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Fulltext Classification of familial hypercholesterolaemia using ordinal logistic regression

Muhammad Hamizan Jamaludin, Yap, Bee Wah, Hapizah Mohd Nawawi, Chua, Yung-An, Marshima Mohd Rosli, Annamalai, Muthukkaruppan

Pertanika Journal of Science & Technology, 2020;28(4):1163-1177.
MyJurnal

Familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) is a genetic disease that causes the elevation of lowdensity lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), which subsequently leads to premature coronary heart disease (CHD). Features which have been reported to be associated with FH include lipids level, tendon xanthomata, and history of CHD. The Ordinal Logistic Regression model using the classification of FH patients with the Dutch Lipid Clinic Network Criteria (DLCN) as the dependent variable (where 1=Possible, 2=Probable, 3=Definite) was developed and evaluated for different types of link functions. The FH patients (n = 449) were recruited from health screening programmes conducted in hospitals and clinics in Malaysia from 2010 to 2018. Results indicate there is a significant association between FH categories with demographic factors (ethnicity and smoking) and physical symptoms (corneal arcus and xanthomata). The Ordinal Logistic Regression using Cauchit link function has lower Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) value, higher Nagelkerke’s R-Square and classification accuracy compared to Probit and Logit link function, diastolic blood pressure, corneal arcus and xanthomata were found to be significant covariates of FH.
Fulltext Occurrence of Aflatoxins in Edible Vegetable Seeds and Oil Samples Available in Pakistani Retail Markets and Estimation of Dietary Intake in Consumers

Waqas M, Iqbal SZ, Abdull Razis AF, Pervaiz W, Ahmad T, Usman S, et al.

Int J Environ Res Public Health, 2021 07 29;18(15).
PMID: 34360308 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18158015

Aflatoxins (AFs) are secondary metabolites toxic to humans as well as animals. The environmental conditions, conventional agricultural practices, and illiteracy are the main factors which favor the production of AFs in food and feed. In the current study 744 samples of vegetable seeds and oils (soybean, sunflower, canola, olive, corn, and mustard) were collected and tested for the presence of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and total AFs. Liquid-liquid extraction was employed for the extraction of AFs from seeds and oil samples. Reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography equipped with fluorescence detection was used for the analysis. The results have shown that 92 (56.7%) samples of imported and 108 (57.0%) samples of local edible seeds were observed to be contaminated with AFs. All samples of edible seeds have AFB1 levels greater than the proposed limit set by the European Union (EU, 2 µg/kg) and 12 (7.40%) samples of imported seeds and 14 (7.40%) samples of local seeds were found in the range ≥ 50 µg/kg. About 78 (43.3%) samples of imported edible oil and 103 (48.3%) sample of local edible oil were observed to be positive for AFs. Furthermore, 16 (8.88%) and six (3.33%) samples of imported vegetable oil have levels of total AFs in a range (21-50 µg/kg) and greater than 50 µg/kg, respectively. The findings indicate significant differences in AFs levels between imported and local vegetable oil samples (t = 22.27 and p = 0.009) at α = 0.05 and a significant difference in AFs levels were found between vegetable seeds and oil samples (t = -17.75, p = 0.009) at α = 0.05. The highest dietary intake was found for a local sunflower oil sample (0.90 µg/kg/day) in female individuals (16-22 age group). The results have shown considerably high levels of AFB1 and total AFs in seeds and oil samples and emphasise the need to monitor carefully the levels of these toxic substances in food and feed on regular basis.
Curcumin-laden hyaluronic acid-co-Pullulan-based biomaterials as a potential platform to synergistically enhance the diabetic wound repair

Shah SA, Sohail M, Minhas MU, Khan S, Hussain Z, Mahmood A, et al.

Int J Biol Macromol, 2021 Aug 31;185:350-368.
PMID: 34171251 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2021.06.119

Injectable hydrogel with multifunctional tunable properties comprising biocompatibility, anti-oxidative, anti-bacterial, and/or anti-infection are highly preferred to efficiently promote diabetic wound repair and its development remains a challenge. In this study, we report hyaluronic acid and Pullulan-based injectable hydrogel loaded with curcumin that could potentiate reepithelization, increase angiogenesis, and collagen deposition at wound microenvironment to endorse healing cascade compared to other treatment groups. The physical interaction and self-assembly of hyaluronic acid-Pullulan-grafted-pluronic F127 injectable hydrogel were confirmed using nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) and Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and cytocompatibility was confirmed by fibroblast viability assay. The CUR-laden hyaluronic acid-Pullulan-g-F127 injectable hydrogel promptly undergoes a sol-gel transition and has proved to potentiate wound healing in a streptozotocin-induced diabetic rat model by promoting 93% of wound closure compared to other groups having 35%, 38%, and 62%. The comparative in vivo study and histological examination was conducted which demonstrated an expeditious recovery rate by significantly reducing the wound healing days i.e. 35 days in a control group, 33 days in the CUR suspension group, 21 days in unloaded injectable, and 13 days was observed in CUR loaded hydrogel group. Furthermore, we suggest that the injectable hydrogel laden with CUR showed a prompt wound healing potential by increasing the cell proliferation and serves as a drug delivery platform for sustained and targeted delivery of hydrophobic moieties.
Fulltext RP-UHPLC-MS Chemical Profiling, Biological and In Silico Docking Studies to Unravel the Therapeutic Potential of Heliotropium crispum Desf. as a Novel Source of Neuroprotective Bioactive Compounds

Arshad A, Ahemad S, Saleem H, Saleem M, Zengin G, Abdallah HH, et al.

Biomolecules, 2021 01 04;11(1).
PMID: 33406643 DOI: 10.3390/biom11010053

Heliotropium is one of the most important plant genera to have conventional folklore importance, and hence is a potential source of bioactive compounds. Thus, the present study was designed to explore the therapeutic potential of Heliotropium crispum Desf., a relatively under-explored medicinal plant species. Methanolic extracts prepared from a whole plant of H. crispum were studied for phytochemical composition and possible in vitro and in silico biological properties. Antioxidant potential was assessed via six different assays, and enzyme inhibition potential against key clinical enzymes involved in neurodegenerative diseases (acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE)), diabetes (α-amylase and α-glucosidase), and skin problems (tyrosinase) was assayed. Phytochemical composition was established via determination of the total bioactive contents and reverse phase ultra-high performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (RP-UHPLC-MS) analysis. Chemical profiling revealed the tentative presence of 50 secondary metabolites. The plant extract exhibited significant inhibition against AChE and BChE enzymes, with values of 3.80 and 3.44 mg GALAE/g extract, respectively. Further, the extract displayed considerable free radical scavenging activity against DPPH and ABTS radicals, with potential values of 43.19 and 41.80 mg TE/g extract, respectively. In addition, the selected compounds were then docked against the tested enzymes, which have shown high inhibition affinity. To conclude, H. crispum was found to harbor bioactive compounds and showed potent biological activities which could be further explored for potential uses in nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries, particularly as a neuroprotective agent.
Synthesis of biodiesel from non-edible (Brachychiton populneus) oil in the presence of nickel oxide nanocatalyst: Parametric and optimisation studies

Dawood S, Koyande AK, Ahmad M, Mubashir M, Asif S, Klemeš JJ, et al.

Chemosphere, 2021 Sep;278:130469.
PMID: 33839393 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.130469

The present study defines a novel green method for the synthesis of the nickel oxide nanocatalyst by using an aqueous latex extract of the Ficus elastic. The catalyst was examined for the conversion of novel Brachychiton populneus seed oil (BPSO) into biodiesel. The Brachychiton populneus seeds have a higher oil content (41 wt%) and free fatty acid value (3.8 mg KOH/g). The synthesised green nanocatalyst was examined by the Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-Ray (EDX) spectroscopy, X-Ray diffraction (XRD) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The obtained results show that the synthesised green nanocatalyst was 22-26 nm in diameter and spherical-cubic in shape with a higher rate of catalytic efficiency. It was utilised further for the conversion of BPSO into biofuel. Due to the high free fatty acid value, the biodiesel was synthesised by the two-step process, i.e., pretreatment of the BPSO by means of acid esterification and then followed by the transesterification reaction. The acidic catalyst (H2SO4) was used for the pretreatment of BPSO. The optimum condition for the transesterification of the pretreated BPSO was 1:9 of oil-methanol molar ratio, 2.5 wt % of prepared nanocatalyst concentration and 85 °C of reaction temperature corresponding to the highest biodiesel yield of 97.5 wt%. The synthesised biodiesel was analysed by the FT-IR and GC-MS technique to determine the chemical composition of fatty acid methyl esters. Fuel properties of Brachychiton populneus seed oil biodiesel (BPSOB) were also examined, compared, and it falls in the prescribed range of ASTM standards.
Faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi tekanan kerja dalam kalangan pekerja hotel di negeri Melaka

Abdul Mutalib Mohamed Azim, Siti Zuraydah Md. Jenil, Baharom Said, Muhammad Shahril Mohd Zin, Siti Saedah Dolah

Journal of Hospitality and Networks, 2020;2020(1):33-44.
MyJurnal

Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengenalpasti kesan faktor ganjaran, sokongan penyelia, beban tugas dan kekangan masa terhadap tekanan kerja. Bagi tujuan tersebut, seramai 112 orang pekerja di lima buah hotel lima bintang di negeri Melaka telah dipilih sebagai responden bagi kajian ini. Kaedah pengumpulan data menggunakan kaedah persempelan rawak mudah dengan G-Power sebagai panduan bagi mendapatkan jumlah sampel kajian. Hasil dapatan kajian menunjukkan hubungan yang signifikan antara kesemua pembolehubah bebas terhadap tekanan kerja. Hasil kajian ini menyokong kajian-kajian lampau dan hipotesis kajian. Dapatan kajian ini juga menunjukkan bahawa kekangan masa merupakan penyumbang terbesar kepada tekanan kerja dalam kalangan pekerja hotel.
Impact of Pharmacist-led Educational Intervention on Predictors of Diabetic Foot at Two Different Hospitals of Malaysia

Khan AH, Iqbal MZ, Syed Sulaiman SA, Ibrahim A, Azmi NSBY, Iqbal MS, et al.

J Pharm Bioallied Sci, 2020 12 21;13(1):108-115.
PMID: 34084056 DOI: 10.4103/jpbs.JPBS_475_20

Objective: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic metabolic disorder that can initiate organ damage inside the body if not treated appropriately. Apart from tight glycemic control, a suitable educational intervention is also needed from health-care providers to stop or decrease the progression of organ damage in diabetic patients. This study intended to measure the impact of pharmacist-led educational intervention on improvement in predictors of diabetic foot in two different hospitals in Malaysia.
Materials and Methods: In two tertiary care selected hospitals, the included diabetic patients were randomly divided into two study arms. In the control group, 200 patients who were receiving usual treatment from hospitals were included. However, in the intervention group, those 200 patients who were receiving usual treatment along with counseling sessions from pharmacists under the Diabetes Medication Therapy Adherence Clinic (DMTAC) program were included. The study continued for 1 year, and there were four follow-up visits for both study arms. A prevalidated data collection form was used to measure the improvement in predictors of diabetic foot in included patients. Data were analyzed by using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software program, version 24.0.
Results: With the average decrease of 1.97% of HbA1c values in the control group and 3.43% in the intervention group, the univariate and multivariate analysis showed a statistically significant difference between both of the study arms in the improvement of predictors belonging to the diabetic foot (P < 0.05). The proportion of patients without any signs and symptoms of the diabetic foot in the intervention group was 91.7%, which increased from 42.3% at baseline (P < 0.05). However, this proportion in the control group was 76.9% at the fourth follow-up, from 48.3% at baseline (P < 0.05).
Conclusion: A statistically significant reduction in the signs and symptoms of diabetic foot was observed in the intervention group at the end of 1 year. The progression of diabetic foot was significantly decreased in the pharmacist intervention group.
Fulltext Thickness Optimization of Thin-Film Tandem Organic Solar Cell

Bangash KA, Kazmi SAA, Farooq W, Ayub S, Musarat MA, Alaloul WS, et al.

Micromachines (Basel), 2021 May 05;12(5).
PMID: 34062988 DOI: 10.3390/mi12050518

The polymer solar cells also known as organic solar cells (OSCs) have drawn attention due to their cynosure in industrial manufacturing because of their promising properties such as low weight, highly flexible, and low-cost production. However, low η restricts the utilization of OSCs for potential applications such as low-cost energy harvesting devices. In this paper, OSCs structure based on a triple-junction tandem scheme is reported with three different absorber materials to enhance the absorption of photons which in turn improves the η, as well as its correlating performance parameters. The investigated structure gives the higher value of η = 14.33% with Jsc = 16.87 (mA/m2), Voc = 1.0 (V), and FF = 84.97% by utilizing a stack of three different absorber layers with different band energies. The proposed structure was tested under 1.5 (AM) with 1 sun (W/m2). The impact of the top, middle, and bottom subcells' thickness on η was analyzed with a terse to find the optimum thickness for three subcells to extract high η. The optimized structure was then tested with different electrode combinations, and the highest η was recorded with FTO/Ag. Moreover, the effect of upsurge temperature was also demonstrated on the investigated schematic, and it was observed that the upsurge temperature affects the photovoltaic (PV) parameters of the optimized cell and η decreases from 14.33% to 11.40% when the temperature of the device rises from 300 to 400 K.
Fulltext Solution Processed PVB/Mica Flake Coatings for the Encapsulation of Organic Solar Cells

Channa IA, Chandio AD, Rizwan M, Shah AA, Bhatti J, Shah AK, et al.

Materials (Basel), 2021 May 12;14(10).
PMID: 34065936 DOI: 10.3390/ma14102496

Organic photovoltaics (OPVs) die due to their interactions with environmental gases, i.e., moisture and oxygen, the latter being the most dangerous, especially under illumination, due to the fact that most of the active layers used in OPVs are extremely sensitive to oxygen. In this work we demonstrate solution-based effective barrier coatings based on composite of poly(vinyl butyral) (PVB) and mica flakes for the protection of poly (3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT)-based organic solar cells (OSCs) against photobleaching under illumination conditions. In the first step we developed a protective layer with cost effective and environmentally friendly methods and optimized its properties in terms of transparency, barrier improvement factor, and bendability. The developed protective layer maintained a high transparency in the visible region and improved oxygen and moisture barrier quality by the factor of ~7. The resultant protective layers showed ultra-flexibility, as no significant degradation in protective characteristics were observed after 10 K bending cycles. In the second step, a PVB/mica composite layer was applied on top of the P3HT film and subjected to photo-degradation. The P3HT films coated with PVB/mica composite showed improved stability under constant light irradiation and exhibited a loss of <20% of the initial optical density over the period of 150 h. Finally, optimized barrier layers were used as encapsulation for organic solar cell (OSC) devices. The lifetime results confirmed that the stability of the OSCs was extended from few hours to over 240 h in a sun test (65 °C, ambient RH%) which corresponds to an enhanced lifetime by a factor of 9 compared to devices encapsulated with pristine PVB.
Fulltext A review on anticipatory grief and lessons learnt from the history of abu bakr r.a.

Najwa Hanim M.R, Md Faiz M.T, Jefri Irwan H, Muhammad Al Siddiq S.M, Nor Jannah N, Zul Azlin R

IIUM Medical Journal Malaysia, 2018;17(102):239-242.
MyJurnal

Grief is defined as ‘the internal experience of a person to the loss of something loved and valued’. It is a normal and expected reaction to loss. While anticipatory grief is defined as ‘an emotional response that is experienced before a true loss’, a concept focusing on that a person might experience grief when the loss of a close loved one was anticipated, but had not yet occurred. The history of Abu Bakr r.a. was reviewed especially from the period of a few months before and recently after the death of the prophet s.a.w. It was noted that he appeared strong while others were down grieving upon the news of the prophet s.a.w.’s death. It was also noted that Abu Bakr r.a. has been grieving when he anticipated that the prophet was going to die. Literatures on anticipatory grief were reviewed. Evidence are conflicting on the role of anticipatory grief. Factors that lead to these differences will be reviewed. The protective factors in Abu Bakr r.a. that helped maintain his composure after the death of prophet Muhammad s.a.w. and later led him to be pledged as the first caliph of the Muslim nation will be discussed.
Fulltext Sequencing and Annotated of Goat's Milk using Bioinformatics Tool: ClustalX

Muhammad Najmi Mohammad Fauzi, Aisyah Aqilah Abu Bakar, Liyana Amalina Adnan, Tg Ainul Farha Tg Abdul Rahman, A’wani Aziz Nurdalila

Malaysian Journal of Science, Health & Technology, 2021;7(1):28-33.
MyJurnal

Bioinformatics tool is a software program made to extract meaningful information from the mass of molecular biology or biological databases and carry out sequence or structural analysis. The method of determining the order of nucleotides within a deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecule is known as DNA sequencing. This analysis is meant to be run to the commercialized or factorymade goat's milk (pasteurised) from various states in Malaysia to identify the milk's authenticity, either it is pure or mixed with other foreign substances from other animals. The main objective is to compare DNA sequences of commercialized and raw goat's milk (handmilking and non-pasteurised). To achieve this, we used ClustalX to align and compare the obtained DNA from both milk samples. The sequences will be aligned using ClustalX software. ClustalX is a provider of an automated system for performing multiple alignments of sequences and profiles and evaluating the outcomes. The usage of ClustalX is helpful as it is cost-effective, user-friendly, and showing a high accuracy of the analysis.
Fulltext Effect of Specific Methanogenic Activity (SMA) of anaerobic sludge under high salinity

Nurhamieza Md Huzir, Nik Azmi Nik Mahmood, Syed Anuar Faua’ad Syed Muhammad, Noor Azrimi Umor, Shahrul Ismail

Journal of Advanced Research in Applied Sciences and Engineering Technology, 2019;16(1):35-40.
MyJurnal

Anaerobic wastewater treatment technology has become one of the most popular technologies due to its economic and environmental benefits. Therefore, a reliable method to study the specific methanogenic activity (SMA) of anaerobic sludge is presented using SMA test. This test helps to determine suitable organic loading rate (OLR) to the anaerobic process. Meanwhile, SMA act as a benchmark to the anaerobic system performance where a slight change in SMA stipulate the accumulation of inhibitory substances from influent wastewater. One of the possible substances that inhibit the anaerobic digestion process is the presence of excessive light metal ions such as sodium (Na+) from the wastewater. The objective of this research was to investigate the specific methanogenic activity of anaerobic sludge in anaerobic filter and anaerobic digester as well as to compare and analyze anaerobic methanogenic bacteria under the effect of potentially inhibitory compound in both anaerobic digester and anaerobic filter. Two sources of inoculums (one from the anaerobic digester and one from the anaerobic filter) were adapted with sodium with varied range of concentrations which was 0 to 5 g Na + /l, before conducting SMA test by means of pressure differences. For the anaerobic digester, the SMA varied from 0.25 to 0.31 g COD/g VS.day meanwhile for the anaerobic filter, the SMA varied from 0.40 to 0.51 g COD/g VS.day. The result obtained confirmed that sludge from POME have better tolerance towards sodium than influents from petrochemical wastewater.
Fulltext Grief & personal growth: reflection from quran, hadith and modern medicine.

Nor Jannah Nasution Raduan, Najwa Hanim Mat Rosly, Zul Azlin Razali, Muhammad Al Siddiq, Mohd Razali Salleh

IIUM Medical Journal Malaysia, 2018;17(102):243-248.
MyJurnal

Grief has been defined as the reaction towards loss with typical symptoms including sadness, anger, guilt, yearning, regret, loneliness, numbness and positive feelings related to individual’s personal experience. Grief has been postulated to occur when a safe and secure bond has been threatened. This loss can be an opportunity for personal growth. It is growth that emerges from difficult life events. It may occur during or after the process of grieving. We reviewed three cases related to grief and personal growth. Three cases were described where grief and personal growth were observed. Each case occurred in different situations. These different situations were; an adult child and caregiver of patient with dementia, a widow who loss her husband from drowning, and a cancer survivor who experienced psychological and spiritual growth from the loss and adverse life event. As a comparison three stories taken from the Quran and Hadithwere analyzed to reflect on the three case discussions. The Quran and Hadithhave mentioned stories of personal growth emerging from difficulties. The completeness of Islamic creed has never neglected the spiritual component in treating medical, physical and psychological illnesses. Islamic spirituality facilitates and enhances personal growth in the aftermath of any physical and psychological tribulations. It is important to merge the spiritual aspects of grief from Islamic perspective, as to aid those suffering from grief to attain personal and spiritual growth.
Fulltext Fasting in islam: a combination of spiritual elevation and prevention of diseases.

Muhammad Muzaffar Ali Khan, Noraisha M.Nor, Nik Mazlan Mamat, Nor Azwani Mohd-Shukri, Wan Azdie Mohd Abu Bakar

IIUM Medical Journal Malaysia, 2018;17(102):107-112.
MyJurnal

The obligatory fasting of Ramadan is not only an Islamic ritual to enhance the God-consciousness (called Taqwa), it may also lead to improvement of health status of fasting person(s). In other words, it is a complete overhauling instrument of Muslims soul/body in terms of faith and health. This can be termed as “Islamic fasting: a combination of spiritual elevation and prevention of diseases”. During fasting Muslims try to maintain integrity of the human body both physically and spiritually. It not only keeps us healthy physically/spiritually but also makes us healthy in social obligations. Furthermore,with full devotion it brings long-lasting changes in the individual’s life and relate to the level of righteousness and strength of character to resist desires. In health fasting plays an important role, for example the improvement of hyperlipidemia, obesity (fat loss), diabetes, cognition, cell functions, immunological factors, inflammation, stress and lifespan etc. This article is an effort to review and discuss research carried out on the listed conditions during the holy month of Ramadan on various aspects of human health.
Fulltext Development of a composite pavement performance index to monitor the pavement condition in UPNM

Muhammad Nur Arsyad Azman, Ng, Choy Peng, Faridah Hanim Khairuddin, Neza Ismail, Wan Mohamed Syafuan Wan Sabri

ZULFAQAR International Journal of Defence Science, Engineering & Technology, 2020;3(1):23-31.
MyJurnal

Road surface condition of a pavement is one of the most important features as it affect driving comfort and safety. A good road surface condition could reduce the risk of traffic accidents and injuries. Pavement Condition Index (PCI) is one of the important tools to measure the pavement performance. By conducting pavement evaluation, civil engineers could prioritize the maintenance and rehabilitation which usually incurred a huge cost. In University Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM), there was no proper maintenance and rehabilitation scheduled for the roads as no performance evaluation tool available to measure the pavement condition. Thus, the objective of this study was to develop a Composite Pavement Performance Index (CPPI) to monitor the pavement condition and to rank the roads in UPNM. To develop the CPPI, road defects data were collected from 6 internal roads in UPNM. From the data collected, 4 major distresses were identified: longitudinal cracking, crocodile cracking, potholes and ravelling were found more likely to affect the pavement’s condition in UPNM. By measuring the growth of the distresses over a period of 6 months, modelling was conducted using simple linear regression. The growth of the distresses were compared, and odds ratios were computed to calculate the weightage of each distress for the determination of the CPPI value. The CPPI value developed could be used to rank the roads in UPNM. This study demonstrated that the road connecting to the library building in UPNM experienced the worst pavement deterioration with a PCI of 24 or a CPPI value of 1.1915. The level of severity was classified as “SERIOUS” in accordance to ASTM D6433. This road was recommended for reconstruction to increase the comfort and safety for road users
Fulltext Overview of Feedstocks for Sustainable Biodiesel Production and Implementation of the Biodiesel Program in Pakistan

Zulqarnain, Mohd Yusoff MH, Ayoub M, Ramzan N, Nazir MH, Zahid I, et al.

ACS Omega, 2021 Jul 27;6(29):19099-19114.
PMID: 34337248 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.1c02402

The energy demand of the world is skyrocketing due to the exponential economic growth and population expansion. To meet the energy requirement, the use of fossil fuels is not a good decision, causing environmental pollution such as CO2 emissions. Therefore, the use of renewable energy sources like biofuels can meet the energy crisis especially for countries facing oil shortages such as Pakistan. This review describes the comparative study of biodiesel synthesis for various edible oils, non-edible oils, and wastes such as waste plastic oil, biomass pyrolysis oil, and tyre pyrolysis oil in terms of their oil content and extraction, cetane number, and energy content. The present study also described the importance of biodiesel synthesis via catalytic transesterification and its implementation in Pakistan. Pakistan is importing an extensive quantity of cooking oil that is used in the food processing industries, and as a result, a huge quantity of waste cooking oil (WCO) is generated. The potential waste oils for biodiesel synthesis are chicken fat, dairy scum, WCO, and tallow oil that can be used as potential substrates of biodiesel. The implementation of a biodiesel program as a replacement of conventional diesel will help to minimize the oil imports and uplift the country's economy. Biodiesel production via homogeneous and heterogeneous catalyzed transesterification is more feasible among all transesterification processes due to a lesser energy requirement and low cost. Therefore, biodiesel synthesis and implementation could minimize the imports of diesel by significantly contributing to the overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Although, waste oil can meet the energy needs, more available cultivation land should be used for substrate cultivation. In addition, research is still needed to explore innovative solvents and catalysts so that overall biodiesel production cost can be minimized. This would result in successful biodiesel implementation in Pakistan.
Fulltext Study of the Hydrogen Storage Properties and Catalytic Mechanism of a MgH2-Na3AlH6 System Incorporating FeCl3

Halim Yap MFAA, Yahya MS, Sazelee N, Ali NA, Mustafa NS, Sulaiman NN, et al.

ACS Omega, 2021 Jul 27;6(29):18948-18956.
PMID: 34337234 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.1c02208

In this work, the catalytic effects of FeCl3 toward the hydrogen storage properties of the MgH2-Na3AlH6 composite were investigated for the first time. The temperature-programed desorption results indicated that the onset temperature of the hydrogen release of a 10 wt % FeCl3-doped MgH2-Na3AlH6 composite was ∼30 °C lower than that of the undoped MgH2-Na3AlH6 composite. The addition of FeCl3 into the MgH2-Na3AlH6 composite resulted in improved absorption and desorption kinetics performance. The absorption/desorption kinetics measurements at 320 °C (under 33 and 1 atm hydrogen pressure, respectively) indicated that within 10 min, the doped sample absorbed ∼4.0 wt % and desorbed ∼1.5 wt % hydrogen. By comparison, the undoped sample absorbed only ∼2.1 wt % and desorbed only ∼0.6 wt % hydrogen under the same conditions and time. Comparably, the apparent activation energy value of the doped composite is 128 kJ/mol, which is 12 kJ/mol lower than that of the undoped composite (140 kJ/mol). The formation of the new species of MgCl2 and Fe in the doped composite was detected from X-ray diffraction analysis after heating and absorption processes. These two components were believed to play a vital role in reducing the decomposition temperature and kinetics enhancement of the MgH2-Na3AlH6 composite.
A comprehensive phytochemical, biological, toxicological and molecular docking evaluation of Suaeda fruticosa (L.) Forssk.: An edible halophyte medicinal plant

Saleem H, Khurshid U, Sarfraz M, Tousif MI, Alamri A, Anwar S, et al.

Food Chem Toxicol, 2021 Aug;154:112348.
PMID: 34144099 DOI: 10.1016/j.fct.2021.112348

Suaeda fruticosa is an edible medicinal halophyte known for its traditional uses. In this study, methanol and dichloromethane extracts of S. fruticosa were explored for phytochemical, biological and toxicological parameters. Total phenolic and flavonoid constituents were determined by using standard aluminum chloride and Folin-Ciocalteu methods, and UHPLC-MS analysis of methanol extract was performed for tentative identification of secondary metabolites. Different standard methods like DPPH, ABTS, FRAP, CUPRAC, total antioxidant capacity (TAC), and metal chelation assays were utilized to find out the antioxidant potential of extracts. Enzyme inhibition studies of extracts against acetylcholinesterase, butyrylcholinesterase, tyrosinase, α-amylase and, α-glucosidase enzymes were also studied. Likewise, the cytotoxicity was also assessed against MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, and DU-145 cell lines. The higher phenolic and flavonoids contents were observed in methanol extracts which can be correlated to its higher radical scavenging potential. Similarly, 11 different secondary metabolites were tentatively identified by UHPLC profiling. Both the extract showed significant inhibition against all the enzymes except for α-glucosidase. Moreover, docking studies were also performed against the tested enzymes. In the case of cytotoxicity, both the samples were found moderately toxic against the tested cell lines. This plant can be explored further for its potential therapeutic and edible uses.
Fulltext Learning style preferences among pre-clinical medical students in a public university in Pahang.

Nurjasmine Aida Jamani, Karimah Hanim AbdAziz, Hanis Syazana Che Ab Karim, Fatma Azzahraa Nizar, Husna Najihah Dzulkarnain, Muhammad Irham Azimi

IIUM Medical Journal Malaysia, 2018;17(102):11-16.
MyJurnal

Educational experts affirm that students prefer various type of learning preference. It is known that the learning style preferences vary among medical students worldwide. Knowing the types will help medical educators to improve their way of conveying lectures and teaching in a more effective learning environment. This study aims to describe the learning style preferences of pre-clinical medical students and the association with their socio-demography. This is a cross sectional study done among Year 1 and Year 2 pre-clinical year medical students in a public university in Kuantan Pahang. Medical students who fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria were recruited using systematic random sampling. A validated learning style questionnaire (VARK) was used to assess their learning style. Descriptive statistics and bivariable analysis was used using SPSS version 23. A total of 166 pre-clinical year medical students participated in this study. The mean age was 21.3 (0.84). Majority of them were Malays (98.2%) and females (69.9%). Most of the students preferred unimodal learning style (80.0%) with the most preferred learning style preferences being kinaesthetic (39.1%). Bivariable analysis showed female students preferred kinesthetic learning style compared to male students (p=0.03).In this study, majority of the pre-clinical year medical students preferred ‘life-like’ learning experience in their study. Hence, we recommend that medical educators to be more aware of the varieties of learning style preferences in order to improve the quality of teaching and learning experiences.
Fulltext Islamic moral judgement on resuscitation issue: nursing perspective.

Mohamad Firdaus bin M. Ismail, Mohd Said bin Nurumal,, Muhammad Lokman bin Md Isa, Abdurezak A. Hashi

IIUM Medical Journal Malaysia, 2018;17(102):81-90.
MyJurnal

The primary goals of resuscitation are to preserve life, restore health, relieve suffering and limit disability. As nurses, executing the cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to a patient experiencing cardio-pulmonary arrest is essential in preserving life. However nurses face a dilemma in the decision making to either preserve the patient’s life or let the patient die naturally, if the patient’s autonomy as well as his family’s wish for a “do not resuscitate (DNR)” order. In this dilemma, the sanctity of life and the right to die is the main concern of this discussion. Islamic moral judgment, as the major concern here, should be studied as an alternative to analyse and provide a guideline that is in accordance with the Islamic teaching. Thus, this research is to provide the Islamic moral judgment on the resuscitation issue and its implication in nursing practices. The western ethics that represent the current practices on resuscitation is not included. The comparison was then made with the ultimate origin of Islamic teaching iethe Qur’an and Sunnah, as well as the notions of Muslim scholars on the subject. As the physician opines that CPR is to be beneficial to rescue a life, therefore refusing it may be considered as immoral. However, the DNR order is entirely acceptable if the doctor believes that CPR is futile and gives no benefit to the patient. The doctor has the authority to issue a DNR order if he is certain that the patient would not benefit from CPR without getting consent from the patient or his relative. Nursing implications: As nurses facilitate patients and family members in forming a decision about end of life hence engaging a comprehensive view of DNR based on Islamic teaching would provide an informed choice when advising a Muslim patient and family. The area to investigate would be on the degree of knowledge among nurses regarding the Islamic moral judgement on this matter is highly recommended for future management.

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