Skyscrapers have been constructed all over the world because of the social demand for more iconic building, including excellent aerodynamic performance and architectural aesthetic reasons. However, the increasing high-rise buildings in densely built-up cities created low velocity air flow caused by the phenomena of flow separation at pedestrian level and also exerts drag force on the building walls that may affect the occupants’ and pedestrians’ comfort. Therefore, the objective of this study is to investigate the drag force and pedestrian level wind condition of 15 skyscrapers in Kuala Lumpur of various designs and shapes by using Solidworks Flow Simulation. The effect of the height of surrounding buildings were also investigated. From the results, the bamboo shape of the Telekom tower shows the lowest drag coefficient by 0.1056 compared to others and the ratio of surrounding building height to skyscraper of 0.83 shows the smallest drag.
Pigment-producing microorganisms have become a main focus due to the search
of food-grade microbial pigments for natural food colourant industry. Therefore,
this study aimed to isolate and genetically identify bacteria including pigmentproducing
bacterial strains associated with the tentacles of Holothuria
(Lessonothuria) pardalis (Selenka 1867) from Pulau Tinggi, Johor.
Morphological characteristics of bacteria based on Gram staining were observed
using a digital compound microscope. Partial 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene
sequencing was also incorporated to support the morphological approach. A
number of six partial gene sequences of non-protein coding 16S rRNA were
obtained and the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) analysis
suggested the presence of three known bacteria species from the genera of
Pseudomonas, Chryseobacterium and Klebsiella. The neighbourhood-joining
method and Maximum Likelihood method used in the phylogenetic analysis
supported the identification and classification of the bacteria species. Among the
bacterial isolates, only strain B14 identified as Chryseobacterium sp. produced
pigment i.e. orange pigment. The highest point of cell density of
Chryseobacterium sp. was recorded at 16 hours. However, further analysis is
needed to confirm the pigment characterisation and the potential of this pigment
to be exploited as natural colourant in the food industry.
Management of disturbed wounds, large skin defects and the areas where skin tension precludes wound closure is of high clinical importance. Healing in wounds occurs through epithelization and contraction processes (second-intentions healing) that may result in certain undesirable complications including keloid and formation of a fragile epithelial layer.Materials and methods: 27 white New Zealand rabbit included in this study divided into 3 groups; one group of 9 rabbits received Flaxseed gel topically for three time intervals (1, 7, and 14 days); a second group received Fucidin cream as positive control, while a third group has not received any treatment as negative control, Skin elasticity measurements were performed using the DermaLab system. Results: Throughout the study, skin elasticity was significantly greater in Flaxseed group than in others. Flaxseed decrease elasticity value from (3.46 ± 2.05). Hence, Young's modulus of skin elasticity in flaxseed group was (2.46 ± 1.02) after 14 days (p = 0.003), while no significant differences were evident in both Fucidin group (1.16 ± 0.77) and non-treated group (1.86 ± 1.40) (p = 0.019), accordingly flaxseed extract more reproducible than other groups demonstrating comparable efficacy in skin elasticity and distensibility.Conclusions: This study showed the therapeutic effect of flaxseed on biologic tissue. Elasticity evaluation demonstrated increased density and firmness in the network of collagen fibers in the dermis and subcutis during wound healing process promise in generating therapeutic gel to be used in wound healing process.
Meat is a rich source of energy that provides high-value animal protein, fats, vitamins, minerals and trace amounts of carbohydrates. Globally, different types of meats are consumed to fulfill nutritional requirements. However, the increasing burden on the livestock industry has triggered the mixing of high-price meat species with low-quality/-price meat. This work aimed to differentiate different meat samples on the basis of metabolites. The metabolic difference between various meat samples was investigated through Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy coupled with multivariate data analysis approaches like principal component analysis (PCA) and orthogonal partial least square-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA). In total, 37 metabolites were identified in the gluteal muscle tissues of cow, goat, donkey and chicken using 1H-NMR spectroscopy. PCA was found unable to completely differentiate between meat types, whereas OPLS-DA showed an apparent separation and successfully differentiated samples from all four types of meat. Lactate, creatine, choline, acetate, leucine, isoleucine, valine, formate, carnitine, glutamate, 3-hydroxybutyrate and α-mannose were found as the major discriminating metabolites between white (chicken) and red meat (chevon, beef and donkey). However, inosine, lactate, uracil, carnosine, format, pyruvate, carnitine, creatine and acetate were found responsible for differentiating chevon, beef and donkey meat. The relative quantification of differentiating metabolites was performed using one-way ANOVA and Tukey test. Our results showed that NMR-based metabolomics is a powerful tool for the identification of novel signatures (potential biomarkers) to characterize meats from different sources and could potentially be used for quality control purposes in order to differentiate different meat types.
Level of heavy metals in marine ecosystem has been intensively studied during recent years as these hazardous substances could be accumulated in the biota. Generally, the presence of contaminants in fish is a result of human activities such as industrial and agricultural wastes. In this study, the marine fish and shellfish from the Straits of Malacca were analyzed using Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrophotometer (ICP-OES) and Flow Injection Mercury System (FIMS) for Cd, As and Pb and Hg, respectively. The Straits of Malacca is one of the busiest shipping routes in the world that make the level of heavy metals potentially high besides the various industrial activities along the west region of Peninsular Malaysia. The range of heavy metals in samples were 1.0-3-6.5-3 µg/ g wet sample for Hg, 0.5-2-47-2 µg/ g wet sample for Cd, 0.01-0.39 µg/ g wet sample for Pb and 0.14-6.57 µg/ g wet sample for As. Most part of the values was below the permitted limit set by FAO/WHO 2004 as well as Food Act 1983 and Food Regulations 1985. Therefore it can be generalized that fish and shellfish from the Straits of Malacca are safe to consume in terms of these heavy metals concentrationand do not constitute a risk for human health.
Novel series of disulfide and sulfone hybrid analogs (1-20) were synthesized and characterized through EI-MS and (1)H NMR and evaluated for β-glucuronidase inhibitory potential. All synthesized analogs except 13 and 15 showed excellent β-glucuronidase inhibitory potential with IC50 value ranging in between 2.20-88.16μM as compared to standard d-saccharic acid 1,4 lactone (48.4±1.25μM). Analogs 19, 16, 4, 1, 17, 6, 10, 3, 18, 2, 11, 14 and 5 showed many fold potent activity against β-glucuronidase inhibitor. Structure activity relationship showed that substitution of electron withdrawing groups at ortho as well as para position on phenyl ring increase potency. Electron withdrawing groups at meta position on phenyl ring showed slightly low potency as compared to ortho and para position. The binding interactions were confirmed through molecular docking studies.
Recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP) is a rare cause of childhood stridor which typically presents before the age of five years and results from the vertical transmission of the human papilloma virus. Genotypes 11 and 6 are commonly implicated in RRP. Following vertical transmission, the human papilloma virus (HPV) causes overgrowth of the airway epithelium which causes partial airway obstruction and the symptoms of stridor. The mainstay management is surgical debridement of the papillomata but the recurrence rate subsequent to surgery is high, such that most children will require repeated surgical procedures at regular interval. Medical adjuvant therapy can be used, but data is limited and the medications are used on an off-label basis. This case highlights the ethical considerations that need to be made when using off-label medications in paediatric patients.
Cardiovascular endurance is considered the most vital aspect of fitness due to its direct impact on
human performance. For any uniform arm units to discharge their duties effectively, they need to
meet up to the requirement of highest physical fitness level in respective of their body characteristics.
This study aims to predict the relationship of physical characteristics and fitness variables on
cardiovascular endurance performance among armed uniform package unit of Universiti Sultan
Zainal Abidin. A total of 26 participants mean age and standard deviation of (±20.45 and 2.0)
randomly selected from the three co-arm units of the university took part in this study. Standard
physical characteristics measurement and fitness tests were conducted, and multiple linear regression
was applied to predict their cardiovascular endurance performance as the dependent variables on their
body characteristics and performance of physical fitness as the independent variable. A significant
regression equation was obtained F (9, 16) = 4.97, p < 0.05, R2
= 0.74 indicating that the model
accounted for approximately 74% variability of the whole data set. Sensitivity prediction analysis of
the contributions of each variable revealed that height, speed, agility, upper body strength and core
body strength are factors to cardiovascular endurance p < 0.05 while, weight, waist circumference,
neck circumference and flexibility were not predictors to cardiovascular endurance p > 0.05. To
improve the cardiovascular performance of uniform arm units, certain physical and fitness variables
have to be considered for an effective discharge of their duties.
Introduction: Lack of knowledge and negative attitude towards HIV/AIDS may be the risk factors for HIV infection among transsexuals. Research on knowledge and attitude towards HIV infection in transsexual communities is very limited at both local and international levels. This study aimed to assess the knowledge and attitude towards HIV infection among the male-to-female transsexual community in Kuantan, Pahang.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out from July to August 2014 among 33 male-to-female transsexuals in Kuantan, Pahang. Convenience sampling was used. Participants who gave consent answered a self-administered questionnaire. Data obtained was analyzed with descriptive statistics, χ2-test, and independent sample t test.
Results: The majority of the subjects in this study were 29 years and below (48.5%), Muslims (93.9%), and had completed up to secondary education (60.6%). Most of them were sex workers (60.6%), and had relatively low income (no income to RM 3000, mean of RM1528). A total of 87.9% of the subjects demonstrated good knowledge and also positive attitude towards HIV/AIDS. Level of education was significantly associated with scores in knowledge (p=0.01).
Conclusions: Despite the positive outcome from this study, misconceptions towards HIV/AIDS still exist among transsexuals. Education and interventions from multiple directions on HIV/AIDS are essential to deliver the correct information to this population, so as to emphasize prevention, early detection, and holistic medical care. Transsexuals also require attention from religious bodies and non-governmental organizations to help them in employment, financial, spiritual, and psycho-social issues.
Background: A randomised single blinded clinical trial comparing the effectiveness of two methods of cataract surgery with intraocular lens implantation: extracapsular cataract extraction (ECCE) and phacoemulsification (PEA) was carried out at Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (HUKM) between March 2000 and August 2001. Methods: The effectiveness of cataract surgery was assessed from the quality of life specifically for vision via Visual Function 14 (VF-14) preoperatively, one week, two months and six months after surgery. Results: The result showed that there was a significant increased in VF-14 scores after a week, two months and six months postoperation compared to the score before surgery for both techniques. However there was no significant difference in VF-14 scores when compared between ECCE and PEA. Conclusions: This study indicated that both techniques give equal benefit to cataract patients. Since effectiveness of cataract surgery with intraocular lens implantation is unrelated to operative procedures, less costly technique should be promoted.
Background: Safety and health audit study is a part of occupational safety and health risk assesment. Thus, student’s residential audit is important in order tu ensure the safety rules which implemented by the management is appropriate and follow the standard set forth. Furthermore, it also important to determine places, area or situation that might lead to hazard risk so that prevention step could be plan and implement.
Objective: This study was to determine the safety level of students residential in physical aspects.
Methods: Safety inspection or audit conducted is in accordance with criteria and indicators listed in the checklists that have been formed based on the audit forms from the Department of Safety and Health (DOSH), National Institute of Safety and health (NIOSH) and the Occupational Safety and Health Committee of UKMs (JKKP). Several indicators are also included in the audit form as to ensure it covers all the technical aspect and suited with the college conditions. The safety level for each of the blocks in KDO is categorized using points and percentage score obtained.
Results: Based on the overall score, the average safety score in percentage for areas in KDO are preceded by general office with score 85.5% followed by residential blocks with 71.5%, facilities with score 71.2% and administration block with 70.9%. The results of the study show that most of the areas are at least in a safe level.
Conclusion: Roles of employer and college administration, significant OSH programme and safety audit are important factors as to ensure the safety of student's residential college.
The preparation, physical and mechanical properties of Al/B4C composites with 5 and 10 wt.% reinforcement content were investigated. In order to obtain the feedstock with a low powder loading, B4C mixtures containing fine powders were investigated to obtain the optimal particle packing. The experimental results indicated that the fine containing 5 and 10 wt.% particles are able to prepare the feedstock with a good flowability. The composites fabricated by powder metallurgy have low densities and homogeneous microstructures. Additionally there is no interface reaction observed between the reinforcement and matrix by XRD analysis. The hardness of Al/B4C composites prepared by powder metallurgy was high.
A survey on the diversity of marine macrogastropoda
in Pulau Songsong, Pulau Bidan and Pulau Telor on the
Northern Straits of Malacca was conducted. Specimens
were collected on rocky shores following NaGISA protocol
and the number of marine macrogastropod were recorded.
Distances and the number of the same species were
converted into Relative Abundance unit (individuals per
100 m2
). A total of 15 species of marine macrogastropoda
were found from seven families namely Neritidae,
Trochidae, Ceriitidae, Littorinidae, Turbinidae, Muricidae
and Potamididae. Seven macrogastropoda species were
newly recorded from these three islands. Morula marginatra
was the most dominant species and Pulau Songsong had
the highest genera and species diversity among the three
islands. (Copied from article).
Vulvo-vaginal haematomas are not an uncommon obstetric complication. Despite advances in obstetric care, practice and technique, vulvo-vaginal haematomas do occur especially in complicated vaginal deliveries. Various management options are available for vulvo-vaginal haematomas. We describe three cases of vulvo-vaginal haematomas with different severity and presentations which were managed in different manners i.e. local haemostasis control, laparotomy with hysterectomy, and transarterial embolisation. The choice of treatment options would mainly depend on the clinical presentations, availability of expertise as well as facilities. Early identification is crucial.
This paper investigate the effect of parents’ education background and family monthly income on the Intelligence Quotient
(IQ) of students with special needs in Kelantan, Malaysia. This cross-sectional method study was employed multistage
random sampling to obtain information drawn from 130 participants from 10 selected school in Kelantan, Malaysia.
Questionnaire was used to obtain parents’ education background, family monthly income and demographic variables.
Students IQ were assessed using Comprehensive Test for Non-Verbal Intelligence (CTONI 2nd Edition). Data analysis involve
independent sample t-test, one-way between group ANOVA, Pearson’s correlation and multiple linear regression. From
analysis of IQ score, 63.8% of the special needs students scored very poor IQ, 12.3% scored below average and only
1.5% score average IQ. Significant mean difference were revealed between age group (p = 0.002), parents’ education (p
= 0.018) and family monthly income (p < 0.05) on special needs students IQ. Post-hoc tukey shows significance between
parents who never went to school, went to secondary school (p = 0.037) and university/college (p = 0.021). In term of
family monthly income, significance difference were found between family with low and high monthly income (p < 0.05).
Family monthly income (r = 0.393, p < 0.01) showed positive moderate correlation on special needs students IQ. After
being forwarded by multiple linear regression, it was found that family monthly income (B = 3.605, p < 0.05) and age
group of special needs students (B = 0.879, p = 0.002) were significant predictor for IQ score and explained 22.5% of
the variance (R2
= 0.225, F (5,124) = 83.94, p < 0.05. Overally, majority of special needs students in current study have
very poor IQ score. Further explanation are discussed on the paper.
Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an inflammatory disease of the colon that severely affects the quality of life of patients and usually responds well to anti-inflammatory agents for symptomatic relief; however, many patients need colectomy, a surgical procedure to remove whole or part of the colon. Though various types of pharmacological agents have been employed for the management of UC, the lack of effectiveness is usually predisposed to various reasons including lack of target-specific delivery of drugs and insufficient drug accumulation at the target site. To overcome these glitches, many researchers have designed and characterized various types of versatile polymeric biomaterials to achieve target-specific delivery of drugs via oral route to optimize their targeting efficiency to the colon, to improve drug accumulation at the target site, as well as to ameliorate off-target effects of chemotherapy. Therefore, the aim of this review was to summarize and critically discuss the pharmaceutical significance and therapeutic feasibility of a wide range of natural and synthetic biomaterials for efficient drug targeting to colon and rationalized treatment of UC. Among various types of biomaterials, natural and synthetic polymer-based hydrogels have shown promising targeting potential due to their innate pH responsiveness, sustained and controlled release characteristics, and microbial degradation in the colon to release the encapsulated drug moieties. These characteristic features make natural and synthetic polymer-based hydrogels superior to conventional pharmacological strategies for the management of UC.
Hematospermia is a distressing disorder in sexually active men resulting in great concern to the patient. We report an unusual case of hematospermia with an atypical presentation, involving a 54-year-old man presented with acute urinary retention after sexual intercourse. Although the causes are widely known, arteriovenous malformation as the cause of this disorder has not much been reported in the literature. Transcatheter embolization of internal pudendal artery is a promising option for hematospermia caused by arterial fistula or bleeding.
In this paper, the wear properties of nano-filled Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) composite are
studied based on the effects of the architecture of the glass fibre and test environment. Wear tests were
done under two different conditions; dry environment test and wet environment test. The dry and wet
environment tests were conducted using the abrasion resistance tester (TR600) and slurry erosion tester,
respectively; the slurry mixture of sand and water were used in the wet environment test. Two types of
glass fibres architecture were understudied; unidirectional and woven. It was found that 3 wt.% filler
content is the optimum amount to be used for the GFRP composite. Unidirectional nano-filled GFRP
composites exhibited the lowest wear rates due to their closely aligned glass fibre arrangement. The
unidirectional fibre alignment provided less empty spots for the interlocking process to take place, thus
reducing the ploughing action of wearing. However, when tested in the wet environment, effects of
other testing parameters such as the architecture of fibre and filler contents became less significant. The
composites, which were tested in wet environment, showed the lowest wear rates compared to the ones
tested in the dry environment. This is due to the presence of water that helps to wash away the pulverised
glass fibre, thus reducing the friction and the three-body wear effect
Previous studies have proven the existence of a complex association
between progressive kidney damage and hypercholesterolemia. Most studies focused on
the impact of chronic high blood cholesterol levels on the kidney. Information on the
early effect of hypercholesterolemia on the kidney is still lacking. The aim of this study
was therefore to determine early effect of high cholesterol diet on the kidney in an
animal model. (Copied from article).
MGMT (O6
-Methylguanine-DNA Methyltransferase) suppresses tumor development by removing alkyl adduct, while
SPOCK2 (SPARC/Osteonectin CWCV and Kazal-like domains proteoglycan) abolishes the inhibition of membrane-type
matrix metalloproteinases (MT-MMP) which leads to angiogenesis. Hence, MGMT methylation may initiate malignant cells
transformation. In contrast, SPOCK2 methylation is hypothesized not to be a common event in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma
(DLBCL). In this study, we examined the methylation status of MGMT and SPOCK2 in DLBCL as in Malaysia the information
is extremely lacking. A total of 88 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue of patients diagnosed with DLBCL from the
year 2006 to 2013 were retrieved from Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kelantan and Hospital Tengku Ampuan Afzan,
Pahang. Methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MSP) was used to examine the methylation status of both genes.
Interestingly, methylation of MGMT was detected in all the 88 DLBCL samples, whereas SPOCK2 was found to be methylated
in 83 of 88 (94.3%) DLBCL cases. Our study showed a remarkably high percentage of promoter methylation of both
MGMT and SPOCK2 genes. Our finding also negates initial expectation that SPOCK2 methylation would be an uncommon
event in the majority of DLBCL cases. This study has shown a very high percentage of promoter methylation of MGMT and
SPOCK2 in the DLBCL cases studied by MSP, using archival lymphoma tissues. Nonetheless, additional research is needed
to quantitatively evaluate MGMT and SPOCK2 methylation, and to analyse gene expression and/or protein expression in
order to further understand the role of MGMT and SPOCK2 methylation in the pathogenesis of DLBCL.