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Cerium pollution in waterbodies by improper industrial waste disposal is a major concern due to its detrimental impacts on the environment. Therefore, treatment of cerium-contaminated water is inevitable. Hence, this study is focused on the remediation of cerium pollution using phosphoric acid-activated biochar (PPMB) as an adsorbent, synthesized upon pyrolytic activation of palmyra palm male flower-based pristine biochar (PMFB) with H 3 PO 4 at 500 °C. The physico-chemical surface properties of PMFB and PPMB were evaluated through various microscopic and spectroscopic analyses. The key parameters such as biochar dosage, pH, temperature, contact time and initial cerium concentration were optimized as 0.5 g/L, 5.0, 303 K, 180 min and 50 mg/L respectively via batch adsorption. Pseudo-second order kinetic and Toth isotherm are the best-fitted models. The thermodynamic parameters including ΔG ◦ (-30.4707 ± 0.7618 kJ/mol at 303 K), ΔH ◦ (16.1499 ± 0.78 kJ/mol), and ΔS ◦ (153.617 ± 3.8404 J/mol/K) conveying that cerium adsorption onto PPMB was spontaneous, endothermic, and highly disordered at PPMB-bulk adsorption medium interface. Precipitation, electrostatic attraction, and surface complexation are predicted to be the predominant mechanisms for the chosen PPMB-cerium adsorption system. Moreover, cerium phytotoxicity on Vigna radiata explains the real-time applicability and feasibility of cerium adsorption using PPMB. Thus, the key findings of this study specified that the higher adsorption capacity of PPMB (141.3484 ± 6.9856 mg/g) contributed by the incorporated phosphate groups, predominant mesoporosity, SSA BET of 230.559 m 2 /g and anionic surface at a wider pH range (pH>3.08) make PPMB as efficient, economically feasible and environmentally friendly adsorbent for cerium adsorption in aqueous system., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Poor indoor air quality (IAQ) in healthcare settings may adversely impact occupants' well-being and promote transmission of infectious respiratory disease. However, evidence on its potentially modifiable determinants, including occupant behaviour, remains scarce. This study aims to determine the relationship between occupant behaviour and IAQ in Malaysian hospital outpatient departments (OPDs)., Methods: A multistage cross-sectional study of six randomly selected Malaysian public hospital OPDs was conducted. In stage one, IAQ parameters, including temperature, relative humidity (RH), air velocity (AV), carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), total bacterial count (TBC), and total fungal count (TFC) were measured. In stage two, an observation form based on the Korsavi and Montazami tool for measuring adaptive behaviour was used to examine occupant density, activities, and operation of building envelopes and appliances. Simple correlation, partial correlation, and linear regression analyses were performed to examine the relationship between occupant behaviour and IAQ parameters., Results: The IAQ of selected hospital OPDs complied with established standards, except for temperature and AV. Occupant density was positively correlated with temperature and CO 2 . Meanwhile, occupants' activities including slow walking and brisk walking were positively correlated with temperature, AV, CO 2 , TBC and TFC. Conversely, occupants' opening of windows and doors were positively correlated with temperature and AV but negatively correlated with CO 2 , TBC and TFC. Finally, turning on fans was positively correlated with AV but negatively correlated with TBC, whereas turning on air conditioner was positively correlated with CO 2 . Among occupants' behaviour, opening of windows and doors contributed the most to variation in IAQ parameters., Conclusions: The study findings suggest that IAQ in hospital OPDs are influenced by occupant density, activities, and operation of doors, windows, and appliances. Prospective hospital IAQ guidelines should incorporate policies and measures targeting these factors to ensure occupants' best practices in maintaining healthy hospital indoor air environments., Competing Interests: The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Dr. Ely Zarina Samsudin reports administrative support and equipment, drugs, or supplies were provided by Universiti Teknologi MARA Cawangan Selangor. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors.)

Indoor air quality (IAQ) has recently gained substantial traction as the airborne transmission of infectious respiratory disease becomes an increasing public health concern. Hospital indoor environments are complex ecosystems and strategies to improve hospital IAQ require greater appreciation of its potentially modifiable determinants, evidence of which are currently limited. This mini-review updates and integrates findings of previous literature to outline the current scientific evidence on the relationship between hospital IAQ and building design, building operation, and occupant-related factors. Emerging evidence has linked aspects of building design (dimensional, ventilation, and building envelope designs, construction and finishing materials, furnishing), building operation (ventilation operation and maintenance, hygiene maintenance, access control for hospital users), and occupants' characteristics (occupant activities, medical activities, adaptive behavior) to hospital IAQ. Despite the growing pool of IAQ literature, some important areas within hospitals (outpatient departments) and several key IAQ elements (dimensional aspects, room configurations, building materials, ventilation practices, adaptive behavior) remain understudied. Ventilation for hospitals continues to be challenging, as elevated levels of carbon monoxide, bioaerosols, and chemical compounds persist in indoor air despite having mechanical ventilation systems in place. To curb this public health issue, policy makers should champion implementing hospital IAQ surveillance system for all areas of the hospital building, applying interdisciplinary knowledge during the hospital design, construction and operation phase, and training of hospital staff with regards to operation, maintenance, and building control manipulation. Multipronged strategies targeting these important determinants are believed to be a viable strategy for the future control and improvement of hospital IAQ., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Ibrahim, Samsudin, Ishak and Sathasivam.)

In the past decade, the population in Malaysia has been rapidly ageing. This poses new challenges and issues that threaten the ability of the elderly to independently age in place. A multistage cross-sectional study on 789 community-dwelling elderly individuals aged 60 years and above was conducted in an urban district in Malaysia to assess the geriatric syndrome of frailty. Using a multidimensional frailty index, we detected 67.7% prefrail and 5.7% frail elders. Cognitive status was a significant correlate for frailty status among the respondents as well as those who perceived their health status as very poor or quite poor; but self-rated health was no longer significant when controlled for sociodemographic variables. Lower-body weakness and history of falls were associated with increasing frailty levels, and this association persisted in the multivariate model. This study offers support that physical disability, falls, and cognition are important determinants for frailty. This initial work on frailty among urban elders in Malaysia provides important correlations and identifies potential risk factors that can form the basis of information for targeted preventive measures for this vulnerable group in their prefrail state., (© 2015 APJPH.)