Bekam (or cupping) practice guideline has been published by Traditional and Complementary Medicine Division Ministry of Health Malaysia, first edition of 2011, mainly to focus on proper handling of patients and clinical wastes to ensure safety of both practitioners and patients, in supplementary of optimizing patient care. This cupping practice guideline covers treatment criteria, treatment procedures, documentations and practice facilities. However, there is a scarce research revealing this issue as currently there are profuse emergences of blood borne infection diseases such as HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B and C due to its invasiveness. Therefore, this study aimed to determine adherence towards practice guidelines among cupping practitioners in Malaysia, as well as to identify factors associated with it. A cross sectional study with random sampling was conducted among 114 cupping practitioners from all over Malaysia using self-administered adherence to practice guideline questionnaire, which consisted of 18 items with 5 Likert scales ranging from “never” to “very often”. “Adherence to practice guideline” in this study is defined as practitioners who scored 90 marks to all 18 components of standard precautions in practice guidelines with cut-off point of 90. The mean age was 38 years old with majority of them were male (64.9%), Malay (99.1%), degree holder with various background (27.8%) and part timer (69.9%). Mean duration of working experience was 4 years. A total of 45.6% of respondents attended cupping training from as short as 1 day to 3 years in getting their certificate. Adherence to practice guideline among respondents was 5.3%. The highest adhered practice was wearing gloves during treatment (86.0%), while the lowest was documenting the estimated amount of blood that was released during cupping (19.4%). Multiple linear regression revealed part timers were less adhered to practice guideline as compared to full timers (P<0.001), and higher education (PhD, master and degree) were significantly higher in adherence score as compared to primary and secondary school leavers (P=0.001). Although Malaysian practitioners have lower adherence towards practice guidelines, they practiced well in most of the adherence components per se. Specific measures addressing those issues should be disseminated and implemented to augment the adherence towards practice guidelines.

Background and Objective: Orphaned children face an increased risk of being malnourished. This study was aimed to explore knowledge and attitudes towards nutrition as well as nutritional practices and Body Mass Index (BMI) of adolescent residents of orphanages. Methodology: Five orphanage institutions in Selangor and Malacca were chosen for this study and 85 adolescents aged 13-18 years old were enrolled. Questionnaires concerning nutritional knowledge were administered in face-to-face interviews to prevent bias and to ensure questionnaire completion. Results: The results showed that out of the 85 subjects, 80% were orphans and 20% non-orphans. The majority of respondents were of normal weight (61.2%), while 2.4 and 4.7% were thin and severely thin, respectively. Meanwhile, 16.5% of subjects were overweight and 15.3% were obese. Fewer than 20% of respondents (14/85) were scored as having a “good” level of nutritional knowledge score but more than half had nutrition attitude and practice scores within the “good” range. Although no significant correlation was found between nutrition knowledge and attitude (rp = -0.043, p = 0.694) or knowledge and practice (rp = -0.222, p = 0.148), there was significant correlation between nutrition attitude and practice (rp=0.295, p = 0.006). Conclusion: Less than half of the total respondents obtained a “good” score for nutritional knowledge but the majority of the participants scored at the “good” level for attitude and practice. Although most respondents scored at the “good” level for nutritional practice, this outcome was not reflective of the situation as a whole, particularly given the “poor” scores for exercise and breakfast practices.

Food is a basic physiological need for survival, while nutrition and health are synonymous the sense of well-being. In Malaysia, generally food availability and variety is abundance due to our multicultural nature. Nonetheless, it is essential for consumers to make conscious decision on food choices and consumption in order to contribute to good health. Goat milk is one among the healthy natural products although its functional and nutritional value is less disseminated across the consumers. A cross sectional study was conducted to analyze the relationship between consumer attitude, social influence and self-efficacy on their intention to consume goat milk with the mediation effect of nutritional value. The study followed the application of PLS SEM to analyze the data. The findings clearly show the association between consumer attitude, social influence and self-efficacy on consumer's goat milk consumption. The partial mediation effect of nutritional health consciousness also indicates that consumers to a certain extend consider the benefits and nutritional value of the goat milk in their readiness to consume goat milk. The study extends better insight on goat milk consumption with support of theory of planned behaviour and with due consideration to benefits and nutritional value of the goat milk. � Serials Publications.

Goat’s milk can be considered as one type of natural functional food due to its variety of nutritional benefits. Nowadays, the dairy milk production in Malaysia is highly focusing on cow’s milk compared to goat’s milk. However, the demand for goat’s milk is increasing especially among Muslims as it is considered as one of the foods which consumed by the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). A cross-sectional study was conducted involving 221 residents in Pulau Langkawi, Kedah, Malaysia. This study showed that the practice of drinking goat’s milk among the local residents was still low; only 11.8% of the residents consumed goat’s milk daily and 40% chose goat’s milk in its powdered form. The main barriers to goat’s milk consumption included: not interested to consume goat’s milk (54%), unpleasant taste (51.3%) and non-staple food (50.8%). This study also found that knowledge (r2= 0.200, p = 0.003) and attitude (r2= 0.174, p<0.001) are positively correlated with goat’s milk consumption. In conclusion, further health intervention need to be done to promote the practice of drinking goat’s milk. With proper knowledge and positive attitude, the consumption of goat’s milk may improve the quality of life and sustain an optimal wellness and health throughout life.

Islamic banking in Malaysia has evolved rapidly since its first invention in 1983. Throughout 30 years of development, various products have been developed to fulfill the demands of the society both Muslim and Non-Muslim. Positive support and constructive criticisms have flourished the industry and made the product innovation to be enhanced accordingly. With regards to the products, retail financing is observed to be so dearer to the society compared to other form of financing like trade and corporate. Home financing is regarded as the most influential one since it normally affects long term commitment of the customer. Thus, this paper aims at analysing pricing issue of home financing products offered in Malaysia specifically BBA and MMP. The study uses content analysis method with intense and analytical readings of the previous texts and literatures on issues observed in the two products. The issue will then be comparatively reviewed using Maqasid-based appraisals.

The Abbasid Empire emerged as the main power ruling the Muslim world in the year 132H/750CE with its centre in Baghdad, after defeating the Umayyad Dynasty in the battlefield. The Abbasid Empire began to achieve its golden age during the era of Caliph Harun al-Rashid (171-193H/787-809CE). However, the Abbasids gradually experienced decline after the rise of the Turkic military which was brought en masse during the rule of Caliph al-Mu‘tasim (218-226H/833-841CE). The Turkic military began to seize power and some of them set up their own small kingdoms. The most influential leader among the Turkic was Amir Ahmad ibn Tulun (254-270H/868-884CE), who succeeded in founding the Tulunid Kingdom in Egypt. Thus the objective of this research is to examine in detail the biography of Amir Ibn Tulun and attempt to understand and appraise from history, his attitude, interests and authority as the leading Tulunid ruler. This is in view of the close relationship partially between an individual’s current interests and behaviour with the environment in which he grew up. This is a qualitative research using historical and biographical study. This research uses documentation as a method of collecting data by focusing on primary and secondary sources. Analysis of data is descriptive using content analysis and interpretation of sources based on historical interpretation. Research results find that Ibn Tulun succeeded in laying down the ultimate benchmark in the history of Egypt by establishing his domain extending from Syria to the borders of Iraq in the East and to Libya in the West, and declaring full independence from the Abbasid Dynasty centred in Baghdad at that time.

An analytical cross-sectional study was carried out to determine the prevalence of work-related upper limbs symptoms (WRULS) among office workers and factors associated with it. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the information. A total of 463 (87.7%) office workers from selected government agencies participated in this study. The mean age of the respondents was 34.1 years (range = 18-55 years). Majority (91.6%) were Malay and female (72.8%), and 58.1% were from clerical group. Mean duration of work was 8.7 years. This study found that prevalence of WRULS was 33.0% (95% CI [confidence interval] = 28.8%, 37.3%). Computer users at work had 2.0 (95% CI = 1.1, 3.4) higher odds ratio of developing WRULS and those who used it for 5 hours and more per day had 7.5 (95% CI = 2.3, 24.2) higher odds ratio of developing WRULS. Hand-intensive hobbies and higher education were also found to be associated with WRULS. � 2009 APJPH.

This is an initial study which preceded the implementation of a 4-phase collaborative action research using the Mac Naughton & Hughes model. The purpose of this study is to explore the existing knowledge and practice of teachers in implementing a thematic approach in the planning and implementation aspect of the learning and facilitation process (PdPc). This early observation involved five teachers from different pre-schools. The data collected in a field study was through observation and interview. Critical observation was based on comparison between two pre-schools as the benchmark. Observation and interview of research participants found that teachers of the two pre-schools had no in-depth understanding of the thematic approach even though they admitted to using the National Pre-school Standard Curriculum (Kurikulum Standard Prasekolah Kebangsaan or KSPK). Two teachers made annual theme-based planning and only one made daily theme-based planning. Three other teachers did not make annual theme-based planning but used topics in workbooks as themes. All teachers arranged their schedule for child learning based on separate subjects. All teachers frequently used a one-way teaching method, lacked variety in teaching methods and stressed on academic development, while use of textbooks and worksheets prevailed. This situation showed that the principle of thematic teaching was unfulfilled, that is, teachers did not combine various subjects and knowledge, child skills, variety of learning styles as well as child development domains appropriate to age and ability. Research findings gives input to researchers to make changes and improvements to teaching practice in implementing the thematic approach through collaborative action research. A Guideline for Implementation of Thematic Approach is required to assist and guide other teachers on how to begin the process of implementing the thematic approach. IAEME Publication.