ToyBox Study Malaysia: improving healthy energy balance and obesity-related behaviours among pre-schoolers in Malaysia

The prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity is increasing in Malaysia and currently nearly 10% of children aged between 6 months and 12 years are overweight and almost 12% are obese. Early interventions to prevent excess weight gain are needed. ToyBox Study Malaysia is a feasibility project, funded by the Medical Research Council Newton-Ungku Omar Fund, to assess the practicalities of adapting the existing European ToyBox Study intervention programme to the Malaysian kindergarten setting. The main aims of all ToyBox programmes are related to improving four key energy balance-related behaviours, namely drinking water, eating healthy snacks and meals, reducing sedentary behaviour and increasing physical activity. Using stratified sampling, the ToyBox Study Malaysia intervention will be delivered and compared to usual practice by assessing behaviour, physical activity and health-related outcomes as measured by questionnaires, accelerometry and anthropometry. It is hoped that the evidence-based ToyBox Study Malaysia will help to achieve healthier energy balance-related behaviours in the children and their families and provide lifelong benefits to health. This article provides information on the dietary patterns, physical activity levels and prevalence of overweight and obesity in Malaysian children, and the approach of the ToyBox Study Malaysia

Life-history constraints, short adult life span and reproductive strategies in coral reef gobies of the genus Trimma

Body size influences many life-history traits, with small-bodied animals tending to have short life spans, high mortality and greater reproductive effort early in life. In this study, the authors investigated the life-history traits and reproductive strategies of three small-bodied coral reef gobies of the genus Trimma: Trimma benjamini, Trimma capostriatum and Trimma yanoi. The authors found all Trimma species studied attained a small body size of <25 mm, had a short life span of <140 days and experienced high estimated daily mortality of 3.0%–6.7%. Furthermore, the pelagic larval phase accounted for 25.3%–28.5% of the maximum life span, and maturation occurred between 74.1 and 82.1 days at 15.2–15.8 mm, leaving only 35%–43% of the total life span as a reproductively viable adult. All mature individuals had gonad structures consistent with bidirectional sex change, with bisexual gonads including both ovarian and testicular portions separated by a thin wall of connective tissue. In the female and male phases, only ovaries or testes were mature, whereas gonadal tissue of the non-active sex remained. One T. benjamini individual and one T. yanoi individual had ovarian and testicular tissue active simultaneously. The results of this study highlight the life-history challenges small CRFs face on their path to reproduction and reproductive strategies that could be beneficial in fishes with high and unpredictable mortality and short reproductive life spans

Plastron osteotomy in the management of fishing hook ingestion in a Malayan box turtle (Cuora amboinensis)

An adult male Malayan box turtle was diagnosed with foreign body obstruction of fishing hook. Upon presentation, the animal had pale mucous membrane and fishing line protruding out from the oral cavity. Diagnosis of foreign body ingestion was based on plain radiograph where the fishing hook was evidenced on the lateral and ventrodorsal radiographic view. Plastron osteotomy surgical removal was performed after endoscopy guided forcep removal failed. Procedures were carried out under the injectable anesthesia using a combination of ketamine and xylazine hydrochloride. Antibiotic, anti-inflammatory and parenteral fluid therapy was given pre and post-surgically as medical treatment and stabilisation

ANALYSIS OF FUNCTIONS FOR THE EXTRAPOLATION OF RHEOLOGICAL PHENOMENA OF PRESTRESSING STEEL

BACKGROUND: The spread of artemisinin-resistance in Plasmodium falciparum is a threat to current global malaria control initiatives. Targeted malaria treatment (TMT), which combines mass anti-malarial administration with conventional malaria prevention and control measures, has been proposed as a strategy to tackle this problem. The effectiveness of TMT depends on high levels of population coverage and is influenced by accompanying community engagement activities and the local social context. The article explores how these factors influenced attitudes and behaviours towards TMT in Kayin (Karen) State, Myanmar. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with villagers from study villages (N = 31) and TMT project staff (N = 14) between March and July 2015. RESULTS: Community engagement consisted of a range of activities to communicate the local malaria situation (including anti-malarial drug resistance and asymptomatic malaria), the aims of the TMT project, and its potential benefits. Community engagement was seen by staff as integral to the TMT project as a whole and not a sub-set of activities. Attitudes towards TMT (including towards community engagement) showed that developing trusting relationships helped foster participation. After initial wariness, staff received hospitality and acceptance among villagers. Offering healthcare alongside TMT proved mutually beneficial for the study and villagers. A handful of more socially-mobile and wealthy community members were reluctant to participate. The challenges of community engagement included time constraints and the isolation of the community with its limited infrastructure and a history of conflict. CONCLUSIONS: Community engagement had to be responsive to the local community even though staff faced time constraints. Understanding the social context of engagement helped TMT to foster respectful and trusting relationships. The complex relationship between the local context and community engagement complicated evaluation of the community strategy. Nonetheless, the project did record high levels of population coverage.</p

Process evaluation of a kindergarten-based intervention for obesity prevention in early childhood: the Toybox study Malaysia

BackgroundToybox is a kindergarten-based intervention program that targets sedentary behavior, snacking and drinking habits, as well as promoting physical activity in an effort to improve healthy energy balance-related behaviors among children attending kindergartens in Malaysia. The pilot of this program was conducted as a randomized controlled trial (RCT) involving 837 children from 22 intervention kindergartens and 26 control kindergartens respectively. This paper outlines the process evaluation of this intervention.MethodsWe assessed five process indicators: recruitment, retention, dosage, fidelity, and satisfaction for the Toybox program. Data collection was conducted via teachers’ monthly logbooks, post-intervention feedback through questionnaires, and focus group discussions (FGD) with teachers, parents, and children. Data were analyzed using quantitative and qualitative data analysis methods.ResultsA total of 1072 children were invited. Out of the 1001 children whose parents consented to join, only 837 completed the program (Retention rate: 88.4%). As high as 91% of the 44 teachers and their assistants engaged positively in one or more of the process evaluation data collection methods. In terms of dosage and fidelity, 76% of parents had received newsletters, tip cards, and posters at the appropriate times. All teachers and their assistants felt satisfied with the intervention program. However, they also mentioned some barriers to its implementation, including the lack of suitable indoor environments to conduct activities and the need to make kangaroo stories more interesting to captivate the children’s attention. As for parents, 88% of them were satisfied with the family-based activities and enjoyed them. They also felt that the materials provided were easy to understand and managed to improve their knowledge. Lastly, the children showed positive behaviors in consuming more water, fruits, and vegetables.ConclusionsThe Toybox program was deemed acceptable and feasible to implement by the parents and teachers. However, several factors need to be improved before it can be expanded and embedded as a routine practice across Malaysia

ENGINEERING CONCEPTS IN ANALYSING LUMBOSACRAL LOAD IN POST-OPERATIVE SCOLIOTIC PATIENTS

Lumbosacral alignment plays a major role in the mechanical low back pain in normal population. Malalignment causes increased strain to the muscles and ligaments around it which eventually leads to mechanical low back pain and discomfort. The level of strain a ligament receives in the lumbosacral junction depends upon the lumbosacral angle and the load exerted on it. If there is an easy way to find the load exerted at the lumbosacral junction, then it would be trouble free for the physicians to examine. Hence, the treatment can be planned accordingly. This study analysis the angle, net force produced and stress faced by the ligaments around the lumbosacral joint in postoperative scoliosis patients using radiographic images. Study design was analytical, observational cross sectional study. Radiographs of 30 patients were collected and one sample ‘t ’test was used for data analysis with ‘p ’value set as 0.05 as level of significance .The mean lumbosacral angle of the postoperative scoliotic patients was found to be 45.56 degrees and the standard deviation was ± 8.7156. The results suggest that patients who underwent scoliosis correction surgery did not have an optimal lumbosacral angle of 30 degrees

Influence of layer thickness to the emission spectra in microcavity organic light emitting diodes

Microcavity organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) have attracted great attention because they can reduce the width of emission spectra from organic materials, enhance brightness and achieve multipeak emission from the same material. In this work, we have fabricated microcavity OLEDs with widely used organic materials, such as N,N'-di(naphthalene-1-yl)-N,N'-diphenylbenzidine (NPB) as a hole transport layer and tris (8-hydroxyquinoline) (Alq) as emitting and electron transporting layer. These organic materials are sandwiched either between two thick silver mirrors or one thin copper and one thick silver mirrors. The influence of total cavity length (from 164 nm to 243nm) and the cavity Q-factor to the emission behavior has been investigated. In all cases, an OLED without bottom mirror, i.e. with the organic materials sandwiched between indium tin oxide and a thick silver mirror, has been fabricated for comparison. We have characterized the devices with photoluminescence, electroluminescence, and reflectance measurements. Multiple peaks have been observed for some devices at larger viewing angles

A study on waste-derived NiZn soft ferrites as EMI suppressor

Nickel-zinc soft ferrites with spinel structure are important electronic components popularly used as EMI suppressor, electromagnet core and transformer core. It contains nickel, zinc or manganese, and the raw material is mainly hematite. The most commonly use soft ferrites are NiZn ferrites and MnZn ferrites. NiZn ferrites exhibit higher resistivity than MnZn ferrites and are therefore more suitable for frequencies above 1 MHz. In this work, iron oxide waste generated from a local cold-rolling steel mill was purified and converted into hematite. The waste-derived hematite was used as the raw material in the synthesis of NiZn ferrites. The magnetic properties such as permeability, saturation magnetization and coercivity of the waste-derived NiZn ferrites was analyzed and compared to the industrial grade NiZn ferrites. Our results show that the waste-derived ferrite possesses excellent magnetic properties. The microstructure of the waste-derived NiZn ferrite is also discussed

Elucidation of single atom catalysts for energy and sustainable chemical production: Synthesis, characterization and frontier science

The emergence of single atom sites as a frontier research area in catalysis has sparked extensive academic and industrial interest, especially for energy, environmental and chemicals production processes. Single atom catalysts (SACs) have shown remarkable performance in a variety of catalytic reactions, demonstrating high selectivity to the products of interest, long lifespan, high stability and more importantly high atomic metal utilization efficiency. In this review, we unveil in depth insights on development and achievements of SACs, including (a) Chronological progress on SACs development, (b) Recent advances in SACs synthesis, (c) Spatial and temporal SACs characterization techniques, (d) Application of SACs in different energy and chemical production, (e) Environmental and economic aspects of SACs, and (f) Current challenges, promising ideas and future prospects for SACs. On a whole, this review serves to enlighten scientists and engineers in developing fundamental catalytic understanding that can be applied into the future, both for academia or valorizing chemical processes