Citrus bent leaf viroid (CBLVd) from genus Apscaviroid, is one of the widely distributed viroids among the seven citrus viroids. It is comprised of three variants: Citrus viroid-Ia (CVd-Ia) (327 - 329 nucleotides), Citrus viroid-Ib (CVd-Ib) (315 - 319 nucleotides) and Citrus viroid-I-low sequence similarity (CVd-I-LSS) (325 - 330 nucleotides). Virulence of CBLVd totally expressed on citrus plants. Etrog citron (Citrus medica (L.)) coinfected with CBLVd, Citrus exocortis viroid (CEVd), Citrus viroid-III (CVd-III) and Citrus viroid-V (CVd-V) showed epinasty, leaf rolling, and stunting. CBLVd has been reported to reduce the canopy proportion and fruit production of citrus trees inserted on trifoliate orange rootstock. Moreover, citrus tree infected with singly CBLVd or in combinations with CEVd, Hop stunt viroid (CVd-II) and CVd-III induced dwarfing have been associated with poor development of the root system. Reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) amplification and multiplex reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (MRT-PCR) amplification have been widely used to detect citrus viroids including CBLVd. As citrus viroids are emerging threats in citrus groves, therefore, this review covers the evolution, geographical distribution and epidemiology, economic impact and symptomatology, host range and transmission, detection, and management will be helpful in formulating the integrated management strategies for CBLVd.
Aquaculture, especially shrimp production is the world`s fastest growing food production
industry, due to increased demands for seafood. Conceivably, disease outbreak is the major setback
which brings about high mortality and reduction or loss of production. The conventional use of
antibiotics both prophylactically and therapeutically had recently not only been ineffective but
incriminated, in drug residue which poise danger to consumption by humans. Hence, a better
alternative was importantly required. The use of Immunoprophylaxis has potential of being a safety
measure in the prevention of outbreak of diseases or spread of already established disease in aquatic
invertebrates, where the shrimps and prawns belong. Immunoprophylaxis includes the prevention of
disease by production of passive immunity. The major infectious agents that are responsible for high
morbidity and high mortality in shrimp industry are viruses and bacteria. Others include fungi,
parasites and protozoans but less threatening than the two former. Among the referenced groups of
bacteria in shrimp disease, gram negative bacteria are more virulent. Vibrio, a member of this gram
negative groups has been implicated to be the most causative agent of bacterial infections in shrimps.
This review examined the components of the cell membrane of these bacteria that have been reported
to confer immunity on the host. They include outer membrane proteins, lipopolysaccharide and
peptidoglycan. These components could elicit immune response and confer protection.
Mikania micrantha Kunth (Asteraceae) is a perennial creeping vine that can be found in South and North America, Africa, Pacific Islands and Southeast Asia, including Southern China and Malaysia. Previous studies have reported that this plant possesses several pharmacological properties which can be used to prevent and cure several diseases. Phytochemicals found from various parts of M. micrantha have been linked to beneficial medicinal properties such as antioxidant, antimicrobial, antitumour, anti-inflammatory, anti-stress, and also anti-diabetic activities. The primary aim of this paper is to review available scientific information on the nutritional, phytochemical and pharmacological properties of M. micrantha to provide baseline information for future studies.
Red seaweeds (Rhodophyta) produce a variety of sulfated galactans in their cell wall matrix and intercellular space, contributing up to 50-60 % of their total dry weight. These sulfated polysaccharides are made up of galactose disaccharides substituted with sulfate, methoxyl, pyruvic acid, or non-galactose monosaccharides (e.g. xylose, glucose and mannose). They are required by the Rhodophytes for protection against pathogen, desiccation, tidal waves and extreme changes in pH, temperature and salinity. Since ancient times, sulfated galactans from red seaweeds, such as agar and carrageenan, have been consumed as human foods and later being used in traditional medicine. Nowadays, some red seaweeds are cultivated and exploited for commercial uses in various fields. In this review, different types of sulfated galactans found in red seaweeds and their current and potential uses in food, biotechnology, medical and pharmaceutical industries are discussed.
Malaysia has taken initiative in enforcing the Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Act 2007 (Act 672) since 2011 to ensure the uniformity of law relating to the solid waste management and public cleansing. Despite the alarming issues on the increasing of solid waste generation, Malaysian government has made solid waste separation at source as mandatory starting 1st September 2015 at eight states. Solid waste separation at source has been seen as the best practice of solid waste minimization where it eliminates and reduces the amount of solid waste produced by the society. The government has taken seriously in solid waste separation at source as the lifespan of disposal site has been decreased and limited space for the new disposal site due to the increasing cost of solid waste management. Hence, to overcome the increasing of solid waste generation, an integrated solid waste minimization through recycling should be implemented as it is involved in minimizing resource and offers the best outcome for the environment. Thus, this paper discussed the overview of solid waste minimization in Malaysia and the stakeholder’s role and their obstacles in solid waste minimization to attract the public participate in reducing the solid waste generation as an efficient solid waste management. A proper solid waste management ensures a sustainable development of Malaysia in terms of health, socio-economy and environment respectively towards Malaysian Vision of 2020.
Clean water is very important for health and well-being of humans and ecosystem. However, over the year, a billion tons of industrial waste, fertilizers and chemical waste were dumped untreated into water bodies, such as rivers, lake and oceans contributing towards water pollution, then threatening human health and ecosystem. Hence, the need for clean water has urged scientists to research and find solutions for improving water quality. Application of nanoparticles in wastewater treatment improves the environmental quality by elimination of harmful pollutants in wastewater. Magnetite is one of the nanoparticles used in wastewater treatment because of its specific large surface area, high reactivity in adsorption and recoverable from treated water via magnetic separation technology. Preparation method of magnetite nanoparticles is the important key to its adsorption efficiency.
The new millennium witnessed increasing attention to the field of robotics, especially the development of humanoid bipedal robot. Attention is noticed from the increasing number of publications as a result of a multitude of humanoid projects for commercial and academic goals. This paper briefly visits the recent activities in this field, highlighting the importance and motivation behind adopting bipedal humanoid projects, particularly underlining biologically inspired design concept, bipedal locomotion and communication. Ultimately, emphasising on power-efficient design. The problem of endurance and effective duty cycle were presented. Finally, potential future application for the humanoid robot was briefly listed.
Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni in the Asteraceae family is commercially valuable and cultivated throughout the world due to the great demand for its steviol glycosides (SGs) contents particularly rebaudioside A. Previous studies confirmed that maximal content of SGs in stevia was achieved at or just before flowering, and delayed flowering with long days provide longer duration for steviol glycosides accumulation. However, there is no suitable stevia variety to be cultivated in Malaysia due to her short day length. Mutation induction, including gamma irradiation, had been shown to be useful for generating genetic variations as well as developing new plant varieties from which desired mutants were successfully selected. The use of mutagens, both physical and chemical, has helped in creating mutants that expressed the selected desirable traits. This paper presents some selected essential data available in extant scientific studies on stevia with the focus on application of gamma irradiation on stevia. Both established achievements and recent publications of gamma radiation on stevia were reviewed. Emphasis is on the exceptional potential of stevia through induced mutation approach especially by using gamma rays.
Isoprenoids biosynthesis in plants involves two separate pathways, mevalonate (MVA) pathway and 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol 4-phosphate (MEP) pathway. A large group of isoprenoids are found to play crucial roles in common plant biochemical functions and have been produced on a large scale for commercial applications. 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMGR) is the key enzyme that catalyses the first committing step in the MVA pathway. In mammals and yeast, HMGR is a well-studied enzyme as many studies have been done on this enzyme due to its important function in the biosynthesis of cholesterol. In plants, many researches on HMGR have been done on different plant species, for example, Arabidopsis thaliana, tobacco, gingko, Zea mays, potato, rose, rubber tree, muskmelon, ginseng and others, in the past decades since it was discovered. Previous researches that worked on plant HMGR focused on the cloning and characterisation of its physiological functions. Little is known about the aspect of regulation and structural characteristics of plants’ HMGR. This review is aimed at providing an overview of the characteristics and structure of HMGR, the transcriptional and post-translational events related to HMGR that have been reported in plants, and proposes areas on the regulation event of HMGR in plants that can be explored to further enhance understanding towards HMGR regulatory interactions.
Widespread applications of phenol in manufacturing industries and oil refineries had resulted in unprecedented leakage of phenol into the environment, which can cause serious health effects such as tissue necrosis and cardiac arrhythmia upon contact or ingestion. Plants exposed to phenol had reduced seed germination index, inhibited growth or even fatality. There are many technologies currently practised to remediate phenol pollution such as physiochemical methods (adsorption to activated carbon and chemical oxidation), biological methods (biodegradation by bacteria or fungus, and soil bioaugmentation), and phytoremediation method (using hairy roots of plants). As physiochemical and microbial phenol degradation are destructive and costly, phytoremediation is widely studied as an alternative phenol remediator which is environmental friendly and cost effective. Microorganisms can detoxify the aromatic xenobiotic through the aerobic or anaerobic pathway. Aerobic degradation of phenol is through either the meta- or ortho-pathway of catechol cleavage while anaerobic degradation occurs through the benzoate pathway. In plants, degradation of phenol is also through catechol cleavage as in microorganisms. However, different enzyme systems were utilised in the different pathways involved.
Structural buildings in seismic prone area, the required energy dissipation of strong column-weak beam especially for reinforced concrete frame structures is achievably through adequate beam-column joint strengthening connection in order to have high seismic performance. Literature investigation shows several approaches and techniques for modelling the weak joint for a typical frame structure. This paper extensively reviews those techniques, methods, concepts and their performance in improving the shear capacity for a deficient reinforced concrete beam-column joints in withstanding seismic loads. The beam-column joints performance responses showed positive. However, the need for an improved connection that will offer high ductility capacity and energy dissipation ability for post-tensioned reinforced concrete beam-column joints with continuing bottom reinforcement is highly feasible with the use of the Direct Displacement Based design philosophy. This will be of great interest for the future development of highly efficient joint system for frame structure capable of resisting significant seismic load.
The utilization of bamboo as a manufacturing material is becoming globally attractive in
the wood and wood product industries today. This is due to the numerous industrial applications and
uses of the bamboo plant from its fast growth, availability, unique appearance and strength. Bamboo
has been popularly known for its traditional uses such as poultry cages, vegetable baskets, incense
sticks, skewers and chopsticks, woven blinds and handicrafts. Very little has been done on the
industrial processing of bamboo into boards. Several authors have studied and reported on the
utilization, processing and the properties of this emerging material as an alternative to the increasing
decline of wood in the forest. This review aims to compare and contrast some of the works done on
the advancement in producing laminated bamboo timber. The properties of bamboo and its laminated
products attest to its potency in substituting wood. Bamboo utilisation has increased significantly in
the wood and wood product industries, with adequate retooling in most processing firms in the sector.
In line with the development and use of bamboo-laminated timber for the purpose of wood in
furniture production, the creation of bamboo plantations on degraded lands will meaningfully support
production and mitigate the degradation of forest.
Robotic navigation has remained an open issue through the last two decades. Mobile robot
is required to navigate safely to goal location in presence of obstacles. Recently the use of mobile
robot in unknown dynamic environment has significantly increased. The aim of this paper is to offer a
comprehensive review over different approaches to mobile robots in dynamic environments,
particularly on how they solve many issues that face the researchers recently. This paper also explains
the advantages and drawbacks of each reviewed paper. The authors decide to categorize these articles
based on the entire content of each paper into ten common challenges which have been discussed in
this paper, including: traveling distance, traveling time, safety, motion control, smooth path, future
prediction, stabilization, competence, precision, and low computation cost. Finally, some open areas
and challenging topics are offered according to the articles mentioned.
The urban transit network design problem (UTNDP) involves the development of a transit route set and associated schedules for an urban public transit system. The design of efficient public transit systems is widely considered as a viable option for the economic, social, and physical structure of an urban setting. This paper reviews four well-known population-based metaheuristics that have been employed and deemed potentially viable for tackling the UTNDP. The aim is to give a thorough review of the algorithms and identify the gaps for future research directions.
Facility Layout Problem (FLP) is a NP-hard problem concerned with the arrangement of facilities as to minimize the distance travelled between all pairs of facilities. Many exact and approximate approaches have been proposed with an extensive applicability to deal with this problem. This paper studies the fundamentals of some well-known heuristics and metaheuristics used in solving the FLPs. It is hoped that this paper will trigger researchers for in-depth studies in FLPs looking into more specific interest such as equal or unequal FLPs.
The hydrological effects of climate variation and land use conversion can occur at various spatial scales, but the most important sources of these changes are at the regional or watershed scale. In addition, the managerial and technical measures are primarily implemented at local and watershed scales in order to mitigate adverse impacts of human activities on the renewable resources of the watershed. Therefore, quantitative estimation of the possible hydrological consequences of potential land use and climate changes on hydrological regime at watershed scale is of tremendous importance. This paper focuses on the impacts of climate change as well as land use change on the hydrological processes of river basin based on pertinent published literature which were precisely scrutinized. The various causes, forms, and consequences of such impacts were discussed to synthesize the key findings of literature in reputable sources and to identify gaps in the knowledge where further research is required. Results indicate that the watershed-scale studies were found as a gap in tropical regions. Also, these studies are important to facilitate the application of results to real environment. Watershed scale studies are essential to measure the extent of influences made to the hydrological conditions and understanding of causes and effects of climate variation and land use conversion on hydrological cycle and water resources.
Zakah is an Islamic financial instrument anchored within the Islamic economic system. Its establishment is to reduce inequalities within the Muslim community so that fair and social justice would be attained. In Malaysia, the administration of all religious matters including zakah is under the auspice of State Islamic Religious Council (SIRC). There are 14 states in Malaysia, and every state has its SIRC. As a religious and zakah agent, the institution is entrusted to govern zakah funds so that the beneficiary’s living standard could be transformed to a higher level. This paper conceptually reviews the role of zakah institution in governing and transforming the beneficiary’s living standard from daruriyyat (dire necessities) to higher level that is hajiyyat (comfort living) in relation to Maqasid al Syariah. As to ensure the success of the transformation, zakah institution should play proactive roles and be optimistic in formulating and initiating potential programmes that would generate income and make the beneficiary wealthy. Hence, the objective of Maqasid al Syariah under zakah jurisprudence will be achieved, if zakah funds are channelled to productive programs that would transform the beneficiary’s living standard and eventually free him/her from the shackles of poverty.
Improving rice production is of current global concern so that food security is maintained especially in developing nations where rice remains as the staple food. With the aid of molecular biology, various isolated genes conferring to abiotic, biotic and herbicide stress tolerance has been successfully transferred into rice. Attempts have also been made to enhance grain yield, nutritional characteristics, fragrance and photosynthetic capacity of rice. The success of a commercialized transgenic rice largely depends on the biosafety and environmental risks assessments as these information translates into consumers’ acceptance towards genetically modified (GM) rice. As the renowned Golden Rice has received the green light for field trial in the Philippines and Bangladesh, this would serve as a catalyst for better acceptance of GM food crops. A brief case study on the commercialization of transgenic BT rice in China will also be discussed. The review aims to bring useful insights for future endeavors in improving traits for rice through genetic engineering.
Ki-67 expression is strongly correlated with tumour cell proliferation and growth. It is widely used as a proliferation marker in the routine pathological investigation. The nuclear protein Ki- 67 (pKi67) is recognised prognostic and predictive indicator for the biopsies assessment for cancer patients. Clinically, pKi67 has been revealed to associate with metastasis and the clinical stage of tumours. Furthermore, it has been presented that the expression of Ki-67 is significantly higher in malignant tissues with poorly differentiated tumour cells, as compared with normal tissue. The Ki-67 labelling index plays a vital role as an independent prognostic factor for survival rate, which includes all stages and grade categories. There is an association between the ratios of Ki-67 positive malignant cells and patient survival. This review provides an overview of recent advances in detecting Ki-67 in ovarian carcinoma.
Cervical cancer is one of the leading causal cancer-related fatalities in the world. Cervical cancer patients can be treated by conventional treatment such as surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, medications and combination treatments. Currently, more targeted treatments are being developed to cure cervical cancer. The treatments include immunotherapy, virotherapy and gene therapy which will be discussed in this paper. In immunotherapy, the synergy of CTLA-4 suppression and PD-1/PDL-1 immune checkpoint inhibition targeting their corresponding pathways enhanced the human immune system resulting a promising treatment effects. Oncolytic viruses such as Newcastle disease virus selectively infect and kill cancerous cells/tissues without harming normal cells/tissues. This character has made them a potential modality in combating cancer which popularly known as oncolytic virotherapy. Gene therapy delivers modified genetic materials to the target cancer cells via viral and non-viral vectors. It is used to target the abnormal gene, to increase cells’ susceptibility towards drugs or conventional therapy, to induce tumour cells apoptosis, to enhance tumour cell immunogenicity recognition and to inhibit the oncogene expression. The objective of this minireview is to add to the general knowledge on aforementioned therapeutic strategies against cervical cancer.