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Larvicidal potential of plant-based extracts against dengue vector: A short review

Noorazlan NAA, Camalxaman SN, Mohamed E, Haron N, Rambely AS, Dom NC, et al.

Med J Malaysia, 2024 Mar;79(Suppl 1):203-208.
PMID: 38555906

INTRODUCTION: Dengue fever, a vector borne disease transmitted primarily by Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, has triggered a significant global resurgence. While many vector control programs depend on the use of chemical insecticides to curb outbreaks, its heavy reliance raises environmental concerns and the risk of insecticide resistance. Alternatively, botanically derived insecticidal agents with larvicidal properties offer an ecofriendlier option. This review aims to analyze scientific reports that described the effectiveness of plant-derived extracts for vector control.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A literature search was performed to analyze studies that focused on plant-based extracts used for larvicidal purposes using databases such as Science Direct. Springer, PubMed, and Scopus. The inclusion criteria for publications were larvicidal effects, published in English from the year 2017 and availability of full-text articles. The available literature was further characterized by the value of larvicidal activities of LC50 and LC90 (< 50 ppm), of 22 different parts of plant species from 7 plant families namely Apiaceae, Asteraceae, Lauraceae, Magnoliaceae, Myrtaceae, Piperaceae and Rubiaceae.
RESULTS: When comparing the values of LC50, 12 plants species (Artemisia vulgaris, Crassocephalum crepidioides, Echinops grijsii, Melaleuca leucadendra, Neolitsea ellipsoidea, Pavetta tomentosa, Piper betle, Piper caninum, Piper Montium, Piper muntabile, Piper ovatum, Tarenna asiatica) showed promising larvicidal efficacies with LC50 < 10 ppm.
CONCLUSION: This review emphasizes the effective alternatives of plant extracts for the potential production of larvicides. Piper betle extract and chloroform extract of Tarenna asiatica reported the most significant larvicidal activity (LC50 < 1 ppm) against mosquito vectors. Further reviews focusing on the mode of actions of its phytochemically constituents are essential for the future development of potentially significant plant-based larvicides.
Effects of Pollination by the Indo-Malaya Stingless Bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) on the Quality of Greenhouse-Produced Rockmelon

Azmi WA, Wan Sembok WZ, Yusuf N, Mohd Hatta MF, Salleh AF, Hamzah MAH, et al.

J Econ Entomol, 2019 02 12;112(1):20-24.
PMID: 30277528 DOI: 10.1093/jee/toy290

Rockmelon (Cucumis melo Linnaeus (Cucurbitales: Cucurbitaceae)) is a novel commercialized fruit in Malaysia and has great potential to become an important horticultural crop for the international market. In this study, we investigated the effects of pollination by the Indo-Malaya stingless bee Heterotrigona itama Smith (Hymenoptera: Apidae) on measures of yield and quality of rockmelon cultivated in the greenhouse, compared with hand cross-pollination and self-pollination. Results showed that rockmelon produced from plants pollinated by stingless bees and hand cross-pollination had higher fruit set, were heavier and larger, and contained higher numbers of seed per fruit compared with those produced by self-pollination. Pollination by stingless bees produced fruit with greater sweetness than either hand cross-pollination or self-pollination. This study demonstrated that stingless bee pollination produced rockmelon fruit of similar quality, but better yields compared to the other pollination treatments. We showed that stingless bees should be considered as an alternative, effective pollinator for the improved production of high quality rockmelon in commercial greenhouse cultivation.
Fulltext Long Noncoding RNA UCA1 in Gastrointestinal Cancers: Molecular Regulatory Roles and Patterns, Mechanisms, and Interactions

Ramli S, Sim MS, Guad RM, Gopinath SCB, Subramaniyan V, Fuloria S, et al.

J Oncol, 2021;2021:5519720.
PMID: 33936199 DOI: 10.1155/2021/5519720

The rising trend of gastrointestinal (GI) cancer has become a global burden due to its aggressive nature and poor prognosis. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have recently been reported to be overexpressed in different GI cancers and may contribute to cancer progression and chemoresistance. They are featured with more than 200 nucleotides, commonly polyadenylated, and lacking an open reading frame. LncRNAs, particularly urothelial carcinoma-associated 1 (UCA1), are oncogenes involved in regulating cancer progression, such as cell proliferation, invasion, migration, and chemoresistance, particularly in GI cancer. This review was aimed to present an updated focus on the molecular regulatory roles and patterns of lncRNA UCA1 in progression and chemoresistance of different GI cancers, as well as deciphering the underlying mechanisms and its interactions with key molecules involved, together with a brief presentation on its diagnostic and prognostic values. The regulatory roles of lncRNA UCA1 are implicated in esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, pancreatic cancer, hepatobiliary cancer, and colorectal cancer, where they shared similar molecular mechanisms in regulating cancer phenotypes and chemoresistance. Comparatively, gastric cancer is the most intensively studied type in GI cancer. LncRNA UCA1 is implicated in biological roles of different GI cancers via interactions with various molecules, particularly microRNAs, and signaling pathways. In conclusion, lncRNA UCA1 is a potential molecular target for GI cancer, which may lead to the development of a novel chemotherapeutic agent. Hence, it also acts as a potential diagnostic and prognostic marker for GI cancer patients.
Fulltext Opinion mining for national security: techniques, domain applications, challenges and research opportunities

Razali NAM, Malizan NA, Hasbullah NA, Wook M, Zainuddin NM, Ishak KK, et al.

J Big Data, 2021;8(1):150.
PMID: 34900516 DOI: 10.1186/s40537-021-00536-5

Background: Opinion mining, or sentiment analysis, is a field in Natural Language Processing (NLP). It extracts people's thoughts, including assessments, attitudes, and emotions toward individuals, topics, and events. The task is technically challenging but incredibly useful. With the explosive growth of the digital platform in cyberspace, such as blogs and social networks, individuals and organisations are increasingly utilising public opinion for their decision-making. In recent years, significant research concerning mining people's sentiments based on text in cyberspace using opinion mining has been explored. Researchers have applied numerous opinions mining techniques, including machine learning and lexicon-based approach to analyse and classify people's sentiments based on a text and discuss the existing gap. Thus, it creates a research opportunity for other researchers to investigate and propose improved methods and new domain applications to fill the gap.
Methods: In this paper, a structured literature review has been done by considering 122 articles to examine all relevant research accomplished in the field of opinion mining application and the suggested Kansei approach to solve the challenges that occur in mining sentiments based on text in cyberspace. Five different platforms database were systematically searched between 2015 and 2021: ACM (Association for Computing Machinery), IEEE (Advancing Technology for Humanity), SCIENCE DIRECT, SpringerLink, and SCOPUS.
Results: This study analyses various techniques of opinion mining as well as the Kansei approach that will help to enhance techniques in mining people's sentiment and emotion in cyberspace. Most of the study addressed methods including machine learning, lexicon-based approach, hybrid approach, and Kansei approach in mining the sentiment and emotion based on text. The possible societal impacts of the current opinion mining technique, including machine learning and the Kansei approach, along with major trends and challenges, are highlighted.
Conclusion: Various applications of opinion mining techniques in mining people's sentiment and emotion according to the objective of the research, used method, dataset, summarized in this study. This study serves as a theoretical analysis of the opinion mining method complemented by the Kansei approach in classifying people's sentiments based on text in cyberspace. Kansei approach can measure people's impressions using artefacts based on senses including sight, feeling and cognition reported precise results for the assessment of human emotion. Therefore, this research suggests that the Kansei approach should be a complementary factor including in the development of a dictionary focusing on emotion in the national security domain. Also, this theoretical analysis will act as a reference to researchers regarding the Kansei approach as one of the techniques to improve hybrid approaches in opinion mining.
Assessment on Hand Hygiene Knowledge and Practices Among Pre-school Children in Klang Valley

Tengku Jamaluddin TZM, Mohamed NA, Mohd Rani MD, Ismail Z, Ramli S, Faroque H, et al.

Glob Pediatr Health, 2020;7:2333794X20976369.
PMID: 33335950 DOI: 10.1177/2333794X20976369

Background. Pre-school children are at a higher risk to acquire infectious diseases such as hand, foot and mouth disease due to their immature immune system. Good hand hygiene prevents transmission of infectious diseases. This study aimed to determine the knowledge and practices of hand hygiene among pre-schoolers. Methods. In this prospective, multi-center study, the pre-schools were selected according to the selection criteria. A questionnaire consisting of socio-demographics, knowledge and practices of hand hygiene were administered via face-to-face interview during the pre- and post-intervention period. A total of 435 pre-schoolers aged 5 and 6 years old from 2 pre-schools within Klang Valley, School P (test group) and School C (control group) were involved in this study. The test group was provided with comprehensive hand hygiene education including video on proper handwashing technique during the 2 months intervention period, whereas the control group did not receive any form of intervention. The data were statistically analyzed using descriptive analysis and independent t-test. Results. Majority of pre-schoolers gained knowledge of handwashing from their parents. However, only 63% demonstrated good handwashing technique. Test group were significantly better (P
Fulltext Effect of hand hygiene intervention on the absenteeism of pre-school children in Klang Valley, Malaysia: a quasi-experimental study

Mohamed NA, Mohd Rani MD, Tengku Jamaluddin TZM, Ismail Z, Ramli S, Faroque H, et al.

World J Pediatr, 2020 Aug;16(4):416-421.
PMID: 31286426 DOI: 10.1007/s12519-019-00283-x

BACKGROUND: Absenteeism amongst pre-school children is often due to illnesses such as hand, foot, and mouth disease, acute gastroenteritis, cold and flu, which are easily spread amongst them. This is because of weak immunity and lack of knowledge on proper hand hygiene. This quasi-experimental study assessed the efficacy of an intervention consisting of a hand hygiene education programme, along with digital tools in bringing about a change in behaviour and health conditions amongst pre-school children in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
METHODS: A total of 377 school children, male and female, aged 5-6 years old, participated and were assigned to either the intervention or a control group. During the 2 months intervention period, children in the test group were trained on proper hand hygiene practices and techniques with the aid of the interactive android-based tablets. The numbers of absent days of all the children were recorded for 2 months before the intervention and during the intervention.
RESULTS: In the test group, there was a 25% increase in the total number of absent days from the pre-intervention period to the intervention period, a much lesser increment observed as compared to that of control group in which the increase was much higher at 89%. Results showed a significant difference (P
Combined extract of Moringa oleifera and Centella asiatica modulates oxidative stress and senescence in hydrogen peroxide-induced human dermal fibroblasts

Abdul Hisam EE, Rofiee MS, Khalid AM, Jalaluddin AF, Mohamad Yusof MI, Idris MH, et al.

Turk J Biol, 2018;42(1):33-44.
PMID: 30814868 DOI: 10.3906/biy-1708-23

Moringa oleifera Lam. and Centella asiatica (L.) Urb. leaves have been previously reported to exhibit antioxidant activity. The objective of the present study is to determine the in vitro antioxidant activity of the combined extracts of M. oleifera and C. asiatica (TGT-PRIMAAGE) and its effect on hydrogen peroxide (H 2O2)-induced oxidative stress in human dermal fibroblasts. TGTPRIMAAGE acted on the mechanism of hydrogen transfer as it showed scavenging activity in the DPPH assay. This is due to the presence of phenolics and flavonoids in TGT-PRIMAAGE. TGT-PRIMAAGE effectively reduced cellular generation of reactive oxygen species induced by H O2. The activities of superoxide dismutase and catalase were also increased in cells treated with TGT-PRIMAAGE. 2 Treatment with TGT-PRIMAAGE showed significant reduction (P < 0.05) in the number of senescent cells. Significant reduction (P < 0.05) of malondialdehyde was also seen in cells treated with TGT-PRIMAAGE. The p53 protein level was reduced in TGT-PRIMAAGEtreated cells, which indicates its potential in protecting the cells from oxidative stress induced by H2O2.
Fulltext Effectiveness of comprehensive hand hygiene module on preschool children in Klang Valley, Malaysia

Mohd Rani MD, Mohamed NA, Tengku Jamaluddin TZM, Ismail Z, Ramli S, Faroque H, et al.

Clin Exp Pediatr, 2020 Mar;63(3):115-116.
PMID: 32023401 DOI: 10.3345/cep.2019.01277
Electronic Hand Hygiene Quality and Duration Monitoring in Pre-School Children: A Feasibility Study

Mohd Rani MD, Mohamed NA, Jamaluddin TZMT, Ismail Z, Ramli S, Faroque H, et al.

Community Health Equity Res Policy, 2023 Jul;43(4):375-380.
PMID: 34256634 DOI: 10.1177/0272684X211033448

BACKGROUND: Hand hygiene is regarded as the most important measure to prevent spread of infectious diseases. The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of a prototype application in an electronic device in educating, stimulating and monitoring hand hygiene quality in young children.
METHOD: A pre-school was provided with an interactive hand hygiene application for two months. The device features an online administrator dashboard for data collection and for monitoring the children's hand washing steps and duration. A good hand washing is defined as hand washing which comprise all of the steps outlined in the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines.
RESULTS: The prototype managed to capture 6882 hand wash performed with an average of 20.85 seconds per hand wash. Washing hands palm to palm was the most frequent (79.9%) step performed, whereas scrubbing fingernails and wrists were the least (56%) steps performed.
CONCLUSIONS: The device is a good prototype to educate, stimulate and monitor good hand hygiene practices. However, other measures should be undertaken to ensure sustainability of the practices.