Athletes in Malaysia need to perform in a hot and humid climate. Chronic supplementation of caffeine on endurance performance have been studied extensively in different populations. However, concurrent research on the effects of acute supplementation of caffeine on cardiorespiratory responses during endurance exercise in the Malaysian context especially in a hot and humid environment is unavailable.
Leaves of Centella asiatica (Centella) were analysed for their triterpene composition and bioactivity such as collagen enhancement, antioxidant, anticellulite and UV protection capacity properties. Triterpenes of Centella were measured using HPLC-PAD on an Excil ODS 5 mm (C18) column for the simultaneous determination of asiatic acid, madecassic acid, asiaticoside and madecassoside. Centella was found to contain significant amounts of madecassoside (3.10 ± 4.58 mg/mL) and asiaticoside (1.97 ± 2.65 mg/mL), but was low in asiatic and madecassic acid. The highest collagen synthesis was found at 50 mg/mL of Centella extracts. The antioxidant activity of Centella (84%) was compared to grape seed extract (83%) and Vitamin C (88%). Its lipolytic activity was observed by the release of glycerol (115.9 µmol/L) at 0.02% concentration. Centella extracts exhibited similar UV protection effect to OMC at 10% concentration. In view of these results, the potential application of Centella in food and pharmaceutical industries is now widely open.
Exposure to ethanol during critical period of development can cause severe impairments in the central nervous system (CNS). This study was conducted to assess the neurotoxic effects of chronic embryonic exposure to ethanol in the zebrafish, taking into consideration the time dependent effect. Two types of exposure regimen were applied in this study. Withdrawal exposure group received daily exposure starting from gastrulation until hatching, while continuous exposure group received daily exposure from gastrulation until behavioural assessment at 6dpf (days post fertilization). Chronic embryonic exposure to ethanol decreased spontaneous tail coiling at 24hpf (hour post fertilization), heart rate at 48hpf and increased mortality rate at 72hpf. The number of apoptotic cells in the embryos treated with ethanol was significantly increased as compared to the control. We also measured the morphological abnormalities and the most prominent effects can be observed in the treated embryos exposed to 1.50% and 2.00%. The treated embryos showed shorter body length, larger egg yolk, smaller eye diameter and heart edema as compared to the control. Larvae received 0.75% continuous ethanol exposure exhibited decreased swimming activity and increased anxiety related behavior, while withdrawal ethanol exposure showed increased swimming activity and decreased anxiety related behavior as compared to the respective control. Biochemical analysis exhibited that ethanol exposure for both exposure regimens altered proteins, lipids, carbohydrates and nucleic acids of the zebrafish larvae. Our results indicated that time dependent effect of ethanol exposure during development could target the biochemical processes thus leading to induction of apoptosis and neurobehavioral deficits in the zebrafish larvae. Thus it raised our concern about the safe limit of alcohol consumption for pregnant mother especially during critical periods of vulnerability for developing nervous system.
Introduction: Silver nanoparticles has been proven to be an effective agent for antimicrobial efficacy against bacte-ria, viruses and other eukaryotic microorganisms. Green synthesis is one of the methods that has been developed to synthesize silver nanoparticles in environmentally-friendly conditions. It uses plant extracts as reducing and capping agents. Besides act as reducing and capping agents, bioactives such as phenolic compounds may bind to silver nanoparticles and enhance its medicinal properties. Strobilanthes crispus is a Malaysian native plant. Previous stud-ies had shown that S. crispus contains polyphenols, catechins, alkaloids, caffeine, tannins and vitamins. Therefore, the aim of this study is to determine antibacterial activities of silver nanoparticles-Strobilanthes crispus (AgNP-SC) against clinically important pathogens such as Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Streptococcus mutans. Methods: The disc diffusion assay (DDA) was performed to investigate the inhibition zone of AgNps-Sc towards E. coli, P. aeruginosa and S. mutans. Minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) was used to determine bactericidal/bacteriostatic profile of AgNP- SC against E. coli, P. aeruginosa and S. mu-tans. Results: AgNP-SC (40mg/mL) shows the greatest inhibition properties (12.67±0.6mm) against S. mutans when compared to Strobilanthes crispus leaves extract (6.0±0.001mm) and blank silver nanoparticles (6.0±0.001mm). MIC values for AgNP-SC against S. mutans and E. coli were at 0.625 mg/mL and 1.25 mg/mL, respectively. Whereas the MIC value of AgNP- SC against P. aeruginosa was at 2.5 mg/mL. MBC values of AgNP-SC against E. coli, P. aerugino-sa and S. mutans were at 1.25, 2.5 mg/mL respectively. Results are concentration-dependent, with higher concentra-tion demonstrating better inhibition property. Conclusion: It can be concluded that AgNP-SC possesses bactericidal properties against S. mutans, E. coli and P. aeruginosa.
This study investigated the components present in and the total antioxidant activity of leaves of Strobilanthes crispus (L.) Bremek or Saricocalyx crispus (L.) Bremek (Acanthacea). Proximate analyses and total antioxidant activity using ferric thiocyanate and thiobarbituric acid methods were employed. Minerals content was determined using the atomic absorption spectrophotometer, whereas the water-soluble vitamins were determined by means of the UV-VIS spectrophotometer (vitamin C) and fluorimeter (vitamins B(1) and B(2)). Catechin, tannin, caffeine, and alkaloid contents were also studied. All data were compared to the previously reported results of Yerbamate, green tea, black tea, and Indian tea. The dried leaves contained a high amount of total ash (21.6%) as a result of a high amount of minerals including potassium (51%), calcium (24%), sodium (13%), iron (1%), and phosphorus (1%). High content of water-soluble vitamins (C, B(1), and B(2)) contributed to the high antioxidant activity of the leaves. The leaves also contained a moderate amount of other proximate composition as well as other compounds such as catechins, alkaloids, caffeine, and tannin, contributing further to the total antioxidant activity. Catechins of Strobilanthes crispus leaves showed highest antioxidant activity when compared to Yerbamate and vitamin E. Consumption of the leafy extract daily (5 g/day) as an herbal tea could contribute to the additional nutrients and antioxidants needed in the body to enhance the defense system, especially toward the incidence of degenerative diseases.
Hereditary or developmental neurological disorders (HNDs or DNDs) affect the quality of life and contribute to the high mortality rates among neonates. Most HNDs are incurable, and the search for new and effective treatments is hampered by challenges peculiar to the human brain, which is guarded by the near-impervious blood-brain barrier. Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat (CRISPR), a gene-editing tool repurposed from bacterial defense systems against viruses, has been touted by some as a panacea for genetic diseases. CRISPR has expedited the research into HNDs, enabling the generation of in vitro and in vivo models to simulate the changes in human physiology caused by genetic variation. In this review, we describe the basic principles and workings of CRISPR and the modifications that have been made to broaden its applications. Then, we review important CRISPR-based studies that have opened new doors to the treatment of HNDs such as fragile X syndrome and Down syndrome. We also discuss how CRISPR can be used to generate research models to examine the effects of genetic variation and caffeine therapy on the developing brain. Several drawbacks of CRISPR may preclude its use at the clinics, particularly the vulnerability of neuronal cells to the adverse effect of gene editing, and the inefficiency of CRISPR delivery into the brain. In concluding the review, we offer some suggestions for enhancing the gene-editing efficacy of CRISPR and how it may be morphed into safe and effective therapy for HNDs and other brain disorders.
Introduction: Anaemia in pregnancy is a major cause of disability worldwide, with a prevalence of more than 20% in >80% countries worldwide. Of those affected, roughly 50% are due to iron-deficiency anaemia, but there is some variation across different populations due to local culture and practices. Anaemia affects 38% of pregnant women worldwide, while in Malaysia the prevalence is 35%. The study aim is to determine the prevalence of anaemia among pregnant women in 2 rural districts in Sabah as well as knowledge, attitude and practices towards anaemia in these women. Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study was done in Tongod and Kinabatangan Districts involving 217 pregnant women at 35-37 weeks of gestation who attended antenatal check-up at 6 government clin-ics in these districts. An interview using a standardized questionnaire was conducted by community nurses at the respective clinics. Sociodemographic and antenatal details was collected, including information about knowledge, attitude and practices toward anaemia. The Chi-square test was used to compare anaemia at 36 weeks with select-ed sociodemographic and antenatal factors, as well as KAP factors. Results: The mean age of women in the study was 28.4 ± 5.9 years, and the mean haemoglobin level at around 36 weeks age of gestation was 11.0 ± 1.1 g/dL. Prevalence of anaemia in these women was 52%. Most of the answers in the KAP section reflected the relatively high awareness about anaemia in pregnancy and methods to lessen its effects. A significant association was found between anaemia at 36 weeks and monthly family income, defaulting on iron supplements, caffeine beverages taken with meals, and dietary restrictions (p = 0.010, 0.001, 0.001, and 0.017 respectively). Conclusion: The high preva-lence of anaemia among pregnant women in these 2 districts reflects the practices of these women despite high levels of knowledge of anaemia. More effort needs to be done to apply this knowledge to decrease anaemia in pregnant women in rural areas.
The surge in the consumption of food products containing herbal aphrodisiacs has driven their widespread adulteration. A rapid screening strategy is, therefore, warranted to curb this problem. This study established an enzyme inhibition assay to screen phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE5) inhibitors as adulterants in selected food products. Fluorescein-labelled cyclic-3',5'-guanosine monophosphate was utilised as substrates for the PDE5A1 enzyme, aided by the presence of nanoparticle phosphate-binding beads on their fluorescence polarisation. The sample preparation was optimised to improve the enzyme inhibition efficiency and applied to calculate the threshold values of six blank food matrices. The assay was validated using sildenafil, producing an IC50 of 4.2 nM. The applicability of the assay procedure was demonstrated by screening 55 distinct food samples. The results were subsequently verified using confirmatory liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) analysis. Altogether, 49 samples inhibited the PDE5 enzyme above the threshold values (75.7%-105.5%) and were registered as potentially adulterated samples. The remaining six samples were marked as nonadulterated with percentage inhibition below the threshold values (-3.3%-18.2%). The LC-HRMS analysis agreed with the assay results for all food products except for the instant coffee premix (ICP) samples. False-positive results were obtained for the ICP samples at 32% (8/25), due to possible PDE5 inhibition by caffeine. Contrarily, all other food samples were found to produce 0% (0/30) false-positive or false-negative results. The broad-based assay, established via a simple mix-incubate-read format, exhibited promising potential for high-throughput screening of PDE5 inhibitors in various food products, except those with naturally occurring phosphodiesterase inhibitors such as caffeine.
Strobilanthes crispus (S. crispus) is an herbal medicine plant which is native to countries from Madagascar to Indonesia. The plants contained high amount of mineral content and vitamin C, B1 and B2. This plant are used in medicinal and to treat a variety of ailments in the various traditional systems of medicine. Phytochemical investigations have revealed that the plant contain polyphenols, flavonoids, catechins, alkaloids, caffeine, tannins, compounds known to possess multiple health beneficial effects. Preclinical studies have shown that the plant possess antioxidant, free radical scavenging, anticancer, antidiabetic, antimicrobial, wound healing and antiulcerogenic activities. This review presents the comprehensive overview of phytochemical constituents, pharmacological and toxicological properties of S. crispus and to provide preliminary information for future research and for commercial exploitation.
Since the concept of working memory was introduced over 50 years ago, different schools of thought have offered different definitions for working memory based on the various cognitive domains that it encompasses. The general consensus regarding working memory supports the idea that working memory is extensively involved in goal-directed behaviors in which information must be retained and manipulated to ensure successful task execution. Before the emergence of other competing models, the concept of working memory was described by the multicomponent working memory model proposed by Baddeley and Hitch. In the present article, the authors provide an overview of several working memory-relevant studies in order to harmonize the findings of working memory from the neurosciences and psychological standpoints, especially after citing evidence from past studies of healthy, aging, diseased, and/or lesioned brains. In particular, the theoretical framework behind working memory, in which the related domains that are considered to play a part in different frameworks (such as memory's capacity limit and temporary storage) are presented and discussed. From the neuroscience perspective, it has been established that working memory activates the fronto-parietal brain regions, including the prefrontal, cingulate, and parietal cortices. Recent studies have subsequently implicated the roles of subcortical regions (such as the midbrain and cerebellum) in working memory. Aging also appears to have modulatory effects on working memory; age interactions with emotion, caffeine and hormones appear to affect working memory performances at the neurobiological level. Moreover, working memory deficits are apparent in older individuals, who are susceptible to cognitive deterioration. Another younger population with working memory impairment consists of those with mental, developmental, and/or neurological disorders such as major depressive disorder and others. A less coherent and organized neural pattern has been consistently reported in these disadvantaged groups. Working memory of patients with traumatic brain injury was similarly affected and shown to have unusual neural activity (hyper- or hypoactivation) as a general observation. Decoding the underlying neural mechanisms of working memory helps support the current theoretical understandings concerning working memory, and at the same time provides insights into rehabilitation programs that target working memory impairments from neurophysiological or psychological aspects.
Phoenix dactylifera L (Date palm) is one of the oldest known fruit crops in the world, and
the consumption of date fruits is no longer restricted to the Middle Eastern countries. Date
palm kernels are waste products of date fruit industry which are normally being discarded.
Based on their dietary fiber content; date palm kernels (DPK) have been proposed to be used
as fiber-based food supplement, caffeine free coffee alternative and animal feed ingredient.
Hence, utilization of such waste is highly desirable for the date industry. To accommodate these
benefits, and subsequent to some uses associated with DPK, this study sought to investigate the
biochemical and nutritional values of the Barhi date palm kernels (BDPK) grown in Iraq. The
results show that BDPK is an excellent source of dietary fiber (66.24 g/100g). Glutamic acid
was found to be the predominant amino acid, (0.674 g/100g), followed by Arginine and aspartic
acid (0.437 g/100g and 0.320 g/100g, respectively). Potassium was the most occurring mineral
in BDPK (2.39 g/kg), and the main sugars were sucrose and fructose (0.548 g/100g and 0.249
g/100g, respectively). Gas-liquid chromatography revealed that the main unsaturated fatty acid
(USFA) was oleic acid (40.927 mg/100g), while the main saturated fatty acid (SFA) were lauric
acid (20.270 mg/100g) and myristic acid (12.288 mg/100g). Furthermore, the BDPK depicted
considerable concentrations of vitamins, in which vitamin B5 (40.4 mg/100g) showed the
highest value. The results obtained indicate a strong potential for BDPK to be used in human
nutrition, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical applications and may provide an important economic
advantage through increasing the utilization of BDKP while also additive value will be added
to the residue.
Introduction: Athletes train physically to reach beyond their potential maximum aerobic threshold. Whey protein supplements (WPS) are often used in conjunction with physiotherapy and psychotherapy to regain better vital sign and physical performances. This review aimed to explore the clinical evidence on the efficacy and safety of WPS in sports performance and recovery among athletes. Methodology: A comprehensive literature search was performed to identify relevant randomized control trials (RCTs) that investigated the efficacy and safety of WPS on the vital sign and physical performance among athletes. The Cochrane Risk of Bias (ROB) Assessment tools were used to assess the quality of the studies. Meta-analysis was conducted using the frequentist model with STATA version 14.2®. Results: A total of 333,257 research articles were identified out of which 20 RCTs were included for qualitative synthesis and network meta-analysis with 351 participants. Among the studies, 7 had low ROB and 3 RCTs had high ROB. Of these 20 trials, 16 trials were randomized clinical trials which compared whey protein supplements (WPS) with various comparators i.e., L-alanine, bovine colostrum, carbohydrate, casein, leucine, maltodextrin, rice, protein + caffeine were compared with placebo. Analysis from the pairwise meta-analysis revealed that for respiratory exchange ratio (RER) WPS was found to be significantly improving compared to maltodextrin (WMD = 0.012; 95%CI = 0.001, 0.023). Similarity to RPE (Rate Perceived Exertion), slight difference between WPS and the comparators, however, when the estimation was favorable to the comparators, there was moderate-high heterogeneity. For VO2max, high heterogeneity appeared when WPS compared to maltodextrin with the I2 = 97.8% (WMD = 4.064; 95% CI = -4.230, 12.359), meanwhile bovine colostrum (WMD = -2.658; 95%CI = -6.180, 0.865) only comparator that was better than WPS. According to the estimated effect of the supplements on physical performance outcome results, maximum power (8 studies, 185 athletes), highest ranked was bovine colostrum (SUCRA = 70.7%) and the lowest ranked was placebo (SUCRA = 17.9%), yet all insignificant. Then again, on average power (nine studies, 187 athletes), WPS was the highest ranked (SUCRA = 75.4 %) about -112.00 watt (-187.91, -36.08) and most of the estimations were significant. Body mass was reported in 10 studies (171 athletes), carbohydrate may be at the highest ranked (SUCRA = 66.9%) but it is insignificant. Thought the second highest ranked was WPS (SUCRA = 64.7%) and it is significant (WMD = -6.89 kg; CI = -8.24, -5.54). Conclusion: The findings of this review support the efficacy and safety of WPS as an ergogenic aid on athletes' sports performance and recovery. The overall quality of clinical evidence was found to be valid and reliable from the comprehensive search strategy and ROB assessment.
This study investigated the role of α1D-adrenoceptor in the modulation of renal haemodynamics in rats with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). LVH was established in Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats with isoprenaline (5.0 mg · (kg body mass)(-1), by subcutaneous injection every 72 h) and caffeine (62 mg · L(-1) in drinking water, daily for 14 days). Renal vasoconstrictor responses were measured for noradrenaline (NA), phenylephrine (PE), and methoxamine (ME) before and immediately after low or high dose intrarenal infusions of BMY 7378, a selective α1D-adrenoceptor blocker. The rats with LVH had higher mean arterial blood pressure and circulating NA levels, but lower renal cortical blood perfusion compared with the control group (all P < 0.05). In the LVH group, the magnitude of the renal vasoconstrictor response to ME was blunted, but not the response to NA or PE (P < 0.05), compared with the control group (LVH vs. C, 38% vs. 50%). The magnitude of the drop in the vasoconstrictor responses to NA, PE, and ME in the presence of a higher dose of BMY 7378 was significantly greater in the LVH group compared with the control group (LVH vs. C, 45% vs. 25% for NA, 52% vs. 33% for PE, 66% vs. 53% for ME, all P < 0.05). These findings indicate an impaired renal vasoconstrictor response to adrenergic agonists during LVH. In addition, the α1D-adrenoceptor subtype plays a key role in the modulation of vascular responses in this diseased state.