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Displaying publications 21 - 24 of 24 in total

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Combustion performance and exhaust emissions fuelled with non-surfactant water-in-diesel emulsion fuel made from different water sources

Ahmad MA, Yahya WJ, Ithnin AM, Hasannuddin AK, Bakar MAA, Fatah AYA, et al.

Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2018 Aug;25(24):24266-24280.
PMID: 29948709 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-018-2492-2

Non-surfactant water-in-diesel emulsion fuel (NWD) is an alternative fuel that has the potential to reduce major exhaust emissions while simultaneously improving the combustion performance of a diesel engine. NWD comprises of diesel fuel and water (about 5% in volume) without any additional surfactants. This emulsion fuel is produced through an in-line mixing system that is installed very close to the diesel engine. This study focuses mainly on the performance and emission of diesel engine fuelled with NWD made from different water sources. The engine used in this study is a direct injection diesel engine with loads varying from 1 to 4 kW. The result shows that NWD made from tap water helps the engine to reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) by 32%. Rainwater reduced it by 29% and seawater by 19%. In addition, all NWDs show significant improvements in engine performance as compared to diesel fuel, especially in the specific fuel consumption that indicates an average reduction of 6%. It is observed that all NWDs show compelling positive effects on engine performance, which is caused by the optimum water droplet size inside NWD.
Fulltext In vivo Study of Chalcone Loaded Carbon Dots for Enhancement of Anticancer and Bioimaging Potencies

Fahmi MZ, Aung YY, Ahmad MA, Kristanti AN, Sakti SCW, Arjasa OP, et al.

Nanotheranostics, 2023;7(3):281-298.
PMID: 37064612 DOI: 10.7150/ntno.80030

The fluorescent imaging and drug delivery utilizing carbon dots nanomaterials (CDs) have attracted tremendously due to their unique optical ability and outstanding biocompatibility. Herein, we reported a new design of chalcone-loaded carbon dots (Chalcone-APBA-CDs) to serve chalcone transport onto cancer cells and enhance the CDs bioimaging and antitumor activity. The boronic acid was directly introduced to carbon dots (CDs) via pyrolysis process to drive CDs specifically to the cancer cell, and chalcone was mediated on CDs by ultrasonication to perform facile release of the drug delivery model. The successfully synthesized Chalcone-APBA-CDs were proved by their chemical structure, fluorescent activities, in vitro and in vivo analyses, and drug release systems using different pH. In addition, flow cytometry and confocal fluorescent imaging proved CDs' cellular uptake and imaging performance. In vitro analyses further proved that the Chalcone-APBA-CDs exhibited a higher toxicity value than bare CDs and efficiently inhibited the proliferation of the HeLa cells depending on their dose-response. Finally, the performance of Chalcone-APBA-CDs on cancer healing capability was examined in vivo with fibrosarcoma cancer-bearing mice, which showed a remarkable ability to reduce the tumor volume compared with saline (control). This result strongly suggested that the Chalcone-APBA-CDs appear promising simultaneously as cancer cell imaging and drug delivery.
Fulltext Effects of Self-management Program as Adjunctive to Usual Rehabilitation Exercise on Pain and Functional Outcomes in Knee Osteoarthritis: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Ahmad MA, Yusof A, Hamid MSA, Zulkifli Amin FH, Kamsan SS, Ag Daud DM, et al.

J Res Health Sci, 2023 Mar;23(1):e00569.
PMID: 37571940 DOI: 10.34172/jrhs.2023.104

BACKGROUND: Home-based exercise (HBE) and patient education (EDU) have been reported as beneficial additions to usual knee osteoarthritis (KOA) rehabilitation. However, previous trials mostly examined the effects of HBE and EDU separately. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the effects of a structured combined HBE and EDU program in addition to usual KOA rehabilitation on pain score, functional mobility, and disability level.
STUDY DESIGN: A parallel-group, single-blinded randomized controlled trial.
METHODS: Eighty adults with KOA were randomly allocated to experimental (n=40) and control (n=40) groups. All participants underwent their usual physiotherapy care weekly for eight weeks. The experimental group received a structured HBE+EDU program to their usual care, while the control group performed home stretching exercises to equate treatment time. The Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) for the disability level, visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain, and timed up-and-go test (TUG) for mobility were measured pre-post intervention.
RESULTS: After eight weeks, the experimental group demonstrated significant improvements in the KOOS (all subscales), pain VAS, and TUG scores compared to baseline (P<0.001); meanwhile, only KOOS (activities of daily living and sports subscales) was significant in the control group. Relative to the control, the experimental group presented higher improvements (P<0.001) by 22.2%, 44.1%, and 15.7% for KOOS, pain VAS, and TUG, respectively.
CONCLUSION: Integrating the HBE+EDU program into usual KOA rehabilitation could reduce pain and disability, while it improved functional mobility. The finding of this study suggests a combination of a structured HBE and EDU program to be considered as part of mainstream KOA management.
Fulltext Cryptic footprints of rare earth elements on natural resources and living organisms

Adeel M, Lee JY, Zain M, Rizwan M, Nawab A, Ahmad MA, et al.

Environ Int, 2019 06;127:785-800.
PMID: 31039528 DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2019.03.022

BACKGROUND: Rare earth elements (REEs) are gaining attention due to rapid rise of modern industries and technological developments in their usage and residual fingerprinting. Cryptic entry of REEs in the natural resources and environment is significant; therefore, life on earth is prone to their nasty effects. Scientific sectors have expressed concerns over the entry of REEs into food chains, which ultimately influences their intake and metabolism in the living organisms.
OBJECTIVES: Extensive scientific collections and intensive look in to the latest explorations agglomerated in this document aim to depict the distribution of REEs in soil, sediments, surface waters and groundwater possibly around the globe. Furthermore, it draws attention towards potential risks of intensive industrialization and modern agriculture to the exposure of REEs, and their effects on living organisms. It also draws links of REEs usage and their footprints in natural resources with the major food chains involving plants, animals and humans.
METHODS: Scientific literature preferably spanning over the last five years was obtained online from the MEDLINE and other sources publishing the latest studies on REEs distribution, properties, usage, cycling and intrusion in the environment and food-chains. Distribution of REEs in agricultural soils, sediments, surface and ground water was drawn on the global map, together with transport pathways of REEs and their cycling in the natural resources.
RESULTS: Fourteen REEs (Ce, Dy, Er, Eu, Gd, Ho, La, Lu, Nd, Pr, Sm, Tb, Th and Yb) were plighted in this study. Wide range of their concentrations has been detected in agricultural soils (<15.9-249.1 μg g-1) and in groundwater (<3.1-146.2 μg L-1) at various sites worldwide. They have strong tendency to accumulate in the human body, and thus associated with kidney stones. The REEs could also perturb the animal physiology, especially affecting the reproductive development in both terrestrial and aquatic animals. In plants, REEs might affect the germination, root and shoot development and flowering at concentration ranging from 0.4 to 150 mg kg-1.
CONCLUSIONS: This review article precisely narrates the current status, sources, and potential effects of REEs on plants, animals, humans health. There are also a few examples where REEs have been used to benefit human health. However, still there is scarce information about threshold levels of REEs in the soil, aquatic, and terrestrial resources as well as living entities. Therefore, an aggressive effort is required for global action to generate more data on REEs. This implies we prescribe an urgent need for inter-disciplinary studies about REEs in order to identify their toxic effects on both ecosystems and organisms.