Solitary skull metastasis as initial manifestation of hepatocellular carcinoma – a case report

Metastatic spread of tumors to the skull is quite unusual and often represents diagnostic and therapeutic issues. Skull involvement can be observed in various neoplasms of epithelial origin and are most often due to lung, breast, thyroid, kidney and prostate cancers. However, skull metastases from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have been rarely reported. The prognosis for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma is so poor that treatment of such distant metastatic lesion cannot be achieved before death occurs due to the primary malignancy. Therefore, the clinical manifestations of cranial metastasis prior to that of primary hepatocellular carcinoma have rarely been reported. This case illustrates a rare case of skull metastasis as an initial manifestation of hepatocellular carcinoma. Although a solitary skull metastasis prior to the diagnosis of HCC demonstrates rare metastatic behavior for HCC, especially in Asia, skull metastases from HCC should be included in the differential diagnosis of skull tumors, even if the patient is asymptomatic of liver cirrhosis

Fructooligosaccharides in honey and effects of honey on growth of Bifidobacterium longum BB 536

This research was carried out to determine the fructooligosaccharides content in local honey samples, namely the wild Malaysian Tualang honey and common wild honey obtained from Tapah, Perak and a commercial Tualang honey. Local wild honeys were found to contain a higher concentration of fructooligosaccharides (FOS) compared to the commercial Tualang honey. The FOS quantified from local wild honeys was inulobiose, kestose and nystose. Nystoses were found at a very low amount in the commercial Tualang honey. The effects of honey on the growth of Bifidobacterium longum BB 536 were investigated. Both wild and commercial honey samples including FOS standard were found to support the growth of B. longum. The pH value of the skim milk + honey inoculated with the probiotic strain decreases as expected. Addition of honey was found to support the growth of B. longum BB 536

Unique attitude? The concept of special education leadership

Understanding special education is a complex thing. It takes someone to create an alien world filled with its citizens with disabilities. Choosing to be together in the world of special education provides an indicator that preparing oneself to be as special as special education itself. Entering the world of special education, automatically everything needs to be directed to be special and unique. Can we all imagine how stressful and stressful the physical and mental condition of parents who handle their children who are categorized as disabled? Do we fantasize about how a teacher controls their class and teaching when faced with the uncertainty of MBK behavior and conversation in school? Is it worth it if we don’t become as special as possible in the world of special education? This qualitative study was conducted to explore the perceptions of special education teachers on the uniqueness that should exist in special education leadership. As a result of the thematic analysis conducted, there are five things which shows that special education leadership needs to be unique in its implementation, namely prioritizing MBK in all matters, putting love in every school decision, balancing between teachers and MBK, preferring discussion over unilateral decisions and always defending special education, These findings are expected to be a guide to relevant parties

Strategic management of records and risks for the sustainability of organizations / Azman Mat Isa, Raja Abdullah Yaacob and Nordiana Mohd Nordin

The sustainability of an organization relies on its financial stability and its ability to demonstrate considerable transparency and accountability. Records management has a significant role in providing evidence for decision-making as well as for demonstrating transparency and accountability. Implementing records management would be costly in the absence of risk management. Unfortunately, the role of records management is hardly recognized. This research attempts to investigate the essence of records management in underpinning good governance and accountability processes as well as to identify the relationship between risk management and records management. This research adopts case study method, using interviews, observation and document analysis for data gathering. It is discovered that an integrated records management system is essential in underpinning critical governance and accountability processes such as internal and external audit, compliance, risk management and decision making

One- and Two-Dimensional Hydrological Modelling and Their Uncertainties

Earth processes, which occur in land, air and ocean in different environment and at different scales, are very complex. Flooding is also a part of the complex processes, which need to be assessed accurately to know the accurate spatial and temporal changes of flooding and their causes. Hydrological modelling has been used by several researchers in river and floodplain modelling for flood analysis. In this chapter, factors affecting flash flood, possible options of basic input parameters in one- and two-dimensional hydrological models in data sparse environment, some case studies and uncertainty in hydrological modelling were discussed. This discussion will help the readers to understand the flooding factors, selection of input parameters in data sparse environment, a brief insight of one- and two-dimensional hydrological models and uncertainties in their input and model parameters and model structures

Anthraquinones production, hydrogen peroxide level and antioxidant vitamins in Morinda elliptica cell suspension cultures from intermediary and production medium strategies

The effects of medium strategies [maintenance (M), intermediary (G), and production (P) medium] on cell growth, anthraquinone (AQ) production, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) level, lipid peroxidation, and antioxidant vitamins in Morinda elliptica cell suspension cultures were investigated. These were compared with third-stage leaf and 1-month-old callus culture. With P medium strategy, cell growth at 49 g l–1, intracellular AQ content at 42 mg g–1 DW, and H2O2 level at 9 mol g–1 FW medium were the highest as compared to the others. However, the extent of lipid peroxidation at 40.4 nmol g–1 FW and total carotenoids at 13.3 mg g–1 FW for cultures in P medium were comparable to that in the leaf, which had registered sevenfold lower AQ and 2.2-fold lower H2O2 levels. Vitamin C content at 30–120 g g–1 FW in all culture systems was almost half the leaf content. On the other hand, vitamin E content was around 400–500 g g–1 FW in 7-day-old cultures from all medium strategies and reduced to 50–150 g g–1 FW on day 14 and 21; as compared to 60 g g–1 FW in callus and 200 g g–1 FW in the leaf. This study suggests that medium strategies and cell growth phase in cell culture could influence the competition between primary and secondary metabolism, oxidative stresses and antioxidative measures. When compared with the leaf metabolism, these activities are dynamic depending on the types and availability of antioxidants

Penggunaan ICT dalam pengajaran bahasa Arab

Kajian ini ialah kajian deskriptif bagi meninjau penggunaan ICT dalam kalangan guru bahasa Arab di pusat bahasa. Kajian ini cuba menjawab persoalan bagaimanakah penggunaan ICT oleh guru-guru bahasa Arab dalam pengajaran mereka. Kajian ini menggunakan soal selidik sebagai instrument yang diedarkan kepada responden kajian seramai 67 orang guru bahasa Arab di pusat bahasa Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia (UIAM). Data yang dikumpulkan itu dianalisis menggunakan SPSS versi 11.0 untuk mendapatkan kekerapan, peratus, min dan sisihan piawai. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan bahawa penggunaan ICT dalam kalangan guru dalam pengajaran bahasa Arab adalah pada tahap sederhana. Oleh itu, tindakan yang berstrategik perlu diambil oleh pentadbir pusat bahasa untuk memastikan ICT diaplikasikan dengan sewajarnya dalam pengajaran bahasa Arab bersesuaian dengan teknologi terkini

Hydrogen Production by Membrane Water Splitting Technologies

Hydrogen production by membrane water splitting technologies is a sustainable method to synthesize hydrogen and provides an alternative to hydrogen production instead of conventional process of synthesizing hydrogen from steam methane reforming. A hybrid polymer electrolyte membrane electrolyzer operational at working temperature of above 80–200°C is advantageous for faster electrochemical kinetics, higher current exchange density, and more resistance to fuel impurities. Phosphoric acid (PA) doping onto polybenzimidazole (PBI) membrane shows significant improvement in proton conductivities, permeability, and thermal stability. PBI-based electrolyzer is relatively new to the hydrogen production technologies as compared to Nafion-based electrolyzer. However, the high cost of purchasing Nafion membrane and inability to execute electrolysis operational above 90°C has sparked new interest on PBI-based membrane, which is known for its good thermal stability

Empirical shear strength criteria for filled jointed of metasedimentary sandstone

Rock joint shear failure criteria constitute numerical simulation that significantly governs the calculation for rock mass stability analysis. The presence of joint infilling potentially reduces the estimation accuracy for the deformation of rock joint. This study discovers the role of infilling thickness in governing the empirical calculation of linear Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion and non-linear Barton-Bandis failure criterion. A series of direct shear tests with constant surface roughness and controlled infilling material composition facilitates the joint shear strength with various infilling thicknesses. The results indicate that the joint shear strength decreases primarily with infilling material within the joint aperture. Although all the friction angles are closely similar, different cohesion values show the influence of infilling material thickness on shear strength characteristics. The joint shear strength values indicate significant differences where the filled joint shear strength reduction depends on associated infilling thicknesses and the adopted failure criterion. Multiplication to the Filled Joint Factor (FJF ) normalized from the tfilled joint/tcleaned joint ratio will precisely evaluate the filled joint shear strength. Hence, the shear strength estimation from Mohr-Coulomb and Barton-Bandis failure criteria to the various thicknesses of joint infilling will provide sufficient filled joint deformability characteristics