Generation of New Hybridoma UTM-Ha Secreting Monoclonal Antibody Specific to Acanthamoeba species Isolated from Corneal Infection

Acanthamoeba Keratitis is an important corneal infection that caused impaired vision. The Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) researcher found new species of Acanthamoeba that was being isolated from eye infection in Hospital Kuala Lumpur, which have the characteristic between Acanthamoeba polyphaga and A. castellanii named as HKL-Acantha. This study was aimed to generate specific monoclonal antibody against HKL-Acantha that eventually could be used in diagnosing eye infection among Malaysian. Two Balb/c mice were immunized with sonicated HKL-Acantha through intraperitoneal injection, and anti HKL-acantha IgG, IgM, IgA were measured using ELISA test. Sera from infected mice showed detectable anti-HKL-acantha IgM. The spleen from animal with high antibody titer around (1:81000) was used as a partner in fusion with SP2/0-Ag14 myeloma cells to produce new hybridoma cells, which were then selected and cloned using the selection medium. Two positive hybridoma clones secreting IgM antibodies were obtained and named as hybridoma UTM-Ha1 and UTM-Ha2. Both clones were secreting monoclonal IgM antibody specific to HKL-Acantha. This study suggests the potential of both hybridomas UTM-Ha1 and UTM-Ha2 to generate specific monoclonal IgM against HKL-acantha. This newly generated monoclonal IgM could be used to diagnose the presence of HKL- acantha in patients with eye infection in future

Development of Diabecine™ tablet and confirmation of its physical properties and pharmaceutical safety analysis

Herbal medicine is usually made using dry powdered herbs in the form of capsule. Capsule form herbal supplement suffers lower shelf life as compared to compact herbal powder in tablet form. In this study, Diabecine™, a blend of herbal medicine traditionally used as herbal supplement for diabetic patients was selected and transformed into a compressed tablet. Direct compression method and minimal usage of excipients were the aims of this study. By using direct compression, the blend of 40% fine powder herbs and 60% of excipients performed the best and fulfill the pharmaceutical standard. The safety data of microbial and heavy metal testing obtained met the safety requirements for herbal supplement category under the National Pharmaceutical Control Bureau of Malaysia. In conclusion, the tablet formulation of Diabecine™ is suitable to be manufactured by using direct compression method. This research implicates the possibility of producing tablets with high dose of herbal powder by direct compression method

Transforming Industrial Operations with Blockchain: The Healthcare Application Health Chain

Globally, effective application of cloud technology, mobile, social media, analytics, and IoT (Internet of Things), has resulted in new creative products, tight consumer interactions, and enhanced corporate operations. Block-chain technology is reshaping the digital landscape by offering a fresh perspective on efficiency, system security and resilience. Despite its initial popularity as a foundation for digital money, Blockchain is much more than that. It offers a safe way to conduct any form of product or service trade. Growing laws, cybercrime, and fraud are impeding industrial progress even while trusted connections are becoming more and more crucial for growth. To overcome these obstacles, Block-chain will enable more flexible better customer interactions, cloud technology, value chains, quicker product developments, and quicker IoT and integration. Further Block-chain reduces the charge of commerce by providing a reliable bond that is handled devoid of outside interference from parties that might not directly provide value. It is now feasible to create engagements, smart contracts, and agreements with solid cyber-security components built in. In order to show and illustrate the usage of Block-chain technology across numerous industrial applications, this research attempts to build the framework for that. The IBM Block-chain project is used to define and develop the healthcare application Health-chain. The ideas may be used to a variety of trades, including as manufacturing, banking, and government, where scalability, safety, and efficiency are needed. Keywords—Block-chain Technology; Bitcoin; Cloud computing; Control Systems; Cyber-security; Dev-Ops; IBM; Cybercrime; Health-chain; Internet of thing

Influence of oil palm replanting, age and management zones on soil carbon

Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) cultivation is said to have caused losses of soil carbon due to deforestation. However, current oil palm cultivation is carried out either on previously rubber and cocoa plantation or replanted on first- or second-generation oil palm. The present study was conducted to assess whether there is a build-up of soil carbon throughout the growth of oil palm and will those amassed carbon (if any) be lost during replanting. The study was conducted at oil palm ages 5, 10, 15 years old, and newly replanted oil palm. At each age, soils were sampled at the frond heap pile (FH), the harvesting path (HP), and the inter-row (IR). Soil carbon content at all plots was not significantly different between ages with a mean of 2.24%. Between sections, soil carbon content at FH (3.10±1.42%) was significantly higher than the other sections. Our results showed that age of oil palm did not influence the accumulation of soil carbon. Replanting was also found not to have caused losses of soil carbon. As the different sections of the plantation yielded different results, future measurements of soil carbon should consider these different sections to properly represent the whole plantation

The role of RhoH in TCR signalling and its involvement in diseases

As an atypical member of the Rho family small GTPases, RhoH shares less than 50% sequence similarity with other members, and its expression is commonly observed in the haematopoietic lineage. To date, RhoH function was observed in regulating T cell receptor signalling, and less is known in other haematopoietic cells. Its activation may not rely on the standard GDP/GTP cycling of small G proteins and is thought to be constitutively active because critical amino acids involved in GTP hydrolysis are absent. Alternatively, its activation can be regulated by other types of regulation, including lysosomal degradation, somatic mutation and transcriptional repressor, which also results in an altered protein expression. Aberrant protein expression of RhoH has been implicated not only in B cell malignancies but also in immune-related diseases, such as primary immunodeficiencies, systemic lupus erythematosus and psoriasis, wherein its involvement may provide the link between immune-related diseases and cancer. RhoH association with these diseases involves several other players, including its interacting partner, ZAP−70; activation regulators, Vav1 and RhoGDI and other small GTPases, such as RhoA, Rac1 and Cdc42. As such, RhoH and its associated proteins are potential attack points, especially in the treatment of cancer and immune-related diseases