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Fulltext The complete plastome of a cultivar of Lannea coromandelica

Zhou QL, Tan ZH, Wang HX, Chen DJ, Ke XR, Zhu ZX, et al.

Mitochondrial DNA B Resour, 2021;6(12):3386-3387.
PMID: 34790870 DOI: 10.1080/23802359.2021.1998803

Lannea coromandelica (Houtt.) Merr. is a deciduous tree in the family Anacardiaceae, which grows in lowland and hill forests; 100-1800 m. SW Guangdong, S Guangxi, S Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka; cultivated elsewhere in continental SE Asia, such as in Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, where it is probably naturalized]. The length of the complete plastome is 162,460 bp, including 130 genes consisting of 85 protein-coding genes, 37 tRNA genes and 8 rRNA genes. The assembled plastome has the typical structure and gene content of angiosperms plastome, which includes two inverted repeats (IRs) regions of 26,877 bp, a large single copy (LSC) region of 89,599 bp and a small single-copy (SSC) region of 19,107 bp. The total G/C content in the plastome of L. coromandelica is 37.7%. The complete plastome sequence of L. coromandelica will provide contributions to the conservation genetics of this species as well as to phylogenetic studies in Anacardiaceae.
Fulltext Recent Advances in Defect-Engineered Transition Metal Dichalcogenides for Enhanced Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution: Perfecting Imperfections

Tan ZH, Kong XY, Ng BJ, Soo HS, Mohamed AR, Chai SP

ACS Omega, 2023 Jan 17;8(2):1851-1863.
PMID: 36687105 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.2c06524

Switching to renewable, carbon-neutral sources of energy is urgent and critical for climate change mitigation. Despite how hydrogen production by electrolyzing water can enable renewable energy storage, current technologies unfortunately require rare and expensive platinum group metal electrocatalysts, which limit their economic viability. Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are low-cost, earth-abundant materials that possess the potential to replace platinum as the hydrogen evolution catalyst for water electrolysis, but so far, pristine TMDs are plagued by poor catalytic performances. Defect engineering is an attractive approach to enhance the catalytic efficiency of TMDs and is not subjected to the limitations of other approaches like phase engineering and surface structure engineering. In this minireview, we discuss the recent progress made in defect-engineered TMDs as efficient, robust, and low-cost catalysts for water splitting. The roles of chalcogen atomic defects in engineering TMDs for improvements to the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) are summarized. Finally, we highlight our perspectives on the challenges and opportunities of defect engineering in TMDs for electrocatalytic water splitting. We hope to provide inspirations for designing the state-of-the-art catalysts for future breakthroughs in the electrocatalytic HER.
The art of fixing a ticking time bomb: Combined phacoemulsification and amniotic membrane transplantation

Tang AC, Teh SS, Yong GY, Tan ZH, Yong XR

Taiwan J Ophthalmol, 2024;14(2):275-278.
PMID: 39027080 DOI: 10.4103/tjo.TJO-D-23-00009

Bleb leakage is a notorious complication of glaucoma filtration surgery which increases the risk of sight-threatening conditions. A 25-year-old female with severe bilateral juvenile open-angle glaucoma was treated for blebitis and exogenous endophthalmitis secondary to chronic bleb leak after undergoing XEN implantation, followed by multiple rounds of bleb needling, and augmented trabeculectomy. In the right eye, visual acuity was hand movement with cataract, intraocular pressure was 6 mmHg and the bleb was large, highly elevated from 10 to 1 o'clock, avascular, thin wall, and cystic with leaking points. Combined surgery of low-setting phacoemulsification and amniotic membrane transplantation without excising and manipulating the bleb was performed in the same setting. At postoperative 1 month, 6 months, and 1 year, her right vision had improved to 6/24, and the intraocular pressure was 12-14 mmHg, and the bleb leakage had resolved. This successful treatment was accomplished by maintaining the bleb's viability, preventing additional injury, and promoting wound healing.
Sesquiterpenes rich essential oil from Garcinia celebica L. and its cytotoxic and antimicrobial activities

Tan WN, Tan ZH, Zulkifli NI, Nik Mohamed Kamal NNS, Rozman NAS, Tong WY, et al.

Nat Prod Res, 2020 Dec;34(23):3404-3408.
PMID: 30773054 DOI: 10.1080/14786419.2019.1569012

Garcinia celebica L., locally known as "manggis hutan" in Malaysia is widely used in folkloric medicine to treat various diseases. The present study was aimed to examine the chemical composition of the essential oil from the leaves of G. celebica L. (EO-GC) and its cytotoxic and antimicrobial potential. EO-GC obtained by hydrodistillation was analysed using capillary GC and GC-MS. Twenty-two compounds were identified, dominated by α-copaene (61.25%), germacrene D (6.72%) and β-caryophyllene (5.85%). In the in vitro MTT assay, EO-GC exhibited significant anti-proliferative effects towards MCF-7 human breast cancer cells with IC50 value of 45.2 μg/mL. Regarding the antimicrobial activity, it showed better inhibitory effects on Gram-positive bacteria than Gram-negative bacteria and none on the fungi and yeasts tested.
Fulltext Chronic Anterior Pituitary Dysfunction Following Traumatic Head Injury: Prospective Study in Hospital Sultanah Aminah Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Mohd Salleh N, Theophilus SC, Rahman NAA, Ghani ARI, Abdullah JM, Idris Z, et al.

Malays J Med Sci, 2023 Feb;30(1):107-115.
PMID: 36875199 DOI: 10.21315/mjms2023.30.1.9

BACKGROUND: Hypopituitarism following traumatic brain injury (TBI) is not rare however most patients were left undiagnosed and untreated. Association of post TBI hypopituitarism causing neurobehavioural and quality of life impairment. The aim of the study is to determine the incidence of the chronic anterior pituitary deficiency in patients with traumatic brain injury. Subsequently determine the risk factor and the outcome of the patient with chronic anterior pituitary dysfunction.
METHODS: This is single centre cross-sectional study involved 105 traumatic head injury patients under the Neurosurgical Department Hospital Sultanah Aminah, Johor Bahru, Malaysia. The primary investigator will do an interview and the patients will be asked question to complete a questioner from SF-36 (36 questions). Subsequently, consent for participation will be taken and blood sampling will be done.
RESULTS: Thirty-three patients were noted to have anterior pituitary dysfunction. The mean age was 36.97 ± 12.96 years old. Twenty-seven patients (32.5%) were male and six patients were female (27.3%). Chronic anterior pituitary dysfunction in patients with a severe traumatic head injury around 47.1% (23 patients), as compared to a moderate head injury (8 patients, 38.1%) and 2 sustained mild head injury (5.6%). The mean duration after the onset of trauma was 10.3 ± 1.79 months. All patient with anterior pituitary dysfunction had positive CT brain findings with 22 had subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) at the basal cistern and 27 patients had a base of skull fracture, where 52.1% of the patient underwent surgical intervention, 84.8% involved one axis and another 5 patients had two axes involved. Severity of the head injury (P < 0.001), prolonged duration of hospital stay (P = 0.014), radiological findings of a base of skull fracture (P < 0.001) and presence of SAH at basal cistern (P < 0.001) was significantly associated with pituitary dysfunction. The patient with anterior pituitary dysfunction has the lower 36-item Short Form Survey (SF-36) marks 56.3 ± 10.3.
CONCLUSION: The prevalence of hypopituitarism was 31%. Indicators are increased TBI severity, prolonged hospitalisation and positive finding in radiological assessment. Post-traumatic chronic anterior pituitary dysfunction also related with poor quality of life as showed by low SF-36 marks.