Sensitivity analysis for water quality index (WQI) prediction for Kinta River, Malaysia

Water quality index (WQI) serves as the basis for environment assessment of watercourse in relation to pollution load categorization and designation of classes and beneficial uses as provided by Interim National Water Quality Standards (INWQS) in Malaysia. This index is calculated based on six parameters DO, BOD, COD, pH, NH -NL and SS. This research was need as it will give the preliminary judgement on the importance 3 of each water quality parameter for WQI calculation at the Kinta River, Malaysia. This study revealed the used of sensitivity analysis based on ANN to evaluate the significant of each parameter for WQI determination. Sensitivity analysis was carried out for seven models (ANN-WQI-AP, ANN-WQI-LDO, ANN-WQI-LBOD, ANN-WQI-LCOD, ANN-WQI-LpH and ANN-WQI-LNH -NL) and a model performance criterion (R , RMSE and 3 2 SSE) was used for model performance evaluation. DO, SS and NH -NL were selected as the best input models 3 for WQI prediction. The ANN-WQI-LDO, ANN-WQI-LSS and ANN-WQI-LNH -NL model have R values of 3 2 0.8301, 0.9265 and 0.9369 respectively; RMSE values of 4.888, 3.214 and 2.978 respectively; SSE values of 3106.534, 1343.286 and 1152.902 respectively. The low R2 values and higher RMSE and SSE value compared to the ANN-WQI-AP model suggest the importance of these three parameters significantly affect the fitness and residual measurement of the ANN models in WQI prediction. The result also suggests that water quality of Kinta River was affected by agricultural activities and vicinity animal farm. Moreover the use of less parameter for WQI is much more applicable for our water resource management since its time and cost consuming

Clinical performance of reverse transcription loop mediated isothermal amplification COVID-19 assay on gold- nanoparticle-modified screen-printed Carbon Electrode using differential pulse voltammetry

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) as the gold standard for coronavirus disease detection. In this study, we aim to validate the clinical performance of reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) assay on gold-nanoparticle-modified screen-printed carbon electrode (AuNP/SPCE) using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and to compare it with real-time RT-PCR. The shape of the electrodeposited AuNP on SPCE was quasi-spherical with a size of ±500 nm. The developed RT-LAMP primer was designed from the GenBank database using the NCBI Multiple Alignment tools and Jalview software. Nasopharyngeal clinical samples were obtained from suspected COVID-19 patients (n = 148). The RT-LAMP products were dropped on the modified AuNP/SPCE under DPV setting, which resulted in current change (∆I) responses. The positive and negative samples produced significantly different ∆I signals with a p-value <0.0001 at a 95% confidence interval using Student’s t-test. The RT-LAMP assay using Au/SPCE exhibited a 30 s response time per analysis. The clinical sensitivity and specificity obtained were 79.7% and 85.1%, respectively, with a detection limit of 0.4 copies µl−1. Hence, this proposed method is suitable for COVID-19 RNA detection in resource-limited settings

Consumption of water from ex-mining ponds in Klang Valley and Melaka, Malaysia: A health risk study

Evaluation of health risks due to heavy metals exposure via drinking water from ex-mining ponds in Klang Valley and Melaka has been conducted. Measurements of As, Cd, Pb, Mn, Fe, Na, Mg, Ca, and dissolved oxygen, pH, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solid, ammoniacal nitrogen, total suspended solid, biological oxygen demand were collected from 12 ex-mining ponds and 9 non-ex-mining lakes. Exploratory analysis identified As, Cd, and Pb as the most representative water quality parameters in the studied areas. The metal exposures were simulated using Monte Carlo methods and the associated health risks were estimated at 95th and 99th percentile. The results revealed that As was the major risk factor which might have originated from the previous mining activity. For Klang Valley, adults that ingested water from those ponds are at both non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks, while children are vulnerable to non-carcinogenic risk; for Melaka, only children are vulnerable to As complications. However, dermal exposure showed no potential health consequences on both adult and children groups

Periodontal disease in children and adolescent with diabetes mellitus

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is the major risk factor for periodontal disease (PD). PD includes a spectrum of disorders ranging from gingivitis to periodontitis. If undetected and left untreated the disease can lead to early tooth loss. Assessing PD health is beneficial for keeping good oral health, which affects on glycemic control of the children and adolescent with DM. Objectives: To evaluate the periodontal health status of Malaysian diabetic children and adolescents compared to healthy controls. Methods: Periodontal health related parameters were clinically assessed in 32 children and adolescents (10-19 years of age) with diabetes and 32 non-diabetic control subjects. Age, gender, Body Mass Index (BMI), CDC percentiles and smoking status matching were done and purposive sampling was applied. HbA1C (%) results within 3-6 months before oral health assessment was used to define glycemic control status of the subjects. A cross analysis and Independent sample-t test were applied to infer periodontal health status difference between cases and controls. Results: Most of the cases were Type-1 DM (68.8%) and diagnosed less than five years (68.2%). The cases had manifested an increased gingival inflammation and calculus significantly compared to controls. Regarding PD health assessment; clinical attachment loss (CAL), gingival index (GI), Modified Turesky Quigley Hein plaque index (TQHI) and bleeding on probing (BOP) were not significantly different between cases and controls except for probing pocket depth (PPD); mean of (SE) (1.81±0.13) compared to controls (1.65 ±0.06). Higher mean of (SE) GI (0.9±0.82) were also noticed among cases than those of (0.8±0.11) controls. Conclusion: Periodontal screening & prevention programs at early age for DM children and adolescent should be considered for both oral health and glycemic controls. A further study with controlling; Insulin treatment, types of DM, DM duration, and oral hygiene practice and dietary habits should be conducted for more valid results. Key words: Periodontitis, Periodontal disease, Diabetes mellitus, Children, adolescen

Periodontal diseases in children and adolescent with diabetes mellitus

The periodontal health status of diabetic children and adolescent was evaluated in this case-control study. 64 subjects were included. Mean age (SD) of the cases and controls were 13.72(2.8) and 13.53(2.5) years. Four periodontal parameters were assessed. HbA1c (%) level within 3 to 6 months prior to check-up was used to defined subjects glycaemic control status. Analysis was done using IBM-SPSS 21. 96.8% of cases have periodontal disease. Probing pocket depth showed significantly deeper mean compared to controls. Higher mean of gingival index were also noticed among the cases. Periodontal screening could be recommended for DM children and adolescent in prevention of severe periodontal disease