This study aims to investigate the impacts of perceived quality and perceived value on patient satisfaction as well as the influence of patient satisfaction on hospital’s brand image, patient loyalty and word-of-mouth intention in the context of private hospitalization services. With regards to the conceptualization of perceived quality, this study also attempts to uncover the underlying dimensions of hospitalization quality in the specific context of private hospital. This study surveyed 254 patients who were admitted for at least three days at private hospital in Malaysia, revealing that patient satisfaction with hospitalization services could be explained directly or indirectly by five hospitalization quality domains namely outcome quality, rights and privacy, medical quality, service quality, and servicescape. The findings of this study also show that patient satisfaction has significant impacts on all the three consequences variables – brand image, patient loyalty and WoM intention. The two major contributions of this study include the conceptualization of hospitalization quality domains and the newly developed measurement of perceived value in the context of profit-oriented healthcare institutions.

Objectives: The present study aimed to explore the factors associated to asthma and HRQoL of patients. Asthma and Chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases implicate severe restrictions on physical, social and emotional aspects of the patients' life. Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is a patient derived measurement that defines the functional effects of illness and treatment, as perceived by the patient. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study comprised of 100 asthma patients sampled in the outpatient department of KPJ Seremban Specialist Hospital. Mini-Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (Mini-AQLQ) with two sections was used as instrument in this study. The first section comprises six (6) Sociodemographic questions and the second section comprises fifteen (15) questions of HRQoL covering four main domains such as emotional, activity, symptoms and environmental. Results: The sociodemographic factor that correlated positively with HRQoL in all domains of the AQLQ was the higher education level of patients. Factors that negatively influenced the entire AQLQ domain were the older age of the patients and lower occupation status. The most affected domain of AQLQ due to asthma is the emotional domain and the least affected domain is the activity domain. Conclusion: This study represents that age decreased the HRQoL of patients and concluded that higher education level contributes to better HRQoL scores and implies that higher education plays a pivotal role in HRQoL and we believe that it can be improve by reinforcing Health education.

Introduction: Neuroactive herbal drugs enriched with antioxidants are valuable in treating neurocognitive dysfunction and Vaccinium corymbosum, enriched with antioxidant phytochemicals, is used for treating memory disorders. Hence, the present study evaluated the neuroprotective effects of ethanolic extract of Vaccinium corymbosum (EEVC) on aluminium chloride(AlCl3)-induced Alzheimer’s type of dementia and haloperidol-induced catalepsy-associated behavioural changes. Methods:In vitro antioxidant potential was evaluated using 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2′-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS). The total phenolic content (TPC) was quantified. For in vivo studies, AlCl3 (100 mg/kg) was orally administered for 42 days, whereas the EEVC was administered on the 21st day until the 42nd day in two doses (200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg). In the haloperidol-induced group, EEVC was treated for 21 days, and haloperidol (1 mg/kg) was administered to induce behavioural changes. Open-field, Y-Maze and traction tests were performed, and the mice brain acetylcholinesterase (AChE) enzyme was determined. Results: IC50 values in DPPH and ABTS assays were 85.5 μg/mL and 80 μg/mL, respectively and the total phenolic content of EEVC was found to be 0.166 mg. In a behavioral study, animals treated with 200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg of EEVC exhibited a neuroprotective impact on AlCl3-induced neurodegeneration and haloperidol-induced behavioral changes with significant inhibition (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01, respectively) in acetylcholinesterase enzyme. Conclusion: The neuroprotection by EEVC postulated that it is a promising therapeutic agent for treating behavioral and cognitive dysfunctions. Further investigations on pro-inflammatory cytokine and neuroendocrine regulation in transgenic Alzheimer’s disease (AD)models complement the therapeutic value of V. corymbosum.

Musculoskeletal diseases that included OA was the second greatest contributor to disability as measured by years lived with disability. The goals of OA treatment are to reduce pain, improve function and quality of life and decrease disability. The objective of this systematic review is to summarise the findings of the effect of glucosamine with or without chondroitin sulphate on glucose monitoring parameters in humans. An English language literature search of electronic bibliographic databases such as Medline, Web of Science, Science Direct, Scopus and Cochrane since inception to June 2020 was conducted. Two reviewers independently analysed the studies for quality and content using the Downs and Black Checklist. The thirteen studies that were included in the review consists of randomised control trials (n=7), non-randomised control trials (n=3), prospective cohort studies (n=2) and pre-post studies (n=1). Five studies detected the effect of glucosamine on glucose parameters. Studies that recruited patients with baseline impaired glucose tolerance or insulin resistance were more likely to detect an effect on glucose metabolism. Patients taking glucosamine have a higher risk of diabetes especially those who have high baseline glucose levels or have diabetes or have impaired glucose tolerance. Only two studies investigated the effect of glucosamine on glucose parameters in patients having osteoarthritis.

Phytochemicals possessing the antioxidant properties naturally present in food attract a greater interest to healthcare researchers due to their desirable health effects on human health as they can be explored for protection against oxidative deterioration. Macrtotyloma uniflorum is a leguminous plant belonging to the family Fabaceae and commonly known as Horse gram. Aqueous and ethanol extracts of seeds of Macrotyloma uniflorum were evaluated for their anti-inflammatory effects using the scientific protocol on experimental rats. Extraction was carried out using the cold maceration method, and the anti-inflammatory activity was evaluated using a digital plethysmometer in the experimental rats injected with carrageenan to produce paw edema. Preliminary phytochemical studies confirmed the presence of various bioactive compounds such as alkaloids, glycosides, carbohydrates, proteins and amino acids, terpenoids, tannins, and phenolic compounds in both extracts while flavonoids were found only in ethanol extract. Both extracts of M. uniflorum seeds (200 mg/ml) significantly (p<0.01) reduced the paw edema volume induced by carrageenan. The ethanol extract of M. uniflorum seeds exhibited more potent anti-inflammatory activity than water extract, that might be due to the presence of flavonoids in ethanol extract. The activity of the extracts was compared with diclofenac sodium (10mg/kg b.wt.) as a reference drug. From the results, it may be suggested that the antioxidative potential of phenolic constituents and flavonoids is the primary factors for the anti-inflammatory activity of M. uniflorum seeds extracts.