Displaying publications 1 - 20 of 164 in total

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  1. A Wahab I, Goh KW, Zainal ZA, Mohamed Yusof NS, Huri HZ, Jacob SA, et al.
    Int J Environ Res Public Health, 2022 Aug 05;19(15).
    PMID: 35954990 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19159629
    The global depression burden has remained a challenge throughout the pre- and post-pandemic era. The pandemic effect has led to the spiraling of mental disorders among young people who will be the next generation of leaders. This study aims to identify university students’ sociodemographic, psychosocial and academic backgrounds and performance associated with depression symptoms for the development of primary and secondary preventive strategies for mental health. A cross-sectional study was conducted using an online questionnaire distributed to 19 institutions in Malaysia offering a Bachelor of Pharmacy degree program. The self-rated Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-42) was used to assess depression symptoms. Pearson’s chi-square test and Fisher’s exact test were used to assess the investigated variables with depression symptoms. Independent T-test and one-way ANOVA were used to compare means of depression score across variables. Binary logistic regression was employed to examine the relationship between the investigated variables and depression symptoms. A total of 610 pharmacy students participated, of which 47% (n = 289/610) were having depression symptoms. Students who smoke nicotine and those who have separated parents, family history of mental illness, and poor academic performance were associated with depression symptoms (p < 0.05). Differences in geographical areas, race and religion also showed significant associations with depression symptoms. Parental marital status, poor academic performance, history of mental illness and comorbidities were statistically predicting depression symptoms (p < 0.05). Primary preventive strategies allowing students to harness healthy coping skills for stress, nicotine-free campaigns and a holistic curriculum are warranted. Secondary measures on mindfulness and compassion skills activities to benefit students who experienced early life crises are highly recommended. Enforcing these targeted strategies in collaboration with health and social sectors should be the primary agenda of universities to ensure their uptake.
  2. Ababneh B, Tajuddin AA, Hashim R, Shuaib IL
    Australas Phys Eng Sci Med, 2016 Dec;39(4):871-876.
    PMID: 27628943 DOI: 10.1007/s13246-016-0482-6
    This paper reports the novel use of almond gum as a binder in manufacturing Rhizophora spp. particleboard. X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy was employed for analysis under photon energy range of 16.6-25.3 keV. Results showed that almond gum-bonded Rhizophora spp. particleboard can be used as tissue-equivalent phantom in diagnostic radiation. The calculated mass attenuation coefficients of the particleboards were consistent with the values of water calculated using XCOM program for the same photon energies, with p values of 0.056, 0.069, and 0.077 for samples A8, C0, and C8, respectively. However, no direct relationship was found between the percentage of adhesive and the mass attenuation coefficient. The results positively supported the use of almond gum as a binding agent in the fabrication of particleboards, which can be used as a phantom material in dosimetric and quality control applications.
  3. Abd Rahman MR, Hassan Z, Hassan MS, Hashim R, Wong LS, Leong WY, et al.
    Int J Food Sci, 2023;2023:1797017.
    PMID: 37350796 DOI: 10.1155/2023/1797017
    Date pits are agricultural waste byproducts and are available in tons yearly. Milk MUFAs are lipids beneficial for health and sorted out for food product development. This work is aimed at researching the effect of supplementing dairy goats with date pit powder (DPP) as a source of fatty acids (FA), an alternative to enhancing the unsaturated FA in milk and analysed via chemometrics in a 3-month supplementation-based study. Saanen-Boer crossed dairy goats were divided into six groups comprising of control, 10 g and 20 g both for Ajwa DPP (high-quality dates) and Mariami DPP (agricultural waste byproduct), and another 30 g for Mariami DPP only. The supplementation exercise was done daily on each dairy goat. The DPP and milk samples were analysed for its FA profile applying GC-FID and followed by chemometric techniques, namely, PCA and PLS. Results indicated that the n-6/n-3 ratio was the highest for the unsupplemented group compared to the DPP-treated goats with lower n-6/n-3 ratios. The M30 group showcased the most promising health-related class of FAs viewed by 3D PCA and PLS model clustering patterns, in particular monounsaturated FA (MUFA) (C18:1n9c or oleic acid). These results suggest that Mariami DPP supplementation at higher doses and time to lactating Saanen-Boer cross goats can be a means to milk FA quantity and quality enhancement and that chemometrics via pattern recognition can be useful statistical tools when dealing with overwhelming data.
  4. Abdul Ghani S, Hashim R
    Med J Malaysia, 1984 Dec;39(4):314-6.
    PMID: 6544941
    A case of A. V. fistula of the superior thyroid vessels following thyroidectomy is reported. Though the standard treatment of such a fistula is ligation and excision, a more simple Iigation and division of the superior thyroid artery is adequate for reasons mention. The demonstration of the feeding vessel by angiogram has to be accurate.
  5. Abou-Zied OK, Zahid NI, Khyasudeen MF, Giera DS, Thimm JC, Hashim R
    Sci Rep, 2015;5:8699.
    PMID: 25731606 DOI: 10.1038/srep08699
    Local heterogeneity in lipid self-assembly is important for executing the cellular membrane functions. In this work, we chemically modified 2-(2'-hydroxyphenyl)benzoxazole (HBO) and attached a C8 alkyl chain in two different locations to probe the microscopic environment of four lipidic phases of dodecyl β-maltoside. The fluorescence change in HBO and the new probes (HBO-1 and HBO-2) shows that in all phases (micellar, hexagonal, cubic and lamellar) three HBO tautomeric species (solvated syn-enol, anionic, and closed syn-keto) are stable. The formation of multi tautomers reflects the heterogeneity of the lipidic phases. The results indicate that HBO and HBO-1 reside in a similar location within the head group region, whereas HBO-2 is slightly pushed away from the sugar-dominated area. The stability of the solvated syn-enol tautomer is due to the formation of a hydrogen bond between the OH group of the HBO moiety and an adjacent oxygen atom of a sugar unit. The detected HBO anions was proposed to be a consequence of this solvation effect where a hydrogen ion abstraction by the sugar units is enhanced. Our results point to a degree of local heterogeneity and ionization ability in the head group region as a consequence of the sugar amphoterism.
  6. Achari VM, Nguan HS, Heidelberg T, Bryce RA, Hashim R
    J Phys Chem B, 2012 Sep 27;116(38):11626-34.
    PMID: 22967067
    Glycolipids form materials of considerable potential for a wide range of surfactant and thin film applications. Understanding the effect of glycolipid covalent structure on the properties of their thermotropic and lyotropic assemblies is a key step toward rational design of new glycolipid-based materials. Here, we perform molecular dynamics simulations of anhydrous bilayers of dodecyl β-maltoside, dodecyl β-cellobioside, dodecyl β-isomaltoside, and a C(12)C(10) branched β-maltoside. Specifically, we examine the consequences of chain branching and headgroup identity on the structure and dynamics of the lamellar assemblies. Chain branching of the glycolipid leads to measurable differences in the dimensions and interactions of the lamellar assembly, as well as a more fluid-like hydrophobic chain region. Substitution of the maltosyl headgroup of βMal-C(12) by an isomaltosyl moiety leads to a significant decrease in bilayer spacing as well as a markedly altered pattern of inter-headgroup hydrogen bonding. The distinctive simulated structures of the two regioisomers provide insight into the difference of ~90 °C in their observed clearing temperatures. For all four simulated glycolipid systems, with the exception of the sn-2 chain of the branched maltoside, the alkyl chains are ordered and exhibit a distinct tilt, consistent with recent crystallographic analysis of a branched chain Guerbet glycoside. These insights into structure-property relationships from simulation provide an important molecular basis for future design of synthetic glycolipid materials.
  7. Adeshina AM, Hashim R, Khalid NE
    Interdiscip Sci, 2014 Sep;6(3):222-34.
    PMID: 25205500 DOI: 10.1007/s12539-013-0204-7
    Hepatocellular Carcinoma is the most common type of liver cancer having a strong relation with cirrhosis. Undoubtedly, cirrhosis may be caused by the virus infection of hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C (HBC) or through alchoholism. However, even when cirrhosis has not been developed, patients with hepatitis viral infections are still at the risk of liver cancer. Apparently, among the numerous medical imaging techniques, Computed Tomography (CT) is the best in defining liver tumor borders. Unfortunately, these imaging techniques, including the CT procedures, usually rely on an appended application to reconstruct the generated 2-D slices to 3-D model. This may involve high performance computation, may be time-consuming or costly. Moreover, even with the outstanding performances of CT in defining the liver tumor boundaries, contrast between tumor tissues and the surrounding liver parenchyma is too low in CT slices. With such a close proxity in the tumor and the surrounding liver tissues, accurate characterization of liver tumor is a challenge. Previously, algorithms were developed to reveal abnormalities in brain's MRI datasets and CT abdominal pelvic, however, introducing a framework that could accurately characterize liver tumor and its surrounding tissues in CT datasets would go a long way in contributing to medical diagnosis and therapy planning of Hepatocellular Carcinoma. This paper proposes an Hepatocellular Carcinoma framework by extending the functionalities of SurLens Visualization System with an automatic liver tumor localization technique using Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA). The study was evaluated with liver CT datasets from the Imaging Science and Information Systems (ISIS) Center, the Georgetown University Medical Center. Significantly, visualization of liver CT datasets and the localization of the entangled tumor was achieved without prior datasets segmentation. Interestingly, the framework achieved remarkably good processing speed at a reasonably cheaper cost with an immediate reconstruction of the datasets and mapping of the tumor tissues within the surrounding liver parenchyma.
  8. Adeshina AM, Hashim R, Khalid NE, Abidin SZ
    Interdiscip Sci, 2013 Mar;5(1):23-36.
    PMID: 23605637 DOI: 10.1007/s12539-013-0155-z
    In the medical diagnosis and treatment planning, radiologists and surgeons rely heavily on the slices produced by medical imaging devices. Unfortunately, these image scanners could only present the 3-D human anatomical structure in 2-D. Traditionally, this requires medical professional concerned to study and analyze the 2-D images based on their expert experience. This is tedious, time consuming and prone to error; expecially when certain features are occluding the desired region of interest. Reconstruction procedures was earlier proposed to handle such situation. However, 3-D reconstruction system requires high performance computation and longer processing time. Integrating efficient reconstruction system into clinical procedures involves high resulting cost. Previously, brain's blood vessels reconstruction with MRA was achieved using SurLens Visualization System. However, adapting such system to other image modalities, applicable to the entire human anatomical structures, would be a meaningful contribution towards achieving a resourceful system for medical diagnosis and disease therapy. This paper attempts to adapt SurLens to possible visualisation of abnormalities in human anatomical structures using CT and MR images. The study was evaluated with brain MR images from the department of Surgery, University of North Carolina, United States and CT abdominal pelvic, from the Swedish National Infrastructure for Computing. The MR images contain around 109 datasets each of T1-FLASH, T2-Weighted, DTI and T1-MPRAGE. Significantly, visualization of human anatomical structure was achieved without prior segmentation. SurLens was adapted to visualize and display abnormalities, such as an indication of walderstrom's macroglobulinemia, stroke and penetrating brain injury in the human brain using Magentic Resonance (MR) images. Moreover, possible abnormalities in abdominal pelvic was also visualized using Computed Tomography (CT) slices. The study shows SurLens' functionality as a 3-D Multimodal Visualization System.
  9. Adeshina AM, Hashim R, Khalid NE, Abidin SZ
    Interdiscip Sci, 2012 Sep;4(3):161-72.
    PMID: 23292689 DOI: 10.1007/s12539-012-0132-y
    CT and MRI scans are widely used in medical diagnosis procedures, but they only produce 2-D images. However, the human anatomical structure, the abnormalities, tumors, tissues and organs are in 3-D. 2-D images from these devices are difficult to interpret because they only show cross-sectional views of the human structure. Consequently, such circumstances require doctors to use their expert experiences in the interpretation of the possible location, size or shape of the abnormalities, even for large datasets of enormous amount of slices. Previously, the concept of reconstructing 2-D images to 3-D was introduced. However, such reconstruction model requires high performance computation, may either be time-consuming or costly. Furthermore, detecting the internal features of human anatomical structure, such as the imaging of the blood vessels, is still an open topic in the computer-aided diagnosis of disorders and pathologies. This paper proposes a volume visualization framework using Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA), augmenting the widely proven ray casting technique in terms of superior qualities of images but with slow speed. Considering the rapid development of technology in the medical community, our framework is implemented on Microsoft.NET environment for easy interoperability with other emerging revolutionary tools. The framework was evaluated with brain datasets from the department of Surgery, University of North Carolina, United States, containing around 109 MRA datasets. Uniquely, at a reasonably cheaper cost, our framework achieves immediate reconstruction and obvious mappings of the internal features of human brain, reliable enough for instantaneous locations of possible blockages in the brain blood vessels.
  10. Adeshina AM, Hashim R
    Interdiscip Sci, 2017 Mar;9(1):140-152.
    PMID: 26754740 DOI: 10.1007/s12539-015-0140-9
    Diagnostic radiology is a core and integral part of modern medicine, paving ways for the primary care physicians in the disease diagnoses, treatments and therapy managements. Obviously, all recent standard healthcare procedures have immensely benefitted from the contemporary information technology revolutions, apparently revolutionizing those approaches to acquiring, storing and sharing of diagnostic data for efficient and timely diagnosis of diseases. Connected health network was introduced as an alternative to the ageing traditional concept in healthcare system, improving hospital-physician connectivity and clinical collaborations. Undoubtedly, the modern medicinal approach has drastically improved healthcare but at the expense of high computational cost and possible breach of diagnosis privacy. Consequently, a number of cryptographical techniques are recently being applied to clinical applications, but the challenges of not being able to successfully encrypt both the image and the textual data persist. Furthermore, processing time of encryption-decryption of medical datasets, within a considerable lower computational cost without jeopardizing the required security strength of the encryption algorithm, still remains as an outstanding issue. This study proposes a secured radiology-diagnostic data framework for connected health network using high-performance GPU-accelerated Advanced Encryption Standard. The study was evaluated with radiology image datasets consisting of brain MR and CT datasets obtained from the department of Surgery, University of North Carolina, USA, and the Swedish National Infrastructure for Computing. Sample patients' notes from the University of North Carolina, School of medicine at Chapel Hill were also used to evaluate the framework for its strength in encrypting-decrypting textual data in the form of medical report. Significantly, the framework is not only able to accurately encrypt and decrypt medical image datasets, but it also successfully encrypts and decrypts textual data in Microsoft Word document, Microsoft Excel and Portable Document Formats which are the conventional format of documenting medical records. Interestingly, the entire encryption and decryption procedures were achieved at a lower computational cost using regular hardware and software resources without compromising neither the quality of the decrypted data nor the security level of the algorithms.
  11. Adeshina AM, Hashim R
    Interdiscip Sci, 2016 Mar;8(1):53-64.
    PMID: 26260066 DOI: 10.1007/s12539-015-0274-9
    Stroke is a cardiovascular disease with high mortality and long-term disability in the world. Normal functioning of the brain is dependent on the adequate supply of oxygen and nutrients to the brain complex network through the blood vessels. Stroke, occasionally a hemorrhagic stroke, ischemia or other blood vessel dysfunctions can affect patients during a cerebrovascular incident. Structurally, the left and the right carotid arteries, and the right and the left vertebral arteries are responsible for supplying blood to the brain, scalp and the face. However, a number of impairment in the function of the frontal lobes may occur as a result of any decrease in the flow of the blood through one of the internal carotid arteries. Such impairment commonly results in numbness, weakness or paralysis. Recently, the concepts of brain's wiring representation, the connectome, was introduced. However, construction and visualization of such brain network requires tremendous computation. Consequently, previously proposed approaches have been identified with common problems of high memory consumption and slow execution. Furthermore, interactivity in the previously proposed frameworks for brain network is also an outstanding issue. This study proposes an accelerated approach for brain connectomic visualization based on graph theory paradigm using compute unified device architecture, extending the previously proposed SurLens Visualization and computer aided hepatocellular carcinoma frameworks. The accelerated brain structural connectivity framework was evaluated with stripped brain datasets from the Department of Surgery, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA. Significantly, our proposed framework is able to generate and extract points and edges of datasets, displays nodes and edges in the datasets in form of a network and clearly maps data volume to the corresponding brain surface. Moreover, with the framework, surfaces of the dataset were simultaneously displayed with the nodes and the edges. The framework is very efficient in providing greater interactivity as a way of representing the nodes and the edges intuitively, all achieved at a considerably interactive speed for instantaneous mapping of the datasets' features. Uniquely, the connectomic algorithm performed remarkably fast with normal hardware requirement specifications.
  12. Adeshina AM, Hashim R
    Interdiscip Sci, 2015 Feb 06.
    PMID: 25663112
    Stroke is a cardiovascular disease with high mortality and long-term disability in the world. Normal functioning of the brain is dependent on the adequate supply of oxygen and nutrients to the brain complex network through the blood vessels. Stroke, occasionally a hemorrhagic stroke, ischemia or other blood vessel dysfunctions can affect patients during a cerebrovascular incident. Structurally, the left and the right carotid arteries, and the right and the left vertebral arteries are responsible for supplying blood to the brain, scalp and the face. However, a number of impairment in the function of the frontal lobes may occur as a result of any decrease in the flow of the blood through one of the internal carotid arteries. Such impairment commonly results in numbness, weakness or paralysis. Recently, the concepts of brain's wiring representation, the connectome, was introduced. However, construction and visualization of such brain network requires tremendous computation. Consequently, previously proposed approaches have been identified with common problems of high memory consumption and slow execution. Furthermore, interactivity in the previously proposed frameworks for brain network is also an outstanding issue. This study proposes an accelerated approach for brain connectomic visualization based on graph theory paradigm using Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA), extending the previously proposed SurLens Visualization and Computer Aided Hepatocellular Carcinoma (CAHECA) frameworks. The accelerated brain structural connectivity framework was evaluated with stripped brain datasets from the Department of Surgery, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, United States. Significantly, our proposed framework is able to generates and extracts points and edges of datasets, displays nodes and edges in the datasets in form of a network and clearly maps data volume to the corresponding brain surface. Moreover, with the framework, surfaces of the dataset were simultaneously displayed with the nodes and the edges. The framework is very efficient in providing greater interactivity as a way of representing the nodes and the edges intuitively, all achieved at a considerably interactive speed for instantaneous mapping of the datasets' features. Uniquely, the connectomic algorithm performed remarkably fast with normal hardware requirement specifications.
  13. Ahmad A, Rafatullah M, Sulaiman O, Ibrahim MH, Hashim R
    J Hazard Mater, 2009 Oct 15;170(1):357-65.
    PMID: 19464117 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2009.04.087
    Meranti (Philippine mahogany) sawdust, an inexpensive material, showed strong scavenging behaviour through adsorption for the removal of methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solution. Batch studies were performed to evaluate and optimize the effects of various parameters such as contact time, pH, initial dye concentrations and adsorbent dosage. Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin isotherms were used to analyze the equilibrium data at different temperatures. The experimental data fitted well with the Langmuir adsorption isotherm, indicating thereby the mono layer adsorption of the dye. The monolayer sorption capacity of meranti sawdust for MB was found to be 120.48, 117.64, 149.25 and 158.73 mg/g at 30, 40, 50 and 60 degrees C, respectively. Thermodynamic calculations showed that the MB adsorption process is endothermic and spontaneous in nature. Kinetic studies showed that the adsorption followed a pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The results indicated that the meranti sawdust could be an alternative material in place of more costly adsorbents used for dye removal.
  14. Ahmad N, Ramsch R, Llinàs M, Solans C, Hashim R, Tajuddin HA
    Colloids Surf B Biointerfaces, 2014 Mar 1;115:267-74.
    PMID: 24384142 DOI: 10.1016/j.colsurfb.2013.12.013
    The effect of incorporating new nonionic glycolipid surfactants on the properties of a model water/nonionic surfactant/oil nano-emulsion system was investigated using branched-chain alkyl glycosides: 2-hexyldecyl-β(/α)-D-glucoside (2-HDG) and 2-hexyldecyl-β(/α)-D-maltoside (2-HDM), whose structures are closely related to glycero-glycolipids. Both 2-HDG and 2-HDM have an identical hydrophobic chain (C16), but the former consists a monosaccharide glucose head group, in contrast to the latter which has a disaccharide maltose unit. Consequently, their hydrophilic-lipophilic balance (HLB) is different. The results obtained have shown that these branched-chain alkyl glycosides affect differently the stability of the nano-emulsions. Compared to the model nano-emulsion, the presence of 2-HDG reduces the oil droplet size, whereas 2-HDM modify the properties of the model nano-emulsion system in terms of its droplet size and storage time stability at high temperature. These nano-emulsions have been proven capable of encapsulating ketoprofen, showing a fast release of almost 100% in 24h. Thus, both synthetically prepared branched-chain alkyl glycosides with mono- and disaccharide sugar head groups are suitable as nano-emulsion stabilizing agents and as drug delivery systems in the future.
  15. Ahmad N, Ramsch R, Esquena J, Solans C, Tajuddin HA, Hashim R
    Langmuir, 2012 Feb 7;28(5):2395-403.
    PMID: 22168405 DOI: 10.1021/la203736b
    Synthetic branched-chain glycolipids have become of great interest in biomimicking research, since they provide a suitable alternative for natural glycolipids, which are difficult to extract from natural resources. Therefore, branched-chain glycolipids obtained by direct syntheses are of utmost interest. In this work, two new branched-chain glycolipids are presented, namely, 2-hexyldecyl β(α)-D-glucoside (2-HDG) and 2-hexyldecyl β(α)-D-maltoside (2-HDM) based on glucose and maltose, respectively. The self-assembly properties of these glycolipids have been studied, observing the phase behavior under thermotropic and lyotropic conditions. Due to their amphiphilic characteristics, 2-HDG and 2-HDM possess rich phase behavior in dry form and in aqueous dispersions. In the thermotropic study, 2-HDG formed a columnar hexagonal liquid crystalline phase, whereas in a binary aqueous system, 2-HDG formed an inverted hexagonal liquid crystalline phase in equilibrium with excess aqueous solution. Furthermore, aqueous dispersions of the hexagonal liquid crystal could be obtained, dispersions known as hexosomes. On the other hand, 2-HDM formed a lamellar liquid crystalline phase (smectic A) in thermotropic conditions, whereas multilamellar vesicles have been observed in equilibrium with aqueous media. Surprisingly, 2-HDM mixed with sodium dodecyl sulfate or aerosol OT induced the formation of more stable unilamellar vesicles. Thus, the branched-chain glycolipids 2-HDG and 2-HDM not only provided alternative nonionic surfactants with rich phase behavior and versatile nanostructures, but also could be used as new drug carrier systems in the future.
  16. Ahmad N, Chong TM, Hashim R, Shukor S, Yin WF, Chan KG
    J Genomics, 2015;3:97-8.
    PMID: 26816553 DOI: 10.7150/jgen.13910
    We performed whole genome sequencing on a clinical multidrug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae strain 223/14. Investigation into its draft genome revealed the presence of KPC-6 variant, suggesting carbapenemase is present in this isolate. We found a plasmid-borne KPC gene (882 bp) inserted between two transposase genes in the genome of K. pneumoniae 223/14.
  17. Ahmad N, Hii SY, Mohd Khalid MK, Abd Wahab MA, Hashim R, Tang SN, et al.
    Genome Announc, 2017 Mar 02;5(9).
    PMID: 28254972 DOI: 10.1128/genomeA.01670-16
    Corynebacterium diphtheriae has caused multiple isolated diphtheria cases in Malaysia over the years. Here, we report the first draft genome sequences of 15 Malaysia C. diphtheriae clinical isolates collected from the years 1981 to 2016.
  18. Ahmad N, Hashim R, Mohd Noor A
    Int J Microbiol, 2013;2013:121845.
    PMID: 24194761 DOI: 10.1155/2013/121845
    Acute melioidosis may present as localised or septicaemic infections and can be fatal if left untreated. Burkholderia pseudomallei resistant to antibiotics used for the treatment of melioidosis had been reported. The aim of this study was to determine the in vitro antibiotic susceptibility patterns of Burkholderia pseudomallei isolated in Malaysia to a panel of antibiotics used for the treatment of melioidosis and also to potential alternative antibiotics such as tigecycline, ampicillin/sulbactam, and piperacillin/tazobactam. A total of 170 Burkholderia pseudomallei isolates were subjected to minimum inhibitory concentration determination using E-test method to eleven antibiotics. All isolates were sensitive to meropenem and piperacillin/tazobactam. For ceftazidime, imipenem, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, and doxycycline resistance was observed in 1 isolate (0.6%) for each of the antibiotics. Trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole resistance was observed in 17 (10%) isolates. For other antibiotics, ampicillin/sulbactam, chloramphenicol, tigecycline, and ciprofloxacin resistance were observed in 1 (0.6%), 6 (3.5%), 60 (35.3%) and 98 (57.7%) isolates respectively. One isolate B170/06 exhibited resistance to 4 antibiotics, namely, ciprofloxacin, chloramphenicol, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, and tigecycline. In conclusion, the Malaysian isolates were highly susceptible to the current antibiotics used in the treatment of melioidosis in Malaysia. Multiple resistances to the antibiotics used in the maintenance therapy are the cause for a concern.
  19. Ahmad T, Rafatullah M, Ghazali A, Sulaiman O, Hashim R
    PMID: 21929380 DOI: 10.1080/10590501.2011.601847
    This article presents a review on the role of oil palm biomass (trunks, fronds, leaves, empty fruit bunches, shells, etc.) as adsorbents in the removal of water pollutants such as acid and basic dyes, heavy metals, phenolic compounds, various gaseous pollutants, and so on. Numerous studies on adsorption properties of various low-cost adsorbents, such as agricultural wastes and its based activated carbons, have been reported in recent years. Studies have shown that oil palm-based adsorbent, among the low-cost adsorbents mentioned, is the most promising adsorbent for removing water pollutants. Further, these bioadsorbents can be chemically modified for better efficiency and can undergo multiple reuses to enhance their applicability at an industrial scale. It is evident from a literature survey of more than 100 recent papers that low-cost adsorbents have demonstrated outstanding removal capabilities for various pollutants. The conclusion is been drawn from the reviewed literature, and suggestions for future research are proposed.
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