This report describes an approach to recover SARS-CoV-2 RNA from rapid antigen test kit (RTK-antigen) cassettes for whole-genome sequencing (WGS). RNA samples were recovered from 33 RTK-antigen cassettes for WGS, with 18 samples achieving more than 80% genome coverage. This work provides a proof-of-concept that positive RTK-antigen cassettes can be safely transported, stored and subjected to WGS, enabling swift identification of circulating variants.

Introduction: Early identification of patients at risk for severe multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) is essential for favourable clinical outcomes. This study aims to identify the clinical characteristics, factors and outcomes associated with severe MIS-C. Materials and methods: In this retrospective cohort study involving 14 major hospitals in Malaysia, children <15 years who met the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention case definition for MIS-C were included. Severe MIS-C was defined as children who required inotropic support, ventilatory support (invasive or non-invasive ventilation), or left ventricular ejection fraction of <55%. The factors investigated for severe MIS-C were demographic characteristics, the presence of comorbidities, clinical characteristics, and laboratory measures. Multivariable logistic regression was used to compute the adjusted odds ratio (aORs) of factors associated with severe MIS-C. Results: Among the 155 patients, 91 (58.7%) presented with severe MIS-C. Severe MIS-C was more likely in patients aged ≥5 years old (aOR 2.13, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.08-4.21), with dehydration (aOR 3.80, 95% CI 1.53-9.45), lethargy (aOR 2.02, 95% CI 0.97-4.18), tachycardia (aOR 8.33, 95% CI 3.27-21.22), albumin <30g/L (aOR 3.36, 95% CI 1.58-7.13), creatine kinase >200U/L (aOR 3.68, 95% CI 1.57-8.64), D-dimer >3.0µg/mL (aOR 2.11, 95% CI 1.08-4.13), ferritin >500ng/mL (aOR 3.77, 95% CI 1.88-7.55), prothrombin time >12.7 seconds (aOR 3.22, 95% CI 1.61-6.43), and urea >6mmol/L (aOR 5.09, 95% CI 2.04-12.71). Conclusion: Identification of these associated factors of severity in MIS-C could aid in early recognition and prompt escalation of care, leading to better outcomes.

Introduction: Telepharmacy has emerged as a crucial strategy to mitigate the risk of Covid-19 transmission while ensuring access to pharmaceutical care during the pandemic. The assessment of public knowledge and perception is paramount in gauging their readiness to telepharmacy services. Regrettably, there remains a dearth of study concerning the Malaysian public's knowledge, perception, and readiness (KPR) regarding telepharmacy. This study aims to evaluate the KPR of the public in the utilization of telepharmacy and to determine the association between the demographic profile with the KPR of Malaysian public. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using the self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse the result by SPSS version 28. The associations between the demographic profile and KPR were analysed by the Kruskal-Wallis’s test. Results: A total of 391 respondents participated and 43.2% were familiar with telepharmacy. The public showed a positive perception and ready to utilize telepharmacy. A significant association was identified between sex and occupation with the knowledge regarding telepharmacy services, meanwhile there are no associations reported between the demographic profile with the perception and readiness. Conclusion: Public in Malaysia has high knowledge, positive perception and high readiness to utilize telepharmacy. Sex and occupation affected the knowledge of the Malaysian public towards telepharmacy. However, there is no significant association between publics’ demographic profiles to the perception and readiness towards the utilization of telepharmacy.

Introduction: Paediatric asthma, a prevalent chronic disease among children in Malaysia, can have its morbidity reduced through effective education. This study aims to assess the knowledge and perceptions of childhood asthma in the Malaysian general population. Materials and methods: A prospective study was conducted among visitors attending paediatric wards and clinics at the Institute of Paediatric Hospital Kuala Lumpur. Participants, who gave their consent, completed validated questionnaires in written form that evaluated their knowledge of asthma symptoms, triggering factors, medication, prevention, and myth perception. A higher score indicated a deeper understanding of asthma. Results: The study included 200 participants, predominantly female (88%), with a median age of 35.5 years. Among them, 12% were asthmatics, and 36% had a family member with asthma. The primary source of asthma information was electronic media (82%). The average score for knowledge of asthma symptoms, triggering factors, medication prevention and myth was 62.13% (SD 17.6). 62.88% (SD 16.3), 56.7% (SD 16.5), 82% (SD 15.1) and 57.8% (SD 15.4) respectively. Asthma myth perception and source of asthma information from family members were strongly related (p-value of 0.042). Conclusion: The general population exhibits an average understanding of asthma, comparable to findings from previous studies in other countries. This highlights the need for targeted educational interventions to dispel myths and enhance asthma knowledge.

Tobacco uses and obesity are major global public health concerns, with adolescence being a critical period for the onset of these risk factors. In Malaysia, rising trends in adolescent smoking and obesity necessitate further investigation. This study examined gender-specific associations between different types of tobacco use and body mass index (BMI) among school-going adolescents. Data were derived from the NHMS 2017, a nationwide cross-sectional survey using a two-stage stratified random sampling design (N=27,497). Complex sample logistic regression was employed to assess the odds of past 30-day tobacco use by BMI category (underweight/normal weight, overweight, obese) stratified by gender. Confounders, including age, ethnicity, physical activity, fast food consumption, and mental health, were controlled for in the analysis. Adolescents classified as obese had a significant association with tobacco use, but this was not observed in overweight individuals. Male smokers were significantly less likely to be obese, whereas female smokers had a higher likelihood of obesity (AOR = 1.59, 95% CI: 1.25–2.02). Specifically, female users of e-cigarettes (AOR = 1.86, 95% CI: 1.36–2.56), smokeless tobacco (AOR = 1.66, 95% CI: 1.14–2.43), and other tobacco products (AOR = 1.62, 95% CI: 1.05–2.52) exhibited a higher risk of obesity. No significant association was found among male smokers. Female adolescent smokers showed a greater likelihood of obesity, emphasizing the need for gender-specific interventions. To mitigate these risks, public health efforts should incorporate education, policy measures, and lifestyle promotion. Further research is warranted to explore underlying biological mechanisms

A series of comprehensive focus group discussions with active firefighters revealed that inconsistencies in incorporating a rigorous physical training program during work hours contributed significantly to the challenges of maintaining functional fitness, particularly strength. This article outlines a process for identifying the specific exercises required to enhance strength, drawing on the expertise and experience of physical trainers. Modified nominal group technique (mNGT) sessions were conducted to identify and rank exercises for five functional strengths (i.e., pushing, pulling, lifting, carrying, and dragging). A total of six physical trainers from the firefighter academy were interviewed to 1) identify the skeletal muscles involved in the functional movements using a visual aid; 2) generate ideas for exercises via brainstorming; 3) privately rank the displayed list of exercises for each muscle group involved in each functional movement; and 4) design a physical training programme for beginner, intermediate and advanced levels by manipulating loads. Males dominated the expert group (66.7%) and had a mean of 11.50 (SD 5.20) years of experience in physical training. The mNGTs yielded three top-ranking exercises for each functional strength: 1) Pushing: the push-up, sit-up, and jumping jack; 2) pulling: the push-up, jumping jack, and sit-up; 3) lifting: the jumping jack, push-up, and jumping squat; 4) carrying: the push-up, plank, and sit -up; and 5) dragging: the jumping jack, sit-up, and jumping squat. Then each exercise was designed for the beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels by manipulating loads (i.e. additional weight or number of repetitions). This study demonstrated that mNGT is an effective tool for identifying the three top-ranking exercises that address firefighter recruits’ functional strength. The experts chose multi-joint exercises targeting agonist and antagonist skeletal muscle groups and mimicking movements of daily work life. The exercises, corroborated by previous empirical evidence, provide opportunities for common skeletal muscle groupings to be targeted simultaneously to increase cardiovascular adaptations over a shorter period. The physical exercise is now ready to be implemented for piloting purposes among firefighter recruits.

Introduction: The industrial park in the district of Parit Raja, Batu Pahat resulted in rapid growth of the town during the last 20 years and has been a reason of concern that this park also has contributed greatly to the problem of air pollution. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between industrial air pollution and respiratory symptoms in adults living in the Parit Raja. Methods: A comparative cross-sectional study was undertaken among residents in the district of Parit Raja, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia. A total of 110 residents aged between 19 and 65 years were randomly selected and information on personal characteristics and respiratory symptoms was obtained through a validated questionnaire. The prevalence of respiratory symptoms was compared between residents recruited from the areas situated about 5km radius of the industrial park (exposed) and >5km radius from the industrial park (comparative). Results: A total of 34.5% and 25.5% of adults from the exposed group reported experiencing coughing for the last 3 months and chest tightness for the last 3 years. The logistic regression models showed that symptoms of coughing was associated with the exposed group (aOR=6.34, 95% CI=2.08-19.35), male respondents (aOR=3.18, 95% CI=1.10-9.16) and who stay in Part Raja for more than 14 years (aOR=3.16, 95% CI=1.14-8.79). Conclusion: This study demonstrated that long-term air pollution exposures are consistently associated with respiratory symptoms in residents living in the proximity of industrial parks. Therefore, public health initiatives that aim to provide more conducive environment are needed, especially for residents living near industrial parks.

Introduction: Malaysia's economic development increases the demand for immigrant workers to ensure health equality. To achieve Universal Health Coverage, issues related to immigrants need to be revisited Methods: A narrative review was conducted on specific scopes of health access barriers among immigrants from Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. Results: Immigrants face health inequalities due to complex immigration policies, cultural and social adaptation differences, language barriers, financial constraints, and low literacy awareness of healthcare systems. Conclusions This brief essay highlights challenges for immigrants adhering to Malaysia’s Health White Paper strategies in meeting Universal Health Coverage. Expanding these strategies is vital to uphold immigrants’ fundamental rights and ensure health equality among the minority group of the population.

Aims: Shelf-life estimation, determination and validation of frozen food are essential in hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) and can be done by adopting an accelerated shelf-life (ASL) study to reduce the time and cost of a long-lasting experiment. This study aims to determine the microbial shelf-life of frozen crispy chicken curry puffs (FCCCP). Methodology and results: An ASL study was performed at varying temperatures of -18 °C, -8 °C, 2 °C and 12 °C for 12 weeks. Samples were also maintained at -18 °C for 12 months for the shelf-life study. Along the studies, microbiological growth (total plate count, yeast and mould count, Salmonella), pH and moisture content were analysed periodically. Findings from the ASL study indicated that storage at 2 °C and 12 °C led to an increase in microbiological growth. Yeast and mold count (YMC) had the highest correlation and was used to estimate the shelf-life using the Arrhenius equation. The estimated shelf-life of FCCCP was 30.5 months at -18 °C, 6.86 months at -8 °C, 1.72 months at 2 °C and 0.47 months at 12 °C. The Q10 was 4.45, 3.99 and 3.62 at -18 °C to -8 °C, -8 °C to 2 °C and 2 °C to 12 °C, respectively. All samples were within the microbiological limit throughout the storage period in the actual shelf-life study. Salmonella was not detected in any of the studies. Conclusion, significance and impact of study These findings provide valuable data for frozen food small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to verify product shelf-life during HACCP application. It can serve as a reference in the shelf-life determination of frozen foods under inappropriate temperature conditions along the cold chain.

The increasing number of drug-resistant pathogens is a global issue and becoming worse because it has reduced the effectiveness of current antibiotics in the management of infectious diseases. Therefore, this situation highlights the urgency of an action plan to identify and develop novel and potent antimicrobials derived from natural resources. Therapeutic compounds from natural resources can offer novel, straightforward approaches against pathogenic bacteria with the least toxic manifestations and a low risk of acquiring resistance. Marine organisms and coastal plants receive much interest among researchers nowadays for developing new pharmaceuticals because they are rich in secondary metabolites that have various pharmacological effects, such as antibacterial, anti-cancer, antiviral, anti-inflammatory and others. This review's goal is to highlight the phytochemical components of marine organisms and coastal plants that might be accountable for their antibacterial properties that have been scientifically confirmed and can be potential aids in treating infectious diseases caused by multidrug resistant (MDR) bacteria in humans.