The increasing number of prevalence infertility cases is becoming a major public health problem in developing countries due to changes in diet and lifestyle. Melicope ptelefolia (M.ptelifolia) is known for its health benefit as a sex enhancing effect among the Malays folk however there is no clinical data to prove it until these days. The main aim of the present study is to identify the effects of Melicope ptelifolia Aqueous extract (MPAE) on Sperm Parameters and Testosterone Level . A total of 30 male Sprague Dawley rats were divided equally into five different groups. MPAE was given by orally gavage for 28 days at a dose of 100mg/kg, 200 mg/kg and 500 mg/kg body weight to the animals of group II (n=6), III (n=6) and IV (n=6), respectively. The animals of group I (control, n=6) had distilled water and group V had sildenafil citrate. Sperm Parameters were carried include sperm count, motility, mobility and morphology together with serum testosterone level for Testosterone level result. Results were analyzed using one way ANOVA test followed by Tukey test and the data were considered significant at p
MeSH terms: Sildenafil Citrate; Analysis of Variance; Animals; Body Weight; Developing Countries; Diet; Humans; Infertility; Life Style; Malaysia; Male; Public Health; Sperm Count; Spermatozoa; Testosterone; Prevalence; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Rutaceae; Rats
Mast cells (MCs) play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of allergic diseases due to their hypersensitive reaction to non-harmful substances that elicit an allergic response. As such, by interrupting certain signalling proteins within the signalling pathway of a MC, an allergic response may be avoided or inhibited. Compounds that attenuate the release of mediators from MCs are known as MC stabilizers. These drugs are clinically used to prevent MC effector responses towards common allergens. Although commonly prescribed clinical MC stabilizers such as disodium cromoglycate and ketotifen fumarate were used in the preventative treatment of various allergic diseases, there still remains a need of advancement towards the discovery of new MC stabilizing drugs that are able to target specific signalling molecules in order to provide better treatment option against these diseases. Among these newly discovered potential MC stabilizers, much efforts have been given to the inhibition of vital upstream signalling molecules such as spleen tyrosine kinase as well as surface receptors such as the high-affinity IgE receptor (FcεRI) and stem cell factor receptor (KIT). A recent study also reported that linker for activation of T cells (LAT) may also be an excellent molecular target for inhibiting MC degranulation. Although in most cases the exact mode of action of these molecules is yet to be elucidated, all these compounds have shown MC inhibition. Therefore, they might have potential therapeutic use in the treatment of allergies and allergy related diseases where MCs are majorly involved. Thus, this mini review will focus on summarising the potential signalling molecules or receptors that have been targeted to inhibit MC degranulation, particularly those located in the upstream signalling pathway.
Boesenbergia rotunda, traditionally used to relieve stomach, abdomen, joint, muscle, and rheumatic pain was also reported for its antinociceptive effect on a mouse model. However, the possible pain relief effect of Boesenbergia rotunda ethanolic extract (BREE) via the inhibition to the neural pain pathway remains to be elucidated. This study investigated the inhibitory effect of BREE on compound action potentials (CAPs) and the possible involvement of the opioid receptors. The changes in the CAPs amplitudes of the frog’s sciatic nerves were evaluated following the exposure to three different dosages of BREE (1, 3 and 10 mg/ml and morphine (3 mg/ml). In another set of experiment, the nerves were pretreated with a non-selective opioid receptor antagonist, naloxone (0.1 mg/ml), before exposing the nerve to BREE (1 mg/ml) to investigate the involvement of opioid receptors in the CAPs inhibitory mechanism. The outcome showed a reduction in the CAPs amplitudes when treated with BREE (1, 3 and 10 mg/ml) whereby the effect was reversible. The CAPs inhibition by BREE was absent when the opioid receptors were blocked. Taken together, these findings suggest that BREE-induced CAPs amplitude reduction involves the activation of opioid receptors.
The general notion of activation of Gq-protein coupled receptors (GPCR) involves the mobilisation of stored and extracellular calcium and leads to smooth muscle tissue contraction. The aim of this study was to investigate the involvement of calcium mediated contractions in vascular and airway smooth muscles. Using standard organ bath procedures, aortic and tracheal rings were obtained from 6 to 8 week-old male Sprague Dawley rats. To activate the Gq protein receptors, phenylephrine (PE), an α1-adrenoceptor agonist, and carbachol, a M3 cholinoceptor agonist was added to baths containing the aortic and tracheal rings, respectively. The maximum response (Emax) to PE was reduced from 158.8 ± 11.8% (n=6) to 62.5 ± 12.4 % (n=8) upon removal of extracellular calcium in Krebs-Ringer solution. Maximal response to PE was also suppressed in the presence of nifedipine, a L-type Ca2+ channel inhibitor, (70.3 ± 11 %, n=8) and SKF96365, a canonical transient receptor potential cation channel inhibitor, (26.7 ± 13.2 %, n=5) when the influx of extracellular calcium was blocked. Removal of stored calcium also attenuated the PE contraction (p0.05). From these observations, we conclude that the role of stored and extracellular calcium in Gq protein activation is not the same across different types of smooth muscle tissues.
Global warming is the main concern in today’s century as it comes with numerous side effects to the natural environment. Open Top Chambers (OTC) consist of metal constructions with transparent vertical side-walls and a frustum on top. An opening in the middle of the frustum allows an air exchange to reduce temperature and humidity effects in the chamber. The size of the open top chamber which is located in Universiti Putra Malaysia is slanted 60o, 50cm tall, 2.08m basal diameter hexagon chamber. The Open Top Chamber experiments were carried out to determine how much global warming has affected and is still affecting the temperature, pH, the moisture and the growth of the microbes in the tropical soil. The aim of this study is to elucidate the effects of temperature increase on the soil microbes’ population and on the pH of the soil. The study was conducted to observe the effect of heat on the population of soil microbes and the pH of the soil which was collected on the same day for 6 consecutive months. The microbes from the samples were grown on agar plates. The population of microbes on the plates were used as values were for Colony Forming Unit (CFU) value calculations. The effects of OTCs on mean temperature showed a large range of CFU values throughout the 6 months but did not differ significantly between studies. Increases in mean monthly and diurnal temperature were strongly related, indicating that the presence of warming effect by the OTCs. Such predictive power allows a better mechanistic understanding of observed biotic response to experimental warming. This study will be useful for the understanding of the global warming effect on microbes. The Open Top Chamber experiment has proven to be one of the effective model for global warming research and data collected especially on the growth of soil microbial obtained would be of great use for further experiments.
The human neuroblastoma cell line, SH-SY5Y cells, derived from the parental SK-N-SH cell line, is commonly used as an in vitro model for neuroscience and neurobiology research. Since SH-SY5Y cells are widely cultured for research, several different culture media have been used to optimize the growth of the cells, including Eagle's Minimum Essential Medium (EMEM), Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium (DMEM) and other recently developed culture media. SH-SY5Y cells has the ability to reach confluency in culture flasks ranges from 5 days to 15 days, depending on the culture media used. Hence, the optimization of the culture media is crucial to achieve the fastest growth rate for the cells. The objective of the study is to evaluate the culture media for the proliferation of SH-SY5Y cells. We compared the growth rate of SH-SY5Y cells cultured in Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium (DMEM) supplemented with 15% heat-inactivated fetal bovine serum (hiFBS), Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium: Nutrient mixture F-12 (DMEM:F12) + supplemented with 15% hiFBS and DMEM:F12 supplemented with 10% hiFBS. In DMEM:F12 supplemented with 15% hiFBS, cells grew up to 6.67E+05 cells. In DMEM:F12 supplemented with 10% hiFBS, cells grew up to 5.28E+05 cells. In DMEM supplemented with 15% hiFBS, the cells grew up to 4.76E+05 cells. There was a significant difference between culture media DMEM:F12 supplemented with 15% hiFBS as compared to DMEM:F12 supplemented with 10%hiFBS and DMEM supplemented with 15% hiFBS (p0.05). We found that DMEM:F12 supplemented with 15% hiFBS could serve as an optimized culture media for high proliferation rate of SH-SY5Y cells.
High invasive cancer cells are thought to recruit specialised actin-rich protrusions for invasion in metastasis process. These protrusions are termed invadopodia. To study invadopodia formation, one of the first challenges faced by researchers has been to optimise the cell line passage number in order to be used for the invadopodia assay. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effects of the passage number on invadopodia formation in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell line. Invadopodia assay was used to achieve the aim of the study. The results provided evidence that invadopodia formation is affected by the high passage number. The cells were also tested with dimethyloxalylglycine (DMOG) a hypoxic mimicking agent which is known to be an invadopodia inducer, the results showed that the cells in low passage number (P7) treated with DMOG increase the cells forming invadopodia, while the cells with high passage number (P35) showed that DMOG fails to stimulate the cells to form invadopodia. Furthermore, the cells with high passage number after passage 15 are starting to lose the ability to degrade the gelatin. In conclusion, this study suggests that only cells with a low passage number, less than passage 15 should be used in the study of invadopodia formation to obtain the results in the search for molecular targets and signaling at invadopodia.
Immunoglobulins are antibodies that play important roles in preserving our immune system. They have the ability to initiate humoral responses and remove antigen from the body. Out of the five major isotypes of immunoglobulins, IgG are most abundantly found in human serum. Abnormalities – deficiency or elevation in the level of IgG are found to be associated to the occurrence of several autoimmune diseases. These may include rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease, Mikulicz’s disease, Kuttner’s tumour and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. Apart from autoimmune diseases, IgG has been found to play a role in initiating anaphylaxis, a severe and life threatening form of allergy and lately it has been discovered in cases of dengue virus infection too. It is important to acknowledge the roles of IgG on diseases especially subclass IgG4 which the elevation has been tied to numerous diseases such as Kuttner’s tumour and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis hence termed IgG4-related diseases. In addition, the roles of IgG in anaphylaxis are of importance, too, as IgG has been used in allergy immunotherapy. Hence, this review is a mini compilation of effects of IgG abnormalities based on their subclasses. Hopefully it will provide insightful understanding on the development of diagnostic and therapeutic courses for the aforementioned IgG abnormalities in the future.
Bacterial endophytes are found on all types of plants and is a potential source of bioactive compounds which can be utilized to fight against multi-resistant pathogens and could be further develop into new leads for antibiotic development. However, the research done on the bacterial endophytes is relatively new and has potential to grow as it is theorized that each plant has one or more bacterial endophytes inhabiting them. This review aims to review the studies that have been done previously and give new insights on the latest trends in this field of research.
Benzene exposure has been associated with hematotoxicity and leukemogenicity. However, the impact of benzene exposure on complex microenvironment of Hematopoetic Stem Cells (HSCs) niche, comprising of HSCs and lineage-specific progenitors remains elusive. Thus, a study on benzene-targeting HSCs niche could uncover mechanism linking benzene to HSCs niche alteration. This study evaluates the lineage-specific responses following exposure to a benzene metabolite, namely hydroquinone (HQ) in targeting HSCs and myeloid-committed progenitors. Freshly isolated murine bone marrow cells (BMCs) were exposed to HQ at series of concentrations (0 – 50 μM) for 24 hours; followed by cell viability analysis using MTT assay. Chromosomal aberration (CA) status was determined using karyotyping analysis. Expression of surface antigen for HSCs (Sca-1) was confirmed by flow cytometer. Lineage-specific myelotoxicity was studied using the colony-forming unit (CFU) assay for the following myeloid progenitors: CFU granulocyte /erythrocyte /macrophage /megakaryocyte (CFU-GEMM), CFU-granulocyte/macrophage (CFU-GM), CFU-granulocyte (CFU-G), CFU-macrophage (CFU-M), CFU-erythroid (CFU-E) and Burst-forming unit erythroid (BFU-E). HQ reduced (p
Upper extremity musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) has become a common problem among office workers in Malaysia. Studies have shown that an appropriate work-rest schedule can reduce fatigue and MSDs among office workers. In Malaysia, there has been an increase in the occurrence of MSDs, especially in work that require intensive computer use. Operators who used computers continuously for more than 4 hours a day have shown to develop CTDs. Studies on the effect of break time on the performance of office workers in Malaysia are still lacking. As such this study was aimed to evaluate effect of work rest schedule on the discomfort, performance and muscular load levels of computer users in Malaysia. The effect of break time starting with no break, one minute and 30 seconds break interval were carried out on the 15 subjects. EMG was measured for each task given. Performance which was calculated by multiplying speed and accuracy (WPM) showed 30 seconds break was 13.5% higher than 1 minute break and 20.14% higher than schedule with no break. EMG analyses showed 30 seconds have lowest mean AEMG which was 0.035 for flexor carpi ulnaris and 0.0331 for radialis muscles. It also recorded least discomfort scale for upper extremity muscles compared to the other two schedules. This study showed that more frequent microbreaks can improve performance of office workers and reduce MSD problem from occurring.
The fruit of Canarium odontophyllum Miq. is a traditional delicacy in Borneo for its anti-aging benefit. This study evaluated the protective effect of C. odontophyllum leaf aqueous extract on damaged liver in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. A total of 30 male Spraque-Dawley rats (150-250g) were randomly divided into three groups: control group, diabetic without treatment and diabetic treated with 300 mg/kg aqueous extract of C. odontophyllum for 28 consecutive days. The diabetic condition was induced by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin at 65 mg/kg body weight. At the end of study period, blood was collected to assess the biochemical changes and the oxidative stress markers whereas the liver section was examined for morphological changes. Result showed that the level of aspartate transaminase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT), total bilirubin, gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) in diabetic rats treated with C. odontophyllum were significantly reduced (p
Probiotics has been discovered long time ago for its beneficial effect on health when consumed especially to the people who had allergy and gastrointestinal disease. This preliminary study was conducted to find out which vehicles can allow better growth of probiotic. Lactobacillus plantarum was used in this study as choice of probiotic to be cultured in the four types of milk. The pH value was recorded for determination of growths and metabolic activity of the probiotic. Results showed that L. plantarum in soy milk can grow and had a better metabolic activity in the cultured soy milk with pH 3.46 compared to others. The highest growth was recorded at optical density of 1.137 in soy milk at 560nm. This result showed that L. plantarum in soy milk multiply rapidly compared to other milks. As conclusion, soy milk has better development of probiotic as delivery vehicles compare to cow milk, goat milk and coconut milk.
Blindness is an area of inadequate the visual conception because of physiological or even neurological aspects. The partial blindness corresponds to the insufficient integration in the expansion of the optic confidence or perhaps visual center of the eye, and also over-all total blindness is the complete inadequacy of the visual light perception. Within this research, a basic, inexpensive, friendly user, sensible blind assist technique is developed to be integrated with the portability of both blind and even visually impaired people in a particular region. The presented work consists of a wearable apparatus is made up of the head hat to facilitate the blind particular person to get around single-handedly safely and securely in order to keep away from any kind of obstructions that could be experienced, even if mounted and also mobile phone, to avoid virtually any probable accident. The primary function of this product is the Ultrasonic sensing unit which is able to inform the blind people if there exist any specific obstacles or otherwise not around them along with the vibrating motor probably would informs the blind people who which negative are the obstacles located. In addition, by pressing the home or work button this system will straight away link to MIT app inventor and the app will send a signal to Google maps to guide the blind people to its desired location. The implemented system is fast, and easy to use and an innovative affordable solution to blind and visually impaired people in third world countries.
This paper aims to presents the implementation of Organizational Memory Information System (OMIS) framework in managing knowledge in organization. OMIS providing a way for organization to leveraging tacit knowledge in capturing, codifying, storing and transferring knowledge. Every year data, information and knowledge had increased then becomes wasted memories due to the retirement, replacement and resignation of staff. This can have a great impact if the knowledge is not used wisely for future purpose. This could give great impact when it is not used wisely. Organization become more efficient and competitive if they used the collections of memory in the form of collected data, information, and knowledge. Organizations which are not efficient will do the process, and study the same repeatedly. Implementation of this framework is a good way to increase effectiveness of knowledge sharing in university. But some knowledge is hard to capture especially tacit knowledge. Many organizations attempt to capture tacit knowledge and codify it so that it can be shared around the organization for greater value. So this paper is mainly focused on implementation of Organizational Memory Information System (OMIS) framework in order to manage knowledge more centralized and organized in organization.
Students nowadays in Malaysia and globally, prefer to consume caffeinated energy drink to stay up late to finish their daily task especially during exams or finishing their coursework. Despite the rising trends and aggressive marketing strategies aimed toward college students, there has been little research done on college students’ intake of caffeinated energy drinks and their impact on sleep quality such as the daytime sleepiness. Bad sleep quality is also significantly found more commonly in those with psychological distress which will then consequently affect students’ academic performances. This research studies about universities student pattern of consumption of caffeinated energy drink and how it affects their level of daytime sleepiness and level of psychological distress. In this research, The Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) was used to evaluate general level of daytime sleepiness and the capability to stay alert and awake during crucial moments of the day. While the level of psychological distress were measured using the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), a self-administered screening instrument designed to detect current diagnosable mental disturbances and disorders. Research findings showed that there are generally higher usage of caffeinated energy drink in male, between 20 to 22 years old and active in any physical activity, among participants whom does not consume caffeinated energy drink, majority score CGPA between 3.00 to 3.50. Also, there are significance between the psychological distress and consumption of caffeinated energy drink, 86.3% whom does not consume caffeinated energy drink does not have psychological distress and between daytime sleepiness and psychological distress, about 71.8% daytime sleepers have psychological distress (p
MeSH terms: Adult; Aggression; Mental Disorders; Humans; Malaysia; Male; Surveys and Questionnaires; Sleep; Students; Universities; Wakefulness; Exercise; Marketing; Young Adult; Energy Drinks
Lignocellulosic biomass, found in wooden plant husks is a potent renewable material source which can be utilised to form various chemicals and biomaterials including polyols such as xylitol. Xylitol has been used commercially as an alternative to sucrose in many products as bulk sweetener in non-cariogenic confectionery as well as in diabetic diets and solutions for parenteral nutrition. Therefore, this study aims to optimise separation parameters of the Shimadzu high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) (Model No: LC-20A) and quantify the potential of coconut husk as substrate for Candida albicans in producing xylitol using HPLC. Pretreatment to depolymerise components of biomass i.e. cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin were done using dilute acid hydrolysis method which yielded fermentable reducing sugars, xylose. Xylose is a monosaccharide with an aldehyde functional group, a reducing sugar which is then utilised and fermented by the yeast Candida albicans to form xylitol. In this study, the media used for fermenting pretreated coconut husk and Candida albicans is a synthetic defined (SD) minimal broth. Growth curves against concentration of reducing sugar were plotted to determine utilisation and production trends with specific mixes of carbon sources. The presence of reducing sugars were tested using 3,5-dinitrosalicylic acid (DNS) assay in pretreated coconut husk yielded 13.22 g/L. In order to analyse the product with HPLC, an existing protocol is modified for Hypersil GOLD™ C18 column with acetonitrile as the mobile phase. Results obtained from HPLC analyses using developed protocol suggested the formation of xylitol from the fermentation of pretreated husk by Candida albicans. These can be followed by purification of fermented media in obtaining a better separation of contaminating peaks.
Nowadays, the scientific knowledge is developing frequently in numerous characteristics to be able to offer versatile and also safe and sound tendency for the users. At this time many of prevalent together with employed indicate by the visually impaired people are using the ivory stick, nonetheless it possesses constraints. With the recent technological innovation, it is easy to prolong the assistance acquire for people who have visual disability throughout their movability; this design endorses a cost-effective ultrasonic stick for visually encountered people today, to be able to achieve an exclusive self-reliance and even exempt from the additional assist. A portable convenient to use technology is designed which could recognize the obstructions in the way working with ultrasonic sensors in addition to vibrator. Ultrasonic sensors will be able to inspect three types of distinct heights. Vibrator is frequently used as a substitute gadget in the areas that surrounds with the minimal signal coverage also nosy environment. The buzzer and vibration motor are initialized while any kind of hindrance is identified. Global positioning system device presents the details about to the proceeding approach both work or even home, that has been supplied considering that control keys together with a contingency switch. Text message unit is utilized by the blind to send out SMS info to the saved phone numbers in the Arduino in the event of unexpected emergency.
Undergraduate studies are a challenging time for students to adapt to the multi-functional roles and responsibilities of a university life. Research worldwide indicates undergraduate students to experience high levels of stress, depression and anxiety thus affecting their academic performance. Studies in Malaysia with respect to understanding the relationship between anxiety levels and academic achievement are sparse. The current study sought responses from a preliminary sample of 100 undergraduate students consisted of 50 males and 50 females on their cumulative grade point average (CGPA) and Beck’s Anxiety Inventory. The results suggested girls to have slightly higher levels of anxiety when compared to boys. Both boys and girls were found to have moderate levels of anxiety as indicated by BAI. A mild negative relationship was found between anxiety levels and academic achievement. The findings highlight the need for preventive mental health measures in universities catering to the growing academic and personal demands on students thereby facilitating students with coping and life skills.
The process of software development life cycle (SDLC) is an important element of development phases to develop the application. In fact, there are needs to upgrade the sequence of methodology in software development. Thus, the SDLC is very crucial in order for them to ensure the quality of skills is placed accordingly in the workflow. This research contributes to the development of a new approach in system development workflow with the aim to properly manage system development projects. It started by providing some background data related to the previous mode of operation in the teamwork samples as shared by the stakeholders of the transformation projects and the new proposed Analysis System Development Framework (ASDF) method team members. Then, the key findings related to steps of software development such as (1) input for User Requirement Specification (URS) and (2) System Requirement Specification (SRS), (3) process for module, (4) process for database, (5) process for User Acceptance Testing (UAT) (6) output for Final Acceptance Testing (FAT) and empowerment for the whole level based on ASDF method. This paper contribution significantly to support the perception of high quality of skills in a teamwork, results in better performance of software development.
MeSH terms: Software; Systems Analysis; Databases, Factual; Disease Management; Workflow