13474 research outputs found
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Effects of Pleurotus pulmonarius (Fr.) quel on cholesterol level, muscle contractility, tissue condition and serum metabolomic profile in Hypercholesterolemic-Induced Rats / Noor Fazila Mohamed Yahaya
No full textCardiovascular disease is one of the leading factors of mortality worldwide and one of the risks that contributes to the disease is hypercholesterolemia. Statins have been widely prescribed as the solution to hypercholesterolemic patients after a better lifestyle practice failed to improve the total cholesterol level. However, contraindication and drug-drug interaction always jeopardize the patients to various health risks. Thus, nutraceutical or functional food received overwhelming reception from the society. Pleurotus pulmonarius or commonly called grey oyster mushroom is one of the best culinary mushrooms with great taste and texture. Besides, its tremendous benefits have been verified through various scientific findings. As an extended effort to explore more of its hidden benefits, this study focused on in vivo observations on the rats. The crude aqueous extract (CA) had been verified in a previous study as potent free radical scavenging activity in vitro, making it a suitable candidate to be studied furthered in vivo by using forty-eight Wistar-Kyoto rats. The extract was subjected to tissue integrity test; analysis on their ability to dilate a pre-constricted thoracic aortic ring. CA was able to dilate the thoracic aortic ring by 60 % and also protected the thoracic aortic tissue when concomitantly fed to hypercholesterolemic-induced rats. The higher dose of CA (2.0 g/kg body weight) fed to the rats also assisted the thoracic aortic ring to dilate when challenged with phenylephrine at the percentage of 43.11 %, followed by 34.17 % for simvastatin and finally 12.51 % for low dose CA (0.5 g/kg body weight). Besides its ability to protect thoracic aortic tissue, histopathology observations proved CA was able to contribute to the liver tissue viability in the hypercholesterolemic-induced rats. Metabolomic analysis was also performed to observe the metabolites involved in the selected rat’s sera. Metabolites levels including serotonin, L-formylkynurenine, pantothenic acid, phosphodimethylethanolamine and 5-hydroxyquinoline were altered in the sera samples. Each of the metabolite plays its own role in the pathogenesis chain by either contributing to disease progression or improvises the viability of the rats. It can be concluded that CA from P. pulmonarius was able to ameliorate the disease progression due to high cholesterol. This study also suggested that CA works best as preventive agent rather than curative as it not able to fully restore the structure of damaged tissues following hypercholesterolemic state
A formalist approach to identity in selected contemporary film adaptations of Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” / Lida Vakili
No full textThis research focuses on modern adaptations of Frankenstein in regard to the themes of sympathy, isolation, love and identity. The adaptations that form the basis of the research are Kenneth Branagh’s Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994), Chris Carter’s “The Postmodern Prometheus”, Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie (2012) and Stuart Beattie’s I, Frankenstein (2014). Analysis is conducted into how faithful each adaptation is to Mary Shelley’s original in terms of character, genre and plot, delving into the relationship between creator and creature with particular regard to sympathy. The first film subjected to analysis is Kenneth Branagh’s Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, which, for the most part, faithfully reflects the original novel. Other adaptations take a more inventive approach. In Chris Carter’s The Postmodern Prometheus, an episode of his television series The X-Files, a more inventive approach is taken in terms of adaptation. In this episode, the story of a creature ending up poles apart from the initial vision of its creator is transported to a small American town, and although the plot is familiar, the telling of the story and the characters involved are different. Tim Burton’s film Frankenweenie takes an even more unusual approach, using character names and traits from the original Frankenstein, as well as other gothic horror stories, to tell a story about a boy using electricity to bring his dead dog back to life. The film I, Frankenstein attempts to continue the story of the original novel, acting as a latter-day sequel. Critical reception of the film was mixed, veering towards the negative, but on a creative level it is commendable for attempting something different with the familiar character of Frankenstein’s creature. Each of these four adaptations takes a very different approach to either telling or continuing the story of a scientist accidentally creating a monster. By analysing four adaptations each of which come at the story from a different angle, this research not only scrutinises the films themselves but also seeks to find similarities and differences in the approaches of the directors and other people involved in the creative process. The modern legacy of Frankenstein is examined, as well as how the concepts of identity and sympathy tie the various adaptations together. Adaptation theory, including theories of cinema and adaptation, media theories in cinema, and theories of inventive adaptation, are used in this study. Aside from adaptation, formalist theory is applied in this research. The cinematic techniques used by the filmmakers to convey these concepts are analysed, including how each director puts his own stamp on the story, and the importance of cinematography in creating an intellectual and emotional response in the viewer. The study concentrates on the base elements which make up a film, such as light, sound, design and editing. Each technical decision made by a production team is considered, as each one has a consequence in terms of the effect eventually produced by the film. The composition of shots, the editing process, the initial stylistic considerations, sound, music and lighting are all looked at it in order to determine both the effect the director was hoping to achieve, as well as the actual final products
Effect of berberine on HCT 116 colon carcinoma cell proliferation, telomerase activities, and next generation sequencing transcriptome data profiling / Nadhirah Ahmad
No full textTelomerase is an RNA-dependent DNA polymerase that synthesizes telomeric DNA repeats (TTAGGG) at the 3’ end of chromosomes. Telomerase is gaining attention as a prospective molecular target in anticancer therapies as it is found to be highly expressed in most cancerous cells but scarcely detectable in normal somatic cells. Although inhibiting telomerase activity could be a promising strategy to combat cancer, the transcriptome changes upon telomerase inhibition is not well documented. In this study, human tumor cell lines were treated with telomerase inhibitors and next generation sequencing-based transcriptomic profiling analysis were conducted. First, the effect of telomerase inhibitors i.e., silymarin, boldine, and berberine on selected cancer cell lines’ (HCT 116, A549 and CaSki) cell proliferation were evaluated using SRB assay. Berberine exerted the highest cytotoxic activity against HCT 116 cells in a time and dose-dependent manner in comparison to A549 and CaSki cell lines. Subsequent telomerase inhibition analysis was conducted at 8 μg/ml of berberine, 24 hours treatment on HCT 116 cell lines. Berberine exposure to HCT 116 cells resulted in the downregulation of telomerase related genes expression which were detected via Western blot and Real-Time PCR. RNA-Seq analysis revealed a total of 21,179 and 19,793 genes identified from the control and berberine treated datasets, respectively. Comparative analysis revealed a total of 324 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) with 48 upregulated genes and 276 downregulated genes. The DEGs were subjected to gene annotation analysis and were predicted to be involved in the regulation of protein kinases, response to endoplasmic reticulum stress, cellular response to glucose starvation, RNA metabolic processes, and cell death. All these results shed light to the potential use of berberine as anti-telomerase-based therapy
Gastroprotective effect, wound healing and anti-diabetic potential of two novel dichloro and dibromo schiff base derivatives in SD rats / Kamelia Saremi
No full textSchiff base derivatives have displayed to possess a broad spectrum of pharmaceutical and biological properties. The present study encompasses an in vitro and in vivo study to evaluate the gastroprotective activity, wound healing potential and anti-diabetic effect of the bromine and chlorine Schiff base derivatives. 2,2'-[1,2-cyclohexanediylbis (nitriloethylidyne)] bis [4-chlorophenol] (CNCP) and 2,2'-[1,2-cyclohexanediylbis (nitriloethylidyne)] bis [4-bromophenol] (CNBP) were synthesized through Schiff base reaction by applying related ketones and diamines as initiators. CNCP and CNBP exhibited strong ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and possess mild DPPH radical scavenging activity. The safety of these compounds was verified through acute toxicity study exerted no signs of toxicity at 100 and 200 mg/kg. The gastroprotective effect of CNCP and CNBP were investigated against ethanol-induced gastric ulcer in SD rats. The study was performed with normal, ulcer control (5ml/kg of 10% tween 20), treatment group (10 and 20 mg/kg of CNCP and CNBP, respectively) and a reference group (omeperazole, 20 mg/kg). Vast shallow haemorrhagic injury of gastric glandular mucosa was observed in the ulcer group compared to the CNCP and CNBP-treated animals. Histological evaluations showed that these compounds possess stomach epithelial defense effect with an observation of reduction in gastric ulceration, edema and leucocytes penetration of submucosal stratum. Immunostaining of gastroprotective analysis exhibited over-expression of HSP70 protein and down-expression of Bax protein in CNCP and CNBP-treated groups. The gastric protein analysis of treated rats with CNCP and CNBP showed low levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) and high activity of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT). In the evaluation of wound healing potential, SD rats (male) were subjected into six groups (n=6); negative control (gum acacia), positive control (intrasite gel), and the treatment
group (CNCP and CNBP, respectively). Topical treatment on wounded rats with CNCP and CNBP, showed a significant increase of wound closure percentage compared to the negative control. Histological evaluation of the skin sections showed granulation tissues contained more proliferating fibroblast, collagen deposition, angiogenesis, and less inflammatory cells in CNCP (10 mg/ml) and CNBP (20 mg/ml)-treated groups compared to the normal rats. In the treated groups with CNCP and CNBP, the SOD, CAT, and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities were found significantly higher, however, the MDA level was shown to be lower than the negative control. At the molecular level, CNCP (10 mg/ml) and CNBP (20 mg/ml) improved wound healing process via down-regulation of Bax and up-regulation of Hsp70 protein. The antidiabetic potential of CNCP and CNBP were evaluated in the STZ-NA-induced type 2 diabetic animal model. Interestingly, increased serum insulin and a significant reduction in fasting blood glucose levels were observed in normal and treated diabetic rats with CNCP and CNBP. Furthermore, the histological observations of the liver, kidney and pancreas of diabetic rats treated with CNCP and CNBP illustrated a significant improvement in structural degeneration. In conclusion, the findings of the present study suggest that CNBP and CNCP are safe to consume and hold great promise for use as preventive and curative agent for anti-diabetic, gastric ulcer and wound healing
Investigation on the effect of telomerase downregulation on transcriptome of HCT116 human colon carcinoma cells / Muhammad Zuhair Mohd Zain
No full textTelomerase is a ribonucleoprotein complex that adds TTAGGG tandem repeats to the 3’ end of the telomere facilitating cellular immortalization and tumorigenesis. The reverse transcriptase activity of telomerase is mainly due to its human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) subunits. Telomerase was found to be highly expressed in diverse cancer types of cancerous cells but remains silence in normal somatic cells making telomerase a viable therapeutic target in cancer treatment. In order to investigate the roles of hTERT downregulation in relation to global RNA expression, colorectal cancer cell lines HCT116 were transfected with short interference RNA (siRNA) targeting hTERT before being subjected to transcriptomic analysis using RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) technology. Transfection of TERT siRNA induced downregulation of hTERT at mRNA and protein level. Transcriptomic results revealed intricate transcriptomic responses arising from TERT siRNA transfection. 474 genes were identified to be present in both control and TERT-siRNA-transfected, with only 50 genes were identified as significantly differentially expressed genes (DEG). From 50 genes, 21 genes were upregulated and 29 genes were downregulated. According to Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery (DAVID), transfection of TERT siRNA induced changes of genes related to apoptotic process, transcription, post-translational modification, and signal transduction. TERT siRNA transfection has triggered downregulation of genes related to apoptosis. This is consistent with changes of genes related to transcription, post-translational modification, and signal transduction that is likely linked to cellular growth, proliferation, and progression. The changes in RNA marker suggested hTERT may play crucial role in regulating apoptosis and cellular proliferation
Microplastic abundance, composition and distribution on selected beaches, seafloor and in marine animals of Perhentian Islands, Terengganu / Lim Ying Wei
No full textSmall pieces of plastic with sizes less than 5mm is known as microplastic. Accidental intake of microplastic could disturb an organism’s digestive and hormone systems. Of all the landscapes, islands are especially vulnerable to microplastic pollution due to their distinctive geographical and meteorological characteristics. Perhentian Islands in Terengganu state of Peninsular Malaysia was chosen as the study site for microplastic research as it harbours diverse marine species and consistently receives high number of tourist arrival. This project studies microplastic abundance attached to beach and seafloor sediments, within Acropora spp. coral, and in randomly collected marine animal carcasses during both Southwest and Northeast Monsoon seasons. Overall, the distribution of microplastic did not differ much between Southwest and Northeast Monsoon seasons, with p-value more than 0.05 based on two-way ANOVA analysis. However, significant difference (p-value less than 0.05) was observed between the sampling stations, beach zones, types of microplastic (foam, fragment, line, film and pellet) and sizes of the microplastic. The distribution trend of microplastic in beach sediment, seafloor sediment, Acropora spp. and carcasses of marine animals were found to be closely related to the anthropogenic activities, on top of the oceanographic factors such as wind, water current and waves. Increased tourist arrival gave rise to escalated deposition of plastic debris on shore, as well as, elevated access to sewerage system that washed fibrous microplastic into water column. Between sampling sites, significant difference (p-value <0.05) was found in the total microplastic abundance collected from the beach sediment, primarily due to varied beach orientation, wind regime, source location, degradation process of plastic, coastal dynamic and sinking velocity of microplastic. For the type of microplastic, foam dominated in beach sediment (47-87% of total microplastic) while line occupied largest quantities in both seafloor sediment and Acropora spp.. Foam is relatively light-weighted and able to drift four times faster than fragment, line, film and pellet along the water current thus widely deposited on-shore especially at high tide zones and berm . Meanwhile, line constitutes more than 60% and 80% in both seafloor sediment and Acropora sp. respectively, owing to the input of sewerage system that washed the fibrous microplastic offshore. Apart from that, line was also the most abundant microplastic (65% of total microplastic) identified in marine animal samples (fishes, sea cucumber and squid). Most microplastic found from biological samples (Acropora spp. and animals) have the size ranging from 0.001mm to 0.09mm, which matched the normal sizes of their prey (the zooplankton). Therefore, major cause of microplastic ingestion is most likely due to properties of microplastic that highly resembled their prey, subsequently led to massive intake and retention of microplastic inside their body
The production and perception of English short and long vowels by Malay young learners / Raja Rosemawati Raja Abdullah
No full textThe present study aims to explore how young learners of English as a second language
produce English monophthongs and their ability to distinguish the short and long vowels.
10 Year 5 female pupils were selected, and this research focused on three English vowel
pairs: /ɪ/ - /i:/, /ʊ/ - /u:/ and /Ʌ/ - /ɑ:/. The first two research questions looked at the
production of these English vowels in terms of formant frequencies and duration. The last
research question investigated the ability of the speakers to discriminate English
monophthong in terms of accuracy and latency. The data were collected via two types of
instruments: the production and perception test. In the production test, the participants
were recorded reading six carrier sentences in three repetitions. The findings showed that
the /ʊ/ - /u:/ pair was the easiest to produce, with more difference in F1 and F2 values as
well as duration difference; while the /ɪ/ - /i:/ pair was the hardest among the three pairs
to be produced. In the perception test, participants underwent a listening test with 2AFC.
The participants distinguished the short and long vowels, and their accuracy and reaction
time were measured. The results indicated that the /ɪ/ - /i:/ pair was the most difficult to
discriminate, with more wrong answers recorded and the longer average time was
measured. In contrast, the /ʊ/ - /u:/ pair was the easiest to perceive, followed by /Ʌ/ - /ɑ:/
pair. Comparing the results of both tests, the order of the hardest vowels pair to produce
and perceive are as followed; /ɪ/ - /i:/, /Ʌ/ - /ɑ:/ and /ʊ/ - /u:/. The result agrees with what
perception-production link theory has claimed, confirming the relationship between
perception and production. The sound that can be perceived easily can also be produced
easily. The Speech Learning Model verified that the L2 sounds that are similar to their
L1 counterpart are harder to understand and Perceptual Assimilation Model suggested
that the L2 sound is assimilated to the most similar sound in L1. These findings help us
to understand how Malay young learners learned English vowels, by basing the L2 to L1
(Malay) vowels
A genre analysis of beauty and skincare postings by Malaysian influencers on Instagram / Chai Jian Mei
No full textWith the advent of social media, marketers now look at alternative ways to promote their products and services. Apart from traditional advertisements, it is becoming common for them to engage with Social Media Influencers (SMI) to generate electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM) pertaining to a product or service on social media platforms. Recognizing the diversification of promotional discourse, this study examines social media Instagram as a potential artefact that is compatible with traditional advertisement in fulfilling promotional purposes. Data comprises 50 Instagram posts featuring 10 local SMIs and the beauty and skincare products that they endorse. It adopts a multi-faceted approach involving Kathpalia’s (1992) nine move structure for straight line advertisements, Martin and White’s (2005) Appraisal Theory and Kress and Van Leeuwen’s (1996, 2006) Grammar of Visual Analysis. At the macro level, analysis is focused on unravelling the presence of moves that help realise the communicative purpose of the discourse, while at the micro level, analysis is revolved around interactional meaning.
Findings at the macro level showed that there is a total of nine moves alongside ten sub-moves exhibited by SMIs when generating their respective promotional posts on Instagram. These moves subsequently form the move structure of Instagram posts by SMIs to fulfill three communicative purposes, which are i) to capture the attention of the targeted audience and to inform them of the launch of a new product or service, ii) to persuade targeted audience to purchase the newly launched item and iii) to generate a desired Call-to-Action (CTA). Meanwhile, analysis at the micro textual level have also revealed that SMIs opted for lexical items that are engaging and persuasive when promoting products that they endorsed on Instagram. These include lexical items that deal with Un/happiness, Valuation, Infused Intensification and Isolated quantification – all to fulfil the communicative purpose of the understudied discourse. Finally, visual analysis involving the Interpersonal Meta-Function has revealed that SMIs usually present themselves in a closed, direct contact and eye-level image coupled with oblique views to enhance their appeal and subsequently form a close relationship with their audience. Apart from serving its primary purpose in forming a relationship with the audience, these images generated by SMIs also played its additional role in realizing some of the moves that eventually fulfil the promotional purposes of Instagram posts.
This study contributes towards offering insights to marketers on the effective use of Instagram in fulfilling promotional purposes. It also serves as a contribution towards the genre studies by providing scholars and academicians alike a better understanding on how new, innovative discourse such as Social Media Instagram is utilised in the modern days to achieve its communicative purpose
Perception of students and insructors on the impacts of gamification on motivation and teamwork among Pharmacy students by using Kahoot! / Nadia Inez Junazli
No full textThere is an increased used of game-based student response system (GSRS) such as
Quizziz and Kahoot! in Malaysian Pharmacy Schools where it has become a tool to
increase motivation, engagement and facilitate collaborative learning. Although it is
widely used in pharmacy schools across government and private Universities in
Malaysia, there is little evidence to understand pharmacy students and their instructor’s
perceptions and experiences on using Kahoot! in pharmacy subjects such as
pharmaceutics and pharmacology. This qualitative study adopted a phenomenological
approach to evaluate students’ and instructors’ experiences through in-depth interview
sessions(N=11) to understand their change of attitude, experience, and perception of
Kahoot! in terms of motivation and teamwork. This research contributes to the
literature by providing an insight into students’ and instructors’ perceived value,
usefulness, and overall experience of Kahoot! though qualitative data analysis. The
highest influence reported on increased motivation, classroom engagement, teamwork
spirit and enhanced learning experience by the students and this is consistent with
available literature. Although Kahoot! helped students during revisions and preparing
for final examinations, the effect on academic performance was not significant and
unknown, The outcome of this study provides an opportunity for gamified educational
platforms such as Kahoot to be incorporated as part of the teaching pedagogy to sustain
students’ attention, focus, engagement and participation and teamwork spirit in
addition to an enjoyable learning experience of pharmacy students in Malaysian
Universities
Prevalence of neurophobia and its related perceptions on neurology among junior doctors in Malaysia / Nor Azam Ismail
No full textThe phenomenon of neurophobia, which is described as the fear of neurological
subjects, is not well studied among Malaysian doctors. The aim of the study was to
determine the prevalence of neurophobia among Malaysian junior doctors, to determine
the perceived level of interest, knowledge, confidence and phobia in Neurology, to
assess the association and prediction between different demographic backgrounds of
the junior doctors, reasons for Neurology being perceived as a difficult subject, and
perceived usefulness of different methods of learning neurology on their perceived
difficulty of neurology.
The study employed an online, questionnaire-based data collection method
distributed among junior doctors through various social media platforms. Descriptive,
Chi-square, and binomial logistic regression analyses of the results showed that among
389 junior doctors surveyed, 76.3% had neurophobia. Nine factors; Gender
(X2
(1)=20.439, p<0.001), perceived level of interest (X2
(1)=14.044, p <0.001),
perceived level of knowledge (X2
(1)=24.659, p <0.001), perceived level of phobia
(X2
(1)=11.637, p =0.001), perceived level of confidence (X2
(1)=26.857, p <0.001),
neurology's reputation as a difficult subject (X2
(1)=16.553, p <0.001), neurology
covers such a large number of diagnoses (X2
(1)=12.971, p <0.001), textbooks
(X2
(1)=6.241, p=0.012) were statistically significant factor associated with perceiving
neurology as a difficult subject.
Eight predictors were identified for perceiving neurology as a difficult subject:
Females (OR=0.318, p<0.000, 95% CI 0.173-0.582), twinning undergraduate training
(OR=0.316, p=0.009, 95% CI 0.133-0.749), perceiving neurology's reputation as a
iv
difficult subject as an important reason (OR=0.401, p=0.005, 95% CI 0.211-0.762),
perceiving neurology covers a large number of diagnoses as an important reason
(OR=0.325, p=0.002, 95% CI 0.162 - 0.653), scoring peer learning as useful
(OR=0.281, p=0.012, 95% CI 0.104 - 0.757), perceived good knowledge of neurology
(OR=5.897, p=0.01, 95% CI 1.521-22.859), those interested in neurology (OR=2.697,
p=0.027, 95% CI 1.118-6.508), and having confidence in managing complicated
neurology cases (OR=2.660, p=0.002, 95% CI 1.434-4.933). The results obtained differ
from other studies on neurophobia, and more studies are required to understand the
phenomenon better