This data article is on riparian vegetation species richness in four different streams located in the Sultan Mahmud Hydroelectric dam, also known as Kenyir dam and commonly referred to as Tasik Kenyir, Terengganu. The dataset consists of three reservoir-island streams and the other is a small stream located on the mainland. A total of 41 families and 90 species of riparian plants were reported for the first time after 34 years of the establishment of the Sultan Mahmud Hydroelectric dam. Trees contributing 60% of the species recorded in this study and the others were non-tree species, including climbers, ferns, epiphyte, herbs, shrub, strangling trees and palms. Among the recorded riparian plant species, two are introduced which are Clidemia hirta and Mimosa pigra. The highest diversity of riparian plant found in the stream of Sungai Kiang, followed by Sungai Ikan and Sungai Saok with 46, 29 and 17 species respectively for the reservoir-island streams. The mainland stream, Sungai Siput recorded 37 species. These riparian plants provide important ecosystem services, among others soil stabilization, habitat and food for aquatic fauna and water filtration. In terms of plant utilization potential and values, 47 species are identified having medicinal value, 10 species with ornamental value and another 36 species are timber trees. Our study demonstrates that the riparian plants are closely linked to stream size with variability associated with types of stream systems. The data collected also demonstrates that the riparian plant community is at the seral stages of riparian forest. This is indicated by the increase in plant species richness as the vegetation gradually changes from riparian towards mature forest composition. To secure ecological functions of Tasik Kenyir riparian plant assemblages, particularly in stabilizing the lake's margin and riverbank, it is recommended that monitoring and legal protection may need to be imposed by local authority.
This study aims to examine the impact of COVID-19 on financial markets, using emerging market data. Specifically, panel data regression is applied on 3200 observations for daily market returns during lockdown in India. The event study methodology is adopted to show abnormal returns registered in the lockdown period. A contrasting breakdown effect of COVID-19 on various Indian industries has been observed through sectoral analysis. The study also provides empirical evidence for lockdown measures taken by the government on stock market returns and post lockdown impact of COVID-19 on daily market returns for over 6550 observations.
This study was conducted to detect the presence of chicken and porcine DNA in meatballs using mitochondria DNA (mtDNA) of cytochrome b (cyt b) and nuclear DNA (nDNA) short interspersed nuclear element (SINE) species-specific primers, respectively. While, the mtDNA primers targeted transfer RNA-ATP8 (tRNA-ATP8) gene was used for 1 and 5% (w/w) chicken meatball spiked with commercial porcine blood plasm. Chicken meatballs spiked with 1% and 5% (v/w) fresh and commercial porcine blood plasma, respectively were prepared and heat-treated using five (n = 5) cooking methods: boiling, pan-frying, roasting, microwaving and autoclaving. Two pairs of mtDNA and nDNA primers used, produced 129 and 161 bp amplicons, respectively. Whereas, tRNA-ATP8 primers produced 212 bp of amplicon. Electrophoresis analysis showed positive results for porcine DNA at 1% and 5% (w/w or v/v) for all of the different cooking techniques, either for fresh or commercial blood plasma using SINE primers but not for tRNA-ATP8 primers. The present study has highlighted the useful of species-specific primers of SINE primers in PCR analysis for detecting porcine DNA blood plasma in heat-treated chicken meatballs.
This dataset presents morphological features, elemental composition and functional groups of different pre- and post-gamma (γ)-irradiated chitosan (10kGy & 20kGy) prepared from shrimp waste. The γ-irradiated chitosan was characterized using Fourier transfer infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses. Thermogravimetry/differential thermal analysis (TG/DTA) were performed using Perkin Elmer Pyris Diamond DSC with a heating rate of 10 °C/minute and dynamic synthetic atmospheric air set at flow rate of 100 ml/minute. We observed γ-irradiated chitosan to have shorter polymer size, small pores and compacted structure with active alkyl and hydroxyl groups when compared to non-irradiated chitosan. Our data provides baseline understanding for structure of shrimp chitosan after 60Co exposure which means, the biopolymer becomes more stable and is considered suitable for vast food industry applications.
In order to invent a porcine gelatine detection device using microbial resources, bacterial enzymes with a preference towards porcine gelatine and their candidate genes were evaluated. Five (n = 5) bacterial strains isolated from hot spring water and wet clay, Malaysia were screened for their gelatinase activity. The gelatinase enzyme was extracted and purified using ammonium sulphate precipitation prior to performing gelatinase assay on porcine, bovine and fish gelatine medium substrates. The G2 strain or Enterobacter aerogenes (Strain EA1) was selected for whole genome sequenced after showing a consistent trend of preference towards porcine gelatine. The gelatinase candidate gene gelEA1_9 was cloned and expressed. Based on one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with POST-HOC Duncan test (α = 0.05), the final product of gelEA1_9 was identified as a novel gelatinase. This gelatinase presented no significant difference in activity towards porcine gelatine. Hence, the present study demonstrated an enzyme-substrate interaction for porcine gelatine identification.
Cultured meat is meat produced from stem cell biopsies of cattle. Stem cells were cultured in a bioreactor in the presence of serum to grow the flesh to maturity. Cultured meat technology originated from regenerative medical technology; however, it has been given a new lease of life to produce cultured meat as an innovative food source in the future without involving cattle breeding. This technology can reduce the negative environmental impacts of global warming, water use, soil, and unethical handling of animals. In the excitement of accepting this new technology, the halal status of cultured meat is in question, as it can be produced from embryonic stem cells and myosatellite cells, each of which can be disputed for their halal status. Additionally, the process of culturing and maturation of stem cells involves the use of an impure medium derived from animal blood. Thus, cultured meat is acceptable to Muslims only if the stem cells, medium and scaffold biomaterials used to manufacture it are from Halal sources and shall be in line with the six principles discussed in this study. The discussion is based on Halal and haram animals; Animal slaughtering; Not derived from a source of najs (impurity); Istihalah tammah (perfect substance change); Maslahah (public interest or benefit) and mafsadah (damage); and Darurat (exigency) of cultured meat)).
A total of 24 strains of Vibrio alginolyticus were isolated from cockles (Anadara granosa) and identified for VibA and gyrB genes. All V. alginolyticus isolates were then tested against nine different antibiotics. In this study, the highest percentage of antibiotic resistance was obtained against penicillin (37.50%), followed by ampicillin, vancomycin (12.50%) and erythromycin (8.33%). All of V. alginolyticus isolates were susceptible against streptomycin, kanamycin, tetracycline, chloramphenicol and sulfamethoxazole. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay has confirmed the presence of four antibiotic resistance genes of penicillin (pbp2a), ampicillin (blaOXA), erythromycin (ermB) and vancomycin (vanB). Out of 24 V. alginolyticus isolates, 2 isolates possessed the tdh-related hemolysin (trh) (strains VA15 and VA16) and none for the thermostable direct hemolysin (tdh) gene. Both strains of the tdh-related hemolysin (trh) were susceptible to all antibiotics tested. The multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) index ranging between 0.2 and 0.3 with 5 antibiograms (A1-A5) was observed. Combination of enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus-polymerase chain reaction (ERIC-PCR) and antibiotic resistance indicated 18 genome types which showed genetic heterogeneity of those V. alginolyticus isolates. The results demonstrated the presence of V. alginolyticus strain found in cockles can be a potential risk to consumers and can contribute to the deterioration of human health in the study area. Thus, it is essential for local authority to provide the preventive measures in ensuring the cockles are safe for consumption.
Islam is a religion that inspires its followers to seek knowledge continually and nurtures innovation, within the realms of Islamic rulings, towards an ameliorated quality of life. Up-to-date biotechnological techniques, specifically animal cloning, are involved in advancing society's health, social, and economic domains. The goal of animal cloning includes the production of genetically modified animal for human consumption. Therefore, this research endeavoured to study animal cloning's current scientific findings, examine the by-product of said process, and determine its permissibility in an Islamic context. This study employed descriptive literature reviews. Results concluded that animal cloning, especially in mammals, does not occur naturally as in plants. A broadly trusted and efficient animal cloning method is known as Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT), which includes three principal steps: oocyte enucleation; implantation of donor cells (or nucleus); and the activation of the embryo. Nevertheless, the limitations of SCNT, particularly to the Large Offspring Syndrome (LOS), should be noted. One of the forms of the application of animal cloning is in agriculture. From an Islamic perspective, determining the permissibility of consuming cloned animals as food is essentially based on whether the cloned animal conforms to Islamic law's principles and criteria. Islam interdicts animal cloning when it is executed without benefiting humans, religion, or society. Nonetheless, if it is done to preserve the livelihood and the needs of a community, then the process is deemed necessary and should be administered following the conditions outlined in Islam. Hence, the Islamic ruling for animal cloning is not rigid and varies proportionately with the current fatwa.
Natural product extraction is ingenuity that permits the mass manufacturing of specific products in a cost-effective manner. With the aim of obtaining an alternative chitosan supply, the carapace of dead horseshoe crabs seemed feasible. This sparked an investigation of the structural changes and antioxidant capacity of horseshoe crab chitosan (HCH) by γ-irradiation using 60Co source. Chitosan was extracted from the horseshoe crab (Tachypleus gigas; Müller) carapace using heterogeneous chemical N-deacetylation of chitin, followed by the irradiation of HCH using 60Co at a dose-dependent rate of 10 kGy/hour. The average molecular weight was determined by the viscosimetric method. Regarding the chemical properties, the crystal-like structures obtained from γ-irradiated chitosan powders were determined using Fourier transfer infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses. The change in chitosan structure was evident with dose-dependent rates between 10 and 20 kGy/hour. The antioxidant properties of horseshoe crab-derived chitosan were evaluated in vitro. The 20 kGy γ-irradiation applied to chitosan changed the structure and reduced the molecular weight, providing sufficient degradation for an increase in antioxidant activity. Our findings indicate that horseshoe crab chitosan can be employed for both scald-wound healing and long-term food preservation due to its buffer-like and radical ion scavenging ability.
The Setiu Wetlands, a unique area with nine interconnected habitats, comprises a considerable fraction of the total Peninsular Malaysia's wetland flora. Although botanical collecting in the area has been active in the past 10 years, only a few studies dealing with the wetland flora have been published. Thus, a detailed checklist of this area is urgently needed to ensure the continuity of its inter-relating flora and fauna, as well as the livelihood of the local people. In this work we conducted a survey of the vascular plant flora of Setiu Wetlands and investigated the most important plants used by the local communities. Our checklist accounts for 406 taxa from 277 genera and 106 families, including 24 (6%) species of ferns and lycophytes, three gymnosperms, 257 (64%) dicotyledons and 122 (30%) monocotyledons. This comprehensive plant checklist will be a primary reference for the management of the newly gazetted Setiu Wetlands State Park covering more than 400 hectares of lands and water bodies.
Peacock bass (Cichla spp.) originates from the Neotropical environments of Brazil and Venezuela but, through trade and smuggling for aquarium keeping, sport fishing and aquaculture, it is now an emerging concern. Yet, less is known for Cichla spp. distribution and its ability to invade new environments. Aimed to communicate on Cichla spp. ecology, biology and introduction schemes from Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar and also National Centre for Biotechnology Information, this review also contains management strategies for invading fish species. While Cichla spp. can displace native fish populations, this concern is explained using ecological functions, physiological demands, direct and secondary invasion, disease tolerance and parasite spillover. Briefly, Cichla spp. has rapid embryogenesis (72 h) and matures in short periods (11-12 months), giving it an advantage to colonize new environments. With a large appetite, this true piscivore gains territorial control over water bodies by making it their feeding and nursery grounds. Perceived as an emerging concern after becoming introduced, seal-off or sport fishing were used to manage Cichla spp. but, this practice is not sustainable for the entire ecosystem. Hence, we recommend bottom-up management that involves community participation because they interact with the fish and have knowledge about their environment.