The data presented herein were collected from the Straits of Malacca, along the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. A 3.9 m core sample was retrieved from the Straits of Malacca in 2001. This core was continuously sub-sampled at 5-cm intervals between selected core depths of 220 cm and 380 cm. The 32 sub-samples obtained were analysed to understand the species composition of benthic Foraminifera in them and the changes in lithology during the Holocene. The data available in this article include the raw counts of different species of Foraminifera and the weight percentages of sediment of different grain sizes and organic matter at different depth. In addition, the estimated ages of the sediment samples are also provided. The chronostratigraphic framework of the core was based on radiocarbon-14 Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) dates estimated from three selected sediment intervals. The results of carbon dating were calibrated to calendar years (cal BC/AD) and calibrated radiocarbon years (cal BP). Calibration was done using the INTCAL program with a Delta R value of -19 ± 70.
Since the launch of the InvestSmart™ initiative in 2014, the government agencies in Malaysia have been actively engaging community and university students via their outreach programs to promote investment literacy. Given this background, the state of the investment literacy of Malaysian undergraduates and their readiness to invest is intriguing. Therefore, this article offers a dataset of Malaysian undergraduates' readiness to invest and the role that investment literacy and social influence play in their readiness to invest. Using a non-probability sampling technique, 500 undergraduate students in Malaysia were engaged to participate voluntarily in this survey. Descriptive statistics are presented in this paper. The dataset provides insights into the current state of investment literacy among Malaysian undergraduates, the sources of information on stock investment, and the readiness of these undergraduates to participate in the stock market.
Biochar production is an effective approach to managing abundant agricultural wastes. Pruning wastes from trimming the branches of trees such as carambola and mango, as well as coconut shells, are among the agricultural wastes that have reutilisation potential, which would simultaneously reduce the space required for disposal. In this study, the potential use of these wastes by converting them into biochar was investigated. The data presented in this study highlight the design of a pyrolysis system for a low-temperature slow pyrolysis process, as well as the characterisation data of the biochar produced using this system. The data collected included the elemental composition, porosity, as well as surface and adsorption characteristics of the biochar. These data indicate that the biochar produced had certain qualities that would enable its use for specific agricultural and industrial purposes. Meanwhile, the design indicated that it could facilitate small farms with specific outputs. In brief, these data can be used as references for developing a small-scale system for agricultural waste management using different types of crops.
A caesarean section (CS) is a common birth delivery mode, which involves delivery of the baby through a surgical incision on the mother's abdomen and uterus. This article presents a survey dataset on the perception and response of women about the CS. This survey employed a quantitative research design. The data were collected by means of a face to face questionnaire. Majority of the respondents are in the age range of 31 - 40 years old. The findings indicate that the respondents mainly refer to the internet to obtain information about the birth delivery mode that helped the respondents to decide on their mode of preference. This is followed by obstetrician/midwife and friends. Various statements were used to determine the perception of respondents towards CS.
This study compared morphological and molecular data for identification of Kaempferia species. Each species was deposited in Institute of Bioscience (IBS), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) as voucher specimens and ITS sequences of each species deposited in NCBI (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/) as GenBank accessions. DNA was extracted using a modified CTAB method and PCR amplification was completed using Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS4 and ITS5) markers. PCR amplification of products were viewed under gel electrophoresis. Sequencing was performed and sequence characteristics of ITS rDNA in Kaempferia is shown. Qualitative and qualitative scoring of morphological characters and measuring techniques for Kaempferia species are included. In addition, a brief review of molecular markers used in phylogenetic studies of Zingiberaceae is included in this dataset.
This article provides novel data on the microstructure and crystallographic texture of modern giant clam shells (Tridacna squamosa and Hippopus hippopus) from the Coral Triangle region of northeast Borneo. Giant clams have two aragonitic shell layers-the inner and outer shell layer. This dataset focuses on the inner shell layer as this is well preserved and not affected by diagenetic alteration. To prepare samples for analysis, shells were cut longitudinally at the axis of maximum growth and mounted onto thin sections. Data collection involved scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to determine microstructure and SEM based electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) for quantitative measurement of crystallographic orientation and texture. Post-acquisition reanalysis of saved EBSD patterns to optimize data quality included changing the number of reflectors and band detection mode. We provide EBSD data as band contrast images and colour-coded orientation maps (inverse pole figure maps). Crystallographic co-orientation strength obtained with multiple of uniform density (MUD) values are derived from density distributed pole figures of indexed EBSD points. Raw EBSD data files are also given to ensure repeatability of the steps provided in this article and to allow extraction of further crystallographic properties for future researchers. Overall, this dataset provides 1. a better understanding of shell growth and biomineralization in giant clams and 2. important steps for optimizing data collection with EBSD analyses in biogenic carbonates.
The data presented in this article is related to the Master thesis; entitled "Survey Aerobic Microbial Diversity Mud Volcanoes in Chabahar and Khash Ports in Southern Iran" by the first author of this article, year 2011, Islamic Azad University, Iran (reference number (Parsia, 2011) [1] of this article). This article shows microbial biodiversity and evaluates bio-emulsifier and bio-demulsifier abilities of capnophile isolates, in order to introduce a superior isolate for the Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery (MEOR) process in the petrochemical industry.
This article describes the data of raw material compositions for formulating the diet for Indonesian short-fin eel, Anguilla bicolor Anguilla bicolor McClelland, 1844 elver. The data on growth performance, survival and feed utilization of eel elver from the formulated diet test results are also presented here. Four formulated diets and one commercial feed were tested for the eel elver. The formulated diet was formulated from animal and plant based protein sources such as; fish meal, cornmeal, soybean meal, fine bran, ebi-shrimp meal, golden snail meal, bloodmeal, and tapioca flour. Vitamins and minerals were added into the diet. In addition, probiotics and papain enzyme and its combination were also included into the experimental diets to boost the growth performance, survival and feed utilization of the fish. The tested treatments were; (A) commercial diet without probiotic and papain enzyme, (B) experimental diet without probiotic and papain enzyme, (C) experimental diet with probiotic 10 ml kg-1 feed, (D) experimental diet with papain enzyme 10 g kg-1 feed, (E) experimental diet with probiotic 10 ml kg-1 + papain 10 g kg-1 feed, (F) experimental diet with probiotic 5 ml kg-1 + papain 5 g kg-1 feed. Each experimental fish group was fed on an experimental diet twice a day at 08.00 AM and 06.00 PM at feeding level of 10% body weight for 60 days. The results showed that the weight gain ranged between 4.60 g to 5.92 g, daily growth rate between 0.063 g day-1 and 0.098 g per day-1, the specific growth rate varies from 0.72% day-1 to 1.35% day-1, survival rate 50.00% to 73.33%, feed conversion ratio from 2.35 to 4.17, and feed efficiency between 41.82% to 58.98%. The best treatment was found in fish fed on the experimental diet with papain enzyme 10 g kg-1 of feed.
This article presents experimental data on oil palm biomass (oil palm leaves, oil palm trunk and empty fruit bunch) handsheet production characterization by biodelignification treatment using Bacillus cereus extracted from termite gut (Coptotermus curvignathus). It associates the lignocellulose chemical composition obtained via technical association pulp and paper industry TAPPI T 222 om-02 testing on lignin content reduction determination, holocellulose and hemicellulose content determination (Kurscher-Hoffner method). Several data obtained for handsheet characterization presents brightness, opacity, contrast ratio, din transparency, thickness, bursting and tearing indexes are collected. Handsheet surface morphology was also observed on ratio of gaps differences between fiber bonding conducted using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and ImageJ software. The raw data findings supplement chemical composition analysis for both untreated and treated substrates on handsheet quality performance check as presented in the research article "Bio-Mechanical Pulping of Bacteria Pre-Treatment on Oil Palm Biomass for Handsheet Production" [1]. For understanding correlations into the difference among lignocellulose content composition which affect the handsheet formation and mechanical strength refer to article from this research [1]. This dataset is made publicly available for optimizing alternative waste material reuse in the pulp and paper industrial section.
This article presents a comprehensive dataset extracted from published annual, sustainability and integrated reports, focusing on environmental (GRI300) and social (GRI400) disclosures, for the top 100 Malaysian public listed companies (based on Market Capitalization as of 31 December 2016). The dataset covers three years (2018 to 2020) with 300 firm-year observations. Environmental and Social disclosure scores were calculated using the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework and derived from the content analysis of the companies' reports accessed from respective corporate or Bursa Malaysia's websites. A binary scoring method (one for disclosure or zero, otherwise for each environmental and social disclosure item) was employed. This scoring process underwent three stages of rigorous manual verification protocol: initial check and scoring by research assistants, review by the research team, and a final review by an independent external accounting firm for validation. This dataset is valuable for academics, practitioners, and policymakers to evaluate corporate alignment with UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #12, encouraging Responsible Consumption and Production, and shape strategic policies to meet Bursa compliance for enhanced corporate sustainability. It further aids in investigating associations between governance factors and other firm characteristics with environmental and social disclosures.
The Amomum genus comprises of perennial, tropical, herbaceous plants that are distributed globally and possess both medicinal and ornamental properties. These plants contain a variety of secondary metabolites, including compounds with antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. This is the first transcriptomic analysis of seven Amomum species from Peninsular Malaysia, utilizing leaves, stems, and roots as sample material. Paired-end Illumina HiSeq technology was used for data generation which includes raw data, cleaned reads, de novo assembly, and functional annotation. The data is accessible via NCBI BioProject (PRJNA936673).
Shorea macrophylla belongs to the Shorea genus under the Dipterocarpaceae family. It is a woody tree that grows in the rainforest in Southeast Asia. The complete chloroplast (cp) genome sequence of S. macrophylla is reported here. The genomic size of S. macrophylla is 150,778 bp and it possesses a circular structure with conserved constitute regions of large single copy (LSC, 83,681 bp) and small single copy (SSC, 19,813 bp) regions, as well as a pair of inverted repeats with a length of 23,642 bp. It has 112 unique genes, including 78 protein-coding genes, 30 tRNA genes, and four rRNA genes. The genome exhibits a similar GC content, gene order, structure, and codon usage when compared to previously reported chloroplast genomes from other plant species. The chloroplast genome of S. macrophylla contained 262 SSRs, the most prevalent of which was A/T, followed by AAT/ATT. Furthermore, the sequences contain 43 long repeat sequences, practically most of them are forward or palindrome type long repeats. The genome structure of S. macrophylla was compared to the genomic structures of closely related species from the same family, and eight mutational hotspots were discovered. The phylogenetic analysis demonstrated a close relationship between Shorea and Parashorea species, indicating that Shorea is not monophyletic. The complete chloroplast genome sequence analysis of S. macrophylla reported in this paper will contribute to further studies in molecular identification, genetic diversity, and phylogenetic research.
Aromatic (ar)-turmerone is one of the aromatic constituents abundant in turmeric essential oil from Curcuma longa. Ar-turmerone exhibited anti-inflammatory properties. So far, antiplasmodial data for ar-turmerone is still not reported. The data showed the in vitro antiplasmodial effect of ar-turmerone against Plasmodium falciparum 3D7 (chloroquine-sensitive) via Plasmodium lactate dehydrogenase assay (pLDH) and cytotoxic effect against Vero mammalian kidney cells using 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) colourimetric assay. Selectivity indexes of ar-turmerone were calculated based on inhibition concentration at 50% of parasite growth (IC50) from MTT and pLDH assays and the effects of ar-turmerone were compared to the antimalarial reference drug chloroquine diphosphate. The inhibitory effect of ar-turmerone at the intraerythrocytic stages of plasmodial lifecycles was evaluated via a stage-dependant susceptibility test. The antiplasmodial and cytotoxic activities of ar-turmerone revealed IC50 values of 46.8 ± 2.4 μM and 820.4 ± 1.5 μM respectively. The selectivity index of ar-turmerone was 17.5. Ar-turmerone suppressed the ring-trophozoite transition stage of the intraerythrocytic life cycle of P. falciparum 3D7.
The genomics and genetic information of Malaysian rice (Oryza sativa L.) and their mutant lines are very limited. Therefore, the genome resequencing of two drought and submergence tolerant mutant rice lines, NMR152 and NMR151 and their parental line, MR219 was performed using Illumina Hi Seq 4000 platform with 20x sequencing coverage to facilitate the identification of causal mutations and the discovery of candidate variants of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from their genome. The identification of SNPs would be useful in developing functional SNP markers related to drought and submergences resistance traits. Genome sequence data (FASTQ format) of the mutants and their parental line have been deposited into the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database under sequence read archive (SRA) data with accessions SRR20824202 (NMR152), SRR20995190 (NMR151) and SRR21043964 (MR219), respectively.
Discrimination of different fishes can be done through different means which includes morphological appearance. When two fishes are successfully hybridized, they produce progenies that have shared morphology between their pure parent, hence, making morphometric characterization an important aspect of hybrid discrimination. However, erythrocyte characterization is also a simpler method for characterization. The dataset presented in this article represents the traditional morphological data, truss network data and erythrocyte data of pure and novel hybrids from reciprocal crosses of African catfish Clarias gariepinus and Asian catfish Pangasianodon hypophthalmus. Breeding of the broodstocks was done to produce pure and hybrid progenies which were maintained for a period of four to six months. Based on the cross combinations and morphotypes, traditional measurement of twenty-five morphological characters and five meristic counts were recorded. Thereafter pictures of the different fish groups were used to determine values of thirty-six distances between ten landmark points. The morphological abnormality of the hybrids at market size is also presented in this data article for the very first time. Blood was then collected from the caudal peduncle of ten fish per group and smeared on a slide for observation under a compound microscope (at 100 × magnification). Data gotten included erythrocytes parameters such as cell major axis, cell minor axis, nucleus major axis, nucleus minor axis cell area, nucleus area, cell volume, and nucleus volume. Data recording was through the Microsoft excel spreadsheet; which was also used to process the data to get the exclusive ranges of values for paired progenies. The data as presented is associated with the research article "Morphological characterization of the progenies of pure and reciprocal crosses of Pangasianodon hypophthalmus (Sauvage, 1878) and Clarias gariepinus (Burchell, 1822)" [1]. The dataset presented in this article can be used for easy identification of the novel hybrid progenies of the African Catfish and Asian Catfish.
Pigmented rice is enriched with antioxidants, macro- and micronutrients. A comprehensive investigation of the gene expression patterns among the pigmented rice varieties would help to understand the cellular mechanism and biological processes of rice grain pigmentation. Hence, we performed RNA sequencing and analysis on the whole grain of dehusked mature seeds of selected six Malaysian rice varieties with varying grain pigmentations. These varieties were black rice (BALI and Pulut Hitam 9), red rice (MRM16 and MRQ100) and white rice (MR297 and MRQ76). Illumina HiSeq™ 4000 sequencer was used to generate total raw nucleotides of approximately 53 Gb in size. From 353,937,212 total paired-end raw reads, 340,131,496 total clean reads were obtained. The raw reads were deposited into European Nucleotide Archive (ENA) database and can be accessed via accession number PRJEB34340. This dataset allows us to identify and profile all expressed genes with functions related to nutritional traits (i.e. antioxidants, folate and amylose content) and quality trait (i.e. aroma) across both pigmented and non-pigmented rice varieties. In addition, the transcriptome data obtained will be valuable for discovery of potential gene markers and functional SNPs related to functional traits to assist in rice breeding programme.
The continuous havoc wrecked by tuberculosis among humans worldwide remains colossal. In this work, twenty-one (21) 2-(quinoline-4-yloxy)acetamide analogues were observed against Mycobacterium tuberculosis catalase-peroxidase (This enzyme shields bacteria from poisonous drug-like molecules) (PDB ID: 1sj2) using density functional theory method, QSAR study using material studio software and docking method via PyMol, AutoDock Tool, AutoDock Vina and Discovery studio 2017 as well as ADMET study via admetSAR2. Twelve descriptors were obtained from the optimized compounds which were used to develop valid QSAR model. More so, the binding affinity between 2-(quinoline-4-yloxy)acetamide analogues and Mycobacterium tuberculosis catalase-peroxidase (PDB ID: 1sj2) via docking method were reported. ADMET properties of some selected compounds were also examined.
In this investigation, the study focused on the RNAseq data generated in response to Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense (Foc) race1 (Cavendish infecting strain VCG 0124), targeting both resistant (cv. Rose, AA) and susceptible cultivars (Namarai, AA), and Tropical Race 4 (TR4, strain VCG 01213/16), involving resistant (cv. Rose, AA) and susceptible cultivars (Matti, AA). The respective contrasting cultivars were independently challenged with Foc race1 and TR4, and the root and corm samples were collected in two replications at varying time intervals [0th (control), 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 8th days] in duplicates. The RNA samples underwent stringent quality checks, with all 80 samples meeting the primary parameters, including a satisfactory RNA integrity number (>7). Subsequent library preparation and secondary quality control steps were executed successfully for all samples, paving the way for the sequencing phase. Sequencing generated an extensive amount of data, yielding a range of 10 to 31 million paired-end raw reads per sample, resulting in a cumulative raw data size of 11-50 GB. These raw reads were aligned against the reference genome of Musa acuminata ssp. malaccensis version 2 (DH Pahang), as well as the pathogen genomes of Foc race 1 and Foc TR4, using the HISAT2 alignment tool. The focal point of this study was the investigation of differential gene expression patterns of Musa spp. upon Foc infection. In Foc race1 resistant and susceptible root samples across the designated day intervals, a significant number of genes displayed up-regulation (ranging from 1 to 228) and down-regulation (ranging from 1 to 274). In corm samples, the up-regulated genes ranged from 1 to 149, while down-regulated genes spanned from 3 to 845. For Foc TR4 resistant and susceptible root samples, the expression profiles exhibited a notable up-regulation of genes (ranging from 31 to 964), along with a down-regulation range of 316-1315. In corm samples, up-regulated genes ranged from 57 to 929, while down-regulated genes were observed in the range of 40-936. In addition to the primary analysis, a comprehensive secondary analysis was conducted, including Gene Ontology (GO), euKaryotic Orthologous Groups (KOG) classification, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis, and investigations into Simple Sequence Repeats (SSRs), Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs), and microRNA (miRNA). The complete dataset was carefully curated and housed at ICAR-NRCB, Trichy, ensuring its accuracy and accessibility for the duration of the study. Further, the raw transcriptome read datasets have been successfully submitted to the National Center for Biotechnology Information - Sequence Read Archive (NCBI-SRA) database, ensuring the accessibility and reproducibility of this valuable dataset for further research endeavors.
Heterotrigona itama is a species of stingless bee recently domesticated (or reared) for honey production in a few Southeast Asian countries namely Malaysia and Indonesia. Being categorized in the clade Corbiculata together with the honeybees (Apis spp.) and bumble bees (Bombus spp.), the stingless bees are highly social in which the colony members are subjected to labor division where a queen functions as the reproductive caste. In this data article, we provide a resource encompassing a transcriptome profile (de novo assembled) from H. itama queen larva - the first report of transcriptome assembly for this species. The generated data is pivotal for the characterization of important genes and biological pathways in order to further improve our understanding on the developmental biology, behavior, social structure and ecological needs of this eusocial hymenopteran insect from the molecular aspect. The raw RNA sequencing data is available at NCBI Sequence Read Archive (SAR) under the accession number SRP230250 and the assembled reads are deposited at DDBJ/EMBL/Genbank as Transcriptome Shotgun Assembly (TSA) under the accession GIIH00000000.
SRY (Sex Determining Region Y)-Box 4 or Sox4 is an important regulator of the pan-neuronal gene expression during post-mitotic cell differentiation within the mammalian brain. Sox4 gene locus has been previously characterized with multiple sense and overlapping natural antisense transcripts [1], [2]. Here we provide accompanying data on various analyses performed and described in Ling et al. [2]. The data include a detail description of various features found at Sox4 gene locus, additional experimental data derived from RNA-Fluorescence in situ Hybridization (RNA-FISH), Western blotting, strand-specific reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), gain-of-function and in situ hybridization (ISH) experiments. All the additional data provided here support the existence of an endogenous small interfering- or PIWI interacting-like small RNA known as Sox4_sir3, which origin was found within the overlapping region consisting of a sense and a natural antisense transcript known as Sox4ot1.