The increasing number of homeless children is concerning. This study aimed to assess the dietary intake, diet quality, and nutritional status of homeless children in Klang Valley, as well as the relationship between diet quality and nutritional status. Methods: Approximately 120 homeless children aged 7 to 12 years from four locations in Klang Valley were enrolled. Their dietary intake and nutritional status were assessed using a two-day 24-hour dietary recall and body mass index-for-age, respectively. The Healthy Eating Index (HEI) was used to examine diet quality. Results: Prevalence of normal weight respondents was 58.3% (mean±SD: -0.79±1.80), with 25.0% classified as moderately and severely thin. Mean energy intake was significantly lower than recommended nutrient intakes (RNI) (p<0.050), while protein intake was higher (p<0.050). Calcium and zinc intakes were also significantly lower (p<0.001). Boys aged 7-9 years had significantly higher iron intake (median=11.6, IQR=8.7 mg, p=0.003), whereas girls aged 10-12 years had significantly lower intakes of iron (mean±SD=11.4±5.1, 11.1±4.7) and vitamin A (median=416.6, IQR=450.4 µgRE, p<0.001 for both). Mean HEI score was 51.30±6.78, indicating a need for diet quality improvement. No significant association between diet quality and nutritional status was observed (p=0.380). Conclusion: This study provided insights into dietary intake, diet quality, and nutritional status of homeless children. Further research is vital to shape evidence-based nutrition interventions.

Aims: Leaf blight disease caused by Pantoea spp. reduces rice yields in numerous nations. However, the exact strategy to combat Pantoea spp. has yet to be determined. Bactronophorus thoracites is a promising source of natural antimicrobial agents due to their potential as a substrate to generate peptides with high antimicrobial activity. This study determined the effects of lactic acid fermentation using Lactobacillus casei ATCC334 as a starter culture on antimicrobial activity against rice pathogens, proximate composition, and amino acid profiles from B. thoracites crude extract. Methodology and results: Bactronophorus thoracites was washed and deshelled to collect the flesh and homogenised at 4 °C before freeze-drying. The freeze-dried samples were fermented with L. casei for 4 to 8 days at 37 °C. The antimicrobial activity, MIC and MBC were determined using a spectrometer. The fermented protein was subjected to proximate and amino acid analyses. The antimicrobial activity of fermented B. thoracites protein (FBTP) was significantly (p<0.05) decreased with the increased fermentation days (from 4 to 8 days). The antimicrobial activity was also increased when the glucose concentration increased from 2% to 3%. However, raising the glucose concentration to 4% decreased the antimicrobial activity. The antimicrobial activity was significantly (p<0.05) increased when the substratewater (S/W) ratio increased from 0.84% to 0.96%. The FBTP (4 days, 3% glucose concentration and 0.96% S/W ratio) showed high antimicrobial activity against Pantoea ananatis and P. stewartii. The MIC and MBC values for FBTP were 500 μg/mL and 250 μg/mL against P. ananatis and P. stewartii. The zones of inhibition value for FBTP were 16.0 ± 0.5 mm (1000 μg/mL) and 9.33 ± 0.57 mm (500 μg/mL) for P. ananatis, and 11.7 ± 0.61 mm (1000 μg/mL), 9.33 ± 0.58 mm (500 μg/mL) and 7.17 ± 0.77 mm (250 μg/mL) for P. stewartii. The proximate composition and amino acid profiles of the freeze-dried protein hydrolysate powder were characterised. FBTP produced a higher value of protein (61.56%) and ash (32.38%) and a lower value of total fat (0.273%) and carbohydrates (6.27%) than the B. thoracites crude extract. Total amino acid content was 39.480 g/100 g in B. thoracites crude extract and 155.442 g/100 g in FBTP. The essential amino acid glutamine was the most abundant in B. thoracites crude extract and methionine in FBTP. Conclusion, significance and impact of study This study showed that lactic acid fermentation could produce FBTP using L. casei with improved functional characteristics and as a source of a natural antimicrobial agent against rice pathogens.
Lactic Acid ; Anti-Infective Agents

Diabetic foot requires careful attention and coordinated management by a dedicated team. Screening, prevention, adequate assessment, and appropriate referral are crucial to prevent complications. Multimodal treatment and rehabilitation are recommended to ensure a better quality of life and reduction of amputation rate in people with diabetic foot.

Introduction: The McMaster Family Assessment Device (FAD) has been used to measure family functioning in several cultures. The FAD’s 12-item General Functioning Subscale (GF12) provides a general assessment of family functioning. This study aims to assess the cross-cultural adaptation of the FADGF12 scale in the Malaysian population. Methods: The translation and adaptation procedure of the Malay GF12 was based on the dual-panel methodology. This involved a bilingual panel (providing the initial translation into the Malay language) followed by a lay panel (where items are assessed for comprehension and acceptability). A mixed-methods approach with exploratory sequential study design was employed. This study used a mixed-methods approach, combining a quantitative survey of the Malay version of GF12 and a qualitative focus group analysis of dual-panel members. Results: Two hundred and fifty-one parents who have children attending Tadikas (pre-school) responded to the Malay GF12. In the reliability analysis, the internal consistency value was good; in the test-retest analysis, the intra-class correlation values were more than 0.7. In the exploratory factor analysis, two factors were extracted. In the confirmatory factor analysis, a single factor 12-item model did not fit well. Alternatively, a 2-factor-6-item model showed sufficient fit. The two constructs are comprised of Positive and Negative Items. Conclusion The Malay version of GF12 has adequate psychometric properties to measure family functioning in the Malay speaking population.
Factor Analysis, Statistical

Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease caused by bacteria of the genus Leptospira and most often acquired through contact with environments contaminated with leptospires shed in the urine of infected mammals. In urban environment, rodents are well-known as the main carriers of this bacteria, however there were no intensive study on the population structure of these animals, and how it associated with this disease. Hence, we use a case study from an outbreak in a residential area in Selangor, Malaysia, to investigate how community structure of small mammals, associated with the prevalence of Leptospira. One hundred cage traps were placed randomly in and around these houses in five phases with two months interval for a year. Community structures (species, sex, and age) were assigned for each individual, prior to screening for pathogenic Leptospira, using a partial lipL32 gene from the kidney samples. 185 small mammals from four species were captured, Rattus norvegicus (74.5%, N=138), R. rattus (20%, N=37), Tupaia glis (5%, N=9), and Suncus murinus (0.5%, N=1). From this number, 29 individuals were found PCR positive for pathogenic Leptospira (R. norvegicus, N=20; R. rattus, N=6; T. glis, N=2; S. murinus, N=1). The study shows that Leptospira occurrence in the small mammals were significantly correlated to age category and sampling phases, with Spearman Correlation (rs) p=0.02 and p=0.04 respectively. Adult individuals were significantly more prevalent with Leptospira infection, whereby March and June were found to associate with higher Leptospira prevalent among the small mammals, potentially coincide with low rainfall and relative humidity level. This information is important in designing a specific control method for rodents in Leptospira outbreak areas. In addition, intensive sampling and regular cleaning effort were found to significantly reduce the small mammal Leptospira reservoir, thus should be implemented in intervention strategies in the urban environment.

Dengue fever is one of major health problem around the world including Malaysia. It is caused by the arthropode-borne flavivirus and transmitted by the bite of the Aedes aegypti or Aedes albopictus mosquito infected with one of the four dengue virus serotypes (DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3, or DENV-4). In this study, a screening exercise of various Malaysian medicinal plants showed that the extracts of Lawsonia inermis, Dryobalanops aromatica, Punica granatum, Zizyphus jujuba Lam. and Zingiber zerumbet exhibited potent inhibitory activity against NS2B-NS3 serine protease. The methanol extracts of Dryobalanops aromatica showed inhibition of 99.70 % at concentration of 200 μg/mL with IC50 value of 0.30 ± 0.16 μg/mL.

The aim of this study was to investigate the antiviral property of Eurycoma longifolia Jack (EL) against dengue virus. A propriety standardized extract of Eurycoma longifolia Jack (Physta®) was tested for anti-viral activity after viral adsorption in Vero cell line. Viral yield was measured by qRT-PCR in four serotypes of dengue virus. The antiviral activity was further investigated in an in vivo AG129 mouse model for dengue inhibitory candidates. 100 mg/kg EL extract was fed twice daily and challenged with a lethal dose of (~1x105 PFU per mouse) of DENV-2 over a period of six days. Antiviral activity with IC50 of 33.84, 33.55, 58.35 and 119 μg/ml for DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3 and DENV-4 serotypes respectively was observed. The selectivity index (SI) values determined as the ratio of cytotoxic concentration (CC50) to inhibitory concentration (IC50) was the lowest for DENV-2 at 28.9. The dengue virus (DENV) replication measured by qRT-PCR showed a reduction of 100% for DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3 and 80% for DENV-4 at day 2 of exposure. In the in vivo AG129 mouse model, a lower weight reduction, 30% lower viral load and 12% higher platelet in the extract group compared to the control was observed at day 6. The extract of E. longifolia has potential anti-dengue properties with improving trends in platelet counts. E. longifolia supplementation is potentially a two-pronged approach in treating dengue fever.

Freeze drying is a dehydration method to dry bone under freezing environment, enabling removal of water with no or minimial effects on bone strength and durability. Larger size bones obviously require longer freeze drying time to reduce water content to the required level for long term storage at room temperature. For small size bone cubes or chips, it is a normal practice to pool cortical and cancellous bones for freeze drying. The study was aimed at determining if different type of bones of the same size influence the drying time. Human bone cubes of 10 mm x 10 mm x 10 mm were prepared from cortical bone of tibiae and cancellous bone from femoral heads. The bone cubes were freeze dried to reduce water content to less than 6%. Moisture content was monitored using gravimetric method.Weight and density of cortical bone were significantly higher than cancellous bone despite of having similar small size (p<0.05). Cortical bones (density 2.05 ± 0.35 g/cm3) with initial water content of 10.93% required 5 hours to freeze dry, while cancellous bone cubes (density 0.72 ± 0.44 g/cm3) with initial water content of 78.95% required only 1.87 hours. This study confirmed that the structure hence density of human bone cubes determine the freeze drying time. Therefore in the standard operating procedure for freeze drying of bone allograft cubes, high density cortical bone cubes and low density cancellous bone cubes must be freeze dried separately despite being of similar small size

Despite increasing use of bone graft in Malaysia, there was still lack of data to quantify knowledge level on bone banking among orthopaedic community who are involved in transplantation related work. Therefore, a survey on awareness in tissue banking specifically bone banking, usage and choice of bone grafts was conducted. From 80 respondents, 82.5% were aware about tissue banking however only 12.5% knew of the existence of tissue banks in Malaysia. Femoral head was the bone allograft most often used as a substitute to autograft. Only 34.8% respondents preferred irradiated bone grafts whilst 46.9% preferred nonirradiated, indicating the need to educate the importance of radiation for sterilising tissues. Exhibition was the most preferred medium for awareness programme to disseminate information about bone banking in the orthopaedic community. The professional awareness is necessary to increase the knowledge on the use of bone graft, hence to increase bone transplantation for musculoskeletal surgeries in the country.

Dengue virus infection has been posing alarming economic and social burden on affected nations. It is estimated that 50-100 million dengue infections occur annually with over 2.5 billion people at risk for endemic transmission. In the effort to develop effective antiviral agents, we previously reported potential antiviral activities from selected array of natural products and compounds against dengue virus serotype 2 (DV2). In this study, we report the synthesis of two efficacious novel compounds, YK51 and YK73, and their activities against DV2 replication. Both compounds were chemically synthesised from nicotinic acid using a modified method for the synthesis of dihydropyridine. The products were tested with cell-based assays against DV2 followed by a serine protease assay. As a result, both YK51 and YK73 exhibited intriguing antiviral properties with EC50 of 3.2 and 2.4 µM, respectively. In addition, YK51 and YK73 were found to attenuate the synthesis of intracellular viral RNA and protect the switching of non-classic mechanism of protein translation. These compounds demonstrated inhibitory properties toward the activity of DV2 serine protease in a dose dependent manner. These findings demonstrate that both YK51 and YK73 serve as DV2 serine protease inhibitors that abrogate viral RNA synthesis and translation. Further investigation on these compounds to corroborate its therapeutic properties towards dengue is warranted.