Membangun Program Komunitas Wirausaha Siswa melalui Pendidikan Berorientasi Kerja

The community services purposes was to establish the work-oriented school community program and prepared the volunteers as trainer for digital design Corel draw and photoshop as well as the training of producing any souvenir made by shellfish shells in order to build a work-oriented education program in the Senior high school community and strengthen the students\u27 entrepreneur skills in two State Senior High School 12 and 13 Padang. This Community-Based Research approach involved two state senior high school students in Padang City. The result of the services showed that the program of community-based research plays an important role in realizing the work-oriented education program by strengthening the local industrial contents and extracurricular activities of entrepreneurship training in the schools. It could be seen from the improvement of students\u27 skill in the creative business of digital design and souvenir products made by shellfish as well as increasing student\u27s spirit for directly involving in the activities of entrepreneurship in their school. Follow up these activities should strengthen the cooperation among another school in West Sumatra to have the graduates of ready to work and ready to be entrepreneur indirectly help the government to reduce the educated unemployment in West Sumatra as well

The inhibitory effect of Curcuma longa extract on telomerase activity in A549 lung cancer cell line

Telomerase is reactivated in lung cancer cells, the most prevalent cancer worldwide, but not normal cells. Therefore, targeting it, preferably with natural compounds derive from medicinal plant such as curcumin, could have important effect on treatment of lung cancer. Curcumin, derived from Curcuma longa rhizome, has many anti-cancer activities. Therefore, the main objective of current work was to study inhibitory effect of C. longa total extract on telomerase in A549 lung cancer cell line as in vitro model of lung cancer. First, total extract of C. longa were prepared by n-hexane, methanol and dichloromethane. Then, cytotoxic effect of n-hexane phase was studied on A549 lung cancer cell line with 24, 48 and 72 h MTT assays. Finally, after determination of IC50, cells were treated with n-hexane extract and TRAP (Telomeric Repeat Amplification Protocol) assay was done to measure amount of relative telomerase inhibition by the extract. Data analysis showed that n-hexane extract of C. longa has dose-dependent cytotoxic effect on A549 lung cancer cell line with IC50 = 0.23 - 0.28 mg/ml and the extract inhibits telomerase activity with dose-dependent manner. In conclusion, n-hexane extract of C. longa has cytotoxic and telomerase-inhibitory effect on cell line A549 and could be exploited as potential source for developing novel drugs against lung cancer

Numerical and experimental investigation of an Archimedes screw turbine for open channel water flow application

AbstractLow‐head turbines are becoming an agricultural imperative due to their high efficiency, low cost, ability to operate at low flow rates and minimal environmental impact. Therefore, the Archimedes screw turbine (AST) can play a leading role for producing electric power, especially in Pakistan's rural areas where most of the places have less than 1 m head. In this research work, performance evaluation of AST was carried out at different flow velocities in terms of power coefficient and torque generated. Design parameters such as blade width, blade pitches, and blade rotational angles are also used for performance evaluation. For this purpose, computational fluid dynamic (CFD) analyses of AST blades were conducted at different water flow velocities (e.g., 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, and 3.5 m/s). ANSYS FLUENT was used for AST blade simulations using three different design parameters such as blade width, blade pitch, and blade rotational angles. Additionally, CFD simulations have inherent errors and uncertainties that may lead to findings and deviations from their exact or real values. To prevent these uncertainties and errors, an experimental study was also conducted to provide validation for the CFD simulation results. The results revealed from CFD simulations for optimized design parameters were then compared with experimental data. From the results, it was examined that the numerical findings were in good agreement with the experiment data. The highest power coefficient and power output values were obtained under optimized design parameters such as inner and outer diameter, blade pitch, blade width, blade rotation angles and shaft length (e.g., 40 mm, 120 mm, 130 mm, 2 mm, 60°, and 850 mm respectively). The findings can be useful to implement the AST unit for those places where the available water head is ranging from 1 to 6.5 m and a flow rate of 0.2–6.5 m3/s, especially for rural areas of Pakistan

Microfluidic devices for cell cultivation and proliferation

Microfluidic technology provides precise, controlled-environment, cost-effective, compact, integrated, and high-throughput microsystems that are promising substitutes for conventional biological laboratory methods. In recent years, microfluidic cell culture devices have been used for applications such as tissue engineering, diagnostics, drug screening, immunology, cancer studies, stem cell proliferation and differentiation, and neurite guidance. Microfluidic technology allows dynamic cell culture in microperfusion systems to deliver continuous nutrient supplies for long term cell culture. It offers many opportunities to mimic the cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix interactions of tissues by creating gradient concentrations of biochemical signals such as growth factors, chemokines, and hormones. Other applications of cell cultivation in microfluidic systems include high resolution cell patterning on a modified substrate with adhesive patterns and the reconstruction of complicated tissue architectures. In this review, recent advances in microfluidic platforms for cell culturing and proliferation, for both simple monolayer (2D) cell seeding processes and 3D configurations as accurate models of in vivo conditions, are examined

Helicobacter pylori: association with gall bladder disorders in Pakistan

Helicobacter species colonise the biliary tract and therefore this study explores the relationship between of Helicobacter pylori and cholecystitis. Bile and gall bladder tissue samples were obtained from 144 Patients who underwent cholecystectomy. Of these, 89 had chronic cholecystitis with cholelithiasis, 44 had gall bladder carcinoma and 11 had gall bladder polyps. Histopathology examination included special staining and immunohistochemistry (IHC), while Helicobacter species (H. pylori, H. bilis and H. hepaticus) were detected by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Sequencing and BLAST query of PCR products was undertaken and samples were considered to contain H. pylori if both PCR and IHC were positive. Immunohistochemistry for H. pylori was positive in 22 (25%) cases compared to five (9%) in the control group (P=0.02). Testing (PCR) for 16S rDNA was positive in 23 (26%) cases compared to six (11%) controls (P=0.03). Negative PCR results were obtained for H. bilis and H. hepaticus. Twenty-four (89%) were positive by both 16S rDNA PCR and IHC for H. pylori (

Temperature Effects on Growth of the Biocontrol Agent Pantoea Agglomerans (an Oval Isolate From Iraqi Soils)

The growth response of the biocontrol agent Pantoea agglomerans to changes in temperature was determined in vitro in nutrient yeast extract-sucrose medium. The minimum temperature at which P. agglomerans was able to grow was 4°C and the maximum temperature was 42°C. This study defines the range of environmental condition (Temperature) over which the bacteria may be developed for biocontrol of postharvest diseases

Risk factors associated with Helicobacter pylori infection treatment failure in a high prevalence area

Triple therapy is commonly used for the treatment of Helicobacter pylori infection. We determined risk factors associated with its failure in compliant Patients focusing on H. pylori density, virulence marker and 23S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) point mutations associated with clarithromycin resistance. H. pylori infection was diagnosed by (14)C urea breath test ((14)C UBT) and rapid urease test or histology. Triple therapy with esomeprazole 20 mg b.i.d., amoxicillin 1 g b.i.d. and clarithromycin 500 mg b.i.d. was prescribed for 10 days. 14C UBT was repeated 4 weeks after treatment. In total, 111 Patients [69 (62%) males] with a mean age of 46 +/- 16 years were enrolled. The mean age of treatment failure was 39 +/- 14 years compared to 48 +/- 16 years with eradication (P=0.002). Treatment failure was associated with younger mean age, point mutations in the 23S rRNA gene of H. pylori and vacA s1a and m1 when associated with cagA negativity

Low prevalence of the intact cag pathogenicity island in clinical isolates of Helicobacter pylori in Karachi, Pakistan

Clinical diseases that follow Helicobacter pylori infection are associated with expression of the cagA gene, a part of cytotoxin-associated gene pathogenicity island (cag-PAI). This study aims to determined whether or not the presence of cagA is associated with the presence of complete cag-PAI and to evaluate inflammatory changes associated with the five loci in the cag-PAI of H. pylori comprising cagA, cagA promoter region (cagAP), cagE, cagT and the left end of the cagA gene (LEC). H. pylori isolates were obtained from patients with dyspeptic symptoms. Clinical strains of H. pylori were screened by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for respective genes of the cag-PAI. Of 115 H. pylori isolates, 31 (28%) were positive for the five cag-PAI loci. H. pylori isolates with intact cag-PAI were associated with gastric carcinoma (GC; n=9[60%]) and gastric ulcer (GU; n=5[45%]) compared to non-ulcer dyspepsia (NUD; n=14[18%]) (P=0.001 and P=0.049, respectively). In patients with intact cag-PAI, acute on chronic inflammation was present in 25 (81%) and was more common than chronic inflammation (P=0.013). The cagE and cagAP had deletions in 25 (37%) and 23 (35%) cases, respectively. The cagAP region was significantly associated with GC (n=12[80%],

Effect of palm olein addition on the quality characteristics of sunflower oil during deep fat frying

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of palm olein (PO) addition on the quality characteristics of sunflower oil (SFO) during frying of potato pieces. The blends were prepared in the volume ratios of 20:80 (PO:SFO, PSF1) and 40:60 (PO:SFO, PSF2). Refractive index, free fatty acid content, peroxide value, p-anisidine value, TOTOX, viscosity, specific extinction, polar compounds, food oil sensor value, colour, and polymer content of the oils all increased, whereas iodine value and C18:2/C16:0 ratio decreased as frying progressed. The percentage of linoleic and linolenic acids tended to decrease, whereas the percentages of palmitic and oleic acids increased. Based on the most oxidative stability criteria investigated, PO addition led to a slower deterioration of SFO at frying temperature. Blend PSF2 showed better frying performance compared to PSF1. However, higher amounts of free fatty acids and higher colour units were both detected in the blends compared to pure SFO at the end of frying. It appears that proper blending of highly unsaturated SFO with PO can result in oil blends that could meet nutritional needs with improved stability for domestic cooking and deep-frying

Studies of Malaysian Plants in Prevention and Treatment of Colorectal Cancer

Incidence rates vary 10-fold globally for colorectal cancer (CRC). Asia has lower rates than Western countries, but as the Western life-style becomes more prevalent in economically developing Asian countries, rates are increasing. Clinical therapy has improved over the last few decades, and national screening programmes are a proven and effective means of reducing mortality; chemoprevention through diet and life-style choices may provide additional value. Diet has strong associations with the aetiology of CRC, considerable epidemiological evidence exist that fruits and vegetables are associated with reduced risk of CRC. There is also extensive experimental evidence that phytochemicals from fruit and vegetables can modulate pathways of carcinogenesis. In this chapter, we consider Malaysia specifically, with its rich ethnopharmacological heritage and megabiodiversity; Malaysian natural compounds may be a source of potentially chemo-protective with relevance to CRC