An elderly community may continue to serve their services to other jobs after retirement particularly in light works in accordance to their ability which can support the household income in such a challenging world. One of the professions that they could alternatively get involved is by being a taxi driver. Hence, the characteristic of elderly taxi driver is crucial to understand, primarily due to the ageing process which makes them more vulnerable towards injury. Sitting which is the working posture of a taxi driver should be properly done to avoid injuries among the elders. Improper seating posture is potentially unhealthy and considered as one of the major contributing factors for several musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) such as pain in the lower back part and shoulder. Due to increased exposures to seating posture inside the car, the proper sitting adjustment has become an important issue that demands adequate ergonomic interventions. A cross-sectional study was conducted with elderly taxi drivers using a self-administered questionnaire. It included questions on social-demographic data, Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) and Quick Exposure Check (QEC). Purposive method sampling is used according to these inclusive criteria; age 60 years old and above, self-driving taxi more than 1 year, no disabilities and registered with Ministry of Transport (MOT). Total of 443 respondents participated in the study. SPSS software version 20.0 to analyze data and RULA and QEC form was used. More than half elderly taxi driver used budget car (57.6%) type of taxi and most of elderly taxi drivers were smoking (66.0%). More than half respondents (70.0%) having felt back pain for the past 12 months and 75.4% feeling back pain the last seven days. 94.8% elderly taxi drivers complained of feeling low back pain. QEC showed higher score - neck (20.8%) and back body part (6.5%) and other factors at high score - driving (86.4%) and vibration (45.6%). RULA analysis body score at value score 7 (23.5%)- required immediate improvement and value score 5/6 (61.9%) - required investigation and needed to improve soon. Inappropriate seating posture among elderly taxi drivers may cause discomfort towards developing MSD. The implication of low awareness on ergonomics education could reflect quality lifestyle and health among elderly taxi drivers in Malaysia.

Rapid detection of Burkholderia pseudomallei, the etiologic agent of melioidosis, allows for timely initiation of appropriate treatment and better clinical outcomes. In the current gold standard, the culture method is time consuming and suffers from low sensitivity. Meanwhile, previously reported molecular assays are fast and sensitive, but their performance on isolates from Malaysia, an endemic region of melioidosis is under reported. This study designed oligonucleotides targeting orf2 of Type III secretion system (TTSS) genes cluster for the detection of Malaysian B. pseudomallei isolates and evaluated the assay on 95 local B. pseudomallei strains, 58 other microorganisms and 71 clinical specimens from patients. The developed assay exclusively detected all tested B. pseudomallei isolates with a detection limit of 20 fg per reaction (equivalent to ~2.5 copies). Subsequent testing on clinical samples showed that the assay detected all confirmed specimens with the growth of B. pseudomallei (n = 10/10). None of the negative specimens had a detectable signal of our TTSS-orf2 assay (n = 0/61). In conclusion, the present study provides crucial preliminary data for a subsequent study and should be considered as a potential alternative to current time-consuming culture method for the detection of B. pseudomallei.