Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) have impairments in gross and fine motor skills consequently limit their participation in school activities. The aim of this study was firstly to evaluate motor coordination performance of children with DCD in manual dexterity, hand-eye coordination and balance skills, and secondly, to compare the motor coordination performance between children with DCD and age-matched children without DCD. A total of 47 children with DCD (32 boys, 15 girls) and 16 children without DCD (15 boys, 1 girl) aged between 7 to 10 years old participated in this study. They were recruited from integrative special education classes from six selected primary schools within Klang Valley. The Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 (MABC-2) evaluated their motor coordination performance. Group differences on the MABC-2 subtest scores and total test score were analysed using independent t-test. Cohen’s d was calculated to obtain the effect size of clinical differences. Children with DCD showed significantly lower score in manual dexterity (p=0.001), aiming and catching (p=0.001), balance test (p=0.001) and total test score (p=0.001) compared to the children without DCD. Effect sizes on manual dexterity (d=0.52), balance (d=0.68), and total test score (d=0.73) indicated moderate clinical differences between the two groups. In conclusion, children with DCD showed deficits in both gross and fine motor skills performance based on the MABC-2 subtests and total test score, in comparison with children without DCD. School-based rehabilitation to improve gross and fine motor problems among the children is warranted.
Developmental Coordination Disorder ; manual dexterity ; aiming and catching ; balance

Introduction: bacteremia continues to be one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality despite the existence of numerous antimicrobial agents. this study aimed to provide a Malaysian perspective on paediatric community-acquired bacteraemia based on the documentation of epidemiology and antimicrobial profile of the isolated pathogens. Method: A retrospective study was conducted by analysing clinical details, blood cultures and antimicrobial susceptibility testing results in children between the ages of 0 to 13 years old, who were admitted to selayang Hospital over an 11-year period from 2001 until 2011. there were 222 bacteraemia cases and the median age was 11.7 months. the highest number (39%) of bacteraemia cases occurred between ages one month to one year. the three most commonly isolated aetiological agents were Staphylococcus aureus (17.1%), nontyphoidal Salmonella (16.2%), and Streptococcus pneumoniae (12.6%). Almost 8% of the Staphylococcus aureus isolates were methicillin resistant, while nontyphoidal Salmonella (Nts) isolates demonstrated 18.4%, 10.5% and 2.6% resistance towards ampicillin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and ciprofloxacin respectively. All Nts isolates were sensitive to ceftriaxone. Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates showed 17.9% resistance to penicillin. skin and soft tissue infections as well as lower respiratory tract infections (63.2%) were the main foci of infections in Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia. Acute gastroenteritis (80.0%) and pneumonia (60.8%) were the main presentations of Nts and Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteraemia respectively. Overall mortality rate was 8.1%. Conclusion: Knowledge on the local epidemiology and antibiotic resistance pattern serves as a significant platform in improving the empiric antibiotic therapy for patients with community acquired bacteraemia.
Anti-Infective Agents ; Bacteremia

Background: No previous study has assessed the impact of childhood disability on parents and family in the context of Malaysia, and no instrument to measure this impact has previously been available. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to determine the reliability of a Malay version of the PedsQL™ Family Impact Module that measures the impact of children with disabilities (CWD) on their parents and family in a Malaysian context. Methods: The study was conducted in 2009. The questionnaire was translated forward and backward before it was administered to 44 caregivers of CWD to determine the internal consistency reliability. The test for Cronbach’s alpha was performed. Results: The internal consistency reliability was good. The Cronbach’s alpha for all domains was above 0.7, ranging from 0.73 to 0.895. Conclusion: The Malay version of the PedsQL™ Family Impact Module showed evidence of good internal consistency reliability. However, future studies with a larger sample size are necessary before the module can be recommended as a tool to measure the impact of disability on Malay-speaking Malaysian families.

SUMMARY Introduction: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a common bacterial infection affecting children and therefore, prompt recognition and accurate antimicrobial management are vital to prevent kidney damage. This study aims to determine the bacterial pathogens and their patterns of antimicrobial resistance in children presenting with UTI. Methods: A retrospective study of 721 cases, involving children between the ages of 1-day old to 13 years old with culture-proven UTI in Selayang Hospital, Malaysia between January 2007 and December 2011. The bacterial pathogens and antibiotic resistance patterns in the total population, prophylaxis and no prophylaxis groups were studied. Results: The 3 most common organisms isolated in the total population were E.Coli (41.6%), Klebsiella spp. (21.2%) and Enterococcus spp. (11.0%). With regards to the antibiotic resistance, E.Coli resistance rates to ampicillin, cefuroxime and gentamicin were 67.7%, 15.3% and 7.3% respectively. Ampicillin-resistance was also highest in Klebsiella spp. (84.3%), Enterococcus spp. (15.5%) and Proteus spp. (55.5%). Conclusion: E.coli remains to be the leading bacterial pathogen causing UTI in children, with ampicillin-resistance occurring in more than half of these cases. Therefore, accurate choice of antibiotics is important to ensure optimal outcome. In our study, cefuroxime and gentamicin have lower antibiotic resistance rates and can be used in the treatment of UTI in children.
Urinary Tract Infections

Introduction: The Asthma Knowledge Questionnaire developed by C. Rodriguez Martinez in 2005 was proved to be a valid instrument for asthma knowledge assessment for parents of children with asthma. 17 items were included in the questionnaire including their myths and beliefs, knowledge, and associated aspects. The objective of this study is to analyse the validity and reliability of the Malay version of the questionnaire. Methods: Forward-Backward translation method was used by language experts to obtain the Malay version of the questionnaire. The questionnaire was then given to twenty respondents at the Paediatric Institute Hospital Kuala Lumpur to ensure the clarity and relevance of the questionnaire as a pilot study. Subsequently, 60 respondents who fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria were selected to proceed with the reliability test of the Malay version questionnaire. The results were analysed with SPSS version 26.0. The reliability and internal consistency were confirmed by intra-class correlation and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Results: There were 60 respondents to the questionnaire consisting of parents and caretaker who has child with asthma at the Institute of Paediatric Hospital Kuala Lumpur. The mean age of respondents was 34 ± 7.5year old. 91.7% of the respondents were female. The overall Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of the questionnaire was 0.84. Conclusion: The Malay version of the Asthma Knowledge Questionnaire has a good degree of validity, reliability and is culturally acceptable equivalent to the original version.