The adsorption characteristics of 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (TCP) on activated carbon prepared from oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) were evaluated. The effects of TCP initial concentration, agitation time, solution pH and temperature on TCP adsorption were investigated. TCP adsorption uptake was found to increase with increase in initial concentration, agitation time and solution temperature whereas adsorption of TCP was more favourable at acidic pH. The adsorption equilibrium data were best represented by the Freundlich and Redlich-Peterson isotherms. The adsorption kinetics was found to follow the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The mechanism of the adsorption process was determined from the intraparticle diffusion model. Boyd plot revealed that the adsorption of TCP on the activated carbon was mainly governed by particle diffusion. Thermodynamic parameters such as standard enthalpy (DeltaH degrees ), standard entropy (DeltaS degrees ), standard free energy (DeltaG degrees ) and activation energy were determined. The regeneration efficiency of the spent activated carbon was high, with TCP desorption of 99.6%.
The potential of garlic peel (GP), agricultural waste, to remove methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solution was evaluated in a batch process. Experiments were carried out as function of contact time, initial concentration (25-200mg/L), pH (4-12) and temperature (303, 313 and 323 K). Adsorption isotherms were modeled with the Langmuir, Freundlich, and Temkin isotherms. The data fitted well with the Freundlich isotherm. The maximum monolayer adsorption capacities were found to be 82.64, 123.45, and 142.86 mg/g at 303, 313, and 323 K, respectively. The kinetic data were analyzed using pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order models. The results indicated that the garlic peel could be an alternative for more costly adsorbents used for dye removal.
The aim of this study was to evaluate Tualang honey as a supplement to fetal bovine serum in cell cultures using MTT assay, chromosome aberration test and gene expression analyses. The MTT assay showed the highest percentage of cell proliferation (105.3% increment than control) of human osteoblast cell line (CRL 1543) in 0.0195% honey in Dulbecco's modified eagle medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum and 1% penicillin/streptomycin. There was enhanced cell proliferation corresponding to the decrease in concentrations of honey as indicated by the mitotic index values when the osteoblast cell line was incubated at 37 degrees C for 48 hours. There were no chromosome aberrations both in the honey treated as well as distilled water treated (negative control) cell lines. In the case of gene expression analyses, fibroblast cell lines (CCL 171) were treated with honey (0.0195%) for 24 and 48 hours separately. Though there was over expression for the bcl-xl gene at both 24 and 48 hours, under expression for bcl-xs gene at 24 hours and over expression at 48 hours and under expression for both c-myc and p53 genes at both 24 and 48 hours, none of them were statistically significant in altering the expression of mRNA.
From the rhizomes of Curcuma ochrorhiza, four sesquiterpenes, isofuranodiene, germacrene, furanogermenone and zederone, have been isolated, the structures of which have been elucidated by spectroscopic methods.
The Third National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS III) was conducted in 2006 on a nationally representative sample of population in Malaysia. Over 21,000 children aged 0-17.9 years were measured for body weight and stature according to the protocol of the World Health Organization. This article describes the nutritional status of children aged 0-59.9 months. Mean z score for weightfor-age (WAZ), height-for-age (HAZ) and BMI-for-age were compared with the z-scores tables of the WHO standards. The overall prevalence of underweight and stunting of the children were 12.9% and 17.2% respectively. These levels included 2.4% severe underweight and 6.0% severe stunting. In terms of z scores, the age group of 0-5.9 months showed the best nutritional status with mean WAZ of -0.33 (95%CI: -0.52, 0.15) and -0.40 (-0.57, 0.24) for boys and girls respectively, while mean HAZ was 0.64 (0.38, 0.89) for boys and 0.76 (0.54, 0.98) for girls. Mean HAZ and WAZ status was least satisfactory after about 6 months, suggesting a faltering in growth rate at an age that coincides with dependence on complementary feeding. Prevalence of overweight based on BMI-for-age for the sexes combined was 6.4%, while that based on WAZ was 3.4%. The NHMS III results indicate that Malaysian children have better nutritional status compared to children under 5 years in neighbouring countries. In order to meet the targets set in the National Plan of Nutrition (2006-2015), more effective intervention programmes are needed to accelerate the reduction of underweight and stunting, and to arrest the rise of overweight in young children.
Study name: National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS-2006)
We report experimental results demonstrating the variation of optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) of laser lines in Brillouin-Raman fiber laser against Raman pump power (RPP) variation. The reduction of OSNR is attributed to the spectral broadening of laser lines depending on the RPP. The spectral broadening is owing to the effect of the interaction between laser lines and turbulent waves (nonlinear interaction between longitudinal cavity modes). In our experiment, the worst OSNR is obtained at 650 mW RPP as a result of maximum spectral broadening when the Brillouin pump wavelength is fixed at 1555 nm. On the other hand, the OSNR improvement is obtained for RPP beyond 650 mW due to the effect of red-shift, the Raman peak gain is shifted away from the laser lines generated around 1555 nm thus reduces the spectral broadening effect.
INTRODUCTION: The Third National Health and Morbidity Survey Malaysia 2006 includes a nutritional status assessment of children. This study aimed to assess the inter- and intra-examiner reliability, the technical error of measurement and the validity of instruments for measuring weight, height and waist circumference.
METHODS: A convenience sample of 130 adults working in a selected office setting was chosen to participate in the study, subject to the inclusion and exclusion study criteria. Two public health nurses, trained to follow a standard protocol, obtained the weight, height and waist circumference measurements. The weight was measured using the Tanita HD-318 digital weighing scale to the nearest 0.1 kg, and Seca Beam Scale to the nearest 0.01 kg. The height was measured using the Seca Bodymeter 206 and Stadiometer, both to the nearest 0.1 cm. The waist circumference was measured using the Seca circumference measuring tape S 201, to the nearest 0.1 cm.
RESULTS: The intra-examiner reliability in descending order was weight and height followed by waist circumference. The height measurement, on average, using the test instrument, reported a recording of 0.4 cm higher than the reference instrument, with the upper and lower limits at 2.5 cm and 1.6 cm, respectively. The technical error of measurement and coefficient of variation of weight and height for both inter-examiner and intra-examiner measurements were all within acceptable limits (below five percent).
CONCLUSION: The findings of this study suggest that weight, height and waist circumference measured in adults aged 18 years and above, using the respective above mentioned instruments, are reliable and valid for use in a community survey. Limiting the number of examiners, especially for waist circumference measurements, would yield a higher degree of reliability and validity.
Meranti (Philippine mahogany) sawdust, an inexpensive material, showed strong scavenging behaviour through adsorption for the removal of methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solution. Batch studies were performed to evaluate and optimize the effects of various parameters such as contact time, pH, initial dye concentrations and adsorbent dosage. Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin isotherms were used to analyze the equilibrium data at different temperatures. The experimental data fitted well with the Langmuir adsorption isotherm, indicating thereby the mono layer adsorption of the dye. The monolayer sorption capacity of meranti sawdust for MB was found to be 120.48, 117.64, 149.25 and 158.73 mg/g at 30, 40, 50 and 60 degrees C, respectively. Thermodynamic calculations showed that the MB adsorption process is endothermic and spontaneous in nature. Kinetic studies showed that the adsorption followed a pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The results indicated that the meranti sawdust could be an alternative material in place of more costly adsorbents used for dye removal.
The present study proposed the use of meranti sawdust in the removal of Cu(II), Cr(III), Ni(II) and Pb(II) ions from synthetic aqueous solutions. Batch adsorption studies showed that meranti sawdust was able to adsorb Cu(II), Cr(III), Ni(II) and Pb(II) ions from aqueous solutions in the concentration range 1-200mg/L. The adsorption was favoured with maximum adsorption at pH 6, whereas the adsorption starts at pH 1 for all metal ions. The effects of contact time, initial concentration of metal ions, adsorbent dosage and temperature have been reported. The applicability of Langmuir, Freundlich, and Dubinin-Radushkevich (D-R) isotherm was tried for the system to completely understand the adsorption isotherm processes. The adsorption kinetics tested with pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order models yielded high R(2) values from 0.850 to 0.932 and from 0.991 to 0.999, respectively. The meranti sawdust was found to be cost effective and has good efficiency to remove these toxic metal ions from aqueous solution.
The purpose of this work is to obtain optimal preparation conditions for activated carbons prepared from rattan sawdust (RSAC) for removal of disperse dye from aqueous solution. The RSAC was prepared by chemical activation with phosphoric acid using response surface methodology (RSM). RSM based on a three-variable central composite design was used to determine the effect of activation temperature (400-600 degrees C), activation time (1-3h) and H(3)PO(4):precursor (wt%) impregnation ratio (3:1-6:1) on C.I. Disperse Orange 30 (DO30) percentage removal and activated carbon yield were investigated. Based on the central composite design, quadratic model was developed to correlate the preparation variables to the two responses. The most influential factor on each experimental design responses was identified from the analysis of variance (ANOVA). The optimum conditions for preparation of RSAC, which were based on response surface and contour plots, were found as follows: temperature of 470 degrees C, activation time of 2h and 14min and chemical impregnation ratio of 4.45.
The discharge of palm oil mill effluent (POME) causes serious pollution problems and the membrane based POME treatment is suggested as a solution. Three different designs, namely Design A, B and C distinguished by their different types and orientations of membrane system are proposed. The results at optimum condition proved that the quality of the recovered water for all the designs met the effluent discharge standards imposed by the Department of Environment (DOE). The economic analysis at the optimum condition shows that the total treatment cost for Design A was the highest (RM 115.11/m(3)), followed by Design B (RM 23.64/m(3)) and Design C (RM 7.03/m(3)). In this study, the membrane system operated at high operating pressure with low membrane unit cost is preferable. Design C is chosen as the optimal design for the membrane based POME treatment system based on the lowest total treatment cost.
The aims of this study were to establish the physical and physiological attributes of elite and sub-elite Malaysian male badminton players and to determine whether these attributes discriminate elite players from sub-elite players. Measurements and tests of basic anthropometry, explosive power, anaerobic recovery capacity, badminton-specific movement agility, maximum strength, and aerobic capacity were conducted on two occasions, separated by at least one day. The elite (n = 12) and sub-elite (n = 12) players' characteristics were, respectively: mean age 24.6 years (s = 3.7) and 20.5 years (s = 0.7); mass 73.2 kg (s = 7.6) and 62.7 kg (s = 4.2); stature 1.76 m (s = 0.07) and 1.71 m (s = 0.05); body fat 12.5% (s = 4.8) and 9.5% (s = 3.4); estimated VO(2max) 56.9 ml . kg(-1) . min(-1) (s = 3.7) and 59.5 ml . kg(-1) . min(-1) (s = 5.2). The elite players had greater maximum absolute strength in one-repetition maximum bench press (P = 0.015) compared with the sub-elite players. There were significant differences in instantaneous lower body power estimated from vertical jump height between the elite and sub-elite groups (P < 0.01). However, there was no significant difference between groups in shuttle run tests and on-court badminton-specific movement agility tests. Our results show that elite Malaysian male badminton players are taller, heavier, and stronger than their sub-elite counterparts. The test battery, however, did not allow us to discriminate between the elite and sub-elite players, suggesting that at the elite level tactical knowledge, technical skills, and psychological readiness could be of greater importance.
In this work, activated carbon was prepared from bamboo waste by chemical activation method using phosphoric acid as activating agent. The activated carbon was evaluated for chemical oxygen demand (COD) and color reduction of a real textile mill effluent. A maximum reduction in color and COD of 91.84% and 75.21%, respectively was achieved. As a result, the standard B discharge limit of color and COD under the Malaysian Environmental Quality act 1974 was met. The Freundlich isotherm model was found best to describe the obtained equilibrium adsorption data at 30 degrees C. The Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area, total pore volume and the average pore diameter were 988.23 m(2)/g, 0.69 cm(3)/g and 2.82 nm, respectively. Various functional groups on the prepared bamboo activated carbon (BAC) were determined from the FTIR results.
Over the past decade, L-homophenylalanine is extensively used in the pharmaceutical industry as a precursor for production of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor, which possesses significant clinical application in the management of hypertension and congestive heart failure (CHF). A number of chemical methods have been reported thus far for the synthesis of L-homophenylalanine. However, chemical methods generally suffer from process complexity, high cost, and environmental pollution. On the other hand, enantiomerically pure L-homophenylalanine can be obtained elegantly and efficiently by employing biocatalytic methods, where it appears to be the most attractive process in terms of potential industrial applications, green chemistry and sustainability. Herein we review the biocatalytic synthesis of vital L-homophenylalanine as potentially useful intermediate in the production of pharmaceutical drugs in environmentally friendly conditions, using membrane bioreactor for sustainable biotransformation process. One envisages the future prospects of developing an integrated membrane bioreactor system with improved performance for L-homophenylalanine production.
Previous works on the effects of salivary alpha amylase in respond to various stressors report encouraging findings on it being a good indicator of stress. Ellestad protocol is a clinical procedure to screen for coronary artery disease by introducing exercise induced physical stress. If a salivary based biomarker profile in accordance to a stress test protocol could be established, the critical stress state which disable rational decision making could be ascertained in a standardized procedure. This technique would serve to aid human resource management in times of critical events such as rescue, firefighting or even military, that would potentially prevent unnecessary sacrifice of human lives. In this pilot study with five healthy volunteers performing the Ellestad protocol treadmill, a measurement profile with physiologic and salivary based biomarker is obtained. It is found that the alpha amylase levels or the changes in it as workload changes from resting-walking-running at ease-exhaustive running, is relatively more significant in reflecting the stress state than heart rate and blood pressure. Moreover, it is strongly associated with mood state with correlation coefficient of 0.8 and significance of 0.01.
Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis (LCH) refers to a group of lesions presenting with a spectrum of clinical. features but sharing similar histology. These lesions are rare and treatment has been quite variable with current treatment protocol recommended being dependent on whether it is a unifocal or multi focal bone disease or a multi focal multisystem disease. However, the clinical presentations of LCH are variable and the decision to place into the appropriate clinical types may sometimes be masked by the non-discovery of all the lesions. In the oral maxillofacial area, the clinical features of these lesions may further pose a problem by nondescript manifestations as dental/periodontal/oral mucosal disorders. These oral findings may sometimes lead to inappropriate choice of treatment and delay in the diagnosis of all the lesions involved. This paper describes one such case where LCH manifest itself as a periodontal disease thus leading to delay in identifying all the sites involved and consequently a delay in id~ntifying the appropriate clinical type.
This study deals with the use of activated carbon prepared from bamboo waste (BMAC), as an adsorbent for the removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and color of cotton textile mill wastewater. Bamboo waste was used to prepare activated carbon by chemical activation using phosphoric acid (H(3)PO(4)) as chemical agent. The effects of three preparation variables activation temperature, activation time and H(3)PO(4):precursor (wt%) impregnation ratio on the color and COD removal were investigated. Based on the central composite design (CCD) and quadratic models were developed to correlate the preparation variables to the color and COD. From the analysis of variance (ANOVA), the most influential factor on each experimental design response was identified. The optimum condition was obtained by using temperature of 556 degrees C, activation time of 2.33 h and chemical impregnation ratio of 5.24, which resulted in 93.08% of color and 73.98% of COD.
In this work, the adsorption potential of bamboo waste based granular activated carbon (BGAC) to remove C.I. Reactive Black (RB5) from aqueous solution was investigated using fixed-bed adsorption column. The effects of inlet RB5 concentration (50-200mg/L), feed flow rate (10-30 mL/min) and activated carbon bed height (40-80 mm) on the breakthrough characteristics of the adsorption system were determined. The highest bed capacity of 39.02 mg/g was obtained using 100mg/L inlet dye concentration, 80 mm bed height and 10 mL/min flow rate. The adsorption data were fitted to three well-established fixed-bed adsorption models namely, Adam's-Bohart, Thomas and Yoon-Nelson models. The results fitted well to the Thomas and Yoon-Nelson models with coefficients of correlation R(2)>or=0.93 at different conditions. The BGAC was shown to be suitable adsorbent for adsorption of RB5 using fixed-bed adsorption column.
In this article, the use of low-cost adsorbents for the removal of methylene blue (MB) from solution has been reviewed. Adsorption techniques are widely used to remove certain classes of pollutants from waters, especially those which are not easily biodegradable. The removal of MB, as a pollutant, from waste waters of textile, paper, printing and other industries has been addressed by the researchers. Currently, a combination of biological treatment and adsorption on activated carbon is becoming more common for removal of dyes from wastewater. Although commercial activated carbon is a preferred adsorbent for color removal, its widespread use is restricted due to its relatively high cost which led to the researches on alternative non-conventional and low-cost adsorbents. The purpose of this review article is to organize the scattered available information on various aspects on a wide range of potentially low-cost adsorbents for MB removal. These include agricultural wastes, industrial solid wastes, biomass, clays minerals and zeolites. Agricultural waste materials being highly efficient, low cost and renewable source of biomass can be exploited for MB remediation. It is evident from a literature survey of about 185 recently published papers that low-cost adsorbents have demonstrated outstanding removal capabilities for MB.
The National Health and Morbidity Survey III 2006 wanted to perform anthropometric measurements (length and weight) for children in their survey. However there is limited literature on the reliability, technical error of measurement (TEM) and validity of these two measurements. This study assessed the above properties of length (LT) and weight (WT) measurements in 130 children age below two years, from the Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (HUKM) paediatric outpatient clinics, during the period of December 2005 to January 2006. Two trained nurses measured WT using Tanita digital infant scale model 1583, Japan (0.01kg) and Seca beam scale, Germany (0.01 kg) and LT using Seca measuring mat, Germany (0.1cm) and Sensormedics stadiometer model 2130 (0.1cm). Findings showed high inter and intra-examiner reliability using 'change in the mean' and 'intraclass correlation' (ICC) for WT and LT. However, LT was found to be less reliable using the 'Bland and Altman plot'. This was also true using Relative TEMs, where the TEM value of LT was slightly more than the acceptable limit. The test instruments were highly valid for WT using 'change in the mean' and 'ICC' but was less valid for LT measurement. In spite of this we concluded that, WT and LT measurements in children below two years old using the test instruments were reliable and valid for a community survey such as NHMS III within the limits of their error. We recommend that LT measurements be given special attention to improve its reliability and validity.
Study site: Paediatric clinic, Pusat Perubatan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (PPUKM), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia