Diabetes quality of life among elderly diabetic patients and its association

Elderly diabetic patients are increasing worldwide due to improvement in healthcare services provided by most countries. Diabetes comes with morbidities and complications in which the quality of life of geriatric patients should be measured, and the associated factors should be determined. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 269 elderly diabetic patients from all government health clinics of Kuantan. Their ociodemographic data were recorded, and quality of life was measured using validated Diabetes Quality of Life Instrument. Mann Whitney U test and Krus�kal Wallis tests were used to identify the issociation between domains of quality of life and variables. The predictors were identified via logistic regression analysis. The majority of patients were female (61%), had a primary level of education (52%), and financial income falls within B40 groups (97.4%). The majority of the clinics were located in rural (61.3%), without the presence of Family Medicine Specialist (77.7%) and managed mainly by medical officers and diabetic educators only (55.8%). Most patients had uncontrolled diabetes (71.7%), uncontrolled blood pressure readings (63.2%) and lipid levels (74.2%). Clinic location, diabetes control status and geriatric age were statistically significant for predicting patients’ diabetes quality of life. This study proved that geriatric patients had a better quality of life by lowering the HbA1c target despite the misconception of the high likelihood of complications among the el�derly. Social support and financial status of patients determined the quality of life in the elderly that should be incor�porated as assessment parameters of each geriatric visit. Each clinic had its unique management strategy. Those led by family medicine specialists and other major supporting staff usually present in central city provided the best qual�ity of life for patients. Therefore, more primary care physician and local management strategy should be produced

Forest fire management practices in Peninsular Malaysia

A study on fire management practices in plantation was conducted in forest plantation areas and in selected rubber plantations. The objectives of this study were to examine and compare fire management practices in selected forest and rubber plantations and to look into problems related to fire management of these areas. The methods used were survey questionnaire and interview with relevant authorities. The questionnaire mainly touch on general information of plantations past incidences of fires, fire prevention measures and practices, cost and equipments in fire management, fire fighting capability and problems faced by the forest plantation. The results describe the current state of forest fire management practices in Peninsular Malaysia. Of these, two aspects of management were shown to need the most improvement i.e training and equipments

Kualiti guru sekolah rendah yang dibimbing oleh "pegawai pembimbing pakar pembangunan sekolah" (school improvement specialist coaches - SISC+): perbezaan antara tiga jenis sekolah

Guru merupakan penggerak utama sistem pendidikan di seluruh dunia ekoran daripada arus globalisasi dan ledakan teknologi maklumat yang banyak mengubah cara manusia belajar. Sehubungan itu, kajian tinjauan deskriptif ini dijalankan untuk mengenal pasti tahap kualiti guru yang dibimbing oleh “Pegawai Pembimbing Pakar Pembangunan Sekolah” (SISC+) terhadap skop pengajaran dan pembelajaran mata pelajaran di tiga jenis sekolah rendah. Hal ini bertepatan dengan peranan dan fungsi jawatan SISC+ di bawah inisiatif sub NKRA GTP 1.0 Pelan Pembangunan Pendidikan Malaysia (PPPM) 2013-2025. Para pegawai ini ditugaskan untuk membimbing guru-guru di sekolah yang berada dalam Band 5, 6 dan 7. Kajian ini menggunakan 70 item soal selidik dengan tujuh aspek sebagai instrumen yang disesuaikan daripada Model Standard Guru Malaysia, Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia (2010). Responden kajian ini adalah 100 guru yang dibimbing oleh pegawai SISC+ di zon tengah (Selangor, Perak, WP Kuala Lumpur). Analisis data statistik dilaksanakan dengan menggunakan perisian SPSS 21 untuk menjelaskan frekuansi berdasarkan peratus, sisihan piawai dan min tahap kualiti guru dari segi kualiti mengajar . Dapatan kajian secara keseluruhan menunjukkan tahap kualiti guru berada pada tahap tinggi iaitu min skor ialah 4.14 dan sisihan piawai 0.30. Tahap semua tujuh aspek kualiti guru adalah tinggi iaitu antara min skor 3.96 hingga 4.26. Aspek pengetahuan dan kefahaman berada pada tahap tinggi (M-4.20, SP-0.42). Seterusnya tahap kualiti guru berdasarkan tiga jenis sekolah, SJKT mencatatkan tahap paling tinggi (M-4.28, SP-0.28) berbanding SK (M-4.09, SP-0.25) dan SJKC (M-4,09, SP-0.33). Secara umumnya semua aspek tahap kualiti guru di SJKT mencatatkan min skor minimum 4.17 berbanding SJKC min skor 3.91 dan SK min skor 3.88. Manakala ujian Anova menunjukkan terdapat perbezaan secara signifikan dalam kualiti guru mengikut jenis sekolah iaitu F(2, 97) = 4.30, p <0.05. Ujian POS HOC, Turkey HSD antara sekolah tersebut menunjukkan terdapat perbezaan signifikan diantara skor min SJKT (M = 4.28, SP = 0.28) dan skor min SK (M = 4.09, SP = 0.25) serta skor min SJKC (M = 4.09, SP = 0.33). Walau bagaimanapun tidak terdapat perbezaan signifikan di antara skor min SK (M = 4.09, SP = 0.25) dan SJKC (M = 4.09, SP = 0.33). Ini menunjukkan Pegawai SISC+ yang ditempatkan di PPD membimbing guru dengan berkesan dalam pembentukan kualiti PdP

A joint vessel for school effectiveness: school culture and climate

School culture and climate are two important elements in school management in improving school effectiveness. Both elements need parallel attention to ensure educational success. This study was conducted to examine the relationship and factors influencing effectiveness between School culture and climate at primary national schools (SK). The findings revealed, the correlation between School culture and climate dimensions. Three hundred fifty-three (353) teachers from 84 primary (SK) in Peninsular Malaysia participated in this study. Data were collected using the School Culture Survey (Gruenert, 1998, School Climate Instrument (Ross & Lowther, 2003) School Effectiveness Instrument (Lezotte dan Snyder, 2011). The analysis showed a significant correlation between School culture (M=4.15, SD=0.381) and School climate (M=4.13, SD = 0.310), r=.744, p=<0.01 in SK. The results of the Stepwise Multiple Regression analysis show that the School culture Regression Model P4 (Collaborative Leadership, Unity of Purpose, Learning Partnership and Teacher's Collaboration) contributed for 47.0% (R2=.470) changes in variance in School Effectiveness [F(4,348)=77.080, p<0.5]. The School climate regression model (Leadership, Instruction, Expectations and Environment) contributed 54.8% (R2=.548) of the variance in school effectiveness [F(4,348)=105.530, p<0.5]. The overall results of multiple regression analysis showed that the school culture Influence (β = .399, p<.05) compare than the school climate (β = .367, p<.05) with both combination significantly contributed 52.5% (R2= .525) of the variance change [F(2,350)=193.511, p<0.5]. In summary, finding showed a positive significant correlation between School culture and climate dimensions with p=<0.01, n=353. This model contributes to predicting the impact of school culture and climate on school effectiveness

Collective leadership and culture in primary schools: a comparison between the three types of schools

This study was conducted to identify the level of collective leadership and school culture in three types of schools - Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK), Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC) and Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil (SJKT). This study also determined the relationship between the school culture and collective leadership in primary schools and difference in collective leadership and school culture by type of schools. This is a quantitative research, involving three primary schools in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan which are SK, SJKC and SJKT. Three grade A schools located at Seremban city were chosen. A total of 90 teachers were selected as respondents - 30 teachers from each school. Data for this quantitative study was collected using the Collective Leadership Survey (Leithwood, 2008) and School Culture Survey (Gruenert, 1998) instruments. SPSS version 21 was used for the descriptive and inference data analysis. This study shows that there is high level of collective leadership and school culture prevalent in the primary schools based on SK, SJKC and SJKT school findings. The Pearson correlation analysis showed a significant correlation between collective leadership and school culture in the primary schools. The ANOVA test also showed a significant difference in collective leadership and school culture by type of schools. Collective leadership and school culture affects the effectiveness of the school and academic achievement in primary schools. The practice of collective leadership and a positive school culture can contribute to the success of a school

Analytical hierarchy process application of body in white modular sub-assembly for automotive manufacturing in Malaysia - A case study

Decision-making is crucial in the industry as the industrial expert having a restriction to convey their experience to the management prior to the final decision-making (DM). Daily operation in the industry especially in the automotive environment a lot of DM is required. Industry issue such as making decision of sub-assembly parts and module production location is one of the industry problem. The objectives of this study to establish a method to measure the intuitive opinions and experiences of the industrial expert for the DM proposal. Simple qualitative measurement would benefit to engineer to make a proposal to the management with the quantitative result. Intuition of the expert would conveyed to the decision maker in the industry to reach a decision on the proposal. Based on the criteria, sub-criteria and alternatives established, the computation using analytical hierarchy process (AHP) methodology applied in this study. The result of alternative 3 is 0.399, which is the processes will be outsource at the local component manufacturer location and transport to the automotive carmaker. The weighted factor in conclusion achieved the consistency with a CR ≤ 0.1, which is 0.07. Alternative 3 agreed by all related party in the industry as the best option for sub-assembly process of parts and modules in order to meet local contents strategy. The AHP methodology proven for usage as the appropriate tool for decision making in the industry

Influence of inorganic additives on the performance of polysulfone ultrafiltration membrane

The influence of zinc oxide and silver (I) oxide in polysulfone ultrafiltration membrane was studied. The membranes were prepared via phase inversion method. The morphology, surface roughness, hydrophillicity and antibacterial properties of membrane were investigated using SEM, AFM and contact angle device consecutively. It was found that membrane with zinc oxide additive has excellent pure water flux as compared to silver (I) oxide. However silver (I) oxide has better humic acid rejection due to the tradeoff effect. SEM-EDX for PSf/silver (I) oxide reveals that the accumulation of silver on top area in cross section of membrane while for zinc oxide seems more concentrated on the bottom. Interestingly, the AFM results support the previous result when PSf/zinc oxide showed better surface roughness on the top of the membrane. Eventhough zinc oxide is known one of antibacterial material, however from qualitative experiment using disc diffusion test (e-coli), there is no inhibition ring for PSf/zinc oxide membrane as compared to membrane with PSf/silver (I) oxide membrane which shows excellence inhibition rin

Quality of life and glycaemic control among older population with diabetes in three districts of Peninsular Malaysia

The older population is increasing in numbers worldwide. Most of them have multiple comorbidities including diabetes. The diabetic control in elderly is usually challenging. Their quality of life and socioeconomic condition either in rural or urban area could affect their disease progress. This study aims to measure the diabetic control and its associated factors, including quality of life among the older population with diabetes in three different districts of Malaysia. The patients’ health and background details were recorded. Validated Malay version of diabetes quality of life questionnaire was used. 485 elderly diabetic patients were recruited based on two proportion formula comprising all clinics in those districts representing urban vs rural area. Data were analyzed using simple and multiple logistic regression for the association. Only 30.5% of the patients have good diabetic control with patients in Kuala Terengganu district achieved better sugar control (p < 0.001). However, the only significant diabetic control predictor is the quality of life of the elderly patients (OR = 1.32, CI 1.047 – 1.224). Level of diabetes control in these three districts are poor, concomitant with the poor control of the elderly non-communicable disease profiles. It is essential to embark on holistic approach in dealing with the elderly diabetic management and identify measures to improve quality of life in those with poor glycaemic control in order to have better disease outcome

Antidiabetic burdens among geriatric diabetic patients and its association with quality of life

Geriatric diabetic patients contribute to the major demographic background of diabetic patients follow up in primary health clinics. Despite their increasing age and morbidities, they are still targeted towards good sugar control achieving ideal HbA1c level, without taking into consideration of their quality of life. This study aims to determine the prevalence of antidiabetic usage among geriatric diabetic patients and their association with the patients quality of life. A cross-sectional study was done among 269 geriatric diabetic patients in all government health clinics in Kuantan using Diabetes Quality of Life questionnaire. SPSS version 23 is used for statistical analysis. Most of the geriatrics are female (61%), Malay (84.8%), pensioner (54.3%), education up to primary school (52%) and stay with family members (93.7%). In terms of antidiabetic agents, mostly depend on two antidiabetic agents (48%) followed by single antidiabetic agent (32%). 0.4% still taking glibenclamide despite its risk of hypoglycaemia. Usage of insulin is still common in the elderly in which 21% of them are on intermediate-acting insulin, 15.6% on premixed insulin and 7.8% on shortacting insulin. Interestingly, those taking a higher number of antidiabetic agents are associated with higher DQOL score (p = 0.03) compared to those taking one or two antidiabetic medications. Those taking long-acting insulin also significantly have higher DQOL score (0.037). Despite the risk of polypharmacy, geriatric patients do benefit the better quality of life with the further intensification of their antidiabetic medications according to guidelines. Usage of long-acting insulin has a lower risk of hypoglycaemia in which contribute to the quality score

Concept of al-amanah (trustworthiness) and al-mas'uliyyah (responsibility) for human's character from ethical Islamic perspective

Al-Amanah (trusts) and al-mas'uliyyah (responsibilities) refer to the ethical character of the human character that must be practiced in daily life, especially by every Muslim. Both of these noble qualities will help someone avoid something that can cause him to be regarded as a badly-touted individual. This article will discuss the concept of al-Amanah (trustworthiness) and al-mas'uliyyah (responsibility) according to the ethical Islamic perspective. This article analyzes the thoughts of several Islamic scholars such as al-Ghazali (505H) and several exegetes (mufassirin) in understanding the two terms through their works. Finally, this study concludes that the concept of al-amanah (trust) and al-mas'uliyyah (responsibility) is capable of creating the quality of human character among Muslim individuals according to the ethical Islamic perspective. © 2019, Allied Business Academies