Tahfiz school is an institution that specialises in educating students to memorize and recite the whole Al-Quran. Memorizing the Al-Quran by rote learning will activate the brain to improve the brain ability to process, store information and build memory. The presence of heavy metals affects the nervous system and interferes with the function of the central and peripheral nervous system which will then cause the impairment of mental and cognitive function. The ability to learn, remember or memorize, use of language and to understand something may be disrupted and cause small decrease in IQ and attention. Cross-sectional studies was conducted to measure and to determine the correlation between the levels of heavy metals, Al-Quran memorization and intelligence (IQ) among students in selected tahfiz schools compared to non-tahfiz schools in Selangor. Levels of heavy metals in nail and hair samples were analyzed by using the Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). WASI-II test for intelligence was used to measure the student’s IQ. Questionnaires was used to obtain demographic data and was analyzed by using the SPSS version 23.0. Based on the Pearson correlation test, there was a very weak negative correlation and significant relationship between manganese in the hair samples with the level of Al-Quran memorization (r= -0.178, p=0.017). In addition, there was a weak positive correlation but significant relationship between the level of intelligence (IQ) with the level of Al-Quran memorization (r= 0.375, p=<0.001). As a conclusion, the higher the concentration of manganese will cause a decline in the level of Al-Quran memorization and the higher the level of Al-Quran memorization will cause an increase in the level of intelligence (IQ).

Women with an abnormal Pap smear results are susceptible to distress. The objective of this study was to measure the reliability and validity of the Malay version of Psychosocial Effects with an Abnormal Pap Smear Questionnaire 14 Items (PEAPS-Q-14). A cross sectional study was conducted among 70 women with abnormal Pap smear results who were referred to three tertiary hospitals in East Coast Malaysia and completed colposcopy investigation. The self-administered PEAPS-Q-14 comprises of four domains and a total of 14 items. Descriptive analyses, Chronbach’s alpha and exploratory factor analysis were performed to measure the reliability and validity of the Malay version of PEAPS-Q-14. The final model of exploratory factor analysis on the Malay version of PEAPS-Q-14 indicated Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity was significant (Chi-square = 404.640, p value < 0.001) and the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) was 0.561. The items were reduced to four factors based on Eigenvalue exceeding 1 after removing an item. The retained 13 items fit the original PEAPS-Q-14 subdomains well. The model with full items demonstrated acceptable overall internal consistency of 0.724 respectively. The Chronbach’s alpha of each domain in PEAPS-Q-14 range from 0.666 to 0.917 and only an item (Item 7) under the second factor revealed corrected total item correlation of 0.183. Removal of Item 7 has resulted in better reliability of Factor 2 in which its Chronbach’s alpha increased to 0.752. Therefore, the problematic item (Item 7) will be revised and replaced before further confirmatory factor analysis.This study showed the Malay version for PEAPS-Q-14 were reliable and valid to assess the psychosocial burden among women with abnormal Pap smear results based on exploratory factor analysis.

Objective: The objective of this study was to establish the relationship between symptoms of PTSD and various scores of emotional intelligence scales. This study employed a cross-sectional research design. Participants were recruited from the local community health centre in Dearborn, Michigan, USA. The Child Posttraumatic Stress Reaction Index (CPTS-RI) measured the presence of PTSD symptoms and the Adolescents Multifactor Emotional Intelligence Scale (AMEIS) measured emotional intelligence. Results: The findings suggest an inverse relationship between PTSD severity and emotional intelligence. The PTSD score was negatively correlated with all AMEIS subscales. Two significant negative correlations were found in the tasks of using emotion and understanding emotion. Conclusion: Findings suggest that individuals with severe PTSD symptoms appear to lack the abilities to understand and use emotions. These findings might be useful in identifying factors that may contribute to decreasing the severity of PTSD symptoms of these children. Implications of the findings were discussed, and recommendations for future research are presented.

Biological Nitrogen Fixation (BNF) process benefits the agriculture sector especially for reducing cost of nitrogen fertilizer. In the process, the diazotrophs convert N2 into ammonia (NH3) which is useable by plants. The BNF process is catalysed by nitrogenase enzyme that involved protons and electrons together with evolution of H2 therefore, the assessment of N2 fixation is also available via H2 production and electron allocation analysis. Thus, the aims of this experiment were to estimate the nitrogenase enzyme activities and observe the influence of diazothrophs on growth of legume (soybean) and non legume (rice) plants. Host plants were inoculated with respective inocula; Bradyrhizobium japonicum (strain 532C) for soybean while Azospirillum brasilense (Sp7) and locally isolated diazotroph (isolate 5) for rice. At harvest, the plants were observed for plant growth parameters, H2 evolution, N2 fixation and electron allocation coefficient (EAC) values. The experiment recorded N2 fixation activities of inoculated soybean plants at 141.2 μmol N2 h-1 g-1 dry weight nodule, and the evolution of H2 at 144.4 μmol H2 h-1 g-1 dry weight nodule. The electron allocation coefficient (EAC) of soybean was recorded at 0.982. For inoculated rice plants, none of the observations was successfully recorded. However, results for chlorophyll contents and plant dry weight of both plants inoculated with respective inocula were similar to the control treatments supplied with full nitrogen fertilization (+N). The experiment clearly showed that inoculation of diazotrophic bacteria could enhance growth of the host plants similar to plants treated with nitrogenous fertilizer due to efficient N2 fixation process

A 4-year-old boy complained of dryness of lips for a 3-month duration. The dryness progressed to becoming scaly and painful, and lesions extended beyond the lip area. The condition was associated with peri-oral itchiness. The boy was observed to be licking his lips subconsciously a few times per minute. The lesions started with a habitual licking of the lips. There was no history of allergies or any recent intake of a new drug. There was also no history of atopy in the patient or his family

The quality of relationship between a person with dementia and a family caregiver has been identified as one of important factor in informal dementia care. Currently there is no validated questionnaire to measure the dyadic relationship in Malaysia. The aim of present study is to examine the reliability and validity of Quality of the PatientCaregiver Relationship (QCPR) questionnaire in Malay version. A total of 70 patients with mild to moderate dementia and their caregivers were recruited from the psychogeriatric clinic, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre using a cross sectional study. The QCPR questionnaire was translated into Malay following the standard guidelines for crosscultural adaptation of measure. The person with dementia and their caregiver completed the QCPR Malay version separately. Internal consistency and test-retest examined for reliability. Construct validity was tested with principal component factor analysis. The reliability of patient QCPR Malay version was good with Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of 0.86 and intraclass correlation coefficients of 0.85. Item 11 was omitted from the caregiver QCPR Malay version due to its poor correlation with the corrected item-total score. The newly formed scale, 13 items caregiver QCPR Malay version, had satisfactory reliability (Cronbach’s alpha 0.89 and intraclass correlation coefficients 0.91). Principal component factor analysis extracted 4 factors for patient version and 3 factors for caregiver version which explained 69.44% (patients’ report) and 61.20% (caregivers’ report) of the total variance of the scale. As a conclusion, both the patient (14 items) and caregiver (13 items) adapted QCPR Malay version is a reliable and valid tool to measure the quality of dyadic relationship between people with mild to moderate dementia and the caregiver.
Informal care ; dementia ; caregiver ; questionnaire ; reliability ; validity

The Quality of Life-Alzheimer’s Disease (QOL-AD) questionnaire is a reliable, valid and popular outcome measure in dementia related studies. However, to date there is no published report on adopted version of QOL-AD in Malay language. Thus this preliminary study aimed to evaluate the reliability and validity of the QOL-AD in Malay language for patients with dementia and to examine the level of agreement between patient-caregiver as a proxy reports on patient’s quality of life. A total of 65 patients with mild to moderate dementia and their caregivers were recruited from the psycho-geriatric clinic, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre using a cross sectional study design. The QOL-AD was translated into Malay language using the standard guidelines for cross-cultural adaptation of measure. The patient-caregiver dyads completed the QOL-AD in Malay language separately. Test-retest and internal consistency was evaluated for reliability and construct validity was tested with principal component factor analysis. The reliability of QOL-AD in Malay language was good with Cronbach alpha coefficients of 0.82 and 0.79 and intraclass correlation coefficients of 0.77 and 0.89 for patients and caregivers report respectively. Meanwhile a positive moderate agreement was achieved between patient and caregiver rating (r=0.60, p<0.01). The principal component factor analysis extracted 4 factors for both patient and caregiver reports which explained 66.02% (patients’ report) and 64.24% (caregivers’ report) of the total variance of the scale. As a conclusion, the QOL-AD in Malay language is a reliable and valid tool to measure the quality of life of people with mild to moderate dementia.

Background: Previous studies have shown that serum VEGF levels were elevated in patients with active systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), especially in those with lupus nephritis (LN). In this case control study, we aimed to compare serum levels of VEGF in SLE patients between LN, non-LN and healthy participants to determine the association between serum VEGF levels and the activity and histological classes of lupus nephritis. Methods: Blood samples were obtained from 92 SLE patients (46 LN and 46 non-LN) and 26 controls. Data were collected from medical records. Serum VEGF assays were performed by specific, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits (ELISA). Laboratory investigations included urinalysis, urine protein–creatinine ratio, serum creatinine, albumin and VEGF levels. Blood pressure, renal biopsy result and treatment were recorded. LN activity was evaluated using the renal subscale of the British Isles Lupus Assessment Group (rBILAG, 2004). The rBILAG measures blood pressure (diastolic and systolic), urine protein, serum creatinine, calculated glomerular filtration rate (GFR), presence of active urinary sediments and histological evidence of active nephritis. Results: Serum VEGF was elevated in SLE patients with LN compared with the non-LN group and healthy controls. The levels found were significantly higher in the sera of patients with active nephritis compared to those with quiescent nephritis (P = 0.024). The study did not find a statistically significant relationship between serum VEGF levels and histological classes of LN. Conclusion: There was no significant difference of serum VEGF level between LN and non-LN SLE groups and between the non-LN group and healthy controls. However, there were increased levels of serum VEGF in the LN group, especially in patients with active nephritis as compared to quiescent nephritis group. This reflects the role of VEGF in the pathogenesis of lupus nephritis, however the clinical potential of this biomarker needs further study.

The accumulation of tear film proteins as well as microbes colonization onto worn contact lenses can be eliminated conventionally by mechanical rubbing during the cleaning process. Lens2® functions in rotation manner to loosen the deposits on the contact lens and has antimicrobial coating to keep lenses away from contamination. The objective of this study was to determine the efficiency of Lens2® to remove deposited protein and reduce microbial contamination compared to conventional method. Twenty-eight subjects each wore a pair of contact lens FDA Group 1 (Polymacon, SoftLens®38, Bausch & Lomb) for one month and cleaned them using multipurpose solution (COMPLETE® MoisturePLUSTM, Advanced Medical Optics) separately using two different methods. The right lens was cleaned conventionally while the left lens were cleaned using the Lens2®. The control group of thirteen subjects each wore a pair of contact lens for the same period and cleaned both conventionally. These lenses and its cases were then analyzed for protein deposition using Bichinchoninic Acid Assay (BCA) Kit (Sigma, USA) in 96-well plate. Microbial contamination was determined by culturing the samples on nutrient agar for bacteria and fungi and non-nutrient agar for amoeba isolation. The mean of total protein on control lenses (17.014 ± 13.246 μg/mL) was not significantly different from those on the Lens2® (21.623 ± 19.127 μg/mL). There were also low growth numbers of amoeba in each group of samples. Interestingly, there were no growths of amoeba from all Lens2® samples collected. There was also low growth numbers of bacteria in each sample group whereby Lens2® had the lowest growth of bacteria. No growth of fungi was obtained from all samples. The automatic lens cleaner, Lens2® was found to be as efficient as the conventional cleaning method. However, the Lens2® has additional advantage because of its antimicrobial material and need shorter time in the cleaning process as well as easy and effective.

A preliminary study has been conducted to screen psychogeriatric disorder among elderly. This survey was designed to determine the prevalence of cognitive impairment, stroke and depression in a population sample of 60-89 years old. A total of 40 subjects and informants were selected from the Klang Valley, Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. The screening tools that were used in this survey were Psychogeriatric Assessment Scale (PAS). The Psychogeriatric Assessment Scale (PAS) consists of two sections: the subject’s self report and the informant report. The subject’s self report was used to assess cognitive impairment, stroke and depression. Meanwhile the informant report was used to assess cognitive decline, stroke and behavioral changes in the subject. Results indicated that there was a high percentage cognitive impairment (male 67% case, female 64.3% case) and stroke (male 75% case, female 64.4% case) among elderly. There was also a significant correlation between the subject’s self report and the informant’s report according to PAS each subscale. PAS psychological assessment tool able to screen psychogeriatric problem among elderly and the accuracy of screening ability can be tested with informant report data. Psychogeriatic screening is important to detect early presentation of cognitive impairment and depression among elderly.