Isolation And Evaluation Of cDNA Clones Specific To Polyclonal Antibody Against 12 kDa Excretory Secretory Antigen (ESA) Of Taxoplasma Gondii

Toxoplasmosis is a zoonotic infection caused by Toxoplasma gondii. It is an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite distributed worldwide, with higher prevalence in the tropical countries. Although the risk of an overt disease in immunocompetent individuals is not high, severe manifestation may result when immunocompromised individuals and pregnant women are infected. It is very challenging yet crucial to establish whether acute infection has occurred in pregnant women as the fetus could be at risk of infection which can cause death or permanent organ damage

Autoantibody-Based Diagnostic Biomarkers: Technological Approaches to Discovery and Validation

Autoantibodies produced against self-antigens, or ‘autoantigens’, result from a loss of self-tolerance triggered by genetic and/or environmental factors which induce the immune system to attack the host’s own cells, resulting in a condition referred to as autoimmunity. In classic autoimmune diseases, it is well established that the pathology relates directly to the autoantibodies. However, it is increasingly recognised that autoantibodies are also found in many other disease areas, including cancers, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, as well infectious diseases such as malaria, albeit in such diseases it is unclear whether the autoantibodies play a direct role in the pathology or whether they are merely symptomatic of disease. Irrespective of whether they are causative or symptomatic of specific diseases though, there is increasing interest globally in exploring the clinical potential of circulating autoantibodies as diagnostic biomarkers. This chapter provides an overview of the diagnostic utility of autoantibody biomarkers in a range of disease areas and discusses their potential utility in disease staging, treatment monitoring and in prediction of immune-related adverse events. It also provides an overview of traditional and contemporary technological approaches to autoantibody biomarker discovery and validation, focusing on protein microarrays that are ideally suited to this important area of research

Fundamental of Entrepreneurship ENT 300: Gulanau Apong / Nadzliyatul Farhanah Bolhari... [et al.]

Ice cream gula apong business industry is a fast growth in our environment which has high demands towards this industry. We decided to choose this kind of business because this industry has high potential to grow within the population in particular area that we choose in increasing. We also can gain high profit due to the demand of the target audience. We want to be known, not only in Sarawak, but also in Peninsular area

Osteoporosis knowledge among future healthcare practitioners: Findings from a Malaysian public university

Background and Objectives: Students in relevant health‑care academic programs are the future professionals who should play an active role in increasing community awareness regarding chronic diseases such as osteoporosis. This research aimed to evaluate the knowledge of osteoporosis, one of the growing health‑care burdens in Malaysia, among students belong to three different health occupations programs in a Malaysian University. Methods: A cross‑sectional study design was conducted to assess the level of knowledge on osteoporosis and to explore the potential association between the study program and osteoporosis‑related knowledge among medicine, pharmacy, and allied health sciences students in a Malaysian University. A total of 348 students were approached. The data were collected using validated revised Osteoporosis Knowledge Test questionnaire. Results: The results showed variability in knowledge score between students belonging to different study programs. allied health sciences students have the highest overall total score (median = 20) and nutrition score (median = 16), but for exercise score, both students in allied health sciences and medicine programs shared a similar median score (median = 11.5). More than half of the respondents showed adequate knowledge on osteoporosis. The students from allied health sciences exhibited more knowledge on osteoporosis compared to students in other study programs. Among the Kulliyyah of Pharmacy respondents, the majority did not manage to answer correctly on the whole scale. This was evident by total percentage of 69.91% of the respondents scored below than median score. Conclusion: There is a considerable gap of knowledge regarding osteoporosis among students in various health occupations academic programs. Pharmacy students particularly need focused learning related to exercise and nutrition in preventing osteoporosis during their academic program

Heavy metals (Pb, Cd, As) content in instant noodles from Malaysian market

Instant noodles had been found to be contaminated with heavy metals such as lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd) and arsenic (As). This study aims to determine the heavy metals (Pb, Cd, As) concentration in popular instant noodles from Malaysian market. Seven different brands of commercially popular instant noodles were randomly sampled from the market. The samples were prepared by dry ashing method prior to analysis by using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrophotometer (ICP-MS). Results showed that all seven samples detected with heavy metals which the concentration for Pb in two samples exceeded the maximum permitted level of Malaysian Food Act and Regulation of 2 mg/kg. This finding indicated that instant noodle can be one the sources of chronic exposure to toxic heavy metals through food consumption which later might cause health effects. Instant noodles in Malaysian market need to be closely monitored to ensure the food quality and safety for consumption. Further study which focuses on the source of contamination as well as the health risk of consuming this contaminated noodles is strongly recommended

Draft genome of neurotropic nematode parasite Angiostrongylus cantonensis, causative agent of human eosinophilic meningitis

Angiostrongylus cantonensis is a bursate nematode parasite that causes eosinophilic meningitis (or meningoencephalitis) in humans in many parts of the world. The genomic data from A. cantonensis will form a useful resource for comparative genomic and chemogenomic studies to aid the development of diagnostics and therapeutics. We have sequenced, assembled and annotated the genome of A. cantonensis. The genome size is estimated to be ~260. Mb, with 17,280 genomic scaffolds, 91X coverage, 81.45% for complete and 93.95% for partial score based on CEGMA analysis of genome completeness. The number of predicted genes of ≥300. bp was 17,482. A total of 7737 predicted protein-coding genes of ≥50 amino acids were identified in the assembled genome. Among the proteins of known function, kinases are the most abundant followed by transferases. The draft genome contains 34 excretory-secretory proteins (ES), a minimum of 44 Nematode Astacin (NAS) metalloproteases, 12 Homeobox (HOX) genes, and 30 neurotransmitters. The assembled genome size (260. Mb) is larger than those of Pristionchus pacificus, Caenorhabditis elegans, Necator americanus, Caenorhabditis briggsae, Trichinella spiralis, Brugia malayi and Loa loa, but smaller than Haemonchus contortus and Ascaris suum. The repeat content (25%) is similar to H. contortus. The GC content (41.17%) is lower compared to P. pacificus (42.7%) and H. contortus (43.1%) but higher compared to C. briggsae (37.69%), A. suum (37.9%) and N. americanus (40.2%) while the scaffold N50 is 42,191. This draft genome will facilitate the understanding of many unresolved issues on the parasite and the disorder it causes

A Pentaplex Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction Assay for Detection of Four Species of Soil-Transmitted Helminths

Soil-transmitted helminth infections remain a major public health burden in low- and middle-income countries. The traditional diagnosis by microscopic examination of fecal samples is insensitive and time-consuming. In this study, a pentaplex real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was evaluated for the simultaneous detection of Ancylostoma, Necator americanus, Ascaris lumbricoides, and Strongyloides stercoralis. The results were compared with those obtained by conventional parasitological diagnostic methods. Real-time PCR was positive in 48 of 77 samples (62.3%) and microscopic examination was positive in six samples (7.8%) only (P < 0.05). In conclusion, the real-time PCR assay described in this study provides a specific and sensitive diagnostic tool for the detection of these four helminth species in epidemiological studies and monitoring of treatment programs

Deciphering the Draft Genome of <i>Toxoplasma gondii</i> RH Strain

<div><p>Toxoplasmosis is a widespread parasitic infection by <i>Toxoplasma gondii</i>, a parasite with at least three distinct clonal lineages. This article reports the whole genome sequencing and <i>de novo</i> assembly of <i>T</i>. <i>gondii</i> RH (type I representative strain), as well as genome-wide comparison across major <i>T</i>. <i>gondii</i> lineages. Genomic DNA was extracted from tachyzoites of <i>T</i>. <i>gondii</i> RH strain and its identity was verified by PCR and LAMP. Subsequently, whole genome sequencing was performed, followed by sequence filtering, genome assembly, gene annotation assignments, clustering of gene orthologs and phylogenetic tree construction. Genome comparison was done with the already archived genomes of <i>T</i>. <i>gondii</i>. From this study, the genome size of <i>T</i>. <i>gondii</i> RH strain was found to be 69.35Mb, with a mean GC content of 52%. The genome shares high similarity to the archived genomes of <i>T</i>. <i>gondii</i> GT1, ME49 and VEG strains. Nevertheless, 111 genes were found to be unique to <i>T</i>. <i>gondii</i> RH strain. Importantly, unique genes annotated to functions that are potentially critical for <i>T</i>. <i>gondii</i> virulence were found, which may explain the unique phenotypes of this particular strain. This report complements the genomic archive of <i>T</i>. <i>gondii</i>. Data obtained from this study contribute to better understanding of <i>T</i>. <i>gondii</i> and serve as a reference for future studies on this parasite.</p></div

Comparison of assembly statistics.

<p>ToxoDB version 13.0 was referred.</p

Genome comparison of <i>T</i>. <i>gondii</i> RH, GT1, ME49 and VEG strains.

<p>Abbreviation: TOXME: <i>T</i>. <i>gondii</i> ME49 strain; TOXVE: <i>T</i>. <i>gondii</i> VEG strain; TOXGT: <i>T</i>. <i>gondii</i> GT1 strain; TOXRH: <i>T</i>. <i>gondii</i> RH strain.</p