This study identified the effectiveness between home-based and hospital-based pulmonary rehabilitation program on the quality of life of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. Thirty five patients who met the inclusion criteria were referred by physicians and randomized to either hospital-based pulmonary rehabilitation (PRPH) or home-based pulmonary rehabilitation (PRPR). The PRPH program was scheduled twice a week for eight weeks at the Physiotherapy Department, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC). Whilst, the PRPR group was required to attend sessions at the Physiotherapy Department twice to learn the exercise regimens before carrying out the exercises themselves at home. Subjects were asked to record activitites in a diary and a telephone call was made once every two weeks to ensure compliance towards the exercise regimens. The SF-36 questionnaire and Geriatric Depression Scale were outcome measures used in assessing status of patients prior to treatment and after intervention at the 8th week Seventeen (48.6%) subjects completed the PRPH and 15 (43%), the PRPR. Results indicated that in the PRPH group there were significant improvements in some of the domains of SF-36, i.e., role physical (p = 0.012) body pain (p = 0.040), general health (p = 0.008) and role emotional (p = 0.012). In the PRPR group, the Geriatric Depression Scale mean score was 1.8 ± 0.41 at baseline compared to 1.69 ± 0.48 following intervention (p > 0.05). Whilst, among the PRPH group, the mean was 1.87 ± 0.35 at baseline and 1.53 ± 0.52 after eight week (p < 0.05). In conclusion, hospital-based pulmonary rehabilitation is more effective than the home-based pulmonary rehabilitation in improving the quality of life and reducing depression among patients with COPD.

Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) have impairments in gross and fine motor skills consequently limit their participation in school activities. The aim of this study was firstly to evaluate motor coordination performance of children with DCD in manual dexterity, hand-eye coordination and balance skills, and secondly, to compare the motor coordination performance between children with DCD and age-matched children without DCD. A total of 47 children with DCD (32 boys, 15 girls) and 16 children without DCD (15 boys, 1 girl) aged between 7 to 10 years old participated in this study. They were recruited from integrative special education classes from six selected primary schools within Klang Valley. The Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 (MABC-2) evaluated their motor coordination performance. Group differences on the MABC-2 subtest scores and total test score were analysed using independent t-test. Cohen’s d was calculated to obtain the effect size of clinical differences. Children with DCD showed significantly lower score in manual dexterity (p=0.001), aiming and catching (p=0.001), balance test (p=0.001) and total test score (p=0.001) compared to the children without DCD. Effect sizes on manual dexterity (d=0.52), balance (d=0.68), and total test score (d=0.73) indicated moderate clinical differences between the two groups. In conclusion, children with DCD showed deficits in both gross and fine motor skills performance based on the MABC-2 subtests and total test score, in comparison with children without DCD. School-based rehabilitation to improve gross and fine motor problems among the children is warranted.
Developmental Coordination Disorder ; manual dexterity ; aiming and catching ; balance

Introduction: Scoliosis is characterized by an abnormal lateral curvature that may occur during a child’s growth period. Early detection and intervention are needed to prevent the progression of abnormal curvatures. While the gold standard for diagnosing idiopathic scoliosis is x-ray imaging, there is a quick and easy way to perform screening, i.e., using a smartphone. A mobile application with a built-in inclinometer and simple scoliosis tests may help detect scoliosis. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the ScoScreen mobile application’s content for early screening of AIS. Methods: We recruited five physiotherapists with more than five years of experience in paediatric and musculoskeletal and one spinal surgeon. The validity of this study was assessed using a content validity form. Content validity was assessed by calculating the Item-level Content Validity Index (I-CVI), Scale-level Content Validity Index (S-CVI), and modified kappa. Results: The results show that the content validity of ScoScreen has an excellent level of content validity (I-CVI=0.83 – 1.00). The average approach’s overall content validity index was high (S-CVI/Ave=0.94). All items in this study were excellent, with the kappa scores greater than 0.74 (kappa= 0.816 – 1). Conclusion: The development of ScoScreen for early screening of AIS was proven to have excellent content validity in this study. As a result, the Scoscreen mobile application is appropriate for early detection of AIS in terms of its content.