Authenticity testing and detection of Eurycoma longifolia in commercial herbal products using bar-high resolution melting analysis

The present study demonstrated High Resolution Melting (HRM) analysis combined with DNA barcode (Bar-HRM) as a fast and highly sensitive technique for detecting adulterants in Eurycoma longifolia commercial herbal products. Targeting the DNA barcoding of the chloroplastic region-ribulose biphosphate carboxylase large chain (rbcL) and the nuclear ribosomal region-internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2), PCR amplification and HRM analysis using saturated Eva green dye as the source of fluorescence signals, was accomplished by employing a real-time cycler. The results were further validated by sequencing to identify unknown sequence from Genbank database and to generate phylogenetic tree using neighbour joint (NJ) analysis. Both of the DNA markers exhibited a distinguishable melting temperature and shape of the normalised curve between the reference and the adulterants. In the case of species identification, ITS2 was more successful in differentiating between species. Additionally, detection of admixture sample containing small traces of targeted E. longifolia DNA (w/v) can be detected as low as 5% for rbcL and less than 1% for ITS2, proving the sensitivity and versatility of the HRM analysis. In conclusion, the Bar-HRM analysis is a fast and reliable technique that can effectively detect adulterants in herbal products. Therefore, this will be beneficial for regulatory agencies in order to regulate food safety issues

Histopathological and cholinesterase changes in the gills of Clarias gariepinus as a result of cadmium exposure

Aim : The cholinesterase (ChE) based inhibition and histopathological studies from fish were investigated and represented in this study to develop as one of the great potential biomarkers for heavy metals monitoring. Methodology : In this study, the histopathological study of gills were observed a under microscope. The capability of ChE extracted from the gills of Clarias gariepinus was assessed for declining Cd. ChE was purified through affinity chromatography and continued with the optimisation and inhibition study (IC50) of cholinesterase. Results : Histopathological study of gills was carried out and several changes such as aneurysm, necrosis and lamella fusion were noted. Purification fold obtained from purified enzyme was 1.15 with 30% a yield specific activity 20.726. The optimum temperature for purified AChE was 35°C along with acetylthiocholine iodide (ATC) as a preferable substrate that had the highest Vmax value of 0.5452 U mg'1 and the lowest Km value of 0.0311 mM. The optimum pH was observed to be 10 of Tris-HCl as a medium. Meanwhile, the IC50 of cadmium was 6.808 mg ľ with R2 value of 0.9532. Interpretation : The result of the study can be used as a tool for further developing a biomarker for the detection of heavy metals in aquatic ecosystems. In addition, the baseline data provided can also be used for designing a kit, which would give rapid and accurate result

Incident type 2 diabetes attributable to suboptimal diet in 184 countries

The global burden of diet-attributable type 2 diabetes (T2D) is not well established. This risk assessment model estimated T2D incidence among adults attributable to direct and body weight-mediated effects of 11 dietary factors in 184 countries in 1990 and 2018. In 2018, suboptimal intake of these dietary factors was estimated to be attributable to 14.1 million (95% uncertainty interval (UI), 13.814.4 million) incident T2D cases, representing 70.3% (68.871.8%) of new cases globally. Largest T2D burdens were attributable to insufficient whole-grain intake (26.1% (25.027.1%)), excess refined rice and wheat intake (24.6% (22.327.2%)) and excess processed meat intake (20.3% (18.323.5%)). Across regions, highest proportional burdens were in central and eastern Europe and central Asia (85.6% (83.487.7%)) and Latin America and the Caribbean (81.8% (80.183.4%)); and lowest proportional burdens were in South Asia (55.4% (52.160.7%)). Proportions of diet-attributable T2D were generally larger in men than in women and were inversely correlated with age. Diet-attributable T2D was generally larger among urban versus rural residents and higher versus lower educated individuals, except in high-income countries, central and eastern Europe and central Asia, where burdens were larger in rural residents and in lower educated individuals. Compared with 1990, global diet-attributable T2D increased by 2.6 absolute percentage points (8.6 million more cases) in 2018, with variation in these trends by world region and dietary factor. These findings inform nutritional priorities and clinical and public health planning to improve dietary quality and reduce T2D globally. (c) 2023, The Author(s)

Children's and adolescents' rising animal-source food intakes in 1990-2018 were impacted by age, region, parental education and urbanicity

Animal-source foods (ASF) provide nutrition for children and adolescents physical and cognitive development. Here, we use data from the Global Dietary Database and Bayesian hierarchical models to quantify global, regional and national ASF intakes between 1990 and 2018 by age group across 185 countries, representing 93% of the worlds child population. Mean ASF intake was 1.9 servings per day, representing 16% of children consuming at least three daily servings. Intake was similar between boys and girls, but higher among urban children with educated parents. Consumption varied by age from 0.6 at <1 year to 2.5 servings per day at 1519 years. Between 1990 and 2018, mean ASF intake increased by 0.5 servings per week, with increases in all regions except sub-Saharan Africa. In 2018, total ASF consumption was highest in Russia, Brazil, Mexico and Turkey, and lowest in Uganda, India, Kenya and Bangladesh. These findings can inform policy to address malnutrition through targeted ASF consumption programmes. (c) 2023, The Author(s)

Scientific Validation of Three-Dimensional Stereophotogrammetry Compared to the IGAIS Clinical Scale for Assessing Wrinkles and Scars after Laser Treatment

Measuring outcomes from treatments to the skin is either reliant upon patient’s subjective feedback or scale-based peer assessments. Three-Dimensional stereophotogrammetry intend to accurately quantify skin microtopography before and after treatments. The objective of this study is comparing the accuracy of stereophotogrammetry with a scale-based peer evaluation in assessing topographical changes to skin surface following laser treatment. A 3D stereophotogrammetry system photographed skin surface of 48 patients with facial wrinkles or scars before and three months after laser resurfacing, followed immediately by topical application of vitamin C. The software measured changes in skin roughness, wrinkle depth and scar volume. Images were presented to three observers, each independently scoring cutaneous improvement according to Investigator Global Aesthetic Improvement Scale (IGAIS). As for the results, a trend reflecting skin/scar improvement was reported by 3D SPM measurements and raters. The percentage of topographical change given by the raters matched 3D SPM findings. Agreement was highest when observers analysed 3D images. However, observers overestimated skin improvement in a nontreatment control whilst 3D SPM was precise in detecting absence of intervention. This study confirmed a direct correlation between the IGAIS clinical scale and 3D SPM and confirmed the efficacy and accuracy of the latter when assessing cutaneous microtopography alterations as a response to laser treatment

Differential ceramic shell thickness evaluation for direct rapid investment casting

Rapid prototyping (RP) process offers a promising economical way as a sacrificial pattern in investment casting (IC) at high speed and low cost for low volume part manufacturing. However direct sacrificial RP pattern have encountered shell cracking during burnout process due to polymer based materials. Shell mould thickness was need to be concerned to have strong enough to withstand RP part expansion for employing direct method. The aim of present research was to compare the efficacy of different shell thickness for aluminum casting part fabricated from acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and acrylate based material made from FDM and MJM respectively. The hollow RP pattern has been used directly to produce ceramic moulds. The feasibility of ceramic mould has been assessed in term of burnout ability and crack defect. Dimensional accuracies and surface roughness of the castings part have been observed in this investigation. Result shows thicker mould with proposed stuco procedure resulted without any crack defect for botRP part and no residual ash remained when firing higher than 870°C of temperature.In addition, FDM produced better accuracy for overall mould thickness, but MJM have better surface roughness. Therefore both direct RP pattern were suitable to be used in IC process with proposed shell thickness

A Finite State Machine Fall Detection Using Quadrilateral Shape Features

A video-based fall detection system was presented; which consists of data acquisition, image processing, feature extraction, feature selection, classification and finite state machine. A two-dimensional human posture image was represented by 12 features extracted from the generalisation of a silhouette shape to a quadrilateral. The corresponding feature vectors for three groups of human pose were statistically analysed by using a non-parametric Kruskal Wallis test to assess the different significance level between them. From the statistical test, non-significant features were discarded. Four selected kernel-based Support Vector Machine: linear, quadratics, cubic and Radial Basis Function classifiers were trained to classify three human posture groups. Among four classifiers, the last one performed the best in terms of performance matric on testing set. The classifier outperformed others with high achievement ofaverage sensitivity, precision and F-score of 99.19%, 99.25% and 99.22%, respectively. Such pose classification model output was further used in a simple finite state machine to trigger the falling event alarms. The fall detection system was tested on different fall video sets and able to detect the presence offalling events in a frame sequence of videos with accuracy of 97.32% and low computional time

Comparative structural performance of diagrid and bracing system in mitigation of lateral displacement

The design of high rise building with more than 10 stories is controlled by lateral drift which increases the cost rapidly with the number of stories. Recently, the diagrid structural system has emerged and in fact has been widely used for high rise buildings. How effective is a diagrid system in mitigating the lateral displacement of a high rise building? Thus, the objective of this research is to compare the lateral displacement of high rise building that adopts diagrid system with those that use X-bracing and frame system, due to wind. This research also explored the effect of using diagrid, X-bracing and frame system to the natural frequency of high rise building. Two diagrid systems which are 60°-diagrid and 80°-diagrid that has an angle of inclination of 60 degrees and 80 degrees, respectively, were studied. STAAD Pro software was used to analyse twelve building models to determine the lateral displacement due to wind load and the natural frequency in the along wind, across wind and torsional directions. Building with 80°-diagrid has the least lateral displacement, followed by buildings with the X-bracing, 60°-diagrid and frame for 40 and 60 storey buildings. Further study showed that X-bracing became the most effective system to lower the lateral displacement compared with the diagrid and frame when the number of storey of the building exceeds 71 storeys. Natural frequency was not affected by the different systems used except for torsional natural frequency that increased substantially by the use of 60°-diagrid