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Context: Annona muricata is a medicinal plant from the Annonaceae family originally comes from the native America but is now become established in many tropical countries, especially in Malaysia. With the advancement of science and technology further study have been done to establish the function of Annona muricata in the healthcare industries. Some phytochemical constituents are acetogenins, coumarins, phenolic, alkaloids and flavonoids. The phytochemical content is the chemical constituent that gives the antioxidants, anti-microbial, antidiabetics, and many other health benefits. Aims: This study aimed to identify the phytochemicals in Annona muricata leaves and pulp extracts specifically phenolic and flavonoids and, to evaluate and compare the antioxidant and anti-microbial activity between the two parts of the plant. Methods: The pulp and leave extract were obtained from a Negeri Sembilan. Antioxidant tests included FRAP, DPPH, and TPC were conducted, while antimicrobial testing was done against S.aureus using the disc diffusion method. The concentration of the sample used in the study was 25µg/ml, 50µg/ml, 100µg/ml, 200µg/ml and 400µg/ml. Results: The result of the study shows that both parts of leaf and pulp of Annona muricata extracts possess a good antioxidant level with the concentration of 25µg, 50µ100µg, 200µ and 400µg. But in contrast those concentration does not show any significant antimicrobial activity for both extracts. When comparing between the pulp and leaves extracts, the leaves extract elicits higher content of antioxidant level and higher sensitivity towards microorganism compared to pulp extracts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Orang Asal are the indigenous people of Malaysia. Orang Asal in Peninsular Malaysia are collectively known as Orang Asli. They are a marginalised population group. Health status among the indigenous is generally poor and shows an increasing trend of chronic noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).Thus, IMAM Response & Team Relief (IMARET), a medical-based Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) organises a mobile clinic which provides monthly free healthcare services to Orang Asli population. Drug Utilisation Evaluation (DUE) is an ongoing, systematic criteria-based programme of medicine evaluation to ensure appropriate medicine use. This study was conducted to determine the DUE on the physician prescribing pattern on NCD. The specific objectives are to identify the prevalence of NCD, to determine the appropriate medications used for NCD and to compare the physician prescribing pattern. This study was conducted as retrospective, descriptive and cross-sectional study between January 2017 to December 2018. The subjects were screened using convenience sampling based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. It was carried out using prescription data collected in the mobile clinic. Hypertension was the most common prevalent among the Orang Asli (n = 48, 18.5%), followed by gout (n = 7, 2.7%), dyslipidaemia (n = 4, 1.5%), diabetes mellitus (n = 2, 0.8%) and asthma (n = 1, 0.4%). Drug therapy is a very important component in the disease management. The most common prescribed antihypertensive, anti-gout, anti-dyslipidemic, and anti-asthmatic agents were calcium channel blocker, colchicine, statin and short-acting beta-2 agonist (SABA) respectively. However, common prescribed anti-diabetic agents were biguanide and sulfonylurea. Oral nifedipine, perindopril, salbutamol and glibenclamide were not listed in National Essential Medicine List (NEML). In contrast, only oral glibenclamide was not listed in Ministry of Health (MoH) Medicine Formulary. Appropriate prescribing pattern among the physicians help to reduce the morbidity and mortality of NCDs among Orang Asli. Appropriateness of the prescribed medications is influenced by the limited availability of the medications. Rational and standard prescribing pattern by the physicians are needed to ensure effective and safe treatment for the patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Around 100,000 Rohingya refugees have migrated to Malaysia since 1978 and developed diabetes mellitus (DM) over time. DM is a serious chronic disease that requires self-management to reduce its complications. There lies a concern here in an already vulnerable population. Objectives: To determine the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of DM among Rohingya refugees attending IMARET mobile clinic, Selayang. Materials and methods: The study was a cross sectional study utilizing structured questionnaires and respondents were interviewed with the help of a translator. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 25.0. Independent t-test, ANOVA test and correlations test were used. Results: A total of 56 respondents participated in this study. Majority of respondents was female (73.2%), in age group between 31-40 years, married (83.9%), and around a fifth, 21.4% had diabetes mellitus. There were significant differences of knowledge between respondents with history of diabetes mellitus (p<0.001). There was significance in respondents attitude score in history of DM (p<0.001) with marital status (p=0.008) as well as differences in practice score of history of DM (p=0.039) with different occupations (p=0.037). Conclusion: There was a moderate score of knowledge, good positive attitude, and moderate score of practice towards diabetes mellitus. Adequate DM health education to non-DM and DM care to Rohingya refugees may reduce complications and avert further distresses to their quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to find the correlation between Halal awareness, Halal logo factor, and Religiosity towards consumer purchase intention in Selangor, Malaysia. This study involved 318 public who live in Selangor. A set of questionnaires that consisted of Section A (Demographic Data) and Section B (Consumer awareness, Halal logo factor, religiosity, and consumer purchase intention) was adopted and adapted from previous study. A 5-point Likert scale (1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=uncertain, 4=agree, 5=strongly agree) was used to determine the respondents' level of agreement by calculating the mean rating scores. The data were analysed using Descriptive Analysis, Pearson Correlation Analysis, Independent t- test, and ANOVA by SPSS Version 23. The results showed that the difference in age, ethnicity and occupational status produced significant difference towards consumer purchase intention (p< 0.001). The outcome also revealed that the level of consumer awareness towards halal cosmetics and personal care products is medium. Another significant finding in this study was consumer awareness, religiosity, and halal logo factor positively related to consumer's intention to buy halal cosmetics and personal care products with R= 0.362, R=0.580, and R= 0.817 respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assessment of quality of life gives valuable decision in providing information about the functioning and well-being of population. The main objective of this research is to study the perception on quality of life among public university students. A quantitative cross-sectional study was applied in this study by using English language of questionnaire and conducted by using convenient sampling method. Students in public universities located in WP Kuala Lumpur and Selangor had been chosen as subject (N=312). Data obtained was analyzed by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Gender, course stream and health status are among the factors that revealed to have association with quality of life. Different gender was found to have significant difference with quality of life measures physical state and overall quality of life. For course stream, quality of life measure life enjoyment was found to have significant difference on perception of quality of life. As for health status, there were significant differences on quality of life measures physical state, mental/emotional state and stress evaluations. However, there was no significant difference on quality of life on education level and funding for study. As the conclusion, there were various factors that might affect perception on quality of life. Thus, different perception on quality of life among university students may rely on different factors that affect their quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]