Introduction: Poor sleep quality is frequently related to poor mental health and is a common medical disorder. It may differ by population, but limited studies have been done in Malaysia. This study was conducted to measure the prevalence of poor sleep quality among academic staff at Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) Kampar Campus. Methods: In total, 344 randomly selected academic staff were approached to answer the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) questionnaire. Results: Unexpectedly, 42.7 % of them were affected by poor sleep quality (global PSQI score >5). The average actual sleep duration was recorded at 6.68 hours. Age and global PSQI scores were not significantly correlated. Female staff had poorer subjective sleep quality (P= 0.027). The elder age group (P= 0.012) and associate professors and professors (P= 0.006) consumed more sleep medications. Non-Ph.D. holders had poorer subjective sleep quality (P= 0.008) and sleep latency (P= 0.032) as well as global PSQI score (P= 0.045) compared to Ph.D. holders. Conclusion: Prevalence of poor sleep quality was higher than expected among academic staff. This may affect workplace functioning and burden the staff with more health issues related to poor sleep quality.

Sleep disorder is common among the general population. A nutritional supplement containing alpha-s1-casein tryptic hydrolysate and L-theanine was evaluated for its effects in improving sleep quality. The study was conducted using a double-blind randomized trial. Intervention group received once-daily capsules of 150 mg alpha s1 casein tryptic hydrolysate and 50 mg L-theanine, and the control group were given placebo (150 mg skimmed milk powder) for four weeks. The outcome measurements were assessed on weekly basis using PSQI, DASS-21, clinical and biochemical parameters. ANOVA test were used to assess within group differences and ANCOVA were used to check for differences between groups. Significantly lower (better) sleep latency score, sleep disturbances score and daytime dysfunction score were demonstrated on week-4 in intervention group compared to placebo group. Profound differences were observed between the two groups for anxiety and stress scores from week-3 onwards, in which lower anxiety and stress scores were observed in intervention group compared to placebo group. In addition, significantly lower depression score in intervention group compared to placebo group on week-4 was observed. Intervention supplement has demonstrated potent effects in relieving anxiety, stress, depression and sleep quality

Accurate measurement of physical activity depends on the validity and reliability of measurement instruments. The objective of the present study was to compare the assessed moderate-to-vigorous intensity component of physical activity as measured by an accelerometer and by the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. From the target population of Malaysian government employees, 225 participants (mean age= 34.84±8.41 years; 71.1% women) wore an accelerometer on two consecutive weekdays and one weekend day and completed the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). Three assessments were conducted at four- and six-month intervals to compare total time spent in moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) as measured by accelerometer and by the IPAQ. The criterion validity of the IPAQ was evaluated by Bland-Altman analysis and Pearson’s correlation coefficients, and specificity and sensitivity were calculated. Higher MVPA times were reported on the IPAQ (p<0.001) as compared to the accelerometer, while strong to very strong correlations (ranging from -0.784 to -0.981) were observed between the two instruments. The IPAQ showed good specificity incorrectly classifying adequately active individuals, but its sensitivity to identifying inadequately active people was low. The IPAQ overestimated MVPA among Malaysian government employees and demonstrated modest evidence of criterion validity. Further evaluation of self-report physical activity instruments such as the IPAQ in other Malaysian populations could help to ensure more accurate assessment of physical activity data in the country.

Background: Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) can be transmitted through blood, vaginal secretion, infected semen, breast milk as well as blood containing saliva, vomitus and urine. Health care workers (HCWs) are at risk of HIV infection; and standard precautions is a guideline to be followed by HCWs to prevent it. Objective: This study was aimed to evaluate the level of knowledge, attitude and practice on standard precautions for prevention of HIV infection; and its associated factors. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 200 clinical year medical students from a public university in Malaysia. The clinical year medical students were arranged into strata according to year of study and were randomly selected via stratified random sampling. Each respondent were provided a selfadministered questionnaire. There were four sections in the questionnaire to obtain information on socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge, attitude and practice on standard precautions. Both descriptive and analytical analyses such as Chi-squared test were performed. Results: A total of 162 respondents participated in this study, contributed to the response rate of 81%. The study demonstrated that there was no significant association between level of practice with socio-demographic characteristics such as gender, ethnicity, age, religion, year of study and total family income. However, there was a significant association between level of practice with level of knowledge and attitude (p<0.05). For every one year increase in age, the respondents were 1.7 times (p=0.001) and 1.5 times (p=0.012) more likely to have knowledge score between 50th and 75th percentile and above 75th percentile compared to below 50th percentile, respectively. Conclusion: It could be interpreted from the findings, that there is a need for further improvement in the knowledge and attitude level among the respondents; which will eventually improve their practice.