An annotated checklist of higher plants in Ayer Hitam Forest Reserve, Puchong, Selangor

Ayer Hitam Forest Reserve is a Kelat-Kedondong subtype of the lowland dipterocarp forest situated in the Klang Valley which is currently undergoing a tremendous pace of socio-economic and physical development. The forest had been logged many times in the last 60 years or so and most vegetation niches are beginning to recover to their climax again. Our expedition, from 2-5 May 2000 involved a few botanists who observed and collected specimens of higher plants. The enumeration provided here is based only on the specimens collected during the expedition, includes 262 species of vascular plants belonging to 142 genera and 56 families: The Myrtaceae, with 22 species is the largest family in the checklist, followed by Euphorbiaceae, Dipterocarpaceae and Annonaceae with 21, 17 and 14 species, respectively. Species-wise the genus Knema, is the largest with 13 species, followed by Memecylon, Syzygium and Diospyros with 9, 7, and 7 species, respectively

Evaluation of The Living Escherichia coli-O78 Deleted aroA Vaccine Against Homologous and Heterologous E. coli Challenge in Broiler Chickens

To determine whether the immunization using commercially available living Escherichia coli-O78 aroA deleted vaccine (Poulvac®E. coli) is protective against APEC challenges or not. Ninety chicks were divided into six groups (15 birds/each); two groups were vaccinated at day 1 by spray and drinking routes then challenged intratracheally with homologous E. coli O78 at day 21, the other two groups were similar to the previously mentioned groups but challenged with heterologous E. coli O1 in parallel with the four challenged-vaccinated groups there were two positive control (challenged-not vaccinated) groups; one challenged with O78 and the other one with O1 at day 21 using intratacheal route. The best obtained results were recorded to the vaccinated-challenged group with the homologous strain and vaccinated by spraying method which exhibited decreases in organ lesion scores in comparison to the other groups (non-vaccinated challenged chickens and groups of chickens either homologous challenged-vaccinated through drinking water or heterologous challenged-vaccinated groups). These findings suggest that vaccine is a suitable for minimizing lesion scores against homologous challenge using spraying method that could lead to minimizing the time for treatment and cases of condemnation in processing plants

Light and Electron Microscopical Studies on the Hyalocytes of Turkey (Meleagris Gallopavo)

The present study aimed to investigate the light and electron microscopical structure of the hyalocytes in turkey. This study was applied on a total number of 15 (10 males and 5 females) clinically healthy turkeys of Bronze black species, collected from a local farm in Assiut Governorate, Egypt. For sampling and fixation, 30 turkey's eyeballs were enucleated and subjected to study. The hyalocytes appeared as large cell with different shapes (rounded, oval or elliptical). They located within ambushes found along the outer surface of the retino-pecteneal membrane. In these cells, present numerous cytoplasmic vacuoles and large oval nucleus located near the internal part of the cell. There were many cytoplasmic processes that joined each other as a fine meshwork enclosing several vesicles or parts of foreign materials along the external portion of the cell. On the internal or deep surface of the cell present numerous filopodia, which extended to occupy the depressions found on the outer surface of the retino-pecteneal membrane. The presence of ingested foreign materials and the appearance of filopodia in a moving condition along the internal surface of the cell insure that hyalocytes are considered highly active phagocytic cells

Clinicopathological Effects of Oral Administration of Ethanol Leaf Extract of Charcoal–Tree (Trema Orientalis Linn Blume) in Jamnapari Crossbred Goats

The present study was aimed at evaluating the clinicopathological changes due to oral administration of ethanol leaf extract of Trema orientalis (ELETO) in Jamnapari crossbred goats. The clinical manifestations, gross and histopathological changes in the major vital organs were used as indices of the toxicity. The severity of gross and microscopic changes were evaluated by scoring technique. Twenty goats weighing between 15-20kg were divided into four groups with five goats in each group in a completely randomized design. The test groups I, II, III were administered ELETO at the dosages of 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0g/kg b.wt per os/day respectively, for 14 days while, group IV served as a control. Groups II and III showed decreased appetite whereas, group III showed bilateral congestion of ocular mucous membrane, lacrimation, rectal tenesmus and a significant decrease in body weight compared to control. The main gross and microscopic changes were mild to moderate and included; engorgement of the gall bladder, congestion and icteric liver, hepatocellular degeneration, vacuolation, necrosis and renal congestion observed mainly in group III goats. The results indicate that the ELETO was hepatotoxic and nephrotoxic at continued oral doses equal to or more than 2.0g/kg b.wt in goats but no significant toxicity when used at lowers doses. Therefore, special caution should be taken when keeping goats in areas with T. orientalis. Keywords: Ethanol extract, Trema orientalis, Clinicopathological changes, Goats

Cluster Structure on Generalized Weyl Algebras

We introduce a class of non-commutative algebras that carry a non-commutative (geometric) cluster structure which are generated by identical copies of generalized Weyl algebras. Equivalent conditions for the finiteness of the set of the cluster variables of these cluster structures are provided. Some combinatorial data, called \textit{cluster strands,} arising from the cluster structure are used to construct irreducible representations of generalized Weyl algebras.Comment: in Algebras and Representation Theory, Volume 19, No1, Feb. 201

Copper oxide nanoparticles-loaded zeolite and its characteristics and antibacterial activities

In the present work, a simple and green co-precipitation method was used to prepare copper oxide-zeolite nanocomposites (CuO-zeolite NCs). The weight ratio (1, 3, 5, 8 and 10 wt%) of CuO nanoparticles (NPs) loaded into zeolite was investigated to obtain the optimum CuO distribution for antibacterial activities. The prepared CuO-zeolite NCs were characterized by ultraviolet-visible (UV–vis) spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), and energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (EDXRF). The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) revealed a uniform surface morphology of the CuO-zeolite NCs. The UV–vis spectrum of NCs showed absorption peaks between 230 and 280 nm for nano-CuO in the XRD patterns, and new peaks appeared between (36.56°–38.83°) related to the CuO. At weight ratio less than 10 wt%, the CuO nanoparticles loaded to the zeolite exhibited spherical shapes with average particle diameter of 6.5 nm measured by TEM and XRD. Antibacterial activities were tested against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. The obtained results showed that, CuO-zeolite NCs with 8 wt% CuO nanoparticles had the highest antibacterial activities against Bacillus Subtilis B29 and Salmonella Choleraesuis ATCC 10708, which can be attributed to the good dispersion of CuO NPs on the zeolite surface

MODELING THE PERFORMANCE OF A BAOBAB SEED DECORTICATOR USING RESPONSE SURFACE METHODOLOGY

Decortication of baobab seed manually after soaking or roasting is time consuming, labour-intensive and uneconomical. The demand for baobab kernel as a source of protein is increasing for use as supplement for animal protein ration, for edible oil consumption and for other industrial uses. To ameliorate this problem, a baobab seed decorticator has been developed. This study therefore focused on the effects of process parameters; moisture content of seed, speed of decorticator and concave-shaft clearance on percentage clean kernel (Pck), percentage broken kernel (Pbk), percentage whole seed (Pws) and decorticating efficiency (DE), using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). In designing the experiments, Box-Behnken Design (BBD) was selected. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was carried out to evaluate and select the appropriate dependent (Pck Pbk, Pws and DE) and independent variables using both the F and P-values calculated at 95% confidence level (a=0.05). Mathematical models relating the process parameters to the responses were developed. The developed models were validated by comparing the predicted and actual experimental values. The selected quadratic models were adequate for predicting the performance of the developed decorticator. It was observed that a decrease in percentage clean kernel recovery would result if concave-shaft clearance and moisture content were increased. Likewise, the concave-shaft clearance had the highest positive effect while moisture content had the highest negative effect on percentage of broken kernel. All the three factors (process parameters) had positive effects on decorticating efficiency