Corporate governance and insider trading: evidence from Malaysia

The collapse of prominent companies coupled with the increasing number of lawsuits against the directors of the companies for wrongdoing has raised concerns with insider trading activities. Insider trading does cause significant market reaction, whereby the insiders are able to earn significant cumulative abnormal returns for both purchases and sales. However, studies on the factors influencing insider trading are relatively scarce. This study aims to examine the factors that influence insider trading activities. Specifically, this study examines the relationship between four corporate governance factors, namely, board independence, board size, executive compensation and ownership concentration and insider trading activities in public listed companies in Malaysia. This study evinces that board size and executive compensation significantly influence insider purchases. On the other hand, significant market reaction caused by insider sales may be explained by other factors. Therefore, future studies could be carried out on other factors that may influence opportunistic insider sales. This study also found evidence against the semistrong form Efficient Market Hypothesis theory that suggests insiders cannot earn abnormal returns in a semi-strong efficient market using public informatio

Spesies Mollusca di Ekosistem Mangrove Kecamatan Baitussalam Kabupaten Aceh Besar sebagai Referensi Pendukung Materi Keanekaragaman Hayati

Mollusca is the second largest phylum of invertebrate animals that has high adaptability. One of Mollusca's habitats is the mangrove ecosystem in Baitussalam District, Aceh Besar. There were very little data regarding the type and diversity of Mollusca in the mangrove ecosystem area of Baitussalam Subdistrict, Aceh Besar, after the tsunami in 2004. A study is needed considering that the data can be used as a database and supporting reference for biodiversity material in schools. This study was carried out to; 1) Identifies the types of Mollusca in the mangrove ecosystem in Baitussalam District, Aceh Besar; 2) Determines the output of this study as a reference for supporting biodiversity learning; and 3) Finds out the feasibility of the output as supporting reference for biodiversity material. Data collection was performed by line transect and quadrant transect method with purposive sampling. Data was analyzed with qualitative and quantitative analysis. The results of the study revealed that there are 29 types of Mollusca consisting of Gastropods and Bivalves. The output is in the form of a national standard textbook that can be used as a reference for supporting biodiversity learning. The book feasibility test obtained a total score of 95.6%. The conclusion is that there are 29 types of Mollusca and the output is a national standard textbook that are very feasible to be recommended as a supporting reference for biodiversity material

Microwave-assisted extraction of lipid from fish waste

Processing fish waste for extraction of value added products such as protein, lipid, gelatin, amino acids, collagen and oil has become one of the most intriguing researches due to its valuable properties. In this study the extraction of lipid from sardine fish waste was carried out using microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) and compared with Soxhlets and Hara and Radin methods. A mixture of two organic solvents isopropanol/hexane and distilled water were used for MAE and Hara and Radin methods. Meanwhile, Soxhlet method utilized only hexane as solvent. The results show that the higher yield of lipid 80.5 mg/g was achieved using distilled water in MAE method at 10 min extraction time. Soxhlet extraction method only produced 46.6 mg/g of lipid after 4 hours of extraction time. Lowest yield of lipid was found at 15.8 mg/g using Hara and Radin method. Based on aforementioned results, it can be concluded MAE method is superior compared to the Soxhlet and Hara and Radin methods which make it an attractive route to extract lipid from fish waste

Quality of life satisfaction among converted Kelantan Chinese Muslims

This article investigates the quality of life of the Kelantan Chinese Muslim community before and after conversion to Islam, focusing on their level of satisfaction in term of economic aspect. This research was carried out using the sequential explanatory mixed method design involving 75 respondents selected for quantitative and five respondents for qualitative. The sampling method adopted was convenience and snowball samplings. The research data was collected using questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The results revealed that respondents were moderately satisfied before conversion and satisfied after conversion. Besides that, there is no significant difference of quality of life before and after conversion to Islam (F = 0.868, p = 0.355) and it was not influenced by the period of conversion to Islam (F = 0.832, p = 0.589). This analysis indicates numerous respondents are still moderately satisfied in their quality of life even though the average data shows they are satisfied after conversion

Inhibition of nitric oxide and prostaglandin E2 production by pyrrolylated-chalcones: synthesis, biological activity, crystal structure analysis, and molecular docking studies

In search of potent anti-inflammatory agents, twenty-four chalcone derivatives including seven new compounds (13 – 17, 21 and 23) containing pyrrole moiety were designed, synthesized, and assessed for their nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) suppression ability on IFN-γ/LPS-induced RAW 264.7 macrophage cells. Results showed that none of the synthesized compounds were PAINS-associated molecules, with 3-(2,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-(1H-pyrrol-2-yl)-prop-2-en-1-one (compound 16) exhibiting remarkable inhibition activity towards PGE2 and NO production with IC50 values of 0.5 ± 1.5 µM and 12.1 ± 1.5 µM, respectively. Physicochemical and ADMET studies showed that majority of the compounds obey to Lipinski's rule of five (RO5) having high blood brain barrier (BBB) penetration, human intestinal absorption (HIA), P- glycoprotein (PgP) inhibition and plasma binding protein (PPB) inhibition. The obtained atomic coordinates for the single-crystal XRD of 16 were then applied in a molecular docking simulation, and compound 16 was found to participate in a number of important binding interactions in the binding sites of ERK and mPGES-1. Based on these results, we have observed the potential of compound 16 as a new hit anti-inflammatory agent, and these findings could serve as a basis for further studies on its mechanism of action

Prevalence and distributions of severely elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) according to age, gender and clinic location among patients in the Malaysian primary care

BackgroundAdults with severely elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) may have familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) and are at high risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). The prevalence of elevated LDL-c in primary care clinics in Malaysia is not known. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the prevalence and distributions of severely elevated LDL-c among adult patients attending public primary care clinics in Malaysia.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted at 11 public primary care clinics in the central states of Malaysia, among adults ≥18 years old with LDL-c recorded in the electronic medical record. Sociodemographic and LDL-c data from 2018 to 2020 were extracted. Severely elevated LDL-c was defined as ≥4 mmol/L, which were further classified into: 4.0–4.9, 5.0–5.9, 6.0–6.9 and ≥ 7 mmol/L.ResultsOut of 139,702 patients, 44,374 (31.8 %) had severely elevated LDL-c of ≥4 mmol/L of which the majority were females (56.7 %). The mean (±SD) age of patients with severely elevated LDL-c was younger at 56.3 (±13.2) years compared to those with LDL-c of <4.0 mmol/L at 59.3 (±14.5) years. In terms of LDL-c levels, 30,751 (69.3 %), 10,412 (23.5 %), 2,499 (5.6 %) and 712 (1.6 %) were in the 4.0–4.9, 5.0–5.9, 6.0–6.9 and ≥ 7 mmol/L categories, respectively.ConclusionThe prevalence of severely elevated LDL-c of ≥4.0 mmol/L among adult patients in public primary care clinics was high. These patients need to be further investigated for secondary and inherited causes such as FH. Therapeutic lifestyle modification and pharmacological management are pivotal to prevent ASCVD in these patients

Open Access Publication of Universiti Sains Malaysia: a Bibliometric Analysis

Open Access (OA) is the new publishing model that allows unrestricted access and reuse of research outputs. OA accelerates discovery in the sense that researchers can freely read and build on new findings based on other research. While public seems to welcome more involvement in OA among academics, many researchers are still discussing about the challenges that they face to publish with OA journals including the issue of article processing charge (APC) and the quality of OA journals. This paper examines several aspects relate to OA publication such as publication productivity, citation impact, subject coverage, and publishing cost of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) based on SCOPUS data from 2013 to 2015. The findings show that School of Medical Sciences, Physics and Pharmacy dominated the OA publications. Thus, it also indicates that science-based researchers are highly inclined towards publishing in OA as compared to non-science researchers. Top three OA journals in the list are Plos One (Multidisciplinary), Acta Chrystallographica Section E (Chemistry) and Electronic Journal of Geotechnical Engineering (Engineering, Geology). Most of the authors tend to publish in Quartile 3 journals (43%), followed by Q2 (28%), Q1 (16%) and Q4 (13%). However, with regard to citation impact per paper (average), every paper in Q1 journal received 6.25 citations, followed by Q2 (2.8 citations), Q3 (1.33 citations) and Q4 (0.87 citation). The APC range of OA publication found to be from RM0 to RM15, 000 per paper. The study provides useful insights about OA publication among USM researchers which can guide other researchers who wish to engage with OA in the future. Further study can be done by interviewing authors, to further explore on the OA research funding, strategy in choosing OA journals to publish in and also the motivation in publishing with OA

Mechanistic insights into anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive effects of plant secondary metabolites and their therapeutic potential for rheumatoid arthritis

The anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive activities of plant secondary metabolites are due to their diverse mechanisms of action against multifarious molecular targets such as modulation of the complex immune system associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). This review discussed and critically analyzed the potent anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive effects of several phytochemicals and their underlying mechanisms in association with RA in experimental studies, including preliminary clinical studies of some of them. A wide range of phytochemicals including phenols, flavonoids, chalcones, xanthones, terpenoids, alkaloids, and glycosides have shown significant immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory activities in experimental RA models and a few have undergone clinical trials for their efficacy and safety in reducing RA symptoms and improve patient outcomes. These phytochemicals have potential as safer alternatives to the existing drugs in the management of RA, which possess a wide range of serious side effects. Sufficient preclinical studies on safety and efficacy of these phytochemicals must be performed prior to proper clinical studies. Further studies are needed to address the barriers that have so far limited their human use before the therapeutic potential of these plant-based chemicals as anti-arthritic agents in the treatment of RA is fully realized

The way jacob against his absurd life in Miss Peregrine’s Home for peculiar children by Ransom Rigss

This study attempts to analyze the way Jacob against his absurd life in Ransom Riggs’ Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. Jacob Portman experiences unexpected condition. He looks for the truth of his grandfather’s past in order to restore his peaceful and normal life. However, after he found out about his grandfather’s past, contrary he cannot got back to his previous life as what he planned before. His life changes into dangerous life. It made him feels hopelessness. Therefore, this study aims to describe Jacob’s absurd life, the way he against his absurd life and his characterization. To solve these problems, this study uses Absurdism theory by Albert Camus which is defined about the confrontation between human’s desire and the world then revolt as the right way to face an absurd life, and New Criticism theory as supporting theory. The result of this study shows that Jacob has five characteristics; intelligent, brave, idealistic, responsible and rebellious. His absurd life describes when his life does not go as what he planned. The feeling of hopelessness and anguish in his life are as the effects of absurd life. Moreover, the way he against his absurd life is by doing revolt. He continues and faces his life which is not as what he expects before

Peran Kiai dalam Membina Akhlakul Karimah Santri (Studi Kasus di Pondok Pesantren Aqidah Usymuni Terate Pandian Sumenep)

Kiai is a central figure in every Islamic boarding school. Kiai not only because of their knowledge, but also because they are the founders, owners and endowments of the Islamic boarding school itself. Their struggles and sacrifices are not limited to knowledge, energy and time, but also land and other materials given for the advancement of the spread of Islam. This research aims to describe the role of kiai at the Aqidah Usymuni Islamic boarding school in developing the morals of students and the inhibiting and supporting factors in carrying out their role. This research uses a qualitative approach with a case study type of research and uses observation, interview and documentation methods as data collection techniques. The informant is a kiai who is a caretaker at the Aqidah Symuni Islamic boarding school in Sumenep. The results of this research show several roles carried out by kiai including Kiai as caregivers, Kiai as teachers, Kiai as parents for students. Keywords : Kiai Roles, Akhlaqul Karima