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Angiostrongylus malaysiensis is a potential zoonotic parasite, which reported to co‐occur with A. cantonensis in human cerebrospinal fluid. It is a heteroxenous nematode that primarily develops through the early larval stages in gastropods and attains sexual maturity within rats. This study was conducted to determine the host species responsible for the reservoir of A. malaysiensis and investigate the risk factor for transmission among the hosts in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Sampling was conducted in six recreational parks. The rats were trapped alive using steel wire traps with bait, while the gastropods were collected by active searching. The rats were euthanized and dissected to collect any adult worms observed. The molecular detection of A. malaysiensis was performed by PCR on gastropod tissue samples. Biotic and landscape factors were recorded for risk factor analysis. In total, 82 rats and 330 gastropods were collected throughout the study. Overall, 3.64% of gastropods and 32.9% of rats were infected with A. malaysiensis. Rattus tiomanicus (Malayan wood rat) and Parmarion martensi (Yellow‐shelled semi‐slug) were found as important hosts for A. malaysiensis. Host species, sampling site and macrohabitat type are risk factors associated with the prevalence of A. malaysiensis infection in rats. For gastropods, host species and sampling site are risk factors that correlate with the parasite detection. In total, 128 adult A. malaysiensis were recovered from the infected rats. The mean intensity of infection with adult A. malaysiensis was 4.65 for Rattus rattus complex and 4.90 for R. tiomanicus. Adult worms were found in the pulmonary artery or right ventricle, while eggs and first‐stage larvae were found in capillaries of the caudal lung lobe. Infected lungs showed extravasated red blood cells in the alveolar spaces. The pulmonary arteries in the infected lung lobe were thickened. Kepong Metropolitan Park is the hotspot area for A. malaysiensis in Kuala Lumpur. These results provide essential information for public health officials to develop targeted interventions to reduce the transmission of A. malaysiensis in urban areas, particularly in recreational parks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rat bocavirus (RBoV) and rodent bocavirus (RoBoV) have previously been detected in Rattus norvegicus; however, these viruses have not been reported in rodent populations in Malaysia. We investigated the presence of RBoV and RoBoV in archived rodent specimens. DNA barcoding of the rodent cytochrome c oxidase gene identified five different species: Rattus tanezumi R3 mitotype, Rattus tiomanicus, Rattus exulans, Rattus argentiventer, and Rattus tanezumi sensu stricto. Three spleens were positive for RBoV (1.84%; 3/163), but no RoBoV was detected. Phylogenetic analyzes of the partial non-structural protein 1 gene grouped Malaysian RBoV strains with RBoV strains from China. Further studies among rats from different geographical locations are warranted for this relatively new virus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malaysian Nature Education in Preschool (MyNEPs) is an initiative to incorporate nature education in the preschool syllabus. It involves learning and hands-on practice in a natural environment setting on five nature elements (climate, flora, fauna, insects, and microbes). This research aims to assess the efficacy of the MyNEPs module towards preschool children through pre-, intervention, and post-assessment. This research adopted an experimental research design using quantitative approaches. A total of 29 preschool children from Bangi, Selangor were involved in this study. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics involving normality tests and paired sample t-test. The data normality was measured using the Shapiro-Wilk test, and the result indicated that the data is normally distributed where p=0.072 > 0.05. The overall t-test result shows significant differences (p=0.006) between pre- and post-achievement, with the total mean of post-test was higher with 35.90 than pre-test achievement with 33.59. This result indicated that this module significantly contributes to children's performance on nature prior to the intervention program. As a result, this study shows that the nature education program proposed has improved preschool children's knowledge of the natural environment. Nature education is essential to enhance creativity, problem-solving, and cognitive abilities, thus improving academic performance and setting a strong foundation for science and technology. Therefore, it is suggested that the MyNEPs module should be applied to all preschools premises in Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An edu-tourism package has been developed which encompassed nature-based tourism at the natural living laboratories of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). With the theme "From Mountain to the Reef", this package comprised of tourism module based on the natural ecosystem of respective living laboratory of UKM, involving four natural habitats; highland, lowland, freshwater and marine. In order to assess the effectiveness of the module, we have distributed a set of questionnaire to the participants during the test-run, involving all the living lab facilities. This pilot study involved 13 participants from various academic background, enrolling either as undergraduates or postgraduates study at UKM. The result of the questionnaire showed positive feedbacks from the participants for both the learning modules, as well as the overall program. There were however, several room of improvements to be made from the feedbacks. This package is expected to be marketed locally and internationally for students and public, in order to generate revenue for the university and stakeholders. This project has proven to be research translated to the community through the empowering of the human capitals (staffs and local community) through the living laboratory facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paddy field ecosystem is an important habitat for water birds, as well as some migratory species due to the abundance of food resources. We want to determine which factors influence bird species abundance, diversity, and composition in different paddy field sites with different rice growing stages. Rapid assessments of birds were conducted in three paddy fields located on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia: Pahang (Pekan), Terengganu (Besut) and Kelantan (Melor). The survey method involved point count sampling. From the survey, Pekan recorded 1,141 individuals from 17 species, Melor with 992 individuals from 11 species, and Besut, with 348 individuals from eight species. The Ardeidae family was the most dominant, at 71%, at all study areas, followed by the Rallidae (21.43%), Columbidae (14.29%) and Halcyonidae (14.29%). The species richness and assemblages were found to correlate with the rice-growing cycle, where the post-harvest (land preparation) and seedling (vegetative) stages were associated with the highest species incidence, as demonstrated in Pekan and Melor, due to these sites being inundated or flooded. Species abundance was statistically significant for different feeding guild groups based on Welch's F (4, 4.095) = 68.027, p<0.05. Carnivorous birds were most common during the post-harvest and seedling stage, in contrast to insectivorous/granivorous birds, which were most common during the flowering stage. This study could aid in pest management in relation to bird communities in the paddy field ecosystem through the application of biological control practices instead of chemicals, without compromising rice yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest fragmentation has been one of the major issues in urban landscape due to anthropogenic activities. It produces remnants of forest patches, which were originally large and continuous forest. Forest fragmentation will adversely impact on forest fauna diversity. However, the impacts are dependent on the type and characteristic of the forest remnants itself. This study therefore investigated species composition of birds within fragmented forest in the state of Selangor. Six remnants of forest reserves located in the midst of urban landscape that vary in size and landscape matrix were chosen. Methods used were mist-netting and direct observation. A total of 83 species of birds have been recorded in all sites. Native-forest species are species that depends solely on forest for their livelihood. Larger percentage of native-forest species were found in the larger forest compared to smaller forest suggesting that smaller forest are more vulnerable towards invasion of non-forest species. This however is highly supported by the landscape matrix that surrounds the forest. In conclusion, landscape matrix other than forest size were found to be the major factor that influenced the capacity of the forest to maintain more native-forest species. However,further studies need to be carried out at a larger experimental scale to test this theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Leptospirosis is a water-related zoonotic disease. The disease is primarily transmitted from animals to humans through pathogenic Leptospira bacteria in contaminated water and soil. Rivers have a critical role in Leptospira transmissions, while co-infection potentials with other waterborne bacteria might increase the severity and death risk of the disease., Methods: The water samples evaluated in this study were collected from four recreational forest rivers, Sungai Congkak, Sungai Lopo, Hulu Perdik, and Gunung Nuang. The samples were subjected to next-generation sequencing (NGS) for the 16S rRNA and in-depth metagenomic analysis of the bacterial communities., Results: The water samples recorded various bacterial diversity. The samples from the Hulu Perdik and Sungai Lopo downstream sampling sites had a more significant diversity, followed by Sungai Congkak. Conversely, the upstream samples from Gunung Nuang exhibited the lowest bacterial diversity. Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Acidobacteria were the dominant phyla detected in downstream areas. Potential pathogenic bacteria belonging to the genera Burkholderiales and Serratia were also identified, raising concerns about co-infection possibilities. Nevertheless, Leptospira pathogenic bacteria were absent from all sites, which is attributable to its limited persistence. The bacteria might also be washed to other locations, contributing to the reduced environmental bacterial load., Conclusion: The present study established the presence of pathogenic bacteria in the river ecosystems assessed. The findings offer valuable insights for designing strategies for preventing pathogenic bacteria environmental contamination and managing leptospirosis co-infections with other human diseases. Furthermore, closely monitoring water sample compositions with diverse approaches, including sentinel programs, wastewater-based epidemiology, and clinical surveillance, enables disease transmission and outbreak early detections. The data also provides valuable information for suitable treatments and long-term strategies for combating infectious diseases., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© 2024 Md Lasim et al.)