In vitro pro-apoptotic and anti-migratory effects of Marantodes pumilum (Blume) Kuntze and Ficus deltoidea L. extracts on prostate cancer cell lines

This thesis evaluates the in vitro pro-apoptotic and anti-migratory effects of Marantodes pumilum Blume Kuntze and Ficus deltoidea L. plants on prostate cancer cells, characterising both their mechanism of actions on some of the main Hallmarks of Cancer, and their chemistry with a view to contribute to future chemopreventive strategies. Plant materials of M. pumilum (MP) F. deltoidea var. angustifolia (FD1) and F. deltoidea var. deltoidea (FD2) were obtained from dedicated farms in Southern Malaysia. The crude methanolic extract was partitioned into n-hexane (MPh, FD1h, FD2h) chloroform (MPc, FD1c, FD2c) and aqueous extracts (MPa, FD1a, FD2a). Active fractions (GI50<30 μg/mL) based on prostate cancer cell line, PC3, Sulforhodamine B staining were further fractionated. Active compound/s were identified using spectroscopic methods. In vitro mechanistic studies on PC3 cells were conducted to investigate the mode of death of PC3 cells and effects of the active extracts on PC3 cells migration and invasion. MPc, FD1c and FD2c extracts induced cell death via apoptosis as evidenced by nuclear DNA fragmentation, accompanied by a significant increase in MMP depolarization (P<0.05), activation of caspases 3 and 7 (MPc P<0.01; FD1c and FD2c P<0.05) in both PC3 and LNCaP cell lines. All active plant extracts up-regulated Bax and Smac/DIABLO and down-regulated Bcl-2 (P<0.05). Only MPc inhibited the expression of ALOX-5 mRNA gene expression (P<0.001). None resulted cytotoxic against normal human fibroblast cells (HDFa) at the tested concentrations. All active plant extracts inhibited both migration and invasion of PC3 cells (MPc; P<0.01, FD1c and FD2c; P<0.05), achieved by down-regulation of both VEGF and CXCL-12 gene expressions (P<0.001). A monounsaturated 5-alkyl resorcinol was isolated as the active compound present in the MPc extract. LC-MS dereplication identified isovitexin in FD1c; and oleanolic acid, moretenol, betulin, lupenone and lupeol in FD2c. In conclusion, evidence gathered in this study suggests a role for interaction of MPc, FD1c and FD2c in three of the Hallmarks of Cancer in PC3 cells: (1) apoptosis by activating of the intrinsic pathway, (2) inhibition of both migration and invasion by modulating the CXCL12-CXCR4 axis, and (3) inhibiting angiogenesis by modulating VEGF-A expression. The compounds identified and dereplicated in this study will be further characterized and used for the standardization of the active extracts in the future

A cause of communication failure in managing industrialized building system (IBS) projects : a perspective view from project managers

An effective communication process is an important element in distributing information to various project teams. The previous study demonstrates the importance of communication in the project management process in order to encourage project delivery processes successfully. Unfortunately, the issue of communication still dominates Industrialization Building System (IBS) because the project development process are still based on traditional methods. This research aims to explore the cause of communication challenges between construction players in managing IBS projects. The research methodology implemented for this paper was a semi-structured interview approach used to investigate the communication problem. Five experienced project managers were chosen from across the industry. The findings of this study are valuable for improving the communication level of project teams, which will indirectly increase the level of the IBS project delivery process and strengthen team integration on IBS projects in Malaysia

Motives for Participation and Amount of Physical Activity among Kelantan Chinese Adolescents

This work was supported by the Universiti Sains Malaysia Short Term Grant (Grant Scheme No. 304/PPSP/61313082).Background: Engaging in regular physical activity (PA) has become a worldwide issue for the prevention of numerous chronic diseases; therefore, is important to increase students’ desires to engage in PA by triggering their motivation. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between the motives for participating in PA and the amount of PA that secondary Chinese school students in Kelantan undertake. Methods: The participants consisted of 304 Chinese secondary school students (males = 165, females = 139) with a mean age of 13.55 years old (SD = 0.57) who volunteered to complete three measures, consisting of a demographic information form, the physical activity and leisure motivation scale for youth-Chinese version (PALMS-Y-C) and the Godin leisure-time exercise questionnaire-Chinese version (GLTEQ-C). Results: There were significant positive correlations between all the seven PA participation motives with amount of exercise (Enjoyment: r = 0.16, P = 0.010; Mastery: r = 0.23, P < 0.001; Competition: r = 0.21, P = 0.001; Affiliation: r = 0.22, P < 0.001; Psychological condition: r = 0.26, P < 0.001; Appearance: r = 0.20, P = 0.001; Physical condition: r = 0.20, P = 0.001). There were also significant mean differences among sweating exercise frequency categories in all the seven areas of PA participation motives (Enjoyment: P = 0.003, Mastery: P < 0.001, Competition: P = 0.001, Affiliation: P = 0.001, Psychological condition: P = 0.038, Appearance = 0.002, Physical condition: P = 0.004). Conclusion: The present study provided insight into how to promote PA in Kelantan Chinese school-aged children by specifically targeting their motives. Interventions targeting these motives could increase the amount of PA among Kelantan Chinese youths

Monsters in early modern philosophy

Monsters as a category seem omnipresent in early modern natural philosophy, in what one might call a “long” early modern period stretching from the Renaissance to the late eighteenth century, when the science of teratology emerges. We no longer use this term to refer to developmental anomalies (whether a two-headed calf, an individual suffering from microcephaly or Proteus syndrome) or to “freak occurrences” like Mary Toft’s supposedly giving birth to a litter of rabbits, in Surrey in the early eighteenth-century (Todd 1995). But the term itself has a rich semantic history, coming from the Latin verb monstrare (itself deriving from monere, to remind, warn, advise), “to show,” from which we also get words like “monitor,” “admonish,” “monument” and “premonition”; hence there are proverbs like, in French, le monstre est ce qui montre, difficult to render in English: “the monsters is that which shows.” Scholars have discussed how this “monstrative” dimension of the monster is in fact twofold: on the one hand, and most awkwardly, the monster is an individual who is “pointed at,” who is shown; on the other hand, the monster is a sign, a portent, an omen, and in that sense “shows us” something (on the complex semantic history of the term across Indo-European languages see Ochsner 2005). The latter dimension persists in naturalized form in the early modern period when authors like Bacon, Fontenelle or William Hunter insist that monsters (or anomalies) can show us something of the workings of Nature

The dominant Anopheles vectors of human malaria in the Asia-Pacific region: occurrence data, distribution maps and bionomic précis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The final article in a series of three publications examining the global distribution of 41 dominant vector species (DVS) of malaria is presented here. The first publication examined the DVS from the Americas, with the second covering those species present in Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Here we discuss the 19 DVS of the Asian-Pacific region. This region experiences a high diversity of vector species, many occurring sympatrically, which, combined with the occurrence of a high number of species complexes and suspected species complexes, and behavioural plasticity of many of these major vectors, adds a level of entomological complexity not comparable elsewhere globally. To try and untangle the intricacy of the vectors of this region and to increase the effectiveness of vector control interventions, an understanding of the contemporary distribution of each species, combined with a synthesis of the current knowledge of their behaviour and ecology is needed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Expert opinion (EO) range maps, created with the most up-to-date expert knowledge of each DVS distribution, were combined with a contemporary database of occurrence data and a suite of open access, environmental and climatic variables. Using the Boosted Regression Tree (BRT) modelling method, distribution maps of each DVS were produced. The occurrence data were abstracted from the formal, published literature, plus other relevant sources, resulting in the collation of DVS occurrence at 10116 locations across 31 countries, of which 8853 were successfully geo-referenced and 7430 were resolved to spatial areas that could be included in the BRT model. A detailed summary of the information on the bionomics of each species and species complex is also presented.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This article concludes a project aimed to establish the contemporary global distribution of the DVS of malaria. The three articles produced are intended as a detailed reference for scientists continuing research into the aspects of taxonomy, biology and ecology relevant to species-specific vector control. This research is particularly relevant to help unravel the complicated taxonomic status, ecology and epidemiology of the vectors of the Asia-Pacific region. All the occurrence data, predictive maps and EO-shape files generated during the production of these publications will be made available in the public domain. We hope that this will encourage data sharing to improve future iterations of the distribution maps.</p