Exposure to indoor air pollutants (formaldehyde, VOCS, ultrafine particles) and respiratory health symptoms among office workers in old and new buildings in Universiti Putra Malaysia

This study was done to investigate the association between exposure to indoor air pollutants (formaldehyde, VOCs and ultrafine particles) and respiratory health in two different buildings (old and new). A hundred and five office workers were purposely selected where 55 workers were from an old administrative building and another 50 workers were from the new Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences buildings. Questionnaire adapted based on NIOSH Indoor Environment Quality Survey (1991) and American Thoracic Society (1982) was used to record prevalence of respiratory health symptoms. Measurement of indoor air pollutants was performed according to IAQ Code of Practice, Department of Occupational Safety and Health, (DOSH, 2005) Malaysia. Level of ultrafine particles was significantly higher in old building compared to new buildings (z = -2.72, p < 0.05). There were no significant associations between old and new office buildings and the prevalence of respiratory health symptoms among office workers (OR = 0.47, 95% CI = 0.21 – 1.05). In the old building, ultrafine particles level had a significant association with the prevalence of respiratory health symptoms which was (p < 0.05) and (OR = 4.57, 95% CI =1.36-15.40). Moreover, respiratory health symptoms were significantly higher for stuffy, runny nose or sinus congestion and dry or itchy skin (p < 0.05). The level of indoor air pollutants in the buildings may influence the prevalence of respiratory health symptoms among office workers. Exposure to high ultrafine particles had a significant association with respiratory health symptoms in the old building

myBas driving cycle for Kuala Terengganu city

Driving cycles are series of data points that represent vehicle speed versus time sequenced profile developed for specific road, route, city or certain location. It is widely utilized in the application of vehicle manufacturers, environmentalists and traffic engineers. Since the vehicles are one of the higher air pollution sources, driving cycle is needed to evaluate the fuel consumption and exhaust emissions. The main objectives in this study are to develop and characterize the driving cycle for myBAS in Kuala Terengganu city using established k-means clustering method and to analyse the fuel consumption and emissions using advanced vehicle simulator (ADVISOR). Operation of myBAS offers 7 trunk routes and one feeder route. The research covered on two operation routes of myBAS which is Kuala Terengganu city-feeder and from Kuala Terengganu to Jeti Merang where the speed-time data is collected using on-board measurement method. In general, driving cycle is made up of a few micro-trips, defined as the trip made between two idling periods. These micro-trips cluster by using the k-means clustering method and matrix laboratory software (MATLAB) is used in developing myBAS driving cycle. Typically, developing the driving cycle based on the real-world in resulting improved the fuel economy and emissions of myBAS

Tuberculous meningitis: neuroimaging features, clinical staging and outcome

Forty-two patients diagnosed with tuberculous meningitis in Kuala Lumpur Hospital based on clinical criteria, cerebrospinal fluid analysis and response to antituberculous treatment over a seven year period were included in this study. Relevant information was obtained from pa-tients’ medical case notes and neuroimaging findings were evaluated. The clinical presentation of pa-tients was staged according to Medical Research Council for tuberculous meningitis. Fisher’s Exact Test was used to determine the correlation between the neuroimaging features, clinical staging and outcome of patients. 52.4% of patients had stage 2 disease, 28.6% stage 3 and the remainder stage1 disease. 95.2% of patients had various neuroimaging abnormalities and only 4.8% had normalneuroimaging findings. The commonest neuroimaging findings were hydrocephalus and meningealenhancement. 47.6% of patients survived without any complication. 23.8% developed morbidity ei-ther with minor or major neurological deficit and 28.6% had died at the end of the study period.Among patients with negative neuroimaging findings, one died and another one survived withoutany complication. Among patients with abnormal neuroimaging findings, 25% developed morbidity,27.5% died and 47.5% survived without complication. The only neuroimaging feature significantlycorrelated with clinical outcome was the presence of hydrocephalus. Therefore, hydrocephalus isimportant in the prognosis of the disease and should be considered an indicator of poor clinical out-come. There was no significant correlation between clinical staging and clinical outcome, nor wasthere a significant correlation between clinical staging and individual neuroimaging feature

Secondary bonding in di-methyl-bis-(morpholine-4-carbodi-thio-ato-κ(2)S,S')tin(IV):crystal structure and Hirshfeld surface analysis

The title compound, [Sn(CH3)2(C5H8NOS2)2], has the Sn(IV) atom bound by two methyl groups which lie over the weaker Sn-S bonds formed by two asymmetrically chelating di-thio-carbamate ligands so that the coordination geometry is skew-trapezoidal bipyramidal. The most prominent feature of the mol-ecular packing are secondary Sn⋯S inter-actions [Sn⋯S = 3.5654 (7) Å] that lead to centrosymmetric dimers. These are connected into a three-dimensional architecture via methyl-ene-C-H⋯S and methyl-C-H⋯O(morpholino) inter-actions. The Sn⋯S inter-actions are clearly evident in the Hirshfeld surface analysis of the title compound along with a number of other inter-molecular contacts