Knowledge, Attitude, Pictorial Health Warnings And Quitting Attempt To Smoking In Sarawak, Malaysia

Background: Every year, millions of preventable deaths and disabilities were directly and indirectly caused by smoking. Various methods have been employed and millions of dollars have been spent in order to tackle this issue. Objectives: This study was designed to identify the factors associated with knowledge, attitude and quitting attempts to smoking among adult population in Sarawak. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among the adult population in Sarawak. Data were collected from ten villages in Kota Samarahan and Kuching Division by face to face interview using modified Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) questionnaire. Non-probability sampling method was adopted to select the villages. All the households of the villages were visited, and an adult member was selected randomly from each house irrespective of the sex. After missing value imputation, a total of 1000 data were analysed using statistical software SPSS 19.0 version. Results: Analysis showed that 28.8% of the respondents were current smokers. Multiple Linear Regression Analysis (MLR) revealed that younger age, family size, marital status, scariness and in formativeness of Pictorial Health Warnings (PHWs) significantly contributed to perceived knowledge of health effects of smoking (p<0.05). Similarly level of education, perceived knowledge of health effects and information on cigarette packages have significant positive contribution to preventive attitude towards smoking, whereas non smoking status has no influence on the attitude towards smoking (p<0.05?. On the contrary, marital status, clarity and nature of information on the cigarette packages about PHWs have significantly influence for quitting attempts (p<0.05), whereas the nature of jobs such as business and service had no influence in quitting attempt of smoking (p<0.05). Conclusion: Despite numerous interventions programme for tobacco control being implemented such as PHWs, the study findings revealed that better plans and strategies for more effective preventive measures against smoking should be instituted by policy makers

Retrospective analysis of primary patency of vascular access maturity: a single centre experience at HTAA, Kuantan, Malaysia

Introduction Arteriovenous stula (AVF) has been proven to be the best vascular access for the purpose of haemodialyis due to its’ longevity and robustness. Unfortunately, despite of its’ popularity in Malaysia, there is a limited local data being published. HTAA is a main referral center for AVF creation for the east coast of Malaysia. We examined our data for primary patency rate and possible factors that may associates with it. Methods Patients who underwent AVF creation created by a single surgeon from July 2012 to July 2013 in Hospital Tengku Ampuan Afzan (HTAA), Kuantan were identi ed using theatre list and also logbook. Data were collected retrospectively from the patients’ medical notes. A total of 89 patients were identi ed. Primary patency rate is being assessed at 6 weeks. Statistical analysis performed using SPSS® v20. Results The patient’s median age of the patients was 53 years with a slight male predominance (53%). Majority of the subjects have no history of tobacco use (71.4%). The Malays make up the majority in ethnicity (79.6%). 53.1% and 18.4% have underlying diabetes mellitus and obesity respectively. Brachio-cephalic stulas (BCF) are the majority of AVF (71.4%) that were created. 78% of our patients had already been diagnosed with ESRF and 59% was already on dialysis upon AVF creation. 57.1% of the subjects are statins users. The mean diameters of artery and veins are 2.56mm and 2.94mm respectively. Our primary patency rate is 87.8%. Multivariate analysis shows no signi cance between the demographics and maturity but a suggestive association of venous diameter and statins with primary patency rate with p values of 0.06 and 0.07 respectively. Conclusion This study described a comparable success rate of AVF creation at our centre in to other published data. We have identi ed, venous diameter and statins use have a positive trend with primary patency rate of our AVF in a multivariate analysis

Antifungal activity of extracts and phenolic compounds from Barringtonia racemosa L. (Lecythidaceae)

The antifungal activity of methanolic, ethanolic and boiling water extracts of Barringtonia racemosa leaves, sticks and barks were investigate against Fusarium sp., Tricoderma koningii, Penicillium sp.,Ganoderma tropicum, Ganoderma lucidum, Aspergillus sp. and Rhizopus sp. at concentration of 50 mg/ml. Better antifungal activity was observed with the methanolic extracts in all aerial parts of B.racemosa that showed excellent inhibitory activity against all the fungi tested. The strongest inhibitory activity effect was observed with the methanolic extract of leaf against Fusarium sp. (53.45%), G.lucidum (34.57%), Aspergillus sp. (32.27%) and T. koningii (20.99%). Remarkable are also the specific effects of the boiling water extract of leaf against Fusarium sp. (51.72%) and with the ethanolic extractof bark against Rhizopus sp. (37.50%). None of the boiling water extracts of leaf, stick and bark showed inhibitory activity effect against G. tropicum and T. koningii. Among different fungi tested, Fusarium sp.was found to be more sensitive to B. racemosa extracts when compared to others. The increase in the production of phenolics in the extracts can be correlated with the induction of resistance in treatedplant against phytopathogenic fungi. HPLC analysis of the extract of B. racemosa (leaves, sticks and barks) showed two different phenolic acids (gallic acid and ferrulic acid) and four different flavonoids(naringin, rutin, luteolin and kaempferol). The results of present study provide scientific basis for the use of the plant extract in the future development as antifungal, antibacterial, antioxidant and antiinflammatory agent

A pilot study on pipeline wall inspection technology tomography

Malaysia is one of the world’s third-largest exporter of liquefied natural, the second-largest oil and natural gas producer in Southeast Asia, this signified that development of oil and gas industry in Malaysia particularly has rapidly evolved and so thus the using of steel pipe. Steel pipe is essential and widely uses for fluid transportation in the sense of transporting petroleum, gas, water, steam etcetera. Both corrosion and blockage are the main problem in the oil and gas industry. However, it is reportedly that the main technique used in Malaysia is by using radiation material like gamma ray or X-rays. This technique is too dangerous if extensive care is neglected. Hence, a throughout discussion on established pipe wall inspection technology is pivotal, as it to be applied on different situation of application or study. This paper focusing on the suitability, the basic functionality, advantage and disadvantage on every established pipe wall inspection technology ever known. Mostly tomography researcher in Malaysia particularly, used acrylic pipe as subject for experiment with tomography hardware. Ironically, with that implementation is not entirely portraying the real process of pipeline inspection as conducted by oil and gas company. In this research, steel pipe is used to imitate the real situation of pipeline inspection as conducted. Therefore, the real issues raised is more reliable when conducting the experiment using the real steel pipe thus, could solve the industry problem. From the review that had been done, steel pipe in diameter 203.2 mm and thickness of 7.7 mm will be used in this research to solve the industrial problem situation. A simulation result using finite element analysis method was done using ultrasonic as the main sensors and it shows that the ultrasonic can penetrate successfully into the steel pipe. In conclusion, research using ultrasonic can be used as it proved to have the measurement result where the suitable frequency is 40 kHz with 20 V voltage inserted the most suitable to operate the ultrasonic tomography system