The increasing number of drug-resistant pathogens is a global issue and becoming worse because it has reduced the effectiveness of current antibiotics in the management of infectious diseases. Therefore, this situation highlights the urgency of an action plan to identify and develop novel and potent antimicrobials derived from natural resources. Therapeutic compounds from natural resources can offer novel, straightforward approaches against pathogenic bacteria with the least toxic manifestations and a low risk of acquiring resistance. Marine organisms and coastal plants receive much interest among researchers nowadays for developing new pharmaceuticals because they are rich in secondary metabolites that have various pharmacological effects, such as antibacterial, anti-cancer, antiviral, anti-inflammatory and others. This review's goal is to highlight the phytochemical components of marine organisms and coastal plants that might be accountable for their antibacterial properties that have been scientifically confirmed and can be potential aids in treating infectious diseases caused by multidrug resistant (MDR) bacteria in humans.

Introduction: Caffeine is a psychoactive substance widely consumed over the past decades. The effect of caffeine can be either beneficial or harmful. It increases cognitive performances, including attention, alertness and concentration. However, high caffeine intake may also induce an anxiogenic effect, causing symptoms such as rapid heart rate, restlessness and nervousness. This study aimed to determine the association between caffeine intake and mental health disorders such as anxiety and depression among undergraduate pharmacy students at UiTM Puncak Alam. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study with stratified random convenience sampling. A total of 270 undergraduate pharmacy students in UiTM Puncak Alam, Selangor participated in this study. A set of questionnaires was distributed using the Google Form platform. Standard General Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) and Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) scoring were used to assess the level of anxiety and depression among the respondents, respectively. SPSS version 27.0 was used to analyse the data. Results: About 70.4% of the students consumed caffeine, while 29.6% of the students did not consume caffeine. No significant association was found between caffeine status and the mental health scoring of GAD-7 (χ2 =4.639, p=0.200) and PHQ-9 (χ2 =5.256, p=0.262). Conclusion: Non-daily consumption and a low dose of caffeine intake patterns are good practises to prevent the development of anxiety or depression conditions, although the associations were not significant. Public awareness on possible anxiogenic effect and mental related disorders due to caffeine consumption need to be initiated, as nowadays, the caffeine intake behaviour has become a trendy lifestyle among the young adults.

Rare but serious thrombotic incidents in relation to thrombocytopenia, termed vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT), have been observed since the vaccine rollout, particularly among replication-defective adenoviral vector-based severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 vaccine recipients. Herein, we comprehensively reviewed and summarized reported studies of VITT following the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination to determine its prevalence, clinical characteristics, as well as its management. A literature search up to October 1, 2021 using PubMed and SCOPUS identified a combined total of 720 articles. Following the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guideline, after screening the titles and abstracts based on the eligibility criteria, the remaining 47 full-text articles were assessed for eligibility and 29 studies were included. Findings revealed that VITT cases are strongly related to viral vector-based vaccines, which are the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine (95%) and the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine (4%), with much rarer reports involving messenger RNA-based vaccines such as the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine (0.2%) and the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine (0.2%). The most severe manifestation of VITT is cerebral venous sinus thrombosis with 317 cases (70.4%) and the earliest primary symptom in the majority of cases is headache. Intravenous immunoglobulin and non-heparin anticoagulant are the main therapeutic options for managing immune responses and thrombosis, respectively. As there is emerging knowledge on and refinement of the published guidelines regarding VITT, this review may assist the medical communities in early VITT recognition, understanding the clinical presentations, diagnostic criteria as well as its management, offering a window of opportunity to VITT patients. Further larger sample size trials could further elucidate the link and safety profile.

Peer-assisted learning (PAL) is a potential approach for clinical education that can reduce the burden of clinical supervision and enhance learning. This study aims to identify opportunities for PAL through investigating how speech language therapy students perceive and already participate in PAL within a range of clinical practicum settings. The Speech Sciences students across all years at one institution were invited to participate in a cross-sectional survey that was adapted and revised from Tai et al. (2014). Speech Sciences students reported they applied PAL as part of their learning strategy in their clinical practicums, but still relied on supervisors as the main source of. PAL occurred more frequently in contexts where students already had some clinical experience and spent substantial amounts of time together. Students agreed that PAL enhanced their learning and emphasized a few advantages of PAL, such as having the opportunity to share their ideas, experiences, and knowledge, and providing a positive learning environment without pressure. Confidence to provide information or feedback to peers was cited as a shortcoming in PAL. PAL is a viable teaching approach that can be used in speech-language therapy clinical education program to reduce the supervisory burden. The findings from our study show that PAL is largely self-initiated among speech-language therapy students. However, PAL must be tailored to suit different clinical education year levels and clinical settings to benefit. Case discussion may be one area where scaffolded PAL activities could represent a feasible first step to increasing PAL.

Introduction: Tropical phagedenic ulcer is a skin disease caused by a cocktail of bacteria. This painful ulcer forms over the lower limbs. It is also associated with necrotic slough and foul-smelling discharge that eventually lead to amputation and permanent disabilities. Tropical phagedenic ulcer in Malaysia has not been given much attention. In light of this situation, this research was conducted to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice regarding tropical phagedenic ulcer among the public in Shah Alam, Selangor. Methods: The total respondents were 384, consisting of 164 males and 220 females who were randomly selected. Data were obtained qualitatively through structured questionnaires and analysed using the chi-square test to study the association between the dependent variables and demographic factors. Results: The collected data showed that the respondents (67.2%) had poor knowledge of tropical phagedenic ulcer; merely 65.4% considered it to be a health problem, whereas 29.7% believed it is contagious. Also, the data revealed an association between age (χ2=13.587, p =0.004), marital status (χ2=15.435, p=0.001), time spent in community (χ2=6.438, p=0.04) and knowledge of the local name of tropical phagedenic ulcer. About 74.7% of the respondents did not know the cause of tropical phagedenic ulcer. Only 22.1% of the respondents had encountered tropical phagedenic ulcer patients and an association was found between the variable with gender (χ2=4.672, p =0.031), age (χ2=24.134, p =0.000) and marital status (χ2=17.143, p =0.001). Conclusion: This study reveals misconceptions about the aetiology and transmission of tropical phagedenic ulcer which greatly influence the attitude of community members towards tropical phagedenic ulcer patients.

An experimental investigation was conducted to explore visual reaction time and visual anticipation time between athletes and non-athletes. These visual perceptual skills form the base for cognitive processes required by the brain to respond instantaneously to a stimulus. A total of 228 adolescents, equally distributed between athletes and non-athletes, aged 13 to 16 years (mean age 14.69 ± 0.99 years) were examined. The visual reaction time and visual anticipation time were measured using a Lafayette Reaction Timer (Model 63035) and Bassin Anticipation Timer (Model 35575) respectively. The visual reaction time results revealed that athletes have faster reaction time scores as compared to non-athletes, whereas with visual anticipation time, athletes had fewer errors and a higher consistency compared to non-athletes. There was, however, no interaction between gender and sports participation noted for both these visual perceptual skills. These research findings indicate that gender was not an obstacle in sports participation, therefore not limiting the potential to excel in sports performance. Knowledge gained from these research findings will benefit the sports industry, specifically in athletic and sports training as well as provide a basis for the identification of an individual’s potential in their sports.
athletes ; non-athletes ; sports ; visual anticipation time ; visual reaction time

The lack of awareness about comprehensive eye examination amongst athletes could impact their eye health, hence it needs to be addressed. The authors hypothesize that a majority of athletes in Malaysia have never undergone a thorough eye examination. The present study aims to determine Malaysian athletes’ awareness of the importance of eye assessment. One hundred and twenty-one junior athletes, aged 13 to 16 years participated in the visual screening programme. A questionnaire consisting of fourteen dichotomous questions was developed in two languages, each being English and Malay language and administered prior to eye examination. The questionnaire was designed to measure self-reported visual function, ocular symptoms, and perceptions towards eye health. Questionnaire analysis showed 67.8% of participants never underwent any eye examination. A majority of participants, 66.9% and 75.2%, complained of visual and ocular symptoms respectively. The critical finding of this study showed that 57.9% of participants had reduced vision which could be visually corrected. Overall 90.9% of the participants agreed that eye examination was important. Almost none of the athletes owned any sports safety eyewear nor had undergone any visual training. The importance of wearing protective eyewear during sports needs to be given emphasis. This study implies that athletes' awareness of eye health, as well as visually related issues, is still at a very low level. Hence, the need for comprehensive eye examination and regular review among athletes’ needs to be emphasized. Athletes should also be educated on the importance of regular eye examinations from a young age.

Indoor air quality is an essential aspect for occupational health including in a densely populated university. This study aimed to assess the indoor airborne microorganisms via biochemical and molecular approaches in five enclosed workplaces, and their resistance towards six commonly used antibiotics. Cfu/dm2/h for five enclosed workplaces was determined using settle plate technique with 1/1/1 scheme and Gram staining was performed for all pure strains isolated. Two strains with the highest count and with different morphologies were identified using biochemical test as well as 16S rRNA amplification and direct sequencing. Minimum inhibitory concentration for antibiotics was carried out for these two strains. In this study, 27 microbial strains with different morphologies were obtained from all workplaces and 2 strains with the highest count were strain J in café and strain M in library, which were identified as Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus cohnii, respectively. Both of them were highly susceptible to ampicillin and tetracycline. With resistance up to 0.78 µg/mL; B. cereus was less sensitive to kanamycin and neomycin whereas S. cohnii was less sensitive to streptomycin. In conclusion, antibiotics resistant B. cereus and S. cohnii were two of the microorganisms showing the most abundance in the café and library of a Malaysian public university, respectively. This study may serve as the baseline for the prescriptions of antibiotics to airborne microbial related infections especially to the community in the university who seek for medical treatments; particularly for respiratory and digestive infections which often associated with indoor microenvironment.
antibiotic resistance ; Bacillus cereus ; indoor air quality ; minimum inhibitory concentration ; Staphylococcus cohnii

The complex pathophysiology of traumatic brain injury, its cascading effects and a varied outcome suggest that factors such as genetics may permeate and modulate the neurocognitive outcomes in patients with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). This study was conducted to determine the relationship between genetic polymorphism of apolipoprotein E, and neurocognitive and functional outcomes in mTBI. Twenty-one patients with mTBI were recruited prospectively. The severity of the injury was established with the Glasgow Coma Score (GCS). Other assessments included the CT Scan of the head on admission, Disability Rating Scale, Chessington Occupational Therapy Neurological Assessment (COTNAB) and Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS). The Spearmen correlation analysis of ApoE allele status and the cognitive and functional assessments saw some association with the Sensory Motor Ability - Coordination (-0.526, p<0.05), Communication Ability (-0.651, p<0.05), and the Employability (Return to Work) at 1st month (0.455, p<0.05). Notably, the deficits of specific attributes of visuospatial and sensory motor function were seen with greater impairment consistently observed in patients with ApoE e4 allele. In conclusion, the preliminary findings support the possible relationship that exists between ApoE e4 and neurocognitive impairment in mTBI, despite good functional recovery in 6 months post injury.