Obesity is one of the most common, yet among the most neglected, public health problems around the world and it is strongly associated with various non-communicable diseases such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus and coronary artery diseases. Health care personal especially nurses play an important role in educating public to have healthy lifestyle. However, there is an alarming rate of increase in number of obesity among nursing students as well as staff nurses. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the anthropometric measurements and its associated risks among post-basic renal care nursing students. Total of 142 post-basic renal care nursing students of five intakes were included in this cross-sectional study. The result of the study showed that 52% of participants were either overweight or obese although most of them were below 40 years of age. Majority of overweight or obese students were Malays and 78% of them being female. We also observed an association of systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and waist circumference (WC)with increasing body mass index (BMI) (P= 0.001, P= 0.001 and P<0.001) which were statistically significant. Wald criterion estimated that WC and DBP were the most important predictors of BMI in present study. Our study concluded that obesity is prevalent among post-basic renal care nursing students. Urgent and appropriate action should be taken to deter the growing problem of obesity among nursing students and to avoid its subsequent complications in Malaysia.

Background There is a major public health challenge threatening the world with the rapid spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which emerged in December 2019 from Wuhan, China. Objective The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice regarding COVID-19 and its transmission, causes and prevention among people living in Malaysia. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among people living in Malaysia by using an online survey in March and April 2020. Results Out of 520 respondents, the mean age was 36.9 ± 14.9, between 19 and 67 years with the majority being female. Most respondents had good knowledge, attitude and practice towards COVID-19 with mean ± sd 18.2 ± 1.7, 5.2 ± 1.1 and 4.1 ± 1.4, respectively. In addition, the majority had good knowledge regarding cause, mode of transmission, signs and symptoms, prevention and treatment and quarantine measures after answering 21 questions. Conclusion To date, there is no specific treatment or vaccine for COVID-19, thus staying at home is the best preventive measure to curb the further growth of positive cases in the country. These findings could provide an insight in designing effective preparedness for future pandemic outbreaks.

Aim of this study is to determine levels of general health, occupational stress and burnout in nurses who are working in Shohadaye Kargar Hospital of Yazd. A cross- sectional study was conducted among nurses who are working in Shohadaye Kargar Hospital of Yazd in 2017-2018 years. The sample was randomly selected and total 200 nurses were enrolled to the study. The study instruments included Occupational stress questionnaire, Maslach Burnout Inventory and General Health Questionnaire. Collected Data were analyzed by using descriptive test and Pearson correlation coefficient and multivariate regression in SPSS. The findings of research indicated that total levels of occupational stress were high among 58.85 % of nurses. Regarding burnout, 35.93% of nurses had reported high levels of burnout. Less than one percent (0.37 %) of nurses have high mental health problems and 0.44 percent reported mid mental health problem. There was a statistically significant correlation between occupational stress with mental health (p<.001) and job burnout with mental health (p<.001). Occupational stress and job burnout may have undesired influences on nursing mental health and general function.

Introduction Even in a country with a tax-based healthcare financing system, health insurance can play an important role, especially in the management of chronic diseases with high disease and economic burden such as Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM). The insurance coverage among T2DM patients in Malaysia is currently unclear. The aim of this study was to determine the insurance status of T2DM patients in public and private healthcare facilities in Malaysia, and the association between this status and patients’ sociodemographic and economic factors. Methods A cross-sectional study among T2DM patients seeking inpatient or outpatient treatment at a public tertiary hospital (Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz) and a private tertiary hospital (Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Specialist Centre) in Kuala Lumpur between August 2019 and March 2020. Patients were identified via convenience sampling using a self-administered questionnaire. Data collection focused on identifying insurance status as the dependent factor while the independent factors were the patients’ sociodemographic characteristics and economic factors. Results Of 400 T2DM patients, 313 responded (response rate, 78.3%) and 76.0% were uninsured. About 69.6% of the respondents had low monthly incomes of <RM5000. Two-thirds of participants (59.1%) spent RM100–500 for outpatient visits whilst 58.5% spent <RM100 on medicines per month (RM1 = USD0.244). Patients who visited a private facility had five times more likely to have insurance than patients who visited a public facility. Participants aged 18–49 years with higher education levels were 4.8 times more likely to be insured than participants aged ≥50 years with low education levels (2 times). Conclusions The majority of T2DM patients were uninsured. The main factors determining health insurance status were public facilities, age of ≥ 50 years, low education level, unemployment, and monthly expenditure on medicines.

Pathogenic microorganisms from hospitals, communities, and the environment remain great threats to human health. The increasing concern about antibiotic resistance has also necessitated the search for robust alternatives. Therefore, this study aims to isolate, screen and evaluate the antibiotic susceptibility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from a soil sample taken from northern, western and eastern parts of Kelana Jaya Lake against four antibiotics (gentamycin, tetracycline, ampicillin, and penicillin) on a Mueller-Hinton Agar media plate. Pseudomonas identification was done by using API 20 kit. Disc diffusion was employed as well as the oxidase test. From the positive oxidase result, the isolated bacteria were identified as Burkholderia cepacia (97.6% ID), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (99.5-99.9% ID), and Pseudomonas fluorescent (75.9% ID). Only Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates were further evaluated for antibiotic susceptibility tests. The result showed that P. aeruginosa was susceptible to only three antibiotics (gentamycin, tetracycline, and penicillin) showing a clear zone of inhibition while it was resistant to only ampicillin with no zone of inhibition. Soil isolates are potential sources for the development of effective antibiotics against resistant bacteria.