Introduction: Cervical cancer ranks as the second most frequent cancer among women inMalaysia. Although a cervical screening program has been introduced since 1960s and isprovided free of charge in all government health facilities, the coverage and adherence rate torecommendation among Malaysian women remains low.Objectives: To determine the proportion of non-adherence to Pap smear screening guidelines andits associated factors among women attending a health clinic in Malaysia.Method: A cross sectional study involving 316 women aged 20 to 65 years who had undergonea Pap smear. Universal sampling method was applied to select participants among womenwho attended the selected health clinic from January 2013 to May 2013. A self-administeredquestionnaire was used to obtain the socio-demographic characteristics, socio-health data andperceptions about cervical cancer and Pap smear screening. The data was analysed using descriptivestatistics and multiple logistic regression.Result: The proportion of non-adherence to Pap smear screening was 90.5%. Age, marital status,duration of marriage, education level, employment, household income and number of children were notsignificantly associated with non-adherence. Perceived severity, perceived susceptibility, perceived benefit,perceived barrier and cues to action did not show significant association with non-adherence to Papsmear screening.Conclusion: Non-adherence to Pap smear screening was high among Malaysian women. Measuresshould be taken to increase Pap smear screening coverage in our country. Other factors beyondHealth Belief Model that influence Pap smear screening practice among Malaysian women shouldbe explored.

Background: Bamboo shoot has been used as a treatment for epilepsy in traditional Chinese medicine for generations to treat neuronal disorders such as convulsive, dizziness and headaches. 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (4-hba) is a non-flavonoid phenol found abundantly in Dendrocalamus asper shoots (bamboo), fruits (strawberries and apples) and flowers. Kv1.4 is a rapidly inactivating Shaker-related member of the voltage-gated potassium channels with two inactivation mechanisms; the fast N-type and slow C-type. It plays vital roles in repolarisation, hyperpolarisation and signaling the restoration of resting membrane potential through the regulation of the movement of K+ across the cellular membrane. Methods: Chemical compounds from Dendrocalamus asper bamboo shoots were purified and identified as major palmitic acids mixed with other minor fatty acids, palmitic acid, 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde, lauric acid, 4-hydroxybenzoic acid and cholest-4-ene-3-one. The response of synthetic 4-hydroxybenzoic acid was tested on Kv1.4 potassium channel which was injected into viable oocytes that was extracted from Xenopus laevis. The current were detected by the two-microelectrode voltage clamp, holding potential starting from −80 mV with 20 mV stepup until +80 mV. Readings of treatments with 0.1% DMSO, 4-hba concentrations and K channel blockers were taken at +60 mV. The ratio of tail/peak amplitude is the index of the activity of the Kv1.4 channels with n ≥ 6 (number of oocytes tested). The decreases of the ratios of five different concentrations (1 μM, 10 μM, 100 μM, 1 mM and 2.5 mM) were compared with 0.1% DMSO as the control. Results: All concentration showed statistically significant results with P < 0.05 except for 100 μM. The normalised current of the 4-hba concentrations were compared with potassium channel blockers (TEA and 4-AP) and all groups showed statistically significant results. This study also showed that time taken for each concentration to affect Kv1.4 does not play any significant roles. Conclusion: 4-hydroxybenzoic acid was found to be able to enhance the inactivation of Kv1.4 by lowering the membrane potential so that the abnormal neuronal firing can be inhibited. With IC50 slightly higher than 10 μM, increasing concentrations (100 μM, 1 mM and 2.5 mM) had shown to exhibit toxicity effects. The best concentration from this study is 10 μM with Hill slope of 0.1799.