Introduction: Sexual dysfunction is common but not often assessed in the routine clinical care among males on opiate substitute treatment. Objective: To determine the association between clinical variables and erectile dysfunction (ED) among men on methadone maintenance therapy (MMT). Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 108 participants who attended the Drug Clinic, Hospital Kuala Lumpur. The instruments used include the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis-I Disorder (SCID-I), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and International Index of Erectile Function-15 (IIEF-15). Results: Concurrent heroin abuse was significantly associated with presence of ED (p=0.024). Treatment factors including methadone dose and duration of methadone treatment were not significantly associated with ED. Conclusion: Education on sexual dysfunction as a potential adverse effect and its association with illicit heroin use should be considered in the doctor-patient consultation to encourage treatment adherence and abstinence from heroin.

Introduction: Various phantom with varied materials has been proposed to replace the human body. Besides, there is always a demand to use the local material as a phantom material, which is readily available and inexpensive. Wood is usually preferred because it is multifunction, environmentally friendly, low in toxic, inexpensive, as well as easy to use and prepare. Previous studies have found that Rhizophora spp. is a suitable natural source material and has been suggested due to its comparable dosimetric properties to commercial phantom. Methods: In this study, fabricated Rhizophora spp. particleboards phantom was opted as a solid-equivalent phantom medium at low energy photon beams using Gafchromic film x-ray quality assurance 2 (XRQA2). Additionally, the characteristics of XRQA2 film in the diagnostic energy range were generated. Results: Interestingly, the density of the fabricated Rhizophora spp particleboards was observed to have the same density with the water equivalent material (ρ= 1.00 g.cm-3) and has shown to have loosened agreement with PDD of water phantom at approximately 25% of the dose error. Also, further analysis using XRQA 2 film showed that energy was independent at different ranges. Conclusion: The analysis of fabricated Rhizophora spp particleboards undertaken here has extended our knowledge of the possibility of manufacturing cost-effective water equivalent phantom by using binder-less particleboard from Rhizophora spp. Therefore, a definite need for smaller interspacing particles should be considered to elevate the potential of Rhizophora spp particle boards as water equivalent materials.