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  1. Fulltext Molecular Epidemiology: Application and Challenges for the 21st Century
    Z. Chin, Abraham
    Borneo Journal of Medical Sciences, 2018;12(101):19-20.
    MyJurnal
    Since the 1970s, people’s understanding of life has gradually deepened into the basic material nucleic acid and protein levels of life. The life sciences have entered the era of “molecules†and produced a large number of new and interdisciplinary subjects. An important direction has had a major and profound impact on the development of epidemiology itself and on disease control.
    Matched MeSH terms: Biological Science Disciplines
  2. Fulltext In search of Malaysia: Pubmed, Google scholar or Scopus?
    International e-Journal of Science, Medicine & Education, 2008;2(2):-.
    MyJurnal
    In this review article, the author illustrates the advanced searches for “Malaysian” health and life sciences publications. Examples of searching are made on PubMed, Google Scholar and Scopus. The strengths and weaknesses of these services are compared.
    Matched MeSH terms: Biological Science Disciplines
  3. Mechanism diagrams and abstraction-by-aggregation
    Tee SH
    Stud Hist Philos Biol Biomed Sci, 2018 Oct;71:17-25.
    PMID: 30318277 DOI: 10.1016/j.shpsc.2018.10.003
    Mechanism diagrams exhibit visually the organized parts and operations of a biological mechanism. A mechanism diagram can facilitate mechanistic research by providing a mechanistic explanation of the phenomenon of interest. Much research has been focusing on the mechanistic explanation and the explanatory mechanistic models. As a specific type of scientific diagram, a simple mechanism diagram can be explanatory by drawing on the rich explanatory resources of non-depicted background knowledge. The relationship between the visually depicted and the background knowledge is underexplored. It is unclear how the non-depicted background knowledge of a mechanism diagram contributes to providing a better-informed explanation of the phenomenon of interest in biological sciences. With the aim to explore this relationship, I articulate that a mechanism diagram provides a mechanistic explanation by a process called abstraction-by-aggregation. Through visual cues, the unified relevant background knowledge provides an epistemic access to a better-informed explanation.
    Matched MeSH terms: Biological Science Disciplines*
  4. Fulltext BioHackathon 2015: Semantics of data for life sciences and reproducible research
    Vos RA, Katayama T, Mishima H, Kawano S, Kawashima S, Kim JD, et al.
    F1000Res, 2020;9:136.
    PMID: 32308977 DOI: 10.12688/f1000research.18236.1
    We report on the activities of the 2015 edition of the BioHackathon, an annual event that brings together researchers and developers from around the world to develop tools and technologies that promote the reusability of biological data. We discuss issues surrounding the representation, publication, integration, mining and reuse of biological data and metadata across a wide range of biomedical data types of relevance for the life sciences, including chemistry, genotypes and phenotypes, orthology and phylogeny, proteomics, genomics, glycomics, and metabolomics. We describe our progress to address ongoing challenges to the reusability and reproducibility of research results, and identify outstanding issues that continue to impede the progress of bioinformatics research. We share our perspective on the state of the art, continued challenges, and goals for future research and development for the life sciences Semantic Web.
    Matched MeSH terms: Biological Science Disciplines*
  5. Fulltext Investigation of the dynamical structures of double-chain deoxyribonucleic acid model in biological sciences
    Yousaf MZ, Abbas M, Nazir T, Abdullah FA, Birhanu A, Emadifar H
    Sci Rep, 2024 Mar 17;14(1):6410.
    PMID: 38494490 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-55786-z
    The present research investigates the double-chain deoxyribonucleic acid model, which is important for the transfer and retention of genetic material in biological domains. This model is composed of two lengthy uniformly elastic filaments, that stand in for a pair of polynucleotide chains of the deoxyribonucleic acid molecule joined by hydrogen bonds among the bottom combination, demonstrating the hydrogen bonds formed within the chain's base pairs. The modified extended Fan sub equation method effectively used to explain the exact travelling wave solutions for the double-chain deoxyribonucleic acid model. Compared to the earlier, now in use methods, the previously described modified extended Fan sub equation method provide more innovative, comprehensive solutions and are relatively straightforward to implement. This method transforms a non-linear partial differential equation into an ODE by using a travelling wave transformation. Additionally, the study yields both single and mixed non-degenerate Jacobi elliptic function type solutions. The complexiton, kink wave, dark or anti-bell, V, anti-Z and singular wave shapes soliton solutions are a few of the creative solutions that have been constructed utilizing modified extended Fan sub equation method that can offer details on the transversal and longitudinal moves inside the DNA helix by freely chosen parameters. Solitons propagate at a consistent rate and retain their original shape. They are widely used in nonlinear models and can be found everywhere in nature. To help in understanding the physical significance of the double-chain deoxyribonucleic acid model, several solutions are shown with graphics in the form of contour, 2D and 3D graphs using computer software Mathematica 13.2. All of the requisite constraint factors that are required for the completed solutions to exist appear to be met. Therefore, our method of strengthening symbolic computations offers a powerful and effective mathematical tool for resolving various moderate nonlinear wave problems. The findings demonstrate the system's potentially very rich precise wave forms with biological significance. The fundamentals of double-chain deoxyribonucleic acid model diffusion and processing are demonstrated by this work, which marks a substantial development in our knowledge of double-chain deoxyribonucleic acid model movements.
    Matched MeSH terms: Biological Science Disciplines*
  6. Fulltext The pH of very dilute solutions of strong acids – a calculation for a medical or biomedical class involving the application of simple numerical skills
    Barling, Peter Michael
    International e-Journal of Science, Medicine & Education, 2012;6(2):32-38.
    MyJurnal
    This paper presents the solution to a calculation of the pH of a very dilute solution of a strong acid or base, taking into account the effect of the hydronium or hydroxyl ions generated from the ionisation of the strong acid or base on the ionisation of water, as a second very weak acid. To be solved successfully, this calculation involves the concepts of conservation of charge, pH and the application of the general solution to a quadratic equation. Such an exercise involves the application of skills in basic numeracy, and can provide a core of understanding that can prepare students for
    many different sorts of calculations that represent reallife problems in the medical and biological sciences.A programme is presented in C++ which enables the work of students to be individualised so that each student in a class can work through a slightly different pH calculation, in such a way that a class supervisor can quickly check each student’s result for accuracy. This exercise is presented as a potential means of enabling students to undertake and master similar types of calculations involving simple or more complex equilibria.
    Matched MeSH terms: Biological Science Disciplines
  7. Approximate bayesian estimates of weibull parameters with Lindley’s method
    Chris Bambey Guure, Noor Akma Ibrahim
    Sains Malaysiana, 2014;43:1433-1437.
    One of the most important lifetime distributions that is used for modelling and analysing data in clinical, life sciences and engineering is the Weibull distribution. The main objective of this paper was to determine the best estimator for the two-parameter Weibull distribution. The methods under consideration are the frequentist maximum likelihood estimator, least square regression estimator and the Bayesian estimator by using two loss functions, which are squared error and linear exponential. Lindley approximation is used to obtain the Bayes estimates. Comparisons are made through simulation study to determine the performance of these methods. Based on the results obtained from this simulation study the Bayesian approach used in estimating the Weibull parameters under linear exponential loss function is found to be superior as compared to the conventional maximum likelihood and least squared methods.
    Matched MeSH terms: Biological Science Disciplines
  8. Fish Ontology framework for taxonomy-based fish recognition
    Ali NM, Khan HA, Then AY, Ving Ching C, Gaur M, Dhillon SK
    PeerJ, 2017;5:e3811.
    PMID: 28929028 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.3811
    Life science ontologies play an important role in Semantic Web. Given the diversity in fish species and the associated wealth of information, it is imperative to develop an ontology capable of linking and integrating this information in an automated fashion. As such, we introduce the Fish Ontology (FO), an automated classification architecture of existing fish taxa which provides taxonomic information on unknown fish based on metadata restrictions. It is designed to support knowledge discovery, provide semantic annotation of fish and fisheries resources, data integration, and information retrieval. Automated classification for unknown specimens is a unique feature that currently does not appear to exist in other known ontologies. Examples of automated classification for major groups of fish are demonstrated, showing the inferred information by introducing several restrictions at the species or specimen level. The current version of FO has 1,830 classes, includes widely used fisheries terminology, and models major aspects of fish taxonomy, grouping, and character. With more than 30,000 known fish species globally, the FO will be an indispensable tool for fish scientists and other interested users.
    Matched MeSH terms: Biological Science Disciplines
  9. Factors affecting molecular self-assembly and its mechanism
    Tan, Hueyling
    Scientific Research Journal, 2012;9(1):43-61.
    MyJurnal
    Molecular self-assembly is ubiquitous in nature and has emerged as a new approach to produce new materials in chemistry, engineering, nanotechnology, polymer science and materials. Molecular self-assembly has been attracting increasing interest from the scientific community in recent years due to its importance in understanding biology and a variety of diseases at the molecular level. In the last few years, considerable advances have been made in the use of peptides as building blocks to produce biological materials for wide range of applications, including fabricating novel supra-molecular structures and scaffolding for tissue repair. The study of biological self-assembly systems represents a significant advancement in molecular engineering and is a rapidly growing scientific and engineering field that crosses the boundaries of existing disciplines. Many self-assembling systems are range from bi- and tri-block copolymers to DNA structures as well as simple and complex proteins and peptides. The ultimate goal is to harness molecular self-assembly such that design and control of bottom-up processes is achieved thereby enabling exploitation of structures developed at the meso- and macro-scopic scale for the purposes of life and non-life science applications. Such aspirations can be achieved through understanding the fundamental principles behind the selforganisation and self-synthesis processes exhibited by biological systems.
    Matched MeSH terms: Biological Science Disciplines
  10. Fulltext Silicon nanowire interface circuit for DNA detection
    Kamilu Iman Usman, Mohd Nizar Hamidon, Siti Fatimah Abd Rahman, Guan Ling Sim
    Pertanika Journal of Science & Technology, 2017;25(102):251-258.
    MyJurnal
    Detection and quantification of DNA is critical to many areas of life sciences and health care, from
    disease diagnosis to drug screening. The transduction of DNA through electrochemical methods have a fast response rate and with a conductometric device like the silicon nanowire which can be fabricated to have a similar diameter of the DNA molecule being targeted, detection is real-time. Critical to this is the interfacing of a current-source and an amplifier capable of achieving a maximum of 10 pico ampere input bias. In this project, we fabricated a silicon nanowire using the top down approach and built a circuit that can mimic the output signal as low as 12 nA and achieved a gain of 1 million to be interfaced with the nanowire for real-time DNA detection.
    Matched MeSH terms: Biological Science Disciplines
  11. Biomedical applications of chitosan electrospun nanofibers as a green polymer - Review
    Kalantari K, Afifi AM, Jahangirian H, Webster TJ
    Carbohydr Polym, 2019 Mar 01;207:588-600.
    PMID: 30600043 DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2018.12.011
    This review outlines new developments in the biomedical applications of environmentally friendly ('green') chitosan and chitosan-blend electrospun nanofibers. In recent years, research in functionalized nanofibers has contributed to the development of new drug delivery systems and improved scaffolds for regenerative medicine, which is currently one of the most rapidly growing fields in all of the life sciences. Chitosan is a biopolymer with non-toxic, antibacterial, biodegradable and biocompatible properties. Due to these properties, they are widely applied for biomedical applications such as drug delivery, tissue engineering scaffolds, wound dressings, and antibacterial coatings. Electrospinning is a novel technique for chitosan nanofiber fabrication. These nanofibers can be used in unique applications in biomedical fields due to their high surface area and porosity. The present work reviews recent reports on the biomedical applications of chitosan-based nanofibers in detail.
    Matched MeSH terms: Biological Science Disciplines
  12. Fulltext Staff reflection on the effectiveness of whatsapp usage for organizational communication: a study in a private Malaysian medical school
    Sohayla M. Attalla, Jalal Ebrahim, Hassan Ads, Najibah Abdul Razak, Nabishah Mohamad
    Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences, 2020;16(107):57-62.
    MyJurnal
    Introduction: Recently mobile communication technology had tremendous advances and became the priority for most of the users with some opponent opinions that highlight the accountability and the privacy issues in using these messaging applications. WhatsApp is scored to be the first top used messaging application worldwide that is used in 180 countries by about 1.5 billion population. This research aims to determine the staff reflections regarding the WhatsApp usage for organizational communication. Methods: This study is implied among the staff at the medical and health life science cluster, Management and Science University (MSU), Malaysia. A questionnaire was distributed to all the staff through an online google form. Responses were analysed by the ‘Statistical Package for Social Sciences’ (SPSS) Version 24.0. Results: Results showed that all the staff responded (100%) are using WhatsApp for organizational communication with variable degrees of satisfaction; 8.1% are extremely satisfied, 61.3 % are satisfied, 12.9% are not satisfied and 16.1 % are extremely not satisfied. Their level of satisfaction is significantly affected by the respondent’s age, benefit of usage, and the time of messaging. Conclusion: To ensure effectiveness of communication through WhatsApp, it should be through official groups and the organization should put specific announced rules for the time of usage and the content of messages to be posted to all members.
    Matched MeSH terms: Biological Science Disciplines
  13. An annotated checklist of the herpetofauna of Beris Valley, Kedah, Malaysia
    Shahrudin S, Jaafar IH, Rahim ND, Akil MA
    Trop Life Sci Res, 2011 May;22(1):13-24.
    PMID: 24575206
    The herpetofauna of Beris Valley, Kedah, Malaysia, was studied using a rapid assessment survey during a scientific expedition organised by the School of Biological Sciences at the Universiti Sains Malaysia, from 14-17 August 2009. All amphibians and reptiles were observed and captured during the four-day survey along the ditches, roads, dam areas, swamps, forest trails and streams. The results showed that 14 species of amphibians from 9 genera and 5 families inhabit the area, and 7 species of lizards, 5 species of snakes and 2 species of freshwater turtles were also present in the area. Fejervarya limnocharis and Microhyla butleri seemed to be the most common amphibians, while Hemidactylus frenatus and Varanus salvator were the most common reptiles in the area. This report constitutes a preliminary checklist and first record of amphibians and reptiles in Beris Valley, Kedah. The number of specimens was less than expected because of the very short survey period, but we hope to record more species in future studies.
    Matched MeSH terms: Biological Science Disciplines
  14. Fulltext Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Towards Road Traffi c Regulations Among University Students, Malaysia
    Redhwan, A.A., Karim, A.J.
    International Medical Journal Malaysia, 2010;9(2):29-34.
    MyJurnal
    Introduction: Each year, more than 20 million people are injured and 1.17 million are killed due to road
    traffi c accidents. Developing countries account for over 85% of the deaths, and close to 90% of the disability caused by road traffi c crashes worldwide. The objectives of this study were to determine the knowledge, attitudes and practice and the factors infl uencing university students in Malaysia concerning road traffic accident. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted among the students of Management and Science University, Malaysia. The questionnaire was distributed randomly to the students of the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 13, T-test and ANOVA. Results: The total number of 109 students with the mean age of 20.94±1.89 years participated in this study. Approximately 39 (35.7%) of the participant had been involved in one or more than one road traffi c accident. About 93.6% of them were very strongly/strongly convinced of seat belts importance. Multivariate analysis using the multiple linear regression method showed that age and attitude were signifi cantly associated with the exposure to the accident. Conclusion: The study participants had moderate knowledge about road traffic regulations and most of them mentioned that high speed, drivers’ lack of awareness about traffi c regulation and laws, and drivers’ non-compliance with traffi c rules and regulation were the most important cause of road traffic accidents. Almost all students were very strongly/strongly convinced of seatbelts importance. Age and attitude were signifi cantly associated with the exposure to the accident.
    Matched MeSH terms: Biological Science Disciplines
  15. Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of Antimicrobial Uses and Resistance Among Public University Students in Bangladesh
    Marzan M, Islam DZ, Lugova H, Krishnapillai A, Haque M, Islam S
    Infect Drug Resist, 2021;14:519-533.
    PMID: 33603416 DOI: 10.2147/IDR.S289964
    Background: Antibiotics are lifesaving drugs, and inappropriate uses lead to the resistance that renders them ineffective. This study aims to understand knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) concerning antibiotic use and resistance among university students in Bangladesh.

    Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed from January to April 2020 among students at Jahangirnagar University (JU), Bangladesh. Purposive sampling was conducted through an in-person interview using a structured questionnaire. Students from the faculties of biological sciences and non-biology background were included. The univariate ordinal regression technique was used to analyze the relationship between predictors and good knowledge about the antibiotics. A two-tailed p-value was calculated to determine statistical association.

    Results: Out of 205 study participants, 92 and 113 responders were from biological science faculty and non-biology disciplines, respectively. Less than half of the students (42.4%) showed a good knowledge level (scores higher than 80%). Biology-background students possess better knowledge than non-biology students [odds ratio (OR) = 4.44, 95% confidence level (CL) (2.56, 7.70), p < 0.001]. A better attitude was noticed among all students. The self-medication rate was quite low, and more than 90% of students were found to consume antibiotics according to the physician's prescription. Lack of treatment adherence was recorded, and students admitted to stop-taking antibiotics when symptoms disappeared (48.67% biology and 36.26% non-biology). Multivariate regression analysis was unable to detect any significant association between self-medication and gender, student category or the level of knowledge about antibiotics.

    Conclusion: Students of biological science background possessed better knowledge indicating the importance of appropriate curriculum imparted in knowledge buildup. Introducing a short course about the risk and development of antibiotic resistance will grow the students' awareness to avoid the resistance phenomenon.

    Matched MeSH terms: Biological Science Disciplines
  16. Fulltext Proceedings of the 3rd expert consultation and planning meeting on infant and young child nutrition-(part 2)
    Amarra, Sofia, Chan, Pauline
    Malays J Nutr, 2013;19(1):139-142.
    MyJurnal
    Introduction: The Infant and Early Childhood Nutrition Task Force, International Life Sciences Institute Southeast Asia (ILSI SEA) Region, organised the 1st and 2nd Expert Consultation and Planning Meeting on Infant and Early Childhood Nutrition in 2009 and 2011, respectively. The goal of the consultations was “to generate and promote relevant science-based information that will help improve nutritional status, growth and development of infants and young children in Southeast Asia.” Methods: An Expert Panel Core Group was created whose role is to provide advice and recommendations through a review of current scientific knowledge regarding issues related to early childhood growth and nutrition. The Panel is composed of experts representing 7 countries (China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam). In July 2012, the Panel convened the 3rd Expert Consultation and Planning Meeting on Infant and Young Child Nutrition in Singapore. This report presents the highlights of the meeting and recommendations made by the Panel on ways to improve infant and young child nutrition in Southeast Asia. Results and Conclusion: The effective use of WHO indicators for assessing infant and young child feeding practices, mitigating the effects of maternal employment on breastfeeding, using behaviour change communication, updating the education of health personnel, and improving maternal health were considered important actions to be taken. Since current feeding practices in Southeast Asia fall short of WHO recommendations, studies are needed to develop strategies which take into consideration the diverse cultural settings that characterise the region.
    Matched MeSH terms: Biological Science Disciplines
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