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This research aimed to assess the knowledge and awareness of healthcare providers about perinatal depression and the factors associated with it. Methodology: A quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted on Maternal and Child Health (MCH) clinics in Kuantan, Pahang. 220 healthcare practitioners (HCPs) completed the survey, which consisted of 20 items and 13 items for knowledge and awareness, respectively. Results: The participants' mean knowledge and awareness scores were 9.47 and 44.78, respectively. The results showed low level of knowledge and moderate awareness on perinatal depression (PND) among the HCPs. Medical doctors and single-respondents had a higher mean knowledge score on PND (P

Solid waste management is a growing challenge to many countries. The implications of poorly managed waste on health are numerous. Improper waste management serve as the breeding places for many vectors resulting in proliferation of vector-borne diseases. This article highlights the impact of improper solid waste management on the public health and the increase risk of vector-borne diseases.

Novel coronavirus (COVID-19) was discovered in Wuhan, China in December 2019, and has affected millions of lives worldwide. On 29th April 2020, Malaysia reported more than 5,000 COVID-19 cases; the second highest in the Southeast Asian region after Singapore. Recently, a forecasting model was developed to measure and predict COVID-19 cases in Malaysia on daily basis for the next 10 days using previously-confirmed cases. A Recurrent Forecasting-Singular Spectrum Analysis (RF-SSA) is proposed by establishing L and ET parameters via several tests. The advantage of using this forecasting model is it would discriminate noise in a time series trend and produce significant forecasting results. The RF-SSA model assessment was based on the official COVID-19 data released by the World Health Organization (WHO) to predict daily confirmed cases between 30th April and 31st May, 2020. These results revealed that parameter L = 5 (T/20) for the RF-SSA model was indeed suitable for short-time series outbreak data, while the appropriate number of eigentriples was integral as it influenced the forecasting results. Evidently, the RF-SSA had over-forecasted the cases by 0.36%. This signifies the competence of RF-SSA in predicting the impending number of COVID-19 cases. Nonetheless, an enhanced RF-SSA algorithm should be developed for higher effectivity of capturing any extreme data changes.

INTRODUCTION: There is a wide range of antenatal mental disorder prevalence, including depression, anxiety and worry across countries. Studies to determine the association between sociodemographic factors, social support and antenatal mental health disorders have since produced inconsistent results. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and factors associated with antenatal anxiety, worry and depression among pregnant women. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 262 women who attended the antenatal clinic at any of the four. Mother and Child Health clinics in Kuantan, Pahang participated in this cross-sectional study. The social support, depression, anxiety and worry were measured using the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), State-trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and Cambridge Worry Scale (CWS), respectively. RESULTS: Of these women, 20.2% had depressive symptoms, 22.5% had antenatal anxiety, and 79% had antenatal anxiety. Women with lower education background were at risk of antenatal depression whereas working and first-time mothers were at risk of experiencing worry in pregnancy. This study has proven that social support plays a significant role in alleviating worry during pregnancy. CONCLUSION: Considering that the high level of worry in pregnancy could result in negative pregnancy outcomes and postnatal depression, there should be a screening tool used to measure psychological wellbeing of the pregnant mother within the clinical practice. The element of social support should be included in the intervention targeting women with lower educational level, primiparous and working mothers.

Refurbishments of the ship’s external and internal structures are the main scopes of a refit program. These activities may affect the indoor air quality (IAQ) inside ships and increase the indoor air pollutants (IAP) concentrations onboard. Therefore, continuous IAQ monitoring is needed to determine IAP exposure to the ship’s crew. This study evaluates the changes in IAQ conditions inside a naval ship over a two-time interval to determine the effect of compliance with the recommended engineering control measures proposed in the first assessment. Following the standard of the Industry Code of Practice on Indoor Air Quality 2010 (ICOP on IAQ 2010), seven IAQ parameters (temperature, relative humidity (RH), carbon dioxide (CO2), respirable particulates/particulate matter (PM10), total volatile organic compounds (TVOC), bacterial count, and fungal count) were measured in two assessment phases. The first phase was conducted after the ship completed the refit program, and the second phase began three months later, following the execution of the recommended engineering control measures. According to the findings of this study, all IAQ parameters improved when compared to the first phase assessment. However, some of the readings were still non-compliance with the standards of ICOP on IAQ 2010. In conclusion, the ship’s IAQ parameters were improved following the recommended engineering control measures, although more enhanced approaches were required to ensure all parameters complied with the ICOP on IAQ 2010.

Introduction: Altered weather patterns and changes in precipitation, temperature and humidity resulting from climate change could affect the distribution and incidence of cholera. This study is to quantify climate-induced increase in morbidity rates of cholera. Material and Methods: Monthly cholera cases and monthly temperature, precipitation, and relative humidity data from 2004 to 2014 were obtained from the Malaysian Ministry of Health and Malaysian Meteorological Department, respectively. Poisson generalized linear models were developed to quantify the relationship between meteorological parameters and the number of reported cholera cases. Results: The findings revealed that the total number of cholera cases in Malaysia during the 11 year study period was 3841 cases with 32 deaths. Out of these, 45.1% of the cases were among children below 12 years old and 75% of the cases were from Sabah. Temperature and precipitation gave significant impact on the cholera cases in Sabah, (p

The widespread transmission of the new coronavirus disease COVID-19 has caused great psychological distress across diverse populations in many countries. Antenatal women are at greater risk of emotional instability and vulnerability due to hormonal changes, and multiple maternal roles. This paper aims to determine the common types of psychological distress and potential interventions amongst antenatal women during COVID19 outbreak. This review was conducted as a rapid review in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar databases were searched using keywords namely “novel coronavirus”, “COVID-19”, “nCoV”, “maternal mental health”, “pregnant”, “psychology”, “anxiety”, “depression” and “stress” in various permutations and combinations. A total of five papers were included in the final analysis. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the selected papers. Findings from the papers reviewed showed that COVID-19 has independently increased the prevalence of psychological distress among antenatal mothers. The most common types of distress were anxiety (57%- 83.3%), followed by worry (50.7%) and depression (34.2-37%). The distress experienced by the antenatal women with COVID-19 was found to be associated with suicidal thought. Social support, psychological hotlines, and online counselling have been suggested to alleviate the symptoms of mental distress among antenatal women. The COVID-19 pandemic has independently caused psychological distress among antenatal women to rise. Maternal mental health should be prioritised during the pandemic, and mental support should be made available and accessible during and after the COVID-19 outbreak in ensuring the ongoing provision of mental health services.

Introduction: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is an insidious sleep breathing disorder, with cardinal manifestations of snoring, witnessed breathing pause during sleep and excessive daytime sleepiness. The aim of the study was to estimate the prevalence of OSA and its associated factors among adult population in Taman Dato’ Rashid Salleh, Kuantan. Materials and method: A cross-sectional study was carried out among 157 participants who lived in Taman Dato’ Rashid Salleh from May 2018 to June 2018. Obstructive sleep apnea was quantified using the self-administered Malaynvalidated Berlin questionnaire which apart from the demographic data included three categories (10 questions) designed to elicit information regarding snoring (category 1), daytime somnolence (category 2) and the presence of obesity and/or hypertension (category 3). The respondents were considered as high risk of OSA if two or more categories were positive. Weight, height and neck circumference were measured by using Secca© weight scales, Secca© stadiometer and non-elastic plastic tape, respectively. Descriptive statistics was used to measure the prevalence, while chi-square test was used to explore the association of OSA and its background variables. Results: Out of 157 respondents, female and Malay were dominant with the 56.7% and 91.0 %, respectively. The mean age of the respondents was 36.7 (12.2) years old. The prevalence of high risk of OSA in was 18.5%. There was no association between gender, age, race, smoking and neck circumference with risk of OSA while Body Mass Index (BMI) and hypertension were significantly related to an increased risk for developing OSA (p-value < 0.001 and p=0.001, respectively). Conclusions: Two in every 10 adults in Taman Dato’ Rashid Salleh, Kuantan were at high risk of OSA. It is recommended that appropriate health promotion should be targeted to this community to instill awareness and increase the level of understanding of the public on OSA.

Introduction: Sleep is one of the important needs in human life and good quality of sleep among adult population reduced the risk factor for adverse health outcome. This study aimed to determine the quality of sleep and its related factors among adult population in an urban area of Pahang. Materials and Methods: Cross sectional study was done on a selected urban housing area in Pahang. Participants were adult population, aged more than 18 years old (observation unit) in selected houses (n=180). Measurements obtained via the questionnaire include respondents’ socio-demographic, co-morbidity, smoking status, physical activity, monthly household income and caffeinated drinks consumed. Sleep quality was measured using the validated Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Results: A total of 145 respondents (response rate 81%) were available for data analysis. The prevalence of good sleeper (60%) was more than poor sleeper. Adjusted logistic regression showed that only those who did not take caffeinated drinks in the past one week had higher chance of having good quality of sleep as compared to those who take (OR=3.6, p=0.048). No other significant relationship was seen between quality of sleep and socio-demographic characteristics, exercise or co-morbid history. Conclusion: Majority of adult population in this selected urban area in Pahang have good quality of sleep and result showed significant relationship between quality of sleep with not taking caffeinated drinks, but not other factors. Nevertheless, programs such as sleep quality awareness campaign need to be done to educate the population and maintain this good sleep quality.

This review discusses how climate undergo changes and the effect of climate change on air quality as well as public health. It also covers the inter relationship between climate and air quality. The air quality discussed here are in relation to the 5 criteria pollutants; ozone (O3), carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and particulate matter (PM). Urban air pollution is the main concern due to higher anthropogenic activities in urban areas. The implications on health are also discussed. Mitigating measures are presented with the final conclusion.

Cyanidation in gold extraction has detrimental impacts on the ecosystem and the population in surrounding areas. The research described in this article aimed to assess the health effects of environmental exposure to cyanide in a community near a gold mining area in Malaysia. A total of 255 members of the exposed community and 117 members of the control community answered questionnaires on their exposure to a gold mine and health outcomes. Urine samples were collected for biomarker assessment (i.e., urinary thiocyanate). The authors found that the mean level of urinary thiocyanate was significantly higher among the exposed community (0.30 ± 0.26 mg/dL) than the control community (0.24 ± 0.23 mg/dL) (p = .0021). The exposed community had a significantly higher prevalence of headaches (prevalence odds ratio [pOR] = 2.6, p = .001), dizziness (pOR = 3.7, p.001), skin irritation (pOR = 2.1, p = .040), and eye irritation (pOR = 5.1, p = .004). No association occurred between dietary exposure and urinary biomarkers. Smokers living near a gold mine had a higher urinary thiocyanate level (0.56 mg/dL) than smokers in the control community (0.49 mg/dL).

Background Climate change has been recognised as the most pressing environmental problem humans will face in the 21st century. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that the global mean surface temperature has increased 0.74°C between 1905 and 2005, and predicts an increase of 2 to 4.5°C over the next 100 years. In Malaysia, observed surface temperature data for the last four decades estimates an increase of between 2.7 to 4.0°C per century. Climate change is suspected to have adverse human health impacts. This study is an attempt to quantify climate-induced increases in morbidity rates associated with food and water-borne diseases.