Currently, fossil materials form the majority of our energy and chemical source. Many global concerns force us to rethink about our current dependence on the fossil energy. Limiting the use of these energy sources is a key priority for most countries that pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The application of biomass, as substitute fossil resources for producing biofuels, plastics and chemicals, is a widely accepted strategy for sustainable development. Aquatic plants including algae possess competitive advantages as biomass resources compared to the terrestrial plants in this current global situation. Bio-oil production from algal biomass is technically and economically viable, cost competitive, requires no capacious lands and minimal water use and reduces atmospheric carbon dioxide. The aim of this paper is to review the potential of converting algal biomass, as an aquatic plant, into high-quality crude bio-oil through applicable processes in Malaysia. In particular, bio-based materials and fuels from algal biomass are considered as one of the reliable alternatives for clean energy. Currently, pyrolysis and hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) are two foremost processes for bio-oil production from biomass. HTL can directly convert high-moisture algal biomass into bio-oil, whereas pyrolysis requires feedstock drying to reduce the energy consumption during the process. Microwave-assisted HTL, which can be conducted in aqueous environment, is suitable for aquatic plants and wet biomass such as algae.
We described a case of positive molecular detection of leptospirosis in urine sample following prolonged hospital- ization. Relevant clinical history had raised suspicion to leptospirosis infection. A significantly high level of creat- inine kinase suggested possibility of rhabdomyolysis. Blood and urine samples collected on 4th day of admission were negative for leptospires culture and serological method showed no significant evidences of positive infection. Molecular detection of Leptospira spp. in blood sample was positive but not in urine sample. After seven weeks of infection, leptospiral DNA was detected in urine sample using molecular method.
C-C motif Chemokine Ligand 3 Like 1 (CCL3L1) is characterized as a gene with copy number variable (CNV) and clustered at the segmental duplication on chromosome 17q12. CCL3L1 is responsible for the production of mac- rophage inflammatory protein (MIP) 1α that plays an important function in the immune system and host defense. Various copies range of CCL3L1 have been reported and associated with the diseases in different populations. Thus, this review aimed to summarise the distribution of CCL3L1 copy number from different populations according to the geographical region and highlighted the lacking of data from Malaysian population, which is one of the multi-ethnic countries due to the impacts of CCL3L1 copies on various diseases. Besides, we also outlined the methodologies available for the copy number typing. In overall, this review could provide significant information on the role of CCL3L1 copies in disease association and as well as providing evidence on the population diversity.
Glutathione s-transferases (GSTs) are the vital enzymes involved in Phase II metabolism to detoxify a wide range of carcinogenic metabolites in the body. GST class mu-1 (GSTM1) and GST class theta-1 (GSTT1) are the genes encoding for the GST isoenzymes. Nevertheless, both genes were frequently reported absent (null) in most of the populations at different frequencies. Null polymorphism will affect the production of GSTs and impair the ability to eliminate carcinogenic compounds which had been shown to expose null individuals to high risk of several cancers such as gastric and lung cancer. Thus, this review will briefly summarize on the GSTM1 and GSTT1 polymorphisms, frequencies of null variants in populations worldwide, including Malaysian, and their relevancy to the underlying basis of toxicological response to xenobiotics. Additionally, the genotyping assays used in GST studies will also be discussed.
Bacteria and their metabolites are shown to be a potential therapeutic agent for cancer treatment. Much attention has been directed to Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) which exhibits several killing mechanisms via invasion and coloni- zation of solid tumors. Discovery of the characteristics of postbiotic metabolites that exert the same probiotic effects has attracted immense attention towards anti-cancer effect. It is known that LAB improves health and composition of microbiota in the gut. Supplementation of LAB is proven to enhance the host immunity and modulation of the immune system to fight diseases including cancers. Lactobacillus plantarum I-UL4 is the LAB species isolated from Malaysian fermented food, Tapai Ubi which capable of producing bioactive metabolic products. In this review, the properties of UL4-PPM will be discussed including anti-microbial, anti-cancer and immunomodulatory effects. Overall, it would be beneficial to discover the potential effects of UL4-PPM to possibly serve as an alternative treat- ment for cancer.
Cancer metastasis is a multistep process, which results in cancer cells disseminating to other organs. The crucial metastasis step involves cancer invasion which occurs via actin-protrusion by invasive malignant cells, termed as invadopodia. In solid tumours, invadopodia formation increases as a result of hypoxia which is found to be resis- tant against chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Phytochemicals have been potentially identified as a prime source of effective conventional drugs for metastasis treatments, which target cancer cell invasion, particularly molecular components of the invadopodia formation. The Hypoxia-Inducible Factor-1α (HIF-1α) is an essential target in terms of treatment for hypoxic tumour, as well as helping to identify the mode of action for the drugs, particularly phy- tochemical compounds. The aim of this review is to highlight the current development with regards to the ability of phytochemicals in targeting cancer metastasis, as well as phytochemical compounds which are able to inhibit HIF-1α and invadopodia formation. The use of phytochemicals for targeting hypoxic cancer cells may open new prospects for reducing cancer metastasis.
Recently, one of the head and neck tumours located at the nasopharynx epithelium known as nasopharyngeal carci- noma (NPC) have been associated with few cancer-promoting compounds that derived from alcohol, salt preserved foods consumptions and tobacco smoking such as acetaldehyde, nitrosamine, nicotine. These cancer-promoting compounds present the ability to damage the genome and disrupt cellular metabolic processes. This review will discuss further on the molecular mechanism of acetaldehyde, nitrosamine, nicotine and NPC risk. Acetaldehyde can exert influence as carcinogen macromolecular adducts to cellular proteins and DNAs whilst nitrosamines that commonly found in preserved salted foods/diets can contribute as a powerful carcinogen via endogenous nitrosation and reactives molecules by CYP2E1. Nicotine present in tobacco could reacts with nitrosamine to form NNN and NNK known as carcinogenic agent. NNK mediates unstable reactive oxygen species that can induce DNA lesion (α-hydroxylation of NNN at positions 2’and 5’) and microenvironment alteration for tumorigenesis. In conclusion, this study suggests acetaldehydes, nitrosamine and nicotine may contribute to NPC tumourigenesis.
Introduction: Preparation of herbal mixtures from the traditional knowledge has been used for over centuries to im- prove and maintain health condition. Nonetheless, lack of scientific evaluations on regard to their bioactive metab- olites as a mixture and their pharmacological effects have yet to be reported. Therefore, the objectives of this study are 1) to determine the effect of processing techniques (blending and juicing) on extracting polyphenols and 2) to determine the effect ratio of honey in herbal mixture (containing ginger, garlic, honey, apple cider vinegar, and lem- on juice). Methods: Raw ingredients such as garlic, ginger, lemon and apple cider (1:1:1:1) were used as the base for this herbal mixture. The base was either blended using a blender or juiced using a juicer. The mixture was simmered (85oC - 100oC) until reduced to half of the initial volume and cooled down before being added with honey in 1:1 (rA) or 1:3 (rB) ratio. The mixtures were tested for pH, total phenolic, total flavonoid content and alpha glucosidase inhibitory activities. Results: Both of juiced samples in both honey ratio (rA and rB) have lower acidity compared to blended samples. Total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) also showed significantly high- er levels (p
Introduction: Thymoquinone (TQ), a bioactive compound from Nigella sativa is known for its various medicinal properties. Due to the low solubility of TQ, nanostructured lipid carrier (NLC) has been used as a delivery system to improve its efficacy. Nevertheless, the effect of TQ-NLC when administered intravenously is unclear. This study investigated the acute toxicity profile of intravenous administration of TQ-NLC in an in vivo model. Methods: Twelve female Sprague dawley rats were assigned randomly into two groups (n=6); a control and a treatment group that received normal saline and 25 mg/kg TQ-NLC, respectively, via intravenous injection. The rats were observed for 14 days for any alterations to their usual physical conditions such as behaviour and mortality, body weight, food intake, organ-to-body weight ratio, and haematological, biochemical and histopathological profile. Results: There were no significant changes (p>0.05) in the body weight, food intake, organ-to-body weight ratio, and haematological, bio- chemical and histopathological profile between TQ-NLC treatment and the control group. However, inflammation was observed at the site of injection on the rat’s tail. Conclusion: Intravenous administration of TQ-NLC (25 mg/kg) did not exert acute toxic effect in female Sprague dawley rats. The data can be used as a basis to further develop TQ- NLC as a potential therapeutic drug.
Introduction: Curcumin is an active constituent derived from turmeric with a variety of pharmacological activities. It suppressed cell proliferation and induced apoptosis in several cancer cell lines. However, due to its poor bio- availability, derivative analogue of curcumin has been synthesized to enhance the drug-like effects. BHMC was synthesized by removing β-diketone moiety from curcumin structure and modify it into conjugated double bonds. It has been proved to exhibit stronger anticancer effects with improved bioavailability compared to curcumin. Ob- jective: This study aims to investigate the toxicity effect of BHMC and curcumin on human liver cancer, HepG2 and non-cancer mouse fibroblast, 3T3. Methods: Both cell lines were purchased from ATCC and cultured in sup- plemented DMEM. Cell viability was determined via MTT assay and confirmed with trypan blue assay. Morphology hallmarks of apoptosis of both treated cells were analyzed using inverted microscope at 40X magnifications. Results: BHMC and curcumin were very potent towards HepG2 and normal 3T3. These data were further confirmed with trypan blue assay which showed that both compounds significantly reduced the percentage of HepG2 and 3T3 cells viability. Both treated cells also displayed all the morphology hallmarks of apoptosis upon treatment. Conclusion: BHMC has a greater cytotoxicity effect on HepG2 compared to curcumin despite its non-selective cytotoxicity effect on non-cancer 3T3.
Introduction: Hepatocellular carcinoma is one of the most common cancers that affected human in more than half of the world population. Although there is yet any alternatives treatment found for this disease, the antitumor property of thymoquinone has been well studied in most of cancer cell lines. Nonetheless, poor bioavailability of TQ limits its efficiency. The encapsulation form of TQ, TQ-NLC is suggested to enhance its bioavailability as well as cytotoxicity towards cancer cells via increasing resistance time and targeting drug to specified location in the body. Therefore, it is a great advantage to look at the effects of TQ-NLC towards HepG2. This study is design to look at the anti-pro- liferative effect of TQ-NLC on HepG2 and the changes in the cells morphology. Methods: Both cells were bought from ATCC and cultured in supplemented DMEM. Cell viability was determined via MTT assay. Pro-apoptotic effect of TQ-NLC was further confirmed with Annexin V staining. Morphology hallmarks of apoptosis of treated cells were also analysed using inverted microscope. Images were captured at 24, 48 and 72 hours. Results: TQ-NLC was very potent towards HepG2 compared to 3T3 with the relative IC50 of 25 µM. TQ-NLC was also more potent compared to the non-encapsulated form, TQ. Further analysis confirmed that TQ-NLC capable to increase the percentage of apoptotic cells in time-dependent manner. Qualitatively, all treated cells displayed the apoptosis morphology with increasing concentration and longer time-point. Conclusion: TQ-NLC showed greater cytotoxic effects towards HepG2 which was further confirmed with the morphological analysis.
Introduction: Patients with Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) usually diagnosed at advanced cancer stage and re- current case. Rac1 have become an emerging therapeutic target for metastasis cancer. This gene is critically involved in cell polarization and reactive oxygen species-mediated cell killing. This study aims to investigate the Rac1 activ- ities in NPC/HK1 cell line using siRNA approach and evaluate the calcium deposition profile. Methods: The NPC/ HK1cells were transfected with Rac1-siRNA (siRac1) at concentrations of 50nM, 100nM and 200nM for 24 hours and stained with alizarin red s for calcium mineralization profile. Levels of Rac1 gene expression were measured via qRT-PCR followed by the time dependent assessment for 24, 48 and 72 hours. Results: Findings revealed that siRac1 concentrations of 200nM (p-value
Introduction: Breast cancer is ranked first among other cancers in women. Ineffectiveness of current treatments and adverse effects such as multiple organ failure and nephrotoxicity are the common problems faced in cancer therapy. Therefore, alternatives to treat breast cancer metastasis with fewer toxic effects are actively sought-after. Dillenia suffruticosa (DS) commonly known as ‘Simpoh air’ has been a traditional remedy for cancer growth. Therefore, this study investigated the metastasis inhibiting properties of DS root dichloromethane extract (DCMDS) in tumour bearing female BALB/c mice and sub-acute multiple dose oral toxicity upon treatment with this extract. Methods: Forty-eight tumour bearing mice were given either oral treatment of DCMDS (50, 100 and 200 mg/kg) or doxorubicin (2 mg/kg) for 28 days and the degree of metastasis was analysed in each group. Thirty other female BALB/c mice were treated with DCMDS (50, 100 and 200 mg/kg) and the general behaviours, biochemical, haematological and histo- pathological changes were observed. Data were analysed with One-way ANOVA and Dunnet’s test where p
Introduction: Airway inflammation is the pathological hallmark of chronic inflammatory airway diseases, especially asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Airway epithelium plays an indispensable role in these diseases by secreting inflammatory mediators and cytokines in response to foreign substances, such as lipopolysac- charide (LPS). Previous studies have shown that diarylpentanoid analogues, especially 5-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-3-hy- droxy-1-(2-hydroxyphenyl)penta-2,4-dien-1-one (DHHPD) and 2-benzoyl-6-(3,4-dihydroxybenzylidene)cyclohex- en-1-ol (BDHBC), significantly inhibited nitric oxide (NO) production; suggesting their anti-inflammatory property. However, the therapeutic potential of DHHPD and BDHBC in airway inflammation has not been explored. Thus, this study aims to investigate their effects on interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-8 gene expression in LPS-induced Calu-3 cells, a cellular model of human airway epithelium. Methods: MTT cytotoxicity assay was carried out to identify non-cy- totoxic concentrations of DHHPD and BDHBC on Calu-3 cells. RT-PCR was done to determine IL-6 and IL-8 gene expression levels. Results: DHHPD and BDHBC were not cytotoxic on Calu-3 cells up to 200µM. Four non-cyto- toxic concentrations were chosen – 6.25, 12.5, 25 and 50µM to determine the effect of both compounds on gene expression. All four concentrations of DHHPD and BDHBC significantly inhibited LPS-induced mRNA expression of IL-6 while all concentrations of BDHBC, except 6.25µM, significantly reduced IL-8 mRNA expression. Similar find- ing was obtained for DHHPD, except that at 50µM, there was no inhibition of IL-8 mRNA expression. Conclusion: Diarylpentanoid analogues, DHHPD and BDHBC, are proven to be effective in suppressing LPS-induced IL-6 and IL-8 gene expression. However, further studies are required to confirm their inhibitory effects on the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines.
Microalgae biomass has been consumed as animal feed, fish feed and in human diet due to its high nutritional value. In this experiment, microalgae specie of Chlorella Vulgaris FSP-E was utilized for protein extraction via simple sugaring-out assisted liquid biphasic electric flotation system. The external electric force provided to the two-phase system assists in disruption of rigid microalgae cell wall and releases the contents of microalgae cell. This experiment manipulates various parameters to optimize the set-up. The liquid biphasic electric flotation set-up is compared with a control liquid biphasic flotation experiment without the electric field supply. The optimized separation efficiency of the liquid biphasic electric flotation system was 73.999 ± 0.739% and protein recovery of 69.665 ± 0.862% compared with liquid biphasic flotation, the separation efficiency was 61.584 ± 0.360% and protein recovery was 48.779 ± 0.480%. The separation efficiency and protein recovery for 5 × time scaled-up system was observed at 52.871 ± 1.236% and 73.294 ± 0.701%. The integration of simultaneous cell-disruption and protein extraction ensures high yield of protein from microalgae. This integrated method for protein extraction from microalgae demonstrated its potential and further research can lead this technology to commercialization.
Introduction: Asthma is a condition characterized by eosinophilic airway inflammation and remodelling that in- volves several pathological changes, including subepithelial fibrosis, mucus hypersecretion, smooth muscle growth, and vascular changes. The present study aimed to determine the effect of tHGA administered intraperitoneally in a chronic asthma mouse model that closely mimics the human asthma. Methods: Ovalbumin-sensitized and chal- lenged BALB/c mice were i.p. administered with tHGA at different doses (20 and 2 mg/kg). Respiratory function was measured, and brochoalveolar lavage, blood and lung samples were then obtained and analyzed. Results: The airways of OVA-induced mice developed increased pulmonary inflammation with increased levels of cytokines, chemokines, and changes in vascular permeability. Intraperitoneal administration of tHGA in OVA-induced mice significantly and dose-dependently inhibited the airway inflammation, production of immunoglobulin E, Th2-type cytokines and chemokines, and inflammatory mediators. Treatment with tHGA also significantly reduced the airway hyperresposiveness in response to increased methacholine doses. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that the effi- cacy of tHGA in alleviating chronic asthmatic symptoms in mouse model improved significantly when administered intraperitoneally compared to oral route. Furthermore, this study also supports that tHGA has a therapeutic potential in chronic asthma management by acting as a cysteinyl leukotrienes (CysLT) inhibitor.
Nitrate fertilizer is extensively used to produce healthy crops on a wide scale, and paddy planting is no exception. Nitrate that is not used by plants is able to penetrate the soil and end up in groundwater. This, if not checked, can give rise to health problems including infant methemoglobinaemia, a disease where hemoglobin in erythrocytes are changed into methemoglobin by nitrite which, in turn, makes it unable to transport oxygen to body cells. Nitrite is formed from ingested nitrate that is altered by bacteria present in the infant’s stomach. This cross-sectional study was conducted in February 2019 for 2 weeks’ observation during the paddy pre-planting season, and a total of 149 wells across three villages were sampled for nitrate. Readings were compared to the Drinking Water Quality Standard stated by the Ministry of Health, Malaysia. The maximum acceptable value for nitrate in drinking water is 45 mg/L nitrate (NO3-). The three villages, namely Keting, Kuchelong and Telaga Ara, were chosen as they are located near paddy fields and water from wells were used for drinking and cooking without filtration. It was found that only one (0.67%) of the wells had nitrate above the maximum acceptable value (56.85 mg/L NO3-). This highest value was found in Telaga Ara village and the location of the well was 50m from the nearest paddy fields. In Kuchelong village, the mean nitrate level was 5.10 +0.85 mg/L with a range of 0.73 to 27.10 mg/L. While in Telaga Ara village, the mean nitrate levels was 10.52 +1. 24 mg/L with a range of 1.67 to 56.85 mg/L. Mean nitrate level in Keting village was 5.34 + 4.94 mg/L with a range of 0.40 -23.65 mg/L. In general, nitrate levels were found to be below the maximum acceptable value in the villages concerned and therefore did not pose any health risks to users. Periodic assessment of nitrate in groundwater is still important as to ensure the levels remain below the acceptable value, and in turn, safeguard the health of its users.
The number of commuting accidents in Malaysia is increasing every year and therefore it is essential to understand the underlying factors that influence the drivers’ way of driving among Malaysian workers. This study aims to deter- mine the risk factors of driving behaviour among workers through a cross-sectional study involving 153 manufactur- ing workers in Petaling Jaya, Selangor. Self-administered survey consisting standardized questionnaire were used to collect information on sociodemographic, working background, driving experience, job strain (JCQ) and EDS (ESS) among respondents. The most reported risky driving behaviour was lapses followed by ordinary violation, errors and aggressive violation. There were 36.6% of respondents reported to have job strain and 53.6% reported to have EDS. In bivariate analyses, younger age, higher education level, job tenure, longer years of having driving license and positive EDS were significantly correlated with more risky driving behaviour but after all inter-relationship between these factors were controlled, only EDS was found significant.
Benzene has been measured in indoor environments for many decades and has been identified to cause variety of health effects. Children spend most of their time indoors such as daycare centre, preschool and school, they are more likely to be exposed to indoor air pollutants. This paper was aimed to review the exposure to benzene among children within indoor environments from worldwide studies from 2003 to 2018. Based on 24 papers evaluated, 54% were conducted in primary schools. The highest concentration of benzene was found in preschools in China at 148.0 µg/m3. The benzene levels were found higher in indoors than outdoors for most of the studies. Active sampling techniques were used in 42% of studies that enable the determination of acute health effects on children during short-period of exposure time. Differences in sampling techniques and durations make it hard to compare the outcomes of the studies with health-effect guidelines. This review indicated a diversity of sampling approaches and techniques, pointing to the importance of establishment of standard method for collecting and reporting data.
Mental health outcome among teachers has become an escalating problems in many countries. Mental health now- adays has becoming a public health issue. Teachers were not an exclusion from this issue. Several studies did point out teachers with poor mental health status has become an increasing problems in many countries. A total of 272 teachers from the urban, rural and industrial areas participated in this cross sectional study in the Klang Valley. The objective was to determine the risk factors associated with mental health among primary school teachers. The teachers’ mental and physical health status were measured using questionnaires. Respondents were given a set of questionnaire which consisted 5 parts, namely socio-demographic and background status, occupational information and medical history obtained from the first part of questionnaire. The other part consisted of the General Health Questionnaire, Teachers’ Stress Inventory, Modified Nordic Questionnaire and American Thoracic Society for Adult. There was no difference in the background of the groups of teachers except for the educational level (p