Phytoremediation uses plants to remove, extract and absorb heavy or toxic matters from soil and water. This study explores Bougainvillea sp. heavy metals uptake capacity under different ratio of wastewater sludge condition. This study used 24 plants of Bougainvillea sp. and involves a duration of 2 months (61 days). The plants were divided and labelled according to six different treatments with four replications; A - Control (100% soil), B (20% sludge), C (40% sludge), D (60% sludge), E (80% sludge) and F (100% sludge). Accumulation of considered metals of lead and cadmium for leaf, stem and roots were analyzed using Inductive Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrophotometer (ICP-OES). The highest removal was found to be at 60% sludge mixture for both metals. The highest lead and cadmium accumulation were found in the root with the concentration of 0.1 mg kg-1 and 0.06 mg kg-1 respectively. Thus, the optimum lead and cadmium removal using Bougainvillea sp. was at the 60% sludge mixture (Treatment D).
A total number of 38 clinical strains of Staphylococcus haemolyticus originally obtained from Hospital Tuanku Ampuan Rahimah, Klang Selangor, were used in this study. The antimicrobial susceptibility of these nosocomial pathogens was tested against penicillin and cefoxitin. Except for one strain (B200) which was sensitive, the rest of the isolates were resistant to penicillin. Similarly, only one strain (F4) was sensitive against oxacillin while the rest were resistant. For cefoxitin, 34 or 89.5% of the isolates were resistant to this antibiotic and classified as Methicillin resistance Staphylococcus haemolyticus (MRSH). Amplification of the mecA gene showed among the MRSH strains 19 or 55.9% harbour the mecA gene but 15 or 44.1% were found negative for this gene. This could be due to the mec gene complex which does not only consist of the mecA gene but could also harbour other classes of mec genes such as mecB, mecC, mecD or mecE. However, one of the Methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus haemolyticus (MSSH) strains susceptible against cefoxitin was also found to harbour the mecA gene. All the 20 isolates positive for mecA gene were further subjected to Staphylococcal Cassette Chromosome mec (SCCmec) type I, II, III, IV and V. The results showed that two or 10.0% of the strains (B14 and R27) expressed SCCmec type II while only one isolate (P29) expressed SCCmec type III. For the remaining 17 isolates, SCCmec typing was not detected suggesting that these isolates do not harbour SCCmec I, IV or V. Hence, there is a possibility that these isolates carry other types of SCCmec.
Protease comprises the class of enzymes that are most used worldwide, accounting for 60% of the world total enzyme production. This study was carried out to determine the proteolytic activity of protease extracted from torpedo scad fish (Megalaspis cordyla) viscera, and to determine the optimum pH and ammonium sulphate concentration for the extraction and purification of the extracted visceral protease. The combination of optimum condition for pH and ammonium sulphate concentration was optimized using the Response Surface Methodology (RSM). The crude enzyme extracts are then precipitated in ammonium sulphate followed by dialysis and gel filtration chromatography where the proteolytic activity was studied. The concentration of ammonium sulphate used ranged from 40-80% and pH used for extraction was between 6-9. The enzyme showed the highest proteolytic activity at pH 9 and 80% ammonium sulphate concentration matching with RSM suggested condition. The proteolytic activity obtained under this condition was 445U. The total activity of the crude extract, ammonium sulphate precipitation, and dialyzed proteases were 820, 680 and 425U, respectively. The viscera contained 15.87% protein. Thus, the optimum condition for extraction and purification of protease from torpedo scad fish viscera were at pH 9 with 80% ammonium sulphate concentration, respectively resulting in high proteolytic activity.
The aims of this study were to characterize carrot residues and to determine the removal of Cr(VI) in water depending on the temperature and the dosage of carrot residues. To identify the functional group present in carrot residue, Fourier-Transform Infrared (FTIR) was used to characterize it. The functional group that responsible for the metal binding is hydroxyl (-OH) group. The adsorption of Cr(VI) was conducted by using batch experiment. The effect of temperature and dosage were studied in batch experiment, in which temperatures were varied from 25ºC to 55ºC and the dosages were varied from 0.5 mg/L to 2 mg/L. Preliminary study was done to determine the time equilibrium for adsorption. The equilibrium contact time was 30 min with 12.66% removal efficiency. Meanwhile, the highest dosage for removal efficiency of metal that used was 2 mg/L with 13.09%. The optimum temperature was 25ºC with 12.66% removal efficiency. This study has indicated that the carrot residues is less likely a good adsorbent for removal of Cr(VI).
The present study was designed to compare the antibacterial effect between stem and leaves of Entada spiralis against soft rot bacteria Erwinia chrysanthemi and its antioxidant properties which could benefit to indigenous people. E. spiralis which locally knows as ‘sintok’ is a liana and it grows wildly in Malaysia. Indigenous people are utilizing this plant as natural washing agent and shampoo as well as ethnomedicine to cure diseases since they have little access to modern medicines. E. chrysanthemi is bacteria which commonly cause soft-rot disease of vegetables. The antibacterial activity of stem and leaves of E. spiralis against E. chrysanthemi were evaluated from disc diffusion method. The DPPH radical scavenging method and dot blot assay were utilized to see the potential of stem and leaves of E. spiralis as an antioxidant agent. The results indicated that the leaves part was more antioxidative than stem of E. spiralis with IC50 of 10.5 μg/mL. Ethyl acetate extract from stem part at concentration of 200 mg/mL was found to be the most active extract against E. chrysanthemi with the highest inhibition zone of 16.3mm. The investigation is hoped to provide basic information for the development of potent natural pesticides and natural remedy which is safer and eco-friendly.