Displaying publications 1 - 20 of 37 in total

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  1. Kamarulzaman, F. A., Mohamad, K., Awang, K., Lee, H. B.
    MyJurnal
    Our continuing research on the Aglaia genus (family Meliaceace) has led us to this first study on the chemical constituents of Aglaia lanuginose (bark). The dichloromethane extract from the bark of Aglaia lanuginose showed cytotoxicity against HL-60 leukaemia cell line (45% inhibition) at 20 µg/ml and was prioritised for further investigation. Repeated chromatography of the dichloromethane extract yielded the known dammarane triterpenes which were identified as cabralealactone (1), methyl eichlerianate (2), cabraleone (3), ocotillone (4), eichleriatone (5), eichlerianic acid (6) and shoreic acid (7) together with the known sterols, sitosterol (9) and stigmasterol (10). Another isolated compound was the aromatic 4-hydroxycinnamyl-acetate (8), which has not been reported to be present in a plant from the Meliaceae family. The structures of all the compounds were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic methods (IR, MS and NMR). Cytotoxicity testing of 1-10 showed activity only for mixtures of (3, 4), and (5, 6).
  2. Zainol MKM, Linforth RJC, Winzor DJ, Scott DJ
    Eur Biophys J, 2021 Dec;50(8):1103-1110.
    PMID: 34611772 DOI: 10.1007/s00249-021-01572-y
    This investigation of the temperature dependence of DppA interactions with a subset of three dipeptides (AA. AF and FA) by isothermal titration calorimetry has revealed the negative heat capacity ([Formula: see text]) that is a characteristic of hydrophobic interactions. The observation of enthalpy-entropy compensation is interpreted in terms of the increased structuring of water molecules trapped in a hydrophobic environment, the enthalpic energy gain from which is automatically countered by the entropy decrease associated with consequent loss of water structure flexibility. Specificity for dipeptides stems from appropriate spacing of designated DppA aspartate and arginine residues for electrostatic interaction with the terminal amino and carboxyl groups of a dipeptide, after which the binding pocket closes to become completely isolated from the aqueous environment. Any differences in chemical reactivity of the dipeptide sidechains are thereby modulated by their occurrence in a hydrophobic environment where changes in the structural state of entrapped water molecules give rise to the phenomenon of enthalpy-entropy compensation. The consequent minimization of differences in the value of ΔG0 for all DppA-dipeptide interactions thus provides thermodynamic insight into the biological role of DppA as a transporter of all dipeptides across the periplasmic membrane.
  3. Jirapa P, Normah H, Zamaliah MM, Asmah R, Mohamad K
    Plant Foods Hum Nutr, 2001;56(3):203-16.
    PMID: 11442221
    Amino acid profiles, protein digestibility, corrected amino acid scores (PDCAAS), chemical scores, essential amino acid indexes, and calculated biological values of controlcowpea flour (CCF), germinated cowpea flour (GCF) prepared from cowpeas germinated at 25 degrees C for either 24 h or 48 h and weaning foods prepared from cowpea flours were determined. Locally available rice, cowpea flour, banana-pumpkin slurry, and skim milk powder and sucrose in the ratio 35:35:15:15:5 were used to formulate weaning food containing not less than 15% protein. The ingredients were cooked into a slurry and oven-dried to produce flakes. The nutritional and sensory qualities of the weaning products were evaluated. Germination had little effect on the amino acid profile of cowpeas. In vitro protein quality and starch digestibility were improved in germinated cowpea flour. The PDCAAS of 24 h germinated cowpea flour (GCF) weaning food was higher (55.49%) than CCF-weaning food (46.74%). Vitamin A activity in 24 h GCF weaning food was higher than in CCF-weaning food. In vitro starch digestibilities of 24 h GCF and 48 h GCF-weaning foods were higher than that of CCF weaning food. The 24 h GCF-weaning food which had a higher overall acceptability score by sensory panelist than 48 h GCF and CCF-weaning food is recommended for household consumption.
  4. Al-Mansoori MH, Saharudin S, Abdul-Rashid H, Mahdi MA, Abdullah MK
    Appl Opt, 2005 May 10;44(14):2827-31.
    PMID: 15943335
    We experimentally demonstrate a simple method for generating a multiwavelength Brillouin comb by utilizing a linear cavity of hybrid Brillouin-erbium fiber lasers (BEFLs). The optimization of Brillouin pump wavelength, power, and erbium gain played a significant role in determining the maximum number of Brillouin Stokes signals generated. Simultaneous and stable multiple-wavelength laser output of 22 lines with 10.88-GHz channel spacing has been obtained with good flatness. Various parameters such as 980-nm pump power, Brillouin pump wavelength, and Brillouin pump power that affect the performance of a multiwavelength BEFL system have been investigated. An analysis of the tuning range of the system is presented.
  5. Karim NU, Siddiq USAA, Razak MRM, Zainol MKM, Abdullah MI
    Ital J Food Saf, 2018 Sep 26;7(3):6846.
    PMID: 30538958 DOI: 10.4081/ijfs.2018.6846
    An aqueous extraction of moringa (Moringa oleifera) leaves were prepared as the edible coats for keeping the quality of the giant freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii). In addition, the antioxidant properties and activity; total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid contents (TFC), free radical scavenging activity (DPPH), and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) of moringa leaves were also determined. The phenolic compounds and antioxidant properties in the moringa leaves are low; 16.14 mgGAEg-1 for TPC; 5.57 mgQEg-1 for TFC; 1.36 mgTEg-1 for DPPH; and 3.05 mgTEg-1 for FRAP. The experiment was further conducted by coating the M. rosenbergii with moringa leaves extraction before chilled storage at 4°C for 15 days. Moringa leaves extraction were effectively reduced the microflora count in M. rosenbergii (P<0.05). Total volatile basis nitrogen (TVB-N) value showed a significant (P<0.05) lower amount in treated samples compared to the controls. Melanosis were obvious in controls compared to the treated samples. After 15 days of chilled storage, the sensory properties; taste, texture and odour of treated samples were acceptable by the panelists. Biopreservation of moringa leaves extraction significantly benefits in keeping the quality of M. rosenbergii.
  6. Mohd-Zin SW, Marwan AI, Abou Chaar MK, Ahmad-Annuar A, Abdul-Aziz NM
    Scientifica (Cairo), 2017;2017:5364827.
    PMID: 28286691 DOI: 10.1155/2017/5364827
    Spina bifida is among the phenotypes of the larger condition known as neural tube defects (NTDs). It is the most common central nervous system malformation compatible with life and the second leading cause of birth defects after congenital heart defects. In this review paper, we define spina bifida and discuss the phenotypes seen in humans as described by both surgeons and embryologists in order to compare and ultimately contrast it to the leading animal model, the mouse. Our understanding of spina bifida is currently limited to the observations we make in mouse models, which reflect complete or targeted knockouts of genes, which perturb the whole gene(s) without taking into account the issue of haploinsufficiency, which is most prominent in the human spina bifida condition. We thus conclude that the need to study spina bifida in all its forms, both aperta and occulta, is more indicative of the spina bifida in surviving humans and that the measure of deterioration arising from caudal neural tube defects, more commonly known as spina bifida, must be determined by the level of the lesion both in mouse and in man.
  7. Tharmathurai S, Muhammad-Ikmal MK, Razak AA, Che-Hamzah J, Azhany Y, Fazilawati Q, et al.
    J Glaucoma, 2021 May 01;30(5):e205-e212.
    PMID: 33710066 DOI: 10.1097/IJG.0000000000001830
    PRCIS: Depression increases with severity of visual field defect in older adults with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG).

    PURPOSE: This study aimed to determine the prevalence of depression among patients with POAG and examine the relationship between depression and the severity of POAG in older adults.

    MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three hundred and sixty patients with POAG aged 60 years or above were recruited from 2 tertiary centers located in an urban and suburban area. The participants were stratified according to the severity of their glaucoma based on the scores from the modified Advanced Glaucoma Intervention Study (AGIS) to mild, moderate, severe, and end stage. Face-to-face interviews were performed using the Malay Version Geriatric Depression Scale 14 (mGDS-14) questionnaire. Depression is diagnosed when the score is ≥8. One-way analysis of variance was used to compare the subscores between the groups. Multifactorial analysis of variance was also applied with relevant confounding factors.

    RESULTS: Depression was detected in 16% of older adults with POAG; a higher percentage of depression was seen in those with end stage disease. There was a significant increase in the mean score of mGDS-14 according to the severity of POAG. There was evidence of an association between depression and severity of visual field defect (P<0.001). There was a significant difference in mGDS-14 score between the pairing of severity of POAG [mild-severe (P=0.003), mild-end stage (P<0.001), moderate-severe (P<0.001), and moderate-end stage (P<0.001)] after adjustment to living conditions, systemic disease, and visual acuity.

    CONCLUSION: Ophthalmologists should be aware that older adults with advanced visual field defects in POAG may have depression. The detection of depression is important to ensure adherence and persistence to the treatment of glaucoma.

  8. Awang K, Yusoff M, Mohamad K, Chong SL, Ng SW
    PMID: 21583968 DOI: 10.1107/S1600536809015086
    3-Oxoolean-1-en-28-oic acid, isolated from the bark of Walsura pinnata Hassk, crystallized from n-hexane as an n-hexane 0.25-solvent 0.25-hydrate, C(30)H(46)O(3)·0.25C(6)H(14)·0.25H(2)O. There are two independent mol-ecules in the asymmetric unit of the title compound. The three six-membered cyclo-hexane rings in each mol-ecule adopt chair conformations and the carboxyl substituent occupies an axial/equatorial position. The two independent mol-ecules are linked by a pair of O-H(carbox-yl)⋯O hydrogen bonds into a dimer. The n-hexane mol-ecule is disordered about a twofold rotation axis and the water mol-ecule lies on a twofold rotation axis. In addition, the cyclo-hexone carbonyl group of one of the independent mol-ecules is disordered over two sites with occupancies of 0.75 and 0.25.
  9. Mohamad K, Yusoff M, Awang K, Ahmad K, Ng SW
    PMID: 21583174 DOI: 10.1107/S1600536809015955
    In the mol-ecule of pinnatane A, C(30)H(48)O(3), isolated from the bark of Walsura pinnata Hassk, the four cyclo-hexane rings adopt chair conformations; the carboxyl and hydr-oxy substituents occupy axial positions. The cyclo-hexene ring is envelope-shaped. Adjacent mol-ecules are linked by O-H⋯O hydrogen bonds into a chain running along the c axis.
  10. Mohamad K, Martin MT, Najdar H, Gaspard C, Sévenet T, Awang K, et al.
    J Nat Prod, 1999 Jun;62(6):868-72.
    PMID: 10395505
    Nine 3,4-secoapotirucallanes, argentinic acids A-I, were isolated from the bark of Aglaia argentea and transformed to their methyl esters 1-9. The structures were determined by spectral and chemical means. Compounds 1-8 showed moderate cytotoxic activity against KB cells (IC50 1.0-3.5 microg/mL).
  11. Mohd Said MS, Bin Shudim SS, Mohamad K, Shaharir SS, Kong NCT, Ali RA
    Egyptian Rheumatologist, 2016;38:189-194.
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejr.2015.12.001
    Aim of the work This work aimed to determine the frequency of subclinical memory dysfunction in a group of Malaysian systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients and to study its relation to clinical characteristics, laboratory investigations and disease activity. Patients and methods Fifteen SLE patients attending the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC) and not known to have neuropsychiatric lupus were recruited. These patients were assessed using the Wechsler Memory Scale. Disease activity was assessed using the SLE disease activity index 2000 (SLEDAI-2K). Results The median age of the patients was 28 years (25–37 years) and they were 14 females and one male. Their median disease duration was 9.3 years (4.8–10 years). Their median SLEDAI-2K was 4 (0–6). Memory dysfunction was identified in 7/15 (46.7%) SLE patients and was significantly associated with lower serum thyroxine levels (median 12.27; 11.8–13.3 μg/dl) (p = 0.027) compared to those without memory impairment (15.48; 14.39–16.56 μg/dl). Auditory memory impairment was associated with the education level as the auditory memory index was significantly lower in patients with secondary education (n = 7, median 88; 86.5–91.5) compared to those who received tertiary education (n = 8, median 103; 97.5–119.5) (p = 0.025) while visual memory was influenced by disease duration (p = 0.016). There was no association between overall memory dysfunction and disease duration, number of relapses, clinical manifestations and SLEDAI-2K scores. Conclusion There is a high frequency of subclinical memory dysfunction among SLE patients. A remarkable association is present with lower thyroxine. Auditory memory impairment is related to the level of education and visual memory to disease duration. © 2015 The Authors
  12. Al-Qazzaz NK, Ali SH, Ahmad SA, Islam S, Mohamad K
    Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat, 2014;10:1677-91.
    PMID: 25228808 DOI: 10.2147/NDT.S67184
    Cognitive impairment and memory dysfunction following stroke diagnosis are common symptoms that significantly affect the survivors' quality of life. Stroke patients have a high potential to develop dementia within the first year of stroke onset. Currently, efforts are being exerted to assess stroke effects on the brain, particularly in the early stages. Numerous neuropsychological assessments are being used to evaluate and differentiate cognitive impairment and dementia following stroke. This article focuses on the role of available neuropsychological assessments in detection of dementia and memory loss after stroke. This review starts with stroke types and risk factors associated with dementia development, followed by a brief description of stroke diagnosis criteria and the effects of stroke on the brain that lead to cognitive impairment and end with memory loss. This review aims to combine available neuropsychological assessments to develop a post-stroke memory assessment (PSMA) scheme based on the most recognized and available studies. The proposed PSMA is expected to assess different types of memory functionalities that are related to different parts of the brain according to stroke location. An optimal therapeutic program that would help stroke patients enjoy additional years with higher quality of life is presented.
  13. Yuvaraj R, Murugappan M, Ibrahim NM, Sundaraj K, Omar MI, Mohamad K, et al.
    Int J Psychophysiol, 2014 Dec;94(3):482-95.
    PMID: 25109433 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2014.07.014
    In addition to classic motor signs and symptoms, individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) are characterized by emotional deficits. Ongoing brain activity can be recorded by electroencephalograph (EEG) to discover the links between emotional states and brain activity. This study utilized machine-learning algorithms to categorize emotional states in PD patients compared with healthy controls (HC) using EEG. Twenty non-demented PD patients and 20 healthy age-, gender-, and education level-matched controls viewed happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise, and disgust emotional stimuli while fourteen-channel EEG was being recorded. Multimodal stimulus (combination of audio and visual) was used to evoke the emotions. To classify the EEG-based emotional states and visualize the changes of emotional states over time, this paper compares four kinds of EEG features for emotional state classification and proposes an approach to track the trajectory of emotion changes with manifold learning. From the experimental results using our EEG data set, we found that (a) bispectrum feature is superior to other three kinds of features, namely power spectrum, wavelet packet and nonlinear dynamical analysis; (b) higher frequency bands (alpha, beta and gamma) play a more important role in emotion activities than lower frequency bands (delta and theta) in both groups and; (c) the trajectory of emotion changes can be visualized by reducing subject-independent features with manifold learning. This provides a promising way of implementing visualization of patient's emotional state in real time and leads to a practical system for noninvasive assessment of the emotional impairments associated with neurological disorders.
  14. Yuvaraj R, Murugappan M, Ibrahim NM, Sundaraj K, Omar MI, Mohamad K, et al.
    J Neural Transm (Vienna), 2015 Feb;122(2):237-52.
    PMID: 24894699 DOI: 10.1007/s00702-014-1249-4
    Parkinson's disease (PD) is not only characterized by its prominent motor symptoms but also associated with disturbances in cognitive and emotional functioning. The objective of the present study was to investigate the influence of emotion processing on inter-hemispheric electroencephalography (EEG) coherence in PD. Multimodal emotional stimuli (happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise, and disgust) were presented to 20 PD patients and 30 age-, education level-, and gender-matched healthy controls (HC) while EEG was recorded. Inter-hemispheric coherence was computed from seven homologous EEG electrode pairs (AF3-AF4, F7-F8, F3-F4, FC5-FC6, T7-T8, P7-P8, and O1-O2) for delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma frequency bands. In addition, subjective ratings were obtained for a representative of emotional stimuli. Interhemispherically, PD patients showed significantly lower coherence in theta, alpha, beta, and gamma frequency bands than HC during emotion processing. No significant changes were found in the delta frequency band coherence. We also found that PD patients were more impaired in recognizing negative emotions (sadness, fear, anger, and disgust) than relatively positive emotions (happiness and surprise). Behaviorally, PD patients did not show impairment in emotion recognition as measured by subjective ratings. These findings suggest that PD patients may have an impairment of inter-hemispheric functional connectivity (i.e., a decline in cortical connectivity) during emotion processing. This study may increase the awareness of EEG emotional response studies in clinical practice to uncover potential neurophysiologic abnormalities.
  15. Yuvaraj R, Murugappan M, Ibrahim NM, Omar MI, Sundaraj K, Mohamad K, et al.
    J Integr Neurosci, 2014 Mar;13(1):89-120.
    PMID: 24738541 DOI: 10.1142/S021963521450006X
    Deficits in the ability to process emotions characterize several neuropsychiatric disorders and are traits of Parkinson's disease (PD), and there is need for a method of quantifying emotion, which is currently performed by clinical diagnosis. Electroencephalogram (EEG) signals, being an activity of central nervous system (CNS), can reflect the underlying true emotional state of a person. This study applied machine-learning algorithms to categorize EEG emotional states in PD patients that would classify six basic emotions (happiness and sadness, fear, anger, surprise and disgust) in comparison with healthy controls (HC). Emotional EEG data were recorded from 20 PD patients and 20 healthy age-, education level- and sex-matched controls using multimodal (audio-visual) stimuli. The use of nonlinear features motivated by the higher-order spectra (HOS) has been reported to be a promising approach to classify the emotional states. In this work, we made the comparative study of the performance of k-nearest neighbor (kNN) and support vector machine (SVM) classifiers using the features derived from HOS and from the power spectrum. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that power spectrum and HOS based features were statistically significant among the six emotional states (p < 0.0001). Classification results shows that using the selected HOS based features instead of power spectrum based features provided comparatively better accuracy for all the six classes with an overall accuracy of 70.10% ± 2.83% and 77.29% ± 1.73% for PD patients and HC in beta (13-30 Hz) band using SVM classifier. Besides, PD patients achieved less accuracy in the processing of negative emotions (sadness, fear, anger and disgust) than in processing of positive emotions (happiness, surprise) compared with HC. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of applying machine learning techniques to the classification of emotional states in PD patients in a user independent manner using EEG signals. The accuracy of the system can be improved by investigating the other HOS based features. This study might lead to a practical system for noninvasive assessment of the emotional impairments associated with neurological disorders.
  16. Yuvaraj R, Murugappan M, Mohamed Ibrahim N, Iqbal M, Sundaraj K, Mohamad K, et al.
    Behav Brain Funct, 2014;10:12.
    PMID: 24716619 DOI: 10.1186/1744-9081-10-12
    While Parkinson's disease (PD) has traditionally been described as a movement disorder, there is growing evidence of disruption in emotion information processing associated with the disease. The aim of this study was to investigate whether there are specific electroencephalographic (EEG) characteristics that discriminate PD patients and normal controls during emotion information processing.
  17. Islam MK, Saha S, Mahmud I, Mohamad K, Awang K, Jamal Uddin S, et al.
    J Ethnopharmacol, 2014 Feb 3;151(2):921-30.
    PMID: 24342778 DOI: 10.1016/j.jep.2013.11.056
    Madhupur forest area, Tangail is one of early human settlements in Bangladesh. Having abode in the vicinity of the forest, a strong ethnobotanical practice has prevailed in this area since ancient time. Due to the rapid deforestation during the last few decades, many plants have already disappeared or are facing extinction. Thus we attempted to document the medicinal plant use of Madhupur forest area with a view to preserve the ethnobotanical knowledge and in order to protect the biodiversity of this area.
  18. Yuvaraj R, Murugappan M, Omar MI, Ibrahim NM, Sundaraj K, Mohamad K, et al.
    Int J Neurosci, 2014 Jul;124(7):491-502.
    PMID: 24168328 DOI: 10.3109/00207454.2013.860527
    Although an emotional deficit is a common finding in Parkinson's disease (PD), its neurobiological mechanism on emotion recognition is still unknown. This study examined the emotion processing deficits in PD patients using electroencephalogram (EEG) signals in response to multimodal stimuli.
  19. Awang K, Loong XM, Leong KH, Supratman U, Litaudon M, Mukhtar MR, et al.
    Fitoterapia, 2012 Dec;83(8):1391-5.
    PMID: 23098876 DOI: 10.1016/j.fitote.2012.10.004
    A study on the leaves of Aglaia exima led to the isolation of one new and seven known compounds: six triterpenoids and two steroids. Their structures were elucidated and analyzed mainly by using spectroscopic methods; 1D and 2D NMR, mass spectrometry, UV spectrometry and X-ray. All the triterpenoids and steroids were measured in vitro for their cytotoxic activities against eight cancer cell lines; lung (A549), prostate (DU-145), skin (SK-MEL-5), pancreatic (BxPC-3), liver (Hep G2), colon (HT-29), breast (MCF-7) and (MDA-MB-231). The new cycloartane triterpenoid, 24(E)-cycloart-24-ene-26-ol-3-one 1, showed potent cytotoxic activity against colon (HT-29) cancer cell line (IC(50) 11.5μM).
  20. Chan KY, Mohamad K, Ooi AJ, Imiyabir Z, Chung LY
    Fitoterapia, 2012 Jul;83(5):961-7.
    PMID: 22565147 DOI: 10.1016/j.fitote.2012.04.018
    Lipoxygenase (LOX)-inhibiting compounds from the leaves of Chisocheton polyandrus Merr. were isolated in this study using a bioactivity-guided fractionation technique. Two dammarane triterpenoids, dammara-20,24-dien-3-one (1) (IC(50)=0.69±0.07 μM) and 24-hydroxydammara-20,25-dien-3-one (2) (IC(50)=1.11±0.38 μM), were isolated and identified based on the soybean LOX assay. Dammara-20,24-dien-3-one (1) exhibited dual inhibition of both human 5-LOX (IC(50)=24.27±2.92 μM) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) (IC(50)=3.17±0.90 μM), whereas 24-hydroxydammara-20,25-dien-3-one (2) did not exhibit any significant inhibitory effects. This report is the first to detail the inhibition of LOX and COX by both C. polyandrus and its isolated compounds.
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