We examined the growth, reproduction, rutting behavior, and health status of sambar deer (Cervus unicolor brookei) in secondary Acacia mangium plantation. The data were collected over 11 years from a breeding herd of 21 stags and 33 hinds in Sabal Forest Reserve, Sarawak, Malaysia. Brody's growth model of the pooled data is Y t = 148.56 (1 - 0.98e(-0.023t)), which estimates that maximum weights of adults are 184 and 115 kg for males and females respectively. Sambar deer are nonseasonal breeders with the breeding peak in February. Although the earliest age at which a female reached sexual maturity was 11 months, the mean age was 23 ± 7 months. Mean age of first fawning was 32 ± 8 months. Mean gestation period was 259 ± 12 days (n = 82). Stags shed antlers mostly between March and July. Velvet hardens at 103 ± 27 days (n = 23), and velvet harvesting is best at 7-9 weeks when antler length is 25-30 cm. Sambar deer are suitable as a farm species in forest plantations and have a vast potential to uplift rural living standards.
The number of global dengue incidences is alarmingly high in recent years. The global distribution of four dengue serotypes has also added economic burden in the dengue-endemic countries. To discover the potent dengue virus inhibitors in the antler form of Ganoderma lucidum (Lingzhi or Reishi), the water extraction of normal G. lucidum and its antler form were conducted and the chemical compounds were identified by LC-MS. Six distinct chemical compounds identified in high abundance were hesperetin, thymidine, lucidenic acid, 11-aminoundecanoic acid, 5-carboxyvanillic acid and ganocin B. The water extracts of G. lucidum in its antler form inhibited the DENV2 NS2B-NS3 protease activity at 84.6 ± 0.7%, higher than the normal G. lucidum. Then, molecular docking was performed on the homology model built from an in-house sequence. Docking simulation results showed that hesperetin and ganocin B were the best leads to bind at the catalytic triad of DENV2 NS2B-NS3pro via hydrogen bonding, van der Waals and pi-pi interactions. Extensive overlapping of HOMO-LUMO orbitals at the ringed regions of hesperetin helped to facilitate the entry of ligand to the catalytic triad cleft. LC-MS, molecular docking and density functional theory analyses confirmed that hesperetin was the strongest inhibitor against NS2B-NS3 protease. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.
Deer antler velvet (DAV) has been traditionally used in Chinese medicine, including treatment on toothache [1]. Due to its rapid and regenerative capacity, deer antlers were proposed to be the good model for bone remodelling in mammals [2]. The data presented in this work is on the liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry (LC-MS) profile and bioactive potential of Malayan deer antler velvet (DAV) on different Candida species that has clinical importance. Aqueous extraction of DAV samples was subjected to Liquid chromatography quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry (LC-QTOF-MS) profiling. Reverse phase (RP) separation was used due to the process extraction using water as a solvent to separate polar compound. The data was interpreted using Profile Analysis 2.1V. The DAV samples were also tested for the effect on the biofilm formation of seven Candida species in a 96 well plate [3]. The biofilms were developed for 72 h in aerobic environment. Following that, the biofilms biomass was determined using crystal violet assay.