Displaying publications 61 - 80 of 90 in total

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  1. Sim KS, Norhisham S
    J Microsc, 2016 11;264(2):159-174.
    PMID: 27238911 DOI: 10.1111/jmi.12425
    A new method based on nonlinear least squares regression (NLLSR) is formulated to estimate signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of scanning electron microscope (SEM) images. The estimation of SNR value based on NLLSR method is compared with the three existing methods of nearest neighbourhood, first-order interpolation and the combination of both nearest neighbourhood and first-order interpolation. Samples of SEM images with different textures, contrasts and edges were used to test the performance of NLLSR method in estimating the SNR values of the SEM images. It is shown that the NLLSR method is able to produce better estimation accuracy as compared to the other three existing methods. According to the SNR results obtained from the experiment, the NLLSR method is able to produce approximately less than 1% of SNR error difference as compared to the other three existing methods.
  2. Teh V, Sim KS, Wong EK
    Scanning, 2016 Nov;38(6):842-856.
    PMID: 27302216 DOI: 10.1002/sca.21334
    According to the statistic from World Health Organization (WHO), stroke is one of the major causes of death globally. Computed tomography (CT) scan is one of the main medical diagnosis system used for diagnosis of ischemic stroke. CT scan provides brain images in Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine (DICOM) format. The presentation of CT brain images is mainly relied on the window setting (window center and window width), which converts an image from DICOM format into normal grayscale format. Nevertheless, the ordinary window parameter could not deliver a proper contrast on CT brain images for ischemic stroke detection. In this paper, a new proposed method namely gamma correction extreme-level eliminating with weighting distribution (GCELEWD) is implemented to improve the contrast on CT brain images. GCELEWD is capable of highlighting the hypodense region for diagnosis of ischemic stroke. The performance of this new proposed technique, GCELEWD, is compared with four of the existing contrast enhancement technique such as brightness preserving bi-histogram equalization (BBHE), dualistic sub-image histogram equalization (DSIHE), extreme-level eliminating histogram equalization (ELEHE), and adaptive gamma correction with weighting distribution (AGCWD). GCELEWD shows better visualization for ischemic stroke detection and higher values with image quality assessment (IQA) module. SCANNING 38:842-856, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
  3. Sim KS, Teh V, Tey YC, Kho TK
    Scanning, 2016 Nov;38(6):492-501.
    PMID: 26618303 DOI: 10.1002/sca.21285
    This paper introduces new development technique to improve the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) image quality and we name it as sub-blocking multiple peak histogram equalization (SUB-B-MPHE) with convolution operator. By using this new proposed technique, it shows that the new modified MPHE performs better than original MPHE. In addition, the sub-blocking method consists of convolution operator which can help to remove the blocking effect for SEM images after applying this new developed technique. Hence, by using the convolution operator, it effectively removes the blocking effect by properly distributing the suitable pixel value for the whole image. Overall, the SUB-B-MPHE with convolution outperforms the rest of methods. SCANNING 38:492-501, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
  4. Sim KS, Yeap ZX, Tso CP
    Scanning, 2016 Nov;38(6):502-514.
    PMID: 26618491 DOI: 10.1002/sca.21286
    An improvement to the existing technique of quantifying signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of scanning electron microscope (SEM) images using piecewise cubic Hermite interpolation (PCHIP) technique is proposed. The new technique uses an adaptive tuning onto the PCHIP, and is thus named as ATPCHIP. To test its accuracy, 70 images are corrupted with noise and their autocorrelation functions are then plotted. The ATPCHIP technique is applied to estimate the uncorrupted noise-free zero offset point from a corrupted image. Three existing methods, the nearest neighborhood, first order interpolation and original PCHIP, are used to compare with the performance of the proposed ATPCHIP method, with respect to their calculated SNR values. Results show that ATPCHIP is an accurate and reliable method to estimate SNR values from SEM images. SCANNING 38:502-514, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
  5. Sim KS, NorHisham S
    Scanning, 2016 Nov;38(6):771-782.
    PMID: 27253888 DOI: 10.1002/sca.21327
    A technique based on linear Least Squares Regression (LSR) model is applied to estimate signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of scanning electron microscope (SEM) images. In order to test the accuracy of this technique on SNR estimation, a number of SEM images are initially corrupted with white noise. The autocorrelation function (ACF) of the original and the corrupted SEM images are formed to serve as the reference point to estimate the SNR value of the corrupted image. The LSR technique is then compared with the previous three existing techniques known as nearest neighbourhood, first-order interpolation, and the combination of both nearest neighborhood and first-order interpolation. The actual and the estimated SNR values of all these techniques are then calculated for comparison purpose. It is shown that the LSR technique is able to attain the highest accuracy compared to the other three existing techniques as the absolute difference between the actual and the estimated SNR value is relatively small. SCANNING 38:771-782, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
  6. Teoh WY, Tan HP, Ling SK, Abdul Wahab N, Sim KS
    Nat Prod Res, 2016;30(4):448-51.
    PMID: 25738869 DOI: 10.1080/14786419.2015.1017726
    Gynura bicolor (Compositae) is a popular vegetable in Asia and believed to confer a wide range of benefits including anti-cancer. Our previous findings showed that the ethyl acetate extract of G. bicolor possessed cytotoxicity and induced apoptotic and necrotic cell death in human colon carcinoma cells (HCT 116). A combination of column chromatography had been used to purify chemical constituents from the ethyl acetate and water extract of G. bicolor leaves. Eight chemical constituents 5-p-trans-coumaroylquinic acid (I), 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (II), rutin (III), kampferol-3-O-rutinoside (IV), 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid (V), kampferol-3-O-glucoside (VI), guanosine (VII) and chlorogenic acid (VIII) were isolated from G. bicolor grown in Malaysia. To our best knowledge, all chemical constituents were isolated for the first time from G. bicolor leaves except rutin (III). 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid (V), guanosine (VII) and chlorogenic acid (VIII) demonstrated selective cytotoxicity (selective index>3) against HCT 116 cancer cells compared to CCD-18Co human normal colon cells.
  7. Halim MA, Rahman AY, Sim KS, Yam HC, Rahim AA, Ghazali AH, et al.
    Genome Announc, 2016;4(1).
    PMID: 26893411 DOI: 10.1128/genomeA.00005-16
    Here, we report the complete genome sequence of Paenibacillus durus type strain ATCC 35681, which can fix atmospheric nitrogen even in the presence of nitrate.
  8. Teoh WY, Wahab NA, Sim KS
    Nucleosides Nucleotides Nucleic Acids, 2017 Apr 03;36(4):243-255.
    PMID: 28323520 DOI: 10.1080/15257770.2016.1268693
    This study aims to investigate the mechanisms associated with the antiproliferation effect of guanosine on human colon carcinoma HCT 116 cells. In this study, guanosine induced more drastic cell cycle arrest effect than cell death effect on HCT 116 cells. The cell cycle arrest effect of guanosine on HCT 116 cells appeared to be associated with the increased activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) such as ERK1/2, p38 and JNK. The decrease of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activation and cyclin D1 expression was also involved. Thus, the antiproliferation of colon cancer cells of guanosine could be mediated by the disruption of MAPK and AMPK pathways.
  9. Tharek M, Sim KS, Khairuddin D, Ghazali AH, Najimudin N
    Genome Announc, 2017 May 11;5(19).
    PMID: 28495774 DOI: 10.1128/genomeA.00305-17
    Escherichia coli strain USML2 was originally isolated from the inner leaf tissues of surface-sterilized phytopathogenic-free oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.). We present here the whole-genome sequence of this plant-endophytic strain. The genome consists of a single circular chromosome of 4,502,758 bp, 4,315 predicted coding sequences, and a G+C content of 50.8%.
  10. Navanesan S, Abdul Wahab N, Manickam S, Cheow YL, Sim KS
    Chem Biol Interact, 2017 Aug 01;273:37-47.
    PMID: 28578903 DOI: 10.1016/j.cbi.2017.05.022
    The active isolate of LF1 in Leptospermum javanicum was further looked into its capabilities in provoking an apoptotic reaction and suppressing the metastasis process in treated non-small lung cancer cells. LF1 underwent isolation and purification to yield a white powder which was identified as Betulinic acid (BA) via NMR, LCMS and IR spectroscopy. The isolate, BA, which produced an encouraging cytotoxic effect against non-small lung cancer cells (A549 and NCI-H1299) through the MTT assay, was further assessed with TUNEL, Sub-G1 population quantification, acridine orange/ethidium bromide staining as well as activated caspase-3 detection. The results pointed towards the induction of apoptosis as a result of increasing doses of BA, regardless of the p53 status in both cell lines. Treatment with BA also prevented an effective attachment of the invasive A549 cells onto a new culture surface in addition to diminishing the migratory potential of treated cells across a porous membrane. Further investigation through the ELISA detection and gelatin zymography showed an adverse effect to production of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) while the levels of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) were not negatively affected. The findings from this study validate the potential of L. javanicum as a potential anti-cancer treatment as stated in our previous study. The isolate, BA not only showed a capacity in inducing apoptotic cell death in non-small lung cancer cells, but managed to distort the ability of the cancer cells in effectively undergoing the metastasis process.
  11. Sinniah SK, Tan KW, Ng SW, Sim KS
    Anticancer Agents Med Chem, 2017;17(5):741-753.
    PMID: 27671302 DOI: 10.2174/1871520616666160926110929
    BACKGROUND: Thiosemicarbazone (TSC) is a Schiff base that has been receiving considerable attention owing to its promising biological implication and remarkable pharmacological properties. The most promising drug candidate of this class would be Triapine (3-aminopyridine-2-carboxaldehyde thiosemicarbazone) which has entered phase II clinical trials as a potent anti-cancer chemotherapeutic agent.

    OBJECTIVE: The current research aimed to synthesize several Schiff base ligands from (3-formyl-4-hydroxyphenyl) methyltriphenylphosphonium (T). Additionally, the current research aimed to study the growth inhibitory effect of triphenylphosphonium containing thiosemicarbazone derivatives on PC-3 cells by deciphering the mechanisms involved in cell death.

    METHOD: The compounds were characterized by various spectroscopic methods (infrared spectra, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, HRESIMS and X-ray crystallography) and the results were in conformity with the structure of the targeted compounds. Growth inhibitory effect of the compounds were performed against six human cell lines.

    RESULTS: DM(tsc)T displayed most potent activity against PC-3 cells with IC50 value of 2.64 ± 0.33 μM, surpassing that of the positive control cisplatin (5.47 ± 0.06 μM). There were marked morphological changes observed in DM(tsc)T treated cells stained with acridine orange and ethidium bromide which were indicative of cell apoptosis. Treatment with DM(tsc)T showed that the cell cycle is arrested in the G0/G1 phase after 72 hours. Mitochondrial membrane potential loss was observed in cells treated with DM(tsc)T, indicating the apoptosis could be due to mitochondria mediated pathway.

    CONCLUSION: This study indicates that DM(tsc)T would serve as a lead scaffold for rational anticancer agent development.

  12. Saw WS, Ujihara M, Chong WY, Voon SH, Imae T, Kiew LV, et al.
    Colloids Surf B Biointerfaces, 2018 Jan 01;161:365-374.
    PMID: 29101882 DOI: 10.1016/j.colsurfb.2017.10.064
    Physiochemical changes, including size, are known to affect gold nanoparticle cellular internalization and treatment efficacy. Here, we report the effect of four sizes of cystine/citric acid-coated confeito-like gold nanoparticles (confeito-AuNPs) (30, 60, 80 and 100nm) on cellular uptake, intracellular localization and photothermal anticancer treatment efficiency in MDA-MB231 breast cancer cells. Cellular uptake is size dependent with the smallest size of confeito-AuNPs (30nm) having the highest cellular internalization via clathrin- and caveolae-mediated endocytosis. However, the other three sizes (60, 80 and 100nm) utilize clathrin-mediated endocytosis for cellular uptake. The intracellular localization of confeito-AuNPs is related to their endocytosis mechanism, where all sizes of confeito-AuNPs were localized highly in the lysosome and mitochondria, while confeito-AuNPs (30nm) gave the highest localization in the endoplasmic reticulum. Similarly, a size-dependent trend was also observed in in vitro photothermal treatment experiments, with the smallest confeito-AuNPs (30nm) giving the highest cell killing rate, whereas the largest size of confeito-AuNPs (100nm) displayed the lowest photothermal efficacy. Its desirable physicochemical characteristics, biocompatible nature and better photothermal efficacy will form the basis for further development of multifunctional confeito-AuNP-based nanotherapeutic applications.
  13. Ting FF, Sim KS, Lim CP
    Comput Med Imaging Graph, 2018 11;69:82-95.
    PMID: 30219737 DOI: 10.1016/j.compmedimag.2018.08.011
    Computed Tomography (CT) images are widely used for the identification of abnormal brain tissues following infarct and hemorrhage of a stroke. The treatment of this medical condition mainly depends on doctors' experience. While manual lesion delineation by medical doctors is currently considered as the standard approach, it is time-consuming and dependent on each doctor's expertise and experience. In this study, a case-control comparison brain lesion segmentation (CCBLS) method is proposed to segment the region pertaining to brain injury by comparing the voxel intensity of CT images between control subjects and stroke patients. The method is able to segment the brain lesion from the stacked CT images automatically without prior knowledge of the location or the presence of the lesion. The aim is to reduce medical doctors' burden and assist them in making an accurate diagnosis. A case study with 300 sets of CT images from control subjects and stroke patients is conducted. Comparing with other existing methods, the outcome ascertains the effectiveness of the proposed method in detecting brain infarct of stroke patients.
  14. Saad HM, Sim KS, Tan YS
    Int J Med Mushrooms, 2018;20(2):141-153.
    PMID: 29773006 DOI: 10.1615/IntJMedMushrooms.2018025463
    Five culinary-medicinal mushrooms are commonly available in the Malaysian market: Agaricus bisporus (white and brown), Ganoderma lucidum, Hypsizygus marmoreus, Pleurotus floridanus, and P. pulmonarius. These species were selected for use in the current study, the aim of which was to investigate the antimelanogenesis and anti-inflammatory activity of these mushrooms in an attempt to evaluate their potential use in cosmeceuticals. Mushroom fruiting bodies were extracted with hot water, and the extracts were freeze-dried before testing. The antimelanogenesis activity of the extracts was determined by cell viability assay, measurement of intracellular melanin content, and cellular tyrosinase assay with B16F10 melanoma cells. The anti-inflammatory activity of the mushroom extracts was tested by measuring the levels of nitric oxide (NO), tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and interleukin-10 excreted by RAW264.7 macrophages. Brown A. bisporus reduced intracellular melanin content to the largest extent-up to 57.05 ± 3.90%-without a cytotoxic effect on B16F10 melanoma cells. This extract also reduced cellular tyrosinase activity to 17.93 ± 2.65%, performing better than kojic acid, the positive control. In parallel, the extract from brown A. bisporus, at the highest concentration tested, has appreciable anti-inflammatory activity through reductions of NO and TNF-α levels. The other 5 extracts showed moderate antimelanogenesis and anti-inflammatory activities. In summary, our findings show that A. bisporus (brown) extract has the potential to be used as an ingredient in whitening skincare products and to sooth the inflammatory response on the skin.
  15. Yeap ZX, Sim KS, Tso CP
    Microsc Res Tech, 2019 Apr;82(4):402-414.
    PMID: 30575192 DOI: 10.1002/jemt.23181
    Image processing is introduced to remove or reduce the noise and unwanted signal that deteriorate the quality of an image. Here, a single level two-dimensional wavelet transform is applied to the image in order to obtain the wavelet transform sub-band signal of an image. An estimation technique to predict the noise variance in an image is proposed, which is then fed into a Wiener filter to filter away the noise from the sub-band of the image. The proposed filter is called adaptive tuning piecewise cubic Hermite interpolation with Wiener filter in the wavelet domain. The performance of this filter is compared with four existing filters: median filter, Gaussian smoothing filter, two level wavelet transform with Wiener filter and adaptive noise Wiener filter. Based on the results, the adaptive tuning piecewise cubic Hermite interpolation with Wiener filter in wavelet domain has better performance than the other four methods.
  16. Sim DS, Navanesan S, Sim KS, Gurusamy S, Lim SH, Low YY, et al.
    J Nat Prod, 2019 04 26;82(4):850-858.
    PMID: 30869890 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.8b00919
    Examination of the EtOH extract of the leaves of the Malayan Tabernaemontana corymbosa resulted in the isolation of four new (1-4) and two known bisindole alkaloids (5, 6) of the Aspidosperma- Aspidosperma type. The structures of these alkaloids were determined based on analysis of the spectroscopic data (NMR and HRESIMS). X-ray diffraction analyses of the related bisindole alkaloids conophylline (5) and conophyllinine (6) established the absolute configurations. Treatment of the bisindole alkaloid conophylline (5) with benzeneselenic anhydride gave, in addition to the known bisindole polyervinine (7) previously isolated from another Malayan Tabernaemontana, another bisindole product, 8, an isolable tautomer of 7. X-ray diffraction analyses yielded the absolute configurations of both bisindoles and in addition showed that polyervinine (7) exists primarily as the neutral dione structure. The bisindoles (1-8) and the related conophylline-type bisindoles (9-13) showed pronounced in vitro growth inhibitory activity against an array of human cancer cell lines, including KB, vincristine-resistant KB, PC-3, LNCaP, MCF7, MDA-MB-231, A549, HT-29, and HCT 116 cells, with IC50 values for the active compounds in the 0.01-5 μM range.
  17. Wong SK, Wong SP, Sim KS, Lim SH, Low YY, Kam TS
    J Nat Prod, 2019 07 26;82(7):1902-1907.
    PMID: 31241923 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.9b00255
    Three new alkaloids were isolated from the bark extract of the Malayan Kopsia arborea, viz., arbophyllidine (1), an unusual pentacyclic, monoterpenoid indole characterized by an absence of oxygen atoms and incorporating a new carbon-nitrogen skeleton, and arbophyllinines A (2) and B (3), two pentacyclic corynanthean alkaloids incorporating a hydroxyethyl-substituted tetrahydrofuranone ring. The structures of the alkaloids were deduced based on analysis of the MS and NMR data and confirmed by X-ray diffraction analyses. The absolute configuration of arbophyllidine (1) was established based on experimental and calculated ECD data, while that of arbophyllinine A was based on X-ray diffraction analysis (Cu Kα). A reasonable biosynthetic route to arbophyllidine (1) from a pericine precursor is presented. Arbophyllidine (1) showed pronounced in vitro growth inhibitory activity against the HT-29 human cancer cell line with IC50 6.2 μM.
  18. Yong WK, Sim KS, Poong SW, Wei D, Phang SM, Lim PE
    3 Biotech, 2019 Aug;9(8):315.
    PMID: 31406637 DOI: 10.1007/s13205-019-1848-8
    An ecologically important tropical freshwater microalga, Scenedesmus quadricauda, was exposed to Ni toxicity under two temperature regimes, 25 and 35 °C to investigate the interactive effects of warming and different Ni concentrations (0.1, 1.0 and 10.0 ppm). The stress responses were assessed from the growth, photosynthesis, reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and metabolomics aspects to understand the effects at both the physiological and biochemical levels. The results showed that the cell densities of the cultures were higher at 35 °C compared to 25 °C, but decreased with increasing Ni concentrations at 35 °C. In terms of photosynthetic efficiency, the maximum quantum yield of photosystem II (Fv/Fm) of S. quadricauda remained consistent across different conditions. Nickel concentration at 10.0 ppm affected the maximum rate of relative electron transport (rETRm) and saturation irradiance for electron transport (Ek) in photosynthesis. At 25 °C, the increase of non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) values in cells exposed to 10.0 ppm Ni might indicate the onset of thermal dissipation process as a self-protection mechanism against Ni toxicity. The combination of warming and Ni toxicity induced a strong oxidative stress response in the cells. The ROS level increased significantly by 40% after exposure to 10.0 ppm of Ni at 35 °C. The amount of Ni accumulated in the biomass was higher at 25 °C compared to 35 °C. Based on the metabolic profile, temperature contributed the most significant differentiation among the samples compared to Ni treatment and the interaction between the two factors. Amino acids, sugars and organic acids were significantly regulated by the combined factors to restore homeostasis. The most affected pathways include sulphur, amino acids, and nitrogen metabolisms. Overall, the results suggest that the inhibitory effect of Ni was lower at 35 °C compared to 25 °C probably due to lower metal uptake and primary metabolism restructuring. The ability of S. quadricauda to accumulate substantial amount of Ni and thrive at 35 °C suggests the potential use of this strain for phycoremediation and outdoor wastewater treatment.
  19. Yeap JS, Saad HM, Tan CH, Sim KS, Lim SH, Low YY, et al.
    J Nat Prod, 2019 11 22;82(11):3121-3132.
    PMID: 31642315 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.9b00712
    A methanol extract of the stem bark of the Malayan Alstonia penangiana provided seven new bisindole alkaloids, comprising six macroline-sarpagine alkaloids (angustilongines E-K, 1-6) and one macroline-pleiocarpamine bisindole alkaloid (angustilongine L, 7). Analysis of the spectroscopic data (NMR and MS) of these compounds led to the proposed structures of these alkaloids. The macroline-sarpagine alkaloids (1-6) showed in vitro growth inhibitory activity against a panel of human cancer cell lines, inclusive of KB, vincristine-resistant KB, PC-3, LNCaP, MCF7, MDA-MB-231, HT-29, HCT 116, and A549 cells (IC50 values: 0.02-9.0 μM).
  20. Heng MP, Sim KS, Tan KW
    J Inorg Biochem, 2020 07;208:111097.
    PMID: 32438269 DOI: 10.1016/j.jinorgbio.2020.111097
    Two new Schiff base ligands (TE and TF) were prepared from conjugation of testosterone with 4-(4-ethylphenyl)-3-thiosemicarbazide and 4-(4-fluorophenyl)-3-thiosemicarbazide, respectively. Their nickel (NE and NF) and zinc (ZE and ZF) complexes were reported. X-ray crystallography revealed a distorted square planar geometry was adopted by NE. The compounds demonstrated excellent selectivity towards the colorectal carcinoma cell line HCT 116 despite their weak preferences towards the prostate cancer cell lines (PC-3 and LNCaP). Against HCT 116, all these compounds were able to arrest cell cycle at G0/G1 phase and induce apoptosis via mitochondria-dependent (TE, NE, and TF) and extrinsic apoptotic pathway (ZE, NF, and ZF). Moreover, only ZE was able to act as topoisomease I poison and halt its enzymatic reactions although all compounds presented excellent affinity towards DNA.
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