Prevalence of undernutrition and associated factors in young children in Malaysia: A nationwide survey.

Introduction: Undernutrition in young children is a significant public health problem globally. We determined the prevalence of and factors predisposing to stunting and underweight in children aged 1 to 5 years in Malaysia.

Materials And Methods: Data were extracted from a cross-sectional nationwide campaign involving healthy children aged 1-5 years conducted over a 4-month period in 2019.

Identification of Metabolite Markers Associated with Kidney Function.

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a global public health problem. Identifying new biomarkers that can be used to calculate the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) would greatly improve the diagnosis and understanding of CKD at the molecular level. A metabolomics study of blood samples derived from patients with widely divergent glomerular filtration rates could potentially discover small molecule metabolites associated with varying kidney function.

Reactogenicity of mRNA- and Non-mRNA-Based COVID-19 Vaccines among Lactating Mother and Child Dyads.

The aims of the study are to: (a) Describe the reactogenicity of WHO-approved two mRNA (Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna) and two non-RNA (Oxford-AstraZeneca, Sinovac) vaccines among lactating mother and child pairs, and (b) Compare and contrast the reactogenicity between mRNA and non-mRNA vaccines. A cross-sectional, self-reported survey was conducted amongst 1784 lactating women who received COVID-19 vaccinations. The most common maternal adverse reaction was a local reaction at the injection site, and the largest minority of respondents, 49.

A survey among healthcare professionals from seven countries reported diverse nutritional practices of late preterm infants.

Aim: To gain insight into nutritional practices and expected growth outcomes of infants born between 34 and 36 gestational weeks defined as late preterm infants (LPT).

Methods: An anonymous online survey among paediatricians and neonatologists from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan was conducted from March until October 2020. The questionnaire consisted of 40 questions on the nutritional management and expected growth outcomes of LPT in and after-hospital care.

Does the Choice of Acellular Scaffold and Augmentation With Bone Marrow Aspirate Concentrate Affect Short-term Outcomes in Cartilage Repair? A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Background: Matrix-induced chondrogenesis (MIC) is a promising treatment option for critical-size cartilage lesions of the knee; however, there exists substantial heterogeneity in the choice of acellular scaffold matrix for MIC cartilage repairs.

Hypothesis: The choice of acellular matrix will not affect patient outcomes after MIC cartilage repair procedures, and the addition of concentrated bone marrow aspirate (cBMA) will improve short-term patient outcomes regardless of matrix choice.

Study Design: Meta-analysis; Level of evidence, 4.

Obliquely Deposited Titanium Nitride Nanorod Arrays as Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Substrates.

In this work, titanium nitride (TiN) nanorod arrays were prepared as surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates using glancing angle deposition (GLAD) in a magnetron sputtering system. The nitrogen flow rate was varied from = 1 to 3 sccm, yielding five TiN uniform thin films and five TiN nanorod arrays. The figure of merit (FOM) of each TiN uniform film was measured and compared with the SERS signal of each TiN nanorod array.

Parental concern of feeding difficulty predicts poor growth status in their child.

Background: Parents often express concerns about feeding difficulties in their child. We hypothesized that these parental concerns were associated with adverse growth status in early childhood. We aimed to determine the prevalence of such concerns and whether these concerns were associated with adverse growth status in early childhood.

Social perception in adults with Parkinson's disease.

Objective: Our study assessed how nondemented patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) interpret the affective and mental states of others from spoken language (adopt a "theory of mind") in ecologically valid social contexts. A secondary goal was to examine the relationship between emotion processing, mentalizing, and executive functions in PD during interpersonal communication.

Method: Fifteen adults with PD and 16 healthy adults completed The Awareness of Social Inference Test, a standardized tool comprised of videotaped vignettes of everyday social interactions (McDonald, Flanagan, Rollins, & Kinch, 2003).

Immune response in infants after universal hepatitis B vaccination: a community-based study in Malaysia.

Introduction: This study aimed to assess the immune response in infants who received the three-shot hepatitis B vaccine in Malaysia.

Methods: Consecutive infants born between March 2002 and April 2010 who received three doses of hepatitis B vaccine at a community clinic in Malaysia were enrolled in the study. Screening for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and antibody against HBsAg (anti-HBs) was performed after the completion of primary immunisation, at approximately one year of age.

Polymer electrolytes for lithium/sulfur batteries.

This review evaluates the characteristics and advantages of employing polymer electrolytes in lithium/sulfur (Li/S) batteries. The main highlights of this study constitute detailed information on the advanced developments for solid polymer electrolytes and gel polymer electrolytes, used in the lithium/sulfur battery. This includes an in-depth analysis conducted on the preparation and electrochemical characteristics of the Li/S batteries based on these polymer electrolytes.

Understanding speaker attitudes from prosody by adults with Parkinson's disease.

The ability to interpret vocal (prosodic) cues during social interactions can be disrupted by Parkinson's disease, with notable effects on how emotions are understood from speech. This study investigated whether PD patients who have emotional prosody deficits exhibit further difficulties decoding the attitude of a speaker from prosody. Vocally inflected but semantically nonsensical 'pseudo-utterances' were presented to listener groups with and without PD in two separate rating tasks.

Acoustic markers of sarcasm in Cantonese and English.

The goal of this study was to identify acoustic parameters associated with the expression of sarcasm by Cantonese speakers, and to compare the observed features to similar data on English [Cheang, H. S. and Pell, M.

A study of humour and communicative intention following right hemisphere stroke.

This research provides further data regarding non-literal language comprehension following right hemisphere damage (RHD). To assess the impact of RHD on the processing of non-literal language, ten participants presenting with RHD and ten matched healthy control participants were administered tasks tapping humour appreciation and pragmatic interpretation of non-literal language. Although the RHD participants exhibited a relatively intact ability to interpret humour from jokes, their use of pragmatic knowledge about interpersonal relationships in discourse was significantly reduced, leading to abnormalities in their understanding of communicative intentions (CI).

Susceptibility studies of Malaysian Plasmodium falciparum clones to type II antifolate drugs after 3 years of continuous in vitro culture.

Background: Exposure of Plasmodium falciparum to increasing sublethal drug concentrations followed by drug treatment led to the development of many resistant parasites. Therefore, the susceptibility of these clones to the type II antifolate drugs, cycloguanil and pyrimethamine, before and after subculturing them in vitro for a period of 3 years, was studied.

Methods: Thirty fresh clones were obtained from five different blood samples infected with P.

The impact of Parkinson's disease on vocal-prosodic communication from the perspective of listeners.

An expressive disturbance of speech prosody has long been associated with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD), but little is known about the impact of dysprosody on vocal-prosodic communication from the perspective of listeners. Recordings of healthy adults (n=12) and adults with mild to moderate PD (n=21) were elicited in four speech contexts in which prosody serves a primary function in linguistic or emotive communication (phonemic stress, contrastive stress, sentence mode, and emotional prosody). Twenty independent listeners naive to the disease status of individual speakers then judged the intended meanings conveyed by prosody for tokens recorded in each condition.

Determination of mercury by cold vapor atomic absorption spectrophotometer in Tongkat Ali preparations obtained in Malaysia.

The DCA (Drug Control Authority), Malaysia, has implemented the phase 3 registration of traditional medicines on 1 January 1992, with special emphasis on the quality, efficacy, and safety (including the presence of heavy metals) in all pharmaceutical dosage forms of traditional medicine preparations. As such, a total of 100 products in various pharmaceutical dosage forms of a herbal preparation, containing Tongkat Ali, were analyzed for mercury content using cold vapor atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Results showed that 36% of the above products possessed 0.

Surface characteristics and dissolution behavior of plasma-sprayed hydroxyapatite coating.

One of the most important concerns with the clinical use of plasma-sprayed hydroxyapatite (HA) coatings is the resorption of the coating, and dissolution at neutral pH is one of the two major resorption mechanisms. In this study, highly crystalline pure HA powders were atmospherically plasma sprayed using various parameters. Dissolution of both HA powders and coatings was measured using a calcium ion meter.

Effects of Eurycoma longifolia jack on laevator ani muscle in both uncastrated and testosterone-stimulated castrated intact male rats.

It has been reported that Eurycoma longifolia Jack commonly known as Tongkat Ali has gained notoreity as a symbol of man's ego and strength by the Malaysian men because it increases male virility and sexual prowess during sexual activities. As such, the effects of 200, 400 and 800 mg/kg of butanol, methanol, water and chloroform fractions of E. longifolia Jack were studied on the laevator ani muscle in both uncastrated and testosterone-stimulated castrated intact male rats after dosing them for 12 consecutive weeks.

Effects of Eurycoma longifolia Jack (Tongkat Ali) on the initiation of sexual performance of inexperienced castrated male rats.

We studied the effects of Eurycoma longifolia Jack, commonly known as Tongkat Ali in Malaysia, on the initiation of sexual performance and the weights of sexual accessories in inexperienced castrated male rats. The doses of 200, 400 and 800 mg/kg body weight, which were extracted from E. longifolia Jack, were orally administered to the rats twice daily for 10 days prior to the tests and continued throughout the test period.

Quantitative assessment of Malaysian plasmodium falciparum clones to schizontocidal drugs before and after cryopreservation.

Thirty clones were obtained from five Malaysian Plasmodium falciparum isolates using the limiting dilution method. These clones were then subjected to antimalarial testing using the modified in vitro microtechnique. The results showed that ST 85/B3, GC/C10 and ST 85/A2 clones decreased their susceptibilities to 19, 41 and 28% whilst ST 12/F8, ST 85/B3 and ST 85/B3 clones showed increases of 6, 43 and 21%, respectively, against chloroquine, mefloquine and quinine after cryopreservation.

Studies on the anxiolytic activity of Eurycoma longifolia Jack roots in mice.

The anxiolytic effect of Eurycoma longifolia Jack in mice was examined. Fractions of E. longifolia Jack extract produced a significant increase in the number of squares crossed (controls= 118.

Hyperammonaemia due to Klebsiella infection in a neuropathic bladder.

A boy with a neuropathic bladder and a single hydronephrotic kidney developed hyperammonaemic encephalopathy during a urinary tract infection with Klebsiella oxytoca. Although particularly associated with Proteus infections and prune belly syndrome, hyperammonaemia can complicate infection with any urease-producing bacteria if there is urinary stasis.