The isolation of 66 streptomycetes from rhizosphere soil of chili plants was done for their inhibitory activities against three different dominant species of Colletotrichum namely C. acutatum, C. gloeosporioides and C. capsici. Twenty one streptomycetes strains were active against at least one of the Colletotrichum species. In addition, ten strains that inhibited the in vitro growth of Colletotrichum species showed chitinase activity. Strain P42, which displayed the highest inhibitory activity against all three anthracnose fungi species and high chitinase activity was tested as biological control agent in a greenhouse study. The strain successfully controlled chili anthracnose disease by significantly reducing the disease severity. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain P42 belongs to the Streptomyces rochei clade. The results of the current study showed that rhizosphere-derived soil of chili plants is an important source of bioactive streptomycetes which are antagonistic against Colletotrichum.
It is of interest that seeds and pericarps of tropical fruits contain phytochemicals being the components of various biological activities for beneficial health effects. This study was aimed to evaluate antioxidant and anticancer activities of the methanolic extracts from seeds and pericarps of three selected tropical fruits including Rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum L.), Litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) and Tamarind (Tamarindus indica L.). Total phenolic content was determined by using the Folin-Ciocalteu method. Antioxidant capacity was evaluated based on the ability of the fruit extracts to scavenge ABTS and DPPH radicals. MTT reduction assay and Annexin V-FITC/PI staining were carried out for cytotoxicity and apoptosis induction, respectively. Total phenolic contents of the seeds and pericarps of the tropical fruits ranged from 104.60 to 501.95 mg/g DW. All extracts were found to have significant antioxidant activities. Among them, tamarind seed extract contained the highest total phenolic contents and possessed the highest antioxidant capacities. Tamarind seed extract showed the highest cytotoxicity to human mouth carcinoma (CLS-354) cells and had no toxicity to PBMCs. Staining with annexin V-FITC/PI showed that this apoptosis occurred early in this cell type with 10.0% of the cells undergoing apoptosis. Tamarind seed extract might have potential anticancer activity which could be attributed, in part, to selectively inhibit the growth of CLS-354 cells and induce apoptosis. This research finding would be valuable information to identify major constituents of the extracts and mechanisms underlying anticancer activity which could be attributed to dietary health supplements or cancer chemoprevention from fruits.
A study was conducted to investigate the possibility of employing a single intramuscular injection of a synthetic hormone analogue, ovupin on the induced breeding of two major carps, viz. rohu (Labeo rohita), mrigala (Cirrhinus mrigala) and an endangered minor carp, bata (Labeo bata). Three breeding trials of each species were performed. In case of major carp, the females were injected with single dose of ovupin solution at a rate of 0.5 mL kg-1 body weight, while the minor carp received ovupin solution at a dose of 0.3 mL kg-1 body weight, whereas males received extracted PG hormone at a dose of 2 and 1.5 mg kg-1 body weight for major carps and minor carp, respectively. All the three species were successfully bred using ovupin through a single injection. In case of major carps, the latent period was 9-10 h while 12-14 h for minor carp. The breeding response of females was 100% in major carps, whereas it was approximately 90% in minor carp. Fertilization rate varied between 87.07 and 89.94% for the major carps and between 87.6 and 89.9% for minor carps. Major carps showed higher hatching rates (77.21 to 80.19%) than minor carp (64.9 to 66.56%). The present study indicated that ovupin could be effective as alternative of PG in carp’s breeding in Bangladesh.
Some basic requirements are set for small clear specimen data to incorporate Malaysian timbers into equivalent European timber strength classes. In general, the correlation between structural and small clear specimen test results must be established for every timber group regardless of origin. This paper introduces a sort-plot technique for analysing the correlation of some mechanical properties of timber in selecting appropriate parametric model. Bending test was conducted on mixed species hardwoods for the determination of strength and stiffness values of both structural and small size specimens. The results showed that the sort-plot diagrams demonstrate an obvious linearity pattern between timber properties despite having poor regression values. The technique verified that properties of timber in structural and small size specimens correlated linearly.
MeSH terms: Ethnic Groups; Humans; Tensile Strength; Protein Transport
A 6-weeks feeding experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of replacement of rice bran with mushroom stalk (Pleurotus florida) an agriculture waste, on growth performance in tilapia fingerlings (Oreochromis niloticus). Three isonitrogenous (32% crude protein) diets were formulated. Rice bran was replaced with 100% (Diet 1), 50% (Diet 2) and 0% (Diet 3, control) mushroom stalk. Each dietary treatment was tested in triplicate group of 12 fingerlings per tank arranged in completely randomized design. The result of this study showed that there was no significant difference (p>0.05) among all diets in terms of growth performance and feed utilization. Diet 1 gave the best results in BWG, SGR, FCR and PER. An economic evaluation indicated that Diet 1 gave the lowest production cost at RM2.03/kg followed by Diet 2 (RM2.18/kg) and Diet 3 (RM2.38/kg). Taking all the factors into consideration, the best diet was Diet 1 with 100% replacement of rice bran with mushroom stalks which is also the cheapest diet. This shows that Pleurotus florida stalks can replace 100% of rice bran in practical tilapia diets.
Kappa-carrageenan is one form of necessary hydrocolloid. Hydrocolloids are macromolecular materials, which swell upon absorption of water; in some cases, forming a stiff gel in the presence of additives. This property is very important to suspend nanocarriers into gel network, which provide them long time stability at a varying temperature range. In this work, we prepared microemulsion and trapped these particles inside the kappa-carrageenan gel network. The microemulsion was composed of sodium N-lauroylsarcosinate hydrate (SNLS), oleic acid and deionized water. The purpose of this study was to immobilize them into the gel network, giving longer shelf life at a range of temperatures for oral drug delivery. Morphological properties were investigated by transmission electron microscope (TEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra. The TEM results showed that microemulsions are trapped in the gel network, and the diameter of the microemulsions are below 100 nm, which is comparable with the DLS results. The important functional groups of kappa-carrageenan and microemulsion were shown from the FTIR result of the complex microemulsion gel. These results confirmed the interaction between SNLS based microemulsion and kappa- carrageenan gel.
Kajian ini bertujuan untuk melakukan penyaringan pelbagai aktiviti biologi menggunakan ekstrak akues rebusan air, ekstrak metanol larut air, ekstrak etanol, ekstrak metanol dan polisakarida miselium cendawan Amauroderma sp. yang diperoleh dari Taman Negeri Royal Belum. Ujian antikanser, antivirus, antibakteria dan antioksida digunakan dalam penyaringan ini. Ujian antikanser dijalankan ke atas sel kanser ovari (CaOV-3) dan sel normal hati Chang dengan tamoxifen digunakan sebagai kawalan. Kesemua nilai IC50 yang diperoleh menunjukkan nilai yang tinggi (400±3.6 - 3950±0.005 μg/mL). Sementara itu, kajian awal penyaringan aktiviti antivirus dimulakan dengan ujian sitotoksisiti ekstrak terhadap sel Vero. Didapati hanya ekstrak rebusan air dan etanol memberi nilai CC50 masing-masing pada kepekatan 6.4±0.3 dan 7.9±1.28 mg/mL. Seterusnya, ujian antivirus menggunakan virus Herpes Simpleks Jenis 1 (HSV-1) yang menjangkiti sel Vero dilakukan dengan dua kaedah iaitu pra-rawat dan pos-rawat. Ekstrak menunjukkan aktiviti yang tidak ketara terhadap HSV-1 bagi kedua-dua kaedah ini. Penyaringan aktiviti antibakteria dilakukan ke atas beberapa jenis bakteria gram negatif dan positif dengan satu siri kepekatan ekstrak; 10, 5, 2.5, 1.25 dan 0.625 mg/mL. Kesemua ekstrak tidak menunjukkan aktiviti antibakteria berdasarkan ketiadaan sebarang zon perencatan dalam kesemua piring petri. Walau bagaimanapun, penyaringan antioksida menunjukkan kadar peratusan penyingkiran radikal bebas yang tinggi terutamanya ekstrak etanol iaitu 93.6%. Ini diikuti oleh ekstrak rebusan air (92.65%), metanol (88.83%) serta polisakarida (85.75%). Memandangkan kesemua ekstrak tidak menunjukkan kehadiran aktiviti sitotoksik, antivirus dan antibakteria, tetapi mempunyai aktiviti antioksida yang signifikan, maka bolehlah disimpulkan bahawa pelbagai ekstrak Amauroderma sp. sangat berpotensi secara khusus sebagai komponen nutrisi bersifat antioksidatif.
Leaves extracts of three different citrus species namely Citrus sinensis (Malta), Citrus paradisi (Grape fruit) and Citrus jambhiri (Khatti) were evaluated for their antioxidant, cytotoxic, antitumor, antimicrobial activities and finally the mineral contents were determined. Four types of extraction solvents (100, 80 and 50% methanol and distilled water heated at 50oC) were used for extraction of antioxidant compounds. Extracts yield increased with the elevated levels of aqueous component of organic solvent and our data showed the highest yield in aqueous extracts. All extraction regimes showed in vitro antioxidant activity. Citrus paradisi showed the highest total flavonoid content (TFC), total phenolic content (TPC), reducing power and 1,1-Diphenyl-2- picrylhydrazil free radical scavenging activity in all combinations of solvents followed by Citrus sinensis and Citrus jambhiri. Antioxidant activity was also increased with higher aqueous component of organic solvents in each case. While Citrus sinensis (in 100% methanolic solvent) and Citrus paradisi (in 50% methanolic extract) showed significant cytotoxicity (LD50 values <1000). Antitumor activity was observed in all extracts, however Citrus sinensis and Citrus paradisi (in 50% aqueous methanolic) extracts had the highest antitumor activity from the selected citrus species whereas no antimicrobial activity was observed at higher concentrations (4000 μgmL-1) against specified strains. We found high calcium contents in all three citrus species tested by atomic absorption method. The results showed that the leaves of selected Citrus species possess significant antioxidant, antitumor and cytotoxic activities. Citrus leaves extracts can be potentially helpful in antioxidant protection in food as well as in human body against lipid peroxidation and free radicals damage. It can further be evaluated after in vivo studies using animal models or identifications of high throughput methods for enhanced biological activities.
A nematode population distribution survey was conducted in banana plantations/farms in Peninsular Malaysia from June 2004 to January 2006. This study highlights differences obtained from the survey compared with previously published reports in terms of species prevalence in banana plantations. As opposed to the widely reported prevalence of Radopholus similis (Cobb 1893) Thorne, 1949, on banana plants worldwide, Rotylenchulus reniformis Linford and Oliveira, 1940, was found to be the most common nematode species in the isolated soil samples (Prominence Value = 824.28; n=63) while Meloidogyne incognita (Kofoid & White 1919) Chitwood, 1949, was predominant in the isolated root samples (Prominence Value = 449.77; n=57) in Peninsular Malaysia. Besides, contradicting previous reports, M. incognita was found to dominate Cavendish plantation areas in this region instead of R. similis. Inter-species interaction resulting in species predominance and co-dominance in banana rhizosphere was also observed in this study.
The large scale expansion of oil palm plantations nowadays bring huge negative impact on habitat destruction and loss of biodiversity, especially at Pasoh, Negeri Sembilan, Peninsular Malaysia. The monoculture system that was developed since the 1970s has suppressed biodiversity levels because of the lack of suitable microhabitats. In order to assess ecological remediation of plantation, a green corridor was established along Sg. Petekah at Felda Pasoh 2. The assessment was conducted from March to May 2012 at Sg. Petekah green corridor (SPGC) at Felda Pasoh 2 and Felda Pasoh 3 with no green corridor (FP3). Amphibians were sampled for species richness by using fenced pit fall traps and visual encounter surveys. Microhabitat selection of amphibians was identified to come up with recommendations for improvement. The low Shannon-Wiener diversity value, H’ at SPGC (1.82 ± 0.126) was obtained indicating that the remediation is yet to be achieved, but the H’ value was much lower at PF3 (0.62±0.2) indicating a positive projection of remediation. Microhabitat selection study indicated that each amphibian species tend to avoid overlapping of microhabitat based on specific guilds. Based on the results, the green corridor should be widened to allow space for foraging and territorial defence, planted not only with trees but also shrubs and herbs to improve the ground cover for the amphibians and also to include other
The present study was carried out to determine the optimal stocking density for culturing tropical soil dwelling earthworm, Pontoscolex corethrurus. F1 generation earthworms were cultured in four different stocking densities of 1, 4, 7 and 10 worms per vessel, corresponding to field densities of 50, 200, 350 and 500 individuals per m2. Earthworms were kept under laboratory conditions (25±2°C and 25% moisture) for the 14 weeks study period. The results showed that at higher earthworm densities (>350 individuals per m2), the earthworm growth was slower and sexual maturation was delayed as compared with their counterparts in lower stocking density. With the high survival rate and parthenogenetic reproduction mode, P. corethrurus could potentially be used as tropical soil rehabilitation agent.
Previously, researchers had initiated investigation to find an alternative drug that can treat diabetes mellitus without dragging patients into more complicated health problems. After many studies, they found a new and high potential plant-based drug named stevia that is able to reduce diabetic patients’ blood glucose. This study aimed to determine the effect of stevia on blood glucose of healthy subjects. The study was carried out by comparing the glycemic response between sucrose and stevia (500 and 1000 mg) among 32 subjects aged between 18 and 23 years old. Subjects were required to fast 8 to 10 h prior to each test which was done on different days. Finger prick test were done on 0, 30, 60, 90 and 120 min to construct a blood sugar response curve for 2 h period. There is a significant difference between the glycemic response of sucrose and stevia 500 mg. Sucrose significantly increased the post prandial blood glucose while stevia 500 mg reduced blood glucose after 30 min of consumption. Sucrose also produced higher glycemic response at min-30 when compared with stevia 1000 mg. There is no significant difference between the glycemic response of stevia of different dose, 500 and 1000 mg. No dose-dependent effect was observed in this study. In conclusion, stevia does not raise blood glucose significantly when consumed in short period. Stevia is effective to be used by healthy people to maintain blood glucose even when consumed in short length of time.
Growth performance, sexual reproduction and clonal propagation of I. japonica population in contrast reciprocal habitats; Open Area of Forest Edge (OAFE) and Bamboo Forest (BF) on Jinyun Mountain were studied to understand the adaptability of growth and reproductive of I. japonica in different habitats. The results were as follows: quantitative characteristics of growth and clonal propagation of I. japonica at genet (a group of genetically identical individuals, consists of whole ramets) level and at ramet (a unit composed of a shoot and root, with independent morphological and physiological traits in the same genet) level were higher in BF. However, quantitative characteristics of sexual reproduction at genet and ramet level were higher in OAFE. Biomass and allocation also showed the same trend as quantitative characteristics. Reproductive components (at ramet level) were significantly different and had trade- off in contrast reciprocal habitats. Allocation to clonal propagation and sexual reproduction of mother ramet was significantly negative correlation with allocation to daughter ramet (especially in BF). There was a trade-off between reproduction components (allocation to sexual reproduction and clonal propagation of mother ramet) in OAFE. Therefore, it showed predominantly sexual reproduction in OAFE and clonal propagation in BF. The results indicated that the contrast environmental stress shaping growth performance and reproduction variation of I. japonica in genet and ramet level in contrasting habitats might pronounce adaptive population differentiation among forest habitats.
There are two main reasons that motivate people to detect outliers; the first is the researchers' intention; see the example of Mr Haldum's cases in Barnett and Lewis. The second is the effect of outliers on analyses. This article does not differentiate between the various justifications for outlier detection. The aim was to advise the analyst about observations that are isolated from the other observations in the data set. In this article, we introduce the eigenstructure based angle for outlier detection. This method is simple and effective in dealing with masking and swamping problems. The method proposed is illustrated and compared with Mahalanobis distance by using several data sets.
MeSH terms: Motivation; Research Personnel; Intention; Wetlands
Bacterial typing is a key technology in human and veterinary medicine, community health, consumer protection and in agricultural research. The importance of the development of epidemiological tracking tools is underlined by numerous outbreaks of diseases due to bacterial pathogens. Particularly important is tracing pathogen dissemination in ‘real time’ i.e. to use a fast typing technique to distinguish between clonally related (epidemic) strains and unrelated (sporadic) strains. The aim of the research was to develop a fast discriminatory molecular typing technique - double digest selective label (DDSL) for Staphylococcus aureus isolates and to compare typing data with that obtained by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. In this new typing method, large DNA fragments are produced with a restriction enzyme commonly used for PFGE but are trimmed by a second enzyme to a size which can be separated on a conventional agarose gel within a short period of time. Selective labelling of a subset of the numerous restriction fragments gives a distinct banding pattern for each isolate. Discriminatory power obtained with DDSL calculated over two different sets was higher than that of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. Clusters of identical isolates were further resolved to unique DDSL strains. Two combinations of restriction enzymes for DDSL technique has been proposed with approximately equal discriminatory power. It has been demonstrated that DDSL approach is a fast, discriminatory alternative to other typing techniques suitable for short-term epidemiological studies.
Let be a univalent sense-preserving harmonic mapping of the open unit disc D = {z⎜ ⎜z⎜ < 1}. If f satisfies the condition ⎜ω(z)⎜= < k, 0 < k < 1, then is called k-quasiconformal harmonic mapping in D. The main purpose of this paper was to give some properties of the class of k-quasiconformal mappings related to Janowski starlike functions.
Exponentially-fitted numerical methods are appealing because L-stability is guaranteed when solving initial value problems of the form y' = λy, y(a) = η, λ ∈ , Re(λ) < 0. Such numerical methods also yield the exact solution when solving the above-mentioned problem. Whilst rational methods have been well established in the past decades, most of them are not ‘completely’ exponentially-fitted. Recently, a class of one-step exponential-rational methods (ERMs) was discovered. Analyses showed that all ERMs are exponentially-fitted, hence implying L-stability. Several numerical experiments showed that ERMs are more accurate than existing rational methods in solving general initial value problem. However, ERMs have two weaknesses: every ERM is non-uniquely defined and may return complex values. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to modify the original ERMs so that these weaknesses will be overcome. This study discusses the generalizations of the modified ERMs and the theoretical analyses involved such as consistency, stability and convergence. Numerical experiments showed that the modified ERMs and the original ERMs are found to have comparable accuracy; hence modified ERMs are preferable to original ERMs.
Fats and oils in human diets are the main sources of essential fatty acids for the body. However, there is a mounting concern about the intake of foods containing trans fatty acids (TFAs) due to their deleterious effects on human. Thus, the accurate detection of fatty acids (FAs) and TFAs is needed to control and correct nutrition labeling in dietary fat samples. Accordingly, a method for the identification and quantification of FAs and TFAs in food fats by gas chromatography (GC) based on the extraction of lipids and derivatization using base catalyzed followed by trimethylsilyl-diazomethane (TMS-DM) was developed. The proposed method was evaluated to standard mixture of oleic acid (OA) (C18:1cis 9) and Elaidic acid (EA) (C18:1 trans 9) and its application to three samples of commercial margarines was demonstrated. Based on the results obtained, recovery values (R) from all the samples were close to 100%. Repeatability (RSD) values ranged between 0.78 and 2.47%, while Reproducibility (RSD) values ranged between 1.14 and 3.65%. Consequently, the proposed method is sensitive, accurate and suitable for FAs and TFAs analysis of food fats and oils and can be applied to nutritional, medicine and food studies.
In order to protect our planet and ourselves from the adverse effects of excessive CO2 emissions and to prevent an imminent non-renewable fossil fuel shortage and energy crisis, there is a need to transform our current ‘fossil fuel dependent’ energy systems to new, clean, renewable energy sources. The world has recognized hydrogen as an energy carrier that complies with all the environmental quality and energy security, demands. This research aimed at producing hydrogen through anaerobic fermentation, using food waste as the substrate. Four food waste substrates were used: Rice, fish, vegetable and their mixture. Bio-hydrogen production was performed in lab scale reactors, using 250 mL serum bottles. The food waste was first mixed with the anaerobic sewage sludge and incubated at 37°C for 31 days (acclimatization). The anaerobic sewage sludge was then heat treated at 80°C for 15 min. The experiment was conducted at an initial pH of 5.5 and temperatures of 27, 35 and 55°C. The maximum cumulative hydrogen produced by rice, fish, vegetable and mixed food waste substrates were highest at 37°C (Rice =26.97±0.76 mL, fish = 89.70±1.25 mL, vegetable = 42.00±1.76 mL, mixed = 108.90±1.42 mL). A comparative study of acclimatized (the different food waste substrates were mixed with anaerobic sewage sludge and incubated at 37°C for 31days) and non-acclimatized food waste substrate (food waste that was not incubated with anaerobic sewage sludge) showed that acclimatized food waste substrate enhanced bio-hydrogen production by 90-100%.
Spillage of water polluting substances via industrial disaster may cause pollution to our environment. Thus, reversed-flow gas chromatography (RF-GC) technique, which applies flow perturbation gas chromatography, was used to investigate the evaporation and estimate the diffusion coefficients of liquid pollutants. Selected alcohols (99.9% purity) and its mixtures were used as samples. The evaporating liquids (stationary phase) were carried out by carrier gas-nitrogen, 99.9% purity (mobile phase) to the detector. The findings of this work showed the physicochemical measurements may vary depending on the composition of water and alcohol mixtures, temperature of the mixtures, as well as the types of alcohol used. This study implies that there is a variation in the results based on the concentration, types and temperature of the liquids that may contribute in the references for future research in the area of environmental pollution analysis.
MeSH terms: Alcohols; Chromatography, Gas; Disasters; Nitrogen; Temperature; Water; Water Pollutants; Water Pollution