Looking Into Recent Suicide Rates and Trends in Malaysia: A Comparative Analysis

Background: Suicide is a preventable cause of death. Examining suicide rates and trends are important in shaping national suicide prevention strategies. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to analyze age-standardized suicide trends of Malaysia between 2000 and 2019 using the WHO Global Health Estimates data, and to compare the 2019 rate with countries from the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), Muslim majority countries, and the Group of Seven (G7).Methods: The age-standardized suicide rates data were extracted from the WHO Global Health Estimates. We calculated the average age-standardized suicide rates of the last 3 years from 2017 to 2019. Joinpoint regression analysis was conducted to calculate the average annual percentage change (APC) of the age-standardized suicide rates in Malaysia from 2000 to 2019.Results: Between 2000 and 2019, the minimum and maximum suicide rates for both sexes in Malaysia were 4.9 and 6.1 per 100,000 population respectively, whilst the past 3-year (2017–2019) average rates were 5.6, 8.8, and 2.4 for both sexes, males, and females, respectively. The suicide rates decreased significantly for both sexes between 2000 and 2013. Between 2014 and 2019, the suicide rates increased significantly for males. In 2019, Malaysia recorded the rate of 5.8 per 100,000 population, with an estimated 1,841 suicide deaths, i.e., ~5 deaths per day. The Malaysian suicide rate was the second highest amongst selected Muslim majority countries, in the middle range amongst ASEAN countries, and lower than all G7 countries except Italy.Conclusions: There is a need to further explore factors contributing to the higher suicide rates among Malaysian males. In light of the rising suicide rates in Malaysia, national mental health and suicide prevention initiatives are discussed and the importance of high-quality suicide surveillance data is emphasized.

Perceived Sensations in Architectural Spaces through Immersive Virtual Reality

To design architectural spaces that not only respond to the basic needs of users, but also seek their emotional well-being, it is necessary for the architecture students to have a special sensitivity and be aware of the different sensations that their designs should and can evoke. To achieve this competence without exploring real spaces, Immersive Virtual Reality technology offers an important contribution to the field of architecture. The purpose of this research is to determine if the sensations perceived in virtual architectural spaces by students are similar to the real ones and to determine the characteristics of this technology that allow a better perception of sensations. Six architectural modules were designed to be walked through and experienced at real scale using a Head Mounted Display by 22 students of the first and fifth year of studies of Architecture career in Peru. An ad-hoc questionnaire allowed to know the perceived sensations and the benefits of the tool. The results obtained showed that the perception of sensations of the fifth year students is a little closer to those expressed by a group of seven experts compared to that of the first year students and that the students consider the characteristics of accessibility, real scale of the space and the possibility of going through and looking at the space in all directions are those that have given more realism to the experience and therefore better perception of the space, while the characteristics of natural light and shadows, construction materials and external environment have been less valued in the realism of the experience. It is concluded that the sensory experimentation in architectural spaces modelled realistically in virtual environments allows the perception of sensations very similar to those that the architect seeks to convey initially.

Chemo-dynamics and asteroseismic ages of seven metal-poor red giants from the Kepler field

In this work we combine information from solar-like oscillations, high-resolution spectroscopy and Gaia astrometry to derive stellar ages, chemical abundances and kinematics for a group of seven metal-poor Red Giants and characterise them in a multidimensional chrono-chemo-dynamical space. Chemical abundance ratios were derived through classical spectroscopic analysis employing 1D LTE atmospheres on Keck/HIRES spectra. Stellar ages, masses and radii were calculated with grid-based modelling, taking advantage of availability of asteroseismic information from Kepler. The dynamical properties were determined with Galpy using Gaia EDR3 astrometric solutions. Our results suggest that underestimated parallax errors make the effect of Gaia parallaxes more important than different choices of model grid or – in the case of stars ascending the RGB – mass-loss prescription. Two of the stars in this study are identified as potentially evolved halo blue stragglers. Four objects are likely members of the accreted Milky Way halo, and their possible relationship with known accretion events is discussed.

The Palermo Stone and its Associated Fragments: New Discoveries on the Oldest Royal Annals of Ancient Egypt

Historical royal sources concerning Old Kingdom Egypt are rather scarce. One of the most important is a group of seven inscribed stone fragments also known as royal annals, the most famous of which is certainly the so-called Palermo Stone. These annals have been the subject of countless studies over more than a century since their initial discovery. However, the reading and interpretation of the hieroglyphic inscriptions engraved on them is still partial and often obscure. In recent years, however, the annals underwent a complete re-examination by means of the most up-to date technologies of 3D photographic documentation and reproduction – first of all, the so-called ‘Reflectance Transformation Imaging’ (RTI). In this article we will provide some insights on the new reading of selected parts of the fragments, especially the two major pieces: the Palermo Stone and the so-called ‘Cairo Fragment 1’.

Efek tepung ulat sagu (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus) terhadap penurunan kadar malondialdehyde (MDA) pada tikus Wistar dengan diet rendah protein

Kwashiorkor is protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) caused by protein deficiency. Sago worm flour (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus) can reduce malondialdehyde (MDA) caused by the high content of the amino acids glycine, lysine, and phenylalanine. The study aimed to prove the effect of sago worm flour on MDA levels in Wistar rats with a low protein diet. A true experimental-pre-post control group. The intervention was given for 28 days to 28 Wistar rats, divided into four groups with each group of seven rats. The dose of sago starch was 0,36 g/100 g rat body weight/day (P1), and a dose of 1,36 g/100 g rat body weight/day (P2) for rats fed a low diet protein. The treatment group was compared with a group of mice given a low diet protein (K +) and a group of healthy mice (K-). Serum MDA levels were measured by the TBARs method. Statistical analysis used paired t-test or Wilcoxon test and one-way ANOVA/Kruskal Wallis test. The results of decreasing MDA levels were in the P1 and P2 groups (p= 0,000). There was a difference in MDA levels in the P1 and P2 groups compared to the K + group (P= 0,000). There was a difference that decreased MDA levels between P1 and P2 (p= 0,000). In conclusion, sago worm flour at a dose of 0,36 g/100 g of rats/day and a dose of 1,36 g/100 g of body weight of rats/day can reduce MDA levels

Income support for parents of children with chronic conditions and disability: where do we draw the line? A policy review

ObjectiveThe aim of this review was to identify and describe whether parents who have had to stop paid employment to care for a child with a chronic condition or disability are eligible for unemployment, family and children, and disability and carer government-provided financial benefits.DesignPolicy review.SettingGroup of seven high-income countries.Main outcome measuresAll policies related to unemployment, family and children, and disability and carer benefits were included. Information regarding the policy type and description, parent/carer qualification, amount of financial support payable, eligibility criteria and information source were extracted. Payment schedules were converted into 2020 US dollars, using Purchasing Power Parities. Maximum monthly benefit payments were compared with standardised per capita monthly costs of living to determine payment support suitability.ResultsFifty-eight policies relevant to unemployment, family and children, and disability and carer benefit supports were identified. Germany had the highest number of welfare policies for individuals not in employment (n=11), followed by the USA (n=6). Parents or carers of children with chronic conditions or disability who were not in employment qualified for 31 of the 58 policies (53.4%). Most policies required a child to have an impaired ability to function, not just a chronic condition or disability.ConclusionsGreater support for parents and carers to continue their paid employment alongside caring responsibilities is necessary. Graded benefit schedules will also be critical to supporting the spectrum of childhood chronic conditions and disability, and the subsequent spectrum of caring responsibility.

An International Comparison of the COVID-19 Experiences of the Group-of-Seven and the BRICS Countries

The COVID-19 pandemic has been around since December 2019. In this study, the experiences of the Group-of-Seven Countries (G-7 — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US) and the BRICS Countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) are compared in terms of the numbers of confirmed cases and deaths and the infection and mortality rates. The objective is to see whether such a comparison may yield some insight on how and when the COVID-19 pandemic in the world will finally be under control. The key turns out to be the minimization of secondary and higher-order transmissions of the virus. This requires, first, the practice of good personal hygiene and social distancing on the part of all the residents; second, mandatory rapid testing and exhaustive contact tracing, by the public health authorities; and third, lockdown, quarantine and travel restrictions by the government. The governments of the individual countries must fight the COVID-19 epidemic as if it were a war if they expect to succeed in bringing the epidemic under control in their respective countries.

Using the Graphic Narrative to Stimulate Mezirow’s Transformative Learning Theory in Learners

This article describes a bounded action research case study that examines how reading and discussing a graphic narrative ( March Book Two, a comic autobiography of John Lewis’s life as a civil rights activist) enabled transformations in a group of seven adult student participants at a Canadian postsecondary institution. Data primarily gathered from photocopies of student work, including reflective journal entries, postsemester interviews, and the primary researcher’s daily reflexive and reflective research journal entries, were evaluated with Kitchenham and Chasteauneuf’s framework of assessing transformative learning with critical reflection types such as objective and subjective reframing of assumptions. The authors found that both the participants and the primary researcher engaged in a number of shifts, including engaging in systemic critical self-reflection of and on assumptions.

Modelling the Macroeconomic Determinants of Carbon Dioxide Emissions in the G-7 Countries: The Roles of Technological Innovation and Institutional Quality Improvement

The group of seven (G-7) countries are seven of the most advanced global nations. Yet, these nations have not been able to achieve environmentally sustainable economic growth (EG) in the past. Consequently, despite growing economically, the environmental quality in the G-7 countries has persistently deteriorated. Hence, the present study examined the environmental impacts associated with EG, technological innovation, institutional quality (IQ), renewable energy consumption (RENE) and population using the carbon dioxide emission figures to measure environmental quality in the G-7 economies for the period 1996–2018. The econometric analyses involved the application of different estimation techniques that control the cross-sectional dependency and slope heterogeneity issues in the data. Overall, the results indicated that greater EG and higher population size increase environmental pollution by boosting the carbon dioxide emission levels. In contrast, technological innovation, IQ improvement, and greater RENE were found to impede the carbon dioxide emission levels. In line with these key findings, several environmental development-related policies are recommended.

Membrane Interactions of Latarcins: Antimicrobial Peptides from Spider Venom

A group of seven peptides from spider venom with diverse sequences constitute the latarcin family. They have been described as membrane-active antibiotics, but their lipid interactions have not yet been addressed. Using circular dichroism and solid-state 15N-NMR, we systematically characterized and compared the conformation and helix alignment of all seven peptides in their membrane-bound state. These structural results could be correlated with activity assays (antimicrobial, hemolysis, fluorescence vesicle leakage). Functional synergy was not observed amongst any of the latarcins. In the presence of lipids, all peptides fold into amphiphilic α-helices as expected, the helices being either surface-bound or tilted in the bilayer. The most tilted peptide, Ltc2a, possesses a novel kind of amphiphilic profile with a coiled-coil-like hydrophobic strip and is the most aggressive of all. It indiscriminately permeabilizes natural membranes (antimicrobial, hemolysis) as well as artificial lipid bilayers through the segregation of anionic lipids and possibly enhanced motional averaging. Ltc1, Ltc3a, Ltc4a, and Ltc5a are efficient and selective in killing bacteria but without causing significant bilayer disturbance. They act rather slowly or may even translocate towards intracellular targets, suggesting more subtle lipid interactions. Ltc6a and Ltc7, finally, do not show much antimicrobial action but can nonetheless perturb model bilayers.