known to affect the patient’s quality of life (QOL). The procedure may affect the social life and economic status of the sufferer.
Aim: To determine the quality of life among haemodialysis patient at Northern Region of Sarawak.
Methodology: The cross-sectional study was conducted among 100 chronic renal failure patients registered at the haemodialysis centre at Miri Red Crescent Dialysis Centre in Northern Region of Sarawak. Their quality of life (QOL) was measured using Kidney Disease Quality of Life-Short Form (KDQOL-SF) instrument, which measures the disease, physical and mental components of QOL.
Results: Overall score for three components of the KDQOL-SF was 69.1. The score of each component were 66.3, 52.6, and 39.4 respectively. There were statistically significant association between marital status and physical health component (P=0.046); age and physical health component (P=0.026); educational level and mental health component (P=0.006).
Conclusion: In general, QOL of patients on dialysis in this centre was good. Most of the patients had better quality of life in the kidney disease component, and mental health component, despite of having poor quality of life in the physical health component. QOL of patients will be better if they got encouragement from dialysis staff in the Centre, getting strong social support from the family and if they actively involved in social function.
Dengue and dengue hemorrhagic jiever are still a serious public health problem among people in developing countries. The study was conducted to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice among students in University Technology of MARA in Shah Alam Selangor, Malaysia, and to determine its association withprevious infection. A total of 218 students were selected randomly fom several residential colleges within the university main campus. They were interviewed for their perception of risk to dengue and their blood were taken for serological examination (Dengue IgG). It was found that 49.1% of students have had previous infection, however onlv 0.9% had history of symptomatic dengue infection. Males students originating fom urban areas were more at risk of being infected. The perception of risk to dengue was good among students but this factor is
unable to explain the magnitude of infection among them. Further study should look at the interaction between behaviour and environment among students who are sero negative.
This study was conducted to determine the effects of increased edible palm oil consumption on community health status in the aboriginal communities in Tual Post (treatment group) and Sinderut Post (control group), Kuala Lipis, Pahang. Nutritional status, blood pressure, lipid profiles, fasting blood glucose (FBG), vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) levels and lipid peroxidation product (malonaldehyde) levels were taken as indicators of health status. This is a pre-and post-controlled community trial in which similar variables were measured in each group. Every family of 2–6 household members was given 2–5 kg cooking palm oil per month for a period of 18 months. All subjects were measured for height (cm), weight (kg) and waist-hip ratio (WHR). For calorie intake measurement, house-to-house interviews were conducted using 24-hour dietary recall method. Blood pressure, percent body fat, lipid profiles, namely total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglyceride and fasting blood glucose (FBG) were also measured. Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) levels and lipid peroxidation products (MDA) were also determined. There was a significant increase (p
Selenium memainkan peranan penting dalam mengekalkan status kesihatan manusia. Pengambilan selenium yang tidak mencukupi boleh menjadi penyebab kepada kejadian penyakit. Satu kajian hirisan lintang telah dijalankan untuk menilai paras selenium serum dalam kalangan populasi di Daerah Hulu Langat, Selangor, Malaysia. Seterusnya taburan menurut faktor sosiodemografi dikenal pasti. Populasi di Daerah Hulu Langat dipilih secara persampelan rawak yang melibatkan enam mukim iaitu Ulu Langat, Ampang, Kajang, Cheras, Beranang dan Semenyih. Seramai 415 orang subjek berumur antara 5-64 tahun telah mengambil bahagian dalam kajian ini. Sampel darah diambil untuk melihat paras selenium dalam serum. Hasil mendapati paras selenium keseluruhan subjek ialah 1.67 + 0.44 μmol/l. Hasil ujian ANOVA dua hala mendapati tiada perbezaan paras selenium yang bererti menurut jantina dengan nilai p=0.981 (p>0.05). Manakala terdapat perbezaan paras selenium yang bererti menurut kumpulan umur dengan nilai p<0.001. Kesan interaksi jantina dan kumpulan umur pula menunjukkan tiada interaksi yang bererti antara kedua faktor tersebut dengan p=0.362 (p>0.05). Perbezaan paras selenium adalah bererti menurut lokasi (p<0.05) bagi kedua-dua jantina. Semakin jauh lokasi dari pusat bandaraya Kuala Lumpur, semakin tinggi paras selenium subjek. Kesimpulannya, paras selenium serum populasi penduduk di Daerah Hulu Langat adalah normal berbanding nilai rujukan dari Makmal Unsur Surih, Institut Robens, University of Surrey iaitu 0.89-1.65 μmol/l untuk dewasa.
1'-S-1'-acetoxychavicol acetate (ACA) has been previously reported to reduce tumor volume in nude mice, at an effective dose of 1.56 mg/kg body weight. However, the detailed toxicological profile for ACA has not yet been performed. Herein, we investigated the toxicity of intravenous administration of ACA in male and female Sprague-Dawley rats, both acutely (with single doses of 2.00, 4.00 and 6.66 mg/kg body weight, for 14 days), and sub-acutely (with weekly injections of 0.66, 1.33, and 2.22 mg/kg, for 28 days). In both toxicity studies, treatment with ACA did not affect behavior, food/water intake or body weight, nor did it induce any changes in clinically relevant hematological and biochemical parameters or mortality, suggesting that the LD50 of ACA was higher than 6.66 mg/kg body weight, regardless of sex. Sub-acutely, there was however, mild focal inflammation of kidneys and lobular hepatitis, but these were not associated with significant functional adverse effects. Therefore, the no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) for intravenous administration of ACA in the present 28-day sub-acute study was 2.22 mg/kg body weight, in both male and female rats. These findings provide useful information regarding the safety of ACA use in a healthy, non-tumor-bearing rat model.
The relationship between malnutrition, goitre and thyroid hormones was studied among Aborigines and Malays in Ulu Langat, Malaysia. Fifty Aborigines aged >=7years were selected randomly for anthropometric, clinical and hormonal assessment. Fifty Malays of similar age from the nearby Malay village were chosen as controls. The Aborigines had a higher prevalence of malnutrition and goitre compared to the Malays. The prevalence of goitre was 26.5% amongst Aborigines and 19.6% among the Malays. All the nutritional indexes measured were significantly different between the two communities, especially among females. The differences corresponded to significant differences in levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) measured using a highly sensitive TSH assay. By univariate analysis the increase in TSH corresponded to the decrease in body mass index (BMI). On the other hand, no association was found between BMI and goitres. No thyroid autoantibodies were detected and all subjects were clinically euthyroid and had normal thyroxine and triidothyronine levels. However, consumption of cassava conferred a four-fold risk of developing goitres. The high prevalence of goitres in malnourished subjects in this region which is not known to be iodine deficient could be due to cassava consumption.