Development and validation of the health belief model questionnaire to promote smoking cessation for nasopharyngeal cancer prevention: a cross-sectional study.

Objective: Lifestyle-induced nasopharyngeal carcinoma is a serious but preventable risk factor. This study serves to develop and validate a questionnaire that aims to predict the health behavioural intention on smoking cessation in Sarawak, Malaysia using the Health Belief Model (HBM).

Design: A cross-sectional study.

Quality of life and challenges experienced by the surviving adults with transfusion dependent thalassaemia in Malaysia: a cross sectional study.

Background: Improvement in medical management has enabled transfusion dependent thalassaemia (TDT) patients to survive beyond childhood, building families, and contributing to the labour force and society. Knowledge about their adult life would provide guidance on how to support their needs. This study aims to explore the general well-being of adults with TDT, their employment status and challenges.

Comparing breastfeeding experiences between mothers spending the traditional Chinese confinement period in a confinement centre and those staying at home: a cohort study.

Background: Ethnic Chinese mothers in Malaysia adhere to 30 days of traditional postpartum practices (the "confinement period") aimed at recuperation after delivery. Recently there has been an emergence of confinement centres (CCs) where mothers stay and receive traditional confinement care. Ethnic Chinese mothers have low breastfeeding rates.

Prevalence and factors associated with prediabetes and diabetes in fishing communities in penang, Malaysia: A cross-sectional study.

Background: Diabetes is a metabolic disorder, characterized by hyperglycemic state of the body. A silent killer, which can take the lives of victims if undiagnosed at the earliest stage. Prediabetes has become an important health concern across countries due to its huge potential for the development of diabetes and other complications.

Assessing Airflow Limitation among Smokers in a Primary Care Setting.

Background: Many smokers have undiagnosed chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and yet screening for COPD is not recommended. Smokers who know that they have airflow limitation are more likely to quit smoking. This study aims to identify the prevalence and predictors of airflow limitation among smokers in primary care.

Molecular analysis of ciprofloxacin resistance among non-typhoidal Salmonella with reduced susceptibility to ciprofloxacin isolated from patients at a tertiary care hospital in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

We investigated the prevalence of non-typhoidal Salmonella (NTS) with "reduced susceptibility to ciprofloxacin" (RS-Cip) (minimum inhibitory concentration [MIC], 0.12-1.0 μg/mL) as well as their resistance genes in 75 NTS isolates (53 from stool, 21 from blood, and 1 from urine) from patients at a tertiary care Malaysian hospital between January and December 2009.

Ceftriaxone resistance and genes encoding extended-spectrum β-lactamase among non-typhoidal Salmonella species from a tertiary care hospital in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The prevalence of ceftriaxone resistance and the associated genes encoding extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) was determined in 149 non-duplicate non-typhoidal Salmonella isolated in 2008-2009 from patients in a tertiary care hospital in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The resistance rate to ceftriaxone was 2.7% (2/74) in 2008, 4.