A study was carried out to observe relationship between waterborne and foodborne disease (cholera, typhoid, hepatitis A and dysentery) and quality of drinking of drinking water with two main objectives.First, to obtain the best method in order to study the pattern of waterborne and foodborne disease (WBD), and the content of drinking water (chlorine residue, fecal coliform and combination of chlorine residue and fecal coliform, turbidity) using analysis of univariate time series.Another purpose of the study is to model the WBD and the content of drinking water using analysis of multiple linear regressions.The research findings from univariate time series shows that, the best method to predict new values in the next month are non-seasonal Box-Jenkins method to study WBD.Meanwhile, the three month moving average method and simple exponential smoothing are more appropriate to study chlorine residue, fecal coliform and turbidity and the combination of chlorine residue and fecal coliform, respectively.The finding also show that, all variables of the content of drinking water have linear relationship and significantly affected the WBD.
Introduction: Numerous studies have shown the association between outdoor air pollution and mortality, as well as hospital admissions and emergency visits for respiratory illness such as COPD, asthma and pneumonia and also cardiovascular diseases such as stroke, ischemic heart disease and angina/myocardial infarction. In western countries, this relationship has been established a while back. However, South-East Asian countries require more studies in order to explore the effects of ambient air pollutants on its population health. Method: This study was conducted to determine the associations and risk estimates of daily variations of air pollutants in the Bandar Tun Razak area with cardiovascular and respiratory cases from both hospital admissions and emergency room visits at Hospital Cansellor Tuanku Muhriz UKM (HCTM). Data on daily hospital admissions for HCTM (2010-2014), were obtained from Jabatan Maklumat Kesihatan , HCTM and emergency room visits for HCTM (2013) were obtained from the Center of Research for Emergency Medicine (CREM), HCTM. Daily mean concentrations of air pollutants of particulate matter less than 10ug/m 3 (PM 10 ), sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), ozone (O 3 ), and daily observations of meteorological conditions were obtained from Malaysian Department of Environment. We examined the associations between daily level pollutants and daily hospital admissions and emergency room visits of cardiovascular and respiratory using time series analysis of Poisson regression while controlling for time trends, meteorological factors and holiday indicator. Effects for every 10ug/m 3 increase in pollutants were reported as Relative Risk (RR) on current-day (lag 0) exposure to previous five days (lag 5). Results: The highest association among all was from respiratory admission with SO 2 at lag 4 (RR = 1.123113, 95% CI = 1.045253-1.206772), followed by cardiovascular admission with NO 2 at lag 5 (RR = 1.025222, 95% CI = 1.004689-1.046174), NO 2 at lag 0 (RR = 1.022244, 95% CI = 1.000757-1.044192) and O 3 8hour at immediate effect lag 0 (RR = 1.020816, 95% CI = 1.006672-1.035159). The highest association with respiratory emergency was with PM 10 at lag 0 (RR = 1.012778, 95% CI = 1.003016-1.022635) while cardiovascular emergency recorded the highest with CO at lag 1 (RR = 0.997912, 95% CI = 0.996051-0.999776). Conclusion: Significant associations were found with all cardiovascular and respiratory admissions in the single-pollutant model for all the pollutants. Gaseous pollutants showed higher risk in both cardiovascular and respiratory admissions while PM 10 showed higher risk in respiratory emergency. Both immediate and delay effects were also found in both hospital admissions and emergency visits for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases associated with all polutants.
Background Knowing that Tobacco is a big health issue, killing 5.4 millions of people each year. Hypothesis: among PLWH, smokers have more health problems than non smokers. Objectives To analyse the impact of tobacco in people living with HIV (PLWH), degree of ARV side effects for smokers and non smokers, relevance of literacy on tobacco as public health problem on attitude of PLWH regarding tobacco use. Methods Retrospective and prospective study realised in GOMA/DRC. Target: PLWH. Our sample is 200 PLWH constituted by aleatory method taking 2 people among 13 with interval of 6 after the first choice. Prospective: this was to determine the attitude of PLWH regarding tobacco: Statistic test: “comparison of two proportions”. Results Sample of 200 PLWH: 125 females and 75 males; Smokers: 90 (45%) Non smokers: 110 (55%). Among 90 smokers: 56 males (62.2%) and 34 females (37.8%). Smokers have more risk of decreasing immunity than non smokers. Smokers have more risk to develop chronic lung diseases than non smokers. Side effects of ARVs are increased for smokers than non smokers. Smokers have more risk to develop opportunistic infections than people who don't smoke. PLWH are engaged to quit smoking when informed (aware) of bad effects of tobacco but some need assistance for quitting. PLWH who smoke industrial tobacco have more difficulty to quit smoking than people who smoke traditional tobacco. Conclusions Tobacco use is more dangerous for PLWH than others (HIV−). It is very important to start new approach of collaboration between tobacco activists and HIV activists. Activities anti-tobacco could be integrated to HIV services at all levels: prevention, screening, treatment, etc. Assistance for quitting smoking could be provided to PLWH as well as ARVs. To spread the information that smoking is dangerous to PLWH motivate them to quit smoking.
A food premise's sanitation level can be reflected by the cleanliness of its food contact surfaces. Contaminated food contact surfaces along with poor handling methods by food handlers may increase the risk of foodborne diseases through cross-contamination events. This study aimed to assess the microbiological contamination levels on food contact surfaces of 12 residential college cafeterias in a local university and its correlation with the cafeteria's premise grade. The presence of selected indicator and pathogenic microorganisms (total viable count (TVC), total coliform, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella spp., and Shigella spp.) on food contact surfaces were also determined. Cutting boards, knives and utensils (cutleries, bowls and plates) that were used for ready-to-eat food were sampled for this study. The cafeteria's premise grade was obtained based on the food premise inspection report by the university Health Centre. Three cafeterias have significantly higher (p<0.05) bacterial counts (TVC) as compared to the international standard (1 log CFU/cm 2 ). E. coli was only found in 2 cafeterias while Salmonella spp. was only detected on 7 of the cafeterias. Cutting boards were identified as the most contaminated food contact surface whereas utensils were the least contaminated. There was only a weak correlation between the microbiological levels on food contact surfaces and the cafeteria's inspection grade (r=0.02 p>0.01). This study demonstrated that the sanitation level of food contact surfaces in the residential college cafeterias was only average. Improvements need to be done to increase the sanitation level of the cafeterias, thus assuring the safety of the food for consumers. DOI : http://dx.doi.org./10.17576/JSKM-2018-1602-05
Neurobehavioral test has been used extensively and successfully in many countries to determine neurotoxic effects of various compounds. To determine neurotoxic effects of lead, a cross sectional studies was conducted on 141 male workers from two local battery manufacturing factories using' Neurobehavioral Core Test Batteries' ( NCTB) from' World Health Organisation'. These NCTB consist of several tests which can highlight various neuropsychological functions and a list of questionnaire for subjective symptoms. The workers, were divided into two groups based on their blood lead levels ( PbB ), the first group for those with PbB 40 µg/dl with mean PbB 53.10 ± 11.13. Student t-test has shown significant different between the two groups in neurobehavioral test performance such as Digit Symbol ( p= 0.02 ), Digit Backward ( p=0.01 ), Santa Ana preferred hand ( p=0.04 ), Santa Ana both hands ( p=0.02 ), Aiming Pursuit Test ( p=0.0002) and Trail B ( p= 0.0004 ). Workers from the second group also reported higher subjective symptoms of weakness in lower limbs and anorexia. Factors which have influenced on PbB were jobs category ( p=0.0001 ), work duration (p=0.04 ), chemical exposure ( p= 0.04 ), previous lead exposure ( p= 0.01 ) and usage of personal protective device ( p= 0.04 ). Significant correlation was found between PbB and neurobehavioral test performance such as Digit Symbol ( r= -0.04348 ), Digit Forward ( r= -0.2107 ), Digit Backward ( r= - 0.0003 ), Aiming Pursuit Test .( r= -0.2476 ) and Trail B ( r='0.3040 ). Regression analysis has shown reduction in cognitive and concentration functions with PbB level less that 30 µg/dl and maximum lead effect at Digit Symbol's score of 40. This study has shown that lead has led to impairment of cognitive, concentration, memory and motor steadiness functions and has proven the ability of neurobehavioral test in detecting lead toxicity at low levels.
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) play an important role in the generation of ground level ozone and secondary organic aerosol. Most tropical countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei experience high ozone pollution. Beside ozone, oxides of nitrogen (NOx) from vehicular emissions also play an important role in photochemical pollution. NOx, particularly nitric oxide (NO), helps to ‘clean up’ ozone concentrations close to traffic in the ambient air of urban areas. Thus, knowledge of the chemistry of ozone-VOCs-NOx and finding the sources of VOCs are crucial to proceed with an appropriate mitigation strategy. Thus, the detection of ozone precursors and related VOCs is thoroughly discussed. This review finds that the inertness, hydrophobicity, and the effect of the artefact materials are very significant factors to be explored in the selection of the sorbent materials. In the SEA region, relative humidity is relatively high and exceeds 90% during the northeast monsoon. Thus, the hydrophobic properties of the sampling material need careful consideration. Further to the effect of relative humidity (RH), the artefact effect of the material itself is a challenge to be optimized and multi-sorbent material in a single tube could be a viable choice to minimize the effect of the unwanted signal in the spectrum.
Background: Low carbon policies for sustainable development are often associated with the added benefit to public health. Yet these ancillary health benefits are often overlooked. A low carbon blueprint has recently been developed for Iskandar, a fast growing region in the southernmost tip of Peninsular Malaysia. However, the link between the proposed low-carbon development strategies and the consequent effects on environmental health is not well understood. Objectives: We propose a study to examine the short-term health impact of particulate air pollution associated with the implementation of low carbon policies at Iskandar Malaysia. Methods: We conduct retrospective time-series studies to estimate the acute effects of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter 10µm or less (PM10) on total non- accident, cardiovascular- and respiratory-related mortality and hospital admission in the Iskandar region. We use the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF) and the Community Multi-scale Air Quality Model (CMAQ) to predict the daily concentration of PM10 based on the expected carbon dioxide emission for 2025, which is estimated using the regional economic model. Based on the projected population growth for the region, the health burden attributable to PM10 under the proposed low carbon countermeasures is estimated and compared with the business-as-usual estimate for the same year as well as the baseline in 2005. Discussion: Our study provides important information about the potential health gains associated with the strategies to reduce carbon emission. Findings may help guide the selection of policies that are effective at curbing emission and improving public health.
Formaldehyde has commonly been used as an embalming agent in the anatomy laboratory besides being used during production of wood, resins and plastics. This current study involved the measurement of formaldehyde exposure level among anatomy laboratory workers and medical students in anatomy laboratory using the NIOSH 2541 method. The study determined the symptoms resulted from formaldehyde exposure using self-reported symptom questionnaire that has been modified. Mean area concentration of formaldehyde 8 h TWA in the dissection hall and specimen preparation laboratory were 0.1±0.03 and 0.17±0.04 ppm, respectively. Both of these formaldehyde concentrations were below the ceiling limit of 0.30 ppm. Statistically, there was no significant difference between the formaldehyde concentration in the dissection hall and specimen preparation laboratory. The personal exposure 15 min STEL formaldehyde concentration was 2.30±1.53 ppm and it was higher than 15 min STEL of 2 ppm. Results from the anatomy laboratory workers and medical students reported through the self-reported symptom questionnaires revealed that the most common symptoms they experienced during working hour and off working hour where eye and nose irritations, which are 71.3%, 57.5 and 4.6, 8%, respectively. In conclusion, the personal exposure 15 min STEL exceeded the US OSHA standard. Even though the formaldehyde concentration for the area was under the limit, still there were risks to develop an adverse health effect.
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