PEMILIHAN HIDANGAN TEMPATAN: SUATU KAJIAN DI KALANGAN PELANCONG NEGERI MELAKA

Kajian ini akan mengkaji faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi pemilihan hidangan makanan tempatan di kalangan pelancong antarabangsa yang datang ke negeri Melaka. Bandar Hilir telah dipilih sebagai lokasi kajian. Berdasarkan kajian-kajian lepas, terdapat 2 pembolehubah yang dikenalpasti mampu mempengaruhi pemilihan hidangan makanan, iaitu faktor motivasi (pengetahuan dan pengalaman) dan faktor psikologi (neofilia dan neofobia). Kedua-dua faktor tersebut akan diterangkan dalam bahagian kedua kajian ini. Dari sudut metodologi, kajian ini berbentuk kuantitatif,  dan menggunakan borang soal selidik sebagai instrument kajian. Maka, data yang diperoleh adalah dari sumber data primer dan data sekunder. Keseluruhan data yang diperoleh melalui borang soal selidik akan dianalisa melalui perisian Stastistical Package for Science Social versi 24.0

KEPUASAN PELANCONG TERHADAP PUSAT MEMBELI - BELAH DI A’ FAMOSA PREMIUM OUTLET (MPO)

Selari dengan haluan ke arah Negara berpendapatan perkapita yang tinggi dan gaya hidup moden, pusat membeli- belah semakin menjadi tumpuan orang ramai. Pusat membeli- belah pula pesat bercambah. Tujuan utama kajian ini diadakan adalah untuk mengenal pasti kepuasan pelancong terhadap pusat membeli- belah di A’ Famosa Premium Outlet (MPO) dan pembolehubah bebas itu, yang termasuk destinasi, imej dan kemudahan. Hasil analisis statistik dianalisis dengan menggunakan Pakej Statistik bagi Sains Sosial (SPSS) versi 24.0 . Beberapa analisis telah dijalankan unutk mengkaji hubungan kepuasan pelancong terhadap pusat membeli- belah di A’ Famosa Premium Outlet (MPO). Oleh itu, Ujian Pearson Kolerasi untuk analisis inferensi digunakan untuk menguji hipotesis dalam projek penyelidikan ini

Electronic decision support and diarrhoeal disease guideline adherence (mHDM): a cluster randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Acute diarrhoeal disease management often requires rehydration alone without antibiotics. However, non-indicated antibiotics are frequently ordered and this is an important driver of antimicrobial resistance. The mHealth Diarrhoea Management (mHDM) trial aimed to establish whether electronic decision support improves rehydration and antibiotic guideline adherence in resource-limited settings. METHODS: A cluster randomised controlled trial was done at ten district hospitals in Bangladesh. Inclusion criteria were patients aged 2 months or older with uncomplicated acute diarrhoea. Admission orders were observed without intervention in the pre-intervention period, followed by randomisation to electronic (rehydration calculator) or paper formatted WHO guidelines for the intervention period. The primary outcome was rate of intravenous fluid ordered as a binary variable. Generalised linear mixed-effect models, accounting for hospital clustering, served as the analytical framework; the analysis was intention to treat. The trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03154229) and is completed. FINDINGS: From March 11 to Sept 10, 2018, 4975 patients (75·6%) of 6577 screened patients were enrolled. The intervention effect for the primary outcome showed no significant differences in rates of intravenous fluids ordered as a function of decision-support type. Intravenous fluid orders decreased by 0·9 percentage points for paper electronic decision support and 4·2 percentage points for electronic decision support, with a 4·2-point difference between decision-support types in the intervention period (paper 98·7% [95% CI 91·8-99·8] vs electronic 94·5% [72·2-99·1]; pinteraction=0·31). Adverse events such as complications and mortality events were uncommon and could not be statistically estimated. INTERPRETATION: Although intravenous fluid orders did not change, electronic decision support was associated with increases in the volume of intravenous fluid ordered and decreases in antibiotics ordered, which are consistent with WHO guidelines. FUNDING: US National Institutes of Health

Cytotoxic effects of Phyllanthus watsonii Airy shaw extract in combination with cisplatin on human ovarian cancer cell / Farhana Raduan

Ovarian cancer is the major gynaecological cancer that causes female mortality worldwide and its treatment involved chemotherapy drug of platinum based-drugs. The disadvantages of these treatments are patients experience severe side effects and drug resistance. Drug combination therapy is the gold standard treatment for cancer management with objectives to encounter resistance and decreasing or increasing doses safely without sacrificing efficacy. One such combination is between chemotherapy drug and plant extract. Phyllanthus watsonii Airy Shaw, an endemic plant of Peninsular Malaysia exhibited good anticancer effect on various human cancer cell lines. This study is aimed to investigate the cytotoxicity and possible interaction (additive, synergistic or antagonist) of P. watsonii and cisplatin (Pt) combination on human ovarian SKOV-3 cancer cell. P. watsonii ethyl acetate extract (PW-E) was extracted from the leafy part using a series of solvent extraction and the chemical profile was analysed by LC-MS/MS system. Cytotoxicity of PW-E, Pt and PW-E/Pt combination on SKOV-3 cells were determined using the Neutral Red Uptake assay and the inhibitory concentrations (IC50) of single and combined dosage, Combination Index (CI) and other parameters were analysed using CompuSyn 1.0 software. Cell death mechanism triggered by the single and combination dosage on SKOV-3 cells was determined by morphological imaging under phase-contrast microscope, AO/EB double staining and caspase-3 activation assay. LC-MS/MS analysis of PW-E revealed the presence of gallic acid, strictinin, strictinin isomer, galloyl HHDP hexoside, hyperin, ellagic acid, kaempferol glucoside, kaempferol rhamnoside and quercetin. Cytotoxic effects of PW-E, Pt and PW-E/Pt combination were observed in dose-dependent manner after 72 hours incubation with IC50, 1.78 ± 0.32 μg/ml, 0.69 ± 0.11 μg/ml and 1.34 ± 0.16 μg/ml (P3). CI analysis revealed two important data; (i) synergistic effect (CI1); and (ii) Drug Reduction Index (DRI) revealed a reduction of the extract to about 1.64-fold (1.07 μg/ml) and drug, 2.56-fold (0.27 μg/ml) in combination to achieve similar 50% inhibition as individual treatment, indicating reduction of dosage of both the extract and drug while maintaining efficacy. Morphological examination under phase-contrast of SKOV-3 cells showed typical apoptotic changes i.e, membrane blebbing, cell shrinkage and apoptotic bodies and were enhanced in cells underwent PW-E/Pt combination treatment. Staining with AO/EB revealed condensed and fragmented chromatin more clearly. Caspase-3 activation was increased in Pt, PW-E and PW-E/Pt combination with increment of 38%, 13% and 31% respectively which indicated that caspase-3 may involve in SKOV-3 cell apoptosis. However, the data is not significant (p>0.05). In conclusion, the present study revealed, PW-E/Pt combination exert cytotoxic effect on SKOV-3 cells via doses reduction and with possible synergistic interaction and mediated by apoptotic pathway

Survival analysis of colorectal cancer patients with tumor recurrence using global score test methodology

Colorectal cancer is the third and the second most common cancer worldwide in men and women respectively, and the second in Malaysia for both genders.Surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy are among the options available for treatment of patients with colorectal cancer.In clinical trials, the main purpose is often to compare efficacy between experimental and control treatments. Treatment comparisons often involve several responses or endpoints, and this situation complicates the analysis. In the case of colorectal cancer, sets of responses concerned with survival times include: times from tumor removal until the first, the second and the third tumor recurrences, and time to death. For a patient, the time to recurrence is correlated to the overall survival.In this study, global score test methodology is used in combining the univariate score statistics for comparing treatments with respect to each survival endpoint into a single statistic. The data of tumor recurrence and overall survival of colorectal cancer patients are taken from a Malaysian hospital.The results are found to be similar to those computed using the established Wei, Lin and Weissfeld method. Key factors such as ethnic, gender, age and stage at diagnose are also reported