Displaying publications 1 - 20 of 265 in total

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  1. Fulltext A Novel Design and Development of a Strip-Fed Circularly Polarized Rectangular Dielectric Resonator Antenna for 5G NR Sub-6 GHz Band Applications
    Illahi U, Iqbal J, Irfan M, Ismail Sulaiman M, Khan MA, Rauf A, et al.
    Sensors (Basel), 2022 Jul 25;22(15).
    PMID: 35898037 DOI: 10.3390/s22155531
    In this article, a rectangular dielectric resonator antenna (RDRA) with circularly polarized (CP) response is presented for 5G NR (New Radio) Sub-6 GHz band applications. A uniquely shaped conformal metal feeding strip is proposed to excite the RDRA in higher-order mode for high gain utilization. By using the proposed feeding mechanism, the degenerate mode pair of the first higher-order, i.e., TEδ13x at 4.13 GHz and TE1δ3y, at 4.52 GHz is excited to achieve a circularly polarized response. A circular polarization over a bandwidth of ~10%, in conjunction with a wide impedance matching over a bandwidth of ~17%, were attained by the antenna. The CP antenna proposed offers a useful gain of ~6.2 dBic. The achieved CP bandwidth of the RDRA is good enough to cover the targeted 5G NR bands around 4.4−4.8 GHz, such as n79. The proposed antenna configuration is modelled and optimized using computer simulation technology (CST). A prototype was built to confirm (validate) the performance estimated through simulation. A good agreement was observed between simulated and measured results.
  2. Fulltext A case of naturally occurring anti-Dia antibody in a young man
    Iberahim S, Noor NHM, Hassan MN, Bahar R, Yusoff SM, Ramli M, et al.
    Asian J Transfus Sci, 2022;16(2):276-279.
    PMID: 36687544 DOI: 10.4103/ajts.ajts_136_21
    The Diego (Di) blood group system comprises 22 antigens located on the band 3 protein, most of which are low-prevalence antigens. The majority of antibodies to Diego system antigens were of clinically insignificant; however anti-Dia, -Dib, -Wra, -ELO and-DISK may cause hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn (HDFN) and transfusion reaction. We reported a case of naturally occurring of anti-Dia in a young man who presented to our hospital for wound debridement of fingers injury. His serological results were suggestive of anti-Dia antibody, and his molecular blood group showed he has Di (a-b+) antigen. Anti-Dia may be clinically significant. It can cause mild-to-severe HDFN, but there are only infrequent reports of it being clearly implicated in a hemolytic transfusion reaction. We suggest the need for reagent red blood cell panels to include Dia antigen-positive cells in antibody identification tests for our populations.
  3. A genus- and species-specific nested polymerase chain reaction malaria detection assay for epidemiologic studies
    Singh B, Bobogare A, Cox-Singh J, Snounou G, Abdullah MS, Rahman HA
    Am J Trop Med Hyg, 1999 Apr;60(4):687-92.
    PMID: 10348249
    A nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay that uses Plasmodium genus-specific primers for the initial PCR (nest 1) amplification and either genus- or species-specific primers for the nest 2 amplifications was tested on laboratory and field samples. With in vitro cultured Plasmodium falciparum-infected blood samples, it was capable of detecting six parasites/microl of blood using DNA prepared from 25-microl blood spots on filter paper. The assay was evaluated on fingerprick blood samples collected on filter paper from 129 individuals living in a malaria-endemic area in Malaysia. Malaria prevalence by genus-specific nested PCR was 35.6% (46 of 129) compared with 28.7% (37 of 129) by microscopy. The nested PCR detected seven more malaria samples than microscopy in the first round of microscopic examination, malaria in three microscopically negative samples, six double infections identified as single infections by microscopy and one triple infection identified as a double infection by microscopy. The nested PCR assay described is a sensitive technique for collecting accurate malaria epidemiologic data. When coupled with simple blood spot sampling, it is particularly useful for screening communities in remote regions of the world.
  4. A novel transcript of oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.), Eg707, is specifically upregulated in tissues related to totipotency
    Le VT, Sarpan N, Huynh K, Ooi SE, Napis S, Ho CL, et al.
    Mol Biotechnol, 2011 Jun;48(2):156-64.
    PMID: 21153717 DOI: 10.1007/s12033-010-9356-4
    In this study, we report the molecular characterization of clone Eg707 isolated from cell suspension culture of the oil palm. The deduced polypeptide of clone Eg707 is highly similar to an unknown protein from Arabidopsis thaliana. The presence of an Ald-Xan-dh-C2 superfamily domain in the deduced protein sequence suggested that Eg707 protein might be involved in abscisic acid biosynthesis. Eg707 might be present as a single copy gene in the oil palm genome. This gene is highly expressed in tissue cultured materials compared to vegetative and reproductive tissues, suggesting a role of this gene during oil palm somatic embryogenesis or at the early stages of embryo development. Expression analysis of Eg707 by RNA in situ hybridization showed that Eg707 transcripts were present throughout somatic embryo development starting from proembryo formation at the embryogenic callus stages till the maturing embryo stages. Since proembryo formation within the embryogenic callus is one of the first key factors in oil palm somatic embryo development, it is suggested that Eg707 could be used as a reliable molecular marker for detecting early stage of oil palm somatic embryogenesis.
  5. Fulltext A preliminary field survey of ectoparasites of rodents in urban park, Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo
    Madinah A, Mariana A, Fatimah A, Abdullah MT
    Trop Biomed, 2013 Sep;30(3):547-51.
    PMID: 24189685 MyJurnal
    A survey of ectoparasites was carried out during Eco-Zoonoses Expedition in Bukit Aup Jubilee Park (BAJP), Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo from 5(th) to 9(th) June 2008. A total of nine individuals comprising two species of rodents were captured. The species of rodents screened for ectoparasites were Sundamys muelleri and Callosciurus notatus. Four genera and six species of ectoparasites were collected, namely, Ixodes granulatus, Ixodes sp., Laelaps sedlaceki, Laelaps nuttalli, Hoplopleura dissicula and Listrophoroides sp. Three species of the ectoparasites are known to have potential health risk. The species were Ixodes granulatus, Laelaps nuttalli and Hoplopleura dissicula. This survey produced the first list of ectoparasites in Bukit Aup Jubilee Park, Sarawak, Malaysia.
  6. A systematic review of the economic burden of diabetes mellitus: contrasting perspectives from high and low middle-income countries
    Butt MD, Ong SC, Rafiq A, Kalam MN, Sajjad A, Abdullah M, et al.
    J Pharm Policy Pract, 2024;17(1):2322107.
    PMID: 38650677 DOI: 10.1080/20523211.2024.2322107
    INTRODUCTION: Diabetes increases preventative sickness and costs healthcare and productivity. Type 2 diabetes and macrovascular disease consequences cause most diabetes-related costs. Type 2 diabetes greatly costs healthcare institutions, reducing economic productivity and efficiency. This cost of illness (COI) analysis examines the direct and indirect costs of treating and managing type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus.

    METHODOLOGY: According to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, Cochrane, PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, Scopus, Medline Plus, and CENTRAL were searched for relevant articles on type 1 and type 2 diabetes illness costs. The inquiry returned 873 2011-2023 academic articles. The study included 42 papers after an abstract evaluation of 547 papers.

    RESULTS: Most articles originated in Asia and Europe, primarily on type 2 diabetes. The annual cost per patient ranged from USD87 to USD9,581. Prevalence-based cost estimates ranged from less than USD470 to more than USD3475, whereas annual pharmaceutical prices ranged from USD40 to more than USD450, with insulin exhibiting the greatest disparity. Care for complications was generally costly, although costs varied significantly by country and problem type.

    DISCUSSION: This study revealed substantial heterogeneity in diabetes treatment costs; some could be reduced by improving data collection, analysis, and reporting procedures. Diabetes is an expensive disease to treat in low- and middle-income countries, and attaining Universal Health Coverage should be a priority for the global health community.

  7. A transgressive brown rice mediates favourable glycaemic and insulin responses
    Karupaiah T, Aik CK, Heen TC, Subramaniam S, Bhuiyan AR, Fasahat P, et al.
    J Sci Food Agric, 2011 Aug 30;91(11):1951-6.
    PMID: 21480266 DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.4395
    BACKGROUND: We evaluated glycaemic response of a brown rice variant (BR) developed by cross-breeding. Subjects (n = 9) consumed 50 g carbohydrate equivalents of BR, white rice (WR) and the polished brown rice (PR) in comparison to 50 g glucose reference (GLU) in a cross-over design. Plasma glucose and insulin at 0, 15, 45, 60, 90, 120 and 180 min were measured and incremental area under the curve (IAUC) and indices for glucose (GI) and insulin (II) calculated.
    RESULTS: BR compared to PR or WR produced the lowest postprandial glycaemia (GI: 51 vs 79 vs 86) and insulinaemia (II: 39 vs 63 vs 68) irrespective of amylose content (19 vs 23 vs 26.5%). Only BR was significantly different from GLU for both plasma glucose (P = 0.012) and insulin (P = 0.013) as well as IAUC(glu) (P = 0.045) and IAUC(ins) (P = 0.031). Glycaemic and insulinaemic responses correlated positively (r = 0.550, P < 0.001). Linear trends for IAUC(glu) and IAUC(ins) indicated a greater secretion of insulin tied in with a greater glycaemic response for WR (r(2) = 0.848), moderate for PR (r(2) = 0.302) and weakest for BR (r(2) = 0.122).
    CONCLUSION: The brown rice variant had the lowest GI and II values but these advantages were lost with polishing.
  8. ADAMTSL5 and CDH11: putative epigenetic markers for therapeutic resistance in acute lymphoblastic leukemia
    Abdullah M, Choo CW, Alias H, Abdul Rahman EJ, Mohd Ibrahim H, Jamal R, et al.
    Hematology, 2017 Aug;22(7):386-391.
    PMID: 28292214 DOI: 10.1080/10245332.2017.1299417
    BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: DNA hypermethylation has been linked to poor treatment outcome in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Genes differentially methylated in the chemoresponsive pre-B-ALL compared to chemoresistant pre-B-ALL cases provide potential prognostic markers.

    METHODS: DNA methylation profiles of five B-ALL childhood patients who achieved morphological complete remission (chemoresponsive) and five B-ALL patients who did not (chemoresistant) after induction treatments as well as four normal controls were compared on 27 000 CpG sites microarray chips. Subsequently, methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MSP) on selected hypermethylated genes was conducted on an additional 37 chemoresponsive and 9 chemoresistant B-ALL samples and 2 normal controls.

    RESULTS: Both methods were found to be highly correlated. Unsupervised principal component analysis showed that the chemotherapy-responsive and -resistant B-ALL patients could be segregated from one another. Selection of segregated genes at high stringency identified two potential genes (CDH11 and ADAMTSL5). MSP analysis on the larger cohort of samples (42 chemoresponsive, 14 chemoresistant B-ALL samples and 6 normal controls) revealed significantly higher rates of hypermethylation in chemoresistant samples for ADAMTSL5 (93 vs. 38%; p = 0.0001) and CDH11 (79% vs. 40%, p 

  9. Acute compartment syndrome of the forearm: A case report of radius fracture with concomitant brachial artery transaction
    Rasid MF, Ahmad A, Baharuddin KA, Salim AA, Savarirajo JC, Abdullah MS
    Med J Malaysia, 2021 07;76(4):603-605.
    PMID: 34305131
    Acute compartment syndrome (ACS) is a surgical emergency that requires timely recognition and early management for a good outcome. We report a case of a 71- year-old male seen at the Emergency Department of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Malaysia, on anticoagulant therapy for valvular atrial fibrillation, who had sustained a closed fracture of the left distal end radius following a fall. Examination of the left upper limb showed deformity and tenderness over the left wrist, associated with swelling and a tense anterior compartment with blisters formation and rapid expansion of hematoma at the cubital fossa away from the fracture site. Both radial and brachial pulses were absent and confirmed with the absence of a doppler signal over the brachial and radial artery and CT angiography of the left upper limb showed there was a vascular injury of the brachial artery. Fasciotomy of the left upper limb and revascularization of the left brachial artery was done. Intraoperative findings showed a tight anterior compartment with muscle bulging upon compartment release with a complete cut of the left distal brachial artery. The primary end-to-end vascular anastomosis was done and distal circulation was restored. The distal end radius fracture was treated conservatively. The patient underwent split skin grafting of the left forearm after 6 weeks post-injury and went home well. It is critical to recognize a concomitant vascular injury in fracture-related ACS as the clinical feature may overlap. Failure in detection of concomitant vascular injury may lead to emergency fasciotomy without vascular exploration and repair.
  10. Acute hemolytic transfusion reaction following ABO-mismatched platelet transfusion: Two case reports
    Zulkeflee RH, Hassan MN, Hassan R, Saidin NIS, Zulkafli Z, Ramli M, et al.
    Transfus Apher Sci, 2023 Jun;62(3):103658.
    PMID: 36805153 DOI: 10.1016/j.transci.2023.103658
    Acute hemolytic transfusion reaction following ABO-incompatible platelet transfusion: two case reports An ideal platelet transfusion should provide ABO identical platelet concentrate, and cross match compatibility is not routinely performed in the standard practices. However, ABO non identical platelet transfusions are not uncommon with the limited resources and short shelf life of platelet concentrate. Though rare, acute hemolytic transfusion reaction (AHTR) may occur following minor ABO-incompatible platelet transfusion. Here, we report two cases of thrombocytopenic patients (one child and one adult) type as Group B RhD positive and received Group O RhD positive platelet transfusions. Both patients experienced an AHTR evidenced by a drop in hemoglobin level, spherocytosis and small agglutinations on the blood film, and positive direct Coombs test. They were treated symptomatically, recovered and discharged well post-event without any morbidity. No anti-B isohemagglutinins titer were done to confirm the high titer of the antibody in the platelet donors. Our cases highlighted the importance of ABO-compatible platelet transfusion, especially to children and those vigilant groups of patients.
  11. Fulltext Aggregation behavior of cetyldimethylethylammonium bromide under the influence of bovine serum albumin in aqueous/electrolyte solutions at various temperatures and compositions: conductivity and molecular dynamics study
    Ahmed MF, Molla MR, Saha M, Shahriar I, Rahman MS, Halim MA, et al.
    RSC Adv, 2019 Feb 22;9(12):6556-6567.
    PMID: 35518479 DOI: 10.1039/c9ra00070d
    Herein, we have investigated the interaction of bovine serum albumin (BSA), the most abundant globular protein, with a conventional cationic surfactant, cetyldimethylethylammonium bromide (CDMEAB), through a conductivity technique in the absence/presence of electrolyte solutions at various temperatures (298.15-323.15 K). The interaction of the protein with drugs/surfactants and other additives plays a crucial role in the body. Hence, the main concern of the study is to extract the impact of BSA on surfactant molecules and vice versa. From the specific conductivity versus concentration of surfactant plots, three different noticeable critical micelle concentration (c*) values were obtained for pure CDMEAB and its mixture with protein/protein + salts. The presence of BSA and electrolytes altered the c* values of CDMEAB revealing interactions among the studied constituents where the salt solutions reduced the c* values and created a convenient environment for favorable micellization. The negative magnitudes achieved for standard free energy changes (ΔG 0 m) suggest spontaneity of micellization while the values of ΔH 0 m and ΔS 0 m signified the existence of some electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions. The values of molar heat capacity (ΔC 0 m) were positive as well as small which was an indication of less structural deformation. Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulation for all atoms revealed that the salt ions promoted non-covalent interaction between BSA and CDMEAB, and such interactions were not observed in the absence of the salt. Protein structure remained nearly same in spite of strong interaction with CDMEAB as evident from the overall RMSD (root-mean-square deviation) values of the alpha carbons and backbone of the protein and RMSF (root-mean-square fluctuation) values of the amino acid residues present in BSA. In this work thermodynamic parameters of transfer (such as ΔG 0 m.tr., ΔH 0 m.tr., and ΔC 0 p.m.tr.) were also evaluated and the results are discussed in detail. Besides, contributions of enthalpy and entropy to free energy changes were also analyzed.
  12. Fulltext An Adaptive Early Stopping Technique for DenseNet169-Based Knee Osteoarthritis Detection Model
    Al-Rimy BAS, Saeed F, Al-Sarem M, Albarrak AM, Qasem SN
    Diagnostics (Basel), 2023 May 29;13(11).
    PMID: 37296755 DOI: 10.3390/diagnostics13111903
    Knee osteoarthritis (OA) detection is an important area of research in health informatics that aims to improve the accuracy of diagnosing this debilitating condition. In this paper, we investigate the ability of DenseNet169, a deep convolutional neural network architecture, for knee osteoarthritis detection using X-ray images. We focus on the use of the DenseNet169 architecture and propose an adaptive early stopping technique that utilizes gradual cross-entropy loss estimation. The proposed approach allows for the efficient selection of the optimal number of training epochs, thus preventing overfitting. To achieve the goal of this study, the adaptive early stopping mechanism that observes the validation accuracy as a threshold was designed. Then, the gradual cross-entropy (GCE) loss estimation technique was developed and integrated to the epoch training mechanism. Both adaptive early stopping and GCE were incorporated into the DenseNet169 for the OA detection model. The performance of the model was measured using several metrics including accuracy, precision, and recall. The obtained results were compared with those obtained from the existing works. The comparison shows that the proposed model outperformed the existing solutions in terms of accuracy, precision, recall, and loss performance, which indicates that the adaptive early stopping coupled with GCE improved the ability of DenseNet169 to accurately detect knee OA.
  13. Fulltext An Experimental Study of Briquetting Process of Torrefied Rubber Seed Kernel and Palm Oil Shell
    Hamid MF, Idroas MY, Ishak MZ, Zainal Alauddin ZA, Miskam MA, Abdullah MK
    Biomed Res Int, 2016;2016:1679734.
    PMID: 27419127 DOI: 10.1155/2016/1679734
    Torrefaction process of biomass material is essential in converting them into biofuel with improved calorific value and physical strength. However, the production of torrefied biomass is loose, powdery, and nonuniform. One method of upgrading this material to improve their handling and combustion properties is by densification into briquettes of higher density than the original bulk density of the material. The effects of critical parameters of briquetting process that includes the type of biomass material used for torrefaction and briquetting, densification temperature, and composition of binder for torrefied biomass are studied and characterized. Starch is used as a binder in the study. The results showed that the briquette of torrefied rubber seed kernel (RSK) is better than torrefied palm oil shell (POS) in both calorific value and compressive strength. The best quality of briquettes is yielded from torrefied RSK at the ambient temperature of briquetting process with the composition of 60% water and 5% binder. The maximum compressive load for the briquettes of torrefied RSK is 141 N and the calorific value is 16 MJ/kg. Based on the economic evaluation analysis, the return of investment (ROI) for the mass production of both RSK and POS briquettes is estimated in 2-year period and the annual profit after payback was approximately 107,428.6 USD.
  14. An economic feasibility assessment of implementing photovoltaic module reflectors under Malaysian meteorological conditions
    Sultan SM, Abdullah MZ, Tso CP, Abllah NFN, Zakaria N, Ajeel RK, et al.
    Sci Rep, 2024 Feb 09;14(1):3349.
    PMID: 38336991 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-54031-x
    The use of a reflector can increase the solar radiation on the photovoltaic module (PV) surface, whereby the energy output can be improved. However, the economic feasibility may need to be considered too. This study is conducted, for the first time, due to the lack of studies regarding the economic feasibility assessment of implementing reflectors under the Malaysian meteorological conditions. The outcome will give information about the suitability for implementing a PV reflector in Malaysia through an experimental setup at a sewage treatment site, for two months in 2022. The Malaysian meteorological data, which include daily solar radiation, ambient temperature and wind velocity, were collected to study the output energy, efficiency and the economic perspective of a PV. In February 2022, the PV was operating without a reflector and the averaged values for the monthly solar radiation, ambient temperature and wind velocity were 539.9 MJ/m2, 28.4 °C and 2.2 m/s, respectively, which resulted in an output energy of 106.43 kWh. On the other hand, for April 2022, the PV was operating with a reflector. With the respective averaged input parameters 544.98 MJ/m2, 28.9 °C and 1.51 m/s, the output energy was 121.94 kWh. It is thus shown that the PV with a reflector increases the PV's output energy by 14.57%. Also, it is shown that the cost-effective factor value is 0.955 which means that the PV reflector is economically feasible to be implemented under the Malaysian meteorological conditions. Hence, extensive research should be conducted to improve the performance of PV reflectors. The findings of this paper maybe useful for researchers and/or manufacturers of PV reflectors.
  15. An efficient wastewater treatment through reduction of organic dyes using Ag nanoparticles supported on cellulose gum beads
    Khan MSJ, Sidek LM, Kamal T, Asiri AM, Khan SB, Basri H, et al.
    Int J Biol Macromol, 2024 Feb;257(Pt 1):128544.
    PMID: 38061525 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.128544
    This work reports silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) supported on biopolymer carboxymethyl cellulose beads (Ag-CMC) serves as an efficient catalyst in the reduction process of p-nitrophenol (p-NP) and methyl orange (MO). For Ag-CMC synthesis, first CMC beads were prepared by crosslinking the CMC solution in aluminium nitrate solution and then the CMC beads were introduced into AgNO3 solution to adsorb Ag ions. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) analysis suggests the uniform distribution of Ag nanoparticles on the CMC beads. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis revealed the metallic and fcc planes of AgNPs, respectively, in the Ag-CMC catalyst. The Ag-CMC catalyst exhibits remarkable reduction activity for the p-NP and MO dyes with the highest rate constant (kapp) of a chemical reaction is 0.519 and 0.697 min-1, respectively. Comparative reduction studies of Ag-CMC with CMC, Fe-CMC and Co-CMC disclosed that Ag-CMC containing AgNPs is an important factore in reducing the organic pollutants like p-NP and MO dyes. During the recyclability tests, the Ag-CMC also maintained high reduction activity, which suggests that CMC protects the AgNPs from leaching during dye reduction reactions.
  16. An inhibitive determination method for heavy metals using bromelain, a cysteine protease
    Shukor MY, Masdor N, Baharom NA, Jamal JA, Abdullah MP, Shamaan NA, et al.
    Appl Biochem Biotechnol, 2008 Mar;144(3):283-91.
    PMID: 18556817
    A heavy-metal assay has been developed using bromelain, a protease. The enzyme is assayed using casein as a substrate with Coomassie dye to track completion of hydrolysis of casein. In the absence of inhibitors, casein is hydrolysed to completion, and the solution is brown. In the presence of metal ions such as Hg2+ and Cu2+, the hydrolysis of casein is inhibited, and the solution remains blue. Exclusion of sulfhydryl protective agent and ethylenediaminetetraacetic in the original assay improved sensitivity to heavy metals several fold. The assay is sensitive to Hg2+ and Cu2+, exhibiting a dose-response curve with an IC50 of 0.15 mg 1(-1) for Hg2+ and a one-phase binding curve with an IC50 of 0.23 mg 1(-1) for Cu2+. The IC50 value for Hg2+ is found to be lower to several other assays such as immobilized urease and papain assay, whilst the IC50 value for Cu2+ is lower than immobilized urease, 15-min Microtox, and rainbow trout.
  17. Fulltext An integrated linkage map of interspecific backcross 2 (BC2) populations reveals QTLs associated with fatty acid composition and vegetative parameters influencing compactness in oil palm
    Yaakub Z, Kamaruddin K, Singh R, Mustafa S, Marjuni M, Ting NC, et al.
    BMC Plant Biol, 2020 Jul 29;20(1):356.
    PMID: 32727448 DOI: 10.1186/s12870-020-02563-5
    BACKGROUND: Molecular breeding has opened new avenues for crop improvement with the potential for faster progress. As oil palm is the major producer of vegetable oil in the world, its improvement, such as developing compact planting materials and altering its oils' fatty acid composition for wider application, is important.

    RESULTS: This study sought to identify the QTLs associated with fatty acid composition and vegetative traits for compactness in the crop. It integrated two interspecific backcross two (BC2) mapping populations to improve the genetic resolution and evaluate the consistency of the QTLs identified. A total 1963 markers (1814 SNPs and 149 SSRs) spanning a total map length of 1793 cM were integrated into a consensus map. For the first time, some QTLs associated with vegetative parameters and carotene content were identified in interspecific hybrids, apart from those associated with fatty acid composition. The analysis identified 8, 3 and 8 genomic loci significantly associated with fatty acids, carotene content and compactness, respectively.

    CONCLUSIONS: Major genomic region influencing the traits for compactness and fatty acid composition was identified in the same chromosomal region in the two populations using two methods for QTL detection. Several significant loci influencing compactness, carotene content and FAC were common to both populations, while others were specific to particular genetic backgrounds. It is hoped that the QTLs identified will be useful tools for marker-assisted selection and accelerate the identification of desirable genotypes for breeding.

  18. Fulltext An observational multi-center study on type 2 diabetes treatment prescribing pattern and patient adherence to treatment
    Butt MD, Ong SC, Rafiq A, Malik T, Sajjad A, Batool N, et al.
    Sci Rep, 2023 Dec 27;13(1):23037.
    PMID: 38155289 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-50517-2
    In 2021, the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) reported that the prevalence of diabetes in Pakistan was 9.6%, higher than the global average. However, adherence to treatment guidelines, e.g., American Diabetes Association and Pakistan Endocrine Society and prescription patterns for Oral anti-diabetes (OAD), is poorly understood in Pakistan. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the prescribing practices of anti-diabetic medications, an association of lifestyle modification with drugs prescribed, and their effectiveness in preserving ideal glycemic levels in diabetic patients undergoing treatment in tertiary care teaching hospitals in rural and urban Pakistan. In this cross-sectional study, data were collected from prescriptions of outpatient diabetic patients from different rural and urban tertiary care hospitals between October 2021 and February 2022. 388 participants were enrolled in the study for a detailed interview on prescription evaluation and glycemic control. The coinvestigators conducted an interview with the patient and used a pre-validated questionnaire to collect the data. The relationship between following treatment guidelines and clinical and demographic factors was found using chi-square tests for bivariate analyses. The study reported that out of 388, the mean ages of the patients were 48 ± 12.4, and the majority were female. It was observed that 60.1% and 66.5% have uncontrolled fasting and random blood glucose, respectively. The education level of the study participants was also below par to have a complete understanding of the medical condition and self-management therapy. Even though they were taking the right medications-an average prescription regimen included 5.08 medications-52.1% of the studied people had glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) levels higher than the therapeutic threshold set by the International Diabetes Federation. In this modern era, it was observed that the prescribing trend was still focused on traditional therapeutic options Biguanides, sulfonylureas, and dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors were prescribed in 64.6% of the patients. A significant association was found between glycemic control and body mass index, adherence to lifestyle modifications, and the number of medications prescribed (p-value 
  19. Fulltext An overview of vaccine development for COVID-19
    Shahcheraghi SH, Ayatollahi J, Aljabali AA, Shastri MD, Shukla SD, Chellappan DK, et al.
    Ther Deliv, 2021 03;12(3):235-244.
    PMID: 33624533 DOI: 10.4155/tde-2020-0129
    The COVID-19 pandemic continues to endanger world health and the economy. The causative SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has a unique replication system. The end point of the COVID-19 pandemic is either herd immunity or widespread availability of an effective vaccine. Multiple candidate vaccines - peptide, virus-like particle, viral vectors (replicating and nonreplicating), nucleic acids (DNA or RNA), live attenuated virus, recombinant designed proteins and inactivated virus - are presently under various stages of expansion, and a small number of vaccine candidates have progressed into clinical phases. At the time of writing, three major pharmaceutical companies, namely Pfizer and Moderna, have their vaccines under mass production and administered to the public. This review aims to investigate the most critical vaccines developed for COVID-19 to date.
  20. Fulltext Analyses of hypomethylated oil palm gene space
    Low ET, Rosli R, Jayanthi N, Mohd-Amin AH, Azizi N, Chan KL, et al.
    PLoS One, 2014;9(1):e86728.
    PMID: 24497974 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0086728
    Demand for palm oil has been increasing by an average of ∼8% the past decade and currently accounts for about 59% of the world's vegetable oil market. This drives the need to increase palm oil production. Nevertheless, due to the increasing need for sustainable production, it is imperative to increase productivity rather than the area cultivated. Studies on the oil palm genome are essential to help identify genes or markers that are associated with important processes or traits, such as flowering, yield and disease resistance. To achieve this, 294,115 and 150,744 sequences from the hypomethylated or gene-rich regions of Elaeis guineensis and E. oleifera genome were sequenced and assembled into contigs. An additional 16,427 shot-gun sequences and 176 bacterial artificial chromosomes (BAC) were also generated to check the quality of libraries constructed. Comparison of these sequences revealed that although the methylation-filtered libraries were sequenced at low coverage, they still tagged at least 66% of the RefSeq supported genes in the BAC and had a filtration power of at least 2.0. A total 33,752 microsatellites and 40,820 high-quality single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers were identified. These represent the most comprehensive collection of microsatellites and SNPs to date and would be an important resource for genetic mapping and association studies. The gene models predicted from the assembled contigs were mined for genes of interest, and 242, 65 and 14 oil palm transcription factors, resistance genes and miRNAs were identified respectively. Examples of the transcriptional factors tagged include those associated with floral development and tissue culture, such as homeodomain proteins, MADS, Squamosa and Apetala2. The E. guineensis and E. oleifera hypomethylated sequences provide an important resource to understand the molecular mechanisms associated with important agronomic traits in oil palm.
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