Browse publications by year: 2023

  1. Wang L, Ang LH, Gao F, Abdul Halim H
    Humanit Soc Sci Commun, 2023;10(1):104.
    PMID: 36938578 DOI: 10.1057/s41599-023-01603-3
    The corporate profile translations of multinational corporations (MNCs) in emerging economies such as China possess rich information for narrative analysis. Nevertheless, how the parts of a corporate profile translation form a whole narrative remains undertheorized. This study, therefore, examines the relationality of parts in the corporate profile translations of China's MNCs by integrating William Labov's narrative structure with Margaret Somers' narrative identity theory. Specifically, we conduct a theoretical thematic analysis of how constituents form a whole narrative in relevant corporate profiles, of the shifts in the relationality of parts from the Chinese source texts (STs) to the English target texts (TTs) of these profiles, and of the influences of these shifts on the constitution of corporate identities in the target texts. Our results show that in the corporate profiles of Chinese MNCs, episodes are not randomly selected and related to each other but follow predominant patterns. However, we find no unified patterns in the shifts in the relationality of parts via the corporate profile translation of China's MNCs. We thus reveal how corporations' identities are constituted in diverse ways that reflect their fluid and unique features. Accordingly, our findings have implications for translation studies and corporate communications.
  2. Alhodieb FS, Rahman MA, Barkat MA, Alanezi AA, Barkat HA, Hadi HA, et al.
    Nanomedicine (Lond), 2023 Mar 20.
    PMID: 36938800 DOI: 10.2217/nnm-2022-0108
    Drug-loaded, brain-targeted nanocarriers could be a promising tool in overcoming the challenges associated with Alzheimer's disease therapy. These nanocargoes are enormously flexible to functionalize and facilitate the delivery of drugs to brain cells by bridging the blood-brain barrier and into brain cells. To date, modifications have included nanoparticles (NPs) coating with tunable surfactants/phospholipids, covalently attaching polyethylene glycol chains (PEGylation), and tethering different targeting ligands to cell-penetrating peptides in a manner that facilitates their entry across the BBB and downregulates various pathological hallmarks as well as intra- and extracellular signaling pathways. This review provides a brief update on drug-loaded, multifunctional nanocarriers and the therapeutic intervention of autophagy and stem cells in the management of Alzheimer's disease.
  3. Abu N, Rus Bakarurraini NAA, Nasir SN, Ishak M, Baharuddin R, Jamal R, et al.
    Iran J Immunol, 2023 Mar 14;20(1):83-91.
    PMID: 36932973 DOI: 10.22034/iji.2023.92600.2171
    BACKGROUND: Cancer testis antigens (CTAs) are a class of immune-stimulating antigens often overexpressed in many types of cancers. The usage of the CTAs as immunotherapy targets have been widely investigated in different cancers including melanoma, hematological malignancies, and colorectal cancer. Studies have indicated that the epigenetic regulation of the CTAs such as the methylation status may affect the expression of the CTAs. However, the report on the methylation status of the CTAs is conflicting. The general methylation profile of the CTAs, especially in colorectal cancer, is still elusive.

    OBJECTIVE: To determine the methylation profile of the selected CTAs in our colorectal cancer patients.

    METHODS: A total of 54 pairs of colorectal cancer samples were subjected to DNA methylation profiling using the Infinium Human Methylation 450K bead chip.

    RESULTS: We found that most of the CTAs were hypomethylated, and CCNA1 and TMEM108 genes were among the few CTAs that were hypermethylated.

    CONCLUSION: Overall, our brief report has managed to show the overall methylation profile in over the 200 CTAs in colorectal cancer and this could be used for further refining any immunotherapy targets.

    MeSH terms: Humans; Male; Methylation; Testis/metabolism; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Epigenesis, Genetic
  4. Muthoosamy K, Manickam S
    Mikrochim Acta, 2023 Mar 18;190(4):143.
    PMID: 36933103 DOI: 10.1007/s00604-023-05724-z
    MeSH terms: Diagnosis*; Nanostructures*
  5. Kazim AR, Shezryna S, Azdayanti M, Houssaini J, Tappe D, Heo CC
    J Med Entomol, 2023 May 12;60(3):615-619.
    PMID: 36933194 DOI: 10.1093/jme/tjad025
    We report the presence of a male Haemaphysalis semermis collected from the domestic cat, Felis catus in an aboriginal village located in Pahang, Malaysia. This paper constitutes a new host record of this tick species, and also the first documentation of the infestation of companion animals other than domestic dogs (Canis lupus) by H. semermis in Malaysia. Additionally, we have included an updated host index of the tick species in Southeast Asia.
    MeSH terms: Parks, Recreational; Animals; Carnivora*; Cats; Dogs; Malaysia; Male; Ticks*; Ixodidae*; Felidae*
  6. Alirr OI, Rahni AAA
    J Appl Clin Med Phys, 2023 Mar 18.
    PMID: 36933239 DOI: 10.1002/acm2.13966
    PURPOSE: Liver hepatic vessels segmentation is a crucial step for the diagnosis process in patients with hepatic diseases. Segmentation of liver vessels helps to study the liver internal segmental anatomy that helps in the preoperative planning of surgical treatment.

    METHODS: Recently, the convolutional neural networks (CNN) have been proved to be efficient for the task of medical image segmentation. The paper proposes an automatic deep learning-based system for liver hepatic vessels segmentation of Computed Tomography (CT) datasets from different sources. The proposed work focuses on the combination of different steps; it starts by a preprocessing step to improve the vessels appearance within the liver region of interest in the CT scans. Coherence enhancing diffusion filtering (CED) and vesselness filtering methods are used to improve vessels contrast and intensity homogeneity. The proposed U-net based network architecture is implemented with modified residual block to include concatenation skip connection. The effect of enhancement using filtering step was studied. Also, the effect of data mismatch used in training and validation is studied.

    RESULTS: The proposed method is evaluated using many CT datasets. Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) is used to evaluate the method. The average DSC score achieved a score 79%.

    CONCLUSIONS: The proposed approach succeeded to segment liver vasculature from the liver envelope accurately, which makes it as potential tool for clinical preoperative planning.

  7. Khandaker MU, Nawi SNM, Lam SE, Sani SFA, Islam MA, Islam MA, et al.
    Appl Radiat Isot, 2023 Jun;196:110771.
    PMID: 36933313 DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2023.110771
    Thermoluminescence (TL) materials have a broad variety of uses in various fields, such as clinical research, individual dosimetry, and environmental dosimetry, amongst others. However, the use of individual neutron dosimetry has been developing more aggressively lately. In this regard, present study establishes a relationship between the neutron dosage and the optical property changes of graphite-rich materials caused by high doses of neutron radiation. This has been done with the intention of developing a novel, graphite-based radiation dosimeter. Herein, the TL yield of commercially graphite-rich materials (i.e. graphite sheet, 2B and HB grade pencils) irradiated by neutron radiation with doses ranging from 250 Gy to 1500 Gy has been investigated. The samples were bombarded with thermal neutrons as well as a negligible amount of gamma rays, from the nuclear reactor TRIGA-II installed at the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission. The shape of the glow curves was observed to be independent of the given dosage, with the predominant TL dosimetric peak maintained within the region of 163 °C-168 °C for each sample. By studying the glow curves of the irradiated samples, some of the most well theoretical models and techniques were used to compute the kinetic parameters such as the order of kinetics (b), activation energy (E) or trap depth, frequency factor (s) or escape probability, and trap lifetime (τ). All of the samples were found to have a good linear response over the whole dosage range, with 2B grade of polymer pencil lead graphite (PPLGs) demonstrating a higher level of sensitivity than both HB grade and graphite sheet (GS) samples. Additionally, the level of sensitivity shown by each of them is highest at the lowest dosage that was given, and it decreases as the dose increases. Importantly, the phenomenon of dose-dependent structural modifications and internal annealing of defects has been observed by assessing the area of deconvoluted micro-Raman spectra of graphite-rich materials in high-frequency areas. This trend is consistent with the cyclical pattern reported in the intensity ratio of defect and graphite modes in previously investigated carbon-rich media. Such recurrent occurrences suggest the idea of employing Raman microspectroscopy as a radiation damage study tool for carbonaceous materials. The excellent responses of the key TL properties of the 2B grade pencil demonstrate its usefulness as a passive radiation dosimeter. As a consequence, the findings suggest that graphite-rich materials have the potential to be useful as a low-cost passive radiation dosimeter, with applications in radiotherapy and manufacturing.
  8. Ramzi NH, Auvinen J, Veijola J, Miettunen J, Ala-Mursula L, Sebert S, et al.
    J Affect Disord, 2023 Jun 15;331:1-7.
    PMID: 36933669 DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2023.03.026
    BACKGROUND: The fact that a complex relationship exists between alexithymia and body mass index (BMI) is well established, but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here, we explore the relationship between alexithymia and depressive symptoms in relation to adiposity measures, including the direct and indirect effect of alexithymia and depressive symptoms on obesity over a 15-year time-period, in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 (NFBC1966).

    METHODS: The study included individuals from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 (NFBC1966) who had available data for adiposity measures (body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio), alexithymia (measured by the 20-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale: TAS-20), depressive symptoms (measured by the 13-item depression subscale of Hopkins Symptom Checklist: HSCL-13) at age of 31 years (n = 4773) and 46 years (n = 4431). Pearson's (r) correlation, and multiple linear regression were used to investigate the relationships between alexithymia, depressive symptoms, and adiposity measures. The potential mediating role of depressive symptoms was examined via Hayes' procedure (PROCESS).

    RESULTS: Positive correlations were confirmed between adiposity measures (BMI and WHR) and the TAS-20 score (and its subscale), but not between obesity and HSCL-13 score. The strongest correlation was between the DIF (difficulty identifying feelings) subscale of the TAS-20 and HSCL-13 at both time points (31 y: r(3013) = 0.41, p 

    MeSH terms: Adult; Finland/epidemiology; Humans; Obesity/epidemiology; Obesity/psychology
  9. Chang SH
    Sci Total Environ, 2023 Mar 16;877:162719.
    PMID: 36933741 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162719
    Turning plastic waste into plastic oil by pyrolysis is one of the promising techniques to eradicate plastic waste pollution and accelerate the circular economy of plastic materials. Plastic waste is an attractive pyrolysis feedstock for plastic oil production owing to its favorable chemical properties of proximate analysis, ultimate analysis, and heating value other than its abundant availability. Despite the exponential growth of scientific output from 2015 to 2022, a vast majority of the current review articles cover the pyrolysis of plastic waste into a series of fuels and value-added products, and up-to-date reviews exclusively on plastic oil production from pyrolysis are relatively scarce. In light of this void in the current review articles, this review attempts to provide an up-to-date overview of plastic waste as pyrolysis feedstock for plastic oil production. A particular emphasis is placed on the common types of plastic as primary sources of plastic pollution, the characteristics (proximate analysis, ultimate analysis, hydrogen/carbon ratio, heating value, and degradation temperature) of various plastic wastes and their potential as pyrolysis feedstock, and the pyrolysis systems (reactor type and heating method) and conditions (temperature, heating rate, residence time, pressure, particle size, reaction atmosphere, catalyst and its operation modes, and single and mixed plastic wastes) used in plastic waste pyrolysis for plastic oil production. The characteristics of plastic oil from pyrolysis in terms of physical properties and chemical composition are also outlined and discussed. The major challenges and future prospects for the large-scale production of plastic oil from pyrolysis are also addressed.
  10. Afshan S, Yaqoob T, Meo MS, Hamid B
    PMID: 36934184 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-023-26346-1
    Environmental sustainability is an umbrella approach depending on various climatic and economic policies. In doing so, the current study empirically evaluates the role of green finance, eco-innovation, and environmental policy stringency on the ecological footprint in China. To meet the objectives, the novel quantile autoregressive distributed lag (QARDL) approach was employed from 2000 to 2017. The outcomes reveal heterogeneous associations between the proposed variables. Manifestly, the QARDL estimation results demonstrate a positive impact between eco-innovation, green finance, and environmental policy stringency with the ecological footprints of China; however, the extent of the relationship is quantile dependent. The outcomes are further validated through the Wald test of parameter constancy. The bi-direction causality is observed among all variables at several quantiles. The current study offers policymakers helpful suggestions on enhancing the positive effects of environmentally supported innovation, green finance, and stringent environmental policies on the ecosystem.
  11. Toh SC, Lihan S, Bunya SR, Leong SS
    BMC Complement Med Ther, 2023 Mar 18;23(1):85.
    PMID: 36934252 DOI: 10.1186/s12906-023-03914-z
    BACKGROUND: Cellulitis is a common skin disease encountered in medical emergencies in hospitals. It can be treated using a combination of antibiotics therapy; however, the causative agent Staphylococcus aureus has been reported to develop resistance towards the currently used antibiotics. Therefore, the search for more alternative herbal origin antimicrobial agents is critical.

    AIM: In this study, maceration and Soxhlet extraction of the whole plant of Cassia alata Linn. (leaves, roots, and stem) were performed using four solvents with different polarities, namely n-hexane, ethyl acetate, ethanol and distilled water. The crude extracts were screened using agar well diffusion, colorimetric broth microdilution, grid culture and bacterial growth curve analysis against Staphylococcus aureus. The phytochemicals in the crude extracts were identified using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS).

    RESULTS: Agar-well diffusion analysis revealed that extraction using ethyl acetate showed the largest inhibition zone with an average diameter of 15.30 mm (root Soxhlet extract) followed by 14.70 mm (leaf Soxhlet extract) and 13.70 mm (root maceration extract). The lowest minimum inhibitory and minimum bactericidal concentration in root Soxhlet extract using ethyl acetate was 0.313 and 0.625 µg µL-1, respectively. Our study proved that crude extract of the plant suppressed the growth of S. aureus as evidenced from a significant regression extension (p 

    MeSH terms: Agar; Anti-Bacterial Agents/analysis; Anti-Bacterial Agents/pharmacology; Cellulitis; Plant Extracts/analysis; Plant Extracts/pharmacology; Solvents/analysis; Staphylococcus aureus; Plant Leaves/chemistry; Phytochemicals/analysis; Phytochemicals/pharmacology
  12. Abdulabbas Hasan M, Mohan S, Rahman HS, Othman HH, Hamasalih Omer S, Farasani A
    Drug Chem Toxicol, 2023 May;46(3):588-596.
    PMID: 35506235 DOI: 10.1080/01480545.2022.2069803
    Kava is a herbal supplement and beverage made from the Piper methysticum plant, which is known for its recreational use as a mood enhancer, relaxation, as well as pain relief for centuries. Kava is widely used among alcoholics, but it is dangerous and potentially fatal. The objectives of this study were to examine the sub-acute toxicity effects of different doses of 70% kavalactone (KL) in rats by oral application, as well as to elucidate the mechanisms of toxicity alone and in combination with ethanol (EtOH). The most common side effects observed were abnormal breathing, ataxia, lethargy, loss of appetite, indigestion, and loss of coordination, especially in the 800 mg/kg bw, po bodyweight dosage of kava treatment group alone, and in combination with EtOH. In the sub-acute study, there were dose-related decreases in body weight, feed intake, and water consumption rates. Gross and histopathological findings revealed that the liver was abnormal in color, size, consistency, and the weight significantly increased at a dose of 800 mg/kg bw, po, with KL alone and a greater increase in combination with EtOH. Hepatocellular hypertrophy (HP) and necrosis with Kupffer cells hyperplasia were observed in the periacinar zone of all rats dosed with KL (800 mg/kg bw, po) alone, and extensive changes were observed in combination with EtOH. The periportal (Z1) and mid-zonal (Z2) areas of hepatocytes were less affected as compared to the periacinar zone. These results demonstrate that EtOH exacerbated the sedative and hypnotic activity of KL, and markedly increased toxicity. The histopathological results supported the clinical and biochemical findings and the severity of hepatic damage in a dose-dependent manner.
    MeSH terms: Animals; Liver*; Dietary Supplements; Rats
  13. Mohamed NF, Ab Manan N, Muhammad Firdaus Chan MF, Rahmatullah B, Abd Wahab R, Baharudin SNA, et al.
    Clin Child Psychol Psychiatry, 2023 Oct;28(4):1420-1434.
    PMID: 36927134 DOI: 10.1177/13591045231164870
    Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) has been placed under the conditions for further study segment in DSM-5. The purpose of the current study was to develop a preliminary psychosocial model as a reference for providing appropriate intervention, particularly for adolescents with IGD. A total of 5290 adolescents from secondary schools in seven states in Malaysia were recruited by using proportionate random sampling. A standardized set of validated questionnaires such as DASS-21, BIS-11, and IGDS9-SF were distributed to participants that fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The prevalence of IGD among Malaysian adolescents was 3.5%. The bivariate analysis summarized that factors such as stress, impulsivity, gender, time spent using the internet, and relationship with parents and friends; have statistically significant associations with IGD. The logistic regression model revealed that adolescents with IGD were 9 times more likely to experience extremely severe stress (p < 0.001). Several psychosocial factors were associated strongly with IGD in the current study, however, mental health shows the most significant issues among adolescents with IGD. Immediate intervention through a psychological approach to internet gaming is needed from parents, schools, and also respective stakeholders. IGD may become one of the addictions diseases that cause deterioration in many aspects of an adolescent's future life without serious intervention.
    MeSH terms: Adolescent; Humans; Risk Factors; Schools; Prevalence; Video Games*; Internet
  14. Misuan N, Mohamad S, Tubiana T, Yap MKK
    J Biomol Struct Dyn, 2023 Mar 16.
    PMID: 36927291 DOI: 10.1080/07391102.2023.2188945
    Cytotoxin (CTX) is a three-finger toxin presents predominantly in cobra venom. The functional site of the toxin is located at its three hydrophobic loop tips. Its actual mechanism of cytotoxicity remains inconclusive as few conflicting hypotheses have been proposed in addition to direct cytolytic effects. The present work investigated the interaction between CTX and death receptor families via ensemble-based molecular docking and fluorescence titration analysis. Multiple sequence alignments of different CTX isoforms obtained a conserved CTX sequence. The three-dimensional structure of the conserved CTX was later determined using homology modelling, and its quality was validated. Ensemble-based molecular docking of CTX was performed with different death receptors, such as Fas-ligand and tumor necrosis factor receptor families. Our results showed that tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 (TNFR1) was the best receptor interacting with CTX attributed to the interaction of all three functional loops and evinced with low HADDOCK, Z-score and RMSD value. The interaction between CTX and TNFR1 was also supported by a concentration-dependent reduction of fluorescence intensity with increasing binding affinity. The possible intermolecular interactions between CTX and TNFR1 were Van der Waals forces and hydrogen bonding. Our findings suggest a possibility that CTX triggers apoptosis cell death through non-covalent interactions with TNFR1.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.
  15. Tang JY, Chung BYH, Ang JC, Chong JW, Tan RR, Aviso KB, et al.
    Environ Technol, 2023 Mar 29.
    PMID: 36927324 DOI: 10.1080/09593330.2023.2192877
    Biochar is a high-carbon-content organic compound that has potential applications in the field of energy storage and conversion. It can be produced from a variety of biomass feedstocks such as plant-based, animal-based, and municipal waste at different pyrolysis conditions. However, it is difficult to produce biochar on a large scale if the relationship between the type of biomass, operating conditions, and biochar properties is not understood well. Hence, the use of machine learning-based data analysis is necessary to find the relationship between biochar production parameters and feedstock properties with biochar energy properties. In this work, a rough set-based machine learning (RSML) approach has been applied to generate decision rules and classify biochar properties. The conditional attributes were biomass properties (volatile matter, fixed carbon, ash content, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen) and pyrolysis conditions (operating temperature, heating rate residence time), while the decision attributes considered were yield, carbon content, and higher heating values. The rules generated were tested against a set of validation data and evaluated for their scientific coherency. Based on the decision rules generated, biomass with ash content of 11-14 wt%, volatile matter of 60-62 wt% and carbon content of 42-45.3 wt% can generate biochar with promising yield, carbon content and higher heating value via a pyrolysis process at an operating temperature of 425°C-475°C. This work provided the optimal biomass feedstock properties and pyrolysis conditions for biochar production with high mass and energy yield.
  16. Awuah WA, Ng JC, Nazir A, Tenkorang PO, Yarlagadda R, Kalmanovich J, et al.
    Int J Surg, 2023 May 01;109(5):1080-1082.
    PMID: 36927691 DOI: 10.1097/JS9.0000000000000125
    MeSH terms: Africa/epidemiology; Developing Countries*; Humans; Mortality*
  17. Wireko AA, Tenkorang PO, Ng JC, David L, Yarlagadda R, Abdul-Rahman T, et al.
    Int J Surg, 2023 Jun 01;109(6):1808-1809.
    PMID: 36927817 DOI: 10.1097/JS9.0000000000000048
    MeSH terms: Neurosurgeons*; Africa/epidemiology; Humans
  18. Awuah WA, Ng JC, Bulut HI, Nazir A, Tenkorang PO, Yarlagadda R, et al.
    Int J Surg, 2023 Mar 01;109(3):519-520.
    PMID: 36927835 DOI: 10.1097/JS9.0000000000000025
    MeSH terms: Africa; Health Services Needs and Demand; Humans; Organ Transplantation*
  19. Salihu N, Kumam P, Awwal AM, Sulaiman IM, Seangwattana T
    PLoS One, 2023;18(3):e0281250.
    PMID: 36928212 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0281250
    In 2012, Rivaie et al. introduced RMIL conjugate gradient (CG) method which is globally convergent under the exact line search. Later, Dai (2016) pointed out abnormality in the convergence result and thus, imposed certain restricted RMIL CG parameter as a remedy. In this paper, we suggest an efficient RMIL spectral CG method. The remarkable feature of this method is that, the convergence result is free from additional condition usually imposed on RMIL. Subsequently, the search direction is sufficiently descent independent of any line search technique. Thus, numerical experiments on some set of benchmark problems indicate that the method is promising and efficient. Furthermore, the efficiency of the proposed method is demonstrated on applications arising from arm robotic model and image restoration problems.
    MeSH terms: Algorithms*; Robotic Surgical Procedures*
  20. Wireko AA, Ohenewaa Tenkorang P, Fosuah Debrah A, Akin-Olugbemi T, Yarlagadda R, Mehta A, et al.
    Int J Surg, 2023 Mar 01;109(3):534-535.
    PMID: 36928287 DOI: 10.1097/JS9.0000000000000011
    MeSH terms: Africa; Humans
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