1.Malaysian Oil Palm Workers Are In Pain: Hazards Identification And Ergonomics Related Problems
Nur Syazwani Mohd Nawi ; Baba Md Deros ; Mohd Nizam Ab. Rahman ; Ezrin Hani Sukadarin ; Norani Nordin
Malaysian Journal of Public Health Medicine 2016;Special Volume(1):50-57
Agricultural activities have always been associated with hazards and injuries. Most common injuries experienced by workers are health, safety and ergonomic injuries. It stems from many causes, such as the use of manual tools, incorrect working position, inadequate rest and overloading. This paper aims to reveal the daily hazardous work task of oil palm plantation workers with highlighting the ergonomics problems and risk of injury they faced. Observations of work tasks and distribution of Modified Nordic Questionnaire (MNQ) were performed for every work unit. Worker’s activities and posture while performing work tasks were recorded extensively using camera and video recordings for ergonomics analysis. Results from the observation and questionnaire survey conducted, showed that oil palm plantation workers are exposed to the risk of dangerous work every day. Fresh fruit bunches cutter and loose fruit collectors were having highest body pain complaints and almost from them are having low back pain problems. Therefore, it is necessary for an immediate action from the management in order to determine the current prevalence of ergonomic injuries. Using of manual tools should be avoided and plantation workers should be provided with ergonomics machines that can help them reduce their workload and injuries.
2. Phytocompounds of Anonna muricata leaves extract and cytotoxic effects on breast cancer cells
Husna Syakirah Ab RAHMAN ; Michael Pak-Kai WONG ; Mohd Ridzuan Abdul SAMAD ; Mohd Nizam Md HASHIM ; Wan Suriyani WAN-IBRAHIM ; Norzila ISMAIL ; Siti Farhanah MOHD-SALLEH ; Tuan Nadrah ISMAIL
Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Medicine 2018;11(12):659-665
Objective: To identify the phytochemical compounds from Annona muricata (A. muricata) and to determine their in vitro anti-proliferative activities against breast cancer cells, MCF7 and MDA-MB-231. Methods: A. muricata leaves were successively extracted by soxhlet method using n-hexane, ethyl acetate and methanol, and decocted with water. Each extract was analysed by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) and characterized with Wiley and NIST library searches. Anti-proliferative activity of each extract was evaluated on MCF7 and MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells using MTT assay. Results: The GCMS analysis of different solvent extracts of A. muricata leaves showed presence of different chemical groups of compounds such as steroids, terpenoids, phenolic compounds, sugars, sugars alcohol and others including vitamin E. Ethyl acetate leaves extract exhibited the lowest IC