Prevalence and risk factors associated with food insecurity among post-flood victims in Bera District, Pahang Malaysia / Nor Azizah Mohamed

Previous studies indicate the increment of food insecurity in Malaysia and it might be affect Malaysian nutritional and health status. This cross-sectional study determined the prevalence of food insecurity and examined the risk factors that contribute to the food insecure among the post flood victims in Bera district, Pahang Malaysia. Convenience sampling was applied and 210 households participated in this study. Household food security scales, chi-square and logistic regression were utilized to determined percentage of food insecure among flood victims and determined of factors associated with household food insecurity respectively. This study reported prevalence of food insecurity after flood at Bera district, Pahang Malaysia are 11.9% by using Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) while 34.9% by using Household Food Security Survey Module (HFSSM) tools. Logistic regression indicates the risk factors that associated with household food insecure among post flood victims are home damage, large household composition, and unaffordable food prices which 0.446, 1.18 and 5.94 times tend to food insecure respectively. Thus, this finding provide guidance on how to build more sustainable, resilient communities that immune to food security crisis over the long term and help government to plan proper policy regarding food security during flood. Keywords: Flood, Food insecurity, household, prevalence, Malaysi

Construction waste management: preparedness towards the 4th Industrial Revolution / Jannatun Naemah Ismam, Nurulanis Ahmad @ Mohamed and Nor Azizah Talkis

Construction waste management (CWM) has progressively improved in a few years, especially in the reduction of waste generated on site and less waste disposal to the landfill. However, there are still a few constraints in operating the waste through the 4R’s concept efficiently. The 4th Industrial Revolution has slowly assimilated into stakeholder engagement in many businesses from various perspectives. The CWM is one of the perspectives in the construction industry that needs emergent response to these evolving trends. Intensive literature review has identified several factors that must be considered by construction practitioners in CWM, mainly for achieving the 4th Industrial Revolution. Furthermore, several technologies applied in different developed countries are reviewed, particularly to explore waste management technology through the 4R’s concept (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Remove). This paper has discovered adaptability, the robustness of the technology and accessibility as factors that need to be considered in introducing technology in CWM. The findings give direction to technologists from the public or private organizations in developing proper guidelines of CWM

A review on medical image segmentation: techniques and its efficiency

Image segmentation is the procedure of separating an image into significant areas based on similarity or heterogeneity measures and it is widely used in many fields that involve digital imaging including the medical field. Medical images from Computed Tomography, Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Mammogram require a proper segmentation technique to decompose the images into parts for further analysis. However, a standard methodology for any type of medical image segmentation is yet to be developed. The current image segmentation techniques and its efficiency will be evaluated in order to discover the technique that is most appropriate to be used for medical image segmentation. Researches carried out on image segmentation techniques between the periods of 2000 to 2016 are analysed and examined. This study specifically compares the techniques by analysing the performance of each algorithm on breast cancer modalities

Drug-drug interaction-related uncontrolled glycemia

Context: The literature of drug-drug interaction (DDI)-related uncontrolled causality, and preventability of DDI-induced UCG (HbA1c >7%) in outpatients glycemia (UCG) among outpatients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus is still limited. Aims: The aim of this study is to identify the prevalence, mechanism, severity, with Type 2 diabetes. Settings and Design: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Penang General Hospital. Methods: A computerized system for DDI checking was used to assess the severity and mechanism of DDIs. Drug interaction probability scale was used to evaluate the likelihood of DDIs. Preventability of DDIs has been determined by the instrument of Hallas. The UCG prevalence related to DDIs was further assessed. Statistical Analysis Used: SPSS 21.00 was used in this study. Results: From 425 outpatients with HbA1c% test, their mean age was 58.7 ± 12.8 years. Only 225 (52.9%) cases had controlled glycemia while 200 (47.1%) cases with UCG. They had multiple comorbidities, with a mean number of 3.8 ± 2.2/patient and often prescribed with multiple medications, with a mean number of 6.33 ± 4.67/patient. It has been detected that 86 DDIs causing UCG in 46 patients (23%) with range of (1-4) DDIs per patient. Drugs with DDI-induced UCG were as follows: diuretics (79%), salbutamol (9.2%), cortisones (5.8%), and others (6%). The majority of these DDIs were categorized as possible (77.9%) and preventable (37%). Conclusion: Nearly one-quarter of UCG was induced by DDIs; most of these DDIs are possible, and more than one-third are preventable. It was concluded that thiazide diuretics have the highest prevalence of DDI-related UCG

Prevention of electricity theft using distribution board remote switch control (DBRSC)

One of a major problem in many developing countries is electricity theft. In Malaysia, the most common forms of stealing electricity are tapping electricity directly from the distribution feeder and manipulating the meter reading via tampering. Refuse to pay bills also one of the problem contributors. Many electric utilities face this problems, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) as the largest electric utility in Malaysia, is no exception. To counter the power theft problem, disconnecting the offenders’ electric supply is a popular approach attempted by TNB for many years. However, this has caused a lot of hazardous events such as injury and potentially loss of life. Therefore, in this paper, a more practical and safer solution is proposed to counter this issue, in which a Distribution Board Remote Switch Control (DBRSC) control approach is proposed. To design this DBRSC, an Arduino Uno microprocessor was used to communicate with an MIT V3 smartphone app using MIT App Inventor Software. From the experimental test, it has been found that the proposed DBRSC unit has been successfully designed, developed, and functioning well in disconnecting and reconnecting the electrical supply remotely. This DBRSC also has been proven works well for both single and three-phase distribution systems. It is therefore, as implication, TNB’s technicians able to cut the electricity connection of the electricity thefts’ premises and houses easier and safer as the electrical connection can be switched off/on from the installed DBRSC on the substation posts on the streets

A psychologist-led educational intervention results in a sustained reduction in neonatal intensive care unit infections

Even though in the corporateworld psychological science has been widely used, the formal use of evidence-based psychology in important areas of clinical medicine has been scanty at best. It was the aim of this study to determine the efficacy of a psychologist-led 2-week nurse educator training on the infection rate in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Materials and methods: In 2007, six senior neonatal nurses underwent a training course focusing on the retrieval of evidence and knowledge of psychological principles that would allow them to share the evidence in such a way that evidence is effectively brought into practice.The course was led by a psychologist.The nurses created and delivered their own teaching modules, all focused on infection control. The rates of bacteremia, 2 years prior to intervention were analyzed and compared with the rate following the intervention for 3 years

A review on unmanned aerial vehicle for high altitude visual inspection

The unmanned aerial vehicle (uav) uav is an operation aircraft with no pilot on board. Basically, uav operates more flexible, and observable compared to ground approaches or other aerial methods which is airplanes and satellites for high altitude visual inspection purposed. This paper provides a review by studying significant research works on unmanned aerial vehicle for high altitude visual inspection. In particular, the working principle of uav, related works on the uav system for visual inspection using quadcopter and related works on the quadcopter performance are briefly described in this paper. Further research based on reviewed works will be conducted to improve previous experimental work

Socio-demographic, cognitive status and comorbidity determinants of catastrophic health expenditure among elderly in Malaysia

An ageing population has a significant impact in terms of health care costs to the elderly, their families and societies. The elderly consume a greater volume of health care facilities and bear out-of-pocket (OOP) health expenditure for their age-related diseases (ARD) physically or mentally. The most common ARD that relates to cognitive functions is mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia. The purpose of this study was to examine the socio-demographic, cognitive status and comorbidities and hospital utilisation factors that affect the likelihood of catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) among the elderly in Malaysia. A survey using multi-stage random sampling techniques recruited 2274 elderly people (60 years and above) in Johor, Perak, Selangor and Kelantan. Overall, the incidence of CHE among the elderly is 2% and the highest is in the MCI category at 2.4%. Based on logistic regression analysis, the results suggest that CHE among elderly in Malaysia are affected by socio-demographic indicators at a 5% significance level. Among the comorbidities that we studied, cancer is the only comorbidity that influenced CHE among elderly. Findings from this study should prompt policy action to financially support the poor elderly who are at risk of CHE in Malaysia especially those with MCI and dementia