Perception of safety, physical working conditions and stress between Malaysia and United Kingdom

21st century businesses operate faster and with more complexity and uncertainty than ever before, and therefore industrial accidents and diseases become more prolific, bringing a serious and costly burden to all countries. For the majority of the world’s workforce, a working environment does not meet the minimum standards and guiding principle predetermined by the international bureaus. This has called for occupational safety and health to be implemented and enforced. Different laws and regulations have been introduced by most of the developed countries meant for the prevention of industrial accidents and occupational diseases and the statistics of occupational accidents is being kept updated. Differences of behavioral patterns in organizations are attributed to beliefs, norms and values amongst employees from different parts of the world. Therefore, the health and safety of employees becomes a vital aspect of the work of human resource management teams. This study compared the perception of employees towards health and safety in workplaces in Malaysia and the United Kingdom (UK). Malaysia is a developing country whereas the UK is a developed country. Investigating their perceptions would provide insights for different points of view on occupational health and safety from a developing country and a developed country

Effect of carbon and nitrogen sources and carbon-to-nitrogen ratio on production of Exserohilum longirostratum.

The effects of carbon and nitrogen sources and the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio on the growth and sporulation of Exserohilum longirostratum were evaluated. Rice flour and malt extracts as the carbon and nitrogen sources, respectively, produced the greatest amount of mycelium. Sources that produced the most biomass were chosen as carbon and nitrogen sources in a C:N ratio test. However, in further experiments, glucose was chosen as the carbon source for the C:N ratio test because rice flour was found to be easily contaminated. Under the C:N ratio test (fixed carbon test), the highest spore production was obtained with a 5:1 ratio (4.78 × 106 spores/mL) and the highest biomass production was obtained with a 7.5:1 ratio (4.66 g/100 mL). In the fixed nitrogen test, 7.5:1 ratio provided the greatest output (4.08 × 106 spores/mL) whereas a 5:1 ratio produced the most biomass (4.33 g/100 mL). Meanwhile, the control which consisted of V8 agar without additional carbon and nitrogen source produced 1.07 × 106 spores/mL. These results provide information on the influence of carbon and nitrogen source and the C:N ratio that can be used in media for optimum growth and spore yield

Isolation and Characterization of Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) Producers from Kg Batu Melintang hotspring

The increasing awareness on the negative environmental impact of petroleum-based plastics has driven industries to explore more efficient biodegradable polymers for production of bioplastic. Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) is one of the potential biodegradable polymers to replace petroleum-based plastic. It is synthesized and accumulated as intracellular granules in microorganism. In this study, polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) producing bacteria were successfully isolated from sediment collected from Kg. Batu Melintang hotspring. Isolation process was carried on Minimal Salt Medium (MSM) agar supplemented with excess glucose as a carbon source. Potential PHA producers were screened by using Nile Blue staining plate assay. Out of 144 bacterial isolates, 12 bacterial isolates which showed strong orange fluorescence under ultraviolet (UV) light (365nm) were selected for further identification by morphological characterization and biochemical analysis. Based on the result obtained, possible species for Gram positive rod shape bacteria B75 and B87 is Corynebacterium kutsceri meanwhile Gram negative rod shape bacteria A4, A12, A50, A68, B2, B13, B22, B31, B73 and C3 showed affiliation to Citrobacter sp., Enterobacter sp., Erwinia sp., Klebsiella sp., Proteus sp., Salmonella sp., Serratia sp., Shigella sp., and Yersinia sp

Tuberculosis in captive Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in Peninsular Malaysia

A cross-sectional study was conducted from 10 January to 9 April 2012, to determine the seroprevalence of tuberculosis (TB) of all captive Asian elephants and their handlers in six locations in Peninsular Malaysia. In addition, trunk-wash samples were examined for tubercle bacillus by culture and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). For 63 elephants and 149 elephant handlers, TB seroprevalence was estimated at 20·4% and 24·8%, respectively. From 151 trunk-wash samples, 24 acid-fast isolates were obtained, 23 of which were identified by hsp65-based sequencing as non-tuberculous mycobacteria. The Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific PCR was positive in the trunk-wash samples from three elephants which were also seropositive. Conversely, the trunk wash from seven seropositive elephants were PCR negative. Hence, there was evidence of active and latent TB in the elephants and the high seroprevalence in the elephants and their handlers suggests frequent, close contact, two-way transmission between animals and humans within confined workplaces

1,1′-(p-Phenyl­enedimethyl­ene)dipyridinium bis­(hexa­fluoridophosphate)

The title salt, C18H18N2 2+·2PF6 −, exists as non-inter­acting cations and anions. In the cation, the pyridine and phenyl­ene rings are aligned at 62.9 (1)°; the pyridine ring lies on a special position of m site symmetry and the phenyl­ene ring on a special position of 2/m site symmetry. The angle at the methyl­ene C atom is 112.8 (1)°. The anion lies on a special position of m site symmetry; four F atoms lie on this mirror plane

E-Tourism: Malaysian travellers intention in online accommodation booking

A great number of tourists has embraced online travel booking. This paper examines the influence of four factors, namely credibility, trustworthiness, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use on booking intention and explores whether the attitude mediates the relationship between trustworthiness and booking intention. A total of 191 completed and usable questionnaires from holidaymakers in Malaysia were collected. The results showed that perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use have a significant positive relationship with the booking intention. The result also highlighted that attitude partially mediates the relationship between trustworthiness and booking intention. The paper concludes with a discussion on managerial implications and suggestions to address this issue.    Keywords: holiday accommodations, holidaymakers, online booking, online information search.    eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2020. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.   DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v5iSI1.232

Genetic therapies for movement disorders - current status

Movement disorders are a group of heterogeneous neurological conditions associated with alterations of tone, posture and voluntary movement. They may either occur in isolation or as part of a multisystemic condition. More recently, the advent of next generation sequencing technologies has facilitated better understanding of the underlying causative genes and molecular pathways, thereby identifying targets for genetic therapy. In this review, we summarize the advances in genetic therapy approaches for both hyperkinetic and hypokinetic movement disorders, including Parkinson's Disease, Huntington's Disease and rarer monogenic conditions of childhood onset. While there have been significant advances in the field, multiple challenges remain, related to safety, toxicity, efficacy and brain biodistribution, which will need to be addressed by the next generation of genetic therapies