Malaysian Journal of Applied Sciences (Journal of UniSZA - Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin)
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A Review On the Importance of Plain Data Aggregation in Patient Care: The Vital Sign-Based Scenario
Full text linkMedical data need to be managed appropriately as singly it is meaningless. Data aggregation is important as it may transform a plain data into a meaningful facts known as information. It is crucial to gather an authentic and accurate data analysis for making a critical decision in patient care. We intend to describe on how vital sign-based scenario data can become a meaningful information to assist healthcare in improving patient management. It was hoping that, through vital sign-based scenario medical data aggregation it will highlight or create a new information and knowledge towards diagnoses. This will help in quality patient care management as it may formulate an accurate diagnosis thus provides a support for an optimal medical treatment. In medicine, failure to analysed a correct information will lead to significant morbidity and mortality
Investigation of Performance Parameters of Biogas Fueled Power Generation Process
Full text linkAn investigation of the parameters affecting the power output of biogas fueled power system has been carried out in this paper which will help the researchers to promote the power output from the biogas power plant in a significant manner. A good number simulation works has been carried out in MATLAB for showing the importance of parameters in power generation process from a biogas power plant. One of the important parameters is volatile output in the reactor. From the simulation it is seen that maximum volatile output could be around 19 Kg/m3 as a concentration level if the feed flow rate is increased to around 16 m3/day. Throughout the simulation process a good number of factors have been analyzed like volatile acid concentration, reactor temperature, turbine speed etc. Therefore, the simulation work presented in this paper will help the researchers to realize the importance of the parameters in the power generation process from the biogas power plant
Exploring the Feasibility and Effectiveness of Phytoremediation for Environmental Restoration: A Review
No full textThe debate on the applicability, cost-effectiveness, and efficiency of phytoremediation as a plant-based treatment to clean the environment is intensifying. Phytoremediation is the application of plants, microbes, nutrients, and/or agronomic techniques to soil, sediment, and water resources to contain or neutralize contaminants. Phytoremediation serves multiple goals, including soil stabilization, erosion control, and enhancement of wildlife habitat. Plants can absorb, translocate, transform, and immobilize hazardous metals, thereby lowering their toxicity and environmental concentration. This process is widely used in industry nowadays due to being both cost-effective and ecologically friendly. However, there is no denying that each process has its own pros and cons. There is no perfect process. Thus, this review aims to provide researchers of environmental science with a better understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of this method
Isolation and Molecular Characterisation of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) Degrading Bacteria from Petrochemical Contaminated Soil
Full text linkBecause of their ubiquitous nature, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are widely dispersed in the environment as a result of both natural and human processes. One of the ways to deal with the harmful effects of these chemicals is through the use of microorganisms capable of degrading the pollutants. A petrochemical contaminated site was searched for these microbes. Eleven bacterial strains were obtained in this work using the culture enrichment technique on Bushnell Hass medium supplemented with (naphthalene, anthracene, and phenanthrene) as the only source of energy. Enumeration utilizing the spread-plate technique and liquid media were used to examine the PAH breakdown capacities of bacterial strains. The isolates were identified using standard methods of morphological and biochemical identifications. Furthermore, 16sRNA was utilized in order to classify the isolates at molecular level. The presence of PAHs degrading genes was also analysed in the isolates. Four isolates (G1, G2, G5, and G6) out of a total of eleven were able to tolerate and degrade the test PAH's up to 600 mg/l in liquid media. Isolate G1 showed the highest growth during screening followed by G6 while there were no differences between the other two isolates as demonstrated by an increase in their optical densities after 120 hours of incubation. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequences and molecular phylogenetic analysis, the isolate was identified as Pseudomonas stutzeri, Stenetrophomonas sp, Pseudomonas lactis, and Achromobacterxylosoxidans with the accession numbers OM039162, OM52851, OM52852, and OM52853 respectively. Fragments of 350 bp, 350 bp, and 867 bp for ring hydroxylating dioxygenase (RHD), hydratase-aldolase, and catechol 2, 3-dioxygenase were obtained from partial PCR amplification of catabolic genes, demonstrating the presence of a PAH degradation pathway in the organisms. These isolates have great potential for application in the bioremediation of PAHs-contaminated sites
Comparison Between Urban and Rural of Anthropometry Indices in Women of Reproductive Age in Kano, Nigeria State
Full text linkRecently, new indices have been developed for better prediction of health status. This study aimed to compare the new indices of anthropometric measurements of women of reproductive age (WRA) in urban and rural settings in Kano state. A cross sectional descriptive community-based study was performed in 240 WRA (15-49 years) in 4 randomly selected Local Government Areas (LGAs) in urban and rural settings each. A structured questionnaire was used to collect information on socio-demographic characteristics. Anthropometric indices which include body adiposity index (BAI), abdominal volume index (AVI), Conicity index (CI), a body shaped index (ABSI), a body shaped index z score (ABSI z score), hip index (HI), body roundness index (BRI) and ponderal index (PI) were measured. Socio-demographic result shows that age, occupation and monthly income were found to be significantly associated between the urban and rural participants whereas education, number of children and pregnancy status were not significantly associated. Urban and rural participants had a significant association in BAI (p=0.006), AVI (p=0.010), HI (p=0.030), BRI (p=0.003) and PI (p=0.002). There were no significant association in CI (p=0.219), ABSI (p=0.498) and ABSI z score (p=0.680). Further investigation of these indices and their association with nutritional status and different diseases could assist in efforts to prevent unfavorable health conditions among women of reproductive health
The Effectiveness of Radiation Protection in Medical Field- A Short Review
Full text linkThe growing of X-ray imaging around the world has implication towards radiation protection of medical field. Higher usage in radiation commonly have been seen as a simple workload issue without future challenges. Unfortunately, due to improvement in technology and techniques, it caused the amount of X-ray procedures increase which requiring medical professionals in order to ensure patient who exposed to radiation has maintain their close physical contact. As many processes are complex, risk of severe occupational exposure become higher, thus necessary steps should be considered. It is important to ensure the lower effects of exposure are achievable. If the dosage limit for the lens of the eye is lowered in the near future, additional attention to eye protection may be required. There are many essential elements needed in ensuring medical field especially for X-ray imaging to be more proper and reasonably secured for example education and training in radiation protection
Handcrafted and Transfer Learned Feature Techniques for Vehicle Make and Model Recognition on Nigerian Road
Full text linkThe vehicle makes and model recognition (VMMR) is a challenging task due to the wide range of vehicle categories and similarities between different classes. Studies have shown that works have recognized vehicles of different countries' make and models. Popular vehicles on Nigerian roads may include products like; Toyota, Honda, Peugeot, Benz, Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing (IVM), etc. The VMMR is important in the intelligent transport system hence, this paper presents a handcrafted and transfer learning model to detect stationary vehicles and classify them based on brand, make, and model. A new dataset was introduced consisting of selected images of popular brands of vehicles driven on Nigerian roads. Framework for a vehicle make and model recognition was developed by extracting features using EfficientNet and HOG models and evaluated on the locally gathered datasets. For classification, a linear Support Machine Vector (SVM) was used. Experimental results showed 94.5% on HOG, 97% with EfficientNet, and 98.1% accuracy when HOG and EfficientNet features were concatenation. The proposed concatenated model outperformed HOG and EfficientNet extracted features by providing higher accuracy and confusion matrix with the highest number of classified images. The study shows the advantages of the proposed model in terms of its accuracy in terms of identifying the vehicle make and model
Comparing The Ability to Treat Artificial Cow Wastewater by Constructed Wetland Model Using Sorghastrum nutans and Brachiaria humidicola
Full text linkIn addition to meat production, the cattle industry generates significant waste, including bedding materials, wastewater, animal manure, and losses related to feed. If not managed correctly, these byproducts can have adverse environmental impacts. Constructed wetlands (CWs) offer a cost-effective and eco-friendly solution for sustainable wastewater treatment. By virtue of their extensive root systems and filtration matrices, CWs effectively reduce pollution by eliminating suspended particles, organic matter, heavy metals, and pathogens from wastewater. This research aims to assess pollutants present in cattle wastewater and evaluate the efficacy of Sorghastrum nutans and Brachiaria humidicola in purifying contaminants within constructed wetlands (CWs). CWs planted with B. humidicola exhibited higher removal rates for nutrient pollutants compared to CWs utilizing S. nutans. After a week of treatment, B. humidicola-based CWs demonstrated removal percentages of 94.07% for total nitrogen and 91.58% for phosphate (PO₄³⁻). Constructed wetlands also prove effective in eliminating biological contaminants like Escherichia coli and Shigella sp. This study highlights that the CW model incorporating B. humidicola outperforms the S. nutans model, achieving 100% removal of E. coli and 97.37% removal of Shigella sp. In conclusion, cow wastewater contains nutrient and biological pollutants, both effectively mitigated by CWs using selected plant species. Notably, B. humidicola surpasses S. nutans in its capacity for pollutant removal
Docosahexaenoic Acid and Tualang Honey Improve Brain Oxidative Status in Chronic Stress Rat Model
Full text linkThe main objective of this study was to investigate the protective effects of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and Tualang honey (TH) and their combination on several parameters of oxidative stress of the brain following exposure to chronic stress. Five groups of male Sprague Dawley rats ( 10 animal per group) were allocated in which Group 1 received normal saline and used as control; Group 2 was exposed to stress and received normal saline; Group 3 was exposed to stress and reviewed DHA (450 mg/kg body weight BD); Group 4 was exposed to stress and received TH (1 g/kg body weight BD), and Group 5 was exposed to stress and received combination of DHA and TH. Animals were exposed to chronic stress from 9 am to 2 pm daily for 4 weeks. The following oxidative parameters were measured: total antioxidant status (TAS) , glutathione, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and protein carbonyl. The results showed that DHA, TH and their combination significantly reduced (p<0.05) stress-induced elevation of corticosterone and TBARS levels and concurrently caused a significantly increased (p<0.05) in TAS level. With regard to glutathione and protein carbonyl, only TH and combination of DHA+TH significantly reduced (p<0.05) the oxidised glutathione and protein carbonyl. In all parameters, there was no significant difference between Group 5 in comparison to Group 3 and Group 4 indicating combination of DHA and TH was not superior to consuming DHA and TH alone. In conclusion, TH and to lesser extent DHA may protect the brain against oxidative stress induced by exposure to chronic stress but consuming these substances together does not give synergistic effect.
Keywords: Oxidative stress, Honey, Docosahexaenoic acid, Chronic stress, Brai
Physico-chemical Properties and Heavy metal Contamination Levels of Soils from Riruwai Mining Area, North-western Nigeria
Full text linkMining activities, despite their economic importance, are well documented as one of the most significant sources of heavy metal pollution in the soil. In the present study, the physico-chemical properties and heavy metal contamination levels of the soils around the Riruwai mining area, in north-western Nigeria, were investigated. A total of 60 surface soil samples from four (4) sampling sites, which include 18 from active mine sites, 12 from abandoned mine sites, 21 from farmlands and 9 from control sites, were collected during the dry and rainy seasons. The physico-chemical properties such as pH, electrical conductivity (EC), soil organic matter (SOM), and cation exchange capacity (CEC) were determined using various analytical techniques. The concentrations of heavy metals were analyzed using a Microwave Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometer (MP-AES), and the measured concentrations were used to evaluate the pollution load index (PLI). The findings of the study revealed that mining activities had a significant impact on the physicochemical characteristics of the soils, with lower pH, CEC, and SOM values in particular in active and abandoned mining sites. The physico-chemical characteristics of soil vary seasonally, with higher values typically reported during the rainy season, except for pH. The concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, lead, and zinc in the soils of the Riruwai mining area exceeded the threshold value recommended by WHO/FAO (2001) in all the sampling locations and seasons, with the exception of the control sites. The PLI values indicated that the soils in active and abandoned mining sites are strongly polluted by heavy metals, while farmland soils are moderately polluted and control site soils are unpolluted. The soils in the study area are significantly contaminated by heavy metals, particularly in active and abandoned mining sites, and the contamination has spread to farmland, suggesting a significant need for proper containment of heavy metal pollution levels in the area, particularly arsenic, cadmium, lead, and zinc