BACKGROUND South East Asia (SEA) is home to over 30 tribes of indigenous population groups who are currently facing rapid socio-economic change. Epidemiological transition and increased prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCD) has occured. In Peninsular Malaysia, the Orang Asli (OA) indigenous people comprise 0 · 6% (150,000) of the population and live in various settlements. OA comprise t...

Encounters and associations between adult male, adult female and subadult male orang-utans, Pongo pygmaeus, were examined at the Kutai National Park and Gunung Palung Nature Reserve, Indonesia. Observed rates of encounters, durations of associations and proportions of time spent in associations of two members of each age-sex class from each population were compared with expected values generate...

The hypervariable region I (HVRI) is persistently used to discern haplotypes, to distinguish geographic subpopulations, and to infer taxonomy in a range of organisms. Numerous studies have highlighted greater heterogeneity elsewhere in the mitochondrial DNA control region, however-particularly, in some species, in other understudied hypervariable regions. To assess the abundance and utility of ...

Soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections have been documented among these minority groups since 1938. However the prevalence of STH is still high among these communities. Most studies tend to consider the Orang Asli (indigenous) as a homogenous group. In contrary, different subtribes have their own cultural practices. To understand this variation better, we studied the prevalence and associat...

BACKGROUND Giardia duodenalis is a flagellate parasite which has been considered the most common protozoa infecting human worldwide. Molecular characterization of G. duodenalis isolates have revealed the existence of eight groups (Assemblage A to H) which differ in their host distribution. Assemblages A and B are found in humans and in many other mammals. METHODS This cross-sectional study wa...

Data on soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections and reinfections among Orang Asli schoolchildren and their nutritional and socioeconomic status were analyzed to investigate the pattern and the possible predictors of STH reinfections. In this longitudinal study, 120 (60 males and 60 females) Orang Asli primary schoolchildren aged 7-12 years and living in remote areas in Pos Betau, Kuala Lipis...

the study was conducted to determine the prevalence of goiter and hypothyroidism in two groups of the population at various stages of social development and to determine its association with malnutrition and dietary intake. aboriginal inhabitants (orang asli), a resettlement rural village (betau post), a traditional village in the jungle (lanai post) and a modern village settlement near kuala l...