Acute leukemia is more common in males at almost every age, and this fact remains unexplained. A study was carried out in northeast peninsular Malaysia, where the population is predominantly Malay, to examine whether there was a difference in ABO blood group distribution between males and females with acute leukemia (AL). The ABO blood groups of 109 male and 79 female patients with AL (98 ALL, 90 AML) were compared with those of 1019 controls. In the control population, 39.7% were group O. Among males with AL, 39.4% were group O, whereas among females with AL, the proportion was 24.1% (p=0.03). The same trend to a lower proportion of group O among females was seen if the group was divided into adult/pediatric or lymphoblastic/myeloblastic groups, though these differences were not statistically significant. If these findings can be confirmed, they suggest the presence of a "sex-responsive" gene near to the ABO gene locus on chromosome 9, which relatively protects group O women against AL, at least in our population. The existence of such a gene might also partly explain why acute leukemia, and possibly other childhood cancers, are more common in males.
This study aimed to assess the uptake of recommended vaccines and to identify the factors associated with the vaccines' uptake among Malaysian Hajj and Umrah pilgrims. A cross-sectional survey among Malaysian Hajj and Umrah pilgrims in 2018. The uptake of the recommended vaccines was surveyed through an anonymous self-administered questionnaire to pilgrims attending a pre-departure Hajj/Umrah orientation course. Descriptive statistics were used for elaborating the demographic characteristics and vaccines uptake of the respondents. Multiple logistic regression was used for predicting the factors associated with the vaccines' uptake. A total of 1,274 pilgrims participated in the study with a mean age (standard deviation) of 42.42 (15.6). A total of 833 (65.4%) participants were females and 232 of the participants (18.2%) had at least more than one chronic disease. The uptake of influenza and pneumococcal vaccines were 28.6% (364/1,274) and 25.4% (324/1,274), respectively. Among the 527 pilgrims who were “at increased risk” of infections, 168 (31.9%) and 184 (34.9%) received influenza and pneumococcal vaccines, respectively. Gender, marital status and occupation were the common predictors associated with vaccines uptake. The vaccination uptake among Malaysian Hajj and Umrah pilgrims is low and declining from previous years. Educating the pilgrims toward vaccine uptake is essential and exploring the barriers for vaccination.
Objectives: We aimed to develop and evaluate the efficacy of a health education program for increasing knowledge, changing attitudes and promoting preventive practices to reduce the incidence of RTIs among Malaysian Hajj pilgrims.Methods: A quasi-experimental study was conducted among 132 Hajj pilgrims attending Hajj orientation programme organized by a private Hajj companies. Hajj pilgrims were sequentia lly enrolled and assigned to receive smartphone health education application in the intervent ion group (n = 66) and another different smartphone application on general Hajj process in the control group (n = 66). Data were collected from August 2018 to April 2019 at baseline prior to departure and post-intervention, immediately after return from Saudi Arabia using a validated questionnaire.Results: There was no significant difference with respect to socio-demographic characterist ics, KAP of the respondents in the intervention and control group at baseline. However, there was significant improvement in knowledge in the intervention group compared to the control group, based on time (p = 0.005, ἠ2 = 0.075) and group and time interaction (p = 0.031, ἠ2 = 0.046). Likewise, there was significant improvement in attitude based on time (p = 0.035, ἠ2 = 0.044). Similarly, there was significant main effect in practice based on time (p = <0.001, ἠ2 = 0.155) and interaction of group with time (p = 0.042, ἠ2 = 0.041).International Journal of Human and Health Sciences Supplementary Issue: 2019 Page: 30
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