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  1. Fulltext Isolation and characterization of pulp from sugarcane bagasse and rice straw
    Saiful Azhar, S., Suhardy, D., Kasim, F.H., Nazry Saleh, M.
    Journal of Nuclear and Related Technologies, 2007;2007(1):109-114.
    MyJurnal
    The amount of sugarcane bagasse and rice straw in the state of Perlis (Malaysia) is abundant while its utilization is still limited. One of the alternatives for the bagasse and straw utilization is as pulp raw material. This paper reviews on pulp from sugarcane bagasse and rice straw and its suitability for paper production. In this study, the pulp was extracted by the Soxhlet extraction method. The objective of this study was to investigate the cellulose, lignin and silica content of the pulp from sugarcane bagasse and rice straw. For rice straw, the presence of large amount of pentosanes in the pulp and black liquors, which also contain silica were decreased the using of straw in the paper industry. Therefore, formic acid pulping and NaOH treatment are studied to reduce or prevent silica. The isolated pulp samples were further characterized by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) to investigate their fiber dimensions.
  2. Rapid detection and E-test antimicrobial susceptibility testing of Vibrio parahaemolyticus isolated from seafood and environmental sources in Malaysia
    Al-Othrubi SM, Hanafiah A, Radu S, Neoh H, Jamal R
    Saudi Med J, 2011 Apr;32(4):400-6.
    PMID: 21484001
    To find out the prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility of Vibrio parahaemolyticus in seafoods and environmental sources.
  3. Flow injection potentiometric determination of paraquat in formulations and biological samples
    Saad B, Ariffin M, Saleh MI
    Talanta, 1998 Dec;47(5):1231-6.
    PMID: 18967428
    A flow injection potentiometric method for the rapid determination of paraquat in herbicide formulations and biological samples is described. It is based on the utilization of a flow-through potentiometric detector containing polyvinyl chloride-immobilised octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane, a lipophilic plasticizer (tetra-n-undecyl 3,3',4,4'-benzophenone tetracarboxylate) and membrane additive potassium tetrakis(4-chlorophenyl)borate. The detector was minimally interfered by the presence of constituents such as Na(+), K(+), Ca(2+), Mg(2+), glucose, urea, lactic and citric acids at physiological levels, respectively. Good correlation between results of the proposed method and HPLC for the formulation samples was found, while results for the determination of paraquat in biological samples such as urine, vomitus and stomach washout was less satisfactory.
  4. Solvent extraction of lanthanum(III), europium(III) and lutetium(III) with fluorinated 1-phenyl-3-methyl-4-benzoyl-5-pyrazolones into chloroform
    Saleh MI, Ahmad M, Darus H
    Talanta, 1990 Jul;37(7):757-9.
    PMID: 18965016
    A series of chelating reagents, 1-phenyl-3-methyl-4-(2-fluorobenzoyl)-5-pyrazolone, 1-phenyl-3-methyl-4-(3-fluorobenzoyl)-5-pyrazolone and 1-phenyl-3-methyl-4-(4-fluorobenzoyl)-5-pyrazolone, has been synthesized. The extraction of Ln(III), (Ln = La, Eu and Lu) into chloroform with these reagents at 30 +/- 1 degrees has been studied. The composition of the complexes extracted has been determined by the slope method, and the extraction constants K(ex), were measured. The presence of the fluorine atom in the reagents does not make the K(ex), values much different from those obtained with the parent pyrazolone.
  5. Fulltext Clinical microsystem approach-a method for health care improvement
    Samiei, V., Aniza, I., Sharifa Ezat, W.P., Alsheikh, H.I., Kari, H.A., Saleh, M., et al.
    Malaysian Journal of Public Health Medicine, 2011;11(1):16-28.
    MyJurnal
    The quality of the health care services has been always a big responsibility and sensitive issue. Health care delivery is complex and critical for many reasons related to management and organizational planning and development. Health system reorganization is one of the approaches that health care managers adopt to overcome dysfunction. Clinical Microsystems (CM) is believed to be a one of vital steps in providing a high quality of patient care through system reorganization. CM has the potential to drive the health care to greater success through proper understanding, process and resource planning and health outcomes continuous assessment and improvements. CM integrate patients, providers and family needs and roles to form a vision of community system that cooperate for better outcomes .The components of an effective CM are produce quality, patient safety, and cost outcomes at the front line of care. This article aims to explore the concept, characteristics models and components of these Clinical Microsystems. It also highlights the steps to initiate, plan and sustain this innovation in hospitals in a systematic manner.
  6. Fulltext Ensemble classifier for epileptic seizure detection for imperfect EEG data
    Abualsaud K, Mahmuddin M, Saleh M, Mohamed A
    ScientificWorldJournal, 2015;2015:945689.
    PMID: 25759863 DOI: 10.1155/2015/945689
    Brain status information is captured by physiological electroencephalogram (EEG) signals, which are extensively used to study different brain activities. This study investigates the use of a new ensemble classifier to detect an epileptic seizure from compressed and noisy EEG signals. This noise-aware signal combination (NSC) ensemble classifier combines four classification models based on their individual performance. The main objective of the proposed classifier is to enhance the classification accuracy in the presence of noisy and incomplete information while preserving a reasonable amount of complexity. The experimental results show the effectiveness of the NSC technique, which yields higher accuracies of 90% for noiseless data compared with 85%, 85.9%, and 89.5% in other experiments. The accuracy for the proposed method is 80% when SNR=1 dB, 84% when SNR=5 dB, and 88% when SNR=10 dB, while the compression ratio (CR) is 85.35% for all of the datasets mentioned.
  7. Selective extraction of salbutamol from human plasma with the use of phenylboronic acid
    Koh YM, Saleh MI, Tan SC
    J Chromatogr A, 2003 Feb 14;987(1-2):257-67.
    PMID: 12613820
    An investigation was conducted on the usage of a single-step extraction procedure involving the retention of a phenylboronate-salbutamol complex on an end-capped C18 solid-phase sorbent to determine the level of salbutamol in human plasma samples. Propranolol, a beta-blocker, was chosen as the internal standard for this assay. In this solid-phase clean-up method, 50 mM sodium carbonate buffer, pH 9.60, was used for conditioning the column as well as washing the endogenous interference. Under the optimal conditions, the recovery of salbutamol from spiked plasma samples was found to be high and reproducible with mean recoveries (n = 3) of more than 90% after elution by using 50% 1 M trifluoroacetic acid in methanol. This sample clean-up step was effectively analyzed under reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorimetric detection. The method was successfully applied to the routine measurement of salbutamol in human plasma from the bioequivalence study on the different administration route of salbutamol. Quantification of salbutamol was convincingly reported with the correlation of coefficient of 0.9980 for the concentration range from 0 to 1000 ng ml(-1). An adequate precision was achieved with both between- and within-day precisions of less than 10% (n = 6) for 100 and 1000 ng ml(-1) and less than 15% (n = 6) for 10 ng ml(-1).
  8. Fulltext Prevalence and burden of gastrointestinal helminthes among grey-breasted helmet guinea fowls (Numida meleagris galeata) encountered in Gombe state, Nigeria
    Jajere SM, Lawal JR, Atsanda NN, Hamisu TM, Goni MD
    Int J Vet Sci Med, 2018 Jun;6(1):73-79.
    PMID: 30255082 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijvsm.2018.04.007
    This cross sectional survey was conducted from July to December 2015 in order to investigate the burden of gastrointestinal helminthes among guinea fowls in Gombe, Northeastern Nigeria. A total of six hundred fowls (viscera) were purchased from six randomly selected slaughter slabs. Out of the 600 birds examined, 479 (79.83%; 95% CI: 76.4, 82.9) were found harbouring one or more gastrointestinal helminthes. Of this, 238 birds (39.7%; 35.8, 43.6) were infected by nematode species and 392 birds (65.3%; 61.4, 69.0) by cestode species. A total of nine nematodes and seven cestodes species were recovered from these birds. There was no any trematode observed among the studied birds. The prevalences of the nematodes identified in descending order were: Ascaridia galli 56.7% (52.7, 60.6); Ascaridia numidae 38.0% (34.2, 42.0); Heterakis gallinarum 17.2% (14.4, 20.4); Heterakis meleagridis 8.3% (6.4, 10.8); Strongyloides avium 3.5% (2.3, 5.3); Subulura brumpti 3.2% (2.0, 5.0); Gongylonema ingluvicola 2.2% (1.3, 3.7) and both Dispharynx spiralis and Tetrameres numidae had 0.7% (0.3, 1.7). While for cestodes: Raillietina tetragona 72.8% (69.1, 76.2); Raillietina echinobothrida 67.3% (63.5, 71.0); Raillietina cesticillus 50% (46.0, 54.0); Raillietina magninumida 25.7% (22.3, 29.3); Hymenolopsis cantaniana 17.3% (14.5, 20.6); Davainea nana 4.2% (2.8, 6.1) and the lowest was observed in Choanotaenia infundibulum with 2% (1.2, 3.5). Infection rates did not differ significantly based on sex (P > 0.05). However, the occurrence of mixed infection as compared with single infection was statistically significant in both cestodes and nematodes (P 
  9. Fulltext LCSS-Based Algorithm for Computing Multivariate Data Set Similarity: A Case Study of Real-Time WSN Data
    Khan R, Ali I, Altowaijri SM, Zakarya M, Ur Rahman A, Ahmedy I, et al.
    Sensors (Basel), 2019 Jan 04;19(1).
    PMID: 30621241 DOI: 10.3390/s19010166
    Multivariate data sets are common in various application areas, such as wireless sensor networks (WSNs) and DNA analysis. A robust mechanism is required to compute their similarity indexes regardless of the environment and problem domain. This study describes the usefulness of a non-metric-based approach (i.e., longest common subsequence) in computing similarity indexes. Several non-metric-based algorithms are available in the literature, the most robust and reliable one is the dynamic programming-based technique. However, dynamic programming-based techniques are considered inefficient, particularly in the context of multivariate data sets. Furthermore, the classical approaches are not powerful enough in scenarios with multivariate data sets, sensor data or when the similarity indexes are extremely high or low. To address this issue, we propose an efficient algorithm to measure the similarity indexes of multivariate data sets using a non-metric-based methodology. The proposed algorithm performs exceptionally well on numerous multivariate data sets compared with the classical dynamic programming-based algorithms. The performance of the algorithms is evaluated on the basis of several benchmark data sets and a dynamic multivariate data set, which is obtained from a WSN deployed in the Ghulam Ishaq Khan (GIK) Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology. Our evaluation suggests that the proposed algorithm can be approximately 39.9% more efficient than its counterparts for various data sets in terms of computational time.
  10. Clean-up, detection and determination of salbutamol in human urine and serum
    Saleh MI, Koh YM, Tan SC, Aishah AL
    Analyst, 2000 Sep;125(9):1569-72.
    PMID: 11064937
    Salbutamol ¿2-(tert-butylamino)-1-[4-hydroxy-3- (hydroxymethyl)phenyl]ethanol¿, also known as albuterol, is clinically the most widely used beta 2-adrenoceptor agonist in the treatment of bronchial asthma. During this study, we evaluated liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) and solid-phase extraction (SPE) in order to develop a reliable extraction method followed by analysis using liquid chromatography and gas chromatography. An assay is described which involves SPE as the clean-up method followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to determine salbutamol levels in human serum after oral administration. The SPE method requires the use of a hyper-cross-linked styrene-divinylbenzene bonded phase (ENV+) without involving any sample pre-treatment to obtain 60-65% recoveries for salbutamol and terbutaline as the internal standard. Distilled water and 1% trifluoroacetic acid in methanol were found to be the most suitable washing solvent and eluting solvent, respectively. A detection limit of 2 ng mL-1 was achieved by derivatization with N-methyl-N-trimethylsilyltrifluoroacetamide to form trimethylsilyl (TMS)-salbutamol (m/z 369) and TMS-terbutaline (m/z 356). The relationship between the ratio of the peak area of salbutamol to that of the internal standard and concentration was linear for the range tested (2-200 ng mL-1) and the correlation of coefficient was 0.9999 with a y-intercept not significantly different from zero. The inter-day relative standard deviation (RSD) was < 10% for all three concentrations. The intra-day RSD was 14% for 2 ng mL-1. This assay was then successfully applied to human serum samples obtained from clinical trials after oral administration of salbutamol.
  11. Polyvinyl chloride-based membranes for flow injection analysis of quinine in beverages
    Saad B, Bee-Leng Y, Saleh MI, Rahman IA, Mansor SM
    J AOAC Int, 2001 8 15;84(4):1151-7.
    PMID: 11501917
    Potentiometric response characteristics were evaluated for quinine selective sensors based on a lipophilic ion-exchanger potassium tetrakis[3,5-bis(trifluoromethylphenyl)]borate (PTFB) immobilized together with plasticizing solvents in polyvinyl chloride membranes. The use of dioctyl phthalate (DOP), 2-nitrophenyl phenyl ether (NPPE), and bis(2-ethylhexyl)adipate (BEHA) plasticizers produced good quality quinine sensors that were sensitive and fast responding, and exhibited near Nernstian responses when used as batch-sensors. These membranes were further tested in a wall-jet flow-through potentiometric flow injection analysis (FIA) detector. Quinine sensors containing BEHA were the most suitable membrane, with no noticeable differences in sensitivity even after 5 h of continuous exposure to solutions. Interference by foreign species such as alkali, alkaline earth metal ions, sugars, and sodium benzoate was minimal in either the batch-mode (log selectivity coefficients
  12. Fulltext Synthesis, characterization, acetylcholinesterase inhibition, molecular modeling and antioxidant activities of some novel Schiff bases derived from 1-(2-ketoiminoethyl)piperazines
    Salga SM, Ali HM, Abdullah MA, Abdelwahab SI, Wai LK, Buckle MJ, et al.
    Molecules, 2011 Nov 07;16(11):9316-30.
    PMID: 22064271 DOI: 10.3390/molecules16119316
    Some novel Schiff bases derived from 1-(2-ketoiminoethyl)piperazines were synthesized and characterized by mass spectroscopy, FTIR, UV-Visible, 1H and 13C-NMR. The compounds were tested for inhibitory activities on human acetylcholinesterase (hAChE), antioxidant activities, acute oral toxicity and further studied by molecular modeling techniques. The study identified the compound (DHP) to have the highest activity among the series in hAChE inhibition and DPPH assay while the compound LP revealed the highest activity in the FRAP assay. The hAChE inhibitory activity of DHP is comparable with that of propidium, a known AChE inhibitor. This high activity of DHP was checked by molecular modeling which showed that DHP could not be considered as a bivalent ligand due to its incapability to occupy the esteratic site (ES) region of the 3D crystal structure of hAChE. The antioxidant study unveiled varying results in 1,1-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays. This indicates mechanistic variations of the compounds in the two assays. The potential therapeutic applications and safety of these compounds were suggested for use as human acetylcholinesterase inhibitors and antioxidants.
  13. Assessment of health hazard due to natural radioactivity in Kluang District, Johor, Malaysia
    Aziz Saleh M, Termizi Ramli A, Alajerami Y, Damoom M, Sadiq Aliyu A
    Isotopes Environ Health Stud, 2014;50(1):103-13.
    PMID: 24279290 DOI: 10.1080/10256016.2013.821469
    The radiation survey of the ambient environment was conducted using two gamma detectors, and the measurement results were used in the computation of the mean external radiation dose rate, mean-weighted dose rate and annual effective dose, which are 144 nGy h(-1), 0.891 mSv y(-1) and 178 μSv, respectively. A high-purity germanium detector was used to determine the activity concentrations of (232)Th, (226)Ra and (40)K in soil samples. The results of the gamma spectrometry of the soil samples show radioactivity concentration ranges from 19±1 to 405±13 Bq kg(-1) with a mean value of 137±5 Bq kg(-1) for (232)Th, from 21±2 to 268±9 Bq kg(-1)with a mean value of 78±3 Bq kg(-1) for (226)Ra and from 23±9 to 1268±58 Bq kg(-1) with a mean value of 207±13 Bq kg(-1) for (40)K. Radium equivalent activity (Raeq) and external hazard index (Hex) were 290 Bq kg(-1) and 0.784, respectively, which were safe for the population. The mean lifetime dose and lifetime cancer risk for each person living in the area with average lifetime (70 y) were 12.46 mSv and 7.25×10(-4) Sv year, respectively. The results were compared with values given in United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation 2000.
  14. Fulltext Prevalence, awareness, treatment and control of Hypertension among the elderly: the 2006 National Health and Morbidity Survey III in Malaysia
    Ho BK, Kaur J, Nainu BM, Omar MA, Saleh M, Yau WK, et al.
    Med J Malaysia, 2013 Aug;68(4):332-7.
    PMID: 24145262 MyJurnal
    INTRODUCTION: The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence and factors associated with the awareness, treatment and control of hypertension among the elderly population in Malaysia.
    METHODS: Analysis of secondary data from a cross-sectional national population based survey using stratified multistage sampling conducted from April to August 2006 throughout Malaysia National Health and Morbidity Survey III (NHMS III). Adults aged 60 and older who had participated in the survey were included in the study.
    RESULTS: A total of 4954 respondents (14.3%) were elderly from the 34,539 respondents aged 18 years and above for hypertension module in NHMS III. A total of 4933 elderly had their blood pressure examined (giving a response rate of 99.6%). The overall prevalence of hypertension among elderly was 74.0%, more in elderly female (77.4%) than men (70.1%). Only 49.3% of them were aware of their hypertensive status, 42.4% were currently treated and 22.6% of those being treated were under control. The results of multiple logistic regression showed factors associated with higher awareness and treatment rates were similar i.e. females, young-old age group (age 60-74), urban residents, Chinese ethnic group and higher education. For those elderly who were on treatment, determinants associated with controlled hypertension were Chinese and Indians ethnic groups and higher educational level.
    CONCLUSIONS: There was a high prevalence of hypertension among the elderly in Malaysia but with poor awareness, treatment and control rate. Reliable information on these aspects is important for the development of patient education programs, health policies to improve disease management and overall health care resource allocation especially among the elderly in Malaysia.
    Study name: National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS-2006)
  15. Thermoluminescence responses of photon- and electron-irradiated lithium potassium borate co-doped with Cu+Mg or Ti+Mg
    Alajerami YS, Hashim S, Ramli AT, Saleh MA, Saripan MI, Alzimami K, et al.
    Appl Radiat Isot, 2013 Aug;78:21-5.
    PMID: 23644162 DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2013.03.095
    New glasses Li2CO3-K2CO3-H3BO3 (LKB) co-doped with CuO and MgO, or with TiO2 and MgO, were synthesized by the chemical quenching technique. The thermoluminescence (TL) responses of LKB:Cu,Mg and LKB:Ti,Mg irradiated with 6 MV photons or 6 MeV electrons were compared in the dose range 0.5-4.0 Gy. The standard commercial dosimeter LiF:Mg,Ti (TLD-100) was used to calibrate the TL reader and as a reference in comparison of the TL properties of the new materials. The dependence of the responses of the new materials on (60)Co dose is linear in the range of 1-1000 Gy. The TL yields of both of the co-doped glasses and TLD-100 are greater for electron irradiation than for photon irradiation. The TL sensitivity of LKB:Ti,Mg is 1.3 times higher than the sensitivity of LKB:Cu,Mg and 12 times less than the sensitivity of TLD-100. The new TL dosimetric materials have low effective atomic numbers, good linearity of the dose responses, excellent signal reproducibility, and a simple glow curve structure. This combination of properties makes them suitable for radiation dosimetry.
  16. Expression of oestrogen-α receptor in papillary thyroid carcinoma and its association with metastasis
    Ab Halim SA, Lee SK, Mustangin M, Mohd Saleh MF, Shah SA, Md Isa N
    Malays J Pathol, 2020 Dec;42(3):415-422.
    PMID: 33361723
    INTRODUCTION: Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is the ninth most common malignancy among women. Although the disease prognosis is good, less favourable outcomes are predicted in those with higher disease stages and nodal metastasis. Oestrogen- α (ER-α) expression has been associated with aggressive presentation and greater disease progression and has been proposed as a predictor for lymph node metastases. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between ER expression and clinicopathological features i.e. lymph node metastasis, tumour size, extrathyroidal extension, histological variants of PTC , age groups , ethnic and gender.

    METHODS: We studied ER-α expression in 84 cases of PTC obtained within an eight-year period (2011-2018) by immunohistochemical technique (IHC). Associations between ER-α expression and clinicopathological features were evaluated using Fisher's exact test. The statistical significance was set at p < 0.05.

    RESULTS: ER-α was expressed in 13.1% of all the PTC cases examined (n=11/84). There were no associations observed between ER-α expression and lymph node metastasis (p=1.000), tumour size (p=0.970), extrathyroidal extension (p=0.677), variants of PTC (p=1.000), age groups (p=0.188), gender (p=0.725) or race (p=0.920).

    CONCLUSION: There was no evidence in this study to support the application of ER-α as prediction marker for lymph node metastasis or disease aggressiveness in PTC. Given that the scope of this study was limited to the protein expression of ER- α, we also propose the inclusion of molecular analysis of ESR1 gene expression, as well as inclusion of detailed clinical and radiological findings in future research investigating the role of ER-α in prognostication of PTC.

  17. CD56 expression in benign and malignant thyroid lesions
    Muthusamy S, Azhar Sha S, Abdullah Suhaimi SN, Kassim N, Mahasin M, Mohd Saleh MF, et al.
    Malays J Pathol, 2018 Aug;40(2):111-119.
    PMID: 30173227 MyJurnal
    INTRODUCTION: Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine malignancy with more than 95% originating from follicular epithelial cells. Diagnostic dilemma may arise in occasional cases such as when an encapsulated nodule with a follicular growth pattern exhibits clear nuclei with grooves making it difficult to distinguish a follicular adenoma from encapsulated follicular variant papillary thyroid carcinoma. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic utility of an immunohistochemical marker, CD56, to distinguish between benign and malignant thyroid lesions.

    MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively studied CD56 expression in 54 benign and 54 malignant thyroid lesions using archival formalin fixed paraffin-embedded tissue blocks for the study period from January 2010 to December 2015, diagnosed in a tertiary hospital.

    RESULTS: CD56 was expressed in 52/54 (96.3%) of benign specimens and only 24/54 (44.4%) of malignant ones. The malignant specimens comprised 31 (57.4%) papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTC), 11 (20.3%) follicular carcinomas (FC), seven (13%) medullary thyroid carcinomas (MC), one (1.9%) poorly differentiated carcinoma (PC) and four (7.4%) anaplastic carcinomas (AC). CD56 was not expressed in 28/31 (90.3%) of the PTCs, 1/11 (9.1%) FCs, 1/4 (25%) of ACs while all MCs and the PD were positive. The benign group comprised nodular hyperplasias (29/54), lymphocytic thyroiditis (10/54), follicular adenomas (FA) (14/54) and one hyalinising trabecular tumour. CD56 was expressed in all the benign cases except one FA and one nodular hyperplasia. Thirteen of the 14 FAs were CD56 positive. The difference in expression between benign and malignant tumours was statistically significant as the p value was <0.01.

    CONCLUSION: CD56 is a potentially good immunohistochemical marker for differentiating papillary thyroid carcinoma from other benign follicular lesions of the thyroid especially in differentiating follicular variant PTC from FA in equivocal cases.

  18. Fulltext Evaluation of Phosphorus Storage and Performance of Broilers Using Phytase Synthetic Enzyme
    Hafsan H, Mahmood Saleh M, Baban J, Mohammed F, Ahmed Hamza T, Ibrahim I, et al.
    Arch Razi Inst, 2023 Feb;78(1):107-114.
    PMID: 37312704 DOI: 10.22092/ARI.2022.359524.2443
    Phytic acid is a stored form of phosphorus in cereals, 65 to 70% of phosphorus in plant sources is phytate, and broilers are only able to use part of the phosphorus in plant sources. To meet the needs of chickens, it is necessary to use other artificial resources, which not only impose part of the cost of the breeding period because of its presence in the manure but is one of the factors polluting the environment. This study aimed to use different levels of phytase enzyme to reduce dietary phosphorus levels. 600 Ross 308 broilers were used in this experiment with five treatments and six replications, and in each replication, 20 chickens were used in a completely randomized design (CRD). Experimental treatments include 1) basal diet (control) 2) basal diet with 15% less phosphorus 3) basal diet with 15% less phosphorus + 1250 (FTU) phytase enzyme 4) basal diet with 15% less phosphorus + 2500 (FTU) phytase enzyme 5) basal diet with 15% less phosphorus + 5000 (FTU) phytase enzyme. The evaluated traits included weekly feed intake, weekly weight gain, feed conversion ratio, carcass characteristics, ash, calcium, and bone phosphorus. The use of phytase enzyme in different diets had no significant effect on food intake, weight gain, and feed conversion ratio (P>0.05). However, the use of phytase in different diets significantly affected the percentage of Gizzard, Heart, Liver, Proventriculus, and Spleen (P<0.05). The most changes were the increase in the ratio of feed intake and weight gain in the fourth week compared to the third week so that the changes in the ratio of feed intake ranged from 1.85 to 1.91, and this ratio for weight gain also ranged from 3.12 to 3.86 was recorded, and the lowest feed conversion ratio was obtained at the same age. The percentage of raw ash in broiler chickens was significantly increased by adding dietary phytase. The lowest amount of ash, calcium, and phosphorus belonged to the second group (diets with low phosphorus and no enzyme). The difference between the other groups and the control was not significant. Feed intake, weight gain, and feed conversion ratio with the addition of phytase enzyme were not affected by phosphorus reduction and had no significant effect on carcass characteristics. Environmental pollution can be prevented by reducing the level of dietary phosphorus and reducing excreted phosphorus.
  19. Fulltext Knowledge, Attitudes, and Perceptions Associated With Antimicrobial Stewardship Among Veterinary Students: A Multi-Country Survey From Nigeria, South Africa, and Sudan
    Fasina FO, LeRoux-Pullen L, Smith P, Debusho LK, Shittu A, Jajere SM, et al.
    Front Public Health, 2020;8:517964.
    PMID: 33194938 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2020.517964
    In African countries, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) issue remains pertinent. Despite this, little efforts have been made to assess the future veterinary prescribers on their knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) related to antimicrobial usage. This multi-country survey attempts to explore the KAP of future veterinarians on stewardship of antimicrobial and identify knowledge gaps. Eight veterinary schools participated from Nigeria, Sudan and South Africa. Data regarding perceptions and knowledge were analyzed using Chi-square χ2 test, Spearman's (Rho) Rank order correlation and factor analysis using principal component factoring extraction method. Fifty-two percent of the study participants were final year veterinary students, respectively, and majority (77.2%) had no previous knowledge of biomedical sciences. Majority age were 22-27 years (24.7 ± 2.8) 79% and multiple career fields post-graduation were preferred. Overall, poor perceptions and knowledge of antimicrobial stewardship were observed with variations among countries and only 36.3% (n = 123) of the students were confident in their ability to choose the ideal antimicrobial agents for a specific patient/group of animals. The majority of the final year students were confident of their knowledge regarding AMR (68%), making of Gram staining (69.2%) and in choosing the most ideal route for administering a specific antimicrobial (74.7%). The final year students had significantly (p < 0.05) higher confidence level for knowledge compared with the pre-final year students. Tetracyclines, penicillins, and sulphonamides represent the three most abused veterinary antimicrobials with similar ranking across countries. South African (69.7 ± 20.5) and Sudanese (68.1 ± 15.4) had significantly (p < 0.0001) higher mean scores compared to the Nigerian students (44.3 ± 6.8) in the student's ability to correctly match some specific antimicrobials against their classes but Nigerian students performed better in ranking antimicrobials. This survey revealed poor to average knowledge of antimicrobial stewardship among veterinary students with significant knowledge gaps across the countries. It is recommended that the relevant regulatory and standardization authorities should make concerted efforts and interventions to regularly review curricula to ensure the delivery of targeted formative and normative training, and improved lectures on antimicrobial usage and stewardship in order to improve the awareness and behaviors of future prescribers. The identified knowledge gaps of veterinary medical students on antimicrobial stewardship must be bridge to safeguard the future.
  20. Thermoluminescence properties of lithium magnesium borate glasses system doped with dysprosium oxide
    Mhareb MH, Hashim S, Ghoshal SK, Alajerami YS, Saleh MA, Razak NA, et al.
    Luminescence, 2015 Dec;30(8):1330-5.
    PMID: 25828828 DOI: 10.1002/bio.2902
    We report the impact of dysprosium (Dy(3+)) dopant and magnesium oxide (MgO) modifier on the thermoluminescent properties of lithium borate (LB) glass via two procedures. The thermoluminescence (TL) glow curves reveal a single prominent peak at 190 °C for 0.5 mol% of Dy(3+). An increase in MgO contents by 10 mol% enhances the TL intensity by a factor of 1.5 times without causing any shift in the maximum temperature. This enhancement is attributed to the occurrence of extra electron traps created via magnesium and the energy transfer to trivalent Dy(3+) ions. Good linearity in the range of 0.01-4 Gy with a linear correlation coefficient of 0.998, fading as low as 21% over a period of 3 months, excellent reproducibility without oven annealing and tissue equivalent effective atomic numbers ~8.71 are achieved. The trap parameters, including geometric factor (μg), activation energy (E) and frequency factor (s) associated with LMB:Dy are also determined. These favorable TL characteristics of prepared glasses may contribute towards the development of Li2O-MgO-B2O3 radiation dosimeters.
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