Pectin: A Bioactive Food Polysaccharide with Cancer Preventive Potential

Pectin is an acidic heteropolysaccharide found in the cell walls and the primary and middle lamella of land plants. To be authorized as a food additive, industrial pectins must meet strict guidelines set forth by the Food and Agricultural Organization and must contain at least 65% polygalacturonic acid to achieve the E440 level. Fruit pectin derived from oranges or apples is commonly used in the food industry to gel or thicken foods and to stabilize acid-based milk beverages. It is a naturally occurring component and can be ingested by dietary consumption of fruit and vegetables. Preventing long-term chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease is an important role of dietary carbohydrates. Colon and breast cancer are among the diseases for which data suggest that modified pectin (MP), specifically modified citrus pectin (MCP), has beneficial effects on the development and spread of malignancies, in addition to its benefits as a soluble dietary fiber. Cellular and animal studies and human clinical trials have provided corroborating data. Although pectin has many diverse functional qualities, this review focuses on various modifications used to develop MP and its benefits for cancer prevention, bioavailability, clinical trials, and toxicity studies. This review concludes that pectin has anti-cancer characteristics that have been found to inhibit tumor development and proliferation in a wide variety of cancer cells. Nevertheless, further clinical and basic research is required to confirm the chemopreventive or therapeutic role of specific dietary carbohydrate molecules.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Mechanical performances of twill kenaf woven fiber reinforced polyester composites

Natural fibres have the potential aspect to replace glass fibre reinforced composites. One of these fibers is kenaf. It is also one of the selected natural fibres that have bio resource profit regarding on their capability to absorb energy absorption especially. In order to prove the application of this fiber for the load-bearing application, the fiber in the form of yarn is weaved into fiber mat and reinforced with the plastic resin. This study focused on the twill yarn kenaf woven composite structure. Composites were prepared using the hand lay-up method with different type of orientation where the orientation is designed using Taguchi method. The hardened composites were cured for 24 hours in an ambient temperature before it was shaped according to ASTM D3039. The samples were then stressed uni-axially to obtain the stress-strain curves. The result shows the fiber orientations were significant factor in determining the performance of tensile strength. In this work, fiber mats are then optimized and the results showed that the values of tensile and modulus strength were 55.738 MPa and 5761.704 Joule, which is increased 3.77% and 4.23% for tensile strength and Young modulus, respectively. By comparing fracture mechanism before and after optimizations, there was clear decreasing fracture surface. It indicated that, the mechanical behavior performances of the twill woven kenaf reinforced composites can be effectively improved by this method

Emergence of phylogenetically diverse and fluoroquinolone resistant Salmonella Enteritidis as a cause of invasive nontyphoidal Salmonella disease in Ghana.

BACKGROUND: Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis is a cause of both poultry- and egg-associated enterocolitis globally and bloodstream-invasive nontyphoidal Salmonella (iNTS) disease in sub-Saharan Africa (sSA). Distinct, multi-drug resistant genotypes associated with iNTS disease in sSA have recently been described, often requiring treatment with fluoroquinolone antibiotics. In industrialised countries, antimicrobial use in poultry production has led to frequent fluoroquinolone resistance amongst globally prevalent enterocolitis-associated lineages. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Twenty seven S. Enteritidis isolates from patients with iNTS disease and two poultry isolates, collected between 2007 and 2015 in the Ashanti region of Ghana, were whole-genome sequenced. These isolates, notable for a high rate of diminished ciprofloxacin susceptibility (DCS), were placed in the phyletic context of 1,067 sequences from the Public Health England (PHE) S. Enteritidis genome database to understand whether DCS was associated with African or globally-circulating clades of S. Enteritidis. Analysis showed four of the major S. Enteritidis clades were represented, two global and two African. All thirteen DCS isolates, containing a single gyrA mutation at codon 87, belonged to a global PT4-like clade responsible for epidemics of poultry-associated enterocolitis. Apart from two DCS isolates, which clustered with PHE isolates associated with travel to Spain and Brazil, the remaining DCS isolates, including one poultry isolate, belonged to two monophyletic clusters in which gyrA 87 mutations appear to have developed within the region. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Extensive phylogenetic diversity is evident amongst iNTS disease-associated S. Enteritidis in Ghana. Antimicrobial resistance profiles differed by clade, highlighting the challenges of devising empirical sepsis guidelines. The detection of fluoroquinolone resistance in phyletically-related poultry and human isolates is of major concern and surveillance and control measures within the region's burgeoning poultry industry are required to protect a human population at high risk of iNTS disease

Identification of Serotype in Culture Negative Pneumococcal Meningitis Using Sequential Multiplex PCR: Implication for Surveillance and Vaccine Design

BACKGROUND: PCR-based serotyping of Streptococcus pneumoniae has been proposed as a simpler approach than conventional methods, but has not been applied to strains in Asia where serotypes are diverse and different from other part of the world. Furthermore, PCR has not been used to determine serotype distribution in culture-negative meningitis cases. METHODOLOGY: Thirty six serotype-specific primers, 7 newly designed and 29 previously published, were arranged in 7 multiplex PCR sets, each in new hierarchies designed for overall serotype distribution in Bangladesh, and specifically for meningitis and non-meningitis isolates. Culture-negative CSF specimens were then tested directly for serotype-specific sequences using the meningitis-specific set of primers. PCR-based serotyping of 367 strains of 56 known serotypes showed 100% concordance with quellung reaction test. The first 7 multiplex reactions revealed the serotype of 40% of all, and 31% and 48% non-meningitis and meningitis isolates, respectively. By redesigning the multiplex scheme specifically for non-meningitis or meningitis, the quellung reaction of 43% and 48% of respective isolates could be identified. Direct examination of 127 culture-negative CSF specimens, using the meningitis-specific set of primers, yielded serotype for 51 additional cases. CONCLUSIONS: This PCR approach, could improve ascertainment of pneumococcal serotype distributions, especially for meningitis in settings with high prior use of antibiotics

Streptococcus pneumoniae Serotype-2 Childhood Meningitis in Bangladesh: A Newly Recognized Pneumococcal Infection Threat

BACKGROUND: Streptococcus pneumoniae is a leading cause of meningitis in countries where pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV) targeting commonly occurring serotypes are not routinely used. However, effectiveness of PCV would be jeopardized by emergence of invasive pneumococcal diseases (IPD) caused by serotypes which are not included in PCV. Systematic hospital based surveillance in Bangladesh was established and progressively improved to determine the pathogens causing childhood sepsis and meningitis. This also provided the foundation for determining the spectrum of serotypes causing IPD. This article reports an unprecedented upsurge of serotype 2, an uncommon pneumococcal serotype, without any known intervention. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Cases with suspected IPD had blood or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) collected from the beginning of 2001 till 2009. Pneumococcal serotypes were determined by capsular swelling of isolates or PCR of culture-negative CSF specimens. Multicenter national surveillance, expanded from 2004, identified 45,437 patients with suspected bacteremia who were blood cultured and 10,618 suspected meningitis cases who had a lumber puncture. Pneumococcus accounted for 230 culture positive cases of meningitis in children <5 years. Serotype-2 was the leading cause of pneumococcal meningitis, accounting for 20.4% (45/221; 95% CI 15%-26%) of cases. Ninety eight percent (45/46) of these serotype-2 strains were isolated from meningitis cases, yielding the highest serotype-specific odds ratio for meningitis (29.6; 95% CI 3.4-256.3). The serotype-2 strains had three closely related pulsed field gel electrophoresis types. CONCLUSIONS: S. pneumoniae serotype-2 was found to possess an unusually high potential for causing meningitis and was the leading serotype-specific cause of childhood meningitis in Bangladesh over the past decade. Persisting disease occurrence or progressive spread would represent a major potential infection threat since serotype-2 is not included in PCVs currently licensed or under development

Extending the technology acceptance model with knowledge management factors to examine the acceptance of mobile learning

In today’s technological era, Mobile learning (M-learning) has become an essential tool that enables the students to access the learning materials on anytime anywhere settings. Determining the factors that affect the acceptance of M-learning is still one of the ongoing and critical issues by Information System (IS) scholars. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) has witnessed a lot of modifications and enhancements, which in turn contribute to the identification of the factors that affect the M-learning acceptance. Extending the TAM with other factors is still an open door for IS scholars to further examine the M-learning acceptance. Additionally, Knowledge Management (KM) is regarded as an essential component for developing M-learning systems. Besides, it is crucial for enhancing the students’ learning abilities that KM factors should be incorporated in M-learning systems. Research shows that KM factors (knowledge acquisition, knowledge sharing, knowledge application, and knowledge protection) have a significant effect on the adoption and success of many ISs. However, research has overlooked the impact of KM factors on M-learning acceptance. In line with this issue, the research objectives of this study are threefold. First, to analyze the students’ perceptions towards the integration of KM factors in M-learning systems through a preliminary study. Our research problem was motivated by the analysis of the preliminary study results, in which 93% of the students indicated that they would use the M-learning system in their studies if KM factors would be taken into consideration. Second, to develop a new model by extending the TAM with the KM factors as external variables. In that, it is suggested that the two main constructs of TAM (i.e., perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use) are affected by the four KM factors. Besides, the behavioral intention to use is suggested to be influenced by the two main constructs of TAM, whereas the behavioral intention itself is assumed to affect the actual system use. Third, to validate the proposed model through the development of M-learning application and the use of statistical analyses methods. This study employs the Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to validate the developed model. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey from 735 IT undergraduate students in two different universities in two different countries, namely Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP) in Malaysia and Al Buraimi University College (BUC) in Oman. The selection of these two samples is attributed to the intention to validate the developed model in a cross-cultural setting. The results suggest that knowledge acquisition, application, and protection have a positive effect on perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of M-learning systems in both samples. However, knowledge sharing was found to be partially supported in both samples. Furthermore, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use were found to be significant determinants of the behavioral intention to use M-learning systems. More interesting, the developed model explains a substantial variance (50%) in the actual use of M-learning systems in both samples, which clearly shows that the developed structural model is sound and valid, and hence, it could provide a plentiful explanation of the actual use of M-learning systems. The results of this study contribute to the existing literature by validating and extending the TAM with the KM factors in two different contexts (i.e., UMP and BUC) and provide various implications to the theory, research, and practice

Genomic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern identified from the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 immunized patients from southwest part of Bangladesh

Background Bangladesh introduced ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 since February, 2021 and in six months, only a small population (12.8%) received either one or two dose of vaccination like other low-income countries. The COVID-19 infections were continued to roll all over the places although the information on genomic variations of SARS-CoV-2 between both immunized and unimmunized group was unavailable. The objective of this study was to compare the proportion of immune escaping variants between those groups. Methods A total of 4718 nasopharygeal samples were collected from March 1 until April 15, 2021, of which, 834 (18%) were SARS-CoV-2 positive. The minimum sample size was calculated as 108 who were randomly selected for telephone interview and provided consent. The prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 variants and disease severity among both immunized and unimmunized groups was measured. A total of 63 spike protein sequences and 14 whole-genome sequences were performed from both groups and phylogenetic reconstruction and mutation analysis were compared. Results A total of 40 respondents (37%, N = 108) received single-dose and 2 (2%) received both doses of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine, which significantly reduce dry cough, loss of appetite and difficulties in breathing compared to none. There was no significant difference in hospitalization, duration of hospitalization or reduction of other symptoms like running nose, muscle pain, shortness of breathing or generalized weakness between immunized and unimmunized groups. Spike protein sequence assumed 21 (87.5%) B.1.351, one B.1.526 and two 20B variants in immunized group compared to 27 (69%) B.1.351, 5 (13%) B.1.1.7, 4 (10%) 20B, 2 B.1.526 and one B.1.427 variant in unimmunized group. Whole genome sequence analysis of 14 cases identified seven B.1.351 Beta V2, three B.1.1.7 Alpha V1, one B.1.526 Eta and the rest three 20B variants. Conclusion Our study observed that ChAdOx1 could not prevent the new infection or severe COVID-19 disease outcome with single dose while the infections were mostly caused by B.1.351 variants in Bangladesh.PRIFPRI3; ISI; DCA; 5 Strengthening Institutions and GovernancePHN

Review of CO2 Reduction Technologies using Mineral Carbonation of Iron and Steel Making Slag in Malaysia

Climate change, greenhouse gas effect, and global warming is envisioning to turn more awful and more terrible by year. Since the leading cause of global warming is uncontrolled CO2 in atmosphere. The amount of unused steel slag is expected to increment later on, steel industries is one of the mechanical industries that contribute the CO2 emission. That because this businesses deliver carbon in light of powers reductant and substantial volume of steel. The changes of atmosphere these day is truly developing concern and that make steel creator are confronted with test of discovering methods for bringing down CO2 emission. Malaysia is working decidedly in the diminishment of CO2 gas. There are a few techniques in decreasing the amount of CO2 in the air as underlined by the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC), an organization under the United Country however CCS is an extremely encouraging innovation to moderate CO2 emission in air. Mineral carbonation is another technique to store carbon dioxide permanently, long term stability and vast capacity