This study aims to investigate the behaviour of Malaysian sub-bituminous coal (Mukah Balingian), oil palm biomass (empty fruit bunches (EFB), kernel shell (PKS) and mesocarp fibre (PMF)) and their respective blends during pyrolysis using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The coal/palm biomass blends were prepared at six different weight ratios and experiments were carried out under dynamic conditions using nitrogen as inert gas at various heating rates to ramp the temperature from 25 degrees C to 900 degrees C. The derivative thermogravimetric (DTG) results show that thermal decomposition of EFB, PMF and PKS exhibit one, two and three distinct evolution profiles, respectively. Apparently, the thermal profiles of the coal/oil palm biomass blends appear to correlate with the percentage of biomass added in the blends, thus, suggesting lack of interaction between the coal and palm biomass. First-order reaction model were used to determine the kinetics parameters for the pyrolysis of coal, palm biomass and their respective blends.
The association between the acute-phase reactant proteins (APRPs) and cancer has long been established. There have been numerous reports correlating altered levels of various APRPs with different types of cancers. However, researchers are often quick to dismiss the use of these APRPs as potential biomarkers for the diagnosis and monitoring of cancer because alterations in APRP concentrations are observed in a wide range of diseases. Recent progress in proteomics studies which profiled the serum proteins of cancer patients and those of normal individuals indicated that the altered APRP expressions were different for distinct types, subtypes, and even stages of cancer. Interestingly, these data are in agreement with those observed earlier using immunochemical and biochemical assays. In view of this compelling association of different patterns of APRPs with various types of cancers and in an apparent shift of paradigm, we present in this review some indications that APRP fingerprinting may be used as complementary cancer biomarkers.
The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between dental anxiety and dental decay experience among antenatal mothers attending Maternal and Child Health clinics in Malaysia. A cross-sectional study was conducted on a consecutive sample of 407 antenatal mothers in Seremban, Malaysia. The questionnaire consisted of participants' demographic profile and the Dental Fear Survey. The D(3cv)MFS was employed as the outcome measure and was assessed by a single examiner (intraclass correlation = 0.98). A structural equation model was designed to inspect the relationship between dental anxiety and dental decay experience. The mean Dental Fear Survey score for all participants was 35.1 [95% confidence interval (34.0, 36.3)]. The mean D(3cv)MFS score was 10.8 [95% confidence interval (9.5, 12.1)]. Participants from low socio-economic status groups had significantly higher D(3cv)MFS counts than those from high socio-economic status groups. The path model with dental anxiety and socio-economic status as predictors of D(3cv)MFS showed satisfactory fit. The correlation between dental anxiety and dental decay experience was 0.30 (standardized estimate), indicating a positive association. Socio-economic status was also statistically significantly associated with the D(3cv)MFS count (beta = 0.19). This study presented robust evidence for the significant relationship between dental anxiety and dental decay experience in antenatal mothers.
MeSH terms: Adolescent; Adult; Ambulatory Care Facilities; Cross-Sectional Studies; Dental Caries/complications; Dental Caries/etiology*; DMF Index; Factor Analysis, Statistical; Female; Humans; Malaysia; Manifest Anxiety Scale; Maternal-Child Health Centers; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Complications/etiology*; Surveys and Questionnaires; Social Class; Models, Statistical; Multivariate Analysis; Chi-Square Distribution; Dental Anxiety/complications*; Young Adult
Removal of Cr(VI) ions from aqueous solution was investigated using modified palm shell activated carbon. Low Molecular Weight Polyethyleneimine (LMW PEI) was used for impregnation purpose. The maximum amount of LMW PEI adsorbed on activated carbon was determined to be approximately 228.2mg/g carbon. The adsorption experiments were carried out in a batch system using potassium dichromate K(2)Cr(2)O(7) as the source of Cr(VI) in the synthetic waste water and modified palm shell activated carbon as the adsorbent. The effects of pH, concentration of Cr(VI) and PEI loaded on activated carbon were studied. The adsorption data were found to fit well with the Freundlich isotherm model. This modified Palm shell activated carbon showed high adsorption capacity for chromium ions.
MeSH terms: Adsorption; Carbon/chemistry*; Charcoal/chemistry*; Chromium/chemistry*; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; Lead/chemistry; Molecular Weight; Oxygen/chemistry; Polyethyleneimine/chemistry*; Potassium Dichromate/chemistry; Water Pollutants, Chemical/chemistry; Water Purification/methods*
Helicobacter pylori-related disease is at least partially attributable to the genotype of the infecting strain, particularly the presence of specific virulence factors. We investigated the prevalence of a novel combination of H. pylori virulence factors, including the cag pathogenicity island (PAI), and their association with severe disease in isolates from the three major ethnicities in Malaysia and Singapore, and evaluated whether the cag PAI was intact and functional in vitro. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to detect dupA, cagA, cagE, cagT, cagL and babA, and to type vacA, the EPIYA motifs, HP0521 alleles and oipA ON status in 159 H. pylori clinical isolates. Twenty-two strains were investigated for IL-8 induction and CagA translocation in vitro. The prevalence of cagA, cagE, cagL, cagT, babA, oipA ON and vacA s1 and i1 was >85%, irrespective of the disease state or ethnicity. The prevalence of dupA and the predominant HP0521 allele and EPIYA motif varied significantly with ethnicity (p < 0.05). A high prevalence of an intact cag PAI was found in all ethnic groups; however, no association was observed between any virulence factor and disease state. The novel association between the HP0521 alleles, EPIYA motifs and host ethnicity indicates that further studies to determine the function of this gene are important.
The rapidly motorizing environment in Malaysia has made child occupant safety a current public health concern. The usage of child safety seats (CSS) is a widely regarded intervention to enhance child occupant safety, yet no study has been conducted on CSS in Malaysia. This study aims to determine the CSS usage rates in Malaysia and to assess driver characteristics that are associated with CSS usage.
Since 2004, malaria with a "fifth" plasmodium, Plasmodium knowlesi (common in macaque monkeys), has been diagnosed in a number of people in Southeast Asia. This article gives a short overview of the epidemiology, clinical picture, diagnostics and treatment of P. knowlesi infection.
The aims of this study were to determine factors associated with dental visit and to describe barriers to utilisation of oral health care services among antenatal mothers attending the Obstetric and Gynaecology Specialist clinic in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia.
MeSH terms: Adult; Dental Care/utilization*; Dental Caries/diagnosis; Dental Caries/prevention & control; Female; Humans; Malaysia; Mothers/psychology*; Mothers/statistics & numerical data; Oral Health*; Patient Acceptance of Health Care/statistics & numerical data*; Pregnancy; Prenatal Care/utilization; Surveys and Questionnaires; Logistic Models; Young Adult
This paper presents a comparative study between wavelet and curvelet transform for breast cancer diagnosis in digital mammogram. Using multiresolution analysis, mammogram images are decomposed into different resolution levels, which are sensitive to different frequency bands. A set of the biggest coefficients from each decomposition level is extracted. Then a supervised classifier system based on Euclidian distance is constructed. The performance of the classifier is evaluated using a 2 x 5-fold cross validation followed by a statistical analysis. The experimental results suggest that curvelet transform outperforms wavelet transform and the difference is statistically significant.
Blastocystis hominis is one of the most common intestinal protozoan parasites in humans, and reports have shown that blastocystosis is coupled with intestinal disorders. In the past, researchers have developed an in vitro model using B. hominis culture filtrates to investigate its ability in triggering inflammatory cytokine responses and transcription factors in human colonic epithelial cells. Studies have also correlated the inflammation by parasitic infection with cancer. The present study provides evidence of the parasite facilitating cancer cell growth through observing the cytopathic effect, cellular immunomodulation, and apoptotic responses of B. hominis, especially in malignancy. Here we investigated the effect of solubilized antigen from B. hominis on cell viability, using peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and human colorectal carcinoma cells (HCT116). The gene expressions of cytokines namely interleukin 6 (IL-6), IL-8, tumor necrosis factor alpha, interferon gamma, nuclear factor kappa light-chain enhancer of activated B cells (a gene transcription factor), and proapoptotic genes namely protein 53 and cathepsin B were also studied. Results exhibited favor the fact that antigen from B. hominis, at a certain concentration, could facilitate the growth of HCT116 while having the ability to downregulate immune cell responses (PBMCs). Therefore, there is a vital need to screen colorectal cancer patients for B. hominis infection as it possesses the ability to enhance the tumor growth.
The VP4, VP2, and VP1 gene regions were evaluated for their usefulness in typing human enteroviruses. Three published RT-PCR primers sets targeting separately these three gene regions were used. Initially, from a total of 86 field isolates (36 HEV-A, 40 HEV-B, and 10 HEV-C) tested, 100% concordance in HEV-A was identified from all three gene regions (VP4, VP2, and VP1). However, for HEV-B and HEV-C viruses, only the VP2 and VP1 regions, and not VP4, showed 100% concordance in typing these viruses. To evaluate further the usefulness of VP4 in typing HEV-A enteroviruses, 55 Japanese and 203 published paired VP4 and VP1 nucleotide sequences were also examined. In each case, typing by VP4 was 100% in concordance with typing using VP1. Given these results, it is proposed that for HEV-A enteroviruses, all three gene regions (VP4, VP2, and VP1), would be useful for typing these viruses. These options would enhance the capability of laboratories in identifying these viruses and would greatly help in outbreaks of hand, foot, and mouth disease.
This study examined the temporal distribution of rotavirus genotypes in Malaysia. Rotaviruses from children with diarrhea admitted to hospitals in 1996 (n = 93) and 2007 (n = 12) in two different regions of Peninsular (West) Malaysia were analyzed for their G and P genotypes using a hemi-nested RT-PCR assay. In the 2007 samples, the dominant strain was G9P[8]. It was identified in 42% of the samples. Different strains all possessing the G1 genotype were identified in the rest of the samples. In contrast, 81% of the samples collected in 1996 were the G1P[8] strain. No strains with G9 genotype were detected in samples collected in 1996.
LOD and LOQ are two important performance characteristics in method validation. This work compares three methods based on the International Conference on Harmonization and EURACHEM guidelines, namely, signal-to-noise, blank determination, and linear regression, to estimate the LOD and LOQ for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by experimental methodology using GC. Five VOCs, toluene, ethylbenzene, isopropylbenzene, n-propylbenzene, and styrene, were chosen for the experimental study. The results indicated that the estimated LODs and LOQs were not equivalent and could vary by a factor of 5 to 6 for the different methods. It is, therefore, essential to have a clearly described procedure for estimating the LOD and LOQ during method validation to allow interlaboratory comparisons.
MeSH terms: Algorithms; Chromatography, Gas; Data Interpretation, Statistical; Indicators and Reagents; Organic Chemicals/analysis*; Reference Standards; Linear Models; Least-Squares Analysis
The effect of retorting and oven cooking on the nutritional properties of beef frankfurters blended with palm oil (PO), red PO35 and red PO48 were compared against the control beef fat treatment. Red PO oven-cooked beef frankfurters resulted in a significant loss of vitamin E from 538.5 to 287.5 microg after 6 months. Oven cooked sausages stored at -18 degrees C and retorted sausages stored for the 6 months of shelf studies resulted in more than 90% loss of alpha-carotene and beta-carotene in red PO beef frankfurters. Cholesterol was reduced at the range of 29.0-32.2 mg/100 g when beef fat was substituted with palm-based oils, in beef frankfurters. Differences of heat treatments did not significantly change THE cholesterol content, within all treatments. This study showed the potential of utilizing red palm oils as animal fat analogues in improving vitamin E, reducing cholesterol but not carotenes in beef frankfurters.
Despite technological advances in imaging, multiple sclerosis (MS) remains a clinical diagnosis that is supported, but not replaced, by laboratory or imaging findings. However, imaging is essential in the current diagnostic criteria of MS, for prediction of the likelihood of MS for patients with clinically isolated syndromes, correlation with lesion pathology and assessment of treatment outcome. This article gives an overview of imaging in MS with particular emphasis on the role of MRI in various diagnostic imaging criteria. Novel imaging for MS using 3 Tesla field strengths, magnetization transfer imaging, diffusion tensor imaging, magnetic resonance spectroscopy and cell-specific contrast will be reviewed.
Regulation of renal function and haemodynamics are under a direct control from the renal sympathetic nerves and renal denervation produces overt diuresis and natriuresis in several mammalian species. However, the inter-related series of changes in renal function and haemodynamics following acute renal denervation (ARD) is not fully understood. Thus, we aimed to investigate and relate the changes in renal function and haemodynamics following acute unilateral renal denervation in anaesthetized Sprague Dawley (SD) rats.
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of static, dynamic, and the combination of static and dynamic stretching within a pre-exercise warm-up on the Illinois agility test (IAT) in soccer players. Nineteen professional soccer players (age = 22.5 ± 2.5 years, height = 1.79 ± 0.003 m, body mass = 74.8 ± 10.9 kg) were tested for agility performance using the IAT after different warm-up protocols consisting of static, dynamic, combined stretching, and no stretching. The players were subgrouped into less and more experienced players (5.12 ± 0.83 and 8.18 ± 1.16 years, respectively). There were significant decreases in agility time after no stretching, among no stretching vs. static stretching; after dynamic stretching, among static vs. dynamic stretching; and after dynamic stretching, among dynamic vs. combined stretching during warm-ups for the agility: mean ± SD data were 14.18 ± 0.66 seconds (no stretch), 14.90 ± 0.38 seconds (static), 13.95 ± 0.32 seconds (dynamic), and 14.50 ± 0.35 seconds (combined). There was significant difference between less and more experienced players after no stretching and dynamic stretching. There was significant decrease in agility time following dynamic stretching vs. static stretching in both less and more experienced players. Static stretching does not appear to be detrimental to agility performance when combined with dynamic warm-up for professional soccer players. However, dynamic stretching during the warm-up was most effective as preparation for agility performance. The data from this study suggest that more experienced players demonstrate better agility skills due to years of training and playing soccer.
Methanol extract of the Gracilaria changii has been screened for antimicrobial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Antimicrobial activities were carried out using disc diffusion assay and broth dilution method against P. aeruginosa. The methanol extract of G. changii showed a good antimicrobial activity against P. aeruginosa with MIC (Minimum Inhibitory Concentration) value of 6.25mg/ml. Exposure of P. aeruginosa cells to 6.25mg/ml of methanol extract of G. changii resulted in complete inhibition of the bacterial cells. The main abnormalities noted via SEM and TEM studies were the alterations in morphology and cytology of the bacterial cells. The main reason for this deterioration was discussed. The effect of the methanol extract on the growth profile for the bacteria was also done and confirmed the bactericidal effect of the G. changii methanol extract on P. aeruginosa by changing the normal growth profile of P. aeruginosa. In an acute toxicity study using mice, the median lethal dose (LD(50)) of the extract was greater than 2000 mg/kg, and we found no pathological changes in macroscopic examination by necropsy of mice treated with extract. We conclude that G. changii might be safely used as an antimicrobial agent.