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Fulltext Leptin: a pleitropic factor in physiology

Fayez A Almabhouh, Faizatul Isyraqiah Ahmad Muhammad, Hisham Ibrahim, Harbindarjeet Singh

Journal of Clinical and Health Sciences, 2019;4(2):31-57.
MyJurnal

Leptin, a 16 kDa protein and a product of the ob/ob gene, has a tertiary structure similar to that
of a cytokine. It is primarily secreted by white adipose tissue and its levels in the blood correlate
positively with percentage body fat. Leptin was first identified in 1994 as a major factor that
regulated food intake and energy balance. Leptin in the circulation exists either as a free
monomeric hormone or bound to its soluble receptor. Its serum levels usually range from 0.5 to
37.7 ng/ml in males and 2.0 to 45.2 ng/ml in females. The half-life of leptin is between 20 - 30
minutes and it is eliminated mainly by the kidneys. However, research over the last 25 years
has revealed numerous other physiological roles for leptin, including roles in inflammation,
immune function, neuro-endocrine function, bone metabolism, blood pressure regulation and
sexual maturation. Most of these roles have been identified from studies on leptin deficient
rodents. Apart from energy balance and sexual maturation, where its role is direct and obvious,
its actions on the rest of the other systems are permissive. Actions of leptin are both centrally
and peripherally mediated involving receptors that are widely distributed in the body. Six leptin
receptor isoforms, belonging to the class 1 cytokine receptor family, have been identified.
These receptors are products of the OBR gene. The cellular actions of leptin are mediated
through any one of five different signalling pathways that include the JAK-STAT, PI3K, MAPK,
AMPK, and the mTOR signalling pathways.
Fulltext CNN comparisons models on dyslexia handwriting classification

Iza Sazanita Isa, Muhammad Aiman Zahir, Siti Azura Ramlan, Wang, Li-Chih, Siti Noraini Sulaiman

ESTEEM Academic Journal, 2021;17(1):12-25.
MyJurnal

Dyslexia is developed by neurobiological in origin which is categorized as
learning disorder that affect the ability to read, spell, write and speak. The
most common dyslexia symptom can easily be identified through the
handwriting pattern. There are many intelligence and computational
methods that have been proposed, and they have provided various and
different performance to evaluate the proposed system ability. However,
system performances are varied and nonstandardized in each assesment on
dyslexic children to validate the presence of dyslexia symptom. The recent
deep learning models have been employed to improve the assesment
performance and (the models/ they have shown) shows significant output to
detect and classify the present of dyslexia symptoms among school children.
Therefore, there is a crucial need in deep learning, specifically for
Convolutional Neural Network ( CNN) to validate performances of different
networks, so that the most performed CNN could be a bench mark in
evaluation to detect such symptom. This study aims to compare different deep
learning networks specifically the CNN models to validate its performance
in terms of the capability to classify dyslexic handwriting among school
children. This study is proposed to compare different CNN models such as
CNN-1, CNN-2, CNN-3 and LeNet-5. The proposed methods to compare the
CNN performances are developed by using Jupyter notebook as platform.
Meanwhile, keras is the higher-level API framework to provide a more
flexible way for defining models. It specifically allows to define multiple
input or output models as well as models that share layers. The tensorflow is
also used for machine learning applications such as neural networks. Before
that, the dataset of handwriting image is preprocessed by the augmentation
process which includes the rotation of all images. CNN models have shown
significant performance and provided sufficient results of performance with
more than 87% of accuracy in classifying the potential dyslexia symptom
based on handwritten images.
Fulltext Instantaneous speed ratio of traffic flowing through a merging area at kilometer 31.6 on the highway from Shah Alam to Kuala Lumpur

Nur Syahirah Husin Basri, Nurul Akmal Mohamed, Muhammad Akram Adnan, Nurul Farihan Mohamed, Nurul Hila Zainuddin

Pertanika Journal of Science & Technology, 2020;28(2):565-578.
MyJurnal

This study aims to evaluate a continuous flow model that involves a ramp area at kilometer 31.6 on the highway from Shah Alam to Kuala Lumpur, to analyze the findings of numerical results of instantaneous speed ratios and to observe the convergence patterns for each section. The continuous flow model assumes traffic flow to be similar to the heat equation in regard to the concept of the one-dimensional viscous flow of a compressible fluid. For the methodology, for solving an initial value-boundary value problem, an initial condition together with a set of boundary conditions are required to solve the partial differential equation. The boundary conditions are chosen to assess the suitableness of the design of the entrance ramp in Malaysia, which is for right hand drive traffic. Highway traffic data were collected on the tapered acceleration lane and obtained by the videotaping method. The Maple programming language was used to write a numerical code in order to evaluate the instantaneous speed ratio in terms of a Fourier series. Our results show that the realistic results of instantaneous speed ratios on the ramp at kilometer 31.6 from Shah Alam to Kuala Lumpur are acceptable when compared to the theoretical results. Therefore, a very minimal collision rate is expected due to the well-designed ramp at kilometer 31.6 from Shah Alam to Kuala Lumpur. It is beneficial to study the mathematical model and theories of traffic flows on the merging area to enhance the efficiency of the traffic flowing on highways.
Fulltext Fitness to practise for doctors and medical students with mental issues in Malaysia

Muhammad Darwiis Abdullah, Aiman Faiz Ahmad Fuad, Hafiz Ilmie Rahman, Mark Tan Kiak Min

Journal of Clinical and Health Sciences, 2019;4(1):22-29.
MyJurnal

Mental illness is expected to become the second biggest health problem affecting Malaysians by 2020. Doctors and medical students are more prone to mental illness compared to the general population. However, they are often reluctant to and resist seeking help because of stigma and a (strong) sense of shame. This can lead to detrimental consequences for themselves and their patients. That said, a doctor with a mental illness receiving appropriate treatment and who is in a stable condition may still be permitted to practise provided patient safety is not compromised. Determining this is a key responsibility of a healthcare regulator like the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC). Using some prominent cases to illustrate this point, this article reviews the MMC guideline on ‘Managing Impaired Registered Medical Practitioners’. In the absence of similar local guidelines for medical students, we also allude to the UK General Medical Council’s guideline on ‘Supporting Medical Students with Mental Health Conditions’. The article recommends that doctors and medical students with mental illness should seek help; outlines a number of factors to consider in deciding whether a doctor should continue practising; and explores alternative career paths in instances where they should not. The article concludes that appropriate support goes a long way for doctors and medical students who grapple with mental health issues in that there is hope and a way through a seemingly devastating situation.
Fulltext DeepMoney: counterfeit money detection using generative adversarial networks

Ali T, Jan S, Alkhodre A, Nauman M, Amin M, Siddiqui MS

PeerJ Comput Sci, 2019;5:e216.
PMID: 33816869 DOI: 10.7717/peerj-cs.216

Conventional paper currency and modern electronic currency are two important modes of transactions. In several parts of the world, conventional methodology has clear precedence over its electronic counterpart. However, the identification of forged currency paper notes is now becoming an increasingly crucial problem because of the new and improved tactics employed by counterfeiters. In this paper, a machine assisted system-dubbed DeepMoney-is proposed which has been developed to discriminate fake notes from genuine ones. For this purpose, state-of-the-art models of machine learning called Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) are employed. GANs use unsupervised learning to train a model that can then be used to perform supervised predictions. This flexibility provides the best of both worlds by allowing unlabelled data to be trained on whilst still making concrete predictions. This technique was applied to Pakistani banknotes. State-of-the-art image processing and feature recognition techniques were used to design the overall approach of a valid input. Augmented samples of images were used in the experiments which show that a high-precision machine can be developed to recognize genuine paper money. An accuracy of 80% has been achieved. The code is available as an open source to allow others to reproduce and build upon the efforts already made.
Fulltext A study of the parameters that effect the quality of the estimated modal parameters in automated enhanced frequency domain decomposition algorithm

Muhammad Danial Abu Hasan, Zair Asrar Ahmad, Mohd Salman Leong, Lim, Meng Hee

Pertanika Journal of Science & Technology, 2020;28(3):797-828.
MyJurnal

This paper presents parameters analysis for the estimated modal damping ratio using a new version of the automated enhanced frequency domain decomposition (AEFDD). The purpose of this study is to provide a better choice of a maximum number of points of time segments and modal assurance criterion (MAC) index number regarding to the variable level of system damping (low and high damped structure) and degree of freedom of the system. According current literature, frequency domain (FD) methods seem to have the problem with providing a correct identification of the modal damping ratio, since the correct estimate of modal damping is still an open problem and often leads to biased estimates. This technique is capable of providing consistent modal parameters estimation, particularly for modal frequencies and mode shapes. As a necessary fundamental condition, the algorithm has been assessed first from computed numerical responses according to random white noise, acting on different shear-type frame structures and corrupted with noise. Results indicate that reducing the value of natural frequencies and modal damping ratios of the modes under analysis demands longer time segments and a high value of the maximum number of points for adequate information on the decaying correlation functions when computing a modal damping ratio. In addition, the results also prove that the MAC index does not significantly affect the results for the low damped system. However, the use of a high MAC index value for the high damped system significantly introduces large error bound and it becomes worse, particularly for the higher modes, as the standard deviation of percentage error increases gradually. Furthermore, the use of a MAC index for a high number of points of time segments significantly increases the standard deviation of the percentage error.
Fulltext Optical Properties and Conductivity of PVA-H3PO4 (Polyvinyl Alcohol-Phosphoric Acid) Film Blend Irradiated by γ-Rays

Susilawati S, Prayogi S, Arif MF, Ismail NM, Bilad MR, Asy'ari M

Polymers (Basel), 2021 Mar 28;13(7).
PMID: 33800592 DOI: 10.3390/polym13071065

This study assesses the optical properties and conductivity of PVA-H3PO4 (polyvinyl alcohol-phosphoric acid) polymer film blend irradiated by gamma (γ) rays. The PVA-H3PO4 polymer film blend was prepared by the solvent-casting method at H3PO4 concentrations of 75 v% and 85 v%, and then irradiated up to 25 kGy using γ-rays from the Cobalt-60 isotope source. The optical absorption spectrum was measured using an ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometer over a wavelength range of 200 to 700 nm. It was found that the absorption peaks are in three regions, namely two peaks in the ultraviolet region (310 and 350 nm) and one peak in the visible region (550 nm). The presence of an absorption peak after being exposed to hυ energy indicates a transition of electrons from HOMO to LUMO within the polymer chain. The study of optical absorption shows that the energy band gap (energy gap) depends on the radiation dose and the concentration of H3PO4 in the polymer film blend. The optical absorption, absorption edge, and energy gap decrease with increasing H3PO4 concentration and radiation dose. The interaction between PVA and H3PO4 blend led to an increase in the conductivity of the resulting polymer blend film.
Fulltext Advisory panel review on the feasibility of three intervention programmes for children with autism spectrum disorder

Farahiyah Wan Yunus, Michelle Bissett, Stefania Penkala, Muhammad Hibatullah Romli, Karen P.Y Liu

Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences, 2020;16(2):43-51.
MyJurnal

Introduction: The prevalence of children with autism spectrum disorder is increasing each year. Intervention pro- grammes towards improving the occupational needs such as daily activities of these children are limited. This study aimed to collect opinions from advisory panel for the content validation of the three developed intervention pro- grammes to be implemented among children with autism spectrum disorder aged between 6 to 12 years. The inter- vention programmes are; i) self-regulated learning, ii) sensory integration intervention and iii) activity-based interven- tion. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted. Twenty occupational therapists with more than three years’ experience working with children with autism spectrum disorders were recruited as advisory panel members. Re- searchers-developed questionnaire was used. The questionnaire consists of nine to eleven items. Each item consists of a five-point Likert scale for quantitative responses and open-ended questions for qualitative responses. Results: Advisory panel ratings of ‘Good’ to ‘Excellent’ was reported across most items in all three intervention programmes. Overall results suggested that the intervention programmes content was rated to be suitable for children with autism spectrum disorder. Constructive comments were adopted to clarify the activities and structure of the intervention programmes. Final development of the intervention programmes is presented. Conclusion: This study provides con- fidence for the interventions to be incorporated into the future randomised controlled trial.
Fulltext Forensic analysis of accelerant on different fabrics using Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and chemometrics techniques

Farah Izza Jais, Sharifah Mastura, Naji Arafat Mahat, Dzulkiflee Ismail, Muhammad Naeim Mohamad Asri

Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences, 2020;16(2):112-117.
MyJurnal

Introduction: Accelerants and fabrics are commonly used to spread fire attributable to their highly flammable prop- erties. Hence, having the ability to discriminate the different types of accelerants on various types of fabrics after fire and/or arson using the non-destructive Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spec- troscopy coupled with chemometric techniques appears forensically relevant. Methods: Six types of fabrics viz. cotton, wool, silk, rayon, satin, and polyester, were burnt completely with RON95 and RON97 gasoline as well as diesel. Subsequently, the samples were analyzed by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy followed by Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) for discriminating the different types of accelerants on such burned fabrics. Results: RON95 showed the fastest rate of burning on all fabric types. Results also revealed that while wool had the slowest burning rate for all the three different accelerants, polyester, cotton, and satin demon- strated the highest rate of burning in RON95, RON97, and diesel, respectively. FTIR spectra revealed the presence of alkane, alcohol, alkene, alkyne, aromatic, and amine compounds for all fabrics. The two dimensional PCA (PC1 versus PC2) demonstrated 71% of variance and it was improved by cross-validation through the three dimensional LDA technique with correct classification of 77.8%. Conclusion: ATR-FTIR spectroscopy coupled with chemometric techniques had enabled identification of the functional groups, as well as statistically supported discrimination of the different accelerants, a matter of relevance in forensic fire and arson investigations.
Fulltext Predicting sexual intention to engage in premarital sex among late adolescent in Kuantan government secondary schools: an application of theory of planned behaviour

Abdullah F, Draman S, Abd. Aziz KH, Zainuddin NA, Muhammad NA

IIUM Medical Journal Malaysia, 2020;19(1):109-116.
MyJurnal

Introduction: Based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), sexual intention is determined by three main
socio-cognitive factors which are permissive attitudes, social-norms and self-efficacy in performing
premarital sexual activity. Premarital sex associated with increased risk of sexually transmitted diseases and
detrimental social implications. The aim of this study was to explore the correlation of the socio-cognitive
factors in predicting intention to engage in premarital sex amongst late adolescents in Kuantan government
secondary schools. Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 466 pre-university students aged
18-19 years from nine government secondary schools in Kuantan district. A self-administered validated Youth
Sexual Intention Questionnaire (YSI-Q) was used. Statistical analyses were done using IBM SPSS version 22.0.
Results: Permissive attitude (r=0.579, p
Macrophage and colon tumor cells as targets for a binuclear silver(I) N-heterocyclic carbene complex, an anti-inflammatory and apoptosis mediator

Iqbal MA, Umar MI, Haque RA, Khadeer Ahamed MB, Asmawi MZ, Majid AM

J Inorg Biochem, 2015 May;146:1-13.
PMID: 25699476 DOI: 10.1016/j.jinorgbio.2015.02.001

Chronic inflammation intensifies the risk for malignant neoplasm, indicating that curbing inflammation could be a valid strategy to prevent or cure cancer. Cancer and inflammation are inter-related diseases and many anti-inflammatory agents are also used in chemotherapy. Earlier, we have reported a series of novel ligands and respective binuclear Ag(I)-NHC complexes (NHC=N-heterocyclic carbene) with potential anticancer activity. In the present study, a newly synthesized salt (II) and respective Ag(I)-NHC complex (III) of comparable molecular framework were prepared for a further detailed study. Preliminarily, II and III were screened against HCT-116 and PC-3 cells, wherein III showed better results than II. Both the compounds showed negligible toxicity against normal CCD-18Co cells. In FAM-FLICA caspase assay, III remarkably induced caspase-3/7 in HCT-116 cells most probably by tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) independent intrinsic pathway and significantly inhibited in vitro synthesis of cytokines, interleukin-1 (IL-1) and TNF-α in human macrophages (U937 cells). In a cell-free system, both the compounds inhibited cyclooxygenase (COX) activities, with III being more selective towards COX-2. The results revealed that III has strong antiproliferative property selectively against colorectal tumor cells which could be attributed to its pro-apoptotic and anti-inflammatory abilities.
Fulltext PVC as a potential filter material for ionising radiation

Laila Kalidah Junet, Zafri Azran Abdul Majid, Muhammad Syahmi Che Othaman

International Journal of Allied Health Sciences, 2017;1(2):101-107.
MyJurnal

Aluminum (Al) is a standard material that has been used as a filter for ionising radiation however for polyvinyl chloride (PVC) there is no solid evidence to support but has been recommended. PVC has been selected as a potential filter material due to it is a long lasting constructing material and very durable, which can be used in a variety of application. The purpose of this study was to observe the effect of PVC on entrance surface dose (ESD) values as compare to the standard X-ray filter of Al. The effect of varying thickness of the materials and difference exposure settings were observed and compared to each other. From this study, the percentage difference for both PVC and Al thickness is less than ± 25.00 % shows that PVC has a potential to be used as one of the filter materials due to its ability to reduce the ESD value
Assessing quality of life using WHOQOL-BREF: A cross-sectional insight among patients on warfarin in Malaysia

Iqbal MS, Kassab YW, Al-Saikhan FI, Almalki ZS, Haseeb A, Iqbal MZ, et al.

Saudi Pharm J, 2020 Aug;28(8):936-942.
PMID: 32792838 DOI: 10.1016/j.jsps.2020.06.014

Background and aim: The effect of anticoagulation control on overall Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) in patients taking warfarin in Malaysia has not been explored yet. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate HRQoL among patients on warfarin in Malaysia.
Methods: HRQoL among patients on warfarin was measured using WHOQOL-BREF (World Health Organization Quality of life Assessment: Brief Version). Descriptive and inferential statistical analysis was done using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.
Results: Out of 319 patients, more female patients were observed than the males (n = 221, 69.3%, and n = 98, 30.7% respectively). Mean scores for the physical (61.14 ± 15.96), psychological (68.58 ± 16.11), social (63.55 ± 27.06) and environmental domains (62.78 ± 17.58) were observed. Statistically, a significant association was found between the comorbidities other than CVDs with health satisfaction (p = 0.002), physical (p = 0.001), psychological (p
Fulltext Image quality of coronary CT angiography (CCTA) using 640-slice scanner: qualitative and quantitative assessments of coronary arteries visibility

Shahril Shamsul, Akmal Sabarudin, Hamzaini Abdul Hamid, Norzailin Abu Bakar, Oteh Maskon, Muhammad Khalis Abdul Karim

Jurnal Sains Kesihatan Malaysia, 2020;18(2):49-57.
MyJurnal

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the image quality and diagnostic accuracy of coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) using 640-slice scanner. Advancement of multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) technology with higher spatial, temporal resolution, and increasing detector array have improved the image quality and diagnostic accuracy of CCTA. A total of 25 patients (12 men and 13 women) underwent CCTA examination was chosen and data was acquired by 640-slice scanner. All 16 segments of coronary arteries were evaluated by two reviewers using a 4-likert scale for qualitative assessment. In quantitative assessment, the evaluation of 4 main coronary arteries were analysed in terms of signal intensity (SI), image noise, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR). All 25 patients with a mean age of 52.88 ± 14.75 years old and body mass index (BMI) of 24.24 ± 3.28 kg/m2 were analysed. In qualitative assessment, from the total of 400 segments, 379 segments (95%) had diagnostic value while 21 segments did not have diagnostic value, which means 5% artefact was detected. In quantitative assessment, there was no statistical differences in gender, race, and BMI (p>0.05). Overall evaluation showed that higher SI at the left main artery (LM) at 393.7 ± 47.19. Image noise was higher at right coronary artery (RCA) at 39.01 ± 13.97. SNR and CNR showed higher at left anterior descending (LAD) with 12.73 ± 5.17 and LM 9.14 ± 4.2, respectively. In conclusion, this study indicates that 640-slice MDCT has higher diagnostic value in CCTA examination with 95% vessel visibility with 5% artefact detection.
Fulltext Spot diagram profile of uncorrected and corrected myopic model eye

Shah Farez Othman, Nizam Tamchek, Farah Diana Muhammad, Shah Farez Othman, Shah Farez Othman, Mohd Hafidz Ithnin

Journal of Optometry, Eye and Health Research, 2020;2(1):34-47.
MyJurnal

Current trend shows that the eye modelling is based on the emmetropic eye taken its ocular optical components value from the population-based studies. However, no studies have been done to study the effect of aberration of myopic refractive error by modelling the eye using the parameters from ocular biometrics and ray tracing method. The objective of the present study was to determine the spot diagram (SPD) profile of myopic refractive error using eye modelling and ray tracing technique. Three eye models had been successfully modeled in Zemax software, namely, emmetropic Liou and Brennan, myopic Liou and Brennan, corrected myopic Liou and Brennan. The optical performance of the eye models were tested using the SPD profile. The ray distribution from the analysis of SPD of myopic Liou and Brennan eye was larger compared to the emmetropic model. In comparison with the emmetropic Liou and Brennan model, for the blue wavelength, the RMS spot radius for the corrected version was increased. However, the RMS values were decreased for green and red wavelengths. For the corrected myopic version of Liou and Brennan, in comparison with its emmetropic model, the Airy disc diameter increased with the increment of wavelengths. It was found that the Airy disc diameter accuracy were higher for the blue, green and red wavelengths. Although the accuracy values were in a positive sign, for Airy disc diameter, the smaller value indicates a diffraction-limited condition.
Fulltext Service quality towards customer satisfaction, case study: sopoong, IOI city mall, Putrajaya

Mohd Sulaimi Bin Mohd Sani, Muhammad Syamil Bin Abd Halek, Nur Hanifa Binti Haji Zainul

Journal of Management & Science, 2020;18(2):58-65.
MyJurnal

Since 20th century, the Korean wave has been a phenomenon globally and it has also spread through Malaysia in terms of culture, music, fashion and also food. Study shows that Malaysian is attracted towards Korean cuisine which increases the demand of Korean cuisine. As result, numerous of new business opportunities have raised. Sopoong, IOI City Mall, Putrajaya is one of the top and thriving Korean cuisine restaurant with more than five branches all over Kuala Lumpur and Klang Valley area. The aims of this study are to help the food establishment to improve their service quality and subsequently increase the customer satisfaction, and also could help any other organizations that are interrelated to this research. This research is also purposely to determine the relationship of service quality with customer satisfaction focused at Sopoong, IOI City Mall, Putrajaya. The researchers used the service quality dimension (SERVQUAL) such as tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy to find the relationship with customer satisfaction as the main idea. This study is a quantitative study conducted to tracks the seasonal trends or phenomena related to the issue. For this research, survey questionnaire was used as data collection method and three hundred and one (301) questionnaires were distributed to respondent at Sopoong, IOI City Mall, Putrajaya. The data collected are analysed by using descriptive and correlation analysis by using IBM-SPSS software. The findings of this study show that the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction is available.
Fulltext Huge solitary rectal schwannoma mimicking malignant polyp with a successful transanal excision

Sanjeev Sandrasecra, Sindhu Karpayah, Muhammad Ash-Shafhawi Adznan, Firdaus Hayati, Nornazirah Azizan, Rohamini Sibin

Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences, 2019;15(106):62-62.
MyJurnal

Introduction: Rectal schwannoma is a rare gastrointestinal mesenchymal tumour with only a few numbers of cases has been reported. It is predominant in the stomach and small bowel, but uncommon in the colon and rectum. Case description: A 74-year-old man presented with features masquerading as low rectal malignancy with a malignant looking pedunculated polyp measuring 10 x 8 cm on colonoscopy. Punch biopsy revealed a diagnosis of benign tumour of schwannoma. After failure of multiple attempts of endoscopic resection, a decision of transanal excision was made. The histopathological assessment was consistent with the preoperative diagnosis and supported by immu-nohistochemistry of S-100 protein. His postoperative recovery was uneventful as he was discharged on the following day. There is no evidence of tumour recurrence on follow up. Conclusion: A huge tumour of the rectum is not always malignant. However, patient with features of low rectal tumour warrants an immediate referral to the surgical team as this non-communicable disease is a public health concern. Preoperative diagnosis is paramount for a necessary surgical intervention.
Fulltext Trends of prevalence of anaemia among adolescents in a middle-income country: a cohort study

Vanitha Krishnan, Hazreen Abdul Majid, Rafdzah Ahmad Zaki, Muhammad Yazid Jalaludin

Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences, 2019;15(104):105-105.
MyJurnal

Introduction: Anaemia is a significant public health problem among adolescents globally but there is limited data in many countries, including Malaysia. This study aims to investigate the 5-years incidence of anemia among Malaysian adolescents by gender, ethnicity, locality of schools, Body Mass Index, stature and diet intake. Methods: A secondary analysis of existing data from MyHeART study was conducted within a closed cohort of 528 adolescents (aged 13 years) attended 15 public secondary schools from Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Perak. The adolescents who were followed up at 15 and 17 years old had completed haemoglobin assessment, anthropometric measurements and -days diet history. The data was cleaned and missingness was handled accordingly with multiple imputation. SPSS Software version 21 was used to analyse the data, with Generalised Estimating Equation (GEE) showing the effect of time on the trajectory of prevalence of anaemia over the 5 years. Results: The prevalence or incidence? of anaemia in 2012, 2014 and 2016 was 7.9% (95%CI: 5.0-12.3), 13.9% (95%CI: 10.0-19.0) and 15.8% (95%CI:11.3-21.7). In females, anaemia increased from 11.1% (95%CI:6.7-18.7) to 15.7% (11.4-21.3) and 23.1%(95%CI: 16.8-31.0); the change was significant from 13 to 15 years old. Similar trend was noticed in those who are stunted, overweight/obese, in both urban/rural schools and didn’t meet their daily recommended nutrient intake for total calorie, protein and iron. Conclusion: Anaemia is increasing in trend among the adolescents over the years and deems attention from the relevant stakeholders to create a robust anemia prevention program.
Wafer-Scale Fabrication of Nitrogen-Doped Reduced Graphene Oxide with Enhanced Quaternary-N for High-Performance Photodetection

Mohammad Haniff MAS, Zainal Ariffin NH, Hafiz SM, Ooi PC, Syono MI, Hashim AM

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces, 2019 Jan 30;11(4):4625-4636.
PMID: 30618229 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.8b19043

We demonstrated a simple and scalable fabrication route of a nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide (N-rGO) photodetector on an 8 in. wafer-scale. The N-rGO was prepared through in situ plasma treatment in an acetylene-ammonia atmosphere to achieve an n-type semiconductor with substantial formation of quaternary-N substituted into the graphene lattice. The morphology, structural, chemical composition, and electrical properties of the N-rGO were carefully characterized and used for the device fabrication. The N-rGO devices were fabricated in a simple metal-semiconductor-metal structure with unconventional metal-on-bottom configuration to promote high-performance photodetection. The N-rGO devices exhibited enhanced photoresponsivity as high as 0.68 A W-1 at 1.0 V, which is about 2 orders of magnitude higher compared to a pristine graphene and wide-band photoinduced response from the visible to the near-infrared region with increasing sensitivity in the order of 785, 632.8, and 473 nm excitation wavelengths. We also further demonstrated a symmetric characteristic of the photoinduced response to any position of local laser excitation with respect to the electrodes. The excellent features of wafer-scale N-rGO devices suggest a promising route to merge the current silicon technology and two-dimensional materials for future optoelectronic devices.
Synthesis of some new N-(alkyl/aralkyl)-N-(2,3-dihydro-1,4-benzodioxan-6-yl)-4-chlorobenzenesulfonamides as possible therapeutic agents for Alzheimer's disease and Type-2 Diabetes

Abbasi MA, Rehman A, Siddiqui SZ, Hadi N, Mumtaz A, Shah SAA, et al.

Pak J Pharm Sci, 2019 Jan;32(1):61-68.
PMID: 30772791

In the current research work, a series of new N-(alkyl/aralkyl)-N-(2,3-dihydro-1,4-benzodioxan-6-yl)-4-chlorobenzenesulfonamides has been synthesized by reacting 1,4-benzozzdioxan-6-amine (1) with 4-chlorobenzenesulfonyl chloride (2) to yield N-(2,3-dihydro-1,4-benzodioxan-6-yl)-4-chlorobenzenesulfonamide (3) which was further reacted with different alkyl/aralkyl halides (4a-n) to afford the target compounds (5a-n). Structures of the synthesized compounds were confirmed by IR, 1H-NMR, EI-MS spectral techniques and CHN analysis data. The results of enzyme inhibition showed that the molecules, N-2-phenethyl-N-(2,3-dihydro-1,4-benzodioxin-6-yl)-4-chlorobenzenesulfonamide (5j) and N-(1-butyl)-N-(2,3-dihydro-1,4-benzodioxin-6-yl)-4-chlorobenzenesulfonamide (5d), exhibited moderate inhibitory potential against acetylcholinesterase with IC50 values 26.25±0.11 μM and 58.13±0.15 μM respectively, whereas, compounds N-benzyl-N-(2,3-dihydro-1,4-benzodioxin-6-yl)-4-chlorobenzenesulfonamide (5i) and N-(pentane-2-yl)-N-(2,3-dihydro-1,4-benzodioxin-6-yl)-4-chlorobenzenesulfonamide (5f) showed moderate inhibition against α-glucosidase enzyme as evident from IC50 values 74.52±0.07 and 83.52±0.08 μM respectively, relative to standards Eserine having IC50 value of 0.04±0.0001 μM for cholinesterases and Acarbose having IC50 value 38.25±0.12 μM for α-glucosidase, respectively.

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