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Abstract Background The monkey parasite Plasmodium knowlesi is an emerging public health issue in Southeast Asia. In Sabah, Malaysia, P. knowlesi is now the dominant cause of human malaria. Molecular detection methods for P. knowlesi are essential for accurate diagnosis and in monitoring progress towards malaria elimination of other Plasmodium species. However, recent commercially available PCR malaria kits have unpublished P. knowlesi gene targets or have not been evaluated against clinical samples. Methods Two real-time PCR methods currently used in Sabah for confirmatory malaria diagnosis and surveillance reporting were evaluated: the QuantiFast™ Multiplex PCR kit (Qiagen, Germany) targeting the P. knowlesi 18S SSU rRNA; and the abTES™ Malaria 5 qPCR II kit (AITbiotech, Singapore), with an undisclosed P. knowlesi gene target. Diagnostic accuracy was evaluated using 52 P. knowlesi, 25 Plasmodium vivax, 21 Plasmodium falciparum, and 10 Plasmodium malariae clinical isolates, and 26 malaria negative controls, and compared against a validated reference nested PCR assay. The limit of detection (LOD) for each PCR method and Plasmodium species was also evaluated. Results The sensitivity of the QuantiFast™ and abTES™ assays for detecting P. knowlesi was comparable at 98.1% (95% CI 89.7–100) and 100% (95% CI 93.2–100), respectively. Specificity of the QuantiFast™ and abTES™ for P. knowlesi was high at 98.8% (95% CI 93.4–100) for both assays. The QuantiFast™ assay demonstrated falsely-positive mixed Plasmodium species at low parasitaemias in both the primary and LOD analysis. Diagnostic accuracy of both PCR kits for detecting P. vivax, P. falciparum, and P. malariae was comparable to P. knowlesi. The abTES™ assay demonstrated a lower LOD for P. knowlesi of ≤ 0.125 parasites/µL compared to QuantiFast™ with a LOD of 20 parasites/µL. Hospital microscopy demonstrated a sensitivity of 78.8% (95% CI 65.3–88.9) and specificity of 80.4% (95% CI 67.6–89.8) compared to reference PCR for detecting P. knowlesi. Conclusion The QuantiFast™ and abTES™ commercial PCR kits performed well for the accurate detection of P. knowlesi infections. Although the QuantiFast™ kit is cheaper, the abTES™ kit demonstrated a lower LOD, supporting its use as a second-line referral-laboratory diagnostic tool in Sabah, Malaysia.

Abstract In endemic regions, include melioidosis in the routine differential diagnosis of neonates with respiratory distress, and consider early empirical ceftazidime treatment for neonates with worsening respiratory distress.

Background: Several studies have reported a significant association of knowledge, attitude and preventive practice (KAP) regarding dengue infection among community's resident in endemic areas. In this study we aimed to assess and develop a reliable and valid KAP survey on the subject of dengue that is suitable for the resident population of Sabah, Malaysia.Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from October 2019 to February 2020 involving 468 respondents. Information on the socio-demographic characteristics of the participants (six items), their KAP (44, 15 and 18 items on knowledge, attitude and practice, respectively) and treatment-seeking behaviour (five items) towards dengue was collected using a structured questionnaire. Data analysis was performed using SPSS and R software in the R Studio environment. The knowledge section was analysed by two-parameter logistic item response theory (2-PL IRT) using ltm package. The construct validity and reliability of items for sections on attitude, practice and treatment-seeking behaviour were analysed using psy package.Results: For the knowledge section, only 70.5% (31/44) of items were within or close to the parameter acceptable range of -3 to + 3 of difficulty. In terms of discrimination, 65.9% (29/44) of items were within or close to the acceptable range of 0.35 to 2.5, and 24 items (54.5%) failed to fit the 2-PL IRT model (P < 0.05) after assessing by goodness-of-fit analysis. Only eight items were reliable and retained in the attitude section with a Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) test value of > 0.7, while based on the communalities, 11 items in the attitude section were excluded due to very low h2, factor loading values and low correlation with the total (< 0.5). The practice section was found suitable for factor analysis because the KMO value was > 0.7. The communalities of the practice section showed that seven items had low h2 values (< 0.3), which were therefore excluded from further analysis, and only 11 items were retained.Conclusions: The KAP items retained in the final version of the survey were reliable and valid to be use as a questionnaire reference when conducting future similar studies among the population of Sabah. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In endemic regions, include melioidosis in the routine differential diagnosis of neonates with respiratory distress, and consider early empirical ceftazidime treatment for neonates with worsening respiratory distress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are severe issues of public open space (POS) underinvestment and overexploitation. However, few studies have been conducted on the property rights structure and its impacts on rural commons governance, specifically concerning local neighbourhood residential POS quality and sustainability. The social-ecological system framework and the new institutional economics theory were employed to examine the local diverse property rights system and its effects on the emergence of POS dilemmas. Rural commons covering neighbourhood residential Country Lease (CL) and Native Title (NT) POS from the districts of Kota Kinabalu and Penampang, Sabah Malaysia were selected. A mixed-method phenomenological case study, involving multi-stakeholders’ perspectives across public-private-user sectors, was employed. This study revealed four main interconnected property rights issues, including attenuated rights, incomplete rights, maladaptive rights, and security-based de facto perceptive rights, under the complex state-private regime, which incentivise the opportunistic behaviour of individuals in externalising POS commons dilemmas. The findings further inferred that the local diverse property rights issues and POS dilemmas caused, and are associated with, other rights issues and dilemmas, forming a rights-dilemmas nexus. Not only do the institutional failures actuate POS dilemmas, but the former also engender other forms of property rights failures, while the latter cause other POS dilemmas. This paper suggests policy and management insights to public officials, in which the importance of the institutional-social-POS behavioural factor and the re-engineering of POS governance via adaptive property rights realignment are emphasised.

Abstract: The live reef food fish trade (LRFFT) has caused severe depletion of the Humphead wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus) populations globally, a species considered endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. In 2010, signatories to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora recognized that illegal, unregulated, and unreported (IUU) activities in the LRFFT were undermining the efforts to protect this species. Management recommendations have yet to be effectively implemented at national and local levels where the fish is harvested. This paper analyzes the threats to, and socio-economic impacts of, Humphead wrasse recovery in Sabah, Malaysia, and offers both short- and longer-term recommendations for the local recovery of the species. Key issues addressed centre around understanding the threats to recovery, specifically the role of IUU and the context-specific considerations, including the socio-economic aspects of the IUU trade in Sabah. The analysis confirms that deliberate management planning and action at multiple levels are required to prevent local-scale extinction. Lessons for other species and countries involved in the LRFFT suggest that to be effective, broad management frameworks must be tailored to local situations and must focus on gaining support and participation of fish harvesters if the recovery and long-term sustainability of both the Humphead wrasse and the LRFFT are to be achieved. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Many fisheries management interventions are in the form of spatial regulations that change fishers' access to fishing grounds. How fishers respond to regulations directly affects the ecological and socioeconomic outcomes of management objectives, but little attention is paid to fishers' willingness and ability to make spatial adjustments. We investigate the spatial preferences of small-scale fishers in Sabah, Malaysia, within a framework of mental maps and perceptions. We find that the majority of fishers fish within preferred resource spaces that were heavily influenced by perceptions of safety. Most fishers exhibit low flexibility to adapt to spatial changes, based on i) unwillingness to travel beyond preferred resource spaces; ii) unwillingness to leave the fishery; and iii) low to no alternative employment opportunities. We emphasize the need to uncover and understand human dimension parameters to reduce uncertainty surrounding human behaviour, and ultimately facilitate the attainment of fisheries management objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are severe issues of public open space (POS) underinvestment and overexploitation. However, few studies have been conducted on the property rights structure and its impacts on rural commons governance, specifically concerning local neighbourhood residential POS quality and sustainability. The social-ecological system framework and the new institutional economics theory were employed to examine the local diverse property rights system and its effects on the emergence of POS dilemmas. Rural commons covering neighbourhood residential Country Lease (CL) and Native Title (NT) POS from the districts of Kota Kinabalu and Penampang, Sabah Malaysia were selected. A mixed-method phenomenological case study, involving multi-stakeholders' perspectives across public-private-user sectors, was employed. This study revealed four main interconnected property rights issues, including attenuated rights, incomplete rights, maladaptive rights, and security-based de facto perceptive rights, under the complex state-private regime, which incentivise the opportunistic behaviour of individuals in externalising POS commons dilemmas. The findings further inferred that the local diverse property rights issues and POS dilemmas caused, and are associated with, other rights issues and dilemmas, forming a rights-dilemmas nexus. Not only do the institutional failures actuate POS dilemmas, but the former also engender other forms of property rights failures, while the latter cause other POS dilemmas. This paper suggests policy and management insights to public officials, in which the importance of the institutional-social-POS behavioural factor and the re-engineering of POS governance via adaptive property rights realignment are emphasised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]