Introduction: The consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) among young adults in Malaysia has witnessed a notable increase in recent years, giving rise to concerns regarding the potential adverse health effects, including obesity and diabetes. Despite the urgent need for targeted interventions, there is a dearth of research examining the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) related to SSBs among Malaysian young adults. To address this research gap, the present study aims to assess the level of KAP concerning SSB intake and its associated factors in this specific population. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted involving 408 Malaysian young adults aged between 15 and 29 years. Respondents completed an online questionnaire survey, which encompassed the assessment of socio-demographic characteristics and KAP regarding SSB consumption. The collected data were analyzed using IBM’s Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0. Spearman correlation tests were performed at a significance level of 0.05. Results: The majority of respondents demonstrated moderate knowledge (60%) and practices (60%), while exhibiting a high positive attitude (100%) towards reducing SSB consumption. Significant correlations were observed between knowledge and attitude (p = 0.003, rs = 0.148) and between knowledge and practice (p = 0.005, rs = 0.138). Moreover, the attitude scores were found to be significantly associated with gender (χ2 (1, N = 408) = 10.421, p = 0.001) and locality (χ2 (1, N = 408) = 4.106, p = 0.043), while the practice scores exhibited a significant association with ethnicity (p = 0.006). Conclusion: This study provides valuable insights into the relationship between KAP related to SSB consumption and socio-demographic factors among Malaysian young adults. The findings underscore the importance of utilizing these insights to develop strategic interventions that aim to curtail SSB consumption and promote a healthy lifestyle, ultimately contributing to the reduction of non-communicable diseases. Health authorities are encouraged to capitalize on these findings to design targeted interventions tailored to the unique needs and circumstances of this population.

Introduction: Studies show that adolescents are more reward sensitive compared to other age groups. The nucleus accumbens (NAcc) has been identified as a key brain area involved in reward through its connectivity to other reward-related brain areas. Our study aimed to characterise the white matter structural connectivity of nucleus accumbens with brain areas that are most often associated with reward in female adolescents. Methods: Fifteen healthy female Malay adolescents were recruited and underwent diffusion-weighted brain scanning. Two behaviour scales were also given to verify typical reward responsiveness. Then, probabilistic tractography and NAcc segmentation were performed on the data using FMRIB Software Library (FSL). Probabilistic tractography was performed to determine the relative connection probability of nucleus accumbens (NAcc) to areas shown to be associated with reward, namely amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC), hippocampus, ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). Connectivity-based segmentation of NAcc was performed to determine the spatial distribution of its connectivity with the target brain areas according to the highest connection probability. Results: The highest relative connection probability was found between NAcc to mOFC, while the NAcc parcellation showed the widest distribution of connection to mOFC compared to the other five targets on both sides of the brain. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrated the strongest structural connectivity and widest distribution between NAcc and mOFC compared with other brain areas related to reward. This study’s findings could be used as baseline to compare with people with atypical reward circuit problems.

Knowledge on surface anatomy enables medical students and graduates to locate anatomical structures exteriorly, improve their clinical and procedural skills and interpret ultrasonographic and radiographic images. Hence, a standard surface anatomy knowledge is essential for attainment of clinical skill competency. Nevertheless, there is lack of attention given on surface anatomy in the medical curriculum as it is usually delivered didactically or during selfstudy by the students. Owing to limitations in cadaveric dissection in many institutions, lecture-based instruction, e-learning materials, living anatomy models, radiological imaging and anatomy software are used in teaching surface anatomy; however, none of these methods proved to be effective over the others. Furthermore, some of these teaching resources lack clinical relevancy, possibly impeding students’ appreciation on learning surface anatomy. Hence, integrating clinical input during surface anatomy teaching by involving patients in an actual clinical environment is pertinent. This article demonstrates the benefits and challenges of teaching surface anatomy in the clinical setting to medical students and highlights the need to design an evidence-based framework of work-based surface anatomy learning.

Introduction: The use of assessment tools to measure postnatal mental illness is essential in healthcare settings. However, variations in the types of tools and their reliability in a particular population lead to under-recognition of mental health status in postnatal mothers. The aim of this review is to evaluate the most recent 10 year of research on the validity and reliability of postnatal mental illness assessment tools. Methods: A literature search of studies from online databases PubMed, Scopus, and Science Direct was conducted. Results: A total of 59 studies were selected for this review. Several studies utilised multiple assessment tools, and a total of 96 assessment tools were identified and classified into six domains: postnatal blues, postnatal stress, postnatal anxiety, postnatal depression, postnatal psychosis, and postnatal psychological disorder. In this review, EPDS was the most common tool used to identify postnatal depression and anxiety while DASS 21 was the most common tool used to identify postnatal psychological disorder. There is a wide range in preponderance of evidence for the reliability of each assessment tool and there were inconsistencies in assessing the validity of the assessment tools. Conclusion This review provides information regarding some of the main assessment tools currently available to measure postnatal mental illnesses. There were no standardised tools that were used in a particular setting. The results may differ in different population because there are differences in not only languages and dialects, but also cultural and racial backgrounds, which greatly influences their perception and interpretation of postnatal mental illness.
Mental Disorders

Aims: Knowledge of the Trichoderma taxa is important for both control efficiency and environmental conservation. Therefore, the objective of this study is to isolate and identify Trichoderma species from various rhizosphere soil samples using phenotypic and molecular characterization. Methodology and results: Native Trichoderma spp. were isolated from agricultural fields in 17 sites from seven states of Malaysia. These isolates were characterized via morphological observation and molecular phylogenetic analysis based on the translation elongation factor-1α (tef1-α) gene. About 42 isolates were classified into eight Trichoderma species, which are Trichoderma asperellum, T. hamatum, T. harzianum, T. koningiopsis, T. rodmanii, T. spirale, T. viride and T. virens. Comparison of DNA sequences of tef1-α showed that the isolates were 98-100% similar to respective Trichoderma species from GenBank, thus confirming the fungal identity. Phylogenetic trees of maximum likelihood (ML) dataset of tef1-α inferred that the isolates were clustered according to species. Conclusion, significance and impact of study Findings in the present study will be beneficial for the purposes of biodiversity conservation and plant disease management using biocontrol agents.
Trichoderma--isolation & ; purification ; Rhizosphere

Laboratory practices in a laboratory have changed worldwide due to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. The changes occur concerning specimen collection, handling, transportation, processing, and disposal. Infection control practices are applied in all aspects, starting from specimen collection until the clinician gets the results. A retrospective review of laboratory practices used in a tertiary teaching hospital laboratory from microbiologists’ perspectives was performed, and the practices were compared with previously published articles.

Aims: Andrographis paniculata (AP), a medicinal herb was selected to investigate the antifungal activity on selected dermatophyte fungi. The phytochemical screening was also carried out to evaluate its chemical constituents. Methodology and results: The potato dextrose agar (PDA) incorporated with aqueous, ethanol and methanol AP extracts at concentrations 0.99% (v/v), 1.96% (v/v) and 7.41% (v/v) were used for selected fungi culturing; Trichophyton mentagrophytes, T. rubrum, T. interdigitale, Microsporum fulvum, M. nanum, M. gypseum, M. canis, Fusarium solani and Aspergillus fumigatus. Phytochemical screening showed the presence of flavonoids, saponins and tannins in the ethanol extract and flavonoids alone in both aqueous and methanol extracts. Studies on antifungal effects indicated that the ethanol extract significantly increased the mycelial inhibition percentage of all tested fungi, especially at a concentration of 7.41% (v/v). All ethanol AP extract concentrations inhibited M. gypseum and M. canis (p<0.05) with at least 36.00% mycelial inhibition. In aqueous AP extract, it significantly increased the mycelial inhibition of T. mentagrophytes, T. interdigitale and M. gypseum (p<0.05), while the methanol AP extract significantly inhibited all fungi at a concentration of 7.41% (v/v) except for T. rubrum, M. gypseum and F. solani (p<0.05). No spore sedimentation was recorded for the fungal spores of T. rubrum, M. nanum, T. mentagrophytes, M. gypseum and T. interdigitale at 7.41% (v/v) ethanol AP. Conclusion, significance and impact of study It is concluded that the ethanol AP extract contained phytochemical constituents and showed the highest antifungal activity. In addition, this extract has a great potential to treat dermatophytes effectively.
Antifungal Agents ; Phytochemicals ; Andrographis paniculata ; Dermatomycoses

algorithm for mobile application and perform a pilot study todetermine its validity and reliability as a tool for vision testin the community.Methods: A simple visual acuity test algorithm in the form ofa single letter E display was designed as the optotype fordevelopment of a mobile application. The standardisedoptotype is presented at random to test visual acuity forcorresponding level of 3/60, 6/60, 6/18, and 6/12. The finalresult is auto-generated based on the classification of theWHO for visual impairment and blindness. The Snellen chartwas used as the gold standard to determine its validity whilefive different users were involved to determine its inter-raterreliability. A pilot study was performed between April tillNovember 2019, in the Universiti Sultan Zainal AbidinMedical Centre (UMC) at Kuala Nerus and MoorisOptometrist Centre at Marang, Terengganu. A total of 279participants aged four years old and above were involved inthis study. Results: The highest sensitivity was found at the vision levelcut-off point of 6/12 with the percentage of 92.7% and 86.8%for the right and left eye, respectively. The specificity wasmore than 89% for all vision levels in both eyes. TheKrippendorff’s alpha value for the inter-rater reliability was0.87 and 0.83.Conclusion: The relatively high level of validity andreliability obtained indicate the feasibility of using thedesigned optotype to develop a valid and reliable mobile appfor vision test. The app can be used to screen vision by non-medical persons, at anytime and anywhere to help improvepublic awareness and capability to correctly determine theirvisual status.

Background: Foot infection is a major complication of diabetes mellitus (DM) and its agents are usually polymicrobial. This study aims to describe the agent and determine the association between polymicrobial infections and the severity of diabetic foot infections (DFI) and their outcomes. Methods: This retrospective cohort study was conducted during one year and it involved 104 patients. Their records were reviewed and assessed. The causative agents and its sensitivity pattern were noted. The results were presented as descriptive statistic and analysed. Results: A total of 133 microorganisms were isolated with 1.28 microorganisms per lesion. The microorganism isolated were 62% (n = 83) GN (Gram-negative) and 38% (n = 50) GP (Grampositive). GN microorganisms include Pseudomonas spp (28%), Proteus spp (11%), Klebsiella spp (8%) and E. coli (4%). Staphylococcus aureus (54%) was predominant among GP, followed by Group B Streptococci (26%) and Enterococcus spp (6%). Thirty patients (28.8%) had polymicrobial infections. The association between the quantity of microorganisms and severity of DFI was significant. Among severe DFI cases, 77.8% with polymicrobial microorganisms underwent amputation compared to 33.3% with monomicrobial infection. Conclusion: GN microorganisms were predominantly isolated from DFIs and remained sensitive to widely used agents. Polymicrobial infections were associated with DFI severity.

OBJECTIVE: This study was done to determine whether Tualang honey could prevent the altered nociceptive behaviour, with its associated changes of oxidative stress markers and morphology of the spinal cord, among the offspring of prenatally stressed rats. METHODS: Pregnant rats were divided into three groups: control, stress, and stress treated with Tualang honey. The stress and stress treated with Tualang honey groups were subjected to restraint stress from day 11 of pregnancy until delivery. Ten week old male offspring (n = 9 from each group) were given formalin injection and their nociceptive behaviours were recorded. After 2 h, the rats were sacrificed, and their spinal cords were removed to assess oxidative stress activity and morphology. Nociceptive behaviour was analysed using repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA), while the levels of oxidative stress parameters and number of Nissl-stained neurons were analysed using a one-way ANOVA. RESULTS: This study demonstrated that prenatal stress was associated with increased nociceptive behaviour, changes in the oxidative stress parameters and morphology of the spinal cord of offspring exposed to prenatal stress; administration of Tualang honey reduced the alteration of these parameters. CONCLUSION This study provides a preliminary understanding of the beneficial effects of Tualang honey against the changes in oxidative stress and neuronal damage in the spinal cord of the offspring of prenatally stressed rats.