Lane Change Assistance (LCA) system in cars can potentially mitigate blind spot related crashes; but its effectiveness largely depends on driver acceptance and proper use. Although still in early stages, the volume of cars equipped with LCA system is expected torise in the near future as the technology has been considered in the New Car Assessment Program for Southeast Asian Countries (ASEAN NCAP) 2017 Rating Scheme. Therefore, this study is initiated to assess user acceptance of and experience with LCA-equipped cars. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to owners of LCA-equipped cars at selected service centres in the Klang Valley from November 2016 to February 2017. From a total of 276 valid responses, results revealed that most owners greatly considered LCA system when purchasing their cars and agreed that the systems had positively altered their driving behaviours i.e. regularly using the turn signal and checking the side mirrors. Nevertheless, about 20% of the respondents stated theirannoyance and distraction by the LCA systems due to unnecessary warnings from various sources, aside from getting too many warnings during traffic congestion. The study findings provide some practical implications that can aid the industry and relevant stakeholders in gauging the issue and actual situations concerning the use of LCA system in Malaysia.
Driver acceptance ; driver assistance system ; early adopter ; lane change assistance system

Introduction: Hepatic diseases patients are especially prone to malnutrition, which is often underestimated. Screening tools were developed to detect the risk of malnutrition. However, screening tools for patients with liver disease were frequently underestimated. Fluid overload is the main issue to perform nutritional screening in liver disease patients. Therefore, this study aimed to validate the Royal Free Hospital Nutritional Prioritizing Tool (RFH-NPT) among patients and to evaluate association between RFH-NPT, Nutritional Risk Screening (NRS 2002) and Subjective Global Assessment (SGA). Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted in 3 phases; transcultural adaptation, criterion validity and reliability phases. Content validity was confirmed by interviewing eight liver disease professionals. Face validity was assessed by surveying forty nurses working in the liver disease ward. In addition, agreement between NRS 2002 and RFH-NPT assessment was assessed using the SGA tool. Results: Eighty patients with liver disease took part in this study. The SGA assessment found malnutrition in 75% of patients (95% CI, 60%–95%) while 80% (95% CI, 65%-80) were found as at risk of malnutrition using RFH- NPT. Moderate specificity and high sensitivity of RFHNPT were 97% and 74%, respectively, and 95% positive predictive value was measured. Conclusion: The RFH-NPT nutritional screening tool is the initial and most reliable in this population to assess the malnutrition risk. Thus, inclusion of the RFH-NPT with NRS 2002 demonstrated positive and a fair agreement between the SGA and RFH-NPT tool to be used as a routine nutrition screening protocol for identifying patients at risk of malnutrition.

Introduction: Food insecurity is currently a problem faced by both developing and developed nations. Issues of food insecurity reflect both social and economic challenges, posing a significant policy dilemma. Although there has been various research on food insecurity, very little has been done to better understand what are the sociodemographic factors that can predict food insecurity within a Malaysian context, especially amongst the unique community of Malay university students, which makes up the largest group of students in tertiary education. Therefore, this study examined the prevalence of food insecurity and its associated factors among Malay university students. Methods: Conducted in Universiti Teknologi MARA, Selangor Campus, conveniently sampled participants (n = 181) completed a pre-tested English version of the US Adult Food Security Survey Module (AFSSM) questions in 2015, which measures their level of food security status. Binary logistic regression analysis was carried out to determine the sociodemographic predictors of food insecurity among the sampled population. Results: More than one-third of participants (42.5%) reported food insecurity within the past year with 22.1% experiencing very low food insecurity. Additionally, of those who experienced food security, 5.4% reported a low food security status. However, no significant predictors were observed positively related to food insecurity. Conclusion: Data indicates that food insecurity is a significant problem among university students and additional research is needed to better understand and address food insecurity in higher education.

Avian Infectious Bronchitis (IB) is a highly contagious disease which can cause huge economic losses to the poultry industry. Forty five IB viruses (IBV) were isolated from poultry in Malaysia during 2014-2016. Phylogenetic analysis of the spike glycoprotein 1 (S1) gene revealed that all isolates were clustered into five distinct groups. The predominant type of IBV isolated was QX strains (47%), second was 4/91 type (27%), followed by Malaysian strain MH5365/95 (13%), Massachusetts type (11%) and finally Taiwanese strains (2%). Four types of S1 protein cleavage recognition motifs were found among the isolates which includes HRRRR, RRSRR, RRFRR and RRVRR. To our knowledge, this is the first report describing the motif RRVRR and are unique to Malaysian strains. Six IBVs were grouped in Malaysian MH5365/95 strains. Among these, one isolate was different from others where it only shared 82% identity with MH5365/95 and to others. It formed its own branch in the Malaysian cluster suggesting it may be a variant unique to Malaysia. Alignment analysis of the S1 amino acid sequences indicated that point mutations, insertions and deletions contribute to the divergence of IB variants. This study indicated at least five groups of IBV are circulating in Malaysia with most of the isolates belonged to QX strains. As new IBV variants continue to emerge, further study need to be carried out to determine whether the current available vaccine is able to give protection against the circulating virus.