Urban forest fragmentation impoverishes native mammalian biodiversity in the tropics

Urban expansion has caused major deforestation and forest fragmentation in the tropics. The impacts of habitat fragmentation on biodiversity are understudied in urban forest patches, especially in the tropics and little is known on the conservation value of the patches for maintaining mammalian biodiversity. In this study, camera trapping was used to determine the species composition and species richness of medium‐ and large‐sized mammals in three urban forest patches and a contiguous forest in Peninsular Malaysia. We identified the key vegetation attributes that predicted mammal species richness and occurrence of herbivores and omnivores in urban forest patches. A total number of 19 mammal species from 120 sampling points were recorded. Contiguous forest had the highest number of species compared to the urban forest patches. Sunda Pangolin and Asian Tapir were the only conservation priority species recorded in the urban forest patches and contiguous forest, respectively. Top predators such as Malayan Tiger and Melanistic Leopard were completely absent from the forest patches as well as the contiguous forest. This was reflected by the abundance of wild boars. We found that mammal species richness increased with the number of trees with DBH less than 5 cm, trees with DBH more than 50 cm, and dead standing trees. In the future, the remaining mammal species in the urban forest patches are expected to be locally extinct as connecting the urban forest patches may be infeasible due to land scarcity. Hence, to maintain the ecological integrity of urban forest patches, we recommend that stakeholders take intervention measures such as reintroduction of selected species and restocking of wild populations in the urban forest patches to regenerate the forest ecosystems

Formulation and characterization of palm oil esters based nano-cream for topical delivery of piroxicam

Palm oil esters are high molecular weight esters oil that has been newly synthesized by University Putra Malaysia researchers. It has received a lot of attention for its pharmaceutical and chemical application. Piroxicam is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug with analgesic and antipyretic activity. It has low solubility in water as well as in oil with Log P value of 1.8. Generally, drugs with Log P value of more than 0.5 are needed to be formulated into a modified dosage form. One of these formulations is nano sized cream. Hence, the ability of formulating of these tricky drugs into dispersed system is questionable. The aim of this study is to investigate the ability of palm oil esters to be the oil phase for formulation of piroxicam into O/W nano-cream. Three points were selected from prepared pseudoternary diagram of palm oil esters and different Tween and Span mixtures. Piroxicam solubility and partition coefficient in oil and external phase was detected. Rheological properties, droplet size, structural properties and zeta potential of the dispersion system containing piroxicam were measured. O/W cream was formed with droplet size measurement by TEM of less than 100 nm. It could be concluded that palm oil esters is suitable oil for the formulation of suitable nano-cream containing piroxicam.Keywords: Palm oil esters; Piroxicam Solubility; partition coefficient; Rheology; Surface activity

Stability studies of nano-cream containing piroxicam

The aim of this study is to study the stability of the nano-cream formula containing the newly synthesized palm oil esters when stored for reasonable storage duration. The prepared 0.5% piroxicam nano-cream formula contained phosphate buffer as external phase, palm oil esters as the oil phase and a combination of (80:20) of Tween 80 and Span 20 as emulsifier at a ratio of 37:25:38, respectively. Piroxicam is a hydro-lipophobic drug. Stability on storage is an important aspect which ensures the dosage form can exert the effects it is supposed to exert for the duration of storage. Droplets size, electrical conductivity, drug content, pH and rheological parameters are the parameters that have been assessed under different temperature to evaluate the stability of nano-cream preparation. Thus, experiments which measure the above parameters were conducted at storage temperatures of 4, 25 and 40οC.The data obtained from the stability study conducted on nano-cream formula showed that this formulation was stable for the whole 3 months period of the study when stored at tested several temperatures.Keywords: Palm oil esters; Nonionic surfactant; Piroxicam; Nano-crea

Stability studies of nano-cream containing piroxicam

The aim of this study is to study the stability of the nano-cream formula containing the newly synthesized palm oil esters when stored for reasonable storage duration. The prepared 0.5% piroxicam nano-cream formula contained phosphate buffer as external phase, palm oil esters as the oil phase and a combination of (80:20) of Tween 80 and Span 20 as emulsifier at a ratio of 37:25:38, respectively. Piroxicam is a hydro-lipophobic drug. Stability on storage is an important aspect which ensures the dosage form can exert the effects it is supposed to exert for the duration of storage. Droplets size, electrical conductivity, drug content, pH and rheological parameters are the parameters that have been assessed under different temperature to evaluate the stability of nano-cream preparation. Thus, experiments which measure the above parameters were conducted at storage temperatures of 4, 25 and 40οC.The data obtained from the stability study conducted on nano-cream formula showed that this formulation was stable for the whole 3 months period of the study when stored at tested several temperatures.Keywords: Palm oil esters; Nonionic surfactant; Piroxicam; Nano-crea

Energy efficient electrocoagulation using baffle-plates electrodes for efficient Escherichia Coli removal from Wastewater

A new electrocoagulation reactor (EC), which utilises the concepts of baffle-plates, has been applied to remove Escherichia coli (E. coli) from wastewater. This new aluminium-based EC reactor utilises perforated baffle-plates electrodes to mix water, which reduces the need for mechanical or magnetic mixers that require extra power to work. This new reactor has been used to treat E. coli containing wastewater samples, considering the effects of different parameters such as treatment time (TT), inter-electrode distance (IED), and current density (CD). A statistical analysis has also been commenced to evaluate the influence of each parameter on the removal of E. coli. Additionally, an economic study has been conducted to assess the operating cost of the new reactor. The outcomes of the experimental work confirmed that the new reactor removes as high as 96% of the E. coli within 20 minutes of electrolysis at IED of 0.5 cm, and CD of 1.5 〖mA/cm〗^2. Additionally, it has been found that the operating cost of the new reactor is 0.11 US $/m3 (for E. coli removal), which is less than operating cost of traditional reactors. Finally, it has been found that the effect of the studied parameters on E. coli removal followed the order: TT>CD>IED

Utility of COVID-19 antigen testing in the emergency department

Background: The BinaxNOW coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Ag Card test (Abbott Diagnostics Scarborough, Inc.) is a lateral flow immunochromatographic point-of-care test for the qualitative detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) nucleocapsid protein antigen. It provides results from nasal swabs in 15 minutes. Our purpose was to determine its sensitivity and specificity for a COVID-19 diagnosis. Methods: Eligible patients had symptoms of COVID-19 or suspected exposure. After consent, 2 nasal swabs were collected; 1 was tested using the Abbott RealTime SARS-CoV-2 (ie, the gold standard polymerase chain reaction test) and the second run on the BinaxNOW point of care platform by emergency department staff. Results: From July 20 to October 28, 2020, 767 patients were enrolled, of which 735 had evaluable samples. Their mean (SD) age was 46.8 (16.6) years, and 422 (57.4%) were women. A total of 623 (84.8%) patients had COVID-19 symptoms, most commonly shortness of breath (n = 404; 55.0%), cough (n = 314; 42.7%), and fever (n = 253; 34.4%). Although 460 (62.6%) had symptoms ≤7 days, the mean (SD) time since symptom onset was 8.1 (14.0) days. Positive tests occurred in 173 (23.5%) and 141 (19.2%) with the gold standard versus BinaxNOW test, respectively. Those with symptoms \u3e2 weeks had a positive test rate roughly half of those with earlier presentations. In patients with symptoms ≤7 days, the sensitivity, specificity, and negative and positive predictive values for the BinaxNOW test were 84.6%, 98.5%, 94.9%, and 95.2%, respectively. Conclusions: The BinaxNOW point-of-care test has good sensitivity and excellent specificity for the detection of COVID-19. We recommend using the BinasNOW for patients with symptoms up to 2 weeks