The assessment of frailty in community dwelling older people

Background: This thesis explores the concept of frailty, as a latent vulnerability in older people, with the aim of refining its measurement by generating a new measure of frailty - the British Frailty Index (FI). This index was developed and validated in a cohort of community-dwelling older women, the British Women's Heart and Health Study (BWHHS), in 23 towns in Britain. Findings were replicated in another large Medical Research Council (MRC) Assessment of Older People study Methods: A systematic literature review examined the evolution of the concept and definitions of frailty. A meta-analysis on the prognostic value of current frailty measures confirmed extensive heterogeneity in the prediction of all-cause mortality despite consideration of age, sex, type of measure and duration of follow up. A 'General Specific' model of frailty was derived from factor analysis in the BWHHS population and replicated in the MRC cohort. Construct, external criterion and predictive validity of the British FI were assessed and its performance compared to another widely used index - the Canadian Frailty Index - with single indicators of frailty. Results: Frailty was explained by seven factors; physical ability, cardiovascular and respiratory disease and symptoms, visual impairments, other comorbidities, psychological problems and physiological measures. Associations with frailty included increased age, female sex, smoking, living alone, not living in own home, poor social contact and low socioeconomic position. Frailty was an independent predictor of all-cause mortality in both cohorts and predicted hospitalization and institutionalization in the MRC study, performing better than the Canadian Index. Conclusion: This thesis provides better understanding of the multi-dimensional domains of frailty in older people. The British FI demonstrates validity in relation to adverse outcomes, provides a more reliable measurement tool and its application offers further opportunities for the prevention, detection and treatment of frailty at a clinical level

Kadar Pengenapan dan Kepekatan Beberapa Logam Berat pada Permukaan Sedimen di Hutan Paya Bakau Bebar, Pahang

Sampel permukaan yang dikutip dari 3 transet (54 stesen pensampelan) di hutan paya bakau Bebar telah diukur kadar pemendapan, ciri-ciri sedimen dan kepekatan beberapa logam. Dalam kajian ini, kadar sedimentasi diukur dengan menggunakan kaedah penunjuk tiruan mendatar di mana purata pemendapan sebanyak 0.52 cm.thn·' telah diperoleh. Min saiz partikel sedimen permukaan didapati beljulat di antara dari pasir halus (5.151/» hingga kelodak halus (6.911/». Min saiz partikel menunjukkan hubungan signifikan (P<0.05) terhadap perubahan musim dengan penurunan nilainya ketika musim monsun. Bagi logam Cr, Cu, Pb dan Zn didapati menunjukkan perubahan mengikut jarak dengan purata kepekatan yang rendah di kawasan muara dan tinggi secara relatif di kawasan yang lebih jauh dari muara

The Concentration of Manganese, Copper, Zinc, Lead and Thorium in Sediments of Paka Estuary,Terengganu, Malaysia

14 cm cores sediments from the Paka River were analyzed for Mn, Cu, Zn, Pb and Th using the inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS). Generally, the concentrations of all elements decreased with depth and have significantly higher concentration at the surface depth of the core. The concentration of Mn and Cu have average value of 151.1 ± 59.1 mg/g dry weights and 29.2 ± 6.9 mg/g dry weights, while Zn and Pb averaged at 72.5 ± 15.5 mg/g dry weights and 54.9 ± 2.5 mg/g dry weights, respectively. Th were slightly varied widely and ranged from 0.6 mg/g dry weights to 1.4 mg/g dry weights. In this study, only Mn and Th have enrichment factor (EF) values close to unity and may therefore be considered to be predominantly terrigenous in origin. On the contrary, the higher EF values found for Cu, Zn and Pb indicate that these metals might have some influenced from the anthropogenic inpu

The determination of accretion rate in Setiu Mangrove, Malaysia: Thorium-230 versus artificial horizontal marker method

In this study, determination of sediment accretion rate using the 230Th and the artificial horizon marker method in Setiu mangrove were done. Applying the 230Th excess method, an average accretion rate of 0.62 cm yr1 was obtained. This is comparable to that of an artificial horizon marker method giving an average of 0.61 cm yr1• The 230Th method provides a rapid and simple method of evaluating 230Th accumulation histories in sediment cores. Sample preparation is also significantly simplified, thus providing a relatively quick and easy method for the determination of the accretion rate in mangrove areas. Assuming that the accretion rate values are accurate, this may imply that the sediments in the upper 100 cm were deposited during the last 163 years

Experimental study of using renewable energy in Yemen

During the last decade, there has been an increased interest to develop renewable energy technologies that could contribute to ever-increasing energy needs. This paper proposes a new PV array-wind-diesel generator hybrid system model to determine the optimal configuration of power systems relevant to different regions in Yemen, Sana’a and Aden. Various renewable and nonrenewable energy sources, energy storage and their applicability in terms of cost and performance are discussed. The collected data for the wind, solar radiation and diesel price were obtained from Civil Aviation & Meteorology Authority in Yemen. The Sensitivity analysis was carried out using Homer program. The results show that wind-diesel-battery model is the most suitable solution for both regions in term of the economic performance

Relative growth of harpiosquilla raphidea (Fabricius, 1798) (Crustacea: Stomatopoda) male and female populations

Morphometric analysis was carried out to find out changes in the growth pattern of male and female stomatopod, Harpiosquilla raphidea. Six morphometric relationships were examined on 105 males and 105 females, ranging in size from 103 to 207 mm and from 104 to 222 mm in total length, respectively. In both the sexes, the relative growth of carapace length, propodus length of raptorial claw and total weight in relation to total length was found positively allometric. Telson width in both the sexes and abdomen width in males showed slightly negative allometry, while the abdomen width of females showed slightly positive allometry, indicating some variation in the growth between sexes which could be attributed to the energy requirement for maturation in females. The propodus of females was also found to be bigger than that of males. It is quite interesting as males only have larger chela in other crustaceans. It has a functional significance in that it is of immense help at the time of intense feeding during maturation of oocytes which requires higher energy

Determining Significant Parameters on Health and Well-Being of Building Occupants Towards Re-Engineered Inclusive Environment

People spend over 90% of their time in the buildings. Building is a place where people are spending more time doing activities, thus an inclusive environment of the buildings is very important to ensure that people are having a healthy life. Inclusive environment is important for the well-being of building occupants. Indoor environmental quality is one of the essential elements in creating inclusive environment in which a poor quality of indoor environmental affects the health of the occupants both physically and mentally, their performance, productivity, comfort, satisfaction, and well-being. Even though people are towards creating inclusive environment but it is limited study on the parameters of the inclusive environment. Thus, this paper is to study the parameters of inclusive environment by focused on the element of indoor environmental quality for building occupants based on literature reviews of articles between the year 2006 and 2016. Based on the content analysis, it has been discovered that there are various parameters of inclusive environment which are visual comfort, thermal comfort, acoustic comfort, indoor air quality, buildings factors, occupants’ factors, and climate condition factors. The parameters can be very useful as guidelines and development of policy in providing inclusive environment for the healthy lifestyle of building occupants

Determining significant parameters on health and well-being of building occupants towards re-engineered inclusive environment

People spend over 90% of their time in the buildings. A building is a place where people are spending more time doing activities, thus an inclusive environment of the buildings is very important to ensure that people are having a healthy life. An inclusive environment is important for the well-being of building occupants. Indoor environmental quality is one of the essential elements in creating an inclusive environment in which a poor quality of indoor environment affects the health of the occupants both physically and mentally, their performance, productivity, comfort, satisfaction, and well-being. Even though people are towards creating an inclusive environment but it is a limited study on the parameters of the inclusive environment. Thus, this paper is to study the parameters of the inclusive environment by focused on the element of the indoor environmental quality for building occupants based on literature reviews of articles between the year 2006 and 2016. Based on the content analysis, it has been discovered that there are various parameters of an inclusive environment which are visual comfort, thermal comfort, acoustic comfort, indoor air quality, buildings factors, occupants’ factors, and climate condition factors. The parameters can be very useful as guidelines and development of policy in providing inclusive environment for the healthy lifestyle of building occupants