Stress and its association with sociodemographic characteristics, coping and internet use among late adolescent university students in East Malaysia

Introduction: Adolescents pursuing higher education at the university experience stressful life events on top of academic demands, where failure in managing those stressors can lead to stress as well as other more severe physical and mental health problems. Limited research exists locally about the association between coping and internet use with the perceived stress. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 527 university students between 18-19 years old in Kota Samarahan. A self-administered questionnaire containing background information, perceived stress, measures of coping, motives of utilizing the internet, and internet addiction test was used. IBM SPSS version 23 was used for the data analysis. Result: The results showed that being female or having avoidant-emotional coping strategy was positively associated with perceived stress, whereas a problem-focused coping strategy was negatively associated with perceived stress. Internet addiction and underlying internet motives were not associated with perceived stress. Conclusion: The need to understand the association between coping and perceived stress is essential for professionals to assist adolescents in managing their mental health

Effect of synthetic emulsifier and natural biosurfactant on feed process and quality of pelletized feed in broiler diet

A feed production trial was conducted to study the effect of synthetic emulsifier and natural biosurfactant the process and quality of pelletized broiler feed. A corn-soy based broiler diet was formulated with fixed ratio 2:1 of oil-to-water with two types of emulsifiers, namely glyceryl polyethylene glycol ricinoleate synthetic emulsifier and lysophosphatidylcholine natural biosurfactant. T1: Basal diet with no water and no emulsifier; T2: Basal diet with water and no emulsifier; T3: Basal diet with water and synthetic emulsifier glyceryl polyethylene glycol ricinoleate; T4: Basal diet with water and a natural biosurfactant lysophosphatidylcholine as comparative treatment. The treatment diets were manufactured by a commercial feed mill. The electricity cost and meal temperature were measured during the process of milling. Composite samples were collected from different processed points, tested for physical properties, chemical stability and biostability of pelletized feed. Pellet quality of emulsifier supplemented diets was significantly (p<0.05) improved in crumble and pellet intact form. Correlation between emulsifier and pelletize processed cost was not observed in this present study. No deteriorate effect was observed in hydrolytic rancidity (AV), oxidation rancidity (PV), mold count, moisture content and water activity. However, percentage of starch gelatinization on pelletized feed was significantly (p< 0.0001) improved in both types of emulsifier treated diets. These results demonstrated that the addition of emulsifier to broiler diet improved pellet quality to some extent although significant difference between synthetic emulsifier and natural biosurfactant was not observed

ENGINEERING CONCEPTS IN ANALYSING LUMBOSACRAL LOAD IN POST-OPERATIVE SCOLIOTIC PATIENTS

Lumbosacral alignment plays a major role in the mechanical low back pain in normal population. Malalignment causes increased strain to the muscles and ligaments around it which eventually leads to mechanical low back pain and discomfort. The level of strain a ligament receives in the lumbosacral junction depends upon the lumbosacral angle and the load exerted on it. If there is an easy way to find the load exerted at the lumbosacral junction, then it would be trouble free for the physicians to examine. Hence, the treatment can be planned accordingly. This study analysis the angle, net force produced and stress faced by the ligaments around the lumbosacral joint in postoperative scoliosis patients using radiographic images. Study design was analytical, observational cross sectional study. Radiographs of 30 patients were collected and one sample ‘t ’test was used for data analysis with ‘p ’value set as 0.05 as level of significance .The mean lumbosacral angle of the postoperative scoliotic patients was found to be 45.56 degrees and the standard deviation was ± 8.7156. The results suggest that patients who underwent scoliosis correction surgery did not have an optimal lumbosacral angle of 30 degrees

Dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP IV) inhibitory activity screening of Momordica charantia, Taraxacum officinale and Trigonella foenum-graecumextracts in vitro

Diabetes, a globally popular disease which attracted the attention of many researches worldwide to discover a non-toxic and side effect free remedy for this disease. Inhibition of DPP IV enzymes has been adopted as one of the strategies in recent years in controlling diabetes. DPP IV inhibitor inhibits the dipeptidyl peptidase enzyme which degrades several incretin hormones that are vital in the production of insulin and managing the blood glucose level.Thus, the present study was designed to investigate the DPP IV inhibitory effects of plants having antidiabetic property. In vitro DPP IV inhibition was evaluated by the specific inhibitory activity of Momordica charantia (whole fruit), Taraxacum officinale (whole plant) and Trigonella foenum-graecum (seed) extracts prepared with heat treatment using petroleum ether, acetone, ethanol and water as solvents. Among the tested plants T. officinale and M. charantia acetone extracts exhibited strong DPP IV activity inhibition, with 78.88% and 54.13% respectively. The present study is the first report on screening of DPP IV inhibitory activity of T. officinale, M. charantiaand T. foenum-graecum extracts. This could provide a new insight into DPP IV inhibitors from plants that could be useful for treatment of type 2 diabetes

Genome sequences of two cold-adaptedCryobacterium spp. SO1 and SO2 from FildesPeninsula, Antarctica

Psychrophilic and psychrotrophic bacteria play important roles in nutrient cycling in cold environments. These bacteria are suitable as model organisms for studying cold-adaptation, and sources of cold-active enzymes and metabolites for industrial applications. Here, we report the genome sequences of two Cryobacterium sp. strains SO1 and SO2. Genes coding major proteins related to cold- or thermal-stress adaptations and those with industrial applications found in their genomes are described

Dataset on gene expression in the elderly after Mindfulness Awareness Practice or Health Education Program

It has been reported that relaxation techniques can improve physical health and cognitive function. A number of studies involving different types of relaxation practices showed changes in expression of genes. We investigated the gene expression pattern of a cohort of elderly subjects of Asian descent after weekly (for the first three months) and monthly (for the subsequent six months) intervention. Sixty consenting elderly subjects (aged 60–90 years) with mild cognitive impairment were assigned to either the Mindfulness Awareness Practice (MAP) or Health Education Program (HEP) group in a randomized controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of the programs in preventing further cognitive decline and evaluate the influence on neurological, cellular and biochemical factors. Blood samples were collected before the start of intervention and after nine months for gene expression profiling using Affymetrix Human Genome U133 Plus 2.0 arrays. The dataset is publicly available for further analyses

Genome sequences of two cold-adaptedCryobacterium spp. SO1 and SO2 from FildesPeninsula, Antarctica

Psychrophilic and psychrotrophic bacteria play important roles in nutrient cycling in cold environments. These bacteria are suitable as model organisms for studying cold-adaptation, and sources of cold-active enzymes and metabolites for industrial applications. Here, we report the genome sequences of two Cryobacterium sp. strains SO1 and SO2. Genes coding major proteins related to cold- or thermal-stress adaptations and those with industrial applications found in their genomes are described

Influence of layer thickness to the emission spectra in microcavity organic light emitting diodes

Microcavity organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) have attracted great attention because they can reduce the width of emission spectra from organic materials, enhance brightness and achieve multipeak emission from the same material. In this work, we have fabricated microcavity OLEDs with widely used organic materials, such as N,N'-di(naphthalene-1-yl)-N,N'-diphenylbenzidine (NPB) as a hole transport layer and tris (8-hydroxyquinoline) (Alq) as emitting and electron transporting layer. These organic materials are sandwiched either between two thick silver mirrors or one thin copper and one thick silver mirrors. The influence of total cavity length (from 164 nm to 243nm) and the cavity Q-factor to the emission behavior has been investigated. In all cases, an OLED without bottom mirror, i.e. with the organic materials sandwiched between indium tin oxide and a thick silver mirror, has been fabricated for comparison. We have characterized the devices with photoluminescence, electroluminescence, and reflectance measurements. Multiple peaks have been observed for some devices at larger viewing angles