Consumption of banana flower as a vegetable is popular among many countries in Southeast
Asia. In this study, banana flowers of six different Malaysian cultivars namely, pisang Abu
(Musa balbisiana cv P. Abu), pisang Berangan (Musa acuminata cv P. Berangan), pisang
Nipah (Musa balbisiana cv P. Nipah), pisang Susu (Musa acuminata cv P. Susu), pisang
Mas (Musa acuminate cv P. Mas) and pisang Rastali (Musa paradisiaca cv P. Rastali) were
investigated for their antioxidant and anti-hyperglyemic properties. The total poly phenolic
content and antioxidant activities, the α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory potentials of the
banana flower extracts were studied in vitro using relevant assays. Among the six cultivars,
cultivar Susu was found to have the highest phenolic content (80.13 ± 4.64 mg of GAE/g of
extract) and displayed the highest ABTS+ and DPPH radical scavenging activities (24.73 ±
0.04 and 25.10 ± 0.15 µmole of Trolox equivalent/g of extract). The anti-amylase and antiglucosidase
activity of the banana flowers extracts were in the range of 47.31-62.58% and
74.98-91.62%, respectively. All banana flower extracts inhibited the activity of α-glucosidase
better than α-amylase at the concentration of 200 µg/ml. This study concluded that the extracts
of Malaysian banana flowers were potent sources of natural antioxidants, which can be used as
postprandial hyperglycemia regulators.
Dermoid cysts are anatomic embryonic abnormalities that are rarely seen in the oral cavity. Histologically, they are further classified as epidermoid, dermoid or teratoid. We report a case in which an 18- year-old girl who developed an epidermoid cyst presenting as a large sublingual swelling occupying the entire floor of the mouth causing snoring and speech difficulty. We emphasized on the clinical steps in achieving an accurate diagnosis, possible differential diagnosis, necessary imaging techniques and management of epidermoid cyst.
We present an algorithm to reduce the number of slices from 2D contour cross sections. The main aim of the algorithm is to filter less significant slices while preserving an acceptable level of output quality and keeping the computational cost to reconstruct surface(s) at a minimal level. This research is motivated mainly by two factors; first 2D cross sections data is often huge in size and high in precisions – the computational cost to reconstruct surface(s) from them is closely related to the size and complexity of this data. Second, we can trades visual fidelity with speed of computations if we can remove visually insignificant data from the original dataset which may contains redundant information. In our algorithm we use the number of contour points on a pair of slices to calculate the distance between them. Selection to retain/reject a slice is based on the value of distance compared against a threshold value. Optimal threshold value is derived to produce set of slices that collectively represent the feature of the dataset. We tested our algorithm over six different set of data, varying in complexities and sizes. The results show slice reduction rate depends on the complexity of the dataset, where highest reduction percentage is achieved for objects with lots of constant local variations. Our derived optimal thresholds seem to be able to produce the right set of slices with the potential of creating surface(s) that traded off the accuracy and speed requirements.
The Combined Cleft Clinic at the University Hospital, Kuala Lumpur was organised in 1992. The team consists of Plastic Surgeon, Orthodontists, Speech therapist, Ear, Nose and Throat Surgeon, Audiologist, medical officers and the nurses. We attend the clinic on a regular basis. Specialists from other medical and dental disciplines as well as the members of the Cleft Lip and Palate Association of Malaysia (CLAPAM) do occasionally participate in this set-up.The team members formulate treatment plans for each cleft patient, monitor the patient's growth and development and manage the patient at different stages according to the individual needs. To date, the idea of team approach and an establishment of a centre towards management of cleft patients seem to be the most ideal as the patients are benefiting total treatment and care from various specialists from only one place. The experience of University Hospital as a centre for cleft patients is discussed.
Beta (β)- thalassaemia is a public health problem in Malaysia. The carrier rate is estimated to be 4.5% by micro-mapping studies particularly among Malays who comprise 53.5% of the population in Malaysia. The common diagnostic method in Malaysia for mutation detection is by amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS). It allows single mutation detection in each reaction but is labour intensive and time consuming when many mutations need to be identified. The purpose of this study was to develop a diagnostic tool for effective mutation detection of beta thalassaemia in Malay patients and compare its efficacy with ARMS-PCR, the current method in use. Methods: Reverse dot blot hybridization (RDBH) technique was incorporated in the development of two strip assays [RDBH-Strip M(6) and RDBH-Strip C(6)] to identify common beta thalassaemia mutations in the Malays. The panels of selected mutations were based on the mutation frequencies in Malaysia reported in previous studies. RDBH-Strip M(6) was applied as step 1 and RDBH-Strip C(6) was applied as step 2 for unidentified mutations. The strips were validated with the gold standard method, ARMS- PCR. Results: One hundred and thirty seven Malay patients with 274 alleles were studied. In Step 1 mutation detection, 238 alleles (86.9%) were identified in 119 of patients by RDBH-Strip M(6). Step 2 resulted in a further detection of 20 alleles in another 10 patients by RDBH-Strip C(6). The combination of both strips resulted in the identification of 258 alleles in 129 (94.6%) of 137 Malay patients. The strip assays were 100% sensitive and specific when compared with ARMS-PCR method. Conclusion: Two strip assays utilising the RDBH technique were developed to identify common β-thalassaemia mutations in Malays. The RDBH Strip M(6) identified 86.9% of the mutations and the RDBH-Strip C (6) detected further 7.3% alleles. This two step strategy was found to be rapid and cost effective for the direct diagnosis of β-thalassaemia mutations in the Malays. The remaining unidentified mutations would require DNA sequencing. It can serve as a specific molecular diagnostic tool for effective diagnosis of
β-thalassaemia mutations in this ethnic group.
Elevated temperature affects marine benthic algae by reducing growth and limits the transport of electron or carbon fixation which may reduce the ability of the cell to use light. This resulting excess light energy may cause photoinhibition. In this study, the photosystem II of the benthic microalgal communities from Casey, eastern Antarctic were relatively unaffected by significant changes in temperatures up to 8ºC, along with high PAR level (450 μmol photons m–2 s–1). Similarly, the community was able to photosynthesize as the temperature was reduced to –5ºC. Recovery from saturating and photoinhibiting irradiances was not significantly influenced by temperatures at both –5ºC and 8ºC. These responses were consistent with those recorded by past experiments on Antarctic benthic diatoms and temperate diatoms which showed that climate change did not have a significant impact on the ability of benthic microalgae to recover from photoinhibitory temperature stress.
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.
Night work and rotating shift work are found to be detrimental to the health of workers. A cross sectional analytical study was conducted among the employees of a public medical centre in Kuala Lumpur. A total of 380 employees participated in the health screening and questionnaire survey. The majority of the respondents were Malays, females, and with mean age of 49 years old. The shift workers persistently had higher but non-significant proportions of being overweight/obesity and unhealthy clinical indicators such as systolic and diastolic blood pressure, fasting blood glucose and lipid profile except waist circumferences and HDL-cholesterol. There were also slightly more shift workers diagnosed with diabetes mellitus, hypertension or coronary heart disease (p>0.05). Although the present study could not provide established evidence for a relationship between shift work and cardiovascular risks, this could serve as a pilot study for future studies in this area.
Tumour-induced or oncogenic osteomalacia (OOM) is a rare paraneoplastic syndrome characterized by bone pain and muscle weakness. A biochemical profile consisting of normocalcaemia, hypophosphataemia, phosphaturia, increased serum alkaline phosphatase and inappropriately low serum levels of 1, 25-dihydroxyvitamin-D is diagnostic. OOM is usually caused by an osseous or soft-tissue tumour of mesenchymal origin that secretes phosphaturic substances leading to increased urinary phosphate wasting. These tumours are small and slow growing. The diagnosis continues to be easily missed and when eventually made, localization of the tumour can be difficult. We describe the case of a young man who presented with severe generalized pain associated with muscle weakness. He was extensively investigated and eventually diagnosed to have OOM 3 years after initial presentation. Specialized investigations were necessary to localize the offending tumour.
Congenital partial aplasia of the atlas with a posterior arch remnant is rare. It may be found as an incidental radiological finding or patients can present with neurological signs and symptoms after head or neck trauma. A 36-year-old female presented with a 3-day history of right sided neck pain radiating down the right arm. Radiographs of the cervical spine showed a radiolucent area in the region of the posterior arch of the atlas. Computed tomography subsequently revealed partial absence of the posterior arch of the atlas with a defect at the anterior ring. Her clinical condition subsequently improved with rest, analgesia and physiotherapy. This case report illustrates a situation where congenital defect of the posterior arch of the atlas was revealed in a patient with neck pain. Awareness of the existence of this condition will help clinicians avoid misdiagnosis and excessive investigations.
The safety of simultaneous bilateral total knee arthroplasty (TKA) remains controversial. The objective of the current study was to investigate perioperative morbidity and mortality rates within 30 days of simultaneous bilateral TKA. A detailed analysis of medical, surgical and anaesthesia records of 183 consecutive patients who underwent total knee arthroplasty between 2002 and 2006 was performed. The mean age of the patients was 67.6 years old. More than 80% had one or more co-morbidities, but none of them had ASA score greater than class 2. The mean hospital stay was 10 days, and the mean surgical time 156 minutes. Less than half of the patients (42.6%) required blood transfusion. The rate of perimorbidity was 15.3 % and there was no mortality in this series. We believe that simultaneous bilateral total knee arthroplasty is a safe and cost effective option for our patients, provided that patients are selected and informed appropriately.
Termitomyces are delicious edible mushrooms found in Africa and South-East Asia including Malaysia. These mushrooms were found to grow symbiotically with termites around termite nests. Numerous efforts have been made worldwide to develop a cultivation method for these mushrooms. Unfortunately, none of those attempts were successful. The main obstacles encountered were the difficulty to identify and isolate pure termitomyces culture. The problem became prevalent as the culture gets contaminated by other fungi. Termitomyces can easily be identified by its mushroom fruiting body eventually but certainly not at the mycelium and hyphea stages. In this study a simple PCR-based genetic marker detection method for confirmation of termitomyces at any culture stage was developed. Using this method, four distinctive PCR assays
were developed using specific PCR primers designed based on the DNA sequence of the termitomyces mushroom. The PCR results showed that the PCR assays using intact termitomyces
DNA as template was not suitable for this purpose. However, PCR using BamHI and EcoRI predigested termitomyces DNA as template showed identical polymorphism pattern for both
termitomyces mushroom DNA and termitomyces culture DNA. Thus, the method reported here can be used for the identific.
Known as ‘belangkas’ in Malaysia, horseshoe crabs have been used by locals for food, bait and as fertilizer. Currently, these ancient mariners are gaining a lot of attention as the amoebocyte from their blood are harvested by the biomedical industry for use to detect human pathogens in patients, injectable drugs and intravenous devices.
In this study, a polluted site at Kg. Pasir Puteh was assessed for heavy metal pollution by using
transplanted caged mussel (Perna viridis) from a relatively clean population, Sg. Melayu; both are located in the Strait of Johore. For control purposes, the P. viridis from Kg. Pasir Puteh were also simultaneously transplanted in Sg. Melayu at the same time. It was found that Zn was the metal which got accumulated fastest in the transplanted mussel while Cd was the slowest. This study indicated that the byssus of Perna viridis was most effective for biomonitoring of Cd, Ni, Pb and Zn, while the shell could be used for the biomonitoring of Cu, Ni and Pb and the total soft tissue for the biomonitoring of Ni since they were able to accumulate and eliminate the respective metals well. By using mussel as a biomonitor, the present study found that Kg. Pasir Puteh, which is located in the eastern part of the Strait of Johore, had significantly higher contamination and bioavailabilities of Cd, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb and Zn. Therefore, the use of the transplanted caged mussels is very useful for heavy metal assessment purposes since it can increase the validity of data interpretation by minimizing ecological factors.
Our continuing interest in anthraquinones from the Guttiferae family has led us to look at the genus Cratoxylum. A detailed chemical study on Cratoxylum aborescens resulted in the isolation of three anthraquinones, namely 1,8-dihydroxy-3-methoxy-6-methylanthraquinone (1), vismiaquinone (2) and vismione (3). These compounds were identified using 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy. This is the first report on the chemistry of Cratoxylum aborescens.
Digital elevation model (DEM) generation from stereo images is an effective and economical method in topography mapping. This paper used the stereo pair methodology to generate the digital elevation model (DEM) from PRISM (Panchromatic Remote-Sensing Instrument Satellite) sensor which is onboard of ALOS (Advanced Land Observing Satellite). The pair of forward-backward is used as stereoscopic imagery in this study. Ten ground control points (GCPs) are collected with residual error 0.49 pixels to generate an absolute DEM. This generated DEM with 2.5 m spatial resolution is then matched with the 90 m spatial resolution of
SRTM (Space Shuttle Radar Topography Mission) DEM to compare the result. Although SRTM-DEM has a much coarser resolution, the positional accuracy of the matching is found. The difference of the height from the mean sea level (MSL) between the SRTM-DEM and the PRISM-DEM is analyzed and the correlation between the two DEMs is R²=0.8083. The accuracy of the DEM generated is given by the RMSE value of 0.8991 meter.