Background: Quality of Work Life (QWL) is a subset of the quality of life which expresses the interactions between workers and their total working environment with individual or human dimension. Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of QWL among Malaysian workers. Methods: 2740 respondents (1921 males and 819 females) were randomly selected from 11 different industries from all states of Malaysia. Respondents were aged between 18 to more than 55 years and were a local OSH Personnel and local general workers. Face to face interviews were conducted in all the selected industries using a structured questionnaire form adapted from Malaysian OSH Profile 2016. Respondents have completed the questionnaire under instructions and supervision of the research team. Results: Majority of the respondents were male (70.1%) and from manufacturing industries (76.3%). 50% of the respondents identified a high level of QWL in each component like not having a stress with the work load (85.5%), good work environment (78.4%), family life (83.1% and 83.6%), enough income and distribution (58.9%), good communication and harmonies relationship between colleagues and boss (93.4% and 88.7%), good facilities (88.6%), welfare at work (71.3%) and productive working condition (80.8%). There is a significant difference between QWL and type of industries [F(10)=12.897, p=0.001] where agriculture industry had the highest QWL. There is significant difference between QWL and gender (p=0.009) where male reported higher QWL compared to female. Conclusion: These findings could be used by the organizations in order to enhance its performance, productivity, employees’ commitment and satisfaction.

Aims: This study was aimed to investigate the effects of methanol extracts from various parts of the Pereskia bleo Kuhn plant on Acanthamoeba sp. The antioxidant levels of each extract from different plant parts were measured after the extraction process. These extracts were then exposed to Acanthamoeba sp. to assess dose-response, IC50 values, changes in cell morphology, internal cell activity and apoptosis based on alterations in phospholipids. Methodology and results: The total phenolic content, carotenoid estimation and antioxidant activity of the leaves, flowers and fruits of P. bleo were measured based on 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radicals (DPPH) assay. Its anti-amoebic properties were tested using 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazolyl-2)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay for the IC50 determination. The morphological and biochemical changes in the Acanthamoeba sp. were observed under light and fluorescence microscopy using the acridine orange and propidium iodide double staining (AO/PI). The IC50 values of P. bleo leaves, flowers and fruits methanolic extracts were 5.884%, 0.1646% and 20.69%, respectively. Morphological observation displayed shortened acanthapodia with darkened cytoplasms. AO/PI-stained Acanthamoeba sp. cells appear with orange-fluorescent organelles in their green cytoplasm, indicating autophagic cell deaths. Apoptotic and necrotic Acanthamoeba sp. cells were absent based on Annexin V labelling. Conclusion, significance and impact of study: This study confirmed that the methanolic crude extracts of P. bleo exhibit high cytotoxic potential towards Acanthamoeba sp. trophozoites by inducing an autophagic mode of cell death.

Introduction: Nonvalvular atrial fibrillation is a common cause of cardioembolic stroke which accounts around 50% of all cardioembolic emboli. Oral anticoagulants remain the main choice of stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation. Our study is aimed to determine the safety (absence or presence of bleeding events) and efficacy (absence or presence of ischemic stroke occurrence) of dabigatran versus warfarin for stroke prevention in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation. Methods: A retrospective audit study was conducted based on past data obtained from Electronic Hospital Information System (EHIS) records in Serdang Hospital. Our sample was 150 patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation who were at risk of getting stroke and being prescribed with oral anticoagulants either warfarin or dabigatran from the year 2013 until 2019. Results: Our study showed that there was lesser occurrence of ischemic stroke in patients from dabigatran group (1.3%) as compared to those in warfarin group (2.7%). There were also almost 2 times lesser bleeding events in dabigatran group (6.7%) as compared to those in warfarin group (14.7%). The median of CHA2DS2-VASc Score in warfarin sampled patients (median=3+/-1) was lower than dabigatran sampled patients (median=4+/-1). Conclusion: Both warfarin and dabigatran are effective in preventing stroke for patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation. However, dabigatran is associated with lesser bleeding events with lower incidence of major bleeds compared to warfarin.