38 research outputs found
Effects of salinity stress on carbohydrate metabolism in Cryptocoryne elliptica cultures
No full textSalinity limits water availability in plants, and lead to osmotic stress. Soluble carbohydrate or sugar plays crucial roles as osmolytes in salinity stress by regulating osmotic adjustment and carbon storage in plants. The involvement of salt in the biosynthesis and degradation of starch and sucrose in plants is poorly understood. In the present study, effect of salinity levels on the activity of main enzymes involved in carbohydrate metabolism was investigated. An aquatic plant, Cryptocoryne elliptica plantlets was challenged with salinity levels at 100 and 200 mM of NaCl for five weeks. Results showed that the salinity stress had decreased the plantlet growth and the activity of glucosidase and galactosidase enzymes. Under salinity conditions, the starch content, the activity of amylase, invertase, hexokinase and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase enzymes were significantly increased during the recovery phase of salinity stress. Salinity conditions had no significant effects on the phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase activity. These results suggest that C. elliptica regulates carbohydrate metabolism under salinity conditions, and has moderate response towards sodium ion, Na+ in the culture medium
Determining the ranking of shariah-compliant stocks in the healthcare sector by using grey relational analysis models / Ahmad Nazirul Iman Ahmad Mihafizuddin, Fatin Nur Azmina Ab Aziz and Nadia Izzati Azmi @ Ibrahim
No full textThe growing population of Muslims around the world, including Malaysia, has led to an increase in demand for Shariah-compliant financial products, especially Islamic stocks. The Covid-19 outbreak which started to spread starting in early 2020 has caused uncertainty in the stock market especially in the healthcare sector. Recently, the healthcare sector industry is growing rapidly due to the drastic increase in various products such as gloves, face masks, medicines and vitamins. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to rank the performance of 14 Shariah-compliant stocks in the healthcare sector listed in the Bursa Malaysia using various Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) models. The Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) models used in the study involving models from Deng’s (0.5), Deng’s (1.0), Wu’s and Wen’s models. A sample of data of stock prices from 2017 until 2021 are obtained from 14 main companies. The results consistently show that TMCLIFE is the highest performing stock despite utilizing various GRA models with different distinguishing coefficients. In addition, the outputs from the Spearman’s rank correlation indicates that Deng’s (0.5) is the best method to evaluate the performance of the Shariah-compliant healthcare stocks. Practically, the findings of this can help investors in making investment decisions
Child-report and parent-report of health-related quality of life among 9-11 years old obese school children in Terengganu, Malaysia
No full textNoise exposure among maintenance crews of C130H aircraft lead to the hearing impairment
No full textto produce noise mappingto identify hearing status of C130H aircraft maintenance crews (MC)and suggesting the noise control measure that can be applied. A field survey on noise level by using a digital sound level meter and producing noise mapping. A hearing testing among 63 MC was carried out in Institute of Aviation Medicine, Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF). Reviewing the literature and analyzing some control measures to be taken. Hearing test result shown 41.2% of the MC are having hearing impairment. The highest noise level at the central of the hangar is 92.2 dBA (day-time) and 94.2 dBA (night-time) when there is a C130H aircraft starting its engine at 50 meters from the central of the hangar, 95.3 dBA (day-time) and 97.3 dBA (night-time) when there is a C130H aircraft Engine Ground Run at 150 meters from the central of the hangar. Besides, Auxiliary Power Unit is producing the highest noise level which is 125.7 dBA (day-time) and 127.7 dBA (night-time). The application of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is the very likely control measure to be taken while engineering control is very costly but can be considered. Since noise is recognized as a hazard, hearing protection as PPE will not be the ultimate solution as a control measure. Hence, the Engineering Control must be identified and studied to be implemented as an ultimate solution to control the noise hazard in long term duration
Electrochemical properties of polymer electrolytes treated with 6PPD on 30% poly(methyl methacrylate) grafted natural rubber
No full textMechanism of anti-cancer activity of (z)-3-hydroxy-1-(2-hydroxyphenyl)-3-phenylprop–2–en-1-one (DK1) in human osteosarcoma cells and subchronic toxicity evaluation in BALB/C mice
No full textOsteosarcoma (OS) is an aggressive bone cancer that arises from malignant transformation of mesenchymal cells and predominantly diagnosed among children. Poor prognosis of OS patient is due to the capability of this cancer to proliferate uncontrollably and metastasize, leading to reduction of the 5 years survival rate of patients. Even with intensive treatment, the patients’ survival rate will drop significantly to 30% if diagnosed with malignant OS. Commonly prescribed chemotherapy drug like doxorubicin exhibits adverse effects including cardiotoxicity, mucositis and myelosuppression. Therefore, discovery of potential anti-cancer agent that derived from natural products and pharmacologically safe for human consumption is imperative. Curcumin is a natural polyphenolic component that is isolated from turmeric and possess wide spectrum of pharmacological benefits including anti-proliferative, anti-metastasis, antiangiogenesis as well as has an excellent safety profile. However, natural curcumin reportedly has poor cellular uptake, leading to the development of synthetically synthesized curcuminoid analog, namely (Z)-3-hydroxy-1-(2- hydroxyphenyl)-3phenylprop–2–en-1-one (DK1). The aims for this study are to assess the safety of DK1 in BALB/c mice model and to determine the anti-cancer potential of DK1 by evaluating the cytotoxicity effects, apoptosis induction as well as metastasis inhibition in both U-2 OS and MG-63 human osteosarcoma cell lines. Additionally, this study also focused on the anti-cancer mechanism induced by DK1 and to assess the expression of regulatory long non-coding RNA in human osteosarcoma cell lines. Subchronic toxicity study revealed that DK1 did not cause any toxicity effects on BALB/c mice, proven by no significant (p<0.05) alteration in the biochemical analysis, organ to body weight ratio as well as no apparent physical signs of toxicity on the organs histology. The 3-(4,5- dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) cell viability assay manifested that DK1 has successfully inhibited the proliferation of U-2 OS and MG-63 osteosarcoma cell lines with the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) at 19.6 ± 0.3 μM and 23.8 ± 0.8 μM respectively without interfering the proliferation of the normal cells. To examine the morphological signs of cell death induced by the DK1, AO/PI double staining assay was performed and subsequently followed by Annexin V/FITC and cell cycle flow cytometry analysis in order to further confirm that DK1 induced cell death via apoptosis. Cell cycle analysis verified that DK1 induced apoptosis as depicted by the accumulation at Sub G0/G1 phase that was substantially (p<0.05) increased in both osteosarcoma cell lines. In this study, DK1 also exhibited an anti-metastatic potential by impeding the cell motility of U-2 OS and MG-63 osteosarcoma cell lines, as shown by the finding that the percentage of cell migration were significantly (p<0.05) decreased to 37.2 ± 7.4% and 3.5 ± 0.2 % respectively. A substantial (p<0.05) reduction in the percentage of migrated and invaded cells also can be observed in both cell lines where reduction from 100% to 44.4 ± 3.6% and 61.6 ± 1.4% was observed respectively. Additionally, DK1 also possessed an anti-angiogenic potential that was proven by the finding that the percentage of tube formation and microvessels sprouting were significantly (p<0.05) reduced. From the microarray analysis several cancer pathways such as PI3K/Akt, MAPK, NF-κB, P53 and cell cycle were successfully modulated by the DK1. In addition, DK1 also significantly (p<0.05) regulated the expression of several characterized long non-coding RNA namely HOTAIR, TUG1 and GAS5 as well as uncharacterized long non-coding RNA such as lnc-CETP-1, lnc- LOXL1-1, lnc-UBLCP1-1, and lncC17orf62-3 in both human osteosarcoma cell lines. In conclusion, DK1 could be considered as a potential candidate for anticancer therapy in near future since it was able to induce apoptosis, inhibit metastasis and regulate the lncRNA expression in osteosarcoma cell lines as well as did not exert any toxicity effects on the tested mice model in similar to natural curcumin
Statistical Modelling And Optimization Of Input Process Parameters Variations In Silicon-On-Insulator MOSFET Device
No full textThe steady miniaturization of the conventional (planar bulk) Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (MOSFET) has been effective in providing continual improvements in integrated circuit performance. However, increased leakage current and variability in transistor performance are the major challenges for continued scaling of bulk Si MOSFET technology. Therefore, Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology has been recognized as an effective approach to mitigate the short-channel effect (SCE) problems. SOI technology allows optimum electrical characteristics to be obtained for low power and high performance circuits. In this research, the impact of the process parameters such as halo implantation energy, halo implantation dose, Source/Drain implantation Dose, and Source/Drain (S/D) implantation energy on the response characteristics for the NMOS and PMOS SOI MOSFET devices were investigated. The virtual fabrication of the device was performed using ANTHENA module while the device electrical characteristics . were simulated using ATLAS module. ANTHENA and ATLAS are the modules contained in Silvaco TCAD software. These two modules were combined with an appropriate statistical method to aid in designing and optimizing the process parameters. In the optimization of the process parameter variations towards the multiple device's characteristics of SOI MOSFET devices, Taguchi method and 2k factorial designs were used. The performance between these two methods in the NMOS and PMOS SOI MOSFET device was evaluated. Based on the observation, it was found that the results given by the Taguchi method were more accurate than 2k Factorial designs due to the presence of noise factors. In PMOS device, the most dominant or .significant factors for SIN Ratio were Halo implantation dose and S/D implantation energy. While the SIN Ratio values after the optimization approach for VTH, SS, IoFF and loN were 91.27dB, -39.37dB, 335.68dB and -80.16dB respectively. Meanwhile, for NMOS, the most dominant or significant factor for SIN Ratio was S/D implantation energy. The SIN ratio values after the optimization approach for VTH, SS, loFF and IoN were 53.64dB, -38.60dB, 234.86dB and 54.70dB respectively . All these values were within the predicted range. In PMOS device, the results showed that the VTH, SS, loFF and IoN after optimization approaches were -0.573V, 92.95mV/dec, 26.04x10- 18A/µm and 98.19µA/µm respectively. For NMOS device, the values of VTH, SS, IoFF and IoN after optimization approaches were +0.546V, 85.08mV/dec, 2.034pA/µm and 344.l 7µA/µm respectively. Most of the results obtained were within the range and met the requirement of low power (LP) technology for the year 2016 as predicted by International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductor (ITRS) 2013. As a conclusion, the design of NMOS and PMOS SOI MOSFET has successfully been created and through the Taguchi method, the optimal solution for the robust design of the devices has successfully been achieved
