There are many factors that cause caries. This cross sectional study is to describe the relationship of oral hygience, dietary intake with caries experience among UKM students. A total of 93 subjects (19 - 24 years old) participated in the study. A food record for 3 days was used to assess fluoride ingestion from diet. Fluoride Ion Selective Electrode was used to analyse fluoride content in foods and beverages consumed. Foods frequency questionaires (ffq) were used to assess frequency of sugary foods intake and calcium ingestion. Oral health questionaire was used to assess the oral hygience status. DMFT (Decayed, Missing, Filled teeth) index was used to describe the rate and accumulation of caries in permanent teeth. Results showed only 20.4% of subjects were caries free. The mean DMFT score was 3.80. The mean score for filled component was the highest (1.88), followed by decayed component (1.64) and missing component (0.27). The mean of fluoride and calcium ingestion per day were 2.13± + 0.96 mg and 454.79 + 208.9 mg respectively. Mean daily frequency of sugary food comsumption was 2 times. The range of fluoride content in foods and beverages were 0.04 to 25.64 ppm and 0.03 to 0.72 ppm respectively. There were no significant relationship between fluoride, calcium ingestion and frequency of sugary foods intake with caries experience. There was a statistically significant relationship between oral hygience practices and caries experience. (p < 0.05).

Learning is important for the development of children with special needs. Slow learners, which are included in the special-needs category suffer from extreme timidity thus making them unable to actively involved in learning sessions. It is important for them to actively involve in the learning activities as it affects their academic achievement. This study involves two phases of activities which are; Phase 1, identification specification through literature review and expert interview, and Phase 2, model development. From the specification identification phase, suitable elements and components are identified, gathered, analysed and organised to prepare a comprehensive model. Therefore, a robotic-based model for slow learners’ learning is proposed. The model consists of the elements and the components that emphasize interactive student-centred learning. The model is derived from Care-Receiving Robot, Social Development Theory and Triple-D Model which consists of the teacher (More Knowledgable Other), the student, the robot (Care-Receiving Robot), learning by teaching to invoke student-centred learning, and evaluation (Triple-D Model).

A cross-sectional study was carried out in July-October 2012 in UKM to remeasure, evaluate and compare the changes in health services utilization level among women staff in UKM with a previous study done in 2001 and its influencing factors. The services studied were blood pressure (BP) measurement and Pap smear test. A total of 234 respondents aged between 18 and 55 were selected using stratified random sampling from Bangi, Kuala Lumpur and UKMMC, Malaysia. Data was collected via self-administered questionnaire and was analyzed by using SPSS version 17.0. Majority 85.9% of the respondents were found to have utilized at least one BP measurement which is higher compared to previous study. The Pap smear test, 64.5% of women have had a Pap smear test done also higher compared to previous study. Multivariate analysis shows the factors associated with BP measurement are age (OR 2.7, CI 95% 1.2, 6.3), family history of general health problems (OR 3.4, CI 95% 1.5, 7.6), and health staff influence (OR 5.2, CI 95% 1.1, 25.5). The factors associated with Pap smear test are marital status (OR 62.8, CI 95% 7.2, 546.4), general health problems (OR 2.3, CI 95% 1.2, 4.5), family planning (OR 6.9, CI 95% 3.0, 16.5) and self-interest (OR 3.3, CI 95%, 1.3, 8.6). The level of health services utilization on BP measurement and Pap smear test in 2012 is higher than 2001. For both BP measurement and Pap smear test the determinant factors are differed in the aforesaid years.

Background: Psoriasis is a common dermatological condition affecting both adults and children. It causes significant physical and psychological burden on patients and adversely affect their quality of life. Aim: To evaluate the clinical characteristics of paediatric patients with psoriasis in Malaysia. Materials & Methods: Data were obtained from the Malaysian Psoriasis Registry (MPR). All paediatric patients aged <18 years notified to the registry from July 2007 to December 2012 were included in this study. Results: A total of 677 patients were notified from 18 participating centres. There was a slight female preponderance (ratio 1.3:1). Malay accounted for 70.6%, followed by Chinese (8.9%), Indian (12.3%) and others (8.1%). Mean age of onset was 9.8 ± 4.4 years. Positive family history was noted in 19.1%. Plaque psoriasis was the commonest type of psoriasis (79.6%), followed by guttate psoriasis (7.4%), pustular psoriasis (1.6%), erythrodermic (1.2%) and flexural psoriasis (1.2%). Psoriatic arthropathy was reported in only 2.2% of patients. Nail involvement is common, affecting 38.1%. Pitting was the commonest (89.9%). Topical treatment remains the most popular choice of treatment and was given in 95.1% of our patients. Topical steroid was the commonest prescribed (81.4%), followed by tar preparations (78.7%) and emollients (51.6%). Only 1.2% of our patients received phototherapy. Of the patients who had phototherapy, narrowband UVB (NBUVB) was the commonest used (87.5%). Systemic therapy was given in 5.3% of paediatric patients. The most frequently used systemic therapy was methotrexate (50%) and acitretin (27.8%). The mean CDLQI score for paediatric patients with psoriasis was 7.7 ± 5.5. Conclusion: Data from the Malaysian Psoriasis Registry highlights the clinical features of paediatric patients with psoriasis in Malaysia. We hope to get more participation from other centres in the future, especially from private sectors, so that our results can represent the Malaysian data more accurately.

Hajj and ‘Umrah pilgrimage are a huge congregation performed by Muslims in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. The pilgrimage causes overcrowding and congestion that can lead to a high risk of health problems, especially when pilgrims have health problems. The purpose of this study is to assess the reliability of EQ-5D as a measuring tool to capture the health status of the pilgrims. Data collection was done during Ramadhan’s ‘Umrah in 2014. In this cross-sectional study, a total of 300 self-administered questionnaires attached with the EQ-5D-5L questions were distributed to Malaysian ‘Umrah pilgrims in Makkah and willing to participate in the study. The outcomes from the questionnaires and EQ-5D-5L were systematically analysed by using the SPSS software. The response rate was 64%, involved female (53%) and male (47%) respondents with the mean age of 55 years old. Hypertension (21.5%) and diabetes (16.2%) were the commonest underlying health problems suffered by the respondents in this study. Based on the EQ-5D outcomes, 53.3% of the respondents had no problem in their movement. However, the mean of EQ-VAS (visual analogue scale) presented 83 out of 100 scaling point, which means they might have problems in their health status. In addition, this study revealed, respondents with underlying illnesses had difficulty in some dimensions in EQ-5D. Hypertension was identified as the commonest underlying disease amongst the pilgrims. A contradicted outcome from the objective and subjective measuring scales of EQ-5D and EQ-VAS respectively; presented its sensitivity of EuroQol as a measuring tool for the quality of life among pilgrims living within such congestion

Microalgae can produce various natural products such as pigments, enzymes, unique fatty acids and vitamin that benefit humans. The objective of the study is to study the bioaccessibility of carotenoids (β-carotene and lycopene) and vitamin E (α- and β- tocopherol) of Nannochloropsis oculata and Chaetoceros calcitrans. Analyses were carried out for both the powdered forms of N. oculata and C. calcitrans, and the dried extract forms of N. oculata and C. calcitrans. In vitro digestion method together with RP-HPLC was used to determine the bioaccessibility of carotenoids and vitamin E for both forms of microalgae. Powdered form of N. oculata had the highest bioaccessibility of β-carotene (28.0 ± 0.6 g kg-1), followed by dried extract N. oculata (21.5 ± 1.1 g kg-1), dried extract C. calcitrans (16.9 ± 0.1 g kg-1), and powdered C. calcitrans (15.6 ± 0.1 g kg-1). For lycopene, dried extract of N. oculata had the highest bioaccessibility of lycopene (42.6 ± 1.1 g kg- 1), followed by dried extract C. calcitrans (41.9 ± 0.6 g kg-1), powdered C. calcitrans (39.7 ± 0.1 g kg-1) and powdered N. oculata (32.6 ± 0.7 g kg-1). Dried extract C. calcitrans had the highest bioaccessibility of α-tocopherol (72.1 ± 1.2 g kg-1). However, β-tocopherol was not detected in both dried extract and powdered form of C. calcitrans. In conclusion, all samples in their dried extract forms were found to have significantly higher bioaccessibilities than their powdered forms. This may be due to the disruption of the food matrix contributing to a higher bioaccessibility of nutrients shown by the dried extract forms

Introduction: Post-prandial hyperglycemia is an important independent risk factor in the development of cardiovascular disease in diabetes. This randomised cross-over study was conducted to compare the post-prandial glycemic and insulin responses to both high and low glycemic index (GI) meals in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Methods: A total of 41 patients with established T2DM (16 males, 25 males, Age= 55 ± 10 years and BMI = 27 ± 4kg/m²) were randomly given either a High GI or a Low GI meal in a cross-over manner. Both test meals were separated by one week washout periods. The meals contained almost the same amount of energy and macronutrients with the exception of the GI values (High GI=70 vs Low GI= 36). Venous blood was taken through an indwelling catheter periodically at 0, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150 and 180 minutes respectively. The incremental area under the curve (iAUC) was used to calculate the post-prandial glycemia and insulin excursion over the 3-hour period. Results: The low GI meal induced lower glycemic responses at times 30,60,90 and 120 minutes (mean±SE; low GI=8.1±0.4, 9.1±0.4 and 8.9±0.4 and 8.5±0.4mmol/l vs high GI=9.1±0.4, 10.7±0.4, 11.0±0.5 and 9.7±0.5mmol/l) and reduced the insulin levels at time 60,90,120 and 150 minutes (mean±SE; low GI=215.93±15.9mmol.L/minute vs high GI=419.52±32.7mmol.L/minute) and insulin (mean±SE;low GI=1439.76±226 vs high GI=2372.76±317mIU.ml/min) curves were lower after the low GI than high GI meal respectively (p<0.05). Conclusion: The low GI meal has the ability to reduce the post-prandial hyperglycemia as well insulin responses in type 2 diabetes patients.

Cutaneous adverse drug reactions (cADR) are common. However, only very few audits reported the clinical characteristics of cADR captured at district hospitals. We performed a 4-year audit on cADR reported to the Department of Pharmacy in Hospital Pakar Sultanah Fatimah between May 2012 and March 2016. It showed that the main adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporters were pharmacists (84.9%) where the majority of the reactions were clinical descriptions without dermatological diagnosis. Antibiotics (46.4%) were the commonest culprit drug followed by NSAIDs (22%). The most common reactions were immediate reactions, i.e. urticaria and angioedema contributing 55.7% of the cases; followed by maculopapular eruptions (41.8%). There were only six cases (1%) of severe cADR reported in this cohort. Reporting bias and the incomplete dermatological diagnosis were the main limitation of the reports.

The scales of children development from the West are usually used as a main guide for parents and professionals in monitoring the development of children due to the limited resources being reported and the assumption that children development in Malaysia and Western countries are similar. Based on previous studies, many have questioned the suitability of these scales to assess the communicative development of Malaysian children. Therefore, this preliminary study was conducted to develop a set of data that could be use as a guide to monitor the communicative development of Malaysian toddlers. In this study, translation and adaptation was done on The Integrated Scales of Development for toddlers aged between 16 to 30 months which was further divided to three subscales according to age ie. 16 to 18 months, 19 to 24 months and 25 to 30 months. Validity and reliability measurements were conducted on the adapted scales. Based on the validity assessment, two items were omitted from the subscale 16-18 months and eight items were omitted from each subscale 19-24 months and subscale 25-30 months. The value of Cronbach alpha showed high reliability on the subscale 16-18 months (α = 0.872). However, the value of Cronbach alpha in subscale 19-24 months (α = 0.626) and in subscale 25-30 months (α = 0.628) demonstrated low reliability. As a conclusion, the adapted scale is suitable to be used as a guide to monitor children communicative development but not as a major tool of assessment.

A preliminary study was conducted to determine the level of oxidative DNA damage, fruits and vegetables intake among 50 breast cancer patients (cases) as compared to 50 healthy women (controls) with no known medical history of breast cancer in Klang Valley. Both groups were matched for age and ethnicity. Data on socio-demographic, health status and medical history, fruits and vegetables intake, and supplements intake were obtained through an interviewbased questionnaire. Anthropometry measurements included weight, height, and waist and hip circumference were also carried out on subjects. A total of 3mL fasting venous blood was drawn to assess lymphocytes oxidative DNA damage using Alkaline Comet Assay. Results indicated that the mean intake of fruits and vegetables was lower in cases (4.09 ± 1.17 servings/d) than controls (4.77 ± 0.90 servings/d)(p < 0.05) The intake of fruits and vegetables from family groups of solanaceae, myrtaceae, caricaceae, apiaceae, brinjal, rutaceae, broccoli, orange, carrot, watermelon were 0.5 - 1 servings/week significantly higher among controls as compared to cases (p < 0.05 for all parameters). However, the intake of fruits from rosaceae family and apple was higher among controls than cases (p < 0.05). The estimated intake of β-carotene, carotenoids, vitamin A, vitamin C (p < 0.001), α-carotene and lycopene (p < 0.05) from fruits and vegetables were higher among controls than cases. Mean DNA damage level of cases (4.55 ± 1.78 % DNA in tail, %TD; 0.35 ± 0.21 tail moment, TM) were 3.5 and 3.9 times higher than the value of controls (1.3 ± 0.70% TD; 0.09 ± 0.09 TM) (p < 0.001) and the damage increased with higher values of waist hip ratio (% TD, r = 0.396, p < 0.05; TM, r = 0.349, p < 0.05) and waist circumference (% TD, r = 0.334, p < 0.05; TM, r = 0.360, p < 0.05). There was an inverse relationship between oxidative DNA damage with intake of total fruits and vegetables, cauliflowers and water convolvulus and also consumption from rutaceae and solanaceae families. Similar trend was noted for estimated intake of vitamin A, carotenoids, vitamin C, β-carotene and lycopene. In conclusion, the intake of fruits and vegetables of five servings/d and the consumption of specific families and types of fruits and vegetables might protect against oxidative DNA damage and further reduce breast cancer risk.