Malaysian Journal of Applied Sciences (Journal of UniSZA - Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin)
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Computed Tomography Dose Estimation Using Dose Length Product Conversion Coefficients In Paediatric Patients From University Of Malaya Medical Centre: Radiation dose evaluation of pediatric patients in CT brain examination
Full text linkThe increasing use of computed tomography (CT) procedures provides a greater risk for paediatrics in developing radiation-induced cancer than adults. Therefore, a feasible method is required to quantify the received radiation dose. This study aims to estimate the effective dose (ED-estimated) received from CT Brain among paediatric patient of four age groups using published age-and-region specific dose length products (DLP) as ED conversion coefficients. A retrospective study was conducted over 2 months at the University of Malaya Medical Centre. Paediatric patients of four age groups: 0, 1, 5, and 10 years old who went through CT Brain scan was selected for this study. The DLP data that was obtained from the CT console was multiplied with age and region-specific conversion coefficient to estimate the ED. Over the 2 months of the study, there were numerous data of paediatric patients who went through CT Brain scan in the past 3 years from the date of 16 February 2020 that were kept by the hospital in their system. The estimated ED for the four age groups decreases as the age of paediatric patients increases. An inverse relationship will be observed between the age and effective dose of paediatric patients who went through CT Brain
Establishment and Optimization of Plant Growth Media for the Propagation of Mas Cotek (Ficus deltoidea Jack var. trengganuensis)
Full text linkThe propagation of Mas Cotek using tissue culture techniques is time-consuming and requires specific conditions. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the best rooting media formulation to propagate Mas Cotek under field conditions. First, the effects of plant growth media (rice husk biochar (RHB), bris soil, cocopeat (CC), peatmoss, and a mixture of 3CC: 7RHB) on plant traits were investigated. Subsequently, the optimal ratio of CC and RHB for Mas Cotek propagation was carried out. In addition, the evaluation of the traits of the Mas Cotek plant when grown with the mixture of 3CC: 7RHB enriched with different rooting-promoting materials (effective microorganism, Agromedia™, Indole-3-butyric acid (IBA), organic fertilizer, peatmoss, and seasol) was also performed. Plant growth variables measured were the total number of roots, length, plant biomass, chlorophyll content, and stem diameter. Planting media characters observed were soil pH, soil electrical conductivity, and plant growth media biomass. The results showed that Mas Cotek propagated best in the combination of 3CC:7RHB growth media added with IBA. This plant growth media has enhanced the total root, root length, plant biomass, root biomass, stem diameter and chlorophyll content of the plant seedlings. The pH of plant growth media (7.00-neutral) and electrical conductivity (0.61 mS/m) are also suitable for growing many types of plants. Findings will help farmers choose the best plant growth media to propagate their plant seedlings.
Keywords: Mas Cotek, Ficus Deltoidea, Plant Growth Media, Plant Propagation, Rootin
Reliability and Construct Validity on Undergraduate Geriatric Questionnaire
Full text linkThe number of elderly people in Malaysia is increasing in trend due to better healthcare services provided by the government and increased awareness of the community towards disease prevention. Therefore, the knowledge of future medical doctors towards geriatric care should be upgraded at par to fulfill the needs of the older population. As a result, their level of knowledge should be assessed, particularly in terms of the fundamental concept of geriatrics. A new, invented, reliable and valid questionnaire is needed. This study aimed to develop and validate a newly developed questionnaire to assess the knowledge of medical students in geriatrics. The 23 items consist of true-false questions and one-based answer responses based on five domains of Giant I’s geriatric, namely immobility, instability, incontinence, cognition, and iatrogenic. The sample size is calculated using a five-to-one item ratio. The questionnaires were distributed to 143 medical students. Reliability was determined using Cronbach’s alpha for internal consistency, while construct validity was assessed using factor analysis. An acceptable internal consistency was observed (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.62). Factor analysis showed two meaningful finalized components, which represent the geriatric general knowledge and the Giant I’s. According to the findings of this study, this questionnaire is a reliable and valid tool for assessing medical students' knowledge of geriatric.
Keywords: Geriatric, Reliability, Construct Validity, Undergraduate Geriatric, Questionnair
Acute Urinary Retention – It Is Not about the Bladder
Full text linkChronic cyclical abdominal pain in an adolescent female is indeed a rare occasion. Nevertheless, concomitant presence of acute urinary retention in the background history delayed menarche will give clues towards possibility of imperforate hymen (IH). Nevertheless, adequate physical examination, especially abdominal and gynaecological assessment in the adolescent female is indeed important in making the conclusion. We shared a case of a 12-year-old girl who came to us with recurrent lower abdominal pain for three months associated with inability to pass urine on the day of presentation. Perineum inspection showed bulging hymen with inability to catheterize the urethral opening. Bedside ultrasound was performed and revealed a fluid filled lesion in her vagina showing features of hematocolpos. A diagnosis of imperforate hymen was made clinically, and she was referred urgently to the gynaecology team for surgical intervention. Hymenotomy was done and she was saved from further morbidity. This case highlights the importance of identifying gynaecological causes in a female patient with acute urinary retention especially if the patient had prior episodes of recurrent cyclical symptoms that may be highly associated with imperforate hymen.
Keywords: Hematocolpos, Bladder, Acute Urinary Retentio
A Potentially Disastrous Life -Threatening Complication of Emergency Tube Thoracostomy in A Simple Case of Spontaneous Pneumothorax
Full text linkEmergency tube thoracostomy carries risks of infective and technical complications. The aseptic technique is essential to prevent infections, while blunt dissection method can minimise the associated technical complications. Preparation and adherence to protocols as well as appropriate knowledge and skills, however, are of utmost importance to reduce risks of complications. Physicians must have adequate knowledge of anatomy and the procedure to ensure for accurate site tube placement without any complication. This case illustrates how a failure to appropriately use the instrument resulted in a displaced scalpel blade inside the thoracic cavity. It caused an unnecessary thoracotomy for blade retrieval. The mishap escalated a simple procedure to the potentially disastrous life-threatening event
Study Effect Self-Frequency Shift of A Soliton in A Liquid Core Photonic Crystal Fibre
Full text link In this study, the dispersion curve family reveals that changing the liquid core fluoro-ethylene increases the dispersion curve and causes the curve to flatten at sugar solution 60% with the second zero dispersion point of the wavelength as the refractive index rises. The two zero dispersion wavelength shifts toward the visible region, and it's clear that Soliton's intensity at the second zero dispersion point is around 10% to 25% of its maximum. These peaks are further subdivided into low amplitude dispersive waves depending on the liquid core used at the anomalous region of the fiber. When a soliton approaches the second point of zero dispersion, the refractive index rises. A broadband continuum named "supercontinuum" will emerge as a result of soliton fission, dispersive wave radiation, and soliton self-frequency shifting. This type of expansion is important in many modern applications, such as medical, industry, and communication systems
Review on Cloud Security and Challenges on Higher Education
Full text linkMany new developments are often plagued with security concerns. Although emerging innovations have all the potential to change systems and people's lives, security issues hinder them adoption and usage. The transformations of data management brought by cloud technologies have helped both individuals and companies. While the cloud allows data storage, connectivity, and recovery stability, it is not immune to the security threats that other new technologies pose. Concerns have been presented over the protection and privacy of cloud users' data. Data leakage, data manipulation, condemnation, a Lack of Services assault, impersonating personalities, also unauthorised access to data are all examples of activities which can appear while data is outsourced to a cloud. Individuals and organisations will orchestrate these attacks, which will jeopardise the reliability and security of cloud networks. The vast majority of colleges and universities are digitising their records, which are then stored in the cloud and handled by a third party. Despite the sacred importance of educational information, the study explores the impact of cloud security problems on schooling. According to the findings, security is crucial for the secure migration and application of cloud technology in the educational sector. It also shows that the growing security threats associated with cloud technology can prevent many education institutions from using cloud services.
Keywords: Cloud technology, Cloud Security, Educational, Information leakage, Privac
Performance Evaluation of Machine Learning Predictive Analytical Model for Determining the Job Applicants Employment Status
Full text linkSeveral higher institution of learning faces issue or difficulty of turning out more than 90% of their graduates who can competently satisfy and meet the requirements of the industry. However, the industry is also confronted with the difficulty of sourcing skilled tertiary institution graduates that match their needs. Failure or success of any organization depends mostly on how its workforce is recruited and retained. Therefore, the selection of an acceptable or satisfactory candidate for the job position is one of the major and vital problems of management decision-making. This work, therefore, proposes a modern, accurate and worthy machine learning classification model that can be deployed, implemented, and put to use when making predictions and assessments on job applicant's attributes from their academic performance datasets in other to meet the selection criteria for the industry. Both supervised and unsupervised machine learning classifiers were considered in this work. Naïve Bayes, Logistic Regression, support vector machine (SVM). Random Forest and Decision tree performed well, but Logistic Regression outperformed others with 93% accuracy
Proximate and Mineral Composition of Vegetable Salad without Dressing
Full text linkSalad is a dish of raw vegetables with or without dressing. The study aimed to determine the vegetable salad's proximate, minerals, and daily percentage value without dressing to the dietary regimen. Vegetable salads without dressing were purchased and analysed to evaluate proximate and minerals analysis based on the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC). The results revealed that vegetable salad without dressing contained 83.20 ± 0.10 moisture content, 16.80 ± 0.01 dry matter, 1.73 ± 0.14, 3.01 ± 0.40, 0.87 ± 0.01, 0.73 ± 0.00, and 10.50 ± 0.12g/100g as in crude lipid, crude protein, crude fibre, ash content, and carbohydrate respectively. Potassium (K), sodium (Na), calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), magnesium (Mg), manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), and copper (Cu) were 464 ± 3.56, 236 ± 2.45, 101 ± 1.63, 124 ± 1.63, 58 ± 0.81, 0.49 ± 0.06, 0.88 ± 0.01, 0.84 ± 0.02, and 0.21 ± 0.01 mg/100g respectively. The percent calorific values from carbohydrates, fat, and protein could help to reduce the risk of chronic disease. The salad is a good source of magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, and copper. The study showed that the salad is good for a healthy body, hypertensive and obese patients
Review on Environmental Effect of Biogas Production
Full text linkIn the study of the environmental effect of biogas production, it is essential to identify the main constituents of the biogas with a special interest biogas process system. This paper reviews the formation processes of biogas production. In this paper, the roles of biogas application were discussed to make them more suitable to the environment and human activities. Furthermore, questions related to the disposal and management of wastes which leads to serious environmental and global concerns were addressed. Although these wastes offer abundant resources: large proportions of the wastes are biodegradable materials and can be efficiently used in producing biogas, which can serve as an answer to the greenhouse gas problem but also inappropriate controlling of the wastes will lead to the rise of greenhouse gas in the environment