This paper outlines the past five decades of scientific interests and advances in medicinal plant research in Malaysia. Initially the prime interest of research programmes has been on phytochemical studies leading to the discovery of biologically active compounds as chemical templates to produce new drug candidates. As the Malaysian herbal medicine market experiences an extraordinary growth, the research approaches taken have recently included activities to develop herbal medicines into quality, efficacious and safe products for human consumption. Advances in chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques have had a tremendous impact on the isolation and structure elucidation of the constituents of medicinal plants. The development of a series of bioassay methodologies and utilization of bioassay-guided isolation techniques have contributed significantly to the progress of medicinal plant research in Malaysia. Research work on some medicinal plants carried out by the local scientists will be illustrated as examples.
The presence of 226 Ra in water is a great concern in human life since it can cause health risk to a certain extent. In the state of Kelantan, being known of its granitic area, there is a lack measurement of 226 Ra content in river water, since water is the major source of water supply. According to the INTERIM National Water Quality Standards for Malaysia (INWQS), 226 Ra activity concentration in water cannot exceed 0.1 Bq/L. For this reasons, this research was planned to carry out a systematic measurement of water along Sungai Kelantan. Liquid Scintillation Counting was used for measurement of 226 Ra in water samples from Sungai Kelantan mainly in district of Kuala Krai. In this paper, the results obtained is about 26 water samples, filtered and unfiltered, collected along Sungai Lebir, Sungai Sok and Bukit Sabah. Thus, the assessment activity concentration of 226 Ra in river water was obtained as well as annual effective dose for consumption of drinking water.
Mating studies were conducted on 78 isolates of Fusarium species section Liseola from rice, sugarcane and maize. From the crosses with tester strains of Gibberella fujikuroi species complex, 64.1% (50 out of 78 isolates) were cross-fertile with tester strains of mating populations A to E. The results of the mating studies showed that of the 50 isolates, 19 belonged to mating population A (Gibberella moniliformis), 18 to mating population B (Gibberella sacchari), 4 to mating population E (Gibberella subglutinans), 6 to mating population D (Gibberella intermedia) and 3 to mating population C (G. fujikuroi). Identification of several mating populations from rice,sugarcane and maize could be important biological entities under field conditions.
The state of Selangor, Malaysia, is facing a significant rise in the number of malaria cases with the incidence varying from 20 to 90 per 100,000 persons in a population. A study was carried out to describe the distribution of malaria cases in relation to the growing number of foreign workers in Selangor. Data were reviewed using the return forms "PBV (M) 101", a summary of malaria cases in Selangor for 2006 and Annual Reports of Vector-Borne Disease Control Unit, Selangor State Department for 2001- 2005. The malaria cases in Selangor varied between 172 cases in 2001 and 90 cases in 2006. Most of the cases were contributed by foreign workers, who were predominantly male of economically active age group and came from malaria endemic countries. Most of these cases were concentrated in the urban districts. Malaria is still endemic in Selangor. Malarial infection has the potential of contributing to an urban outbreak of malaria.
A series of polycrystalline samples (La1-xSmx)0.67Sr0.33MnO3 (X=0.00, 0.05 and 0.10) were prepared using the conventional solid-state reaction method. The XRD analysis indicated that all the samples were fully crystalline and in a single phase with a rhombohedral structure after a sintering at 1200ºC for 24 hours in air. Meanwhile, the Atomic Force Microscopy measurements showed that a small amount of Sm doping in La sites affected the grain growth and this might affect the grain boundary layer, thus resulting in the reduction of the Curie temperature, TC. Extrinsic magnetoresistance (MR) was observed for all the samples with a large negative MR at low field (0-0.1 or 0.2T) region, followed by a slower varying MR at high field (0.1 or 0.2-1T). The highest low-field MR value of -4.6% (at 0.1T) and -6.1% (at 0.2T) were observed for sample X=0.10 and X=0.05, respectively. Hence, these indicated that the extrinsic MR was grain size dependent and was therefore enhanced with a small amount of Sm substitution in La sites.
Individual identification is an important and challenging task in forensic investigation. Lip print on drinking glass or cigarette butt found at crime scenes may link to a suspect. The aim of this study was to determine the differences in lip print between sexes or races, differences in lip measurement between sexes or races and determine a way to estimate sex and race by using lip print or lip measurements for main races in Malaysia. A total of 134 subjects (67 males and 67 females) of Malay, Chinese and India were recruited from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Campus Kuala Lumpur (UKMKKL), Malaysia. Lip prints were taken by using a lipstick and a transparent cellophane tape. Lip measurements were taken by using electronic digital callipers. Lip prints were classified according to Tsuchihashi classification. Statistical analysis indicated that there was a significant difference in lip print between sexes (p < 0.001) but not in races (p > 0.05). Width of oral opening and the height of lower lip both indicated significant differences between sexes (p < 0.001) while the height of upper lip and lower lip each indicated significant differences between races (p < 0.05). However, there was no significant interaction between sexes and races for all lip measurements. Formulae for sex and race determination were calculated with Classification Tree when there was significant difference between every comparison. Tables of accuracy percentage and performance evaluation for method in categorizing sex or race by using lip print or lip measurement were made. For validation of method in sex determination based on the formulae formed, accuracy in females is 90% and 65% in males. Therefore, overall percentage of accuracy in sex determination was 77.5%. This study can provide a preliminary idea about the use of lip prints in sex or race determination among Malaysian population.
Clubfoot is associated with leg length inequality, with the affected leg being shorter as a consequence of the hypoplasia. Early treatment of a minimally hypoplastic clubfoot usually allows catchup growth and both legs equalise in length after a few years. Late treatment however is associated with a shortening of the affected foot. A case is described where late treatment of a severe clubfoot is assocated with lengthening of the affected leg.
Ceramic of BaxSr1-xTiO3 (BST) for x =0.3; 0.5 and 0.7 were successfully deposited by solid solution method. The BST ceramic were analyzed by x-ray diffraction (XRD). The XRD spectra was recorded on a Philips type PW 3701 diffractometer using CuKD (Oco = 1.54056 Å) radiation at 30 KV and 30 mA (900 watt). The spectra shows that BST ceramic are polycrystalline with tetragonal structure. The lattice constants analysis of the grown ceramics was analyzed by visual basic program. Using Cohen’s and Cramer’s algorithms in visual basic program, , the lattice constants are a = b = 3.877 Å; c = 3.970 Å for Ba0.3Sr0.7TiO3 ceramic, a = b = 3.979 Å; c = 3.981 Å. for Ba0.5Sr0.5TiO3 ceramic and a = b = 3.965 Å; c = 4.005 Å for Ba0.7Sr0.3TiO3 ceramic, respectively. The reform value of the lattice constant of BST ceramic is possibly associated with the anti site defects of Ba and Sr.
Cassava starch was used as feedstock for production of bioethanol by Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The cassava starch was hydrolyzed using commercial α-amylase and glucoamylase enzymes followed by a batch ethanol fermentation process using saccharified starch slurry. By using 110 g/L of reducing sugar from saccharified starch slurry, the ethanol yield was promising with maximum ethanol concentration of 20.6 g/L recorded after 55 hours of cultivation process. Three different models - the Logistic model, Luedeking-Piret-like equation and Gompertz equation - were used to characterize and explain the cell growth, reducing sugar consumption and production formation, respectively. The kinetic parameters were estimated by fitting the experimental data to the proposed models using non-linear regression analysis. The correlation coefficient r2 values for the Logistic model, Luedeking-Piret-like equation and the Gompertz equation were 0.994, 0.996 and 0.990, respectively. The high correlation coefficient values indicate that the proposed models were able to describe the ethanol fermentation process.
In July 1997 at 7 pm , 49 members 0f the public complained of dizziness, sore throat, eyes irritation and tightness of chest after exposed to sulphur dioxide while traveling on the road about 100 meter 90m the sulphuric acid factory in Teluk Kalong Kemaman. The incident was caused by leaking sulfur dioxide from return pipe of scrubber circulation. tank in the factory. The problem had occurred due to carelessness of the operator to inspect the level of water in the scrubber circulation tank during the operation.
Qualitative and quantitative analysis of samples require good judgment from the analysts. These two aspects in gamma spectrometric analysis of Proficiency Test and solid radioactive waste samples for the determination of radionuclides are discussed. It is vital to judge and decide what energy peaks belong to which radionuclides prior to the creation of customized radionuclide library for the analysis of specific samples. Corrections due to radionuclide decay and growth, and the half-life assigned to a particular radionuclide in the uranium and thorium series are also discussed. Discussion on judgment to confirm the presence of thorium in food samples based on gamma spectrometry and neutron activation analysis is also provided.
Developing a trust management scheme in mobile computing environment is increasingly important,
and the effective trust management model is a challenging task. Business, education, military, and
entertainment have motivated the growth of ubiquitous and pervasive computing environments, which are always available due to the widespread of portable and embedded devices. Wireless and mobile computing are good example of ubiquitous and pervasive computing environments. Due to the uncertainty and mobility in such environments, the issue of trust has been regarded as an important security problem. Malicious nodes are a major threat to these networks; the trust system can monitor the behaviour of nodes and accordingly rewards well-behaved nodes and punishes misbehaving ones. At present, there are a lot of endeavours on the trust model of the pervasive computing environment. In this paper, a trust management framework for mobile computing is presented. The hybrid framework is based on a fusion of the support vector machine (SVM) and fuzzy logic system. From the results, it can be stated that the framework is effective, dynamic, lightweight, and applicable.
A recently published meta-analysis showed that each additional serving of rice increased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) by an alarming 11%. We investigated whether this phenomenon is seen in the Malaysian population by studying the effect of rice intake and added sugar consumption on fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and fasting triacylglycerol (TAG).
Cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) is a second messenger molecule involved in the intracellular signalling mechanism which is important in a wide range of cellular process including metabolism, gene expression, cell proliferation and cell death. This study was conducted to determine the effect of fresh (FCC)) and thermoxidized carotino oil (TCO) on erythrocyte cGMP levels from Sprague dawley rats. A total of 30 Sprague dawley rats were randomly segregated into three groups: the first of which was placed on a Fresh Carotino Oil (FCO) diet, the second on a Thermoxidized Carotino Oil (TCO) diet and the control group on commercial rat chow only for a period of 6 and 9 weeks. The two oil diets comprised of 20% (w.10 of each oil mixed with commercial rat,feed. The enzyme immunoassays, performed in week 6, revealed that the erythrocytes cGMP levels for the FCO and TCO groups were 66.198±3.193 pmol/mL and 61.990±6.318 ptnol/mL respectively, and were significantly (p
The in vitro cytotoxic potential of locally produced dental porcelain was evaluated in this study. The cellular response of human osteoblast and fibroblast cell lines were assessed using MTT assay by incubating with the fluid extract of dental porcelain powder and dental porcelain discs (direct test). Aging process was carried out by submerging the discs into 3% bovine serum albumin (BSA) solution. Tests on extracts showed that dental porcelain was significantly different from the control at a concentration of 250 mg/ml. Direct test showed that dental porcelain after aging was not significantly different from the control with a mean (SD) of 89.2 (13.4)%, whereas, it was significantly different from the control before conditioning of BSA with a mean (SD) of 88.5 (12.1)%. However, the dental porcelain caused mild suppression of succinate dehydrogenase activity (
Restrictive dietetic practices, rather than helping the patient, reduce his food intake and thereby impair recovery. This is a cruelty born-of erroneous notion passed on to us as a legacy from hakims and vaids (quakes), rather than having any scientific justification. Even if some doctors do not entertain such restrictions, the so called well-wishers of patients will definitely offer free advice and impose food restrictions upon their patients. Everybody has his own share of bitter experiences, horrific memories, and heart-rending stories of the past. The chain of death and destruction remains unbroken. The gloomy, dark sky is waiting for break of a new dawn gone into eclipse years before. The ongoing Indo- Pak peace process has already resulted in a number of confidence- building measures, but in spite of all that an average of five persons each day are being killed in terror-related incidents across the State. A tricky situation prevails in which militants and security forces are pitted against each other, converting the streets, the lanes and by-lanes, and human settlements in to a well-entrenched battle ground. Innocent Kashmir’s are dying, getting maimed, and suffering mental agony and the world is watching with a nonchalant indifference.
Two high protein wheat flour samples of Red Horse (RH) and Bake with Yen (BY) were examined for predominant Lactobacillus spp. in fermented liquid sourdough. The identification of Lactobacillus spp. was based on biochemical tests of catalase test, gas carbon dioxide production, arginine test, the ability to grow at temperature of 15°C and 45°C and carbohydrate fermentation using API50CH kit. Those strains were identified as Lactobacillus spp. and confirmed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of 16S rRNA partial sequencing analysis. In the present study, we successfully isolated and identified the Lactobacillus plantarum and L. fermentum which were predominant bacteria in liquid sourdough of the sample RH and BY brand, respectively.
Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a gram negative bacterium and causes gastrointestinal illness in humans. In this study, twenty five out of fifty cockle samples from Padang, Indonesia produced purple colonies when they were grown on selective medium, CHROMagarTM Vibrio. Specific–PCR for toxR gene detection gave positive results in which a band with 368 base pairs size appeared on the gel for all the isolates that confirmed the presence of V. parahaemolyticus. In the virulence properties test, all the isolates showed negative results for tdh and trh genes detection. The results indicate that the isolates under this study do not contain virulence properties that correlate to the ability of infection and diseases, which means that they are nonpathogenic.
Many studies have shown that probiotic strains added to a number of probiotic products are not compatible to that of
claimed. It is thus of note to validate probiotic strains added to probiotic products. In this study, three probiotic drinks,
A, B and C, were cultured on MRS agar and the number of bacterial colonies was enumerated. The bacterial counts
recovered from A (9.3 ± 6.9 log CFU/ml) and C (9.0 ± 6.9 log CFU/ml) were signifi cantly higher than B (5.2 ± 3.5 log
CFU/ml) and achieved the minimal amount recommended for probiotic bacteria. All of the isolates appeared as gram
positive rods microscopically and were proven to be catalase negative. However, there were only A1, A2, B4 and C1 that
were highly tolerant to the gastrointestinal pH 3 to 6. The four isolates produced and secreted antimicrobial substances
which inhibited the growth of Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). C1 showed the greatest
growth inhibition by forming 17.50-mm and 17.85-mm inhibition zones against E. coli and S. aureus, respectively. The
16s rDNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis were performed to further identify the twelve isolates. The twelve isolates
were found to be Lactobacillus (L.), particularly L. casei and L. paracasei. However, the bacteria isolated from drink B
were incompatible to the labelled ones. In conclusion, probiotic drinks are possible to contain different bacterial counts
and probiotic strains from the labelled ones. These differences might affect health benefi ts rendered by probiotic strains
to consumers.
This study explores the relationship between the total exports and total imports of the food industry in Sarawak from 1961 through 2007. We examined the sample period of the pre-1997 crisis (1961-1996) and the full sample period (1961-2007) to investigate disparities for pre-crisis sample. Analysis was carried out using standard econometric procedure and Dynamic OLS estimation for the annual observations of the two sample period. This study’s major findings are: (1) long run relationships were detected in the full sample period whereas they were absent in the pre-crisis period; (2) imbalances in food were found to be weakly sustainable for the full sample; (3) for every ringgit increase in imports, exports rose by RM0.803 for the full sample, revealing that imports grew at a rate faster than exports. This finding suggests that reducing the size of imports may improve imbalances in Sarawak’s food industry.