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Background: Increasing physical activity and reducing sitting time was recommended to cancer survivors after cancer treatment for sustained health and to enhance the quality of life. This study aimed to determine the association of physical activity and sitting time with quality of life among the Malay breast and gynaecological cancer survivors. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 95 breast and gynaecology cancer survivor subjects. The Malay International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) was used to assess physical activity and sitting time. Quality of life was assessed using the Malay EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire. Sociodemographic, clinical characteristics and anthropometric measurements were also obtained in this study. Results: The mean age of the subject was 51.8 ± 7.7 years old and the duration of survivorship was 4.3 ± 3.4 years. A total of 76.8% of subjects were categorized as having low physical activity level with a mean MET 403.5 ± 332.7 minutes/week and sitting time of 416.9 ± 151.0 minutes/day. Overall, subjects aged 50 years and above (p=0.006), widowed (p=0.032), retired (p=0.029) and had other non-communicable diseases (p=0.005) showed lower levels of physical activity. Increased physical activity had a positive effect on physical function (r=0.2, p=0.038), reduced insomnia (r=-0.3, p

Objective Fear of cancer recurrent, side effects of treatment and belief in food taboos encourage cancer survivors to make changes in their dietary practices after diagnosis of cancer. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of dietary changes on quality of life (QoL) among Malay breast and gynaecological cancer survivors. Methods Questionnaire of dietary changes was modified from WHEL study and adapted to typical Malay's food intake in Malaysia. A total of 23 items were listed and categorized by types of food and cooking methods. Four categories of changes "increased", "decreased", "no changes" or "stopped" were used to determine the changes in dietary practices. Score one (+1) is given to positive changes by reference to WCRF/AICR and Malaysia Dietary Guideline healthy eating recommendations. Malay EORTC QLQ-C30 were used to determine the QoL. Sociodemographic, clinical characteristics and anthropometric measurement were also collected. Results The mean age of the subjects (n=77) was 50.7±7.8 years old with duration of survivorship 4.0±3.1 years. Subjects mean BMI was 27.8±4.9 kg/m2 which indicate subjects were 31.2% overweight and 32.5% obese. The percentage score of positive dietary changes was 34.7±16.4%. Positive dietary changes were increased intake of green leafy vegetable (49.4%), cruciferous vegetable (46.8%) and boiling cooking methods (45.5%). Subjects reduced their intake of red meat (42.9%), sugar (53.2%) and fried cooking method (44.2%). Subjects stopped consuming milk (41.6%), c 2008-5862 heese (33.8%) and sweetened condensed milk (33.8%). With increasing positive dietary changes, there was a significant improvement on emotional function (rs=0.27; p=0.016) and reduced fatigue symptoms (rs=-0.24; p=0.033). Conclusion Positive changes in dietary intake improved emotional function and reduced fatigue symptoms after cancer treatment. By knowing the trend of food changes after cancer treatment, enables the formation of healthy food intervention implemented more effective.

Introduction: The culture of eating out among Malaysians has substantially increased in recent years due to the urbanisation of the society. Frequent eating out has been linked with reduced quality of diet, reduced intake of micronutrients, and increased weight gain. This study aims to explore specific factors on the perceptions and behaviours related to eating out from the perspective of parents. Methods: A qualitative study was carried out among 27 informants from various ethnicities and locations in Peninsular Malaysia. All sessions were audio-recorded, fully transcribed and analysed using thematic content analysis. Results: The main overarching theme that surfaced from this study was the role of parents in shaping the practice of eating out. Time constraints due to parents’ work commitments, the availability of various food outlets, increase in family bonding time and food preferences were recurring themes revealed by informants as facilitating factors to eating out. Other emerging themes, such as hygiene of food premises and cost of food, posed as barriers to eating out. Conclusion: These findings offered a better understanding on the eating out practices of a family from the parents’ perspective. Information as such could be incorporated in strategies to enhance the promotion of healthy eating and nutrition interventions that aim to inculcate healthy food choices while eating out.

The aim of this study was to synthesize, characterize, and observe the catalytic activity of Pd1Au1 supported by vapor-grown carbon nanofiber (VGCNF) anode catalyst prepared via the chemical reduction method. The formation of the single-phase compounds was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Rietveld refinement analysis, which showed single peaks corresponding to the (111) plane of the cubic crystal structure. Further analysis was carried out by field emission scanning emission microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), nitrogen adsorption/desorption measurements, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The electrochemical performance was examined by cyclic voltammetry tests. The presence of mesoporous VGCNF as support enables the use of a relatively small amount of metal catalyst that still produces an excellent current density (66.33 mA cm−2). Furthermore, the assessment of the kinetic activity of the nanocatalyst using the Tafel plot suggests that Pd1Au1/VGCNF exerts a strong electrocatalytic effect in glycerol oxidation reactions. The engineering challenges are apparent from the fact that the application of the homemade anode catalyst to the passive direct glycerol fuel cell shows the power density of only 3.9 mW cm−2. To understand the low performance, FESEM observation of the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) was carried out, examining several morphological defects that play a crucial role and affect the performance of the direct glycerol fuel cell.

The assessment of exclusive breastfeeding is important to invest the efforts to promote and support breastfeeding practices. Hence this study was carried out to compare breastfeeding practices among mothers using deuterium dose to mother technique with maternal recall breastfeeding practice. A total of 30 mother-infant pairs from a university hospital and government health clinics in Klang Valley participated and completed the study. Mother-infant pairs were recruited into the study when infants were aged 3 months ± 1 week. Anthropometric measurements (height, weight, waist circumference for mother; length and weight for infant) were carried out. Socio-demographic questionnaire was self-administered while breastfeeding practices were interview administered using maternal recall breastfeeding practice questionnaire (MRBF). This was followed by baseline saliva collection of mother-infant pairs before dose and 6 days after mothers were given 30 ± 0.01g of D 2 O. The post dose saliva sample of mother-infant pairs were collected 6 times at day 1,2,3,4,13 and 14. The results showed that majority of mothers (57%) were university graduates but majority were stay at home mothers. Meanwhile, mothers had BMI with mean 25 ± 4 kg/m 2 . The results from MRBF questionnaire showed that all mothers were practising exclusive breastfeeding and their infant never received any water sources other than their breast milk. However, the deuterium dose to mother technique revealed only 3% of mothers were actually practising exclusive breastfeeding. From the isotopic data, the calculated mean intake of milk was 721 ± 243 g/day while the mean non-milk oral intake of 122 ± 22 g/ day. In contrast exclusive breastfeeding infants received only 10 g/day non milk oral intake, demonstrating exclusive breastfeeding practice of mothers. There were different breastfeeding practice reported from mother using deuterium oxide dose to mother technique with maternal recall breastfeeding practice. DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/JSKM-2019-1701-14

IntroductionAdolescence obesity is the result of multifaceted and complex interactions between dietary habit, genetics, behavior and environment (Murukami et al, 2011).The food environment plays an important role in promoting or hindering positive dietary behaviour (Swinburn et al, 2003). Environmental influences can promote excess unhealthy dietary intakes, which triggers upward trend in obesity (Laska, 2010) ObjectiveTo explore perceived factors related to food choices and quality of diet in school and community food environment among adolescent. Methodology[Refer to Poster]. ResultsThere are multifaceted factors present in food environments that potentially contribute to unfavourable patterns of dietary intake thus leading to higher body mass index (BMI). Discussion / ConclusionThe shifting in eating culture in Malaysia has implications in terms of diet quality and obesity problem.Adolescents perceived very limited access to healthy options at home, school and community environment inline with study by Watts et al (2015).Findings were consistent with Meizi et al (2012) which revealed that the density of fast food outlets and accessibility to unhealthy food sources were perceived as one of the contributor for negative dietary habits.Tighter regulations should be set with regards to promotional and marketing prompts by fast food services and the quality of food by school canteens.

Epitheliotropic intestinal T-cell lymphoma (EITL, also known as type II enteropathy-associated T-cell lymphoma) is an aggressive intestinal disease with poor prognosis and its molecular alterations have not been comprehensively characterized. We aimed to identify actionable easy-to-screen alterations that would allow better diagnostics and/or treatment of this deadly disease. By performing whole-exome sequencing of four EITL tumor-normal pairs, followed by amplicon deep sequencing of 42 tumor samples, frequent alterations of the JAK-STAT and G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) signaling pathways were discovered in a large portion of samples. Specifically, STAT5B was mutated in a remarkable 63% of cases, JAK3 in 35% and GNAI2 in 24%, with the majority occurring at known activating hotspots in key functional domains. Moreover, STAT5B locus carried copy-neutral loss of heterozygosity resulting in the duplication of the mutant copy, suggesting the importance of mutant STAT5B dosage for the development of EITL. Dysregulation of the JAK-STAT and GPCR pathways was also supported by gene expression profiling and further verified in patient tumor samples. In vitro overexpression of GNAI2 mutants led to the upregulation of pERK1/2, a member of MEK-ERK pathway. Notably, inhibitors of both JAK-STAT and MEK-ERK pathways effectively reduced viability of patient-derived primary EITL cells, indicating potential therapeutic strategies for this neoplasm with no effective treatment currently available.

Background: Quality of life (QOL) is an essential part of health outcomes for diabetes patients . Methods: This cross-sectional study aimed to evaluate the quality of life among 100 Iranian type 2 diabetes patients aged 37 to 66 years, attending the outpatient diabetes clinic at Golestan Hospital, Ahvaz, Iran, from August to October 2013. Diabetes quality of life (DQoL) questionnaire was used to determine quality of life of diabetes patients. Body weight, height, waist circumference, clinical parameters, including glycated hemoglobin A1c level (HbA1c) were also measured. Results: The mean age of men and women was 56±6.1 and 53.4± 6.7 years respectively. Sixty one present of patients were female and 39 % were male with 4.05 ± 1.4 mean years duration of diabetes. The mean total DQOL was 54.6± 2.4, a moderate quality of life and was associated with diabetes care and treatment adherence. The mean for diabetes-related worry was 77.5 ±7.05. Conclusions: Male diabetic patients in comparison with female diabetic patients, non-insulin-treated patients compared with insulin-treated patients had better quality of life. HbA1c higher than 7%, was associated with higher probabilities of worse quality of life among patients. More studies are needed to include larger study populations among Iranian type 2 diabetes patients in order to help health care providers develop proper health care programs for diabetic patients in Iran.

Countries in South East Asia are undergoing a nutrition transition, which typically involves a dietary shift from plant to animal proteins. To explore the main drivers of protein consumption, the SCRiPT (Socio Cultural Research in Protein Transition) study recruited a population sample in Malaysia (N = 1604). Participants completed in-person 24 h dietary recalls and socio-demographic surveys. Energy and nutrient intakes were estimated using Nutritionist Pro. A novel recipe-based frequency count coded protein sources as meat (chicken, beef, pork, and mutton), fish, eggs, dairy, and plants (cereals, pulses, tubers). Dietary intakes and frequencies were examined by gender, age, income, education, ethnicity, religion, and family status, using ANOVAs and general linear models. Energy intakes were 1869 kcal/d for men and 1699 kcal/d for women. Protein intakes were 78.5 g/d for men and 72.5 g/d for women. Higher energy and protein intakes were associated with Chinese ethnicity, higher education and incomes. Frequency counts identified plant proteins in 50% of foods, followed by meat (19%), fish (12%), eggs (12%), and dairy (7%). Most frequent source of meat was chicken (16%) rather than pork or beef (1.5% each). In bivariate analyses, animal protein counts were associated with younger age, higher education and incomes. In mutually adjusted multivariate regression models, animal proteins were associated with education and ethnicity, plant proteins were associated with ethnicity and religion. Protein choices in Malaysia involve socio-cultural as well as economic variables.

ObjectiveThe present study aimed to determine the prevalence of anaemia, iron deficiency (ID) and iron-deficiency anaemia (IDA) among female adolescents in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, as well as the risk factors involved in these conditions.DesignThe study was conducted using the quantitative descriptive method with a cross-sectional design. Data were collected using an FFQ and sociodemographic, sedentary behaviour and physical activity questionnaires. Anthropometric measurements and blood analyses were also conducted.SettingThe study population included all Palestinian female adolescents enrolled in secondary schools in the academic years 2015–2016. Five female secondary schools were selected randomly from five governorates of the Gaza Strip.SubjectsFemale adolescents (n330) aged 15–19 years in the selected secondary schools were enrolled randomly.ResultsPrevalence of anaemia, ID and IDA among female adolescents in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, was 35·8, 40·3 and 26·0 %, respectively. A significant association (PConclusionsThe study shows that there is an alarming problem of anaemia and IDA in the Gaza Strip, Palestine. This may indicate that there are insufficient nutrition education programmes, particularly inside schools or by the mass media.

Type 2 diabetes is a chronic illness which can be managed by patients' commitment to self-care and self-efficacy behaviors.A randomized controlled intervention study was carried out to determine the impact of self-efficacy education based on the Health Belief Model (HBM) in 240 patients with type 2 diabetes at the Golestan Hospital, Ahvaz, Iran between October 2014 and August 2015. The education duration was three months followed by a 24-week follow-up visit to determine the progress of the subjects. In this study, reliable and validated diabetes educational booklet and questionnaires based on knowledge, health beliefs and quality of life were used. The participants were randomly allocated to either the intervention group (n=120) or to the conventional dietary counseling group as controls (n=120), and assessed at the baseline, week 12 and week 36. The study was divided into primary outcome measurements consisting of glycated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), fasting blood glucose, lipid profile, and anthropometric levels. Secondary outcome measures were related to nutrition knowledge, health beliefs and quality of life.The results showed that subjects in the intervention group had significantly better metabolic and glycemic profiles compared with those in the control group. It also showed that knowledge, health belief and quality of life significantly increased in the intervention group.Findings indicate that through tailored self-efficacy education, the quality of life and metabolic profile of diabetes patients can be improved.

Platinum (Pt) is the common catalyst used in a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC). However, Pt can lead towards catalyst poisoning by carbonaceous species, thus reduces the performance of DMFC. Thus, this study focuses on the fabrication of a new composite TiO2 carbon nanofiber anodic catalyst support for direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) via electrospinning technique. The distance between the tip and the collector (DTC) and the flow rate were examined as influencing parameters in the electrospinning technique. To ensure that the best catalytic material is fabricated, the nanofiber underwent several characterizations and electrochemical tests, including FTIR, XRD, FESEM, TEM, and cyclic voltammetry. The results show that D18, fabricated with a flow rate of 0.1 mLhr−1 and DTC of 18 cm, is an ultrafine nanofiber with the smallest average diameter, 136.73 ± 39.56 nm. It presented the highest catalyst activity and electrochemical active surface area value as 274.72 mAmg−1 and 226.75m2 g−1 PtRu, respectively, compared with the other samples.

Sleep deprivation and coffee caffeine consumption have been shown to affect glucose homeostasis separately, but the combined effects of these two variables are unknown.Forty-two healthy Iranian men, aged 20-40 years old, were assigned to three groups in a randomised crossover trial involving three treatments with two-week washout periods. Subjects were moderate coffee consumers (=3 cups/day), and had a Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index=5. Each treatment involved three nights of deprived sleep (4 hrs. in bed) plus 3×150 cc/cup of boiled water (BW treatment), decaffeinated coffee (DC treatment, without sugar, 99.9% caffeine-free), and caffeinated coffee (CC treatment, without sugar, 65 mg caffeine/ cup). DC and CC treatments were blinded. At the end of each treatment, fasting serum glucose (using enzyme assays) and insulin (using electrochemiluminescence immunoassay) were measured and, again, two hours after an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Insulin resistance was quantified with the homeostasis model.Repeated measures ANOVA indicated no significant difference between the treatments in fasting serum glucose (p=0.248) or insulin resistance (p=0.079). However, ANOVA demonstrated differences between treatments in fasting serum insulin (p=0.004) and glucose, as well as insulin after OGTT (p0.001). Pairwise comparisons test (within subjects) showed that the CC treatment yielded higher serum glucose and insulin after OGTT (p0.001), higher fasting serum insulin (p=0.001), and increased insulin resistance (p=0.039) as compared to the DC treatment.Thus caffeinated coffee was more adverse for glucose homeostasis compared to decaffeinated coffee in individuals who were simultaneously sleep deprived.背景与目的：睡眠剥夺和咖啡中咖啡因的摄入对葡萄糖稳态的影响已分别被证 明，但这两个变量的综合效果尚不知道。方法与研究设计：42 名年龄在20-40 岁之间的伊朗男性在本随机交叉试验中被分配到3 个试验组，试验组间有两周 的洗脱期。研究对象为中度咖啡消费者（=3 杯/天），并且匹兹堡睡眠质量指 数=5。每种试验包括3 晚上的睡眠剥夺（在床上4 小时），加3 杯开水（BW 试验，每杯150 毫升）、无咖啡因的咖啡（DC 试验，不加糖，99.9%无咖啡 因）或含咖啡因的咖啡（CC 试验，不加糖，每杯含65 毫克咖啡因）。DC 和 CC 处理采用盲法。每种试验结束后，测量空腹血糖（采用酶法测定）和胰岛 素（采用电化学发光免疫分析法测定），口服葡萄糖耐量试验（OGTT）两个 小时后再次测量血糖和胰岛素。胰岛素抵抗采用稳态模型量化。结果：重复测 量方差分析表明各试验组间的空腹血糖（p=0.248）和胰岛素抵抗（p=0.079） 没有显著差异。然而，方差分析表明各试验组间空腹血清胰岛素、血糖和 OGTT 后的胰岛素有差异。配对比较（研究对象间）表明：与DC 试验组相 比，CC 试验组OGTT 后血糖和胰岛素较高（p0.001），空腹血清胰岛素 （p=0.001）和胰岛素抵抗（p=0.039）也增加。结论：对睡眠被剥夺的人，含 咖啡因的咖啡比不含咖啡因的咖啡更不利于葡萄糖稳态。.

Platinum is the most effective electro-catalyst for oxidation and reduction processes in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). Although platinum and its alloys show desirable electrochemical activities, these catalysts are expensive and make the commercialization of DMFC less attractive. Beside, literature reviews show that tremendous improvements of the activity and stability of non-platinum cathode catalysts have been achieved over the past few years. However, problems including low reaction rates, high over-potentials and low stabilities that remain unsolved particularly for cathode catalyst are discussed in this paper. This paper also describes the various types of non-platinum materials that can potentially substitute for platinum cathode catalysts in DMFC like macrocyclic molecules such as porphyrins and phthalocyanines, transition metal oxides, transition metal sulfides, amorphous transition metal sulfides, and transition metal-based catalysts. Finally, this paper also summarizes the preparation procedure and the performance of various potential cathode catalysts for DMFC operated in acidic and alkaline media as compared with platinum.

Anaemia and iron deficiency are very common worldwide among female adolescents. There is a dearth of literature concerning the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) regarding iron deficiency anaemia (IDA). The magnitude of anaemia as a health problem is enormous and can be engaged by increasing awareness and the promotion of correct attitudes and practices. The study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a nutrition education intervention in iron deficiency anaemia on the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) among iron-deficient female adolescents in the Gaza Strip. In this intervention study, 89 female adolescents aged 15–19 were recruited and randomly divided into intervention and control groups. Both of the groups received iron supplementation (ferrous fumarate 200 mg) weekly for three months. The intervention group attended nutrition education sessions for 3 months, while the control group did not. The two groups completed KAP questionnaires at baseline and after six months. The nutrition education intervention consisted of lectures, presentations, interactive discussions using posters, and the distribution of information booklets and brochures about proper nutrition, and was conducted for three months. KAP and overall scores before and after the intervention were compared using the Wilcoxon signed ranks test, as the scores did not show normal distribution. Our findings revealed that overall, the female adolescents’ knowledge improved significantly after a nutrition education intervention, as the percentage of good knowledge (≥50 %) was 22.7% pre-nutrition educational intervention, and increased to 90.9% post intervention (p

A nutritional status study was carried out among a group of young Chinese adults, aged between 19 and 25, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Subjects comprised 108 young adults (55 women, 53 men) who were students at two institutes of higher learning. Physical characteristics were evaluated by anthropometric measurements while food intake was determined with a 3-day food record. Blood cholesterol and triglyceride were assessed using the Reflotron analyser. Birthweight was obtained from birth certificates or by proxy. The results showed that the mean body mass index (BMI) for men and women was 21.4 ± 3.3 and 20.0 ± 2.0, respectively, indicating normal weight. Further analysis of BMI classification demonstrated that 28% of men and 39% of women were underweight, 11% of men and 2% of women were overweight while 2% of men were obese. Mean waist-to-hip ratio showed that the subjects had a low risk of developing cardiovascular disease (0.72 ± 0.03 women; 0.81 ± 0.05 men). Mean energy intake was 8841 ± 1756 kJ per day for men and 6426 ± 1567 kJ per day for women. Closer analysis of energy intake of the subjects showed that 86% of men and 91% of women were consuming below the Malaysian recommendation for energy. Nutrients found to be deficient in at least one third of women were calcium, vitamin A, niacin and iron. Mean cholesterol intake in the diet was 278.7 ± 108.7 mg in men and 207.0 ± 82.5 mg in women and there was a significant difference between genders. Blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels were 3.88 ± 0.76 mmol/L and 1.08 ± 0.33 mmol/L, respectively in men, while these levels were lower in women, 3.87 ± 0.80 mmol/L for cholesterol and 0.99 ± 0.29 mmol/L for triglyceride. A general trend of higher mean blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels was shown in adults who were born with lower birthweights.

This study was carried out to determine the blood glucose response and glycaemic index (GI) values of four types of commercially available breads in Malaysia. Twelve healthy volunteers (six men, six women; body mass index, 21.9±1.6 kg/m(2); age, 22.9±1.7 years) participated in this study. The breads tested were multi-grains bread (M-Grains), wholemeal bread (WM), wholemeal bread with oatmeal (WM-Oat) and white bread (WB). The subjects were studied on seven different occasions (four tests for the tested breads and three repeated tests of the reference food) after an overnight fast. Capillary blood samples were taken immediately before (0 min) and 15, 30, 45, 60, 90 and 120 min after consumption of the test foods. The blood glucose response was obtained by calculating the incremental area under the curve. The GI values were determined according to the standardized methodology. Our results showed that the M-Grains and WM-Oat could be categorized as intermediate GI while the WM and WB breads were high GI foods, respectively. The GI of M-Grains (56±6.2) and WM-Oat (67±6.9) were significantly lower than the reference food (glucose; GI = 100) (P0.05). No significant difference in GI value was seen between the reference food and the GI of WM (85±5.9) and WB (82±6.5) (P0.05). Among the tested breads, the GI values of M-Grains and WM-Oat were significantly lower (P0.05) than those of WM and WB. There was no relationship between the dietary fibre content of the bread with the incremental area under the curve (r = 0.15, P = 0.15) or their GI values (r = 0.17, P = 0.12), indicating that the GI value of the test breads were unaffected by the fibre content of the breads. The result of this study will provide useful nutritional information for dieticians and the public alike who may prefer low-GI over high-GI foods.

Following fast increase in the incidence of type 2 diabetes among Iranians, diabetes self-care activities are important. This cross-sectional study was carried out to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practices regarding diabetes among 100 Iranian type 2 diabetics (61 female, 39 male) aged between 37 to 66 years, attending the out-patient Diabetes Clinic at Golestan Hospital, Ahvaz, Iran. A face-to-face interview was done and a validated knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) questionnaire was used to determine knowledge, attitude and practices of diabetes patients. The mean duration of diabetes among patients was 4.05 ± 1.4 years. Fifty three percent of patients had good glycemic control (HbA1c level (=

Background Physical inactivity has been acknowledged as a public health issue and has received increasing attention in recent years. This cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the barriers to physical activity among Malaysian men. These barriers were analyzed with regards to sociodemographic factors, physical activity level, BMI and waist circumference. Methods Subjects in this study included 308 Malay men and 422 Chinese men aged 20 years and older. Subjects completed the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) and a questionnaire on barriers to physical activity, categorized into personal and psychological, physical and social environment barriers. Weight, height and waist circumference were also measured and BMI was calculated. Results Descriptive analyses showed that 79.3% of subjects were married, 52.1% had secondary educational level, 68.8% were still working, and 39.7% had household income between RM1500 to RM3500. The perception that other recreational activities with family and friends were more fun was the most frequently reported barrier, followed by weather, lack of discipline, lack of free time, lack of money, and lack of friends. Marriage status, educational level, household income, BMI, and physical activity status were shown to be associated with perceived barriers. Conclusions To increase participation in physical activity, policy makers should consider significant personal, social and environmental barriers when developing appropriate intervention programmes. Health-promoting strategies that increase awareness, knowledge, skills and motivation related to physical activity are required.