Analisis kepimpinan Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi terhadap pembangunan modal insan di Malaysia

Pembangunan modal insan merupakan intipati serta menjadi tunjang utama kepada kepimpinan mantan Perdana Menteri kelima Malaysia iaitu Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Dewasa kini, aspek pembangunan modal insan menjadi fokus utama dunia dalam penyediaan masyarakat yang berhemah tinggi serta tinggi nilai budi pekertinya. Pembangunan negara kelas utama harus seiring dengan pemikiran masyarakat yang berminda kelas pertama. Malaysia adalah sebuah negara yang menuju ke arah negara perolehan pendapatan tinggi, namun pemikiran masyarakat masih kelas ketiga. Objektif utama kajian ini adalah untuk memperlihatkan aspek utama penerapan pembangunan modal insan yang dilakukan oleh Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Kajian ini bersifat kualitatif deskriptif dalam menghurai peranan serta sumbangan utama Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi memperkasakan pembangunan modal insan kepada masyarakat di Malaysia. Oleh yang demikian, kajian ini juga akan memaparkan analisis dan rangka kerja pembangunan modal insan yang diaplikasikan oleh Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi dalam masyarakat majmuk Malaysia

Screening vaccine formulations for biological activity using fresh human whole blood.

Understanding the relevant biological activity of any pharmaceutical formulation destined for human use is crucial. For vaccine-based formulations, activity must reflect the expected immune response, while for non-vaccine therapeutic agents, such as monoclonal antibodies, a lack of immune response to the formulation is desired. During early formulation development, various biochemical and biophysical characteristics can be monitored in a high-throughput screening (HTS) format. However, it remains impractical and arguably unethical to screen samples in this way for immunological functionality in animal models. Furthermore, data for immunological functionality lag formulation design by months, making it cumbersome to relate back to formulations in real-time. It is also likely that animal testing may not accurately reflect the response in humans. For a more effective formulation screen, a human whole blood (hWB) approach can be used to assess immunological functionality. The functional activity relates directly to the human immune response to a complete formulation (adjuvant/antigen) and includes adjuvant response, antigen response, adjuvant-modulated antigen response, stability, and potentially safety. The following commentary discusses the hWB approach as a valuable new tool to de-risk manufacture, formulation design, and clinical progression

A Gender-Based Study of Sensation Seeking in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease Compared with Healthy Subjects

Introduction: The relationship between psychological factors and Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is one of the topics that has occupied the minds of researchers in the field of health psychology. The present research aimed at studying the levels of sensation seeking in coronary patients and healthy subjects.Methods: Two hundred and twenty-three coronary patients and 255 healthy subjects completed the Sensation Seeking Scale-form V (SSS–V). Next, 100 coronary cases (50 males and 50 females) that had referred to Madani Heart Hospital, Tabriz, Iran, and 100 healthy subjects, were compared in terms of levels of sensation-seeking. All participants were selected by purposeful sampling (aged 25 to 64 years). Data were analyzed by Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) through the SPSS 18 software.Results: Coronary male patients scored higher than coronary female patients in thrill and adventure seeking and healthy males scored higher than healthy females in boredom susceptibility. Healthy females scored higher than coronary females in thrill and adventure seeking, and in boredom susceptibility subscale, healthy males scored higher than coronary males.Conclusions: The identification of individuals with sensation seeking features will allow the identification of susceptible coronary patients for preventive procedures

Effects of Emotional Images on Cardiovascular Responses in Males with Coronary Artery Disease and in Healthy Males: The Role of Sensation Seeking

Introduction: Individuals exposed to certain types of images, based on their personality features, experience different emotional states and physiological responses. The present study addressed the effects of stressful and pleasant stimuli on blood pressure and heart rate in male patients with coronary problems and healthy males based on sensation seeking levels.Methods: One hundred and seventy eight male patients with coronary artery diseases referred to Madani Heart Hospital, Tabriz, Iran; and 185 healthy male subjects completed the Sensation Seeking Scale-form V (SSS-V). After obtaining acceptable scores, 100 patients and 100 healthy males were classified in four groups: high sensation seeker patients, low sensation seeker patients, high sensation seeker healthy subjects, and low sensation seeker healthy subjects (each group with 50 samples aged 30-49). First, blood pressures and heart rates were recorded before stimulus induction. Then, the participants were exposed to stressor pictures. After 15 minutes of relaxation, and a cognitive task, the participants were exposed to pleasant pictures. The blood pressure and heart rate were recorded after presenting the two stimuli.Results: High sensation seeker patients achieved lower scores in diastolic blood pressure in comparison with low sensation seeker patients after presenting the stressful stimulus, and healthy high sensation seekers achieved lower scores in systolic blood pressure in comparison with healthy low sensation seekers presented with pleasant stimulus.Conclusions: Low sensation seeker patients experienced negative emotions more than high sensation seeker patients. Therefore, the role of induced mood states may be important in relation to physical health

Photocatalytic Degradation of Synthetic Sulfur Pollutants in Petroleum Fractions under Different pH and Photocatalyst

Thiophene is one of the sulfur compounds in the petroleum fraction that can be harmful to living things and lead to a critical effect on the ecosystem. Photocatalytic degradation is one of the promising methods in treating wastewater as it can mineralization of pollutants into carbon dioxide and water. Other than that, this method is non-toxic and relatively low cost. The production of hydroxyl radicals playing a vital role in the degradation of organic pollutants. It has been claimed that the usage of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles could give an excellent degradation process as this photocatalyst have high photosensitivity, low cost and chemically stable. However, the preparation method of ZnO nanoparticles will affect the agglomeration, particle size, shape and morphology of particles and lead to influence the photocatalytic activity in degrading thiophene. Therefore, this study focused on the effectiveness of ZnO nanoparticles in the presence of fibrous nanosilica (KCC-1) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) as the capping agent to degrade synthetic thiophene. ZnO/KCC-1 had been synthesized via the precipitation method and characterized by using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR). The chemical bond and nature of the photocatalyst from the FTIR results proved that the synthesis process to produce the ZnO/KCC-1 was succeed. The large surface area of KCC-1 increases the effectiveness of ZnO which is supported by the experimental data. Accordingly, the optimum condition for photocatalytic degradation of thiophene is under pH 7 by using ZnO/KCC-1 as photocatalyst. Hence, it is believed that this research could be implemented to remove the thiophene in petroleum fraction from the actual industrial effluents and this can preserve nature in the future

An adjuvant-modulated vaccine response in human whole blood

The restimulation of an immune memory response by in vitro culture of blood cells with a specific antigen has been used as a way to gauge immunity to vaccines for decades. In this commentary we discuss a less appreciated application to support vaccine process development. We report that human whole blood from pre-primed subjects can generate a profound adjuvant-modulated, antigen-specific response to several different vaccine formulations. The response is able to differentiate subtle changes in the quality of an immune memory response to vaccine formulations and can be used to select optimal conditions relating to a particular manufacture process step. Whilst questions relating to closeness to in vivo vaccination remain, the approach is another big step nearer to the more relevant human response. It has special importance for new adjuvant development, complementing other preclinical in vivo and in vitro approaches to considerably de-risk progression of novel vaccines prior to and throughout early clinical development. Broader implications of the approach are discussed

Catalytic conversion of synthetic sulfur-pollutants in petroleum fractions under different photocatalyst loadings and initial concentration

In the oil and gas industry which applied to petroleum sources, thiophene is one of the sulphur contaminants that may harm the environment. The contents of sulphur in petroleum product gives out concern regarding the negative and harmful effect of sulphur contaminants onto environment and living health. One of the promising methods to degrade thiophene is photocatalytic degradation process. The usage of ZnO nanoparticles in photocatalytic degradation process has been wider due to its broad band gap, greater excitation of energy binding, and high stability. Several studies have discovered the ability of ZnO with capping agent in photocatalytic activity. Photocatalytic activity of photo-catalyst was affected by particle size, shape and morphology that are depending on the preparation method. Hence, this study put on priori-ties on synthesizing ZnO nanoparticles using precipitation method with the addition of KCC-1 which act as capping agent and used in the degradation of synthetic thiophene solution. The characterization of ZnO-KCC-1 using FTIR has confirmed that the successfulness produc-tion of ZnO-KCC-1 via precipitation method. There are three different loading of ZnO-KCC-1 (0.05 g/L, 0.10 g/L and 0.15 g/L) and thio-phene concentration (100 ppm, 300 ppm and 600 ppm) had been carried out in photocatalytic degradation of thiophene. The pH value for all fixed condition remains constant at natural pH range which is pH 7. The optimum condition of degrading synthetic thiophene under natural pH range by using ZnO-KCC-1 is at its loading of 0.05 g/L with the initial concentration of synthetic thiophene of 300ppm.The kinetic study of this research has been confirmed to be at the first-order of kinetic reaction

The Prospective Epidemiological Research Studies in IrAN (PERSIAN) Birth Cohort protocol: rationale, design and methodology

Background: Birth cohorts are essential for developing evidence-based policies and advancing knowledge on different aspects of the concept of developmental origins of health and diseases (DOHaD). The Prospective Epidemiological Research Studies in IrAN (PERSIAN) is a multicentre cohort in Iran. It is one of the pioneers of DOHaD research in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. This profile provides a brief overview of this birth cohort, focusing on the objectives and design of the study. The main objective of this birth cohort is to evaluate the associations of socio-economic characteristics, lifestyle, diet, environmental exposures and epigenetic factors with outcomes of: pregnancy; mother and child mental and physical health and well-being; child neurodevelopment; and the establishment of chronic disease risk factors. Methods: The enrolment of PERSIAN Birth Cohort participants is currently ongoing in five Iranian cities (Isfahan, Yazd, Semnan, Sari and Rafsanjan). We plan to recruit 15, 000 mother-offspring pairs, and to follow them for at least ten years. Data collection consists of three consecutive phases: (1) periconception until birth; (2) infancy (0-2 years); and (3) childhood (3-11 years). We are collecting data on both ‘determinants of health’ and ‘health outcomes’. In addition to questionnaires and physical examination, various biological samples, including blood, urine, hair, nail, cord blood and breastmilk are being collected. Growth and neurodevelopment of children will be monitored. Appropriate data analysis schemes will be employed to assess the role of early life factors in health and disease that would facilitate international comparisons

The prospective epidemiological research studies in IrAN (PERSIAN) birth cohort protocol: Rationale, design and methodology

Background: Birth cohorts are essential for developing evidence-based policies and advancing knowledge on different aspects of the concept of developmental origins of health and diseases (DOHaD). The Prospective Epidemiological Research Studies in IrAN (PERSIAN) is a multicentre cohort in Iran. It is one of the pioneers of DOHaD research in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. This profile provides a brief overview of this birth cohort, focusing on the objectives and design of the study. The main objective of this birth cohort is to evaluate the associations of socio-economic characteristics, lifestyle, diet, environmental exposures and epigenetic factors with outcomes of: pregnancy; mother and child mental and physical health and well-being; child neurodevelopment; and the establishment of chronic disease risk factors. Methods: The enrolment of PERSIAN Birth Cohort participants is currently ongoing in five Iranian cities (Isfahan, Yazd, Semnan, Sari and Rafsanjan). We plan to recruit 15, 000 mother-offspring pairs, and to follow them for at least ten years. Data collection consists of three consecutive phases: (1) periconception until birth; (2) infancy (0-2 years); and (3) childhood (3-11 years). We are collecting data on both ‘determinants of health’ and ‘health outcomes’. In addition to questionnaires and physical examination, various biological samples, including blood, urine, hair, nail, cord blood and breastmilk are being collected. Growth and neurodevelopment of children will be monitored. Appropriate data analysis schemes will be employed to assess the role of early life factors in health and disease that would facilitate international comparisons