Browse publications by year: 2019

  1. Das P, Naing NN, Wan-Arfah N, Naing Noor Jan KO, Kueh YC, Rasalingam K
    East Asian Arch Psychiatry, 2019 Jun;29(2):66-70.
    PMID: 31237249
    OBJECTIVE: To investigate association between major depressive disorder (MDD) and quality of life in patients with neurological disorder.

    METHODS: This cross-sectional study was carried out at a Malaysian hospital between April 2016 and December 2016 using convenience sampling. Patients aged ≥18 years with intracranial tumour or other brain disorders were invited to participate. Quality of life was assessed using the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life questionnaire version 3.0; diagnosis of MDD was made using Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview.

    RESULTS: Of 122 patients approached, 100 (66 women and 34 men) were included (response rate, 93.5%), with a mean age of 45.3 years. The prevalence of MDD in patients with neurological disorder was 30%. Compared with non-depressed patients, patients with MDD had poorer global health status / quality of life (p = 0.003), and reduced physical (p = 0.003), role (p = 0.021), emotional (p < 0.001), cognitive (p = 0.004), and social (p = 0.007) functioning, as well as more symptoms of fatigue (p = 0.004), pain (p < 0.001), dyspnoea (p = 0.033), insomnia (p < 0.001), appetite loss (p = 0.002), constipation (p = 0.034), diarrhoea (p = 0.021), and financial difficulties (p = 0.039).

    CONCLUSION: Patients with MDD had reduced quality of life. Fatigue, pain, dyspnoea, insomnia, appetite loss, constipation, diarrhoea, and financial difficulties were prevalent among patients with MDD.

    MeSH terms: Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Humans; Malaysia/epidemiology; Male; Middle Aged; Quality of Life*; Prevalence; Qualitative Research
  2. Chiavaroli V, Derraik JGB, Jalaludin MY, Albert BB, Ramkumar S, Cutfield WS, et al.
    Pediatr Diabetes, 2019 11;20(7):892-900.
    PMID: 31237756 DOI: 10.1111/pedi.12881
    BACKGROUND: Partial remission (PREM) by the insulin dose-adjusted HbA1c (IDAA1c) method has not been evaluated for the combined associations of ethnicity and socioeconomic status in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes (T1D).

    OBJECTIVE: To investigate prevalence and predictors of PREM defined by IDAA1c.

    METHODS: Six hundred fourteen of 678 children (aged <15 years) with new-onset T1D (2000-2013) from a regional pediatric diabetes service (Auckland, New Zealand).

    RESULTS: Overall rate of PREM at 3 months was 42.4%, and lower in Māori/Pacific children (28.6%; P = .006) and those of other ethnicities (28.8%; P = .030) compared with New Zealand Europeans (50.4%). Comparing the most and least deprived socioeconomic quintiles, the odds of PREM were lower among the most deprived (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.44; P = .019). Lower rates of PREM were seen in children aged 0 to 4.9 years (23.8%) and 10 to 14 years (40.9%) than in children aged 5 to 9.9 years (57.4%; P

    MeSH terms: Adolescent; Child; Child, Preschool; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1/blood*; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1/drug therapy*; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1/epidemiology*; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Female; Hemoglobin A, Glycosylated/analysis; Hemoglobin A, Glycosylated/metabolism*; Hospitals, Special; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Insulin/administration & dosage*; Male; New Zealand; Regional Medical Programs; Remission Induction; Retrospective Studies; Socioeconomic Factors; Cohort Studies; Diabetic Ketoacidosis/epidemiology; Precision Medicine/methods
  3. Zainal H, Dahlui M, Soelar SA, Su TT
    PLoS One, 2019;14(6):e0211997.
    PMID: 31237874 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0211997
    Preterm birth incidence has risen globally and remains a major cause of neonatal mortality despite improved survival. Demand and cost of initial hospitalization has also increased. This study assessed the cost of preterm birth during initial hospitalization from care provider perspective in neonatal intensive care units (NICU) of two hospitals in the state of Kedah, Malaysia. It utilized universal sampling and prospectively followed up preterm infants till discharge. Care provider cost was assessed using mixed method of top down approach and activity based costing. A total of 112 preterm infants were recruited from intensive care (93 infants) and minimal care (19 infants) units. Majority were from the moderate (23%) and late (36%) preterm groups followed by very preterm (32%) and extreme preterm (9%). Median cost per infant increased with level of care and degree of prematurity. Cost was dominated by overhead (fixed) costs for general (hospital), intermediate (clinical support services) and final (NICU) cost centers where it constituted at least three quarters of admission cost per infant while the remainder was consumables (variable) cost. Breakdown of overhead cost showed NICU specific overhead contributing at least two thirds of admission cost per infant. Personnel salary made up three quarters of NICU specific overhead. Laboratory investigation was the cost driver for consumables. Gender, birth weight and length of stay were significant factors and cost prediction was developed with these variables. This study demonstrated the inverse relation between resource utilization, cost and prematurity and identified personnel salary as the cost driver. Cost estimates and prediction provide in-depth understanding of provider cost and are applicable for further economic evaluations. Since gender is non-modifiable and reducing LOS alone is not effective, birth weight as a cost predictive factor in this study can be addressed through measures to prevent or delay preterm birth.
    MeSH terms: Birth Weight; Child; Cost-Benefit Analysis; Critical Care; Humans; Infant; Infant Mortality; Infant, Low Birth Weight; Infant, Newborn; Intensive Care Units, Neonatal; Length of Stay; Malaysia; Patient Discharge; Salaries and Fringe Benefits; Incidence; Infant, Extremely Premature
  4. Chong PL, Singh AK, Kok SL
    PLoS One, 2019;14(6):e0218758.
    PMID: 31237903 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0218758
    Electrical energy can be harvested from the living plants as a new potential renewable energy source. Characterization of the electrical signal is needed to enable an optimum energy harvesting setup condition. In the present paper, an investigation is conducted to analyze the characteristic of Aloe Barbadensis Miller (Aloe Vera) leaves in terms of electrical energy generation under specific experimental setups. The experimental results show that 1111.55uW electrical power can be harvested from the Aloe Vera with 24 pairs of electrodes and this energy is capable to be stored in a capacitor. This energy has a high potential to be used to power up a low power consumption device.
    MeSH terms: Aloe/metabolism*; Bioelectric Energy Sources*; Electrodes; Plant Leaves/metabolism; Electric Capacitance
  5. Swami V, Todd J, Aspell JE, Mohd Khatib NA, Toh EKL, Zahari HS, et al.
    Body Image, 2019 Sep;30:114-120.
    PMID: 31238276 DOI: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2019.06.001
    The Functionality Appreciation Scale (FAS; Alleva et al., 2017) is a 7-item measure of an individual's appreciation of their body for what it can do and is capable of doing. To date, its psychometric properties have not been examined beyond the parent study and outside English-speaking samples. To rectify this, we examined the psychometric properties of a Bahasa Malaysia (Malay) translation of the FAS. An online sample of 815 Malaysia citizens completed a Malay translation of the FAS, along with validated measures of body appreciation, weight discrepancy, drive for muscularity, perceived pressure from and internalisation of appearance ideals, self-esteem, and trait mindfulness. Exploratory factor analyses supported a 1-dimensional factor structure of FAS scores, which was upheld using confirmatory factor analysis. FAS scores were also invariant across sex and there was no significant sex difference in scores. Construct validity was generally supported through significant associations with the additional measures included in the study. Incremental validity was also established insofar as functionality appreciation predicted self-esteem over-and-above the variance accounted for by other body image measures. The availability of the Malay FAS will be of use to scholars in Malaysia, but establishing cross-linguistic invariance will be an important next step.
    MeSH terms: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Body Image/psychology*; Body Weight; Drive; Female; Humans; Malaysia; Male; Middle Aged; Psychometrics/methods; Surveys and Questionnaires*; Self Concept*; Sex Factors; Translations; Reproducibility of Results; Young Adult; Mindfulness
  6. Ramanathan S, Gopinath SCB, Md Arshad MK, Poopalan P
    Biosens Bioelectron, 2019 Sep 15;141:111434.
    PMID: 31238281 DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2019.111434
    The pragmatic outcome of a lung cancer diagnosis is closely interrelated in reducing the number of fatal death caused by the world's top cancerous disease. Regardless of the advancement made in understanding lung tumor, and its multimodal treatment, in general the percentage of survival remain low. Late diagnosis of a cancerous cell in patients is the major hurdle for the above circumstances. In the new era of a lung cancer diagnosis with low cost, portable and non-invasive clinical sampling, nanotechnology is at its inflection point where current researches focus on the implementation of biosensor conjugated nanomaterials for the generation of the ideal sensing. The present review encloses the superiority of nanomaterials from zero to three-dimensional nanostructures in its discrete and nanocomposites nanotopography on sensing lung cancer biomarkers. Recent researches conducted on definitive nanomaterials and nanocomposites at multiple dimension with distinctive physiochemical property were focused to subside the cases associated with lung cancer through the development of novel biosensors. The hurdles encountered in the recent research and future preference with prognostic clinical lung cancer diagnosis using multidimensional nanomaterials and its composites are presented.
    MeSH terms: Animals; Humans; Lung Neoplasms/diagnosis*; Biomarkers, Tumor/analysis; Biosensing Techniques/instrumentation; Biosensing Techniques/methods*; Nanotechnology/instrumentation; Nanotechnology/methods; Nanostructures/ultrastructure; Nanostructures/chemistry*; Nanomedicine/instrumentation; Nanomedicine/methods
  7. Mohd Ikmal A, Nurasyikin Z, Tuan Nur Aqlili Riana TA, Puteri Dinie Ellina Z, Wickneswari R, Noraziyah AAS
    Plants (Basel), 2019 Jun 24;8(6).
    PMID: 31238548 DOI: 10.3390/plants8060186
    Drought has been a major limiting factor for rice production. Drought yield QTLs (qDTYs; QTLs = quantitative trait loci) were pyramided into MRQ74 and MR219 to produce drought tolerant lines. In this study, new drought tolerant MRQ74 and MR219 pyramided lines (PLs) were evaluated under drought stress (RS) and non-stress (NS) conditions to evaluate the effects of different qDTYs combinations on morphological and agronomical traits. MRQ74 PLs having qDTY12.1 possessed the best root length (RL) under both RS and NS but the effect was only significant for MR219 PLs under RS. Some qDTYs combinations also found to have consistent effect on the same trait of both populations. PLs with only qDTY12.1 showed the highest grain yield (GY) under RS in both populations which means qDTY12.1 controlled RL and caused higher GY under drought condition. The interaction of major-effect qDTY12.1 with qDTY2.2 also shows significant effect on leaf rolling (LR) of both PL populations. These qDTYs proved to be beneficial in improving traits related to drought tolerance. Selected PLs with qDTY12.1 combinations also found to have better RL and root weight (RW) under RS. Improvement of morphological and agronomical traits led to higher GY of PLs. Therefore, qDTY12.1 either is present singly or in combination with other qDTYs was the best qDTY due to its consistent effect on morphological and agronomical traits and GY across populations under RS and NS.
  8. Ismail MA, Ahmad A, Mohammad JA, Fakri NMRM, Nor MZM, Pa MNM
    BMC Med Educ, 2019 Jun 25;19(1):230.
    PMID: 31238926 DOI: 10.1186/s12909-019-1658-z
    BACKGROUND: Gamification is an increasingly common phenomenon in education. It is a technique to facilitate formative assessment and to promote student learning. It has been shown to be more effective than traditional methods. This phenomenological study was conducted to explore the advantages of gamification through the use of the Kahoot! platform for formative assessment in medical education.

    METHODS: This study employed a phenomenological design. Five focus groups were conducted with medical students who had participated in several Kahoot! sessions.

    RESULTS: Thirty-six categories and nine sub-themes emerged from the focus group discussions. They were grouped into three themes: attractive learning tool, learning guidance and source of motivation.

    CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that Kahoot! sessions motivate students to study, to determine the subject matter that needs to be studied and to be aware of what they have learned. Thus, the platform is a promising tool for formative assessment in medical education.

    MeSH terms: Education, Medical, Undergraduate/methods*; Educational Measurement/methods*; Female; Games, Experimental*; Humans; Malaysia; Male; Motivation; Students, Medical; Focus Groups
  9. Yubbu P, Kaur J, Jamaluddin JA
    Cardiol Young, 2019 Aug;29(8):1101-1103.
    PMID: 31239005 DOI: 10.1017/S1047951119001458
    Purulent pericarditis leading to constrictive pericarditis is a rare but serious complication following invasive pneumococcal infection. Early recognition of this complication is crucial to prevent mortality. Here, we report a previously healthy child who developed constrictive pericarditis due to purulent pericarditis following necrotising pneumococcal pneumonia, which is not common in this current antibiotic and pneumococcal vaccine era. The child was successfully treated with pericardiectomy.
    MeSH terms: Anti-Bacterial Agents/therapeutic use; Child, Preschool; Female; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Pericardiectomy; Pericarditis, Constrictive/etiology*; Pericarditis, Constrictive/microbiology; Pericarditis, Constrictive/surgery; Pneumonia, Pneumococcal/complications*; Pneumonia, Pneumococcal/drug therapy; Streptococcus pneumoniae/isolation & purification*
  10. Vrzalikova K, Ibrahim M, Vockerodt M, Perry T, Margielewska S, Lupino L, et al.
    Leukemia, 2019 Aug;33(8):2126.
    PMID: 31239494 DOI: 10.1038/s41375-019-0511-z
    An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.
    MeSH terms: Paper; Publications
  11. Abu-Samah A, Knopp JL, Abdul Razak NN, Razak AA, Jamaludin UK, Mohamad Suhaimi F, et al.
    Med Devices (Auckl), 2019;12:215-226.
    PMID: 31239792 DOI: 10.2147/MDER.S187840
    Background: Stress-induced hyperglycemia is common in critically ill patients. A few forms of model-based glycemic control have been introduced to reduce this phenomena and among them is the automated STAR protocol which has been used in the Christchurch and Gyulá hospitals' intensive care units (ICUs) since 2010. Methods: This article presents the pilot trial assessment of STAR protocol which has been implemented in the International Islamic University Malaysia Medical Centre (IIUMMC) Hospital ICU since December 2017. One hundred and forty-two patients who received STAR treatment for more than 20 hours were used in the assessment. The initial results are presented to discuss the ability to adopt and adapt the model-based control framework in a Malaysian environment by analyzing its performance and safety. Results: Overall, 60.7% of blood glucose measurements were in the target band. Only 0.78% and 0.02% of cohort measurements were below 4.0 mmol/L and 2.2 mmol/L (the limitsfor mild and severe hypoglycemia, respectively). Treatment preference-wise, the clinical staff were favorable of longer intervention options when available. However, 1 hourly treatments were still used in 73.7% of cases. Conclusion: The protocol succeeded in achieving patient-specific glycemic control while maintaining safety and was trusted by nurses to reduce workload. Its lower performance results, however, give the indication for modification in some of the control settings to better fit the Malaysian environment.
  12. Abdul Aziz FAB, Abd Rahman N, Mohd Ali J
    Comput Intell Neurosci, 2019;2019:6252983.
    PMID: 31239836 DOI: 10.1155/2019/6252983
    Due to the rapid development of economy and society around the world, the most urban city is experiencing tropospheric ozone or commonly known as ground-level air pollutants. The concentration of air pollutants must be identified as an early precaution step by the local environmental or health agencies. This work aims to apply the artificial neural network (ANN) in estimating the ozone concentration forecast in Bangi. It consists of input variables such as temperature, relative humidity, concentration of nitrogen dioxide, time, UVA and UVB rays obtained from routine monitoring, and data recorded. Ten hidden layer is utilized to obtain the optimized ozone concentration, which is the output layer of the ANN framework. The finding showed that the meteorology condition and emission patterns play an important part in influencing the ozone concentration. However, a single network is sufficient enough to estimate the concentration despite any circumstances. Thus, it can be concluded that ANN is able to give reliable and satisfactory estimations of ozone concentration for the following day.
    MeSH terms: Air Pollutants/analysis; Cities; Environmental Monitoring/methods*; Ozone/analysis*; Neural Networks (Computer)*
  13. Al-Hatamleh MAI, Ahmad S, Boer JC, Lim J, Chen X, Plebanski M, et al.
    J Oncol, 2019;2019:6313242.
    PMID: 31239840 DOI: 10.1155/2019/6313242
    In the past decade, nanomedicine research has provided us with highly useful agents (nanoparticles) delivering therapeutic drugs to target cancer cells. The present review highlights nanomedicine applications for breast cancer immunotherapy. Recent studies have suggested that tumour necrosis factor (TNF) and its receptor 2 (TNFR2) expressed on breast cancer cells have important functional consequences. This cytokine/receptor interaction is also critical for promoting highly immune-suppressive phenotypes by regulatory T cells (Tregs). This review generally provides a background for nanoparticles as potential drug delivery agents for immunomodulators and further discusses in depth the potential of TNF antagonists delivery to modulate TNF-TNFR2 interactions and inhibit breast cancer progression.
    MeSH terms: Breast Neoplasms; Pharmaceutical Preparations; Immunologic Factors; Immunotherapy; Phenotype; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; Receptors, Cytokine; Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor, Type II; T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory; Nanomedicine; Nanoparticles
  14. Adebayo IA, Gagman HA, Balogun WG, Adam MAA, Abas R, Hakeem KR, et al.
    PMID: 31239861 DOI: 10.1155/2019/6104574
    Despite the availability of anticancer drugs, breast cancer remains the most death-causing tumor-related disease in women. Hence, there is a need for discovery and development of efficient alternative drugs, and sources such as plants need to be explored. In this study, antioxidant capacities and inhibitory effects against MCF7 cells of the extracts of stem bark of three Nigerian medicinal plants (Detarium microcarpum, Guiera senegalensis, and Cassia siamea) were investigated. The D. microcarpum extracts had the highest antioxidant and antiproliferative effects, followed by that of G. senegalensis, and the C. siamea extracts had minimal effects. The IC50 values of the methanol and aqueous extracts from the three plants that inhibited the proliferation of MCF7 cells ranged from 78-> 500 μg/ml. Moreover, all the plant extracts but the aqueous extract of Cassia siamea exhibited antimetastatic action and induced apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in MCF7 cells. Liquid chromatography/time-of-flight/mass spectrometry profiling revealed that the five potent extracts contain many phenols and omega-6 fatty acids, and some of the identified compounds (isorhamnetin, eupatorin, alpinumisoflavone, procyanidin B3, syringin, and gallic acid) have been reported to have antiproliferative effects on cancer cells. Hence, the stem bark of these plants could be potential sources of antibreast cancer agents.
  15. Ram Talib NS, Halmi MIE, Abd Ghani SS, Zaidan UH, Shukor MYA
    Biomed Res Int, 2019;2019:5785387.
    PMID: 31240217 DOI: 10.1155/2019/5785387
    Numerous technologies and approaches have been used in the past few decades to remove hexavalent chromium (Cr[VI]) in wastewater and the environment. However, these conventional technologies are not economical and efficient in removing Cr(VI) at a very low concentration (1-100 ppm). As an alternative, the utilization of bioremediation techniques which uses the potential of microorganisms could represent an effective technique for the detoxification of Cr(VI). In this study, we reported a newly isolated bacterium identified as Acinetobacter radioresistens sp. NS-MIE from Malaysian agricultural soil. The chromate reduction potential of strain NS-MIE was optimized using RSM and ANN techniques. The optimum condition predicted by RSM for the bacterium to reduce hexavalent chromium occurred at pH 6, 10 g/L ppm of nutrient broth (NB) concentration and 100 ppm of chromate concentration while the optimum condition predicted by ANN is at pH 6 and 10 g/L of NB concentration and of 60 ppm of chromate concentration with chromate reduction (%) of 75.13 % and 96.27 %, respectively. The analysis by the ANN model shows better prediction data with a higher R2 value of 0.9991 and smaller average absolute deviation (AAD) and root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.33 % and 0.302 %, respectively. Validation analysis showed the predicted values by RSM and ANN were close to the validation values, whereas the ANN showed the lowest deviation, 2.57%, compared to the RSM. This finding suggests that the ANN showed a better prediction and fitting ability compared to the RSM for the nonlinear regression analysis. Based on this study, A. radioresistens sp. NS-MIE exhibits strong potential characteristics as a candidate for the bioremediation of hexavalent chromium in the environment.
    MeSH terms: Acinetobacter/classification; Acinetobacter/isolation & purification; Acinetobacter/metabolism*; Agriculture; Analysis of Variance; Biodegradation, Environmental; Chromium/metabolism*; Phylogeny; Soil/chemistry*; Soil Pollutants; Neural Networks (Computer)*
  16. Park SC, Oh HS, Tripathi A, Abraham Kallivayalil R, Avasthi A, Grover S, et al.
    Nord J Psychiatry, 2019 Jun 26.
    PMID: 31240984 DOI: 10.1080/08039488.2019.1632381
    Background: Although cannabis use has been linked with schizophrenia in a dose-response pattern, to our knowledge, the relationship between cannabis and schizophrenia has rarely been reported in Asian population. Aim: We compared the clinical characteristics and psychotropic prescription patterns between cannabis users and non-users among Asian patients with schizophrenia. Moreover, we aimed to identify the independent correlates of cannabis use in these subjects. Methods: We performed the analysis of the data from the Research on Asian Psychotropic Prescription Patterns for Antipsychotics (REAP-AP), a collaborative consortium survey used to collate the prescription patterns for antipsychotic and other psychotropic medications in patients with schizophrenia in Asia. We included 132 schizophrenia patients in the group of lifetime cannabis use and 1756 in the group that had never used cannabis. A binary logistic model was fitted to detect the clinical correlates of lifetime cannabis use. Results: Adjusting for the effects of age, sex, geographical region, income group, duration of untreated psychosis, and Charlson comordity index level, a binary logistic regression model revealed that lifetime cannabis use was independently associated with aggressive behavior [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 1.582, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.006-2.490, p = .047] and with long-acting injectable antipsychotic treatment (aOR = 1.796, 95% CI = 1.444-2.820, p = .001). Conclusion: Our findings indicate a close link between lifetime cannabis use and aggressive behavior. The use of long-acting, injectable antipsychotics preferentially treats the aggressive behavior cannabis users among patients with schizophrenia in Asia, especially, the South or Southeast Asia.
  17. Jaganathan SK, Mani MP, Supriyanto E
    An Acad Bras Cienc, 2019 Jun 19;91(2):e20190018.
    PMID: 31241710 DOI: 10.1590/0001-3765201920190018
    Tissue engineering holds as a prominent technique to repair or replace the damaged human parts to recreate its native function. In this research, a novel scaffold based on polyurethane (PU) comprising megni oil was electrospun for tissue engineering applications. The obtained polyurethane blended with megni oil nanofibers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), contact angle measurement and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Furthermore, the blood compatibility of the fabricated nanocomposites evaluated through activated prothrombin time (APTT), partial thromboplastin time (PT) and hemolysis assay to determine the anticoagulant nature. The morphological results showed that the fabricated nanocomposites showed reduced fiber size (789 ± 143.106 nm) than the pristine control (890 ± 116.91 nm). The interaction between PU and megni oil was identified by the hydrogen bond formation evident in the FTIR. The incorporation of megni oil in the PU decreased the wettability behavior (113.3° ± 1.528) and improved the surface roughness (646 nm). Preliminary evaluation of blood compatibility assessments was carried out using APTT, PT and hemolysis assay revealed the enhanced antithrombogenicity nature of the fabricated nanocomposites than the PU. Hence, we conclude that the fabricated new nanocomposite membrane with desirable characteristics which might find potential application in the tissue engineering applications.
  18. Lee KS, Ming LC, Lean QY, Yee SM, Patel R, Taha NA, et al.
    J Epidemiol Glob Health, 2019 06;9(2):93-97.
    PMID: 31241865 DOI: 10.2991/jegh.k.190506.001
    MeSH terms: Asia; Cooperative Behavior; Developing Countries*; Health Services Accessibility*; Humans; International Cooperation*; Healthcare Disparities*
  19. Wong SK, Wong SP, Sim KS, Lim SH, Low YY, Kam TS
    J Nat Prod, 2019 07 26;82(7):1902-1907.
    PMID: 31241923 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.9b00255
    Three new alkaloids were isolated from the bark extract of the Malayan Kopsia arborea, viz., arbophyllidine (1), an unusual pentacyclic, monoterpenoid indole characterized by an absence of oxygen atoms and incorporating a new carbon-nitrogen skeleton, and arbophyllinines A (2) and B (3), two pentacyclic corynanthean alkaloids incorporating a hydroxyethyl-substituted tetrahydrofuranone ring. The structures of the alkaloids were deduced based on analysis of the MS and NMR data and confirmed by X-ray diffraction analyses. The absolute configuration of arbophyllidine (1) was established based on experimental and calculated ECD data, while that of arbophyllinine A was based on X-ray diffraction analysis (Cu Kα). A reasonable biosynthetic route to arbophyllidine (1) from a pericine precursor is presented. Arbophyllidine (1) showed pronounced in vitro growth inhibitory activity against the HT-29 human cancer cell line with IC50 6.2 μM.
    MeSH terms: Antineoplastic Agents/pharmacology; Antineoplastic Agents/chemistry*; Carbon/chemistry; Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor; Furans/chemistry*; Humans; Nitrogen/chemistry; Spectrum Analysis/methods; Molecular Structure; Crystallography, X-Ray; HT29 Cells; Indole Alkaloids/pharmacology; Indole Alkaloids/chemistry*; Apocynaceae/chemistry*
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