“I want to withdraw my hibah”: why and how to explain it?

Hibah or Islamic intervivos plays a vital role in reducing unclaimed inheritance estate problems, aiding recipients, and expecting recipients’ care. However, there are cases of withdrawn hibah that have been argued in the court. This study was performed to understand this problem by interviewing hibah experts in Malaysia. Thematic analysis was applied to find an overview of why donors withdraw their hibah by interviewing 19 respondents who are hibah experts in Malaysia. There were two main themes which were ‘Donor’s desire’ and ‘Recipient’s attitude.’ ‘Donor’s desire’ can be understood by the desire of donor to get benefits from the property that has been perfectly transferred or if the donor still resides on the property. Meanwhile, ‘Recipient’s attitude’ describes a change in recipients’ attitude such as ignoring and expelling the donors from the transferred property. The recipients also might sell the transferred property. This reason leads to donors wanting to withdraw their hibah. This study’s findings recommend that absolute hibah needs to be replaced with hibah legal documentation or living trust. These types of hibah are recognized by Sharī‘ah and Civil law and enable the donors to withdraw their hibah during lifetime. This study is the first attempt to discuss profoundly withdrawn hibah in qualitative approach. The paper offers an additional study on hibah practice in Malaysia

Expression of C5a and its receptor in canine spontaneous tumours: a preliminary finding

A study of the development of spontaneous tumours in dogs gives many benefits in oncology research due to the similarity between dog and human cancer in terms of epidemiologic, biologic and clinical features. There is evidence that the complement component 5 anaphylatoxin (C5a) and its receptor are involved in the development of many types of tumour due to its inflammatory properties. The purpose of this study was to determine the expression of C5a on several types of canine spontaneous tumour i.e. mammary tumour, lung tumour, testicular tumour and melanoma. The expression of C5a in these tumours was compared with normal tissue from the breasts, lungs, testes and skin. The total of eight post-mortem canine tissues were collected from University Veterinary Hospital (UVH), University Putra Malaysia and stored in a preservative solution (RNAlater) to keep the RNA from degrading. The RNA was extracted using the Qiagen RNA Extraction Kit and a cDNA synthesis was carried out using a one-step PCR kit (Promega, USA). The expression of C5a was determined using reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) and Quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) techniques. The results showed that all types of tumour gave higher expression of C5a compared to normal tissue. This means that the CT value for the tumours was below 30 cycles except for melanoma and the expression of C5a of normal tissues was above 30 cycles. This finding suggests that C5a and its receptor may be involved in the development of tumours in dogs and can be used as a tumour biomarker for both animals and humans in the future. Nevertheless, further studies investigating the mechanisms of C5a and its receptor in canine spontaneous tumour are necessary

Development of complement C5a and its receptor in malignant tumour cells as mammary tumour biomarker

Mammary cancer is the most common disease among women and second cause of female mortality related to cancer. The relationship between immune system and mammary cancer is still questionable. C5a is an important chemotactic protein that is recognized as an anaphylatoxin and chemoattractant that exerts proinflammatory actions in many pathological states. The complement C5a and its receptor are believed to be involved in development of mammary tumour due to its inflammatory properties. This study investigates the role of complement 5a (C5a) on mouse mammary cancer development by using malignant mouse mammary tumour cell line; 4T1. The expression of C5a/C5aR was determined by using Immunofluorescence staining and Reverse-Transcriptase PCR (RT PCR) and subsequently with Real Time PCR (qPCR) to measure the magnitude of C5a/C5aR expression. 40 specific pathogen free (SPF) Balb/c mice were randomly divided into four treatment groups. Each mouse was injected subcutaneously with 1x106 cells/ml into the mammary fat pad and treatments were given in the same manner. The liver samples were used for further analysis to validate the use of C5a and its receptor as mammary tumour biomarker by using Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) and qPCR. The Immunofluorescence staining showed the green colour surrounding the blue colour of nucleus. The green colour indicates the presence of C5a receptor in the membrane of 4T1 cell line. Meanwhile, the Reverse Transcriptase PCR technique gave an intense single band in the agarose gel when viewed under gel documentation machine. These collective results proved that there are expression of C5a and its receptor in the malignant mammary tumour cell line; 4T1. The result for in-vitro studies showed that the PMX205 peptide gave lower percentage of cell viability than EP54 peptide when compared to the control group for each time line. The trend of the cell viability values was consistent and showed a significant result. This indicates that this peptide is capable to regress and kill these tumour cells. Meanwhile, qPCR technique showed that the magnitude of C5a and its receptor in PMX 205 treated group was lower than EP54 treated group and the magnitude of C5a and its receptor in normal tissue were significantly lower compared to its magnitude in tumour tissue. The consistency of in-vitro and in-vivo results strengthens the arguments regarding the involvement of C5a and its receptor in the development of malignant mammary cancer. The findings in this study showed that there is a functional relationship between C5a and the development of mammary tumour which suggested that C5a and its receptor can be used as mammary tumour biomarkers and C5a antagonist peptide (PMX205) has a potential in treating and preventing development of mammary tumour by blocking the receptor of C5a and inhibits the binding of C5a to its receptor. However, further studies are required to validate these findings including the exact role of C5a and its mechanism in malignant mammary tumour development and the potential of C5a as mammary tumour biomarkers

Thematic analysis on takharruj division in Islamic inheritance estate distribution

Takharruj division is one of the methods for inheritance estate division among Muslim heirs. This type of division could facilitate the process of inheritance estate management which is a major problem for Muslims in Malaysia. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the factors that inspire the heirs to succeed inheritance estate via takharruj division based on authority perception and experience. Semi-structured interview was conducted among officers at Small Estate Division Unit. Thematic analysis was employed to determine potential factors of takharruj for inheritance estate distribution. The result highlight that the foremost reasons of takharruj division being chosen as the inheritance estate division were relationship among the heirs and the position of inheritance estate. Relationship among heirs can be defined as siblings' affection, strengthening relationship and needs of other heirs. Whereas position of inheritance estate referred to land scarcity and multiple ownership. Thus, it was suggested that policy makers should formulate specific guidelines related to inheritance estate management which could assist the heirs to manage the estate effortlessly and effectively

Expression of complement C5a receptor and the viability of 4T1 tumor cells following agonist–antagonist treatment

Background: Complement system is theoretically believed to halt the progression of tumor by the activity of C5a/CD88. Protein C5a is a potent pro.inflammatory mediator that activates the complement system by binding to its receptor. Objectives: The purpose of this study is to determine the expression of the anaphylatoxin C5a receptor on 4T1 cell line and to study the viability of the cells after being treated with the C5a peptides. Materials and Methods: The cells 4T1 had undergone immunofluorescence staining, conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and real-time PCR for the expression of determination part. Whereas Alamar Blue and MTT assays were conducted for the viability study of the cells. Results: The cells showed positive result in expressing the receptor of the C5a through immunostaining and PCR. The CT value recorded at initial dilution was 22.24. In cell viability assay, the cell was treated with C5a peptides, PMX205 and EP54. The purpose of this treatment was to see whether C5a had a direct effect on the cell itself using both assays. The result showed that PMX205, which is an antagonist, gave more effects towards the cell as compared with the treatment of EP54. Conclusion: This experiment shows the presence of C5a receptor on 4T1 cell line. We believe that the antagonist peptide is eligible to be used widely in cancer immunotherapy field; but in vivo studies need to be carried out first in the future, as it will determine how these drugs affect the tumor cell growth