Glucose uptake activity of Ganoderma lucidum QRS 5120 in L6 myotube cell

The increasing prevalence of diabetes mellitus alongside the advancements in industry and technology underscores the urgency to eliminate this disease. Ganoderma lucidum, renowned for its anti-diabetic, anti-microbial, and anti-inflammatory properties, is widely utilized as a therapeutic medication. The aim of this study was to investigate the glucose uptake activity of exopolysaccharides (EPS) derived from the identified Malaysian Ganoderma lucidum strain QRS 5120 on the L6 myoblast cell line. To achieve this, Ganoderma pellets were cultured using a bioreactor, and EPS were extracted from the pellet for testing its glucose uptake activity. EPS production peak at day 12 (83 g/L) of the cultivation. The extracted EPS underwent a sulfation process to enhance compound solubility and flexibility. This was confirmed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), where sulfation resulted in a sharp vibrational stretch at 1622 cm⁻¹, while unsulfated EPS exhibited a medium stretch at 1632 cm⁻¹. The glucose uptake activity assay revealed that a significantly lower concentration of residual glucose was observed at 500 μg/L (0.43 mg/mL) and 200 μg/L (0.45 mg/mL) when compared to the control group, indicating that EPS has a stimulatory effect on glucose uptake activity in L6 myotube cell lines. Consequently, from this preliminary study, it was shown that the EPS derived from the Malaysian strain Ganoderma lucidum QRS 5120 exhibits glucose uptake activity in skeletal muscle cells

Effects of intensive rice production practices on avian biodiversity in Southeast Asian managed wetlands

Rice fields are common throughout the agricultural landscape of Southeast Asia and sustain various bird species. These birds can provide ecosystem services, such as pest control, that improve agricultural yields whilst minimising the use of agrochemicals. This study quantified avian biodiversity in rice production landscapes during three farming stages in Peninsular Malaysia. In Malaysia, rice fields can be an important habitat for migrating birds due to Malaysia’s position on the East-Asian–Australasian Flyway. We determined bird abundance, species richness, and composition in rice field landscapes and compared these during different stages of rice growing. Wetland and terrestrial birds were counted in rice fields using the point-count method. Sixty sampling points were randomly established in three locations, from which 3447 individual birds of 46 species and 26 families were recorded. There was a significant difference in total bird abundance and species richness between the three different stages of rice growing. The growing stage supported greater bird abundance and species richness compared to the pre-harvest and post-harvest stages. Rice-growing provides temporary habitats to different bird species in this managed aquatic landscape. This implies the presence of abundant food, such as small fish and amphibians. The evidence from this study suggests that biodiversity-friendly agricultural practices should be implemented to improve habitat quality for birds in rice production landscapes

Study of Glucose-6-Phosphate dehydrogenase activity assay in mangrove streptomyces for actinohordin and undercylprodigiosin production

This study evaluates the potential of using glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity assay for Actinohordin and Undecylprodigiosin productions from mangrove Streptomyces. Previously, there were several methods used to screen antimicrobial activities such as agar spot test and disc diffusion assay, but those are lengthy screening methods and time consuming. Thus, to overcome the limitations plate-based assay is suggested to enable rapid screening on secondary metabolite production of numerous samples at one time. The development of plate-based assay was performed by optimizing glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity assay. This coupled assay was based on the production of dihydronicotinamideadenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) whereby a right combination of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP) and glucose-6-phosphate (G6P) were refined. The production of NADPH was measured at absorbance of 340 nm where reduced cofactor NADPH are absorbed readily at this wavelength. Sample with different concentrations of crude lysate was subjected to various substrates concentration to obtain the best activity curve. Even though elucidating clear patterns is speculative, it is believed that some improvements or optimizations of this study could offer promising knowledge which can serve as useful reference in futur

Incidental hepatic tuberculosis during planned resection of locally advanced ampullary carcinoma: a case report

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is classified according to the site of disease as pulmonary or extrapulmonary. Extrapulmonary TB is less common than its counterpart in which it can be found anywhere in the body including the liver. Similar to ampullary carcinoma, TB liver can manifest with jaundice and deranged liver function tests, particularly in the obstructed biliary systems. Case presentation: A 43-year-old gentleman with locally advanced ampullary carcinoma was noticed to have multiple suspicious liver nodules intraoperatively during curative ampulla resection. The surgery was then abandoned after a biopsy. The histology was consistent with chronic granulomatous inflammation. He was then subjected to a Whipple pancreaticoduodenectomy procedure after initiation of anti-tubercular treatment. He recovered well with no evidence of tumour recurrence and worsening TB. Conclusions: A high index of suspicion and quick decision making can help to diagnose a possible extrapulmonary TB masquerading as a malignant disease in a patient with curative intention of ampullary carcinoma

Huge Pulsatile Sternal Mass

A 46-year-old woman presented with a huge, hard sternal mass with a one -year history. The size of the mass has been progressively increasing from an initial size of a table tennis ball. It was dull and aching in nature with a sensation of heaviness, which affected her daily life activities and made her seek medical attention. The mass was associated with skin discoloration and contact bleeding. There was no fever. Clinically, despite being hard and fixed, it tended to pulsate with bruit on auscultation [Figure 1]. She had a total thyroidectomy for a multinodular goiter 10 years prior, but defaulted follow-up soon after the surgery. She was on thyroid replacement therapy, but decided to stop taking it for the past two years due to a logistic issue

Water pollution and the assessment of water quality parameters: a review

The entry of pollutants into the water bodies has deteriorated the quality of freshwater which led to the occurrence of water pollution. The factors of water pollution due to natural processes are cli- mate change and natural disasters. The anthropogenic activities that affect water quality are urban- ization, development of infrastructures, industrial applications, agricultural activities, and sediment runoff. The severity of water pollution is measured using physical, chemical, and biological param- eters. For biological parameters, metagenomics analysis is associated with bioinformatics in detect- ing, identifying, and characterizing the microorganisms present in the environment. The methods carried out from the data analysis through the bioinformatics study are bacterial abundance, rar- efaction curve, core microbiome, clustering analysis and diversity analysis. Turbidity, temperature, electrical conductivity (EC), and total dissolved solids (TDS) are the physical parameters whereas pH, nutrients (ammoniacal nitrogen and phosphorus), dissolved oxygen (DO), and heavy met- als are the chemical parameters. A thorough and detailed study needs to be done to correlate the sources of water pollution and the water quality of freshwater. Therefore, proper treatment can be carried out to improve the water quality of the freshwater according to the class in DOE-WQI

Screening of biodegradation potential for n-alkanes and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon among isolates from the north-western tip of Pahang

This study has successfully screened for a few selected enzyme activities and hydrocarbon-degrading capability of 18 bacterial isolates from the north-western tip of Pahang. The bacterial isolates were known belong to genus Pseudomonas, Stenotrophomonas, Acinetobacter, Serratia, Bacillus and Exiguobacterium. Among them there are more than 80% were lactase and amylase producers, while only 44% were protease and lipase producers. Gravimetric analysis was performed to test the capa- bility of degrading n-alkanes and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). A statistical analysis, Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for hydrocarbon utilization analysis. The overall degradation of n-alkanes was revealed to be not significant. On the other hand, based on the statistical analysis PAHs utilization was significant. Isolate A3i was chosen as the best utilizer of n-alkanes, while isolate A2 was chosen for the best PAHs degrader

Nano gas bubbles dissolve in gasoline fuel and its influence on engine combustion performance

Nowadays, the issues of air pollution and global warming have become serious as the atmosphere contaminated with harmful gases from human daily life use of vehicles and industrial manufacturing process, leading to global warming and greenhouse effect. These had emphasised the need for better engines with higher performance and less emission level towards non-harmful and friendly environmental vehicle axillary. There are various techniques and methods used for such purposes. For instance, the nano gas dissolve technique can be used for fuel enhancement through a better combustion reaction by adding more oxidant gases molecular into combustion reaction. Dissolved gases can improve engine combustion performance for reducing the levels of harmful gas emission. The property of small nano particles helps to join or mix or transport interfacial within large molecules of fuels to mix up together and form new combination, introducing different chemical properties. Thus, this paper introduces a pre-design concept for fuel enhancement technique by dissolving nano gases such as air or oxygen into the gasoline fuel, taking advantage of hammer shock phenomena in fluid flow. It presents a case study for understanding combustion influence through use of gas dissolve technique with theoretical calculation validating the condition. The validating results obtained from the theoretical calculation and chemical theoretical results reactions theoretically expressed significant development in combustion mixture. Such technology can provide better fuel improvement for future recommended work by direct integration of the nano bubble generator hardware mobile size device on the fuel supply line

International regulation of vehicle emissions control rules and its influence on academic engine development experimental study and vehicle manufacturing

In this century, global on-road passenger vehicles raised rapidly with concerns regarding of air pollutions, greenhouse, climate change, economical and human life safety. However, what are the new vehicles emission standards implementation regulation involved? How can new emission regulation impact vehicle performance and environment pollution reductions? What is (Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicle Test Procedure - WLTP)? How can (WLTP) regulation promote improvement to vehicle quality in reduction of emission to lower level possible and add more performance to the vehicles for open market? What is the real-world on-road (Real world Drive Emission- RDE) test new emission regulation and its demand? Why vehicle manufactures should present both emission level of laboratorial engine emission level and vehicle (RDE) emission level in EU? Presenting an accurate vehicle pollutant determination due to new EU regulation procedure of (WLTP) will help the consumer identifying the regulation cost fee and tax in registration the vehicle. Methodology based on comparative EU regulation assessment and (WLTP) regulation vehicle emission control technologies assessment. The paper focus on viewing, the potential of pollution regulation (WLTP) for vehicle emissions reductions. Provide an outline of the status of the EU vehicle pollution emission regulations information and identify priorities options and recommendations to the introduction of the (WLTP). Offering information gridline data for researchers in future study for the strict pollution regulation adopted by European countries and its impact on future academic study of vehicle emission experimental process in non-applicable countries, contribute the procedure process of (RDE) emission implementation test within (WLTP) to be familiar by researchers for future intended joining the regulation