Human endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) is one isoform of the nitric oxide synthases that are responsible for nitric oxide synthesis from L-arginine. The gene encoding eNOS contains a 27-bp VNTR polymorphism in intron 4. We report here for the first time the presence of a novel allele 3, which was absent in all other populations studied to date, in 1.7% each of Singaporean Indians and Malays. We also detected the presence of a novel genotype 3/5 in 3.4% each of Singaporean Indians and Malays. Allele 6, which was absent in Han Chinese from northern China and Taiwan and was also absent in Indians from the Indian subcontinent, was found in 2.1% of Singaporean Chinese and in 0.3% of Singaporean Indians.
Acute mesenteric ischemia (AMI) is an emergency associated with a high mortality rate. A high index of clinical suspicion, prompt diagnosis and treatment is necessary to improve the patient outcome. The principle of damage control surgery should be adopted in the management of critically ill surgical patients with AMI. Strategic planning by resecting the ischemic bowel, physiological restoration and planned reassessment of remnant bowel with a definitive procedure is recommended. The resection of a long segment ischemic bowel may result in morbidity such as that of short bowel syndrome. We report here a case of decompensated cardiac failure in a 56-year-old lady, presented with one-day history of severe acute epigastric pain and abdominal distension. She presented with extensive bowel ischemia involving most of the superior mesenteric artery distribution. Damage control surgery followed by entero-colic anastomosis was performed 48 hours later. The patient recovered with remarkable intestinal adaptation without exhibiting short bowel syndrome symptoms despite the postulated theory of altered intestinal permeability in decompensated cardiac failure.
Malays, Chinese, and Indians from Peninsular Malaysia; Ibans and Bidayuh from Sarawak State; Kadazans from Sabah State, Northern Borneo; and Bataks, Minangkabau, and Javanese from North Sumatra, Indonesia, were subtyped for transferrin C by polyacrylamide gel isoelectric focusing. All nine populations studied are polymorphic for two alleles, TfCl and TfC2, TfC3 was polymorphic in six populations and present as a rare variant in the other three. The frequency of TfC1 ranged from 0.855 in Bidayuh to 0.711 in Javanese, that of TfC2 from 0.231 in Indians to 0.113 in Bidayuh, and that of TfC3 from 0.030 in Javanese and Chinese to 0.008 in Bidayuh. TfDchi is polymorphic in all the populations that we studied except in Minangkabau, in whom it is present as a rare variant, and in Indians, in whom it is absent.
Malays, Chinese and Indians from peninsular Malaysia; Ibans and Bidayuh from Sarawak state, Northern Borneo; and Bataks, Minangkabau and Javanese from North Sumatra, Indonesia, were subtyped for Gc (group-specific component) by polyacrylamide gel isoelectric focusing. All eight populations investigated were found to be polymorphic for three common alleles, Gc1F, Gc1S and Gc2.
Three human saliva genetic markers, namely, salivary peroxidase (SAPX), Pm, and Ph proteins, were investigated in the three major ethnic groups of Malaysia: Malays, Chinese, and Indians. For Pm, the allelic frequencies of Pm+ for Malays, Chinese, and Indians are 0.385 +/- 0.030, 0.282 +/- 0.026, and 0.289 +/- 0.026 respectively. For Ph, the allelic frequencies of Ph+ are 0.082 +/- 0.016 for Malays, 0.109 +/- 0.017 for Chinese, and 0.062 +/- 0.013 for Indians. For SAPX, the allelic frequencies of SAPX1 in Malays, Chinese, and Indians are 0.762 +/- 0.027, 0.755 +/- 0.027, and 0.723 +/- 0.026 respectively.
Microalgae are the most prospective raw materials for the production of biofuels, pyrolysis is an effective method to convert biomass into bioenergy. However, biofuels derived from the pyrolysis of microalgae exhibit poor fuel properties due to high content of moisture and protein. Co-pyrolysis is a simple and efficient method to produce high-quality bio-oil from two or more materials. Tires, plastics, and bamboo waste are the optimal co-feedstocks based on the improvement of yield and quality of bio-oil. Moreover, adding catalysts, especially CaO and Cu/HZSM-5, can enhance the quality of bio-oil by increasing aromatics content and decreasing oxygenated and nitrogenous compounds. Consequently, this paper provides a critical review of the production of bio-oil from co-pyrolysis of microalgae with other biomass wastes. Meanwhile, the underlying mechanism of synergistic effects and the catalytic effect on co-pyrolysis are discussed. Finally, the economic viability and prospects of microalgae co-pyrolysis are summarized.
Human mitochondrial DNAs (mtDNAs) from 153 independent samples encompassing seven Asian populations were surveyed for sequence variation using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), restriction endonuclease analysis and oligonucleotide hybridization. All Asian populations were found to share two ancient AluI/DdeI polymorphisms at nps 10394 and 10397 and to be genetically similar indicating that they share a common ancestry. The greatest mtDNA diversity and the highest frequency of mtDNAs with HpaI/HincII morph 1 were observed in the Vietnamese suggesting a Southern Mongoloid origin of Asians. Remnants of the founding populations of Papua New Guinea (PNG) were found in Malaysia, and a marked frequency cline for the COII/tRNA(Lys) intergenic deletion was observed along coastal Asia. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that both insertion and deletion mutations in the COII/tRNA(Lys) region have occurred more than once.