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  1. Fulltext A study on the effects of interfering with the conventional sequential protocol for chemical isolation and characterization of chitosan from biowaste of giant freshwater prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii
    Iber BT, Torsabo D, Chik C, Wahab F, Abdullah S, Abu Hassan H, et al.
    Heliyon, 2023 Mar;9(3):e13970.
    PMID: 36915541 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e13970
    Unless better measures are put in place to address the environmental and social impacts emanating from the huge waste generated from sea food processing industries; 'tragedy of the commons' is inevitable. Needless to re-emphasise the enormous contributions of aquaculture as the perfect substitute to capture fisheries which has been proven unsustainable. Be that as it may, the huge amount of bio-waste produced could be transformed into useful products such as chitin and chitosan with far reaching applications. Chitin and chitosan have been consistently processed from many sources following the traditional chemical sequence of Demineralization (DM), Deproteinization (DP), Decolouration (DC) and Deacetylation (DA). In this study, this method was re-ordered, resulting to 4 sequences of chemical processes. HCl, NaOH, ethanol (97%) and NaOH (50%) were used for DM, DP, DC and DA respectively. The results of this study showed that better chitin (23.99 ± 0.61%) and chitosan (15.17 ± 1.69%) yields were obtained from sequence four (SQ4) following the order of DC-DM-DP-DA. In addition, physicochemical properties such as DDA (80.67 ± 2.52%) and solubility (66.43 ± 2.61%) were significantly higher (p ≤ 0.05) in SQ4 thereby making the obtained product suitable for use as coagulant and flocculant in wastewater treatment. Results of FTIR, XRD and SEM of the study proved that the resultant product exhibited the characteristic nature of chitosan with porous and fibril nature. In the analysis of the physical properties of chitosan obtained from bio-waste of Macrobrachium rosenbergii, the high Carr's index (CI) and low bulk as well as tapped densities were an indication that the chitosan produced in this study had poor flowability and compressibility, thereby making it unfit for application in pharmaceutical industries.
  2. Parametric study of coagulant recovery from water treatment sludge towards water circular economy
    Shawal NBM, Razali NA, Hairom NHH, Yatim NII, Rasit N, Harun MHC, et al.
    Water Sci Technol, 2023 Dec;88(12):3142-3150.
    PMID: 38154800 DOI: 10.2166/wst.2023.398
    This study aims to recover the used coagulants from two water treatment plants via acidification technique. The water treatment sludge (WTS) was acidified with sulfuric acid (H2SO-4) at variable normalities (0.5, 1, 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5 N). The surface morphology and functionalities of both recovered coagulants were analysed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The performance of recovered coagulants was tested for turbidity removal in surface water treatment at different coagulant dosages and pH. It was found that the optimum normality of H2SO4 for recovered alum was 1.5 N, where 66% turbidity removal was recorded. The recovered PAC treated with 1.0 N H2SO4 indicated high turbidity removal percentage, which was 50.5%. The turbidity removal increased with increasing coagulant dosage. More than 80% turbidity removal was achieved with 40 mg/L dosage of recovered alum and recovered PAC. Maximum removal (85%) was observed with 50 mg/L dosage of recovered alum. For commercial coagulant, the turbidity removal was higher, with a difference of up to 6% in favor of recovered alum. The potential reuse of coagulants can be explored in order to reduce the operating costs and promotes the reduction of WTS disposal.
  3. Fulltext Cost analysis of periodontitis management in public sector specialist dental clinics
    Mohd-Dom T, Ayob R, Mohd-Nur A, Abdul-Manaf MR, Ishak N, Abdul-Muttalib K, et al.
    BMC Oral Health, 2014 May 20;14:56.
    PMID: 24884465 DOI: 10.1186/1472-6831-14-56
    BACKGROUND: The objective of this paper is to quantify the cost of periodontitis management at public sector specialist periodontal clinic settings and analyse the distribution of cost components.

    METHODS: Five specialist periodontal clinics in the Ministry of Health represented the public sector in providing clinical and cost data for this study. Newly-diagnosed periodontitis patients (N = 165) were recruited and followed up for one year of specialist periodontal care. Direct and indirect costs from the societal viewpoint were included in the cost analysis. They were measured in 2012 Ringgit Malaysia (MYR) and estimated from the societal perspective using activity-based and step-down costing methods, and substantiated by clinical pathways. Cost of dental equipment, consumables and labour (average treatment time) for each procedure was measured using activity-based costing method. Meanwhile, unit cost calculations for clinic administration, utilities and maintenance used step-down approach. Patient expenditures and absence from work were recorded via diary entries. The conversion from MYR to Euro was based on the 2012 rate (1€ = MYR4).

    RESULTS: A total of 2900 procedures were provided, with an average cost of MYR 2820 (€705) per patient for the study year, and MYR 376 (€94) per outpatient visit. Out of this, 90% was contributed by provider cost and 10% by patient cost; 94% for direct cost and 4% for lost productivity. Treatment of aggressive periodontitis was significantly higher than for chronic periodontitis (t-test, P = 0.003). Higher costs were expended as disease severity increased (ANOVA, P = 0.022) and for patients requiring surgeries (ANOVA, P 

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