Development and Validation of a Cross-Cultural Heart Failure-Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire

Objectives: Heart failure (HF) is a common clinical syndrome with an enormous impact on prognosis and lifestyle. Accordingly, rehabilitation measures need to be patient-specific and consider various sociocultural factors so as to improve the patient’s quality of life (QOL). This study aimed to develop and validate a HF-specific QOL (HFQOL) questionnaire within a multicultural setting. Methods: This study took place at the National Heart Institute and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, between March 2013 and March 2014. A self-administered 75-item HFQOL questionnaire was designed and administrated to 164 multi-ethnic Malaysian HF patients. Exploratory factor analysis was performed to assess the instrument’s construct validity. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were used to determine internal consistency. Results: A total of 33 out of 75 items were retained in the final tool. The HFQOL questionnaire had three common factors—psychological, physical-social and spiritual wellbeing—resulting in a cumulative percentage of total variance of 44.3%. The factor loading ranges were 0.450–0.718 for psychological wellbeing (12 items), 0.394–0.740 for physical-social wellbeing (14 items) and 0.449–0.727 for spiritual wellbeing (seven items). The overall Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of the questionnaire was 0.82, with coefficients of 0.86, 0.88 and 0.79 for the psychological, physical-social and spiritual wellbeing subdomains, respectively. Conclusion: The HFQOL questionnaire was found to be a valid and reliable measure of QOL among Malaysian HF patients from various ethnic groups. Such tools may facilitate cardiac care management planning among multi-ethnic patients with HF. Keywords: Heart Failure; Quality of Life; Culturally Competent Care; Ethnic Groups; Questionnaire Design; Reliability and Validity; Malaysia

Complementary NMR- and MS-based metabolomics approaches reveal the correlations of phytochemicals and biological activities in Phyllanthus acidus leaf extracts

Proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR)- and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS)-based analytical tools are frequently used in metabolomics studies. These complementary metabolomics platforms were applied to identify and quantify the metabolites in Phyllanthus acidus extracted with different ethanol concentrations. In total, 38 metabolites were tentatively identified by 1H NMR and 39 via UHPLC-MS, including 30 compounds are reported for the first time from this plant. The partial least square analysis (PLS) revealed the metabolites that contributed to α-glucosidase and nitric oxide (NO) inhibitory activities, including kaempferol, quercetin, myricetin, phyllanthusol A, phyllanthusol B, chlorogenic, catechin, cinnamic coumaric, caffeic, quinic, citric, ellagic and malic acids. This study shows the significance of combining 1H NMR- and UHPLC-MS-based metabolomics as the best strategies in identifying metabolites in P. acidus extracts and establishing an extract with potent antioxidant, anti-diabetic, and anti-inflammatory properties

Activated Paphia undulate Shells Waste (APSW): A Cost-Effective Catalyst for Biodiesel Synthesis from Rubber and Jatropha curcas Seeds Oil (RSOME & JSOME)

Abstract—The Paphia undulata shell, which is available in abundance, has no any further processing for value-added materials and is commonly discarded as solid waste, was used as solid catalyst in a transesterification reaction to synthesize biodiesel from Rubber and Jatropha curcas seeds oil (RSOME and JSOME). The biodiesel non-vegetable oil feedstock and catalyst were prepared, characterized, activated and analyzed using GC, FESEM, BET, DTA-TGA, XRF and FTIR analysis. The activated Paphia undulata shells waste (APSW) had a maximum surface area of 2.1290 m 2/g, diameters of 17- 3000 Å, pores adsorption and desorption cumulative volume were 0.006841cm 3/g and 0.006928cm 3/g with the pores size of 312.527 Å, and it reflected the composition of 83.99 – 86.25 % calcium oxide, etc. The resulted Rubber and Jatropha seeds oil biodiesel yields of 75.93% and 93.33% were found by the methanol/oil ratio of 6:1, catalyst amount of 4 wt.%, temperature of 60oC and reaction time of 3 hours. The synthesized biodiesels were approved by GC-MS, and its properties fulfills the limitation of specification described by ASTM D6751

Pelatihan Teknik Dasar Kultur Jaringan Tumbuhan

Kegiatan ini bertujuan untuk meningkatkan pengetahuan dan keterampilan mitra pengabdian tentang teknik kultur jaringan tanaman. Kegiatan pelatihan dibagi menjadi 2 sesi yaitu sesi pertama, penyampaian materi tentang konsep dasar kultur jaringan, kebutuhan peralatan dan bahan, media, zat pengatur tumbuh, kondisi lingkungan tumbuh, tahapan kultur jaringan dan macam-macam teknik kultur in vitro. Sesi kedua, praktek teknik kultur jaringan di laboratorium meliputi pengenalan laboratorium,alat dan bahan beserta fungsinya, multiplikasi (perbanyakan) tunas anggrek in vitro, kultur kalus, kultur embrio dan kultur mata tunas dengan sistem single node. Kegiatan pengabdian pelatihan teknik dasar kultur jaringan dapat membantu meningkatkan pengetahuan dan keterampilan peserta tentang kultur jaringan. Hal ini dapat dilihat dari antusiasme peserta selama kegiatan dan meningkatnya persentase pemahaman peserta menjadi 54,5% (tingkat pengetahuan baik), 36,4% peserta dengan tingkat pengetahuan cukup, dan 9,1% peserta dengan tingkat pengetahuan kurang

Measuring Teacher Profession as Career of Choice Among Top Fully Residential School Students

Fully residential schools (FRS) or boarding schools in Malaysia produce quality candidates with towering personalities. This study seeks to explore the choice of career as well as the parents and gender influences on the career as a teacher among top FRS students in Malaysia. A survey design, which is mainly quantitative in nature, was used in this empirical study. A self-designed questionnaire was used in collecting data from 305 participants from three top FRS in Malaysia. This study revealed that only 6.2% of students selected 'teacher' as a career of choice. Other respondents opted for different professions such as medical doctors, engineers, and scientists. Of the students who chose ‘teacher' as their career of choice, 31.6% have one or both parents from a teaching background. The study also found that the influence of gender on the career as a teacher was not significant with t (303) = 0.446, p = 0.656. Several recommendations were made. This study suggests further increasing the FRS students' exposure to the teaching career with the recommendations proposed

Effects of polyculture and monoculture farming in oil palm smallholdings on tropical fruit-feeding butterfly diversity

1 In many developing countries, commercial oil palm farming supports the livelihood of millions of small scale farmers in the rural areas. However, forest conversion into oil palm monocultures has a major impact on tropical biodiversity. In existing oil palm production landscapes, little is known about how different oil palm agricultural practices affect farmland biodiversity, particularly insect biota. 2 We quantified fruit-feeding butterfly species richness and community composition in oil palm areas subject to polyculture and monoculture farming in Peninsular Malaysia. Polyculture smallholdings were predicted to support greater butterfly diversity than monoculture smallholdings because of the greater structural complexity and floristic diversity associated with crop diversity in polyculture smallholdings. 3 We also identified local-scale habitat attributes important for maintaining fruit-feeding butterfly species richness. 4 We found no significant differences in butterfly species richness, abundance and the composition of butterfly assemblages between polyculture and monoculture smallholdings. Local-scale habitat quality explained 32.1% of the variation in fruit-feeding butterfly richness in oil palm smallholdings. 5 We found that polyculture farming failed to increase fruit-feeding butterfly diversity as a result of a limited number of crop species in oil palm smallholdings. To improve current agricultural practices and maintain high levels of butterfly diversity, commercial growers should increase the number of crop species planted in oil palm smallholdings

Fiber optic coupled survey meter for NORM and low-level radioactivity monitoring

Currently existing low-level gamma-ray monitoring and measurement devices in the oil and gas and minerals beneficiations industries have several operational limitations, typically including an inability to be operated in an intrinsically safe mode, restrictions in making remote measurements, and an inability to operate in aqueous or high temperature environments. Herein, characterization is made of an optical fiber system based on a LYSO:Ce scintillator, investigated at dose rates and contamination levels comparable to that in dealing with NORM. The measurements were calibrated against a Geiger Muller (GM) pancake counter. The scintillators produce radioluminescence (RL), propagating in the optical fiber waveguide to the photodetection system, providing real-time, remote and intrinsically safe radiation measurements of NORM and other low-level gamma emissions. The response has been found to be dependent on the orientation of the scintillator axis with respect to the source centre. The LYSO:Ce scintillator has been found to be responsive to naturally radioactive sources, tested using monazite and xenotime offering in-contact dose rates down to 20 μSv/h. The measurements were found to be comparable to that of the GM based measurements, further providing intrinsically safe RL remote capabilities, the study pointing to the potential use of scintillation based optical fiber dosimetry systems for NORM and low gamma-ray level measurement in a variety of industrial scenarios

Low dose and low dose rate radioluminescence dosimetry

Review is provided of a number of low-dose, low dose rate situations that in study require advances in the development of dosimetric facilities. Using a clinical linac set up to provide doses down to the few mGy level, the performance of a real-time radioluminescence system has then been illustrated, accommodating pulsed as well as continuous dose delivery. The system gate times provide for tracking of the pattern of dose delivery, allowing detailed account of dose and dose-rate variations. The system has been tested in both x-ray and electron mode dose delivery