Exercise has been suggested as the best and the most affordable way for managing blood pressure. The insertion/ deletion of angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) I/D gene polymorphism had been reported to be linked with several diseases such as hypertension and diabetic nephropathy. Several studies showed that blood pressure response to exercise training for health management also vary among individuals with different genotypes of ACE I/D gene polymorphism. A study of 9 months of endurance exercise training at 75 to 85 % of VO2max showed that the decrease of resting blood pressure in I allele carriers wass greater than D allele carriers. In contrast, other study discovered that adult women with D allele had greater reduction in resting blood pressure than those with I allele, following a 12-week combined aerobic and resistance exercise training. Despite the inconsistencies of some findings, it has remained unknown if the ACE I/D gene polymorphism would also influence blood pressure response to isometric handgrip training that had been found to be superior to the dynamic resistance exercise training in controlling and preventing high blood pressure. Thus, this article was to review the literature on ACE I/D gene polymorphism and blood pressure response to exercise training that could serve as the basis for future research to identify individuals who will lower resting blood pressure the most with exercise training program for health management.
Blood pressure

Introduction: Exergames is defined as a technology-driven physical activity, which is an innovative way of physical activity that integrates interactive gameplay in the exercise process. The exergames may provide enjoyable experiences that could motivate people to participate and continue playing the game play, while also exercising at the same time. Methods: This article presents a treasure hunt-based walking exergames on android platform with the implementation of intelligence-based image recognition. The exergame, termed USM ExerHunt uses images of Universiti Sains Malaysia buildings as the hints. The participant of the game supposes to find a building shown in the hint, and once reaching the destination captures the image of the building. Then, the application will calculate the total steps taken and calories burnt by the participant using an implementation of accelerometer from the mobile phone. Results: The developed USM ExerHunt application is able to achieve accurate image recognition of USM building, with the accuracy rate of 92%. Besides that, the application is capable of calculating the number of total steps and calories burnt after an exercise routine is completed. Conclusion: This android application has shown a proof of concept in incorporating machine intelligence into an exergame application, with pilot study within the USM community.

This cross-sectional study aims to investigate high-school students’ experiences with exergames, their knowledge, attitudes, and practice of exercise in Pulau Pinang, Malaysia. A relevant questionnaire has been effectively adapted by inserting another section to assess the respondents’ experiences regarding exergames. The modified questionnaire was used as the research instrument in this study. The sampling size consisted of 377 Malaysian high school students in Pulau Pinang, Malaysia. The five-section questionnaire provided statements and questions about the respondents’ sociodemographic data and exergames’ experiences, as well as their knowledge, attitude, and practice of exercise. The time frame was between October 2021 and January 2022. Data were analysed by using descriptive statistics of frequency and percentages. The association between gender, age and experience, knowledge, and attitude was examined using the chi-square test. p value of < 0.05 considered as statistically significant. Based on the quantitative results, 97.9% of the respondents have had adequate knowledge about exercise and 83.6% of the respondents displayed positive exercise attitudes. Approximately, half of the students allocated between 30 and 60 minutes daily to perform moderate-to-vigorous intensity workouts. However, a statistically significant difference was perceived in their experiences of exergames. Specifically, female respondents demonstrated that they have more experience than their male counterparts. Holistic efforts are essential to raise high-school students’ awareness of exercise given its outstanding potential to enable children and adolescents’ physical activity engagement.
Knowledge

Introduction: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are evolving as the leading cause of death worldwide, including in Malaysia. Changes in a socio-economic status have increased at-risk populations with NCDs. The objective of this study is to describe the prevalence of self-reported NCDs and its contributing factors in a selected low socio-economic status community in Kedah, Malaysia. Methods: A cross-sectional study with a self-administered questionnaire was done among convenience samples of 139 adults (age more than 18 years old) living in a selected low socio-economic status community in Kedah. Results: Among 139 respondents with a mean (SD) age 48.5 (13.1), there were 40.3% of respondents reported to have chronic illnesses with a prevalence of hypertension (25.9%), diabetes mellitus (21.6%), hypercholesterolemia (7.2%), chronic respiratory diseases (5.0%), heart disease (2.9%) and stroke (1.4%). The significant contributing factors of NCDs by multiple logistic regression were age, marital and working status. A person with an increase in 1 year of age has 1.05 times the odds to have NCDs (95% CI: 1.01 to 1.09, p-value=0.007). A divorcee has 3.55 times the odds compared to a married person to have NCDs (95% CI: 1.28 to 9.80, p-value=0.015). The non-working individual has 2.27 times the odds compared to working individuals to have NCDs (95% CI: 1.03 to 5.01, p-value=0.042). Conclusion: The prevalence of NCDs is high in this selected low socio-economic status community. The contributing factors are age, marital and working status.