Hearing Screening Of Infants In Neonatal Unit, Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia Using Transient Evoked Otoacoustic Emissions

Objective: this prospective study reports on the prevalence of hearing impairment in neonatal unit population (NICU graduates and less severe ill infants). Design: from 15th February, 2000 to 15th March, 2000 and 15th February, 2001 to 15th May, 2001, 401 neonates were screened with transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAE) followed by second stage screening of the infants who had failed the initial test. Results: 370 (92.27°.4,) infants passed the primary screen for both ears. Eight (2%) infants failed one ear and twenty three (5.74%) infants failed both ear, adding up to 7.740/0 planned for second stage screening. Five out of twenty two infants who had come for the follow up failed the screening resulting the prevalence of hearing impairment of 1.28%. Craniofacial malformations, very low birth weight, ototoxic medication, stigmata I syndromes associated with hearing loss and hyperbilirubinaemia at the level of exchange tranfusion were identified to be independent significant risk factors for hearing impairment. The mean total test time was 5.43 minutes. Poor apgar score and mechanical ventilation of more than 5 days were not found to be associated with hearing impairment in the present study population. Conclusion: Hearing screening in high-risk neonates revealed a total of 1.28%, with hearing loss. Significant risk factors were craniofacial malformations, very low birth weight, ototoxic medication, stigmata I syndromes associated with hearing loss and hyperbilirubinaemia at the level of exchange tranfusion. Other perinatal complications did not significantly influence screening results indicating improved perinatal handling in a neonatal population at risk for hearing disorder

An Ultrasonic System for Determining Mango Physiological Properties

There is an increasing requirement for high qualityfruits such as mango. Hence it is vital to have a fast, accurate andreliable method for measuring and monitoring the quality of fruitfrom the field to the consumer. This paper presents aninvestigation on the use of an ultrasonic measurement system fordetermining the quality of mango

A preliminary investigation on the biocompatibility studies of cellulose from oil palm residue as surgical biomaterial

Cellulose is the world's most abundant natural, renewable, and biodegradable polymer. An in vitro biocompatibility test was carried out to look at cytotoxicity characteristic of our locally produce cellulose phosphate on osteoblast and chondroblast cell lines. Cellulose samples were prepared from the oil palm residues. The cell line used in this study was human osteoblast and Chondroblast obtained from the American Type Culture Collection. An in vitro cytotoxicity test was carried out on the cellulose material using extraction/indirect methods. For human osteoblast, the concentration for IC-50 was determined at 60mg/ml while no IC-50 was observed for human chondroblast cells. The results suggest the biocompatibility of cellulose as biomaterial on human cell lines is good and not cytotoxic. Cellulose is the world's most abundant natural, renewable, and biodegradable polymer. Polysaccharides, like cellulose, are the polymer group with the longest and widest medical applications experience because of their unique properties: nontoxicity, water solubility or high swelling ability by simple chemical modification, stability to temperature and pH variations, and a broad variety of chemical structures 1 . The biocompatibility of some cellulosics is well documented. Oxidized cellulose is used as a wound dressing2 . Regenerated cellulose hydrogels (cellulose regenerated by the viscose process-CRV) have been investigated as implantable materials in orthopaedic surgery. Their good matching with mechanical properties of bone, as well as their biocompatibility has been I demonstrated3 Chemically modification via phosphorylation further stimulates bone induction4. Research innovation on the use of cellulose and its derivatives in medical application was conceived and developed all over the country but thus far not in Malaysia. In vitro cell culture methods are the basic starting point whereby biological responses to materials are determined initially, as required by a number of standardization agencies5. These methods have the advantages of simplicity, good sensitivity and reproducibility and are widely used in the initial evaluation of biocompatibility of materials. In this study, an in vitro biocompatibility test was carried out to look at cytotoxicity characteristic of our locally produce cellulose phosphate on osteoblast and chondroblast cell lines. ifi

Composting increases BRIS soil health and sustains rice production.

Beach ridges interspersed with swales (BRIS) soil (> 90% of sand) is unsuitable to produce rice due to its poor physical and chemical properties. In this study, we investigated the effects of compost on BRIS soil health in relation to rice production. We measured rice yield, yield parameters, chlorophyll content, relative water content (RWC), and soil pH. The tiller and panicle numbers, filled grains per panicle, rice yield, and straw yields were significantly lower in BRIS soil than in a mixture of compost and BRIS soil. On the other hand, plant heights, 1000 seeds weight, and unfilled grains per panicle were not significantly different. Adding compost to BRIS soil significantly increased chlorophyll content but not the RWC of leaves. The pH of BRIS soil was significantly increased by the application of compost which indicates an increase of BRIS soil health. These results suggest that addition of compost to BRIS soil might improve BRIS soil health and increase rice yield

Website evaluation measures, website credibility and user engagement for municipal website

This paper attempts to explore website evaluation measures specifically for information driven website such Municipal electronic government website toward website credibility and user engagement. Despite overwhelming of information source in online environment, the role of government website as a prominent government information provider becomes less preferred. Even, rapid development and continuous assessment been done by the government bodies to enhance and make utilize their website by the users, issues such usability problem, low popularity ranking and less user engagement still been reported. Therefore, the first part of this article reviews on existing assessment measures for websites done by scholars and also by practitioners. Then, in the second part of this article presents some finding on self evaluation of ten municipal website around Klang valley, Malaysia in term of popularity ranking and user engagement measure (bounce rate, Daily Pageviews per Visitor, and Daily Time on Site). Through related literatures reviewed, less study done previously includes overall or multiple measures for evaluation of information driven website. Estimation result of popularity ranking and user engagement percentage among municipal website also shows that there is still need some improvement to make the gateway of Malaysia electronic government become more favorable and engaging

Examining the teachers’ pedagogical knowledge and learning facilities towards teaching quality

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between teachers’ pedagogical knowledge, learning facilities and the teaching quality of teachers in the Ulul Albab Tahfiz Model (TMUA) schools in Malaysia. The data were collected using a set of questionnaires which probed on the respondents’ demographic information as well as on their pedagogical knowledge, learning facilities and teaching quality. The respondents comprised of 144 teachers from three schools involved in TMUA program. The data obtained were processed and analysed through the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) using SmartPLS 3.0 software. The results show that there is a significant relationship between teachers’ pedagogical knowledge, educational facilities and the quality of teaching. The implication of this study is that teachers are aware of the importance of pedagogical knowledge in improving teaching quality when implementing the TMUA program

Auto depth control for underwater remotely operated vehicles using a flexible ballast tank system

This paper describes the development of autodepth control using a flexible ballast tank system for underwater Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) that is commonly used in underwater application, such as monitoring, surveying and researching activities. Since the ROV design must be able to submerge and emerge, buoyancy control is needed. However, it is difficult to get the ROV to maintain at a constant depth for it to perform a desired task using the thruster system. This is because the power consumptions and saturated at certain depths depend closely on the design of thruster for the ROV. Thus, the ROV needs to have an auto depth control to maintain their depth so that all activities such as collecting data, monitoring and surveying at a constant specific depth can be carried out with minimum power consumption. This research attempts to design an auto depth control using a flexible ballast tank system for the ROV equipped with a pressure sensor as a depth sensor. The flexible ballast tank system is based on the principle of the pump that adopts the inlet or outlet water inside the tank by controlling the polarity of the pump regulated by a relay that acts like a switch. The switch is used to control the flow of current and activate the coil when it is triggered. The pressure sensor from a model MPX4250GP has been used and it functions as the depth sensors that send signal to PIC to execute the function of relay for controlling the pump’s polarity. In dealing with the controlling part, PIC is used as the microcontroller interface to program the relay function. There are two major phases in developing the auto depth system for the flexible ballast tanks: the hardware and software designs that consist of mechanical design and programming. The ROV will be tested in a laboratory pool to get the data that will be analyzed. This ROV is proven to be able to control the desired depth of 1 meter by controlling the flow of water inside the flexible ballast tank with minimized power consumptions

Oral health knowledge, practice and dental plaque maturity status of hearing-impaired children

Hearing impairment is an unseen handicapped that lead to communication barriers which might impede knowledge transfer. The aim of this study was to compare the oral health knowledge, practice and dental plaque maturity between hearing-impaired (HI) and normal children. A cross sectional study was conducted among children aged 7-14 years old. The HI children were recruited from a special school for the deaf while the normal children were from the primary and secondary schools in Bachok, Kelantan. The oral health knowledge and practice was assessed by face to face interview whilst the dental plaque maturity status was evaluated using GC Tri Plaque ID Gel™ (TPID). The data was analysed using IBM SPSS version 22. HI children had poor oral health knowledge and oral health practice compared to normal children (p<0.05). HI children had significantly more matured plaque compared to normal children with mean (SD) DPMS of 1.8 (0.57) and 1.3 (0.20), respectively (p<0.001). In conclusion, there were poor oral health knowledge, poor oral hygiene practice and high plaque maturity among HI children

The Specific Energy Absorption Of Local Wood Subjected To Quasi-Static Loading

An experimental investigation was carried out to study the specific energy absorbed of Malaysia local wood. Eleven species of wood were chosen which are, Nyatoh (Palaquim Obocatum), Merbau (Intsia Bijuga), Meranti Putih (Shorea Macroptera), Kelapa Sawit (Elais Guineensis), Kempas (Koompasia Malaaensis), Jati (Tectona Grandis), Cengal (Neobalanocarpus Heimii), Meranti Merah (Shorea Collina), Balau Cina (Shorea spp.), Balau Merah (Shorea spp.), and Kapur (Dryobalanops Aromatia). The experiment was performed in quasi-statically compression method using universal testing machine to obtain the material mechanical properties. Specimens were loaded in axial, circumferential and radial compression of local woods, the highest value of energy absorption and kink-band phenomena as well as its effect on energy absorption were determined and discussed in this paper

Menyingkap perkembangan perbandaran Ipoh menjadi sebuah bandaraya

Bandar Ipoh merupakan bandar yang terkenal di Malaysia sebagai bandar yang berkembang hasil perlombongan bijih timah. Perkembangan perbandaran yang unik ini menjadikan Ipoh terkenal dari Tanah Melayu kepada Malaysia. Artikel ini akan meneliti atau menyingkap perkembangan perbandaran di Ipoh dengan memberi perhatian terhadap perkembangan industri dan perbandaran di Ipoh sejak menjadi bandar sumber bijih timah di Lembah Kinta sehingga kini. Perkembangan industri dan perbandaran di Ipoh amat penting kepada manusia pada hari ini kerana bandar ini menjadi pusat tumpuan manusia untuk mendapatkan pelbagai keperluan kehidupan. Perkembangan dan perbandaran seringkan dikaitkan dengan dasar dan perancangan bandar. Antara perkara penting yang diteliti iaitu perkembangan industri bijih timah kepada industri perkilangan dan elektronik serta industri simen. Perkembangan ini membawa pertumbuhan petempatan serta peningkatan penduduk. Kajian ini hanya melibatkan analisis deskriptif dan statistik dari data sekunder secara bertulis dan bukan bertulis dari pelbagai agensi kerajaan, swasta dan NGO termasuk data sejarah. Ipoh mengalami perkembangan industri dan pertambahan penduduk yang pesat seiring dengan fungsi dan kedudukannya sebagai sebuah bandaraya yang terletak dalam daerah Kinta, dan merupakan ibu negeri dan pusat pentadbiran Perak Darul Ridzuan. Kedudukan dan perkembangan Ipoh di Lembah Kinta berfungsi sebagai bandar sumber bijih sehingga sebagai sebuah Bandaraya yang terletak kira-kira 200 km ke utara Kuala Lumpur merupakan bandaraya keempat terbesar di Malaysia selepas Kuala Lumpur, Georgetown, dan Johor Bahru. Perkembangan perbandaran melibatkan perkembangan industri dan aktiviti perbandaran di pusat bandar sehingga melimpah ke sekitarnya seperti Chemor, Jelapang, Falim, Menglembu, Tambun dan Tanjung Rambutan. Kajian ini mendapati juga perbandaran di Ipoh semakin berkembang di kawasan Pekan Lama dan Pekan Baru yang mana dipecahkan oleh Sungai Kinta ditengah-tengah bandarnya. Permulaan aktiviti industri di Ipoh dipelopori oleh pusat perdagangan dan perlombongan kaum Cina. Pembangunan yang meningkat selaras dengan jumlah penduduk Ipoh seramai 710,798 (2007) dan jumlah penduduk di sekitar bandaraya 1,022,240 di Ipoh yang dipelopori majoriti kaum Cina. Ruang petempatan penduduk di Ipoh bertumpu diMenglembu, Buntong, Tasek, Ampang, Bercham serta Pasir Puteh. Faktor ini menjadikan perkembangan perbandaran di bandaraya Ipoh menjadi semakin merebak di kawasan pinggir bandar Ipoh