The motoneurons, dorsal root ganglion (DRG) and sympathetic ganglion (SG) cells forming the common peroneal (CPN) and tibial (TN) nerves of young and semiadult monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) were localised by the horseradish peroxidase method of tracing neuronal connections. The motoneurons forming the CPN occur in the L4-L6 segments, appearing as 1-3 groups and occupying the retroposterolateral (rpl), posterolateral (pl) and central (c) groups of motor nuclei. The motoneurons forming the TN occur in the L4-L7 segments, appearing as 1-4 groups and occupying the rpl, pl, c and anterolateral (al) groups. The motoneurons and DRG cells forming the CPN show peak frequencies at the L5 level, and the SG cells forming the same nerve, at the L6 level in most cases. The motoneurons and DRG cells forming the TN show peak frequencies at the L6 level and the SG cells forming the same nerve, also at the L6 level in most cases. The bulk of motoneurons, DRG and SG cells forming the CPN and TN are concentrated in two segmental levels. For CPN the motoneurons measure between 14-76 micron in their average somal diameters and for TN, 16-70 micron. The majority of them (65.5% for CPN motoneurons and 72% for TN motoneurons) have average somal diameters greater than 38 micron. The size spectrum of the DRG cells forming the CPN is similar to that of DRG cells forming the TN, being 12-78 micron for CPN and 10-76 micron for TN. The sympathetic neurons forming the CPN (measuring 10-44 micron) have a larger size spectrum than those forming the TN (measuring 6-33 micron). The diameter spectrum (3-20 micron for TN and 2-19 micron for CPN) and peak frequency distributions (10 micron for both TN and CPN) of the myelinated fibres present in the CPN and TN are also similar, with the CPN fibres skewing towards a slightly larger size. Many of the fibres in the young and semi-adult monkeys are not yet myelinated.
The substitution of milk fat with virgin coconut oil (VCO) was used to produce nutritious ice cream with pleasant coconut flavor and aroma. Three formulations were developed whereby formulation VCO4, VCO8 and VCO12 was substituted with 4%, 8% and 12% of VCO, respectively. The physicochemical properties of ice creams analyzed include overrun, meltdown, pH, titratable acidity, total solid, protein and fat content. The fatty acids profile of VCO formulated ice creams and their stabilities over 3 and 6 weeks storage were studied respectively using gas chromatography (GC). Qualitative descriptive analysis (QDA) and consumer affective test were performed among the trained and untrained panelists. Significant differences (p < 0.05) of overrun, pH, total solid, protein and fat content between ice cream formulations were observed except titratable acidity. Increased VCO content in ice cream formulations lowered the melting resistance of ice cream. For GC analysis, the major fatty acid identified was lauric acid. Upon storage time, the concentration of unsaturated fatty acid decreased but the concentration of saturated fatty acid increased. The result of QDA showed that formulation VCO4, VCO8 and VCO12 were significantly (p < 0.05) different in attributes of color, firmness and smoothness as compared to the control ice cream. Formulation VCO12 was highly accepted by panelists in terms of the acceptance level of appearance, aroma, texture, flavor and overall acceptability. Hence, it has a potential marketable value.
The annual prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in Malaysia has been estimated to be 30 % to 40 % of all S. aureus infections. Nevertheless, data on the antimicrobial resistance and genetic diversity of Malaysian MRSAs remain few. In 2009, we collected 318 MRSA strains from various wards of our teaching hospital located in Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia, and performed antimicrobial susceptibility testing on these strains. The strains were then molecularly characterized via staphylococcal cassette chromosome (SCC) mec and virulence gene (cna, sea, seb, sec, sed, see, seg, seh, sei, eta, etb, Panton-Valentine leukocidin and toxic shock syndrome toxin-1) typing; a subset of 49 strains isolated from the intensive care unit was also typed using PFGE. Most strains were found to be resistant to ciprofloxacin (92.5 %), erythromycin (93.4 %) and gentamicin (86.8 %). The majority (72.0 %) of strains were found to harbour SCCmec type III-SCCmercury with the presence of ccrC, and carried the sea+cna gene combination (49.3 %), with cna as the most prevalent virulence gene (94.0 %) detected. We identified four PFGE clusters, with pulsotype C (n=19) as the dominant example in the intensive care unit, where this pulsotype was found to be associated with carriage of SCCmec type III and the sea gene (P=0.05 and P=0.02, respectively). In summary, the dominant MRSA circulating in our hospital in 2009 was a clone that was ciprofloxacin, erythromycin and gentamicin resistant, carried SCCmec type III-SCCmercury with ccrC and also harboured the sea+cna virulence genes. This clone also appears to be the dominant MRSA circulating in major hospitals in Kuala Lumpur.