Respiratory fit test panel representing population of Malaysia.

Background: The existing respiratory fit test panels (RFTPs) are based on Bivariate and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) which utilise American and Chinese head and facial dimensions. As RFTPs based on local facial anthropometric data for Malaysia are not available, this study was conducted with the aim to develop new RFTPs using Malaysian data.

Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted across Malaysia among 3,324 participants of the study of National Health and Morbidity Survey 2020 aged 18 and above.

The effect of N95 designs on respirator fit and its associations with gender and facial dimensions.

This study examined the association of various brands of NIOSH-certified N95 filtering face-piece respirators (FFR) fit with facial dimensions and gender. One hundred and thirty-five participants (77 females and 58 males) were recruited from the previous facial anthropometry study among Malaysians in 2020. Quantitative respirator fit testing of six FFR were performed using the TSI Portacount Pro+ 8038 which comprised of four exercises (bending over, talking, up-down head movement, and side to side head movement).

Droplet digital PCR application for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in air sample.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) may transmit through airborne route particularly when the aerosol particles remain in enclosed spaces with inadequate ventilation. There has been no standard recommended method of determining the virus in air due to limitations in pre-analytical and technical aspects. Furthermore, the presence of low virus loads in air samples could result in false negatives.

Multidrug-Resistant Species and Their Mobile Genetic Elements from Poultry Farm Environments in Malaysia.

The prevalence and persistent outbreaks of multidrug-resistant (MDR) in low-income countries have received growing attention among the public and scientific community. Notably, the excessive use of antibiotics in chicken feed for the purpose of treatment or as prophylaxis in the poultry industry have led to a rising rate of antimicrobial resistance. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the presence of antimicrobial-resistant species and its mobile genetic elements from soil and effluent samples of 33 randomly selected poultry farms in Selangor, Malaysia.

Prevalence of Antibiotic-Resistant Pathogenic Bacteria and Level of Antibiotic Residues in Hospital Effluents in Selangor, Malaysia: Protocol for a Cross-sectional Study.

Background: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has emerged as a major global public health challenge due to the overuse and misuse of antibiotics for humans and animals. Hospitals are among the major users of antibiotics, thereby having a large contribution to AMR.

Objective: The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant pathogenic bacteria and the level of antibiotic residues in the hospital effluents in Selangor, Malaysia.

Concerns, perceived impact, practices, preventive measures, and stress among healthcare workers during COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia.

Introduction: Healthcare workers (HCWs) have been continually exposed to patients with COVID-19 and are at higher risk of contracting the disease. Their psychological health is important for overall wellbeing and productivity, which could lead to a reduction in human errors during the pandemic crisis. This study aimed to measure the level of concerns, work practices, adequacy of preventive measures among HCWs, and the impacts on their life and work, including mental health status during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia.

Arsenic in drinking water, hair, and prevalence of arsenicosis in Perak, Malaysia.

Arsenic is a carcinogen element that occurs naturally in our environment. Humans can be exposed to arsenic through ingestion, inhalation, and dermal absorption. However, the most significant exposure pathway is oral ingestion.

Head and face anthropometric study for respirators in the multi-ethnic Asian population of Malaysia.

Background: Existing anthropometric studies for respirator designs are based on the head and facial dimensions of Americans and Chinese nationals, with no studies for multi-ethnic countries like Malaysia. This study aimed to create head and facial morphological database for Malaysia, specifically to identify morphological differences between genders, ethnicities, and birthplaces, as well as predictors of the dimensions.

Design: A cross-sectional study.

Resistance towards Critically Important Antimicrobials among and in Poultry Farm Environments in Selangor, Malaysia.

Multidrug resistant (MDR) enterococci pose significant public health challenges. However, the extent of resistance in the environment is less explored. This study aimed to determine the antibiotic resistance in a poultry farm environment.

Compliance to Infection Prevention and Control Practices Among Healthcare Workers During COVID-19 Pandemic in Malaysia.

Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at risk of contracting coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) in their workplace. Infection prevention guidelines and standard operating procedures were introduced to reduce risk of exposure and prevent transmission. Safe practices during interaction with patients with COVID-19 are crucial for infection prevention and control (IPC).

Multidrug-Resistant Gram-Negative Bacteria and Extended-Spectrum β-Lactamase-Producing Klebsiella pneumoniae from the Poultry Farm Environment.

The indiscriminate use and overuse of various antibiotics have caused the rapid emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) in poultry products and the surrounding environment, giving rise to global public health issues. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) Gram-negative bacteria (GNB) found in the environment of poultry farms and to evaluate the risk of contamination in these farms based on multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) index values. Soil and effluent samples were collected from 13 poultry farms.

GIS based interpolation method to urinary metal concentrations in Malaysia.

Recently, there has been an increasing ecological and global public health concern associated with environmental contamination by arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni) and lead (Pb). This study aims to visualize distribution of these heavy metals concentration in urine of 817 Malaysian adults in Malaysia. This cross-sectional study compiled urine samples from October 2017 to March 2018.

Reliability and Accuracy of 2D Photogrammetry: A Comparison With Direct Measurement.

Objective: Facial anthropometric data is important for the design of respirators. Two-dimensional (2D) photogrammetry has replaced direct anthropometric method, but the reliability and accuracy of 2D photogrammetry has not been quantified. This study aimed to assess inter-rater reliability of 2D photogrammetry and to examine the reliability and accuracy of 2D photogrammetry with direct measurement.

Prediction of tuberculosis cases based on sociodemographic and environmental factors in gombak, Selangor, Malaysia: A comparative assessment of multiple linear regression and artificial neural network models.

Background: Early prediction of tuberculosis (TB) cases is very crucial for its prevention and control. This study aims to predict the number of TB cases in Gombak based on sociodemographic and environmental factors.

Methods: The sociodemographic data of 3325 TB cases from January 2013 to December 2017 in Gombak district were collected from the MyTB web and TB Information System database.

Exposure Assessment of methyl mercury from consumption of fish and seafood in Peninsular Malaysia.

The concentration of meHg in freshwater fish and seafood was investigated, as well as the consumption patterns of fish and seafood by different demographic groups (age, ethnicity, gender). A potential alarm for human health hazards was also assessed, and the results were compared to the provisional tolerable weekly intakes (PTWIs) and the hazard quotient parameter (HQ). The results showed that meHg levels of 67 species ranged from 0.

Environment as the risk factor for tuberculosis in Malaysia: a systematic review of the literature.

Objective: To investigate the prevalence and incidence of TB by focusing on its environmental risk factor in Malaysia.

Content: Databases search of Scopus, ScienceDirect, PubMed, Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) Plus, MyJournal, Biblioteca Regional de Medicina (BIREME), BioMed Central (BMC) Public Health, Medline, Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux (CAB), EMBASE (Excerpta Medica dataBASE) OVID, and Web of Science (WoS) was performed, which include the article from 1st January 2008 until 31st August 2018 using medical subject heading (MeSH). Articles initially identified were screened for relevance.

Urinary Concentrations of Metals and Metalloids in Malaysian Adults.

Exposure to environmental pollutants in humans can be conducted through direct measurement of biological media such as blood, urine or hair. Assessment studies of metals and metalloids in Malaysia is very scarce although cross-sectional nationwide human biomonitoring surveys have been established by the USA, Canada, Germany, Spain, France, and Korea. This study aims to assess urinary metal levels namely cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb) and arsenic (As) among Malaysian adults.

Development of a web-geographical information system application for plotting tuberculosis cases.

In the last few decades, public health surveillance has increasingly applied statistical methods to analyze the spatial disease distributions. Nevertheless, contact tracing and follow up control measures for tuberculosis (TB) patients remain challenging because public health officers often lack the programming skills needed to utilize the software appropriately. This study aimed to develop a more user-friendly application by applying the CodeIgniter framework for server development, ArcGIS JavaScript for data display and a web application based on JavaScript and Hypertext Preprocessor to build the server's interface, while a webGIS technology was used for mapping.

Association of sociodemographic and environmental factors with spatial distribution of tuberculosis cases in Gombak, Selangor, Malaysia.

Tuberculosis (TB) cases have increased drastically over the last two decades and it remains as one of the deadliest infectious diseases in Malaysia. This cross-sectional study aimed to establish the spatial distribution of TB cases and its association with the sociodemographic and environmental factors in the Gombak district. The sociodemographic data of 3325 TB cases such as age, gender, race, nationality, country of origin, educational level, employment status, health care worker status, income status, residency, and smoking status from 1st January 2013 to 31st December 2017 in Gombak district were collected from the MyTB web and Tuberculosis Information System (TBIS) database at the Gombak District Health Office and Rawang Health Clinic.

Air pollution and cardiorespiratory hospitalization, predictive modeling, and analysis using artificial intelligence techniques.

Air pollution has a serious and adverse effect on human health, and it has become a risk to human welfare and health throughout the globe. One of the major effects of air pollution on health is hospitalizations associated with air pollution. Recently, the estimation and prediction of air pollution-based hospitalization is carried out using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) techniques, i.

Source of cigarettes among youth smokers in Malaysia: Findings from the tobacco and e-cigarette survey among Malaysian school adolescents (TECMA).

Introduction: Understanding how and where youth obtain tobacco products are major factors in the development of suitable intervention programs to reduce youth smoking. This study aimed to determine the source of cigarettes and the associated factors among Malaysian school adolescent smokers.

Methods: Our sample consisted of 1348 youth aged 10-17 years who were current smokers (having smoked at least once in the last 30 days).

Demographic, socio-economic and behavior as risk factors of tuberculosis in Malaysia: a systematic review of the literature.

Background Tuberculosis (TB) is making a comeback and has remained one of the main causes of mortality among the list of infectious diseases in Malaysia. Objective To evaluate the burden and demographic, socio-economic and behavior as risk factors of TB among communities in Malaysia. Method A comprehensive search of Scopus, Sciencedirect, PubMed, DOAJ, CINAHL Plus, MyJournal, BIREME, BMC Public Health, Medline, CAB, EMBASE (Excerpta Medica dataBASE), and Web of Science (WoS) was undertaken from the articles published from 1st January 2008 to 31st December 2017 using medical subject heading (MeSH) key terms.

DETECTION OF BURKHOLDERIA PSEUDOMALLEI FROM POST-FLOOD SOIL SAMPLES IN KELANTAN, MALAYSIA.

Burkholderia pseudomallei is an important causative organism of fatal community bacteremia especially in Southeast Asia and northern Australia. Outbreaks of melioidosis have been reported post-floods and -typhoons. A cross sectional study was conducted in January 2015, following a major flood in Kelantan, Malaysia to detect presence of B.

Fish consumption pattern among adults of different ethnics in Peninsular Malaysia.

Background: Understanding different patterns of fish consumption is an important component for risk assessment of contaminants in fish. A few studies on food consumption had been conducted in Malaysia, but none of them focused specifically on fish consumption. The objectives of this study were to document the meal pattern among three major ethnics in Malaysia with respect to fish/seafood consumption, identify most frequently consumed fish and cooking method, and examine the influence of demographic factors on pattern of fish consumption among study subjects.

Workplace injuries and risk reduction practices in Malaysia.

Introduction: This study on workplace injuries and risk reduction practices was part of the Malaysia National Health Morbidity Survey III (NHMS III) conducted in 2006.

Methods: This cross-sectional population-based survey was conducted to determine the incidence of workplaces injuries and assess the magnitude of some important risk reduction practices among workers. Data were gathered through face-to-face household interviews using a pre-coded questionnaire.