Ventilated patients who require intensive care unit (ICU) treatment may encounter unpleasant experiences. These experiences may include factual incidents and delusional memories of ICU such as dreams, hallucinations and frightening experiences. A cross sectional study using “Intensive Care Experience Questionnaire” consisted of four domains: awareness of surrounding, frightening experiences, recall of experience and satisfaction with nursing care. Forty five participants who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were recruited in this study. This study was conducted in ICU of HUKM from January to March 2006. Results showed that 20 respondents (44%) were aware of their surrounding and 31 respondents (69%) reported frightening experiences. Majority of respondents (43 respondents, 96%) reported satisfaction with the delivery of nursing care. There was positive correlation between awareness of surrounding and their abilities to recall their experiences (p<0.05). Patients’ awareness of surrounding achieved the strongest statistical significance as a contribution to the prediction of their abilities to recall their experiences with beta coefficient value of 0.353 and p<0.05. The finding of this study permits nurses to see the problems of mechanically ventilated patients through reports of unpleasant recollections by the patients themselves. Patients reported frustrations in their attempts to make their needs known. Although they are on sedation, they are aware of all unpleasant events occurring in the ICU

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is an invasive diagnostic investigation that may result in high level of anxiety and "fear of the unknown" among cardiac patients. An increment of anxiety among PCI patients will augment the level of stress and this extreme stress level will then aggravate depression. The objective of this study was to determine the incidence of anxiety and depression before and after PCI. This was a cross-sectional descriptive study. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) was used. It measured two elements, namely the anxiety and depression levels of patients before and after PCI.This study was conducted in the cardiology wards Anggerik and Dahlia, and Day Care of the National Heart Institute, from January to February 2006. A sample of 61 patients before and after PCI who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were recruited in this study. Of these, 40 and 38 patients before and after PCI respectively , had low anxiety levels; while 47 and 46 patients before and after PCI had low depression levels.Anxiety and depression levels before and after PCI were not significantly correlated to socio demographic status. However a significant correlation (p<0.05) was found between anxiety and depression levels before and after PCI. The low levels of anxiety and depression seen among patients before and after PCI at National Heart Institute could possibly due to the adequate facilities and health education program provided by the physician, nurses and cardiac technician.

A study was carried out to isolate Brucella melitensis using established bacteriological and PCR techniques in Brucella seropositive goats in farms in Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Melaka and Pulau Pinang. Brucella melitensis was isolated from 7 of 134 reactors with the highest isolation from the vaginal swabs (57.14%) followed by the spleen (28.57%), uterine fluid (14.29%). No Brucella was isolated from the lymph nodes. PCR confirmed all the seven isolates as B. melitensis and isolates were phylogenetically related to other isolates from India, Iran, and Israel but most closely related to isolates from Singapore.