Achieving smoking cessation is an arduous process, where smokers try different methods or approaches to achieve cessation. Quit smoking attempts play an important role in smoking cessation.Thus, this study was conducted to determine the factors associated with attempt-to-quit smoking among the currentsmokers in Sarawak.This cross-sectional study was conducted among adult smokers in Sarikei, Sarawak by face-to-face interview using an adapted and validated questionnaire. Non-probability sampling method was used to select the study place. An adult smoker was selected systematically from each selected household. A total of 482 smoker households were identified with a response rate of 92.3%. Data was analysed using IBM SPSS Version 22.0. A p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. The mean (SD) age of the smokers was 36.3(13.3) years. However, the mean (SD) age of smoking initiation was 18.5(4.8) years. Majority of the smokers were male (91.5%), with the male to female ratio being 1:0.1. Mean (SD) score on The Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence was 4.75(2.4), while motivation to quit smoking score was 3.04(1.0). Majority of the smokers (83.1%) hadever seen pictorial health warnings on cigarette packs. More than half of the smokers (54.8%) had ever tried to quit smoking. Binary logistic regression analysis revealed that marital status, religion, ethnicity, pictorial health warnings on cigarette packs and motivation to quit smoking appeared to be the significant predictors of attempt-to-quit smoking (p<0.05). Understanding the attempts to quit smoking will assist inclinical expectations. Thus, a smoking cessation programme should be designed in line with these factors, to aid quit smoking attempts.
Smoking ; Attempt-to-quit ; Addiction ; Motivation ; Pictorial Health Warning ; Sarawak

Pre-pregnancy Clinic (PPC) services is one the plausible efforts towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. However, various issues still need to be addressed for improvement of the services. Considering this view, an attempt was made to explore the barriers, strength and weakness of current practice of pre-pregnancy clinic services in Sarawak, since the programme has been implemented in this state from the year 2011. This cross-sectional study was conducted at nine selected health care facilities throughout Sarawak. A multistage sampling procedure was adapted to select the health care facilities. An unstructured open-ended questionnaire was administered to get the in-depth perceived views and current practice of pre-pregnancy clinic services. A total of 322 health care providers from nine selected health care facilities gave their feedback. In the present paper, a qualitative analysis was done for the open-ended questions to get in-depth views of barriers, strength and weakness of pre-pregnancy clinic services. The results of the study were narrated in textual form and a thematic analysis was done manually. The identified themes for perceived barriers to the provision of pre-pregnancy care were perception, attitude and acceptance of PPC services, socio-economic issues, services and client factors. The perceived weaknesses of the services are listed under two main themes: working environment and service factors, while, the strength of services produced three thematic areas which are preparation for pregnancy, prevention of mortality and morbidity and comprehensive services. Though pre-pregnancy services are beneficial for society wellbeing, various issues still need to be considered for the improvement of the quality of services. Lack of awareness, no ministerial guidelines or Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and knowledge pertaining to the services were few of the main areas which need to be pondered upon. Promotional activities and campaigns should be geared up ensuring availability the services to the general population.
Barriers ; Perception ; Pre-pregnancy Care ; Sarawak

Medication adherence is very important for the effective treatment or control of various health problems, including chronic disease like diabetes mellitus (DM). However, medication non-adherence among diabetic patients on follow-up treatment is still a global health problem. This study aimed to identify factors associated with medication adherence and to determine methods on how it could be improved. A cross-sectional study was conducted on medication adherence among Malays, Iban and Melanau ethnic groups in Kota Samarahan and Sarikei, Sarawak using the Health Belief Model framework. Interviews with questionnaires, which were tested for its validity and reliability using the Cronbach’s Alpha, were conducted to collect data on the respondent’s socio-demographic and economic characteristics, and health beliefs of 442 respondents. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 17.0 for frequency distribution, measures of central tendencies, significance testing and logistic regression. The medication adherence rates were low in terms of all the treatment indicators such as amount of medication (31.7%), frequency (38.9%), duration (26%), and follow-up treatment (24.2%). The respondent’s socio-economic and economic characteristics have statistically significant association with medication adherence. The respondents adhered towards medication because they believed in its benefits. They also took their medication because they believed in the severity of DM and their susceptibility to its serious complications. The cues to action (medication taking) such as worrying about their socio-economic well-being, effectiveness of medication, and health campaign on diabetic control have influenced medication adherence. However, forgetfulness, distance of clinic, and costs of transport have caused medication non-adherence. The respondent’s health beliefs in the benefits of taking medication, perceived severity and susceptibility to DM and its serious complications have contributed towards medication adherence. Their concerns about the socio-economic well-being, effectiveness of medication, and health campaign on diabetic control were positive cues to medication taking behavior. Therefore, modifying the respondent’s related health beliefs and reinforcing the positive cues to actions are the relevant intervention strategies that could be used in improving medication adherence among diabetic patients.
Diabetes Mellitus ; Medication Adherence ; Malaysia

Despite country’s tobacco control law, cigarette smoking by the young people and the magnitude of nicotine dependence among the school personnel is alarming. To determine the prevalence of smoking and to examine the determinants of smoking behaviour among the secondary school teachers in Bangladesh. A two-stage cluster sampling was used with a selection of schools on Probability Proportional to Enrolment (PPE) size followed by stratified random sampling of government and private schools and then all the teachers present on the day of the survey were selected for the study. The 66-item questionnaire included smoking behaviour, knowledge, attitude, second-hand smoking, tobacco free school policy, cessation, media advertisement and curriculum related topics. Seven additional questions were included to assess the socio-demographic characteristics of the teachers. Data analysis was performed using SPSS 17 software. A total of 60 schools were selected with school response rate of 98.3%. An anonymous self-administered questionnaire was filled in by all teachers present at the day of the survey. The sample consisted of 559 teachers with response rate of 99.5%. The prevalence of smoking was 17% (95% CI: 14%, 20.4). About half of the teachers (48.4%) smoke daily followed by 25.3% smoke 1-2 days in last 30 days. The mean duration smoking of was 13.7(95% CI: 11.6, 15.9) years. Logistic regression analysis revealed that male teachers smoke 37.46(95% CI: 5.078, 276.432) times higher than their female counterparts. The graduate teachers were 2.179(95% 1.209, 3.926) times more likely to be smoke than master’s degree holder teachers. Smoking by friends appeared to be the strongest predictor for teachers smoking behaviour (OR 4.789, 95% CI: 1.757, 13.050). However, no statistically significant association was found between type of school, second-hand smoking and curriculum related factors and smoking behaviour of the teachers (p>0.05). Prevalence of smoking among the teachers is high in Bangladesh. Effective smoking prevention program should take into account within the dominant of socio-environmental influence to reduce smoking behaviour. The school curriculum items had less impact in preventing smoking behaviour.
Smoking ; Behavior ; Faculty ; Bangladesh ; Prevalence

Since December 2019, a novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) creates a global threat. Medical students are more susceptible to be infected by the virus. This study aimed to assess COVID-19 related knowledge, attitude towards COVID-19, and preventive behaviours against COVID-19 among medical students within the first month of the onset of the outbreak in Malaysia. We collect data from medical students using an online Google survey form. Out of 696 students, 467 responded to the questionnaire. The analysis revealed that the mean percentage of knowledge was (85.04), attitude (84.12), and preventive practice (77.75) respectively. Hierarchical multiple linear regression analysis revealed that living with family (p<0.01) and knowledge of COVID-19 (p<0.001) appeared to be important predictors of attitude toward COVID-19. However, gender (p<0.001), living status (p<0.001), frequency of travel during movement control order (p<0.01), attitude towards COVID-19 (p<0.001) have appeared significant predictors for preventive practice against COVID-19. But knowledge of COVID-19 had no impact on preventive practice against COVID-19 (p>0.05). We found a high level of COVID-19 related knowledge, attitude, and preventive practice against COVID-19 among medical students. A sustained knowledge, attitude, and preventive behavioural strategy could play an ingredient in upholding the student’s learning and practice against any disease like COVID-19.

Menthol brand cigarette has been found to be linked with early initiation of smoking and addiction of nicotine. This study was designed to find out the factors associated with smoking menthol brand cigarettes among adult population in Sarawak. This was a cross-sectional study conducted among the adult population in Sarawak. Data were collected from ten villages in Kota Samarahan and Kuching Division by face to face interview using modified Global Adult Tobacco Survey questionnaire. Non-probability purposive sampling method was adopted to select the villages. All the households of the villages were visited, and an adult member was selected randomly from each household irrespective of sex. After missing value imputation, 1000 data sets were analysed using statistical software SPSS 19.0 version. Analysis showed that 28.8% of the respondents were current smokers, and 7.8% were past smokers. Among the smokers, 56.3% were habituated with menthol brand cigarette. Logistic regression analysis revealed that age at initiation of smoking before 15 years of age (OR=11. 68, 95% CI: 4.25, 32.10), smoking within five minutes of wake up from sleep (OR=3. 20, 95% CI: 1.35, 7.54), nature of job as business (OR=4. 81, 95% CI: 2.13, 10.86) and service holders (OR= 3.85, 95% CI: 2.07, 7.16) and family size 5 and above (OR=2. 22, 95% CI: 1.25, 3.94) appeared to be important determinants of smoking any menthol brand cigarette (p<0.05). Menthol is a prominent design feature to attract and retain younger smokers. It does not necessarily make the transition from experimenting with cigarettes, but to encourage early smokers to become a confirmed smoker. So, anti-tobacco public health programme should focus on age-specific community approach.
Smoking ; Tobacco Products ; Adult

Caring for stroke survivors is inevitably a burden to caregivers. It is not uncommon for stroke survivors who are discharged from the hospital and found themselves at home without any help and care from the supposed caregivers. However, in instances where there are available and willing caregivers, a sudden and unpredictable task of caring for stroke survivors require the stroke caregivers to apply their coping strategies due to the demanding nature of looking after a survivor. This study aimed to determine coping strategies undertaken by stroke caregivers in caring for stroke survivors. This was an exploratory qualitative study and data was collected from the caregivers of stroke survivor using a semi-structured guided questionnaire. A total of 18 caregivers were included in the study. The data were collected from November 2015 until June 2016 at a selected community rehabilitation centre in Kuching, Sarawak. The qualitative data analysis revealed that the coping strategies undertaken by stroke caregivers include change of role in life, self-motivation, sharing with other people, crying, trying to forget things that happen, hoping survivors will get better, emotion suppression and self-blame. The study highlighted the experiences by the caregivers for caring for stroke patients and focused on the coping strategies undertaken by the caregivers. Better ununderstanding of these experiences does help the service providers to provide better support and resources for caregivers in caring for stroke survivors.

The LIM domain-containing proteins are dominantly found in plants and play a significant role in various biological processes such as gene transcription as well as actin cytoskeletal organization. Nevertheless, genome-wide identification as well as functional analysis of the LIM gene family have not yet been reported in the economically important plant sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.). Therefore, we conducted an in silico identification and characterization of LIM genes in S. bicolor genome using integrated bioinformatics approaches. Based on phylogenetic tree analysis and conserved domain, we identified five LIM genes in S. bicolor (SbLIM) genome corresponding to Arabidopsis LIM (AtLIM) genes. The conserved domain, motif as well as gene structure analyses of the SbLIM gene family showed the similarity within the SbLIM and AtLIM members. The gene ontology (GO) enrichment study revealed that the candidate LIM genes are directly involved in cytoskeletal organization and various other important biological as well as molecular pathways. Some important families of regulating transcription factors such as ERF, MYB, WRKY, NAC, bZIP, C2H2, Dof, and G2-like were detected by analyzing their interaction network with identified SbLIM genes. The cis-acting regulatory elements related to predicted SbLIM genes were identified as responsive to light, hormones, stress, and other functions. The present study will provide valuable useful information about LIM genes in sorghum which would pave the way for the future study of functional pathways of candidate SbLIM genes as well as their regulatory factors in wet-lab experiments.

Molecular mechanisms governing peritonitis caused by the presence of aseptic gauze have remained unclear. To identify the genes involved, sterile gauze-exposed omentum was collected at 0, 6, 12, 24, and 48 h intervals, and analyzed by differential display RT(reverse transcription)-PCR. Among over 1,200 bands, 230 bands were found differentially expressed. These bands represented the fragment sizes of approximately 200 to 1,500 bp. The eight fragments were expressed differentially in the treatment group but not in the control. The sequences of two bands were similar to those of genes associated with the inflammatory process and a band was related to repair and regeneration process. Another one was related with spermatogonia and the rest four were unknown. Additionally, amplicons corresponding to the full-length sequences of two inflammatory gene fragments were synthesized by rapid amplification of cDNA end PCR. One showed 99% similarity to the major histocompatibility complex class II dog leukocyte antigen-DR beta chain and the other was canis familiaris proteasome beta type 3. Results of the present study suggested that sterile gauze induced the differential expression of genes in the omentum involved in inflammation and healing process.
Animals ; *Bandages ; Base Sequence ; DNA, Complementary/analysis ; Dogs/*genetics/metabolism ; Gene Expression Profiling/veterinary ; Gene Expression Regulation ; Histocompatibility Antigens Class II/*genetics/metabolism ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Omentum/*metabolism ; Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex/*genetics/metabolism ; RNA, Messenger/analysis ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction/veterinary ; *Wound Healing