A resistant variety with high yielding potential is key for increasing crop production to
fulfill the food requirement of the ever increasing world populations. Consequently, the aim of plant
breeders is to develop high yielding varieties or cultivars that are resistant or tolerant to specific
diseases or insects. For developing a resistant variety, it is enormously indispensable to incorporate or
introgress the specific resistant genes of that particular disease into the recipient. Suppression
subtractive hybridization (SSH) is a powerful technique for the identification of disease specific
differentially expressed genes that are expressed in a resistant or susceptible variety. This paper
presents a brief review on the SSH technique with examples focusing on the identification of the
wheat disease specific differentially expressed genes and their defense mechanisms against fungal
pathogens in global wheat cultivars. This review is helpful for wheat researchers for the updated
information on the SSH technique for the identification of differentially expressed genes in the global
wheat cultivars and varieties. Eventually, the identified genes could be used to develop the disease
resistance variety through marker-assisted backcrossing programme or conventional breeding.
Nitric oxide (NO) is a signaling molecule involved in numerous physiological processes in
both animals and plants. The bioactivity of NO is mainly transduced via post-translational modification
of cysteine residues of proteins termed S-nitrosylation. Interestingly, a number of key regulatory
components in plant defense responses have been found to be regulated by S-nitrosylation making this
type of protein modification an important modulator of plant immunity. As a signaling molecule, NO
intimately interact with other important molecules such as reactive oxygen species. Since the
identification of NO in plants, increasing number of papers isbeing published in the area of NO biology
each year. Here, a collection of papers describing the role of NO in plant immunity has been brought
together to provide a bird's-eye view on the focus area.
Quantum dots-sensitized solar cell (QDSSC) is one of the third generation solar cell that is
the most promising low cost, easy to manufacture and highly efficient solar cell. Compared to Dyesensitized
solar cell (DSSC), quantum dots (QDs) of QDSSC has a narrow bandgap and possess
excellent properties such as tunable band gaps, strong light absorption and high multiple electron
generation. Titanium dioxide or titania (TiO2) is an oxides semiconductor material that is frequently
used as a photoanode in this photovoltaic system due to high stability under visible light illumination.
TiO2 is also known as a good photocatalyst and an excellent choice in environmental purification. The
efficiencies of electron injection and light harvesting in QDSSC are affected by the nature, size
morphology, and quantity of this nanomaterial. In this review, the concept and principles of the
QDSSCs are reviewed. The preparation and fabrication method ofTiO2 electrode in QDSSC are also
discussed. It is worthwhile to know the architecture of TiO2 in order to enhance the efficiency of
QDSSC.
Infectious bursal disease (IBD), also known as the Gumboro disease, has been a great
concern for poultry industry worldwide. The first outbreak of IBD due to very virulent (vv) IBD virus
(IBDV) infection in Malaysia was reported in 1991. The major economic impact of the disease is high
mortality and poor performance. The virus causes immunosuppression where if the infected chicken
recovered from the acute disease, they become more susceptible to infections of other pathogens and
fail to respond to vaccines. Therefore, prevention is important and vaccination has become the
principal control measure of IBDV infection in chickens. The conventional attenuated live and killed
vaccines are the most commonly used vaccines. With the advancement of knowledge and technology,
new generation of genetically-engineered vaccines like viral vector and immune complex vaccines
have been commercialised. Moreover, hatchery vaccination is becoming a common practise, in
addition to farm vaccination. Currently, the disease is considerably under controlled with the
introduction of vaccination. However, occasional field outbreaks are still commonly reported. The
demand for vaccines that could suit the field situation continues to exist. The endemicity of disease,
presence of challenge in the farm and maternally derived antibody in chicks are affecting the choice
vaccine as well as the vaccine development and vaccination strategies. In this review, advances made
in various vaccines that have been commercialised or under development, and challenges that they
face, are outlined. Furthermore, how the emergence of vvIBDV affect the progress of vaccine
development and influence its vaccination strategy are discussed.
Changes in tick-vector densities and a resultant incidence of tick-borne diseases are
caused mainly by human activities affecting the environmental ecosystem, especially in tropical
countries. As one of the most important invertebrate arthropod vectors of disease transmission, ticks
are susceptible to changes in their environment due to their sole dependence of all their life stages on
prevailing environment. Upon completion of their lifecycle, ticks depend on the availability of hosts
and other several factors related to their surroundings to survive. This review discusses the major
factors that influence the prevalence and distribution of tick-borne diseases among domestic animals
in Malaysia. It is highly imperative to understand the factors that lead to increase in tick-vector
populations, infection intensity and hence the spatial distribution of ticks and tick-borne diseases in
order to prevent their emergence and resurgence as well as to serve as a basis for effectivecontrol.
The contamination of water bodies from heavy metals, either from natural sources or
anthropogenic sources, has become a major concern to the public. Industrial activities with improper
water treatment, and then leach into the water body, have become contaminated and harmful to
consume. Passive remediation is one of the treatments introduced to counter this problem as it is a low
cost but effective technique. After being widely acknowledged and through research conducted, the
most suitable remediation technique found is the permeable reactive barriers (PRBs). PRB is defined
as an in situ permeable treatment zone filled with reactive materials, designed to intercept and
remediate a contaminant plume under natural hydraulic gradients. There have been many findings
made from PRB which can be used to remove contaminants such as heavy metal, chlorinated solvents,
carbonates and aromatic hydrocarbons. The most crucial criteria in making a successful PRB is the
reactive media used to remove contaminants. The current paper presents an overview of the PRB
selective medias that have been used and also the unresolved issue on the long term performance of
PRB. The overall methodology for the application of PRB at a given site is also discussed in this
paper. This inexpensive but effective technique is crucial as a sustainable technology in order to treat
the drainage before it enters water tables to prevent water pollution and can be used as an alternative
raw water source.
Aquaculture, especially shrimp production is the world`s fastest growing food production
industry, due to increased demands for seafood. Conceivably, disease outbreak is the major setback
which brings about high mortality and reduction or loss of production. The conventional use of
antibiotics both prophylactically and therapeutically had recently not only been ineffective but
incriminated, in drug residue which poise danger to consumption by humans. Hence, a better
alternative was importantly required. The use of Immunoprophylaxis has potential of being a safety
measure in the prevention of outbreak of diseases or spread of already established disease in aquatic
invertebrates, where the shrimps and prawns belong. Immunoprophylaxis includes the prevention of
disease by production of passive immunity. The major infectious agents that are responsible for high
morbidity and high mortality in shrimp industry are viruses and bacteria. Others include fungi,
parasites and protozoans but less threatening than the two former. Among the referenced groups of
bacteria in shrimp disease, gram negative bacteria are more virulent. Vibrio, a member of this gram
negative groups has been implicated to be the most causative agent of bacterial infections in shrimps.
This review examined the components of the cell membrane of these bacteria that have been reported
to confer immunity on the host. They include outer membrane proteins, lipopolysaccharide and
peptidoglycan. These components could elicit immune response and confer protection.
Branching channel flow refers to any side water withdrawals from rivers or main channels.
Branching channels have wide application in many practical projects, such as irrigation and drainage
network systems, water and waste water treatment plants, and many water resources projects. In the
last decades, extensive theoretical and experimental investigations of the branching open channels
have been carried out to understand the characteristics of this branching flow, varying from case
studies to theoretical and experimental investigations. The objectives of this paper are to review and
summarise the relevant literatures regarding branching channel flow. These literatures were reviewed
based on flow characteristics, physical characteristics, and modeling of the branching flow.
Investigations of the flow into branching channel show that the branching discharge depends on many
interlinked parameters. It increases with the decreasing of the main channel flow velocity and Froude
number at the upstream of the branch channel junction. Also it increases with the increasing of the
branch channel bed slope. In subcritical flow, water depth in the branch channel is always lower than
the main channel water depth. The flow diversion to the branch channel leads to an increase of water
depth at the downstream of the main channel. From the review, it is important to highlight that most
of the study concentrated on flow characteristics in a right angle branch channel with a rigid boundary.
Investigations on different branching angles with movable bed have still to be explored.
Agriculture is one of the latest industries that uses robotic technologies. Cultivation of crops
with high yield and quality can be enhanced when technological sustenance is involved. Pests are
nuisance and cannot be completely eliminated, but with effective control and management. damages
caused by pests could be minimized below economic threshold. Automation in agriculture is stable and
accurate and is mainly incorporated in mechanized farming system. However its numerous application in
different agricultural practices is not well noticed. Hence this paper attempts to provide profound
awareness on robotic technology in agriculture. Robots could have a specific or multiple functions and,
most commonly, they are made up of five basic components; sensors, effectors, actuators, controller and
arms. Use of automation in weeding, weed mapping, micro spraying, seeding, irrigation and harvesting
are progressions which promote sustainable agriculture and food security. In future, solar robots with
battery inverter may be invented.
Burkholderia pseudomallei are Gram negative highly pathogenic bacteria of humans and
animals causing a multisystemic disease called melioidosis. They have recently gained a lot of interest
from the research community and public health organisations because of their great potential to be
used as an agent of bioterrorism. This has made the search for simple, rapid, accurate and the most
definitive means of their detection, identification and discrimination very critical and necessary. This
article aimed to review the molecular techniques used for detection, identification and differentiation
of B. pseudomallei. Although, culture and isolation techniques maintained their usefulness in
confirming cases of melioidosis, their time limitation (can take up to a week for confirming diagnosis)
leads to the search for rapid and simple techniques. Consequently, serology-based tests have been
developed which are both faster and less sophisticated. However, the presence of high background
titre levels and cross-reaction with other organisms make it less reliable. Thus, efforts have been
directed to explore rapid and accurate molecular techniques and resulting in the development and
validation of various PCR-based identification techniques targeting either single or multiple genes.
Although requiring some level of instrumentation and expertise, PCR-based techniques have been
reported to be very useful in diagnosis of melioidosis. We recommend the 16S rRNA PCR (especially
augmented with other molecular methods such as gene sequencing and analysis) and MLST
techniques for timely detection, identification and differentiation of B. pseudomallei for routine
diagnosis and epidemiological studies respectively.
Mikania micrantha Kunth (Asteraceae) is a perennial creeping vine that can be found in South and North America, Africa, Pacific Islands and Southeast Asia, including Southern China and Malaysia. Previous studies have reported that this plant possesses several pharmacological properties which can be used to prevent and cure several diseases. Phytochemicals found from various parts of M. micrantha have been linked to beneficial medicinal properties such as antioxidant, antimicrobial, antitumour, anti-inflammatory, anti-stress, and also anti-diabetic activities. The primary aim of this paper is to review available scientific information on the nutritional, phytochemical and pharmacological properties of M. micrantha to provide baseline information for future studies.
Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni in the Asteraceae family is commercially valuable and cultivated throughout the world due to the great demand for its steviol glycosides (SGs) contents particularly rebaudioside A. Previous studies confirmed that maximal content of SGs in stevia was achieved at or just before flowering, and delayed flowering with long days provide longer duration for steviol glycosides accumulation. However, there is no suitable stevia variety to be cultivated in Malaysia due to her short day length. Mutation induction, including gamma irradiation, had been shown to be useful for generating genetic variations as well as developing new plant varieties from which desired mutants were successfully selected. The use of mutagens, both physical and chemical, has helped in creating mutants that expressed the selected desirable traits. This paper presents some selected essential data available in extant scientific studies on stevia with the focus on application of gamma irradiation on stevia. Both established achievements and recent publications of gamma radiation on stevia were reviewed. Emphasis is on the exceptional potential of stevia through induced mutation approach especially by using gamma rays.
The urban transit network design problem (UTNDP) involves the development of a transit route set and associated schedules for an urban public transit system. The design of efficient public transit systems is widely considered as a viable option for the economic, social, and physical structure of an urban setting. This paper reviews four well-known population-based metaheuristics that have been employed and deemed potentially viable for tackling the UTNDP. The aim is to give a thorough review of the algorithms and identify the gaps for future research directions.
Clean water is very important for health and well-being of humans and ecosystem. However, over the year, a billion tons of industrial waste, fertilizers and chemical waste were dumped untreated into water bodies, such as rivers, lake and oceans contributing towards water pollution, then threatening human health and ecosystem. Hence, the need for clean water has urged scientists to research and find solutions for improving water quality. Application of nanoparticles in wastewater treatment improves the environmental quality by elimination of harmful pollutants in wastewater. Magnetite is one of the nanoparticles used in wastewater treatment because of its specific large surface area, high reactivity in adsorption and recoverable from treated water via magnetic separation technology. Preparation method of magnetite nanoparticles is the important key to its adsorption efficiency.
Serotypes B: 2 and E: 2 of Haemorrhagic septicaemia found in Asia and Africa cause an economically important disease that affects cattle and buffaloes. The disease has a feature of short clinical course and high morbidity and mortality rates. However, animals surviving HS are usually characterized by decrease productivity. There is paucity of knowledge in the involvement of the reproductive system and its organizer hormones in animals afflicted with HS. Therefore, this review aimed to gather information and provide more details on reproductive pathophysiology and its modifications in buffaloes and cattle as a result of P. multocida B: 2 infections.
It is claimed by the media that the expansion of Instant Messaging (IM) in recent years affected the quality of formal writing and there are intrusions into such writings (Grace, Kemp, Martin, & Parrila, 2015). The current study examined six articles published in scientific journals in 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2015 on textism (e.g. gr8 for “great”) to see if there have been any changes in the results of the studies on the quality of writing under the influence of textism in native and non- native groups during the last 6 years. The population in all three studies has been young adults between 18 to 29 years old, male and female. The studies are done through writing tests in academic institutions and schools. Synchronization of the findings over time is important as it can show that if, with the expansion of social media and increasing number of messaging applications, there has been any significant increase in the textism intrusion or not. The content analysis and statistical comparison are used as the methods to compare the studies’ results and to form an armchair study to validate the effects of the textism on formal writing. Based on the chronological and synthesized results, it was found ultimately that in the native group there is not any significant difference between the results over the synchronized time and the media claims are not true, while the non-native learners of English have shown negative intrusions.
Facility Layout Problem (FLP) is a NP-hard problem concerned with the arrangement of facilities as to minimize the distance travelled between all pairs of facilities. Many exact and approximate approaches have been proposed with an extensive applicability to deal with this problem. This paper studies the fundamentals of some well-known heuristics and metaheuristics used in solving the FLPs. It is hoped that this paper will trigger researchers for in-depth studies in FLPs looking into more specific interest such as equal or unequal FLPs.
Nigella sativa (Black seeds) has been recognized as one of the most popular herbs in many
parts of the world for centuries. It was used in the world as folk medicine to cure different kinds of diseases. This plant has been considered as one of the main sources of nutrition and healthcare for humans as well as animals. It has been perceived as Kalonji; it is a southwest Asian plan t that flowers annually. The seeds and oil of this plant have been used in food; in addition, it has a long history in the making of medicines. In addition to its being a model plant for better realization of gene and chromosome relationship, the plant species is also significant cytogenetically. Plant based system has not been absorbed fully for human health care despite the remarkable advancements in the field of pharmacology. Cumin, as one of the medicinal plants gifted to humans by nature, has a number of potential uses. It has been proved to be a
useful herbal medicines that can be used for human health and therefore has been extensively studied and investigated to further discover the advantages of this plant.
Isoprenoids biosynthesis in plants involves two separate pathways, mevalonate (MVA) pathway and 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol 4-phosphate (MEP) pathway. A large group of isoprenoids are found to play crucial roles in common plant biochemical functions and have been produced on a large scale for commercial applications. 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMGR) is the key enzyme that catalyses the first committing step in the MVA pathway. In mammals and yeast, HMGR is a well-studied enzyme as many studies have been done on this enzyme due to its important function in the biosynthesis of cholesterol. In plants, many researches on HMGR have been done on different plant species, for example, Arabidopsis thaliana, tobacco, gingko, Zea mays, potato, rose, rubber tree, muskmelon, ginseng and others, in the past decades since it was discovered. Previous researches that worked on plant HMGR focused on the cloning and characterisation of its physiological functions. Little is known about the aspect of regulation and structural characteristics of plants’ HMGR. This review is aimed at providing an overview of the characteristics and structure of HMGR, the transcriptional and post-translational events related to HMGR that have been reported in plants, and proposes areas on the regulation event of HMGR in plants that can be explored to further enhance understanding towards HMGR regulatory interactions.
Essential oil production in plants is known to play crucial roles in attractive and defensive
mechanism responses to environmental conditions. Various factors are known to determine the
chemical variability and yields for specific essential oil bearing plants including genetic, physiology
and environment. The purpose of this review is to summarize recent publications on the variation of
essential oil and its composition with regards to physiological aspects of the plants.