Perspective Chapter: Paradigm Shift on Student Assessment due to COVID-19 Pandemic at Malaysian Medical Schools

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruption to normal face-to-face teaching and learning activities and assessments in medical schools globally. One of the challenges that many medical schools faced was conducting a valid, reliable, secure, and fair online assessment. This chapter introduced the principles of assessment in medical education and the transition to online examinations at several medical schools in Malaysia during the pandemic. Post-pandemic, the new normal for medical education implies using technologies for online learning and conducting assessments remotely, to enhance flexibility, efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Several strategies to ensure the proper organisation of online assessment in medical programmes without compromising its validity and security are described in detail

Fresh Soy Oil Protects Against Vascular Changes in an Estrogen-Deficient Rat Model: An Electron Microscopy Study

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effects of consuming repeatedly heated soy oil on the aortic tissues of estrogen-deficient rats. METHODS: Thirty female Sprague Dawley rats (200- 250 g) were divided equally into five groups. One group served as the normal control (NC) group. The four treated groups were ovariectomized and were fed as follows: 2% cholesterol diet (OVXC); 2% cholesterol diet + fresh soy oil (FSO); 2% cholesterol diet + once-heated soy oil (1HSO); and 2% cholesterol diet + five-times-heated soy oil (5HSO). After four months, the rats were sacrificed, and the aortic tissues were obtained for histological studies. RESULTS: After four months of feeding, the NC, FSO and 1HSO groups had a lower body weight gain compared to the OVXC and 5HSO groups. The tunica intima/media ratio in the 5HSO group was significantly thicker (p < 0.05) compared to the NC, OVXC and FSO groups. Electron microscopy showed that endothelial cells were normally shaped in the FSO and NC groups but irregular in the 1HSO and 5HSO groups. A greater number of collagen fibers and vacuoles were observed in the 5HSO group compared to the other treatment groups. CONCLUSIONS: Fresh soy oil offered protection in the estrogen-deficient state, as these rats had similar features to those of the NC group. The damage to the tunica intima and the increase in the ratio of tunica intima/media thickness showed the deleterious effect of consuming repeatedly heated soy oil in castrated female rats

Effective communication skills starts with #hellomynameis

Effective communication is a fundamental element in a good doctor and health care professional (HCP) relationship as good communication skills among HCPs have been demonstrated to increase patient compliance and safety. The aspect of self-introduction and greeting during communication with patients and caregivers may be taken lightly by some doctors and HCPs, which can negatively impact the building of therapeutic relationships in any clinical interaction. This article briefly addresses and re-emphasises the importance of self-introduction for doctors and HCPs during their communication with patients, with the highlight on the #hellomynameis campaign and ways to practice it during the pandemic

Approaches of learning among medical undergraduates of Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia in 2016

Introduction: Challenge arises for medical undergraduates as the subject of medicine is intricate and extensive. Although students come from the same pool of excellent academic background, the medical undergraduates are still prone to failure in exams, resulting in them repeating the year of study or even having the thought of changing to other courses. In order to cope with the programme, students may adopt learning approaches that would help them to go through the programme. Therefore, it would be interesting to explore the learning approaches of medical students in Universiti Putra Malaysia. Methods: The purposes of this study were to determine the learning approach of medical undergraduates of Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia (FMHS, UPM) together with its associated factors, which were socio-demographic characteristics and learning environment. This research was a cross-sectional study where the sample size calculated was 554. Self-administered questionnaires were given to the respondents chosen by simple random sampling. The socio-demographic characteristics were analysed using descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentage. Chi-square test was used to analyse the association between the variables. Results: The response rate was 83% (460 respondents agreed to participate). The majority of the respondents were females (73.7%), Malay (67%), and in their clinical years of study (58.7%). Overall, most students preferred deep approach (DA) of learning (49.6%), followed by strategic approach (29.1%) and surface apathetic approach (21.3%) of learning. There were statistically significant associations between learning approach and gender (p=0.005), as well as between learning approach and year of study (p=0.037). Conclusion: Our study showed an association between learning approaches and year of study and gender. DA of learning was the preferred learning approach in medical students at FMHS, UPM. This approach of learning, where students learn to understand the subject matter, may result in students become effective learners. Their understanding about the subject matter will be applicable to their clinical practice in the future

Heated vegetable oils and cardiovascular disease risk factors

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is one of the leading major causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. It may result from the interactions between multiple genetic and environmental factors including sedentary lifestyle and dietary habits. The quality of dietary oils and fats has been widely recognised to be inextricably linked to the pathogenesis of CVD. Vegetable oil is one of the essential dietary components in daily food consumption. However, the benefits of vegetable oil can be deteriorated by repeated heating that leads to lipid oxidation. The practice of using repeatedly heated cooking oil is not uncommon as it will reduce the cost of food preparation. Thermal oxidation yields new functional groups which may be potentially hazardous to cardiovascular health. Prolonged consumption of the repeatedly heated oil has been shown to increase blood pressure and total cholesterol, cause vascular inflammation as well as vascular changes which predispose to atherosclerosis. The harmful effect of heated oils is attributed to products generated from lipid oxidation during heating process. In view of the potential hazard of oxidation products, therefore this review article will provide an insight and awareness to the general public on the consumption of repeatedly heated oils which is detrimental to health

Sleep quality among pre-clinical medical students in Universiti Putra Malaysia and Universiti Malaya, Malaysia

Introduction: Poor sleep quality among university students seems to be an important issue to be concerned. It can give great impact on students especially on their academic performance. However, studies regarding sleep quality on medical students in Malaysia are limited. Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the sleep quality of pre-clinical medical students in Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and Universiti Malaya (UM). Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. Self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from the pre-clinical medical students of UPM and UM. Sleep quality of the students was measured by Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) questionnaire. All the data were analysed by using SPSS version 21. Results: The study revealed that 63.9% of the respondents had poor sleep quality (PSQI score: more than 5). The prevalence of poor sleepers in UM (67%) was slightly higher than UPM (60.9%). However, the comparison of PSQI score showed no significant difference between UPM and UM respondents (p = 0.082). The average sleep duration per night among respondents was 5 hours 39 minutes (1.21 hrs). Only 6.1% of students practiced recommended sleep value per night (>7 hrs). Significant association was found between caffeine intake with sleep quality. Besides, our study showed no association between sleep quality with gender and year of study. Conclusion: Majority of the pre-clinical students in UPM and UM had poor sleep quality and short sleep duration. Only a small number of students practiced recommended sleep value per night

Phytochemical screening and antioxidant activities of Erythroxylum cuneatum leaf extracts

Objectives: Erythroxylum cuneatum is a plant that belongs to the family of Erythroxylaceae. It is locally known as “Chinta mula” and found around Southeast Asia. This study identified the active phytochemicals and antioxidant properties in various extracts derived from dried leaves of Erythroxylum cuneatum. Methods: The tests of phytochemical screening included extracts of ethanol, acetone, hexane and aqueous. The antioxidant activity was determined by measuring total phenolic content, 2,2- diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity and hydrogen peroxide scavenging activity. Results: The phytochemical screening of Erythroxylum cuneatum dried leaves revealed the presence of phenolic compounds namely flavonoids, tannins and total phenols. Alkaloids and saponins were also detected. The antioxidant activity of the examined extracts varies depending on the solvent used. Generally, acetone extract showed highest total phenolic content with a value of 2228 µg GAE/g and highest DPPH radical scavenging activity with IC50 of 1020.00 µg/ml compared to the standard ascorbic acid of 304.44 µg/ml. Ethanol extract exhibited high hydrogen peroxide activity with IC50 of 83.09 µg/ml. Conclusion: This study showed that acetone extract contains highest phenolic compounds and both ethanol and acetone extracts are a potential source of natural antioxidants

Evaluating the sintering temperature control towards the adsorptivity of ammonia onto the natural zeolite based hollow fibre ceramic membrane

The disproportionate quantity of ammonia presence in water has led to serious drinkable water scarcity worldwide. The abundant source of mineral and superior cations selectivity has made natural zeolite as a good adsorbent for the ammonia removal. This work aims to fabricate natural zeolite based hollow fibre ceramic membrane (HFCM) via extrusion-based phase inversion and sintering techniques for the ammonia removal in wastewater. The physical properties of the fabricated HFCM were investigated through surface morphologies and pure water permeation. The performance of the HFCM for ammonia removal was studied using synthetic wastewater with HFCM prepared at different sintering temperatures. Of all studied sintering temperatures, it was found that 1050 °C was the best fabrication conditions. The membrane also revealed acceptable morphologies (roughness) and water permeation flux of 249.57 L/m 2 .h to which both contributed to the performance of the HFCM. The ammonia removal using the fabricated HFCM gave an outstanding performance with nearly 90% rejection, which probably is due to the synergistic effect of the two processes in the HFCM system, i.e. adsorption and separation. It was found that natural zeolite based HFCM has a great potential to be developed as a single – step ammonia removal in wastewater treatment

Antiviral nanodelivery systems: current trends in acyclovir administration

Poor bioavailability of acyclovir in the treatment of viral infections remains one of the major drug delivery concerns of pharmaceutical manufacturers and researchers. Nanoparticulate systems have been exploited with the aim of improving the current pharmacological limitations of acyclovir administration. In fact, nanoparticles do offer many advantages, especially in terms of their physicochemical stability and sustained-release properties. Besides, they are made of biocompatible materials, which are nontoxic to cells. Acyclovir has been a focus since the last decade as one of the low bioavailability drug models loaded in various types of newly synthesized drug delivery vehicles. In this review, compositions and formulations of nanosized acyclovir particles, as well as their stability and pharmacokinetic profile, are discussed in further detail

General pathways of pain sensation and the major neurotransmitters involved in pain regulation

Pain has been considered as a concept of sensation that we feel as a reaction to the stimulus of our surrounding, putting us in harm’s way and acting as a form of defense mechanism that our body has permanently installed into its system. However, pain leads to a huge chunk of finances within the healthcare system with continuous rehabilitation of patients with adverse pain sensations, which might reduce not only their quality of life but also their productivity at work setting back the pace of our economy. It may not look like a huge deal but factor in pain as an issue for majority of us, it becomes an economical burden. Although pain has been researched into and understood by numerous researches, from its definition, mechanism of action to its inhibition in hopes of finding an absolute solution for victims of pain, the pathways of pain sensation, neurotransmitters involved in producing such a sensation are not comprehensively reviewed. Therefore, this review article aims to put in place a thorough understanding of major pain conditions that we experience—nociceptive, inflammatory and physiologically dysfunction, such as neuropathic pain and its modulation and feedback systems. Moreover, the complete mechanism of conduction is compiled within this article, elucidating understandings from various researches and breakthroughs