Tv commercials and choice of food among children in Sabah, Malaysia

This study examines the relationships between television (TV) advertising and patterns of food choice among children. This relationship is crucial in understanding the intricate interplay among several interrelated variables such as TV viewing, preference for certain foods and the problem of obesity. Specifically, the study investigates the degree of recognition of adverts and patterns of food choice among lean, overweight and obese children. This study uses an experimental test, but the assessment of the effects of advertisements was undertaken through questionnaires. There were 50 participants involved in the experiment. The outcomes of the study indicate that TV advertisements make a substantial contribution to what food a child chooses. Although there were some variations in terms of responses between age groups and gender, generally, children seemed likely to choose fast foods after treatment. Further analyses were performed which revealed that media, particularly TV advertising, appear to contribute significantly in terms of influencing children to choose fast food, followed by taste. The study also seems to suggest that there is a strong correlation between the weight of a child and food choice. In short, children who were inclined to choose fast foods tended to be overweight or obese

Accurate and rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing using a machine learning-assisted nanomotion technology platform.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major public health threat, reducing treatment options for infected patients. AMR is promoted by a lack of access to rapid antibiotic susceptibility tests (ASTs). Accelerated ASTs can identify effective antibiotics for treatment in a timely and informed manner. We describe a rapid growth-independent phenotypic AST that uses a nanomotion technology platform to measure bacterial vibrations. Machine learning techniques are applied to analyze a large dataset encompassing 2762 individual nanomotion recordings from 1180 spiked positive blood culture samples covering 364 Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates exposed to cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones. The training performances of the different classification models achieve between 90.5 and 100% accuracy. Independent testing of the AST on 223 strains, including in clinical setting, correctly predict susceptibility and resistance with accuracies between 89.5% and 98.9%. The study shows the potential of this nanomotion platform for future bacterial phenotype delineation

Kebangkitan Semula Fahaman Politik Berbilang Kaum melalui Slogan ‘Sabah For Sabahan' di Sabah

Artikel ini membentangkan perbincangan tentang kebangkitan semula fahaman politik berbilang kaum di Sabah melalui slogan ‘Sabah for Sabahan'. Adalah didapati bahawa selepas beberapa dekad berhadapan dengan isu perkauman, Sabah semakin memahami hakikat bahawa mempolitikkan perbezaan etnik hanya akan membawa kepada kehancuran. Keadaan ini didapati sebagai kesan kepada penggunaan slogan "Sabah for Sabahan". Oleh itu, slogan tersebut wajar dianggap sebagai salah satu faktor penting dalam proses perkembangan atau juga kebangkitan semula ideologi politik berbilang etnik di Sabah. Dalam erti kata yang lain, artikel ini telah menunjukkan bahawa Perubahan ciri politik dalam masyarakat yang dicirikan oleh kepelbagaian boleh dilakukan melalui penciptaan dan penggunaan meluas slogan politik khusus yang sangat signifikan dengan kehendak serta keperluan semasa penduduk dalam sesebuah unit pentadbiran seperti kampung, bandar dan negara