Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is prevalent, often chronic, and requires ongoing monitoring of symptoms to track response to treatment and identify early indicators of relapse. Remote Measurement Technologies (RMT) provide an exciting opportunity to transform the measurement and management of MDD, via data collected from inbuilt smartphone sensors and wearable devices alongside app-based questionnaires and tasks.

To describe the amount of data collected during a multimodal longitudinal RMT study, in an MDD population.

RADAR-MDD is a multi-centre, prospective observational cohort study. People with a history of MDD were provided with a wrist-worn wearable, and several apps designed to: a) collect data from smartphone sensors; and b) deliver questionnaires, speech tasks and cognitive assessments and followed-up for a maximum of 2 years.

A total of 623 individuals with a history of MDD were enrolled in the study with 80% completion rates for primary outcome assessments across all timepoints. 79.8% of people participated for the maximum amount of time available and 20.2% withdrew prematurely. Data availability across all RMT data types varied depending on the source of data and the participant-burden for each data type. We found no evidence of an association between the severity of depression symptoms at baseline and the availability of data. 110 participants had > 50% data available across all data types, and thus able to contribute to multiparametric analyses.

RADAR-MDD is the largest multimodal RMT study in the field of mental health. Here, we have shown that collecting RMT data from a clinical population is feasible.

No significant relationships.

The smoking rate among Malaysian aboriginal people is double the rate of other Malaysians. Smoking is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in aboriginal people but smoking cessation among this population is very low. At present, pharmacotherapy for smoking cessation is not subsidised in the health services.

The study aimed to explore potential reasons for the underutilisation of drug therapy for smoking cessation among aboriginal and non-aboriginal smokers.

A cross-sectional study was conducted among aboriginal and non-aboriginal smokers in the state of Selangor between March 2010-August 2010. Participants were asked to complete a questionnaire on demographics, smoking behaviour, physician counselling on smoking cessation and perceptions about drug therapy for smoking cessation.

The overall response rate was 85% (250 Aboriginal smokers and 105 non-aboriginal smokers). Majority of smokers reported smoking cessation or reduction in the previous 6 months (Aboriginal 62% vs non-aboriginal 68%). Aboriginal participants were less likely to seek physician services (p = 0.001) and less willing to use nicotine replacement therapy (p = 0.01) or varenicline (p = 0.001). Among all smokers, having to buy the medication and price of the medication was the most important factor associated with less willingness to use the drugs but advice from physician was associated with willingness to use the drugs.

Regardless of ethnic origin, smokers were interested to quit smoking, but cost of medication may explain their lower uptake of drug therapy. Malaysian policy makers should consider making the drugs for smoking cessation freely available in the Malaysian health services.

Psychiatric morbidity and concomittant alcohol use are associated with poor outcomes among substance dependent individuals.

To investigate the prevalence of psychiatric morbidity and alcohol use among the inmates and their psychosocial correlates.

Cross-sectional study involving 201 inmates age 18 years and above with written consent who currently seeking treatment on volunteer basis under the government run rehabilitation centre in sunagi Besi, Kuala Lumpur. The study was conducted in December 2011 with approval from the Ethic committee board from the university hospital. The psychiatric morbidity measured by MINI Neuropsychiatric Inventory (MINI ver 5.0) and alcohol use measured by AUDIT.

The current prevalence of anxiety and depression are 27.9% and 39.8% respectively. The lifetime prevalence for depression is 21.9%. We also found that lifetime and current prevalence of alcohol use are 77% and 37% respectively. Univariate analysis showed significant association between psychiatric morbidity and alcohol use among this group of inmates (Odd ratio=1.9, P< 0.05) and educational status(Odd ratio =, p< 0.05). However, no significance association found between alcohol use with age, gender, ethnicity, marital status, religion and methadone treatment status. 73.1% of inmates also receiving methadone maintenance therapy during the study take place. Mean dose of methadone is 52.2mg daily (minimum 25mg daily, maximum 119mg daily).

There is high prevalence of psychiatric morbidity and alcohol use among the inmates seeking treatment in government run rehabilitation centre on top of receiving methadone treatment. Therefore, this centre need specialised care to cater the dual diagnosis group clients.

The increased interest in the phenomenology, etiology, and treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) follows the recognition that OCD is a more pervasive and serious problem that was previously thought. Family studies indicate a modest tendency for OCD to occur among biological family members. Studies on twin and family-genetic analysis show that non-heritable factors present as great and possibly greater risk to the development of OCD. Psychological and familial issues are also implicated in the development and maintenance of OCD.

This study explored the relationship between parental style and OCD among a clinical sample of children and adults in Tehran, Iran.

Subjects consisted of 190 patients who had sought treatment for OCD during the period from 2002 to 2009. Designation of parenting style was based on interviews using Baumrind typology. Two clinical psychologists assigned each subject to one of the four family styles: authoritative, authoritarian, permissive and neglectful.

The data replicate previous findings in relation to gender differences, the age of onset, family history of OCD and comorbid disorders. Patients who had experienced authoritarian, permissive, and neglectful parenting styles were significantly more likely to experience OCD. A hitherto unreported finding is the positive relationship between a mixed parenting style and OCD.

The present study indicates that the positive relationship between parenting styles and OCD extends beyond cultural boundaries. The psycho-social and cognitive dynamics of family-styles in relation to development and maintenance of OCD and treatment implications are discussed.

The aim of this study is to investigate the “Hospital Service providers” perception, attitude and actual practice in managing schizophrenia in Malaysia.

In this study, it was designed as a mixed -methods study. in the first phase, quantitative surveys have been implemented among 42 service providers. in the second phase, the descriptive qualitative study method was also used.

The questionnaires designed to gather the data relating to the respondent satisfied in managing Schizophrenia in Malaysia. Thirty five (or 83.3%) of the respondents are satisfied with the current Schizophrenic overall management, but twenty one (or 50.1%) of the respondents does not satisfy with current psychosocial interventions available in Malaysia. The qualitative found that, the psychiatrists responded that they are satisfied with current use of atypical antipsychotic in the hospitals but they are concerned with the lack of community services particularly in the university hospitals. The medical officers and general practitioners responded that they received many patients who were brought by their families to see them in outpatient clinic. However, many doctors failed to diagnose the disorder as they have a lack of training in diagnosing mental illness diseases. This is mainly due to misperception about mental illness particularly in rural areas among the Malay population.

The study concluded that more community awareness program needs to be done which emphasis on mental illness to reduce the duration of untreated illness and ensure active roles of family members in supervision of treatment.

Over the last decades, acupuncture has been seen as an acceptable primary detoxification treatment for opiate dependence, and currently used to relieve the severity of opiate withdrawal symptoms among MMT patient.

To investigate the effectiveness of electroacupuncture treatment in reducing opiate withdrawal symptoms among MMT patient.

This was a pilot study with randomized, single-blinded, and parallel. Recruitment of 22 subjects, 11 in methadone treatment + acupuncture and 11 in methadone treatment without acupuncture. The severity of withdrawal reaction was assessed by Objective Opiate Withdrawal Scale (OOWS) and Subjective Opiate Withdrawal Scale (SOWS) at baseline, third, fifth, seventh, tenth and fourteenth day of treatment.

One way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) comparing the mean scores of the OOWS between treatment and control group has shown at tenth day of treatment p value is 0.026 and at fourteenth day p value is 0.022. One way ANOVA comparing the mean scores of the SOWS between treatment and control groups has shown at tenth day of treatment, p value is 0.015 and at fourteenth day, p value is 0.009.

The study has shown the promising results, where electroacupuncture treatment had an effectiveness in relieving opiate withdrawal symptoms among MMT patient.

High prevalence of poor sleep quality has been reported among Methadone Maintenance Therapy (MMT) patients. in order to reduce side effects and prevent relapse, new treatment approaches should be considered and recently, electroacupuncture (EA) has believed to have a therapeutic effect in the treatment of drug addiction.

To investigate the effects of EA on sleep quality in patients receiving MMT.

A prospective, open-labelled, parallel, randomized-controlled trial was conducted among MMT patients in Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia. A total of 22 drug misusers who met DSM-IV were randomly assigned into two groups. The treatment group was given methadone plus EA stimulation at 1.1+80Hz while the control group received methadone plus Sham EA without increasing the intensity of the stimulation. Both groups received the EA treatment 30 minutes per session for 14 days. Sleep quality was assessed by validated Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index.

In terms of pre and post treatment comparison, we found that there were significant difference of mean sleep latency (p= 0.011), use of medication (p= 0.043) and global PSQI (p= 0.009) for the treatment group. However, only sleep efficiency (p= 0.014) showed a significant difference between pre and post treatment for the control group. in terms of group comparison, we found that there was significant difference of mean sleep latency (p= 0.004), sleep efficiency (0.004) and global PSQI (0.008) for post treatment. No significant difference was found for pre treatment.

Electroacupuncture may have adjunct effect on sleep improvement and have potential to reduce Benzodiazepine use among MMT patients.

Malaysia is the tenth largest alcohol consumer in the world. Yet, there was limited data avaoilable about alcohol prevalence among Malaysian population at the moment. Apart from general population, the data on the usage of alcohol among the natives especially “Orang Asli” in central peninsular Malaysia are almost none. Orang asli are observed to use alcohol heavily as part of their cultural practices and end up with more complications e.g. intoxications, dependence syndrome and violence behavior.

We investigate the prevalence of alcohol use among the aborigines and their psychosocial correlates related to alcohol use.

This is a household survey involving 200 participants, age 18 and above with written consent using sytematic sampling from the aborigine village area of Gombak Batu 11. We exclude those subjects who refused consent and those in the withdrawal or intoxication state during the interview. The Instruments use include Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Tool linked with Brief-Intervention(ASSIST-BI) questionnaires and MINI neuropsychiatric inventory(MINI). We also conduct the focus group discussion for details interview on their belief,knowledge and practice regarding alcohol drinking habit,.Outcomes measures are analysed using SPSS version 16.

We expect that the prevalence of alcohol and substance use among Malaysian aborigines are higher as compare to general population in Malaysia.

The aborigines in Malaysia pobably in need for specific awareness promotion and outreach treatment program that tailor to their unique way of life.

Motor Vehicle Accidents(MVA) are the main attendees of accident emergency unit in UMMC. Assessment by doctor found that some ot them used alcohol/substance prior to MVA event. They also found to have abnormal sleep pattern and “emotional problems” that contribute to MVA and injuries. Yet, limited study available in Malaysia that explore the relationship between sleep disorders, substance use, psychiatric morbidity and MVA events.

To investigate the prevalence and associations of sleep disoders, substance use and psychiatric comorbidity among attendees in accident emergency unit, UMMC.

This is a cross-sectional hospital based study that examine all MVA attendees age 18 and above with written consent in accident emergency unit UMMC from 30 September to 30 November 2011. We exclude those patients with Glasgow Coma Sale(GCS) less than 10, intoxication and refused consent. We measure sleep disorders using Epsworth Sleep Scale(ESS), Psychiatric morbidity using Hospital Anxiety Depresion Scale(HADS) and substance use with Drug abuse screening tool(DAST). We also do rapid urine test kits for opiates, canabis, amphetamine type stimulants(ATS) and benzodiazepines. Chi square test will be analyses for the variable asssociations using SPSS 16.

We expect that the prevalence of sleep disorders, subsatnce use and other psychiaric comorbidity are higher among MVA attendees. There are some association in between those factors that contributes to the MVA events.

MVA attendees probably need further assesment as routine e.g. sleep study, psychiatric morbidity and drug screening in order to better manage them and prevent further MVA in the future.

Early laryngeal cancer treated with definitive radiotherapy or surgery has a high cure rate. This study evaluated the patterns of treatment failure and long-term results of early laryngeal cancers treated with definitive radiotherapy.

From January 2002 to December 2014, a total of 242 patients with early-stage laryngeal cancers were treated with radical radiotherapy.

All patients had squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx (92 per cent male and 8 per cent female). Median follow-up was 4.5 years. The majority of patients were smokers (57.4 per cent). Local failure was seen in 12.5 per cent of stage I patients and 22.8 per cent of stage II patients. The 5-year overall survival and disease specific survival were 84 per cent and 91 per cent, respectively.

In summary, radiotherapy is a suitable treatment modality for patients with early-stage laryngeal cancer, with an overall locoregional control rate of 84 per cent. Patients who fail radiotherapy may still undergo salvage laryngectomy.

Intranasal medication administration which aims to deliver to the eustachian tube orifice has been adopted for the management of a number of otological conditions, acting via a reduction in tubal oedema and improved ventilation. Evidence for the optimal head position for such drug administration is limited. We compared four different positions and also assessed spray versus drop formulation, to determine optimal delivery conditions.

Prospective, five-period, cross-over study using methylene blue dyed saline in a drops or spray container. Five healthy volunteers tested the Mygind, Ragan, Mecca and ‘head back’ head positions. Nasal spray drug delivery in the most effective head position was then compared with drops drug delivery (administered in the head back position). Intranasal delivery was assessed photographically using a 30° rigid naso-endoscope.

Maximal nasal drops delivery was achieved with the Mygind and Ragan positions. Drops were more successful than spray in reaching the eustachian tube orifice.

The Mygind and Ragan positions are best for eustachian tube orifice drug delivery, and drops preparations are better than spray preparations.