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Fulltext Determining radius of convergence of Newton’s method using radius of curvature

Pandiya, Ridwan, Ismail Mohd

MATEMATIKA, 2017;33(1):43-54.
MyJurnal

In this paper, we propose a method how to manage the convergence of
Newton’s method if its iteration process encounters a local extremum. This idea establishes
the osculating circle at a local extremum. It then uses the radius of the
osculating circle also known as the radius of curvature as an additional number of
the local extremum. It then takes that additional number and combines it with the
local extremum. This is then used as an initial guess in finding a root near to that
local extremum. This paper will provide several examples which demonstrate that the
proposed idea is successful and they perform to fulfill the aim of this paper.
Fulltext Nutritional status and complementary feeding among Penan infants and young children in rural Sarawak, Malaysia

Bong, M.W., Norimah A. Karim, Ismail Mohd Noor

Malays J Nutr, 2018;24(4):539-550.
MyJurnal

Introduction: The Penan people are largely settled in rural and remote areas of
Sarawak with high rates of undernutrition among the children. The study aimed to
determine the nutritional status and infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices
of Penan children. Methods: Subjects consisted of 121 children, aged between 0-23
months, from 15 Penan longhouses in Belaga district. Malnutrition was assessed
using anthropometric measurements of children and categorised according to the
World Health Organization (WHO) Growth Standards (2006). Feeding practices were
assessed using questionnaires based on WHO IYCF Indicators (2008). Results:
The prevalence of underweight was 29.8%; stunting 43.0% and wasting 5.8%.
Prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding under 6 months was 44.4%. About 86% of
infants aged 6-8 months were already given solid, semi-solid and soft foods. The
proportion of children aged 6-23 months achieving minimum dietary diversity
(MDD) was 76.6%, while minimum meal frequency (MMF) was 83.0% (breastfed and
non-breastfed). Among the children who achieved MDD, 64.9% of their meals were
derived from 4-5 food groups. More than half (55.3%) of all subjects (breastfed and
non-breastfed) received minimum acceptable diet (MAD). Achievement of iron-rich
foods (IRF) indicator was 77.7%. There was no significant association between the
IYCF indicators of MDD, MMF and MAD and underweight, stunting and wasting.
Conclusion: A high prevalence of poor nutritional status was recorded among
the Penan children. While the IYCF indicators apparently showed satisfactory
complementary feeding practices, future studies should assess quantitatively the
intake of complementary food among Penan infants and young children.
Fulltext Penilaian keberkesanan projek-projek obesiti 2010 yang dibiayai oleh lembaga promosi kesihatan Malaysia

Ruzita Abdul Talib, Chan, Choon Li, Ismail Mohd Noor, S, Thavaraj

Jurnal Sains Kesihatan Malaysia, 2013;11(1):49-53.
MyJurnal

Prevalens obesiti di Malaysia telah meningkat dengan mendadak sejak dua dekad yang lalu. Oleh itu, usaha untuk menangani masalah ini menjadi semakin penting. Objektif umum kajian hirisan lintang ini adalah untuk menilai keberkesanan projek obesiti yang dijalankan oleh NGOs yang dibiayai oleh Lembaga Promosi Kesihatan Malaysia. Dalam kajian ini, data sekunder dari laporan akhir 22 buah projek obesiti telah dianalisiskan untuk menilai keberkesanannya. Maklumat dalam laporan akhir projek telah dimasukkan ke dalam borang penilaian formatif yang disediakan oleh pihak LPKM. Keberkesanan projek ditentukan melalui tahap pencapaian indikator RE-AIM dengan menggunakan 21 indikator berasaskan Model RE-AIM yang telah disahkan. Projek yang mencapaikan 15 hingga 21 indikator dikirakan mempunyai kualiti tinggi, 8 hingga 14 indikator dikirakan kualiti sederhana dan 0 hingga 7 indikator dikategorikan sebagai kualiti rendah. Dengan menggunakan ujian Cohen’s Kappa untuk menilai reliabiliti antara penyelidik terhadap 21 indikator RE-AIM, didapati bahawa terdapat persetujuan yang tinggi antara 2 penyelidik (k = 0.868). Daripada 22 buah projek obesiti yang dikaji, tiada projek yang mempunyai kualiti tinggi, 21 projek didapati mempunyai kualiti yang sederhana dan 1 projek mempunyai kualiti yang rendah. Tiada perbezaan yang signifikan terhadap peratusan pencapaian indikator RE-AIM antara tempoh projek menurut ujian T tidak berpasangan (P > 0.05). Berdasarkan kepada saringan kesihatan yang dijalankan terhadap 1982 orang peserta, 333 (16.8%) orang didapati mempunyai masalah berlebihan berat badan dan 354 (17.9%) orang adalah obes. Kesimpulannya, majoriti projek telah dilaksanakan dengan berjaya. Namun, kajian lanjut disarankan untuk memantau perubahan gaya hidup yang mungkin dapat mengurangkan prevalens obesiti di komuniti di mana projek telah dijalankan.
Fulltext Translation and validation of the Malay post traumatic stress disorder checklist for civilians

Rafidah Bahari, Muhammad N Mohamad Alwi, Muhammad R Ahmad, Ismail Mohd Saiboon

ASEAN Journal of Psychiatry, 2015;16(2):203-211.
MyJurnal

There are a number of validated questionnaires available for the screening of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and the PTSD Checklist for Civilians is one of them. However, none was translated into the Malay Language and validated for use in the Malaysian population. The aim of this study is to translate and validate the Malay PTSD Checklist for Civilians (MPCL-C). Methods: The PCL-C was translated into the Malay Language and back-translated. The reliability and validity of the MPCL-C were then determined by administering them to those who presented at the emergency department for motor vehicle accident at least one month before. Results: The MPCL-C has good face and content validity. In terms of reliability, it is also good, with Chronbach’s alpha values of 0.90, 0.77, 0.75 and 0.74 for the full scale, re-experiencing, avoidance and arousal domains respectively. Conclusions: The MPCL-C is a valid and reliable instrument to screen for PTSD in motor vehicle accident victims for the studied population.
Fulltext Developing interprofessional learning package for undergraduate students in Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC)

Jalina Karim, Nabishah Mohamad, Ismail Mohd Saiboon, Meerah, Subhan T Mohd, Hamidah Hassan, Gilbert, John H.V.

Education in Medicine Journal, 2017;9(3):15-22.
MyJurnal

Introduction: In Malaysia, the concept of Interprofessional Learning is not yet established, however it has begun to develop over the past few years.
Methods: Three scenarios were developed for undergraduate students from medicine, nursing and emergency medicine; Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI), Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and trauma. The Interprofessional Learning Package (IPLP) adopted scenario - based learning and hybrid simulation; mannequin and simulated patient which focused on patient management. Each session employed experiential, interactive and contextualised sessions. The created learning sessions required the students to work in a small interprofessional team. The IPLP was validated by a panel of experts.
Results: Content analyses were carried out for analysing the strategies that were performed during the development process. Focused group discussion showed that nursing students had positive views towards interprofessional learning. Document analysis on the curriculum showed that there were loopholes where the programmes needed to improve and expose students to interprofessional learning in order to achieve the faculty learning outcomes. Literature review gave an idea on the creating of the scenario and panel experts’ input was also important as it reflected the created scenarios which were common sense and logically designed.
Conclusion: This study managed to developed the Interprofessional Learning (IPL) package with simulation and scenario approached which can encourage students to learn with, from and about other programmes as well as managing a patient as a team.
Fulltext Distribution of Silicified Microstructures, Regulation of Cinnamyl Alcohol Dehydrogenase and Lodging Resistance in Silicon and Paclobutrazol Mediated Oryza sativa

Dorairaj D, Ismail MR

Front Physiol, 2017;8:491.
PMID: 28747889 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2017.00491

Lodging is a phenomenon that affects most of the cereal crops including rice, Oryza sativa. This is due to the fragile nature of herbaceous plants whose stems are non-woody, thus affecting its ability to grow upright. Silicon (Si), a beneficial nutrient is often used to toughen and protect plants from biotic and abiotic stresses. Deposition of Si in plant tissues enhances the rigidity and stiffness of the plant as a whole. Silicified cells provide the much needed strength to the culm to resist breaking. Lignin plays important roles in cell wall structural integrity, stem strength, transport, mechanical support, and plant pathogen defense. The aim of this study is to resolve effects of Si on formation of microstructure and regulation of cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD), a key gene responsible for lignin biosynthesis. Besides evaluating silicon, paclobutrazol (PBZ) a plant growth retartdant that reduces internode elongation is also incorporated in this study. Hardness, brittleness and stiffness were improved in presence of silicon thus reducing lodging. Scanning electron micrographs with the aid of energy dispersive x-ray (EDX) was used to map silicon distribution. Presence of trichomes, silica cells, and silica bodies were detected in silicon treated plants. Transcripts of CAD gene was also upregulated in these plants. Besides, phloroglucinol staining showed presence of lignified vascular bundles and sclerenchyma band. In conclusion, silicon treated rice plants showed an increase in lignin content, silicon content, and formation of silicified microstructures.
Development of a rapid and improved two-dimensional electrophoresis method for the separation of protein lysate

Kwan SH, Ismail MN

Biomed Chromatogr, 2019 Dec;33(12):e4686.
PMID: 31452214 DOI: 10.1002/bmc.4686

Researchers frequently use two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D-PAGE) prior to mass spectrometric analysis in a proteomics approach. The i2D-PAGE method, which 'inverts' the dimension of protein separation of the conventional 2D-PAGE, is presented in this publication. Protein lysate of Channa striata, a freshwater snakehead fish, was separated based on its molecular weight in the first dimension and its isoelectric point in the second dimension. The first-dimension separation was conducted on a gel-free separation device, and the protein mixture was fractionated into 12 fractions in chronological order of increasing molecular weight. The second-dimension separation featured isoelectric focusing, which further separated the proteins within the same fraction according to their respective isoelectric point. Advantages of i2D-PAGE include better visualisation of the isolated protein, easy identification on protein isoforms, shorter running time, customisability and reproducibility. Erythropoietin standard was applied to i2D-PAGE to show its effectiveness for separating protein isoforms. Various staining methods such as Coomassie blue staining and silver staining are also applicable to i2D-PAGE. Overall, the i2D-PAGE separation method effectively separates protein lysate and is suitable for application in proteomics research.
Extraction and identification of biologically important proteins from the medicinal plant God's crown (Phaleria macrocarpa)

Habib MAH, Ismail MN

J Food Biochem, 2021 07;45(7):e13817.
PMID: 34137461 DOI: 10.1111/jfbc.13817

The fruit and leaf of God's crown (Phaleria macrocarpa) have been traditionally used to treat a wide variety of diseases. However, the proteins of this tropical plant are still heavily understudied. Three protein extraction methods; phenol (Phe), trichloroacetic acid (TCA)-acetone-phenol (TCA-A-Phe), and ultrasonic (Ult) were compared on the fruit and leaf of P. macrocarpa. The Phe extraction method showed the highest percentage of recovered protein after the resolubilization process for both leaf (12.24%) and fruit (30.41%) based on protein yields of the leaf (6.15 mg/g) and fruit (36.98 mg/g). Phe and TCA-A-Phe extraction methods gave well-resolved bands over a wide range of molecular weights through sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Following liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analysis, proteins identified through the Phe extraction method were 30%-35% enzymatic proteins, including oxidoreductases, transferases, hydrolases, lyases, isomerases, and ligases that possess various biological functions. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Every part of God's crown plant is traditionally consumed to treat various illnesses. While plant's benefits are well known and have led to a plethora of health products, the proteome remains mostly unknown. This study compares three protein extraction methods for the leaf and fruit of P. macrocarpa and identifies their proteins thru LC-MS/MS coupled with PEAKS. These method comparisons can be a guide for works on other plants as well. In addition, the proteomics data from this study may shed light on the functional properties of these plant parts and their products.
Fulltext Hubungan infestasi Demodex sp. dan masalah jerawat di kalangan orang dewasa di Lembah Klang, Malaysia

Chew, Poh Ling, Noor Hayati Mohd Isa, Siti Nor Azreen Abdul Manap, Ismail Mohd Ghauth, Aisah Md Yunus

Jurnal Sains Kesihatan Malaysia, 2010;8(1):45-48.
MyJurnal

Demodex sp. merupakan ektoparasit kulit dan dikenali sebagai tungau folikel yang selalu didapati pada manusia pada semua peringkat umur, kaum dan kumpulan geografi. Objektif kajian ini adalah untuk menentukan prevalens infestasi Demodex sp. di kalangan orang dewasa berumur antara 20 hingga 29 tahun di kawasan Lembah Klang dan menentukan kaitan infestasi ektoparasit ini dengan jantina dan masalah jerawat. Kajian ini merupakan kajian pertama penentuan prevalens infestasi Demodex sp. di Malaysia. Seramai 350 orang subjek telah dikaji yang mana pemilihan sampel dilakukan secara pensampelan rawak berstrata. Pengambilan spesimen dilakukan secara kikisan kulit pada kawasan muka iaitu dahi, hidung, pipi dan dagu. Spesimen dititiskan dengan medium Hoyer dan pemerhatian dijalankan di bawah mikroskop cahaya. Borang soal selidik diedarkan untuk mengetahui kehadiran jerawat pada kulit muka. Hasil kajian mendapati prevalens keseluruhan infestasi Demodex sp. adalah 18.9% dan lelaki menunjukkan infestasi lebih tinggi (25.7%) berbanding perempuan (12.0%) manakala tiada perbezaan bermakna antara masalah jerawat dan infestasi Demodex sp. Kesimpulannya, infestasi Demodex sp. hadir di kalangan satu perlima dari subjek dengan lelaki didapati lebih bermasalah.
Hevea brasiliensis latex proteomics: a review of analytical methods and the way forward

Habib MAH, Ismail MN

J Plant Res, 2021 Jan;134(1):43-53.
PMID: 33108557 DOI: 10.1007/s10265-020-01231-x

Natural rubber or latex from the Hevea brasiliensis is an important commodity in various economic sectors in today's modern society. Proteins have been detected in latex since the early twentieth century, and they are known to regulate various biological pathways within the H. brasiliensis trees such as the natural rubber biosynthesis, defence against pathogens, wound healing, and stress tolerance. However, the exact mechanisms of the pathways are still not clear. Proteomic analyses on latex have found various proteins and revealed how they fit into the mechanisms of the biological pathways. In the past three decades, there has been rapid latex protein identification due to the improvement of latex protein extraction methods, as well as the emergence of two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) and mass spectrometry (MS). In this manuscript, we reviewed the methods of latex protein extraction that keeps on improving over the past three decades as well as the results of numerous latex protein identification and quantitation.
Correction to: Hevea brasiliensis latex proteomics: a review of analytical methods and the way forward

Habib MAH, Ismail MN

J Plant Res, 2023 May;136(3):431.
PMID: 36943551 DOI: 10.1007/s10265-023-01451-x
Mapping the pandemic: a review of Geographical Information Systems-based spatial modeling of Covid-19

Aboalyem MS, Ismail MT

J Public Health Afr, 2023 Dec 27;14(12):2767.
PMID: 38204808 DOI: 10.4081/jphia.2023.2767

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), COVID-19 has caused more than 6.5 million deaths, while over 600 million people are infected. With regard to the tools and techniques of disease analysis, spatial analysis is increasingly being used to analyze the impact of COVID-19. The present review offers an assessment of research that used regional data systems to study the COVID-19 epidemic published between 2020 and 2022. The research focuses on: categories of the area, authors, methods, and procedures used by the authors and the results of their findings. This input will enable the contrast of different spatial models used for regional data systems with COVID-19. Our outcomes showed increased use of geographically weighted regression and Moran I spatial statistical tools applied to better spatial and time-based gauges. We have also found an increase in the use of local models compared to other spatial statistics models/methods.
Breast cancer disease classification using fuzzy-ID3 algorithm with FUZZYDBD method: automatic fuzzy database definition

Idris NF, Ismail MA

PeerJ Comput Sci, 2021;7:e427.
PMID: 34013024 DOI: 10.7717/peerj-cs.427

Breast cancer becomes the second major cause of death among women cancer patients worldwide. Based on research conducted in 2019, there are approximately 250,000 women across the United States diagnosed with invasive breast cancer each year. The prevention of breast cancer remains a challenge in the current world as the growth of breast cancer cells is a multistep process that involves multiple cell types. Early diagnosis and detection of breast cancer are among the greatest approaches to preventing cancer from spreading and increasing the survival rate. For more accurate and fast detection of breast cancer disease, automatic diagnostic methods are applied to conduct the breast cancer diagnosis. This paper proposed the fuzzy-ID3 (FID3) algorithm, a fuzzy decision tree as the classification method in breast cancer detection. This study aims to resolve the limitation of an existing method, ID3 algorithm that unable to classify the continuous-valued data and increase the classification accuracy of the decision tree. FID3 algorithm combined the fuzzy system and decision tree techniques with ID3 algorithm as the decision tree learning. FUZZYDBD method, an automatic fuzzy database definition method, would be used to design the fuzzy database for fuzzification of data in the FID3 algorithm. It was used to generate a predefined fuzzy database before the generation of the fuzzy rule base. The fuzzified dataset was applied in FID3 algorithm, which is the fuzzy version of the ID3 algorithm. The inference system of FID3 algorithm is simple with direct extraction of rules from generated tree to determine the classes for the new input instances. This study also analysed the results using three breast cancer datasets: WBCD (Original), WDBC (Diagnostic) and Coimbra. Furthermore, the comparison of FID3 algorithm with the existing methods is conducted to verify the proposed method's capability and performance. This study identified that the combination of FID3 algorithm with FUZZYDBD method is reliable, robust and managed to perform well in breast cancer classification.
Fulltext Application of empirical mode decomposition with local linear quantile regression in financial time series forecasting

Jaber AM, Ismail MT, Altaher AM

ScientificWorldJournal, 2014;2014:708918.
PMID: 25140343 DOI: 10.1155/2014/708918

This paper mainly forecasts the daily closing price of stock markets. We propose a two-stage technique that combines the empirical mode decomposition (EMD) with nonparametric methods of local linear quantile (LLQ). We use the proposed technique, EMD-LLQ, to forecast two stock index time series. Detailed experiments are implemented for the proposed method, in which EMD-LPQ, EMD, and Holt-Winter methods are compared. The proposed EMD-LPQ model is determined to be superior to the EMD and Holt-Winter methods in predicting the stock closing prices.
Fulltext Synergistic Roles of Curcumin in Sensitising the Cisplatin Effect on a Cancer Stem Cell-Like Population Derived from Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Cell Lines

Abdul Satar N, Ismail MN, Yahaya BH

Molecules, 2021 Feb 18;26(4).
PMID: 33670440 DOI: 10.3390/molecules26041056

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) represent a small subpopulation within a tumour. These cells possess stem cell-like properties but also initiate resistance to cytotoxic agents, which contributes to cancer relapse. Natural compounds such as curcumin that contain high amounts of polyphenols can have a chemosensitivity effect that sensitises CSCs to cytotoxic agents such as cisplatin. This study was designed to investigate the efficacy of curcumin as a chemo-sensitiser in CSCs subpopulation of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) using the lung cancer adenocarcinoma human alveolar basal epithelial cells A549 and H2170. The ability of curcumin to sensitise lung CSCs to cisplatin was determined by evaluating stemness characteristics, including proliferation activity, colony formation, and spheroid formation of cells treated with curcumin alone, cisplatin alone, or the combination of both at 24, 48, and 72 h. The mRNA level of genes involved in stemness was analysed using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to evaluate the effect of curcumin on the CSC niche. A combined treatment of A549 subpopulations with curcumin reduced cellular proliferation activity at all time points. Curcumin significantly (p < 0.001) suppressed colonies formation by 50% and shrank the spheroids in CSC subpopulations, indicating inhibition of their self-renewal capability. This effect also was manifested by the down-regulation of SOX2, NANOG, and KLF4. Curcumin also regulated the niche of CSCs by inhibiting chemoresistance proteins, aldehyde dehydrogenase, metastasis, angiogenesis, and proliferation of cancer-related proteins. These results show the potential of using curcumin as a therapeutic approach for targeting CSC subpopulations in non-small cell lung cancer.
Fulltext Clinical pathways: development and implementation at a tertiary hospital in Malaysia

Aniza Ismail, Saperi Sulung, Syed Mohamed AlJunid, Nor Hamdan Mohd Yahaya, Husyairi Harunarashid, Oteh Maskon, et al.

Int J Public Health Res, 2012;2(2):153-160.
MyJurnal

Clinical pathways have been implemented in many healthcare systems with mix results in improving the quality of care and controlling the cost. CP is a methodology used for mutual decision making and organization of care for a well-defined group of patients within a well-defined period. In developing the CPs for a medical centre, several meetings had been carried out involving expert teams which consist of physicians, nurses, pharmacists and physiotherapists. The steps used to develop the pathway were divided into 5 phases. Phase 1: the introduction and team development, Phase II: determining the cases and information gathering, Phase III: establishing the draft of CP, Phase IV: is implementing and monitoring the effectiveness of CP while Phase V: evaluating, improving and redesigning of the CP. Four CPs had been developed: Total Knee Replacement (TKR), ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction (AMI), Chronic Obstructive Airways Diseases (COAD) and elective Lower Segment Caesarean Section (LSCS). The implementation of these CPs had supported the evidence-based medicine, improved the multidisciplinary communication, teamwork and care planning. However, the rotation of posts had resulted in lack of document ownership, lack of direction and guidance from senior clinical staff, and problem of providing CPs prior to admission. The development and implementation of CPs in the medical centre improved the intra and inter departmental communication, improved patient outcomes, promote patient safety and increased patient satisfaction. However, accountability and understanding of the CPs must be given more attention.

Study site: Pusat Perubatan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (PPUKM)
Fulltext A Study of House Officers in a Teaching Hospital on Knowledge, Perception of Skills and Confidence Level in

Ismail Mohd Saiboon, Noraliza Mohd Ariffin, Teodoro Javier Herbosa, Ahmad Khaldun Ismail, Nariman Singmamae, Shamsuriani Md Jamal, et al.

Medicine & Health, 2007;2(2):110-116.
MyJurnal

Cardio-pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) is important and should be mastered by House Officers (HO). House officers who have just completed their studies are assigned to acute medical and surgical wards. If a patient in the ward has a cardiac arrest (CA), these doctors are usually the first to attend. Therefore an HO must be confident with CPR skills. They must be competent in performing CPR. The authors assessed 26 new HOs from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Hospital (HUKM) with respect to their self-perception about CPR skills, confidence level in performing CPR and knowledge in performing CPR. Knowledge was assessed by a questionnaire. We found that 16 of 26 (61.5%) assessed themselves to have inadequate knowledge and 46.2% had no confidence in performing CPR. The mean score of the written test was 5.7 ± 1.8. Seven out of 26 (27.0%) HOs had incorrect hand placement position for CPR. Only 4 and 9 out of 26 HOs had their sternal paddle and cardiac apex paddle positions correctly placed respectively. In conclusion, knowledge, perception of skills and confidence levels of HOs on CPR are inadequate and need further assessment and improvement. Medical schools need to review their CPR curriculum in order to prepare HOs adequately to work in emergency situations.
Fulltext Improving forecasting accuracy for stock market data using EMD-HW bagging

Awajan AM, Ismail MT, Al Wadi S

PLoS One, 2018;13(7):e0199582.
PMID: 30016323 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0199582

Many researchers documented that the stock market data are nonstationary and nonlinear time series data. In this study, we use EMD-HW bagging method for nonstationary and nonlinear time series forecasting. The EMD-HW bagging method is based on the empirical mode decomposition (EMD), the moving block bootstrap and the Holt-Winter. The stock market time series of six countries are used to compare EMD-HW bagging method. This comparison is based on five forecasting error measurements. The comparison shows that the forecasting results of EMD-HW bagging are more accurate than the forecasting results of the fourteen selected methods.
Fulltext Protein Composition and Biomedical Potential of the Skin Secretion of Hylarana erythraea (Schlegel, 1837) (Anura: Ranidae) from Langkawi Archipelago, Kedah, Peninsular Malaysia

Ong D, Ismail MN, Shahrudin S

Int J Pept Res Ther, 2021;27(3):2125-2133.
PMID: 34177403 DOI: 10.1007/s10989-021-10240-w

The skin secretion of amphibians is known for its high content of bioactive compounds. These bioactive compounds are essential for the advancement of biomedical industries. Four wild green paddy frogs, Hylarana erythraea, were collected from various habitat types within the Langkawi Archipelago. These frogs' skin secretions were collected, extracted, and analysed for their protein compounds together with biomedical potentials using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). The total protein concentration of H. erythraea skin secretions was determined as 0.269 mg/mL. Based on the UniProt (Anura) database, we identified 29 proteins. These proteins were categorised as antimicrobial (AMP) (38%), followed by hormone (17%), enzyme (17%), unreviewed proteins (17%), structural proteins (7%), and regulatory proteins (4%). The AMPs identified were from the family of esculentin-1, esculentin-2, brevinin-1, and frenatin-4, while the hormones belonged to the cholecystokinin group. The enzymes detected were adenylate cyclase 9, the suppressor of tumorigenicity 14 protein homolog, and the HGF activator. The structural proteins belonged to toe pad keratin 2 and Krt5.7 proteins, while the single regulatory protein is CCR4-NOT transcription complex subunit 6-like. These proteins have a wide range of biomedical importance, such as wound healings, facilitate digestions, anti-tumours, and anti-cancer effect.
Fulltext Enhancing employment outcome among stable psychiatric patients: lesson learnt on innovative model of work inclusion

Khalid K, Jamaluddin R, Ismail MS

BMJ Open Qual, 2023 Jun;12(2).
PMID: 37277216 DOI: 10.1136/bmjoq-2022-002139

BACKGROUND: Poor employment rate among psychiatric patients is poorly discussed.
PURPOSE: To share our strategies in boosting employment rate among stable psychiatric patients and discuss the lessons learnt.
PARTICULAR FOCUS: Multifaceted strategies were remodelled to ensure a three-dimensional optimisation: (1) strengthening clinical service to ensure stable disease and appropriate patient selection through battery of assessments, (2) provision of psychosocial support to boost self-esteem and foster discipline among patients through encouragement, guidance and regular monitoring by the multidisciplinary community mental health team and (3) encourage willingness and confidence among stakeholders and local market to host job opportunities to stable mental health patients.
OVERVIEW: The yearly employment rate among our stable psychiatric patients under supported employment programme from 2020 to 2021 was 28.6% (2/7) and 30.0% (3/10), respectively. A qualitative survey found the main hindrance to recruitment were employers' scepticism on work performance, while poor work retention was due to patients' lack of specific skill set and discipline to adhere to routine. We restructured our supported employment programme by adding the role of community mental health facility to foster discipline and routine for 6 months prior to referral to a job coach. Until June 2022, two out of five patients managed to secure job positions (40.0%). Despite our efforts to improve employment with the instituted remedial strategy, we still fail to reach the minimum standard set by ministry. Future plan will focus on tailoring individual interests to a specific set of skills that match industrial expectation prior to seeking employment. Additionally, enhancing public education using social media may foster better inclusion of psychiatric patients and social acceptance.

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