Gastric cancer in the young adult is rare and has been said to be more aggressive than gastric cancers of the older age group. Its unique association with pregnancy is even rarer. However, they have similar complications of haemorrhage, obstruction and perforation. We report a 27 year old lady at 16 weeks gestation who presented with a perforated malignant gastric ulcer and carcinomatosis peritonei. Reviewing the literature, we realised that such complication of a gastric cancer occurring in a pregnant young adult has not been previously documented.
Rhizomes of Curcuma caesia are traditionally used to treat cancer in India. The aim is to isolate chemical constituents from C. caesia rhizomes through bioassay-guided fractionation. The extract, hexanes and chloroform fractions showed effect on MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231cells in cell viability assay. The chromatographic separation afforded germacrone (1), zerumbone (2), furanodienone (3), curzerenone (4), curcumenol (5), zederone (6), curcumenone (7), dehydrocurdione (8) from hexanes fraction and curcuminol G (9), curcuzederone (10), (1S, 10S), (4S,5S)-germacrone-1 (10), 4-diepoxide (11), wenyujinin B (12), alismoxide (13), aerugidiol (14), zedoarolide B (15), zedoalactone B (16), zedoarondiol (17), isozedoarondiol (18) from chloroform fraction. This is first report of compounds 2, 9-13, 15-18 from C. caesia. The study demonstrated compounds 1-4 and 10 are the bioactive compounds. The effect of curcuzederone (10) on MDA-MB-231 cell migration showed significant inhibition in scratch and Transwell migration assays. The results revealed that curcuzederone could be a promising drug to treat cancer.
Malayan box turtle (Cuora amboinensis) has been a wildlife-protected vulnerable turtle species in Malaysia since 2005. However, because of its purported usage in traditional medicine, tonic foods and feeds, clandestine black market trade is rampant. Several polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays for the taxonomic detection and classification of turtle species have been proposed. These assays are based on long-length target amplicons which are assumed to break down under compromised states and, hence, might not be suitable for the forensic tracing and tracking of turtle trafficking. For the first time this paper develops a very short-amplicon-length PCR assay (120 bp) for the detection of Malayan box turtle meat in raw, processed and mixed matrices, and experimental evidence is produced that such an assay is not only more stable and reliable but also more sensitive than those previously published. We checked the assay specificity against 20 different species and no cross-species detection was observed. The possibility of any false-negative detection was eliminated by a universal endogenous control for eukaryotes. The assay detection limit was 0.0001 ng of box turtle DNA from pure meat and 0.01% turtle meat in binary and ternary admixtures and commercial meatballs. Superior target stability and sensitivity under extreme treatments of boiling, autoclaving and microwave cooking suggested that this newly developed assay would be suitable for any forensic and/or archaeological identification of Malayan box turtle species, even in severely degraded specimens. Further, in silico studies indicated that the assay has the potential to be used as a universal probe for the detection of nine Cuora species, all of which are critically endangered.
Wider availability but lack of legal market trades has given feline meat a high potential for use as an adulterant in common meat and meat products. However, mixing of feline meat or its derivatives in food is a sensitive issue, since it is a taboo in most countries and prohibited in certain religions such as Islam and Judaism. Cat meat also has potential for contamination with of severe acute respiratory syndrome, anthrax and hepatitis, and its consumption might lead to an allergic reaction. We developed a very short-amplicon-length (69 bp) PCR assay, authenticated the amplified PCR products by AluI-restriction digestion followed by its separation and detection on a lab-on-a-chip-based automated electrophoretic system, and proved its superiority over the existing long-amplicon-based assays. Although it has been assumed that longer DNA targets are susceptible to breakdown under compromised states, scientific evidence for this hypothesis has been rarely documented. Strong evidence showed that shorter targets are more stable than the longer ones. We confirmed feline-specificity by cross-challenging the primers against 10 different species of terrestrial, aquatic and plant origins in the presence of a 141-bp site of an 18S rRNA gene as a universal eukaryotic control. RFLP analysis separated 43- and 26-bp fragments of AluI-digest in both the gel-image and electropherograms, confirming the original products. The tested detection limit was 0.01% (w/w) feline meat in binary and ternary admixed as well as meatball matrices. Shorter target, better stability and higher sensitivity mean such an assay would be valid for feline identification even in degraded specimens.
Determination of feline meat in food products is an important issue for social, health, economic and religious concern. Hence this paper documented the application of species specific polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (SP-PCR-RFLP) assay targeting a short-fragments (69 bp) of mitochondrial cytochrome b (cytb) gene to screen feline meat in commercial meat products using lab-on-a-chip. The SP-PCR assay proved its specificity theoretically and experimentally while testing with different common animal, aquatic and plant species of DNA. The feline specific (69 bp, 43- and 26-bp) characteristic molecular DNA pattern was observed by SP-PCR and RFLP analysis. For assay performance, it was tested in three different types of commercial dummy meat products such as frankfurters, nuggets and meatballs and digested with AluI-restriction enzyme. The highest sensitivity of the assay using lab-on-a-chip was as low as 0.1 pg or 0.01 % (w/w) in commercial dummy meat products. We have also applied this assay to screen three important commercial meat products of six different brand from six supermarket chains located at three different states of Malaysia. Thus total 378 samples were tested to validate the specificity, sensitivity, stability of the assay and utilization of it for commercial meat product screening.
Zingiber montanum rhizomes are traditionally used for the treatment of numerous human ailments. The present study was carried out to investigate the inhibitory activity of the crude extract, chromatographic fractions, and purified compounds from Z. montanum rhizomes on the migration of MDA-MB-231 cells. The effect of the extract on cell migration was investigated by a scratch assay, which showed significant inhibition in a concentration-dependent manner. Vacuum liquid chromatography on silica gel afforded four fractions (Frs. 1 - 4), which were tested on cell migration in the scratch assay. Frs. 1 and 2 showed the most significant inhibition of MDA-MB-231 cell migration. The effect of the most potent fraction (Fr. 2) was further confirmed in a transwell migration assay. The study of Frs. 1 and 2 by gelatin zymography showed significant inhibition of MMP-9 enzyme activity. Chromatographic separation of Frs. 1 and 2 afforded buddledone A (1: ), zerumbone (2: ), (2E,9E)-6-methoxy-2,9-humuradien-8-one (3: ), zerumbone epoxide (4: ), stigmasterol (5: ), and daucosterol (6: ). In a cell viability assay, compounds 1: - 4: inhibited the viability of MDA-MB-231 cells in a concentration-dependent manner. The study of buddledone A (1: ) and zerumbone epoxide (4: ) on cell migration revealed that 4: significantly inhibited the migration of MDA-MB-231 cells in both scratch and transwell migration assays. The results of the present study may lead to further molecular studies behind the inhibitory activity of zerumbone epoxide (4: ) on cell migration and support the traditional use of Z. montanum rhizomes for the treatment of cancer.
Bioassay-guided separation afforded furanodienone 1,10-epoxide (9) as the new compound, curcolone (10) as partially described compound and ten known compounds; germacrone (1), furanodienone (2), curzerenone (3), curcumenol (4), zederone (5), comosone II (6), (1E,4E,8R)-8-hydroxygermacra-1(10),4,7(11)-trieno-12,8-lactone (7), 13-hydroxygermacrone (8), curcuzederone (11) and demethoxycurcumin (12). The study showed that germacrone, furanodienone, curzerenone, comosone II, 13-hydroxygermacrone, curcuzederone and demethoxycurcumin are the bioactive compounds of C. aeruginosa rhizomes. Comosone II significantly inhibited MDA-MB-231 cell migration and invasion through the inhibition of MMP-9 enzyme. The present study may lead to further anticancer studies of comosone II and supports the traditional uses of C. aeruginosa rhizomes.
Together, 316L steel, magnesium-alloy, Ni-Ti, titanium-alloy, and cobalt-alloy are commonly employed biomaterials for biomedical applications due to their excellent mechanical characteristics and resistance to corrosion, even though at times they can be incompatible with the body. This is attributed to their poor biofunction, whereby they tend to release contaminants from their attenuated surfaces. Coating of the surface is therefore required to mitigate the release of contaminants. The coating of biomaterials can be achieved through either physical or chemical deposition techniques. However, a newly developed manufacturing process, known as powder mixed-electro discharge machining (PM-EDM), is enabling these biomaterials to be concurrently machined and coated. Thermoelectrical processes allow the migration and removal of the materials from the machined surface caused by melting and chemical reactions during the machining. Hydroxyapatite powder (HAp), yielding Ca, P, and O, is widely used to form biocompatible coatings. The HAp added-EDM process has been reported to significantly improve the coating properties, corrosion, and wear resistance, and biofunctions of biomaterials. This article extensively explores the current development of bio-coatings and the wear and corrosion characteristics of biomaterials through the HAp mixed-EDM process, including the importance of these for biomaterial performance. This review presents a comparative analysis of machined surface properties using the existing deposition methods and the EDM technique employing HAp. The dominance of the process factors over the performance is discussed thoroughly. This study also discusses challenges and areas for future research.
Refrigeration systems are complex, non-linear, multi-modal, and multi-dimensional. However, traditional methods are based on a trial and error process to optimize these systems, and a global optimum operating point cannot be guaranteed. Therefore, this work aims to study a two-stage vapor compression refrigeration system (VCRS) through a novel and robust hybrid multi-objective grey wolf optimizer (HMOGWO) algorithm. The system is modeled using response surface methods (RSM) to investigate the impacts of design variables on the set responses. Firstly, the interaction between the system components and their cycle behavior is analyzed by building four surrogate models using RSM. The model fit statistics indicate that they are statistically significant and agree with the design data. Three conflicting scenarios in bi-objective optimization are built focusing on the overall system following the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and Linear Programming Technique for Multidimensional Analysis of Preference (LINMAP) decision-making methods. The optimal solutions indicate that for the first to third scenarios, the exergetic efficiency (EE) and capital expenditure (CAPEX) are optimized by 33.4% and 7.5%, and the EE and operational expenditure (OPEX) are improved by 27.4% and 19.0%. The EE and global warming potential (GWP) are also optimized by 27.2% and 19.1%, where the proposed HMOGWO outperforms the MOGWO and NSGA-II. Finally, the K-means clustering technique is applied for Pareto characterization. Based on the research outcomes, the combined RSM and HMOGWO techniques have proved an excellent solution to simulate and optimize two-stage VCRS.
Graphene and its derivatives have emerged as peerless electrode materials for energy storage applications due to their exclusive electroactive properties such as high chemical stability, wettability, high electrical conductivity, and high specific surface area. However, electrodes from graphene-based composites are still facing some substantial challenges to meet current energy demands. Here, we applied one-pot facile solvothermal synthesis to produce nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide (N-rGO) nanoparticles using an organic solvent, ethylene glycol (EG), and introduced its application in supercapacitors. Electrochemical analysis was conducted to assess the performance using a multi-channel electrochemical workstation. The N-rGO-based electrode demonstrates the highest specific capacitance of 420 F g-1 at 1 A g-1 current density in 3 M KOH electrolyte with the value of energy (28.60 Whkg-1) and power (460 Wkg-1) densities. Furthermore, a high capacitance retention of 98.5% after 3000 charge/discharge cycles was recorded at 10 A g-1. This one-pot facile solvothermal synthetic process is expected to be an efficient technique to design electrodes rationally for next-generation supercapacitors.