Health innovation in cardiovascular diseases

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Despite efforts to tackle CVD, its prevalence continues to escalate in almost every country. The problem requires an exploration of novel ways to uncover solutions. Health innovations that embrace new knowledge and technology possess the potential to revolutionize the management of CVD. Using findings from published studies on CVD, researchers generated innovations in the areas of global risk assessment, home and remote monitoring and bedside testing. The use of pharmacogenetics and methods to support lifestyle changes represent other potential topics for innovations. Gaps in existing knowledge and practice of CVD provide opportunities for the development of new ideas, practices and technology. However, healthcare professionals need to be cognisant of the limitations of health innovations and advocate for safeguarding patients’ wellbeing

Use of ChatGPT in medical research and scientific writing

ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence (AI) language model based on the GPT-3.5 architecture, is revolutionising scientific writing and medical research. Researchers employ ChatGPT for diverse tasks, including automated literature reviews, structured-outline generation and drafting/editing assistance. The tool adapts language for varied audiences, aids in citation management, supports collaborative writing and peer review and facilitates table/figure creation. While it enhances efficiency, concerns arise regarding ethics, bias, accuracy and originality. Transparent data sourcing and validation are crucial, as ChatGPT complements human efforts but does not replace critical thinking. Accordingly, researchers must uphold integrity, ensuring that AI-assisted content aligns with research principles. Acknowledgement of AI use in manuscripts, as recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, ensures accountability. ChatGPT’s transformative potential lies in harmonising its capabilities with researchers’ expertise, fostering a symbiotic relationship that advances scientific progress and ethical standards

Filem Islam sebagai produk ICT: Satu analisis tentang konsep dan sikap IPT di Malaysia

Genre filem boleh dikatakan sebagai medium terbaru yang boleh digunakan oleh umat Islam bagi tujuan menyebarkan idealism Islam secara efektif. Namun begitu, hal ini semacam kurang diberikan perhatian oleh kalangan sarjana Islam amnya dan warga institusi pendidikan Tinggi Islam khususnya. Sepatutnya, bersesuaian dengan nisbah agent of change yang dikaitkan dengan ulamak dan institusi pendidikan tinggi Islam, paradigma negatif seperti ini tidak harus berlaku, kerana kedua-duanya perlu mengamalkan sikap yang lebih proakktif di dalam menangani medium filem ini. Atas dasar ini, kajian ini yang lebih merupakan dapatan awal daripada kajian UMRG RG005/09HNE yang bertajuk Pembangunan Filem Islam di Malaysia, akan cuba mendedahkan sikap warga IPT Islam terpilih di Malaysia tentang konsep filem Islam semasa. Ianya dibahagikan kepada empat bahagian yang utama. Pertama, pengenalan tentang teori pilihan yang berkaitan dengan fokus kajian: konsep filem moden dan kedudukan paradigma pemikiran Islam semasa. Kedua, metodologi kajian yang pilih. Ketiga, Institusi Pendidikan Tinggi di Malaysia dan pengajian perfileman. Keempat, analisis terhadap sikap warga IPT Islam terhadap konsep filem Islam. Kelima, rumusan dan kesimpulan

Film Sebagai Pemankin Pembangunan Peradaban Melayu-Islam Modern

This article discusses on the genre of Islamic film as a visual creative innovation that had played a significant role in the society. Film can be regarded as a effective platform in distributing an Islamic idealism propose by the Malaysian and Indonesian’s film director. Obviously the inclusion of Islamic point of view for the development of Malay-Muslim civilization can be done through the medium of film. Based on such background setting, the article had touched on several issues pertaining to the issues of contemporary Islamic problem and collective role needed to be played by both of Islamic scholar and film director. It is suggested that a mutual understanding between ulamak and film director will contributed toward the betterment of Islamic ummah at the modern time

Health literacy research in Malaysia: a systematic review

Introduction: Health literacy has emerged as an important determinant of health and a key component of self-care and patient centered medicine. In Malaysia, the recent National Health Morbidity Survey found that the adult l health literacy level was worryingly low. Local research in health literacy is urgently needed. The aim of this systematic review is to identify and synthesize research publications on health literacy carried out in Malaysia. Methods: The search was conducted up to February 2017 using the MEDLINE, Scopus and Malaysian Medical Repository databases. The free text search terms used were “health literacy” (all fields) and Malaysia (all fields). Inclusion criteria were that the study population was Malaysian and the study reported on health literacy. There was no restriction on study designs in order to maximize the scope of the review. Two reviewers independently selected the articles based on the titles and abstracts, followed by full-text screening. Study quality was not assessed. The following data were extracted from the full-text articles independently by two reviewers: year of publication, name of authors, geographical location, research focus, and key findings. Any disagreement was resolved by consensus. Results: In total, 10 articles were eligible for inclusion in the review with the earliest article published in 1985. Six were on general health literacy, two on medication literacy and two on mental health. Most were quantitative studies (n=9) with only one qualitative study eligible for inclusion. The number of studies increased over time with most studies being published in 2016 (n=3). Validated health literacy tools, such as the Newest Vital Signs (NVS) and HLS-EU-Q47 were used in studies published after 2015. Three studies used NVS to measure health literacy levels and the prevalence of limited health literacy levels ranged from 79.4 to 94.2%. HLS-EU-Q47 was used in two studies: a validation study of its’ Malay version and as an outcome measure in a study protocol. The majority of the studies (n=7) were conducted in central urban regions namely Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan. The qualitative study explored the mental illness literacy among caregivers and found care givers have some understanding on mental illness and consider doctors as the primary source of health information. Conclusions: Even though the first paper was published nearly 32 years ago, much work remains to be done for health literacy research in Malaysia. The use of locally validated tools for the assessment of health literacy is recommended for future research

Psychological health and wellbeing of primary healthcare workers during COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia:a longitudinal qualitative study

BACKGROUND: Primary healthcare workers (PHCWs) are at the frontline of dealing with viral pandemics. They may experience significant psychological stresses, which have hitherto not been examined in depth. We aimed to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the psychological health and wellbeing of frontline PHCWs in Malaysia. METHOD: We purposively recruited PHCWs with diverse backgrounds in Klang Valley, Malaysia. Using longitudinal qualitative methods, we conducted two sequential semi-structured telephone interviews, 3 to 4 weeks apart, to capture different stages of the pandemic. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed thematically. RESULT: Twenty-one PHCWs participated yielding a total of forty-two interviews. Themes clustered around stressors associated with work, home, and leisure activities, emotional changes, and modifying factors. In the first interviews, COVID-19 had just started in Malaysia. Participants expressed fear about the actual and perceived personal risk of COVID-19 infection. Most were worried about transmitting COVID-19 to their family members. Some felt stigmatized because of this perceived risk of infection. By the second interviews, participants felt safer, but instead focused on the need to keep other people safe. Participants’ emotions were influenced by their perceived risk of contracting COVID-19 infection. Internal factors such as religion enabled them to manage their concerns and develop personal coping strategies. Support from family members, colleagues, and employers promoted wellbeing during the pandemic. Training sessions, daily roll calls, and psychological support services were important in maintaining their psychological health and wellbeing. Many participants were hopeful and believed normalcy would return by the end of 2020. CONCLUSION: PHCW’s psychological health and wellbeing evolved throughout the early stages of the pandemic and were influenced by their perceived risk of contracting the disease and personal belief structures. Clear updates on the disease and strategies for keeping safe at work and socially are essential to maintaining PHCWs’ psychological health and wellbeing. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12875-022-01870-0

Health literacy research in Malaysia: a scoping review

Research on health literacy is expanding worldwide. Health literacy has been recognised as a critical determinant of health at the 2016 Shanghai Declaration. Little is known about health literacy research in Malaysia. This scoping review aims to identify and summarise published studies on health literacy in Malaysia. PubMed, Scopus and the Malaysian Medical Repository (MyMedR) databases were searched for published work by Malaysian researchers. Searches were conducted up to November 2019. The search terms used are related to ‘health literacy’ and ‘Malaysia’. Studies included were those involving Malaysian citizens and reporting on various aspects of health literacy. Studies were reviewed by two independent reviewers to determine their eligibility. Data extraction for the year of publication, name of authors, geographical location, research focus, and summary of findings from the full-text articles was carried out independently and any disagreement was resolved by consensus. A total of 29 articles were included with the earliest article published in 1985. Fifteen of the articles are on general health literacy, four on medication literacy, five on mental health literacy, three on media and e-health literacy and four on oral health literacy. Four articles are qualitative studies and the rest are quantitative studies. A few of the studies used validated health literacy tools such as Newest Vital Signs and HLS-EU-Q47. Therefore, we can conclude that there are only a limited number of articles published in the field of health literacy in Malaysia. Future work using validated international tools to allow comparison of the findings should be considered

Health literacy research in Malaysia: a scoping review

Research on health literacy is expanding worldwide. Health literacy has been recognised as a critical determinant of health at the 2016 Shanghai Declaration. Little is known about health literacy research in Malaysia. This scoping review aims to identify and summarise published studies on health literacy in Malaysia. PubMed, Scopus and the Malaysian Medical Repository (MyMedR) databases were searched for published work by Malaysian researchers. Searches were conducted up to November 2019. The search terms used are related to ‘health literacy’ and ‘Malaysia’. Studies included were those involving Malaysian citizens and reporting on various aspects of health literacy. Studies were reviewed by two independent reviewers to determine their eligibility. Data extraction for the year of publication, name of authors, geographical location, research focus, and summary of findings from the full-text articles was carried out independently and any disagreement was resolved by consensus. A total of 29 articles were included with the earliest article published in 1985. Fifteen of the articles are on general health literacy, four on medication literacy, five on mental health literacy, three on media and e-health literacy and four on oral health literacy. Four articles are qualitative studies and the rest are quantitative studies. A few of the studies used validated health literacy tools such as Newest Vital Signs and HLS-EU-Q47. Therefore, we can conclude that there are only a limited number of articles published in the field of health literacy in Malaysia. Future work using validated international tools to allow comparison of the findings should be considered

Mapping national information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure to the requirements of potential digital health interventions in low- and middle-income countries

Background Digital health can support health care in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) by overcoming problems of distance, poor infrastructure and the need to provide community practitioners with specialist support. We used five RESPIRE countries as exemplars (Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan) to identify the digital health solutions that are valuable in their local setting, worked together with local clinicians and researchers to explore digital health policy, electricity/ICT infrastructure, and socio-cultural factors influencing users’ ability to access, adopt and utilise digital health. Methods We adopted the Joanna Briggs Institute’s scoping review protocol and followed the Cochrane Rapid Review method to accelerate the review process, using the Implementation and Operation of Mobile Health projects framework and The Extended Technology Acceptance Model of Mobile Telephony to categorise the results. We conducted the review in four stages: (1) establishing value, (2) identifying digital health policy, (3) searching for evidence of infrastructure, design, and end-user adoption, (4) local input to interpret relevance and adoption factors. We used open-source national/international statistics such as the World Health Organization, International Telecommunication Union, Groupe Speciale Mobile, and local news/articles/government statistics to scope the current status, and systematically searched five databases for locally relevant exemplars. Results We found 118 studies (2015-2021) and 114 supplementary online news articles and national statistics. Digital health policy was available in all countries, but scarce skilled labour, lack of legislation/interoperability support, and interrupted electricity and internet services were limitations. Older patients, women and those living in rural areas were least likely to have access to ICT infrastructure. Renewable energy has potential in enabling digital health care. Low usage mobile data and voice service packages are relatively affordable options for mHealth in the five countries. Conclusions Effective implementation of digital health technologies requires a supportive policy, stable electricity infrastructures, affordable mobile internet service, and good understanding of the socio-economic context in order to tailor the intervention such that it functional, accessible, feasible, user-friendly and trusted by the target users. We suggest a checklist of contextual factors that developers of digital health initiatives in LMICs should consider at an early stage in the development process