Displaying publications 301 - 320 of 949 in total

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  1. Alhassan Salami Tijani, Nazri Mohammed, Werner Witt
    MyJurnal
    Industrial heat pumps are heat-recovery systems that allow the temperature of waste-heat stream to be increased to a higher, more efficient temperature. Consequently, heat pumps can improve energy efficiency in industrial processes as well as energy savings when conventional passive-heat recovery is not possible. In this paper, possible ways of saving energy in the chemical industry are considered, the objective is to reduce the primary energy (such as coal) consumption of power plant. Particularly the thermodynamic analyses of integrating backpressure turbine of a power plant with distillation units have been considered. Some practical examples such as conventional distillation unit and heat pump are used as a means of reducing primary energy consumption with tangible indications of energy savings. The heat pump distillation is operated via electrical power from the power plant. The exergy efficiency of the primary fuel is calculated for different operating range of the heat pump distillation. This is then compared with a conventional distillation unit that depends on saturated steam from a power plant as the source of energy. The results obtained show that heat pump distillation is an economic way to save energy if the temperature difference between the overhead and the bottom is small. Based on the result, the energy saved by the application of a heat pump distillation is improved compared to conventional distillation unit.
    Matched MeSH terms: Power Plants
  2. Nita Salina Abu Bakar, Zal U’yun Wan Mahmood, Ahmad Saat, Abdul Kadir Ishak
    MyJurnal
    Anthropogenic airborne depositions of 210Po,
    210Pb and 210Po/210Pb in the mosses and surface soils
    collected at the vicinity of a coal-fired power plant were studied. The purpose of the study was to
    determine activity concentrations of 210Po,
    210Pb and 210Po/210Pb for assessing their variation
    accumulation in the mosses and surface soils collected at the vicinity of a coal-fired power plant.
    Other purposes were to determine their concentration factor (CF) in relation to track the potential
    source of those radionuclides and to identify most suitable moss species as a biological indicator
    for atmospheric deposition contaminants. In this study, different species of moss Leucobryum
    aduncum, Campylopus serratus, Syrrhopodon ciliates and Vesicularia montagnei were collected in
    May 2011 at the area around 15 km radius from Tanjung Bin coal-fired power plant located in
    Pontian, Johor. The activity concentrations of 210Po,
    210Pb and 210Po/210Pb in mosses were in the
    range of 76.81 ± 4.94 – 251.33 ± 16.33 Bq/kg dry wt., 54.37 ± 3.38 – 164.63 ± 11.64 Bq/kg dry wt.
    and 1.10 – 2.00, respectively. Meanwhile the ranges for those radionuclides in the surface soil
    were 33.53 ± 2.10 – 179.67 ± 12.15 Bq/kg dry wt., 20.55 ± 1.33 – 106.62 ± 6.64 Bq/kg dry wt. and
    1.61 – 2.44, respectively. Corresponding high ability of Leucobryum aduncum to accumulate more
    210Po and 210Pb, wide geographical distribution, most abundant and high CF, therefore, the
    findings can be concluded this species was the most suitable as a biological indicator for
    atmospheric deposition contaminants such as 210Po and 210Pb. Furthermore, it is clear the
    accumulation of 210Po and 210Pb in mosses might be supplied from various sources of atmospheric
    deposition such as coal-fired power plant operation, industrial, agriculture and fertilizer activities,
    burned fuel fossil and forest; and other potential sources. Meanwhile, the
    Matched MeSH terms: Power Plants
  3. MyJurnal
    Genetically modified organisms (GMO) are increased remarkably from year to year and the estimated global area cultivated with genetically modified (GM) crops reached 125 million hectares in year 2008. However, insect resistance maize based on Bacillus thuringienses (Bt) is of the most cultivated GM crop in worldwide. Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is an aerobic, gram-positive bacterium that synthesize one or more Cry protein that are toxic to various types crop and forestry insects pests. To date, several cry genes have been introduced into GM plant to combat with various type of insect. Worldwide commercialization of GM crops has raised the customers’ concern about the Biosafety issues, and thus, many countries have implemented the labeling legislations for GM food and their derivatives. In this study, we introduced the quantitative analysis method based on the recombinant plasmid DNA as calibrators that can be used to determine the percentage of GMO content in various types of food and feed samples. Therefore, we have reported 7.5% (6/80) of the samples were contained StarLink maize and 1.25% (1/80) samples were contained Bt176 maize. Additionally, the percentage of GM content in each positive sample were further determined with the developed quantitative method. The percentage of the StarLink corns that present in the positive samples were varies from 0.09% to 2.53% and Bt176 corn that present in the positive sample was 16.90%. The present study demonstrated that the recombinant plasmid DNA that used in quantitative real-time method as good alternative quantitative analysis of GM content.
    Matched MeSH terms: Plants, Genetically Modified
  4. O'Brien MJ, Ong R, Reynolds G
    Glob Chang Biol, 2017 10;23(10):4235-4244.
    PMID: 28192618 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.13658
    Precipitation patterns are changing across the globe causing more severe and frequent drought for many forest ecosystems. Although research has focused on the resistance of tree populations and communities to these novel precipitation regimes, resilience of forests is also contingent on recovery following drought, which remains poorly understood, especially in aseasonal tropical forests. We used rainfall exclusion shelters to manipulate the interannual frequency of drought for diverse seedling communities in a tropical forest and assessed resistance, recovery and resilience of seedling growth and mortality relative to everwet conditions. We found seedlings exposed to recurrent periods of drought altered their growth rates throughout the year relative to seedlings in everwet conditions. During drought periods, seedlings grew slower than seedlings in everwet conditions (i.e., resistance phase) while compensating with faster growth after drought (i.e., recovery phase). However, the response to frequent drought was species dependent as some species grew significantly slower with frequent drought relative to everwet conditions while others grew faster with frequent drought due to overcompensating growth during the recovery phase. In contrast, mortality was unrelated to rainfall conditions and instead correlated with differences in light. Intra-annual plasticity of growth and increased annual growth of some species led to an overall maintenance of growth rates of tropical seedling communities in response to more frequent drought. These results suggest these communities can potentially adapt to predicted climate change scenarios and that plasticity in the growth of species, and not solely changes in mortality rates among species, may contribute to shifts in community composition under drought.
    Matched MeSH terms: Plants
  5. Sayyad M, Tiang N, Kumari Y, Goh BH, Jaiswal Y, Rosli R, et al.
    Saudi Pharm J, 2017 Feb;25(2):196-205.
    PMID: 28344469 DOI: 10.1016/j.jsps.2016.05.002
    Swietenia macrophylla (SM) is a medicinally important plant found in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. The ethyl acetate fraction of the seeds of S. macrophylla (SMEAF) is reported to exhibit potent anticancer, antitumor, anti-inflammatory and antifeedant activities. Till date, there have been no studies reported on the acute oral toxicity profile of the ethyl acetate fraction of the seeds of SM. The objective of the present study was to determine the acute toxicity of SMEAF and evaluate the in-vitro neuroprotective activity of SMEAF using primary neuronal cell cultures. In acute oral toxicity study, the SMEAF did not produce any lethal signs of morbidity and mortality. Histo-pathological findings, support the safety of SMEAF, as there were no significant changes observed in any of the parameters studied. Based on the results obtained in MTT assay, we infer that SMEAF has a significant neuroprotective effect, as it increased the cell viability and exhibited protection to the neuronal cells against TBHP induced oxidative stress. Thus, SMEAF can be suggested for use in the development of herbal drug formulations with neuroprotective potential.
    Matched MeSH terms: Plants, Medicinal
  6. Masitah Alias, Zaini Hamzah
    MyJurnal
    The growing concern over the workers safety and health has lead many factories and organizations do the air monitoring to ensure the airborne at their workplace is safe for the worker’s health and complying the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 (Act 514). In this study, the monitoring covers an indoor air quality and chemical exposure to the workers in one of the power plant repair shop. A few workers from different sections namely blasting, welding, grinding, fitting and maintenance area were chosen to assist in the personal monitoring for 8 hours measurement. PM10 were measured at a few sampling points to collect dusts for 24 hours duration. The samples were brought back to the laboratory for gravimetric and SEM-EDAX analysis. The results were certainly exceed the limit for air quality, and many elements were detected such as Fe, Ni, Al, Si, Ca, K, Ba, S, Cr, Zn and Cl. The present of these elements shows that exposure to these particulate matters is quite risky and some measure needs to be taken for remedial action.
    Matched MeSH terms: Power Plants
  7. Ibrahim Jantan
    MyJurnal
    This paper outlines the past five decades of scientific interests and advances in medicinal plant research in Malaysia. Initially the prime interest of research programmes has been on phytochemical studies leading to the discovery of biologically active compounds as chemical templates to produce new drug candidates. As the Malaysian herbal medicine market experiences an extraordinary growth, the research approaches taken have recently included activities to develop herbal medicines into quality, efficacious and safe products for human consumption. Advances in chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques have had a tremendous impact on the isolation and structure elucidation of the constituents of medicinal plants. The development of a series of bioassay methodologies and utilization of bioassay-guided isolation techniques have contributed significantly to the progress of medicinal plant research in Malaysia. Research work on some medicinal plants carried out by the local scientists will be illustrated as examples.
    Matched MeSH terms: Plants, Medicinal
  8. Rodrigues, K. F., Tam, H. K.
    MyJurnal
    This paper describes the first reported attempt to isolate DNA sequences containing repeat motifs in Eurycoma longifolia and Orthosiphon stamineus. A library enriched for genomic repeat motifs was developed using novel oligonucleotides designed with inosine residues incorporated at predetermined positions. A total of eight and twelve specific molecular markers were developed for O. stamineus and E. longifolia respectively. These markers have a potential application in estimating population diversity levels and QTL mapping in these two medicinal plants, which are widely used in the Malaysian herbal industry.
    Matched MeSH terms: Plants, Medicinal
  9. Ng, Inn Khuan, Kok, Kuan Ying, Nur Ubaidah Saidin, Choo, Thye Foo
    MyJurnal
    Thermoelectric nanostructures hold great promise for capturing and directly converting into electricity some vast amount of low-grade waste heats now being lost to the environment (e.g. from nuclear power plant, fossil fuel burning, automotives and household appliances). In this study, large-area vertically-aligned silicon nanowire (SiNW) arrays were synthesized in an aqueous solution containing AgN•i and HF on p-type Si (100) substrate by self-selective electroless etching process. The etching conditions were systematically varied in order to achieve different stages of nanowire formation. Diameters of the SiNWs obtained varied from approximately 50 to 200 nm and their lengths ranged from several to a few tens of um. Te/Bi2Tex.Si thermoelectric core-shell nanostructures were subsequently obtained via galvanic displacement of SiNWs in acidic HF electrolytes containing HTe02+ and 139' /HTe02+ ions. The reactions were basically a nano-electrochemical process due to the difference in redox potentials between the materials. The surface-modified SiNWs of core-shell structures had roughened surface morphologies and, therefore, higher surface-to-bulk ratios compared to unmodified SiNWs. They have potential applications in sensors, photovoltaic and thermoelectric nanodevices. Growth study on the SiNWs and core-shell nanostructures produced is presented using various microscopy, diffraction and probe-based techniques for microstructural, morphological and chemical characterizations.
    Matched MeSH terms: Nuclear Power Plants
  10. Lim BL, Omar-Ahmad UD
    Med J Malaya, 1969 Mar;23(3):208-13.
    PMID: 4240076
    Matched MeSH terms: Plants
  11. Muhammad Adil Khattak, Muhammad Khairy Harmaini Shaharuddin, Muhammad Saiful Islam Haris, Muhammad Zuhaili Mohammad Aminuddin, Nik Mohamad Amirul Nik Azhar, Nik Muhammad Hakimi Nik Ahmad
    MyJurnal
    It is essential to ensure the nuclear power plant system are not compromise and avoid
    failure that can result in significant economic loss and physical damage to the public.
    However, a very little attention was given to software and cybersecurity hazard. This
    review paper discusses about the cybersecurity in nuclear power plant, history of
    accident, implementation and future plan on cybersecurity deeply. About 51 published
    studies (2006-2017) are reviewed in this paper. It is marked from the literature survey
    articles that it is important for the cybersecurity of a nuclear power plant to be at par
    with the evolution of hardware and software and to counter the increasing risk on
    cyber vulnerabilities. Moreover, it should be addressed as a concern and major priority
    for researches and policy-makers.
    Matched MeSH terms: Nuclear Power Plants
  12. Mohammed Abdulrazzaq Assi
    MyJurnal
    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.
    Matched MeSH terms: Plants, Medicinal
  13. Mohd Mahathir Suhaimi Shamsuri, Leman, A.M.
    MyJurnal
    Indoor pollution increasingly becomes a public concern. These concerns are related to energy efficiency in a
    building. There are various ways in which it can ensure energy conservation can be achieved, including superinsulation
    and reduced fresh air exchange. As a result, indoor air becomes stagnant and odours, thereafter contaminants of air will
    accumulate and will certainly disrupt human health. It is quite difficult to make people comfortable in a building with
    consumption of energy-saving and human health guaranteed. Indoor plants are one of the alternative solutions that
    have been studied since the last three decades. This paper intends to review the abilities of indoor plants to purify air,
    and the ways used by previous researchers to prove that indoor plants can treat the air. In general, it can be stated that
    indoor plants are able to absorb various types of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). An advantage of indoor plants
    to cure air from carcinogen gas is greatly needed for human health. Therefore, studies on indoor plants to neutralize
    the air are gaining attention. Enclosed space or chamber is often used by researchers to test the ability of indoor plants
    absorb gaseous toxins in their study; because it is easy to handle and can quickly determine the absorption rate. In the
    other hand, environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, and light are important to be taken into consideration
    during the study. As a conclusion, it can be stated that the existence of indoor plants in a building is very reasonable,
    because it can give positive impacts on human health and the total energy consumption.
    Matched MeSH terms: Plants
  14. Zainah Adam, Shafii Khamis, Amin Ismail, Muhajir Hamid
    MyJurnal
    Ficus deltoidea or locally known as Mas cotek is one of the common medicinal plants used in
    Malaysia. Our previous studies showed that this plant have blood glucose lowering effect. Glucose
    uptake into muscle and adipocytes cells is one of the known mechanisms of blood glucose lowering
    effect. This study was performed to evaluate the effect of Ficus deltoidea on glucose uptake activity
    into muscle cells. The cells were incubated with Ficus deltoidea extracts either a,lone or combination
    with insulin. Amount of glucose uptake by L6 myotubes was determined using glucose tracer, 2-deoxy-
    [l-:-Hj-glucose. The results showed that Ficus deltoidea extracts at particular doses enhanced basal or
    insulin-mediated glucose uptake into muscle cells significantly. Hot aqueous extract enhanced glucose
    uptake at the low concentration (10 pg/ml) whereas methanolic extract enhanced basal glucose uptake
    at high concentrations (500 and 1000 fig/ml). Meanwhile, ethanolic extract enhanced glucose uptake at
    low and high concentrations. Methanolic extract also mimicked insulin activity during enhancing
    glucose uptake into L6 muscle cells. Glucose uptake activity of Ficus deltoidea could be attributed by
    the phenolic compounds presence in the plant. This study had shown that Ficus deltoidea has the
    ability to enhance glucose uptake into muscle cells which is partly contributed the antidiabetic activity
    of this plant.
    Matched MeSH terms: Plants, Medicinal
  15. Tan HL, Chan KG, Pusparajah P, Duangjai A, Saokaew S, Mehmood Khan T, et al.
    Front Pharmacol, 2016;7:362.
    PMID: 27774066
    Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in both the developed and developing world. Rhizoma coptidis (RC), known as Huang Lian in China, is the dried rhizome of medicinal plants from the family Ranunculaceae, such as Coptis chinensis Franch, C. deltoidea C.Y. Cheng et Hsiao, and C. teeta Wall which has been used by Chinese medicinal physicians for more than 2000 years. In China, RC is a common component in traditional medicines used to treat CVD associated problems including obesity, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, hyperglycemia and disorders of lipid metabolism. In recent years, numerous scientific studies have sought to investigate the biological properties of RC to provide scientific evidence for its traditional medical uses. RC has been found to exert significant beneficial effects on major risk factors for CVDs including anti-atherosclerotic effect, lipid-lowering effect, anti-obesity effect and anti-hepatic steatosis effect. It also has myocardioprotective effect as it provides protection from myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury. These properties have been attributed to the presence of bioactive compounds contained in RC such as berberine, coptisine, palmatine, epiberberine, jatrorrhizine, and magnoflorine; all of which have been demonstrated to have cardioprotective effects on the various parameters contributing to the occurrence of CVD through a variety of pathways. The evidence available in the published literature indicates that RC is a herb with tremendous potential to reduce the risks of CVDs, and this review aims to summarize the cardioprotective properties of RC with reference to the published literature which overall indicates that RC is a herb with remarkable potential to reduce the risks and damage caused by CVDs.
    Matched MeSH terms: Plants, Medicinal
  16. Samad AFA, Sajad M, Jani J, Murad AMA, Ismail I
    Data Brief, 2018 Oct;20:555-557.
    PMID: 30197911 DOI: 10.1016/j.dib.2018.08.034
    Degradome sequencing referred as parallel analysis of RNA ends (PARE) by modifying 5'-rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) with deep sequencing method. Deep sequencing of 5' products allow the determination of cleavage sites through the mapping of degradome fragments against small RNAs (miRNA or siRNA) on a large scale. Here, we carried out degradome sequencing in medicinal plant, Persicaria minor, to identify cleavage sites in small RNA libraries in control (mock-inoculated) and Fusarium oxysporum treated plants. The degradome library consisted of both control and treated samples which were pooled together during library preparation and named as D4. The D4 dataset have been deposited at GenBank under accession number SRX3921398, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra/SRX3921398.
    Matched MeSH terms: Plants, Medicinal
  17. Lee NLY, Huang D, Quek ZBR, Lee JN, Wainwright BJ
    Front Microbiol, 2019;10:2456.
    PMID: 31736902 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.02456
    Marine fungi on the whole remain understudied, especially in the highly diverse Southeast Asian region. We investigated the fungal communities associated with the mangrove tree Avicennia alba throughout Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia. At each sampling location, we examined ten individual trees, collecting leaves, fruits, pneumatophores, and an adjacent sediment sample from each plant. Amplicon sequencing of the fungal internal transcribed spacer 1 and subsequent analyses reveal significant differences in fungal communities collected from different locations and host structures. Mantel tests and multiple regression on distance matrices show a significant pattern of distance decay with samples collected close to one another having more similar fungal communities than those farther away. Submergence appears to drive part of the variation as host structures that are never submerged (leaves and fruits) have more similar fungal communities relative to those that are covered by water during high tide (pneumatophores and sediment). We suggest that fungi of terrestrial origins dominate structures that are not inundated by tidal regimes, while marine fungi dominate mangrove parts and sediments that are submerged by the incoming tide. Given the critical functions fungi play in all plants, and the important role they can have in determining the success of restoration schemes, we advocate that fungal community composition should be a key consideration in any mangrove restoration or rehabilitation project.
    Matched MeSH terms: Plants
  18. Esmaeili AK, Rosna Mat Taha, Mohajer S, Banisalam B
    Sains Malaysiana, 2016;45:373-381.
    Asparagus officinalis as a valuable medicinal plant has a low multiplication rate using the conventional methods. This study was carried out to establish an efficient in vitro propagation protocol and also to compare some biological activities of in vivo and in vitro grown Asparagus. The nodal explants were cultured on MS medium supplemented with different concentrations of 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) and 1-Naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) or kinetin (Kn) and Indolebutyric acid (IBA), under light and dark conditions. After 6 weeks of culture, the highest percentage (100%) of callus formation was found in 17 of treatments under dark condition and 3 treatments under light condition. Also between the two groups of hormones, Kn +IBA showed better results in promoting callus formation. The highest average number of shoots (4.25) of size 4 mm or more per explant, formed under dark condition using 1.5 mg/L BAP mixed with 0.05 mg/L NAA. Rooting was best induced in shoots excised from shoot cultures which were proliferated on MS medium supplemented with an optimal concentration of 0.4 mg/L IBA (2 roots per explant). In the second part of the study, the extracts of in vivo and in vitro grown plants as well as callus tissue were tested for their total phenolic and flavonoid content, antioxidant and antityrosinase activities, using two different extraction solvents (methanol and hexane). The methanol extract of in vivo grown plants showed a significantly higher amount of total phenolic and flavonoid content. The antioxidant activity of tested samples followed this order; in vivo plant > callus > in vitro plant.
    Matched MeSH terms: Plants, Medicinal
  19. Maina MB, Mohammed YG, Bukar AM, Ahmad U, Tijjani Salihu A, Ibrahim HA, et al.
    Eur J Neurosci, 2019 06;49(12):1544-1551.
    PMID: 30758873 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.14372
    Of the 572 neuroscience-related studies published in Nigerian from 1996 to 2017, <5% used state-of-the-art techniques, none used transgenic models, and only one study was published in a top-tier journal.
    Matched MeSH terms: Plants, Medicinal
  20. Mad' Atari MFB, Folta KM
    BMC Res Notes, 2019 Mar 15;12(1):144.
    PMID: 30876440 DOI: 10.1186/s13104-019-4117-3
    OBJECTIVE: The treatment of plant tissue with Agrobacterium tumefaciens is often a critical first step to both stable and transient plant transformation. In both applications bacterial suspensions are oftentimes physically introduced into plant tissues using hand-driven pressure from a needleless syringe. While effective, this approach has several drawbacks that limit reproducibility. Pressure must be provided with the syringe perfectly perpendicular to the tissue surface. The researcher must also attempt to provide even and consistent pressure, both within and between experimental replicates. These factors mean that the procedures do not always translate well between research groups or biological replicates.

    RESULTS: We have devised a method to introduce Agrobacterium suspensions into plant leaves with greater reproducibility. Using a decommissioned dissecting microscope as an armature, a syringe body with the bacterial suspension is mounted to the nosepiece. Gentle, even pressure is applied by rotating the focus knob. The treatment force is measured using a basic kitchen scale. The development of the Standardized Pressure Agrobacterium Infiltration Device (SPAID) provides a means to deliver consistent amounts of bacterial suspensions into plant tissues with the goal of increasing reproducibility between replicates and laboratories.

    Matched MeSH terms: Plants
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