Risk perception from the consumption of untreated drinking water in a small island community

A small island community in Malaysia uses gravity-fed drinking water, and rejected water treatment by the authorities. This study was conducted to evaluate the community's risk perception towards their untreated water supply by interviewing one adult per household in four out of eight villages on the island. The survey asked questions on risk perception, socioeconomic characteristics, and perception of water supply quality. Water samples were collected from a total of 24 sampling locations across the four villages, and 91.7% of them were positive for E.coli. The study surveyed 218 households and found that 61.5% of respondents agreed to some degree that the water is safe to drink without treatment, while 67.9% of respondents disagreed to some degree that drinking tap water is associated with health risks, and 73.3% of respondents agreed to some degree that it is safe to drink directly from taps that are fitted with water filters. Using factor analysis to group the risk perception questions and multivariable GLM to explore relationships with underlying factors, the study found that older respondents, lower income level, positive water odour perception and positive water supply reliability perception lowers risk perception. The village of residence also significantly affects the risk perception level in the model

Exposure to tobacco secondhand smoke and its associated factors among non-smoking adults in smoking-restricted and non-restricted areas: findings from a nationwide study in Malaysia

Objectives Secondhand smoke (SHS) has been associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Therefore, the aims of the paper are to assess SHS exposure among non-smoking adults in Malaysia attending various smoking-restricted and non-restricted public areas according to the Control of Tobacco Product Regulations (CTPR) as well as its relationship with various sociodemographic variables. Design Data were extracted from a cross-sectional study, the Global Adults Tobacco Survey (GATS) 2011 which involved 3269 non-smokers in Malaysia. Data was obtained through face-to-face interviews using a validated pre-tested questionnaire. Factors associated with exposure to SHS were identified via multivariable analysis. Results The study revealed that almost two-thirds of respondents were exposed to SHS in at least one public area in the past 1 month, with a significantly higher exposure among males (70.6%), those with higher educational attainment (81.4%) and higher income (quintile 1%–73.9%). Besides, the exposure to SHS was almost four times higher in non-restricted areas compared with restricted areas under the CTPR (81.9% vs 22.9). Multivariable analysis revealed that males and younger adults at non-restricted areas were more likely to be exposed to SHS while no significant associated factors of SHS exposure was observed in restricted areas. Conclusions The study revealed the prevalence of SHS exposure was higher among Malaysian adults. Although smoke-free laws offer protection to non-smokers from exposure to SHS, enforcement activities in restricted areas should be enhanced to ensure strict public abidance. In addition, legislation of restricted areas should also be extended to greatly reduce the SHS exposure among non-smokers in Malaysia

Association of smoking and severity of Covid-19 infection among 5,889 patients in Malaysia: a multi-center observational study

Objective: This study aims to investigate the association between smoking and the severity of COVID-19 infection during the initial wave of this pandemic in Malaysia. Methods: This is a multi-center observational study using secondary hospital data collected retrospectively from February 1, 2020, until May 30, 2020. Clinical records of all real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)-confirmed COVID-19 cases with smoking status, co-morbidities, clinical features, and disease management were retrieved. Severity was assessed by the presence of complications and outcomes of COVID-19 infection. Logistic regression was used to determine the association between COVID-19 disease severity and smoking status. Results: A total of 5,889 COVID-19 cases were included in the analysis. Ever smokers had a higher risk of having COVID-19 complications, such as acute respiratory distress syndrome (odds ratio [OR] 1.69; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.09-2.55), renal injury (OR 1.55; 95% CI 1.10-2.14), and acute liver injury (OR 1.33; 95% CI 1.01-1.74), compared with never smokers. However, in terms of disease outcomes, there were no differences between the two groups. Conclusion: Although no significant association was found in terms of disease outcomes, smoking is associated with a higher risk of having complications owing to COVID-19 infection

Antibacterial, cytotoxicity, and wound healing studies of amine-functionalized zeolite y

The antibacterial activities, cytotoxicity, and wound healing of amine(3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES))-functionalised zeolite Y against normal human fibroblast cells were studied. The characterisation of unmodified and amine-functionalised zeolites Y (Z, ZA 0.04, ZA 0.4, and ZA 0.6) by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, and energy dispersive X-ray analysis proved that the APTES molecules were grafted onto the zeolite Y surface without distorting its framework structure. All amine-functionalised zeolite Y samples possessed antibacterial activities against several ATCC bacteria that were correlated with the increased amount of APTES on the zeolite Y surface. Conversely, when a higher concentration of APTES was grafted on the zeolite Y, higher cytotoxicity was observed against the fibroblast cells. Although the ZA 0.6 sample (zeolite Y functionalised with 0.6 M of APTES) had higher antibacterial activity, it was cytotoxic to the cells. Therefore, the selection of an antibacterial agent for human treatment purposes must also consider its cytotoxicity effect against human cells to ensure it is biocompatible

Simultaneous action of surfactant modified clinoptilolite: adsorbent of dyes and antibacterial agent

In this study, the simultaneous action of surfactant modified clinoptilolite (SMC) as adsorbent for dyes and its antibacterial activity was investigated. Methylene blue (MB) and acid orange 7 (AO7) represent cationic and anionic dyes, respectively were used as adsorbate in this study and the antibacterial activity was studied against Gram-negative (Escherichia coli ATCC 11229) and Gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538 and Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 2921). Initially, natural zeolite clinoptilolite was modified with 3 different concentrations (0.1, 1.0 and 4.0 mM) of cationic surfactant hexadecyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (HDTMA-Br). The SMC samples were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), amount of HDTMA adsorbed and dispersion behaviour. Result from XRD shows that the HDTMA-Br molecules caused no effect on primary structure of the clinoptilolite since the clinoptilolite structure remained the same after modification with HDTMA-Br. Compared to the unmodified clinoptilolite, FTIR spectra of the SMC shows peak corresponds to C-H stretches which proved the attachment of HDTMA onto the clinoptilolite surfaces. In the dispersion behaviour study, SMC samples were located at the adjacent phase between the water and oil mixture. The amount of HDTMA-Br adsorbed onto the clinoptilolite increased with the increasing concentrations of the surfactant. The use of SMC as adsorbent and antibacterial agent were further studied against the ionic dyes and bacteria simultaneously. The results show that the adsorption capacity of SMC towards both ionic dyes increase with the increasing HDTMA-Br concentration. While for the antibacterial activity, the number of colony forming unit of bacteria seem to be highly reduced at the highest concentration of the HDTMA (4.0 mM) attached on the clinoptilolite. Hence, this study had shown that SMC has high adsorption capacity towards the ionic dyes at the same time reducing the growth of both Gram positive and negative bacteria in aquoes solution

Antibacterial activity of copper exchanged zeolite Y synthesized from rice husk ash

Increasing problems with antibacterial agent primarily bacterial resistance and environmental pollution due to the high release of antibacterial agents in water necessitates the development of new and effective antibacterial agents. One of the techniques that can be used to overcome these problems is by immobilizing antibacterial compounds or any related compounds on the carrier system such as by using zeolite. In this study, zeolite Y was synthesized from rice husk ash as silica source by using hydrothermal technique and it was used as a carrier system for antibacterial copper (Cu) ions. A series of Cu-exchanged zeolite Y was then prepared by loading with different concentrations of Cu ions (100 ppm, 600 ppm and 900 ppm of the Cu(NO3)(2)) on the synthesized zeolite Y. The Cu-exchanged zeolite Y was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). These characterization techniques showed that the zeolite Y was synthesized in pure phase and had a good degree of crystallinity. Whereas, from the characterization results, zeolite Y was successfully loaded with different concentrations of Cu ions and no structural changes happen after modification. The antibacterial activity of the samples was determined through disc diffusion technique (DDT) against Gram positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538 and Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212) and Gram negative bacteria (Escherichia coli ATCC 11229 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 15442). Based on the antibacterial results, the synthesized zeolite Y loaded with 900 ppm of Cu2+ showed the highest antibacterial activity compared to that of loaded with 100 ppm and 600 ppm of Cu2+. The higher the Cu concentration on the zeolite Y resulted in the higher antibacterial activity against wide spectrum of bacteria. As a conclusion, synthesized zeolite Y from rice husk ash could be a carrier system for antibacterial Cu ions and it has the potential for the application as antibacterial agents