About Me

The current study aimed to investigate angiopoietin-like protein 4 (ANGPTL4) and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) protein expression in breast tissue from young patients with breast carcinoma. Both proteins were expressed in the majority of cases. The highest frequency of positive ANGPTL4 and IGF-1 expression was observed in the luminal A subtype, whereas the HER2-overexpression subtype exhibited the lowest expression frequency for both proteins. There was no significant association between ANGPTL4 (p = 0.897) and IGF-1 (p = 0.091) expression and molecular subtypes of breast carcinoma. The histological grade was a significant predictor of ANGPTL4 expression (grade 1 vs. grade 3, adjusted odds ratio = 12.39, p = 0.040). Therefore, ANGPTL-4 and IGF-1 expressions are common in young breast carcinoma tissue. (Read more….)

This study aims to investigate the reliability of the Dräger Jaundice Meter JM-105 for the screening of neonatal jaundice in Malay neonates. The mean total serum bilirubin (TSB) was 232 μmol/L, whereas the mean transcutaneous bilirubin (TcB) measured at the forehead and sternum were 222 μmol/L and 223 μmol/L, respectively. Further, TcB underestimates TSB with a mean difference of 10.10 μmol/L at the forehead and 9.27 μmol/L at the sternum. A positive linear relationship was observed between TSB with TcB forehead (r = 0.82) and TcB sternum (r = 0.80). A good discriminations ability was observed for both the TcB forehead (receiver operating characteristics [ROC] curve = 89.8%) and sternum (ROC curve = 89.7%) at a TSB level of 205 μmol/L. The sensitivity ranges from 84.4% to 85.3%, while the specificity ranges from 77.4% to 76.4%. (read more….)

 In this study, we aimed to determine the efficacy of a program to reduce CRBSI at the Universiti Sains Malaysia Hospital in Kelantan Malaysia to determine the program’s potential for application to other hospitals in Malaysia. Prior to the intervention, 1037 patients had a CVC placed at the study institution of whom 72 (6.94%) developed a CRBSI. After the intervention, 925 patients had a CVC placed of whom 54 (5.83%) developed a CRBSI. There was no significant decrease in the incidence of CRBSI after the intervention (odds ratio = 0.83, 95% confidence interval: 0.58-1.20; p = 0.319). Staphylococcus aureus, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), was the most common Gram-positive organism isolated during the pre-intervention (33.3%, n = 24) and post-intervention (22.2%, n = 12) periods. Klebsiella pneumoniae, including the ESBL strain, was the most common Gram-negative organism isolated during the pre-intervention (7%, n = 5) and post-intervention (9.3%, n = 5) periods. Cloxacillin was the commonest antibiotic used during the pre-intervention period and ceftazidime was the most common antibiotic used during the post-intervention period. (Read more…..)

We aimed to study the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and the factors associated with metabolic syndrome among obese children. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome among children with obesity was 56%(95% CI: 48.6 to 63.4%), with a mean age of 11.3±2.73 years. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed age [adjusted odds ratio (OR) 1.27, 95% CI: 1.15 to 1.45] and sedentary lifestyle (adjusted OR 3.57, 95% CI: 1.48 to 8.59) were the significant factors associated with metabolic syndrome among obese children. (Read more….)

Malaysia has the third highest crude mortality rates of bladder cancer within Southeast Asia. We aimed to identify the prognostic factors for bladder cancer patients in Malaysia. Identified prognostic factors of 1828 analyzed patients were age groups, ethnicity, morphology, stage, and surgery. As compared to patients aged 15–44, the adjusted Hazard Ratio for those aged 45–54, 55–64, 65–74, and ≥75 were 1.59, 1.87, 2.46, and 3.47, respectively. Malay and other ethnic groups had 1.22- and 1.40-times the risk of death compared to Chinese. Patients with squamous cell carcinoma were at 1.47-times the hazard of death compared to urothelial carcinoma patients. Stages II, III and IV patients had 2.20-, 2.98-, and 4.12-times the risk of death as compared to stage I. Patients who did not receive surgery were at 50% increased hazard of death. (Read more….)

The present study aimed at validating the Malay-language version of the Behavioural Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire (BREQ-3M) using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The initial measurement models tested did not result in a good fit for the data. Subsequent examination of the CFA results suggested some modifications, including adding correlations between the item residuals within the same subscale and deletion of identified regulation. These modifications resulted in good fit indices (Root Mean Square Error of Approximation, RMSEA = 0.049; Comparative Fit Index, CFI = 0.949; Tucker-Lewis Index, TLI = 0.938; Standardised Root Mean Square Residual, SRMR = 0.049). The final measurement model comprised 20 items and had significant factor loadings of more than 0.50, ranging from 0.580 to 0.868. The composite reliability ranged between 0.746–0.841 for the five-factor model. (Read more…..)

This study aimed to measure medical students’ perceptions of the anatomy education environment and determine its association with their learning approaches. Results revealed that the students’ perceptions of all the factors in the anatomy education environment were positive except for two areas—the anatomy learning resources and quality of histology learning facilities. The majority of students in the first year (62.3%) and second year (43.7%) adopted a deep learning approach. There was no significant association between most of the factors in the anatomy education environment and the students’ learning approaches, except for the students’ intrinsic interest in learning anatomy factor (p = 0.032). (Read more…)

This study aims to investigate the factors affecting negative work-related outcomes and resilience with a hypothetical triad of support as the mediators: colleague, supervisor, and institutional support. Four multiple mediator models of the support triad were analyzed. Second-victim distress, professional efficacy, and the support triad contributed significantly in all the regression models. Colleague support partially mediated the relationship defining the effects of professional efficacy on negative work-related outcomes and resilience, whereas colleague and supervisor support partially mediated the effects of second-victim distress on negative work-related outcomes. Similar results were found regarding resilience, with all support triads producing similar results. (Read more…)

 This study aims to identify the rate and cost of redundant test requests in our centre. Equal distribution of RFT and LFT requestswere observed in both genders (50% respectively), with the most requests seen in the 60 – 79 years age group. More than 20% redundancy rate was observed for seven analytes (ALT, total bilirubin, sodium, urea, potassium, AST, Chloride), and overall redundancy was 19.7%, equals to Malaysian Ringgit (MYR) 669,105.00. Oncology wards and genitourinary diseases contribute to the highest redundancy rate. (Read more…..)

We conducted this study to estimate the prevalence of complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) usage among allergic rhinitis (AR) patients in Malaysia and understand the practice of CAM usage among them. We also included a literature review on the commonly used CAM for AR. 372 patients were enrolled in this study consisting of 217 (58.3%) female and 155 (41.7%) male patients. 231 (62.1%) participants had used CAM for AR in the past 10 years. A higher proportion of females (p = 0.015) and those with higher income (p = 0.004) had used CAM. Among the users, 87.9% found CAM to be effective. No differences were found in terms of age (p = 0.888) and education level (p = 0.057) for CAM usage. (Read more…)

The Revised Second Victim Experience and Support Tool (SVEST-R) is a crucial instrument acknowledged worldwide for the assessment of the second victim phenomenon in healthcare facilities. Hence, the aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Malay version of the SVEST-R. The final model agreed for 7 factors and 32 items per the CFA’s guidelines for good model fit. The internal consistency was determined using Raykov’s rho and showed good results, ranging from 0.77 to 0.93, with a total rho of 0.83. The M-SVEST-R demonstrated excellent psychometric properties and adequate validity and reliability. (Read more…..)

This study aims to determine the 5-year visual field progression and identify the prognostic factors for progression in Malay patients with primary glaucoma. Sixty-three patients (28.4%) developed visual field progression after a mean (SD) follow-up of 6.9 (3.3) years. Those with POAG progressed faster (mean time, 10.6 years; 95% confidence interval [CI], 9.3, 11.9) than those with PACG (17.3 years; 95% CI, 14.8, 19.9) but not statistically significant. Disc hemorrhage and history of eye pain increased the risk of progression by 2.8-folds (95% CI, 1.6, 4.8) and 2.5-folds (1.4, 4.4), respectively. (Read more….)