This article presents the findings of a self-report study of the consequences of being an informal caregiver in Malaysia. The aim of this exploratory study was to examine Malaysian efforts in assisting informal caregivers, based on an analysis of the issues and concerns raised by the caregivers themselves. Data were obtained from a cross-sectional survey of informal caregivers in 2009. This sample comprised parents, spouses and/or adult siblings, and adult children, caring for their children, spouses or siblings and parents who were chronically ill and/or had a disability. Of 300 prospective participants, only 175 could be located (58%), but all those contacted agreed to participate. Respondents were randomly selected and interviewed using a structured questionnaire to identify the emotional, financial, social and physical issues consequent upon being a caregiver. Most respondents reported that their care-giving responsibilities had impacted their emotional, financial, social and/or physical well-being. Inadequate and/or uncertain income was by far the greatest concern followed in descending order by social, physical and emotional consequences. The one-way analysis of variance showed significant differences among the three categories of caregivers with respect to physical and emotional consequences. The findings show that care-giving has detrimental effects on the lives of informal caregivers, and that they are in significant need of social support to help them deal with care-giving tasks and responsibilities. Based on the findings, an integrated social support programme is proposed, tailored to the needs of informal caregivers.
Chitinases are glycosyl hydrolases that cleave the β-1,4-glycosidic linkages between N-acetylglucosamine residues in chitin which is a major component of fungal cell wall. Plant chitinases hydrolyze fungal chitin to chitin oligosaccharides that serve as elicitors of plant defense system against fungal pathogens. However, plants synthesize many chitinase isozymes and some of them are not pathogenesis-related. In this study, three full-length cDNA sequences encoding a putative chitinase (EgChit3-1) and two chitinase-like proteins (EgChit1-1 and EgChit5-1) have been cloned from oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The abundance of these transcripts in the roots and leaves of oil palm seedlings treated with Ganoderma boninense (a fungal pathogen) or Trichoderma harzianum (an avirulent symbiont), and a combination of both fungi at 3, 6 and 12 weeks post infection were profiled by real time quantitative reverse-transcription (qRT)-PCR. Our findings showed that the gene expression of EgChit3-1 increased significantly in the roots of oil palm seedlings treated with either G. boninense or T. harzianum and a combination of both; whereas the gene expression of EgChit1-1 in the treated roots of oil palm seedlings was not significantly higher compared to those of the untreated oil palm roots. The gene expression of EgChit5-1 was only higher in the roots of oil palm seedlings treated with T. harzianum compared to those of the untreated oil palm roots. In addition, the gene expression of EgChit1-1 and EgChit3-1 showed a significantly higher gene expression in the leaf samples of oil palm seedlings treated with either G. boninense or T. harzianum.
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