Displaying publications 1 - 20 of 343 in total

Abstract:
Sort:
  1. [Survey of botanical origin of tongcao (medulla Tetrapanacis) and identification of its commercial products]
    Jia M, Wei Y, Ma Y, Shen Y, Zhang Y
    Zhongguo Zhong Yao Za Zhi, 1997 Aug;22(8):454-8, 510.
    PMID: 11038909
    Through the investigation on botanical origin, output and sales of Togcao in producing areas, it has been proved that there are twenty-two species of six families used as Tongcao. The medicinal parts are the pith of stems or petioles. The provinces featuring more species and larger output of Tongcao are Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Hunan and Shaanxi. A hundred and two pieces of commercial samples collected from twenty-six provinces in China, Hongkong area, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Republic of Korea have been identified. The result shows that both Xiaotongcao and Datongcao are called by the same name Tongcao. The main species is Xiaotongcao, which takes a proportion of 70% in Tongcao. And the Tongcao(Tetrapanax papyriferus, taking a proportion of 20%) as recorded in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia (1995 edition) is seldom used.
  2. Phylogeny and evolution of the Drosophila nasuta subgroup based on mitochondrial ND4 and ND4L gene sequences
    Yu H, Wang W, Fang S, Zhang YP, Lin FJ, Geng ZC
    Mol Phylogenet Evol, 1999 Dec;13(3):556-65.
    PMID: 10620413
    The sequences of the mitochondrial ND4 gene (1339 bp) and the ND4L gene (290 bp) were determined for all the 14 extant taxa of the Drosophila nasuta subgroup. The average A + T content of ND4 genes is 76.5% and that of ND4L genes is 83.5%. A total of 114 variable sites were scored. The ND4 gene sequence divergence ranged from 0 to 5.4% within the subgroup. The substitution rate of the ND4 gene is about 1.25% per million years. The base substitution of the genes is strongly transition biased. Neighbor-joining and parsimony were used to construct a phylogeny based on the resultant sequence data set. According to these trees, five distinct mtDNA clades can be identified. D. niveifrons represents the most diverged lineage. D. sulfurigaster bilimbata and D. kepulauana form two independent lineages. The other two clades are the kohkoa complex and the albomicans complex. The kohkoa complex consists of D. sulfurigaster sulfurigaster, D. pulaua, D. kohkoa, and Taxon-F. The albomicans complex can be divided into two groups: D. nasuta, D. sulfurigaster neonasuta, D. sulfurigaster albostrigata, and D. albomicans from Chiangmai form one group; and D. pallidifrons, Taxon-I, Taxon-J, and D. albomicans from China form the other group. High genetic differentiation was found among D. albomicans populations. Based on our phylogenetic results, we hypothesize that D. niveifrons diverged first from the D. nasuta subgroup in Papua New Guinea about 3.5 Mya. The ancestral population spread to the north and when it reached Borneo, it diversified sequentially into the kohkoa complex, D. s. bilimbata, and D. kepulauana. About 1 Mya, another radiation occurred when the ancestral populations reached the Indo-China Peninsula, forming the albomicans complex. Discrepancy between morphological groupings and phylogenetic results suggests that the male morphological traits may not be orthologous.
  3. 1-acetyl-3-[benzoyl(4-methoxyphenyl)methylene]-2,3-dihydro-1H-indol-2-one
    Usman A, Razak IA, Fun HK, Chantrapromma S, Zhang Y, Xu JH
    Acta Crystallogr C, 2001 Dec;57(Pt 12):1438-40.
    PMID: 11740110
    In the title compound, C25H19NO4, the indole moiety is not completely planar, the heterocyclic ring being distorted very slightly towards a half-chair conformation. The benzoyl and 4-methoxyphenyl substituents are individually almost planar and are in a bisecting and nearly perpendicular configuration, respectively, with respect to the plane of the indole moiety. The molecular and packing structures in the crystal are stabilized by intramolecular and intermolecular C-H...O interactions.
  4. Syn- and anticlinal isomers of 2a'-acetoxy-1,7'-diacetyl-7',7a'-dihydro-2-oxospiro[1H-indole-3(2H),2'(2a'H)-oxeto[3,2-b]indole]
    Usman A, Razak IA, Fun HK, Chantrapromma S, Zhang Y, Xu JH
    Acta Crystallogr C, 2002 Feb;58(Pt 2):o59-62.
    PMID: 11828108
    In the syn- and anticlinal isomers of the title compound, C(22)H(18)N(2)O(6), the indole moiety is not completely planar, with the pyrrolidine ring being distorted very slightly towards a conformation intermediate between half-chair and envelope. The molecular and packing structures in the crystals of these isomers are stabilized by C-H...O interactions.
  5. 1-Acetyl-3-[1-(4-methoxyphenyl)-2-oxopropylidene]-1H-indol-2(3H)-one: a twinned crystal
    Usman A, Razak IA, Fun HK, Chantrapromma S, Zhang Y, Xu JH
    Acta Crystallogr C, 2002 Apr;58(Pt 4):O239-41.
    PMID: 11932554
    The crystal of the title compound, C(20)H(17)NO(4), which was used for collecting intensity data was twinned. Each of the two crystallographically independent molecules in the asymmetric unit has a planar indole moiety perpendicular to a planar oxopropyl moiety. The distribution of the bonds at the central C atom joining the oxopropyl, phenyl and indole substituents is also planar. The packing is stabilized by intermolecular C-H* * *O interactions, as well as by dipole-dipole and van der Waals interactions.
  6. 1-Acetyl-3'-(4-bromophenyl)-3'-chlorospiro[3H-indole-3,2'-oxetan]-2(1H)-one
    Usman A, Razak IA, Fun HK, Chantrapromma S, Zhang Y, Xu JH
    Acta Crystallogr C, 2002 May;58(Pt 5):o287-8.
    PMID: 11983994
    In the title compound, C(18)H(13)BrClNO(3), the heterocyclic ring of the indole is distorted from planarity towards an envelope conformation. The orientations of the indole, oxetane, chloro and bromophenyl substituents are conditioned by the sp(3) states of the spiro-junction and the Cl-attached C atoms.
  7. 11-Methyl-12a-phenyl-9a,12a-dihydrophenanthro[9',10':5,6][1,4]dioxino[2,3-d]oxazole and 9a-(10-hydroxyphenanthren-9-yl)-11,12a-diphenyl-9a,12a-dihydrophenanthro[9',10':5,6][1,4]dioxino[2,3-d]oxazole
    Usman A, Razak IA, Fun HK, Chantrapromma S, Zhang Y, Xu JH
    Acta Crystallogr C, 2002 Aug;58(Pt 8):o477-9.
    PMID: 12154304
    In the title compounds, C(24)H(17)NO(3), (I), and C(43)H(27)NO(5), (II), the dioxine ring is not planar and tends toward a boat conformation. The oxazoline ring adopts a twisted conformation in molecule (I) but is essentially planar in molecule (II). The configuration of the dioxine-oxazoline system is determined by the sp(3) state of the two shared atoms. The phenanthrene moiety is nearly coplanar with the dioxine ring, while the phenyl ring is perpendicular to the attached oxazole ring. The triclinic unit cell of (II) contains two crystallographically independent molecules related by a pseudo-inversion centre.
  8. 11-Methyl-12a-phenyl-9a,12a-dihydrophenanthro[9',10:5,6][1,4]dioxino[2,3-d]thiazole
    Usman A, Razak IA, Fun HK, Chantrapromma S, Zhang Y, Xu JH
    Acta Crystallogr C, 2002 Sep;58(Pt 9):o543-4.
    PMID: 12205382
    In the title compound, C(24)H(17)NO(2)S, the dioxine and thiazoline rings are distorted from planarity towards a half-chair and an envelope conformation, respectively. The configurations of the dioxine ring, the thiazoline ring and the attached phenyl ring are conditioned by the sp(3) state of the two bridgehead C atoms. The phenanthrene system is nearly coplanar with the dioxine ring, while the attached phenyl ring is orthogonal to the thiazoline ring.
  9. 1-Acetyl-4'-ethyl-2a'-phenyl-2',2a',5',5a'-tetrahydrospiro[1H-indole-3,2'-oxeto[5,4-b]oxazol]-2(3H)-one and 1-acetyl-4',5a'-diphenyl-2',2a',5',5a'-tetrahydrospiro[1H-indole-3,2'-oxeto[5,4-b]oxazol]-2(3H)-one
    Usman A, Fun HK, Wang L, Zhang Y, Xu JH
    Acta Crystallogr C, 2003 Jun;59(Pt 6):o305-7.
    PMID: 12794346
    In the title compounds, C(21)H(18)N(2)O(4) and C(25)H(18)N(2)O(4), respectively, the five-membered ring of the indole system is almost planar. The oxetane and oxazole rings are individually planar. The orientations of the indole, oxetane, oxazole and phenyl moieties are conditioned by the sp(3) nature of the spiro-C atoms. In both compounds, the relative orientation of the indole and oxazole rings is opposite.
  10. Integration of biological method and membrane technology in treating palm oil mill effluent
    Zhang Y, Yan L, Qiao X, Chi L, Niu X, Mei Z, et al.
    J Environ Sci (China), 2008;20(5):558-64.
    PMID: 18575108
    Palm oil industry is the most important agro-industry in Malaysia, but its by-product-palm oil mill effluent (POME), posed a great threat to water environment. In the past decades, several treatment and disposal methods have been proposed and investigated to solve this problem. A two-stage pilot-scale plant was designed and constructed for POME treatment. Anaerobic digestion and aerobic biodegradation constituted the first biological stage, while ultrafiltration (UF) and reverse osmosis (RO) membrane units were combined as the second membrane separation stage. In the anaerobic expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) reactor, about 43% organic matter in POME was converted into biogas, and COD reduction efficiency reached 93% and 22% in EGSB and the following aerobic reactor, respectively. With the treatment in the first biological stage, suspended solids and oil also decreased to a low degree. All these alleviated the membrane fouling and prolonged the membrane life. In the membrane process unit, almost all the suspended solids were captured by UF membranes, while RO membrane excluded most of the dissolved solids or inorganic salts from RO permeate. After the whole treatment processes, organic matter in POME expressed by BOD and COD was removed almost thoroughly. Suspended solids and color were not detectable in RO permeate any more, and mineral elements only existed in trace amount (except for K and Na). The high-quality effluent was crystal clear and could be used as the boiler feed water.
  11. Fulltext Fine-scaled human genetic structure revealed by SNP microarrays
    Xing J, Watkins WS, Witherspoon DJ, Zhang Y, Guthery SL, Thara R, et al.
    Genome Res, 2009 May;19(5):815-25.
    PMID: 19411602 DOI: 10.1101/gr.085589.108
    We report an analysis of more than 240,000 loci genotyped using the Affymetrix SNP microarray in 554 individuals from 27 worldwide populations in Africa, Asia, and Europe. To provide a more extensive and complete sampling of human genetic variation, we have included caste and tribal samples from two states in South India, Daghestanis from eastern Europe, and the Iban from Malaysia. Consistent with observations made by Charles Darwin, our results highlight shared variation among human populations and demonstrate that much genetic variation is geographically continuous. At the same time, principal components analyses reveal discernible genetic differentiation among almost all identified populations in our sample, and in most cases, individuals can be clearly assigned to defined populations on the basis of SNP genotypes. All individuals are accurately classified into continental groups using a model-based clustering algorithm, but between closely related populations, genetic and self-classifications conflict for some individuals. The 250K data permitted high-level resolution of genetic variation among Indian caste and tribal populations and between highland and lowland Daghestani populations. In particular, upper-caste individuals from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh form one defined group, lower-caste individuals from these two states form another, and the tribal Irula samples form a third. Our results emphasize the correlation of genetic and geographic distances and highlight other elements, including social factors that have contributed to population structure.
  12. Genetic differentiation of water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) populations in China, Nepal and south-east Asia: inferences on the region of domestication of the swamp buffalo
    Zhang Y, Vankan D, Zhang Y, Barker JS
    Anim. Genet., 2011 Aug;42(4):366-77.
    PMID: 21749419 DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2052.2010.02166.x
    Data from three published studies of genetic variation at 18 microsatellite loci in water buffalo populations in China (18 swamp type, two river type), Nepal (one wild, one domestic river, one hybrid) and south-east Asia (eight swamp, three river) were combined so as to gain a broader understanding of genetic relationships among the populations and their demographic history. Mean numbers of alleles and expected heterozygosities were significantly different among populations. Estimates of θ (a measure of population differentiation) were significant among the swamp populations for all loci and among the river populations for most loci. Differentiation among the Chinese swamp populations (which was due primarily to just one population) was much less than among the south-east Asian. The Nepal wild animals, phenotypically swamp type but genetically like river type, are significantly different from all the domestic river populations and presumably represent the ancestral Bubalus arnee (possibly with some river-type introgression). Relationships among the swamp populations (D(A) genetic distances, principal component analysis and structure analyses) show the south-east Asian populations separated into two groups by the Chinese populations. Given these relationships and the patterns of genetic variability, we postulate that the swamp buffalo was domesticated in the region of the far south of China, northern Thailand and Indochina. Following domestication, it spread south through peninsular Malaysia to Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi, and north through China, and then to Taiwan, the Philippines and Borneo.
  13. Fulltext Ancestry of the Iban is predominantly Southeast Asian: genetic evidence from autosomal, mitochondrial, and Y chromosomes
    Simonson TS, Xing J, Barrett R, Jerah E, Loa P, Zhang Y, et al.
    PLoS One, 2011;6(1):e16338.
    PMID: 21305013 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0016338
    Humans reached present-day Island Southeast Asia (ISEA) in one of the first major human migrations out of Africa. Population movements in the millennia following this initial settlement are thought to have greatly influenced the genetic makeup of current inhabitants, yet the extent attributed to different events is not clear. Recent studies suggest that south-to-north gene flow largely influenced present-day patterns of genetic variation in Southeast Asian populations and that late Pleistocene and early Holocene migrations from Southeast Asia are responsible for a substantial proportion of ISEA ancestry. Archaeological and linguistic evidence suggests that the ancestors of present-day inhabitants came mainly from north-to-south migrations from Taiwan and throughout ISEA approximately 4,000 years ago. We report a large-scale genetic analysis of human variation in the Iban population from the Malaysian state of Sarawak in northwestern Borneo, located in the center of ISEA. Genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers analyzed here suggest that the Iban exhibit greatest genetic similarity to Indonesian and mainland Southeast Asian populations. The most common non-recombining Y (NRY) and mitochondrial (mt) DNA haplogroups present in the Iban are associated with populations of Southeast Asia. We conclude that migrations from Southeast Asia made a large contribution to Iban ancestry, although evidence of potential gene flow from Taiwan is also seen in uniparentally inherited marker data.
  14. Fulltext Genetic diversity and differentiation of the orange-spotted grouper (Epinephelus coioides) between and within cultured stocks and wild populations inferred from microsatellite DNA analysis
    Wang L, Meng Z, Liu X, Zhang Y, Lin H
    Int J Mol Sci, 2011;12(7):4378-94.
    PMID: 21845084 DOI: 10.3390/ijms12074378
    In the present study, we employed microsatellite DNA markers to analyze the genetic diversity and differentiation between and within cultured stocks and wild populations of the orange-spotted grouper originating from the South China Sea and Southeast Asia. Compared to wild populations, genetic changes including reduced genetic diversity and significant differentiation have taken place in cultured grouper stocks, as shown by allele richness and heterozygosity studies, pairwise F(st), structure, molecular variance analysis, as well as multidimensional scaling analysis. Although two geographically adjacent orange-spotted grouper populations in China showed negligible genetic divergence, significant population differentiation was observed in wild grouper populations distributed in a wide geographical area from China, through Malaysia to Indonesia. However, the Mantel test rejected the isolation-by-distance model of genetic structure, which indicated the genetic differentiation among the populations could result from the co-effects of various factors, such as historical dispersal, local environment, ocean currents, river flows and island blocks. Our results demonstrated that microsatellite markers could be suitable not only for genetic monitoring cultured stocks but also for revealing the population structuring of wild orange-spotted grouper populations. Meanwhile, our study provided important information for breeding programs, management of cultured stocks and conservation of wild populations of the orange-spotted grouper.
  15. Fulltext Identification of a novel Getah virus by Virus-Discovery-cDNA random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)
    Hu T, Zheng Y, Zhang Y, Li G, Qiu W, Yu J, et al.
    BMC Microbiol, 2012;12:305.
    PMID: 23268691 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2180-12-305
    The identification of new virus strains is important for the study of infectious disease, but current (or existing) molecular biology methods are limited since the target sequence must be known to design genome-specific PCR primers. Thus, we developed a new method for the discovery of unknown viruses based on the cDNA--random amplified polymorphic DNA (cDNA-RAPD) technique. Getah virus, belonging to the family Togaviridae in the genus Alphavirus, is a mosquito-borne enveloped RNA virus that was identified using the Virus-Discovery-cDNA RAPD (VIDISCR) method.
  16. Fulltext Interleukin-6 is required for pancreatic cancer progression by promoting MAPK signaling activation and oxidative stress resistance
    Zhang Y, Yan W, Collins MA, Bednar F, Rakshit S, Zetter BR, et al.
    Cancer Res, 2013 Oct 15;73(20):6359-74.
    PMID: 24097820 DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-13-1558-T
    Pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest human malignancies, is almost invariably associated with the presence of an oncogenic form of Kras. Mice expressing oncogenic Kras in the pancreas recapitulate the stepwise progression of the human disease. The inflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-6 is often expressed by multiple cell types within the tumor microenvironment. Here, we show that IL-6 is required for the maintenance and progression of pancreatic cancer precursor lesions. In fact, the lack of IL-6 completely ablates cancer progression even in presence of oncogenic Kras. Mechanistically, we show that IL-6 synergizes with oncogenic Kras to activate the reactive oxygen species detoxification program downstream of the mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (MAPK/ERK) signaling cascade. In addition, IL-6 regulates the inflammatory microenvironment of pancreatic cancer throughout its progression, providing several signals that are essential for carcinogenesis. Thus, IL-6 emerges as a key player at all stages of pancreatic carcinogenesis and a potential therapeutic target.
  17. Polyhydroxybutyrate production from oil palm empty fruit bunch using Bacillus megaterium R11
    Zhang Y, Sun W, Wang H, Geng A
    Bioresour Technol, 2013 Nov;147:307-314.
    PMID: 24001560 DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2013.08.029
    Oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB), contains abundant cellulose and hemicelluloses and can be used as a renewable resource for fuel and chemical production. This study, as the first attempt, aims to convert OPEFB derived sugars to polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB). OPEFB collected from a Malaysia palm oil refinery plant was chemically pretreated and enzymatically hydrolyzed by an in-house prepared cellulase cocktail. The PHB producer, Bacillus megaterium R11, was isolated in Singapore and could accumulate PHB up to 51.3% of its cell dry weight (CDW) from both glucose and xylose. Tryptone was identified as its best nitrogen source. PHB content and production reached 58.5% and 9.32 g/L, respectively, for an overall OPEFB sugar concentration of 45 g/L. These respectively reached 51.6% and 12.48 g/L for OPEFB hydrolysate containing 60 g/L sugar with a productivity of 0.260 g/L/h.
  18. Fulltext Boldine improves endothelial function in diabetic db/db mice through inhibition of angiotensin II-mediated BMP4-oxidative stress cascade
    Lau YS, Tian XY, Mustafa MR, Murugan D, Liu J, Zhang Y, et al.
    Br J Pharmacol, 2013 Nov;170(6):1190-8.
    PMID: 23992296 DOI: 10.1111/bph.12350
    Boldine is a potent natural antioxidant present in the leaves and bark of the Chilean boldo tree. Here we assessed the protective effects of boldine on endothelium in a range of models of diabetes, ex vivo and in vitro.
  19. Fulltext Molecular epidemiology of coxsackievirus A16: intratype and prevalent intertype recombination identified
    Chen X, Tan X, Li J, Jin Y, Gong L, Hong M, et al.
    PLoS One, 2013;8(12):e82861.
    PMID: 24340064 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0082861
    Coxsackievirus A16 (CVA16) is responsible for nearly 50% of all the confirmed hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) cases in mainland China, sometimes it could also cause severe complications, and even death. To clarify the genetic characteristics and the epidemic patterns of CVA16 in mainland China, comprehensive bioinfomatics analyses were performed by using 35 CVA16 whole genome sequences from 1998 to 2011, 593 complete CVA16 VP1 sequences from 1981 to 2011, and prototype strains of human enterovirus species A (EV-A). Analysis on complete VP1 sequences revealed that subgenotypes B1a and B1b were prevalent strains and have been co-circulating in many Asian countries since 2000, especially in mainland China for at least 13 years. While the prevalence of subgenotype B1c (totally 20 strains) was much limited, only found in Malaysia from 2005 to 2007 and in France in 2010. Genotype B2 only caused epidemic in Japan and Malaysia from 1981 to 2000. Both subgenotypes B1a and B1b were potential recombinant viruses containing sequences from other EV-A donors in the 5'-untranslated region and P2, P3 non-structural protein encoding regions.
  20. Development, validity and reliability of the short multidimensional positive mental health instrument
    Vaingankar JA, Subramaniam M, Abdin E, Picco L, Chua BY, Eng GK, et al.
    Qual Life Res, 2014 Jun;23(5):1459-77.
    PMID: 24307210 DOI: 10.1007/s11136-013-0589-0
    PURPOSE: The 47-item positive mental health (PMH) instrument measures the level of PMH in multiethnic adult Asian populations. This study aimed to (1) develop a short PMH instrument and (2) establish its validity and reliability among the adult Singapore population.

    METHODS: Two separate studies were conducted among adult community-dwelling Singapore residents of Chinese, Malay or Indian ethnicity where participants completed self-administered questionnaires. In the first study, secondary data analysis was conducted using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to shorten the PMH instrument. In the second study, the newly developed short PMH instrument and other scales were administered to 201 residents to establish its factor structure, validity and reliability.

    RESULTS: A 20-item short PMH instrument fulfilling a higher-order six-factor structure was developed following secondary analysis. The mean age of the participants in the second study was 41 years and about 53% were women. One item with poor factor loading was further removed to generate a 19-item version of the PMH instrument. CFA demonstrated a first-order six-factor model of the short PMH instrument. The PMH-19 instrument and its subscales fulfilled criterion validity hypotheses. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the PMH-19 instrument were high (Cronbach's α coefficient = 0.87; intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.93, respectively).

    CONCLUSIONS: The 19-item PMH instrument is multidimensional, valid and reliable, and most importantly, with its reduced administration time, the short PMH instrument can be used to measure and evaluate PMH in Asian communities.

Related Terms
Filters
Contact Us

Please provide feedback to Administrator (afdal@afpm.org.my)

External Links