The effect of Etlingera elatior (Kantan) inflorescene aqueous extract on abberant crypy foci in Sprague dawley rats

This study investigated the effect of Kantan flowers (Etlingera elatior) aqueous extract on aberrant crypt foci (ACF) in Spraque dawley rats. They were divided into 8 groups; four groups each for cancer and normal. The rats were fed with respective concentrations of the flower extractions according to their groups. At the 17th week, the rats were sacrificed. The colons were removed and examined grossly and microscopically followed by scoring of aberrant crypt foci. Result showed no significant difference (p> 0.05) in the body weight increment,colon weight and colon pH among all groups also in the aberrant crypt foci (ACF) scores in proximal colon of cancer groups as well as in distal colon. Besides that, comparison between ACF score of proximal and distal colon using ANOVA and posthoc test revealed no significant differences (p> 0.05) in the ACF numbers between proximal and distal colon of rats. Histological result showed that no abnormal structures were seen in crypts of normal treatment groups Etlingera elatior inflorescence aqueous extract did not have significant effect in reducing aberrant crypt foci formation in Sprague dawley rats

Familial and Socio-Environmental Predictors of Obesity Among School Children in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur

A cross-sectional study was carried out to determine the familial and socio-environmental predictors of obesity among 1430 primary school children aged 9-12 years-old (mean age = 10.3 ± 0.8 years) in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur (Klang Valley). Body mass index (BMI) was used as a measure of obesity. Subjects were invited to complete a self-administered questionnaire, including Child Feeding Questionnaire (CFQ) and Determinants of Adolescent Social Well-being and Health (DASH). Besides, body mass index (BMI) was used as a measure of obesity. The respondents comprised of 41.5% of males and 58.4% female children encompassed 56.3% Malay, 25.6% Chinese, 16.6% Indian and 1.4% Others. A total of 17.9% (293) were overweight while 16.0% (263) were obese. More females (10%) than males (7.9%) were found to be overweight. However more males (9.0%) than females (7.0%) were obese. Familial factors were measured and most parents perceived their weight (53.1%) and their child’s weight (57.1%) to be balanced. Parents were also responsible for feeding their child (10.1 ± 2.1), concern of child’s weight status (7.5 ± 2.6), highly restrict child’s eating (11.4 ± 2.3), moderately pressure child to eat (6.4 ± 1.8), highly encourage healthy eating and physical activity (9.2 ± 1.1), and moderately makes sugar dense foods and vegetables available at home (15.9 ± 2.8; 9.2 ± 1.5). Parent’s and children dietary intake was found to be similar respectively: fruits and vegetables (19.5 ± 3.1; 18.2 ± 3.6), meat (8.6 ± 1.4; 8.5 ± 1.6), fast food (5.8 ± 0.9; 5.5 ± 1.0), snack (8.3 ± 1.7; 7.7 ± 1.8) and sweet drinks (5.7 ± 1.2; 5.6 ± 1.2) consumption. Children’s physical activity (16.5 ± 3.7) was reported to be higher than parent’s physical activity involvement (13.0 ± 3). Socio-environment factors were also measured where parent’s moderately perceived their neighbourhood to be safe (14.8 ± 3.1) and most neighbourhood were reported to only have fields as recreational facilities (1.6 ± 1.0). A significant association between child’s weight status and parents weight status was found (χ2= 204, p=0.015). The relationship was positive between children’s BMI and parent’s BMI (r=0.129, p ≤ 0.01). Other familial factor positively correlated with children’s BMI were concern about child’s weight (r=0.125, p ≤ 0.01) and restriction (r= 0.057, p ≤ 0.05). However, pressure to eat (r= -0.135, p ≤ 0.01) on children was negatively associated with children’s BMI. Socio-environmental factors were measured to look at the relationship with children’s BMI. Neighbourhood safety perception (r= -0.053, p ≤ 0.05) was negatively correlated with children’s BMI. Logistic regression reported the risk of overweight and obese in children was found among female children (OR=0.538; 95% CI = 0.421, 0.687), parents of increasing BMI (OR=1.055; 95%=1.028, 1.082), parent’s of increasing concern about child’s weight (OR=1.082; 95%= 1.030; 1.127), increasing practice of restriction (OR=1.059; 95%= 0.999; 1.123), increasing pressure to eat (OR=0.857; 95% = 0.801-0.916) and decreasing neighbourhood safety perception of parents (OR=0.951; 95% =0.913; 0.990). Information from this study recommends that parents should be informed of the importance of familial and socio-environmental influence on child’s weight status and intervention programs should mainly focus on educating parents on these areas of influence on the child

An Integrated Web-based System for MEDLINE Analysis: A Case Study of Chronic Kidney Disease

In the era of big data, medical researchers attempt to utilize some analysis techniques like machine learning and text mining on their large-scale corpora to save valuable labor work and time. Consequently, many data analysis platforms are built to support medical professionals such as Pubtator, GeneWays, BioContext, etc. These platforms are helpful to medical entities recognition and relation extraction, but there is not an integrated platform to support researchers’ various needs, and medical projects are isolated from each other, which is hard to be shared and reused. As a result, we present an integrated system containing ‘name entity recognition’, ‘document categorization’ and ‘association extraction’. Besides, we add the concept of ‘socialization’ making projects reusable for further analyses. A case study of chronic kidney disease was adopted to indicate the effectiveness of the proposed system

Picky Eating Behaviour, Feeding Practices, Dietary Habits, Weight Status and Cognitive Function Among School Children in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Introduction: Picky eating behaviour was linked to nutritional problems due to limited dietary variety. This study aimed to determine the causes and consequences associated with picky eating behaviour among school-aged children in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Methods: A total of 339 children aged seven to nine years participated in this cross-sectional study. Socio-demographic factors, eating behaviours and child/ parental feeding style were assessed through parent’s questionnaires, while eating habits of children were accessed through child’s questionnaire. Body height and weight were measured; body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Cognitive function level was determined using the Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices test. Results: One third (38%) of the children were picky eaters and consumed lesser vegetables (χ2 =4.49,p=0.034) and fish (χ2 =5.55,p=0.019), but more milk and dairy products (χ2 =3.91,p=0.048), snacks (χ2 =6.25,p=0.012) and fast food (χ2 =7.35,p=0.007) compared to non-picky eaters. Picky eaters were more likely to have normal weight status based on weight-for-age, height-for-age and BMI-for-age compared to non-picky eaters (p<0.05). Picky eaters came from a household with other picky eaters in the family and their parents tend to use an instrumental feeding style. Picky eaters had a poorer cognitive function compared to non-picky eaters (p=0.03). Conclusion: We did not find significant differences in growth parameters between picky and non-picky eaters but picky eaters were more likely to have a poorer cognitive function. As parental feeding styles significantly influenced children’s eating behaviour, interventions should target parents to improve their children’s dietary variety

Knowledge, attitude and perception on climate change and dietary choices in a predominantly Chinese university students population in Klang Valley

Climate change is a public health threat that is aggravated by the food supply chain. A dietary shift to climate-friendly foods is a feasible strategy to mitigate it. This study aimed to investigate the associations between knowledge, attitude, perception towards climate change, and barriers to climate-friendly foods with dietary choices of university students in Klang Valley. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 303 Malaysian university students (71.9% Chinese) aged 18 to 30 years in Klang Valley, by using Google form to assess knowledge, attitude, perception towards climate change, barriers to climate-friendly food, and climate-friendly dietary choices. The average climate-friendly diet score (CFDS) was 0.36±2.21, with a significantly higher CFDS among females than males (p=0.012). The majority of them were having good knowledge (76.6%), a good attitude (66.3%), and a moderate level of perception (62.0%) towards climate change. About two-thirds of them reported social media as the main (63.0%) and preferred (63.7%) sources to receive information about climate change. Through multiple linear regression, barriers to climate-friendly food choices (β=-0.084; p<0.001) significantly contributed to climate-friendly dietary choices (F=4.215; p<0.001), whereby 14.9% of the variances were climate-friendly dietary choices of university students. Findings could be incorporated into dietary education to tackle barriers to climate-friendly foods among university students

Effect of jet velocity on crystal size distribution from antisolvent and cooling crystallizations in a dual impinging jet mixer

A B S T R A C T In the pharmaceutical industry, good control of the crystal size distribution (CSD) can improve process efficiency and formulation of the drug product. An effective method to continuously generate small crystals of narrow size distribution for some drug/solvent systems is by using a dual-impinging jet (DIJ) mixer. This paper demonstrates the first use of a DIJ mixer combining cooling and antisolvent crystallization to generate crystals with a typical pharmaceutical solubility. In a confined Y-shaped DIJ mixer by this approach, product crystals are obtained with smaller sizes and aspect ratios than a conventional batch process. We also quantify the relationships between the particle size, distribution width, and distribution modality on the inlet jet velocity. This combination of cooling and antisolvent crystallization may widen the application of DIJ mixers for the generation of small uniform pharmaceutical crystals

Granzyme G is expressed in the two-cell stage mouse embryo and is required for the maternal-zygotic transition

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Detailed knowledge of the molecular and cellular mechanisms that direct spatial and temporal gene expression in pre-implantation embryos is critical for understanding the control of the maternal-zygotic transition and cell differentiation in early embryonic development. In this study, twenty-three clones, expressed at different stages of early mouse development, were identified using differential display reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (DDRT-PCR). One of these clones, which is expressed in 2-cell stage embryos at 48 hr post-hCG injection, shows a perfect sequence homology to the gene encoding the granzyme G protein. The granzyme family members are serine proteases that are present in the secretory granules of cytolytic T lymphocytes. However, the pattern of granzyme G expression and its function in early mouse embryos are entirely unknown.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Upon the introduction of an antisense morpholino (2 mM) against granzyme G to knock-down endogenous gene function, all embryos were arrested at the 2- to 4-cell stages of egg cleavage, and the <it>de novo </it>synthesis of zygotic RNAs was decreased. The embryonic survival rate was dramatically decreased at the late 2-cell stage when serine protease-specific inhibitors, 0.1 mM 3,4-dichloroisocoumarin (3,4-DCI), and 2 mM phenyl methanesulphonyl fluoride (PMSF), were added to the <it>in vitro </it>embryonic culture medium. Survival was not affected by the addition of 0.5 mM EDTA, a metalloproteinase inhibitor.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We characterized for the first time the expression and function of <it>granzyme G </it>during early stage embryogenesis. Our data suggest that granzyme G is an important factor in early mouse embryonic development and may play a novel role in the elimination of maternal proteins and the triggering of zygotic gene expression during the maternal-zygotic transition.</p