The effects of dietary supplementation of methanolic extracts of herbal medicine on haematological variable of red hybrid tilapia (Oreochromis sp.)

The most common strategy to treat in aquaculture disease is the use of antibiotics, however, such utilization has been accounted to have antagonistic impacts like accumulation of drugs in tissues, development of drug resistance and immunosuppression. One of the most promising methods of controlling diseases in aquaculture is strengthening the defence mechanisms through therapeutic administration. Vitex trifolia, Strobilanthes crispus, and Aloe vera have been reported to have better antimicrobial activity in vitro against Streptococcus agalactiae. However, there is no report on the application of the extracts on the treatment of Oreochromis sp. The objective of the study was to assess the effectiveness of diet supplementation of selected plant extract for 14 days as disease treatment. In red blood cell (RBC), haemoglobin (Hb), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), white blood cell (WBC), alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) showed significant differences between treatment and control. RBC, Hb and WBC levels of the infected group were significantly higher (P<0.05) than those of the control group indicating improve defence system in the fish fed with V. trifolia, S. crispus, and A. vera. These results suggested that of methanolic mixed herbal to applying S. agalactiae infected Oreochromis sp had a synergistic restorative effect on the haematological variables

Analysis of health planning theories – a systematic approach

Background: This article examines the usage of various theories in the perspective of health planning. Accounts of transformation initiatives often reveal little about past organisational and contextual planning conditions that contributed to success. This article aims to explain the historical usage of planning theories by aligning them to the current healthcare system. Materials and Methods: A scoping review of literature using electronic database of PubMed, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar was done with special attention given to three specified planning theory in relation to health care planning. A total of 30 articles, reports and theses were selected and analysed. The analysis and findings are presented based on three different theories that has been selected which are the rational planning model, incremental planning theory and mix scanning planning theories. Result: Rational planning model is a process of understanding the problem followed by establishing and evaluating planning criteria, formulation of alternatives, implementing them and finally monitoring the progress of chosen alternatives. Incrementalism refers to the method of change by which many small policy changes are enacted over time in order to create a larger broad based policy planning. Compared to some of the other budgeting methods used in healthcare, it is one of the easiest to put in practice. Mixed scanning can be said to be much less demanding and detailed compared to rationalised decision making. However, it is more comprehensive and broader compared to incrementalism. Conclusion: Health planning involves a cycle of planning process in which the ultimate goal is to improve health status or optimise wellness of a community. Although mixed scanning theory with substance from incremental theory seems to be prominently used, one has to take into account all the current issues, goals and country current situations before deciding on the most relevant theory to be used

Hypocholesterolemic effect of red pitaya (Hylocereus sp.) on hypercholesterolemia induced rats 1,2*

Abstract: This study was carried out to evaluate the total phenolic content and anti-oxidant activity of methanolic extract of red pitaya, and hypocholesterolemic effect of red pitaya (Hylocereus sp.) on lipid profiles status on hypercholesterolemia induced rats. From the analysis, total phenolic content in red pitaya is 46.06 ± 1.77 mg GAE/100 g fresh weight and antioxidant activity is 76.10% using FTC method. TBA analysis also showed red pitaya extract had high antioxidant effect (72.90%). An in-vivo study also showed red pitaya has hypocholesterolemic effect on induced hypercholesterolemia rats. After 11 weeks of study, total blood cholesterol significant decrease (p&lt;0.05) in the groups supplement with red pitaya. The total cholesterol (TC) level for group PF1 were reduced from 3.356 mmol/L to 1.707 mmol/L (49.14%), group PF2 reduced from 3.435 mmol/L to 1.487 mmol/L (56.72%) and group PF3 reduced from 3.448 mmol/L to 1.412 mmol/L (59.06%) as compare to baseline respectively. The mean total cholesterol level in both negative (N -5.12%) and positive controls (group HC -13.79%) were not significantly different (p&lt;0.05). The mean triglycerides (TG) level for all groups had shown a reduction (p&lt;0.05) with value of 23.87% (group N), 22.674% (group HC), 42.81% (group PF1), 52.82% (group PF2) and 59.52% (group PF3) as compare to baseline levels. The mean HDL level increased by about 2.12% (group N), 19.31% (group PF1), 21.93% (group PF2) and much higher increase in group PF3 (34.42%). The mean LDL decreased by about 39.06% (PF3), 15.10% (PF2), 1.50% (PF1) and 4.33% (group N). The positive control has showed significantly increase with the mean value for 25.68%. In conclusion, all groups that received red pitaya supplementation has high antioxidant properties and showed a good results in managing of lipid profile. It was suggested that the consumption of red pitaya demonstrated the potential to reduce dyslipidemia and play a role in the prevention of cardiovascular disease

Sensitivity analysis of small scale biomass gasification-based CHP system: a way forward for sustainable urban waste to energy technology

A biomass gasification-based combined heat power (CHP) system emerges as a potential sustainable urban waste-to-energy (WtE) technology that can offer solutions to the excessive anthropogenic CO2 emissions and the escalation of energy demand as well as to the incremental of domestic and agriculture wastes. In this work, a steady state flowsheet model of 25 kW APL power pallet is developed by Aspen Plus software. The developed power pallet model integrates physical and chemical processes which involves pyrolysis, combustion, and gasification processes. The developed gasification model is validated with experimental data using biomass woodchip as a feedstock. This study focuses on the gasification of biomass to produce syngas (mainly H2 and CO) which subsequently converts to electric power. As an initial study towards large scale WtE plant, a detailed parameter sensitivity analysis is performed by analysing variables effects on syngas production subjected to the manipulation of gasification temperature, pressure and air-to-biomass ratio. The results show that the elevation of air-tobiomass ratio and gasification temperature contribute to the high conversion of CO subsequently enhance the potential of electrical power load. Moreover, power pallet exhibits optimal operation at 3.9 of air-to-biomass ratio with gasification temperature approximately at 1200 K. The initial results obtained in this study are valuable in determining the feasibility of biomass gasification-based CHP system as a sustainable and robust WtE technology

Prevalence of coronary artery disease in young sudden death cases and correlation with post-mortem computed tomography calcium score / Omar E. … [et al.]

Data on prevalence of coronary atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease (CAD) in young sudden death autopsy cases in Malaysia are still scarce. Calcium scoring (CS) on Computed Tomography (CT) was suggested to be predictive for CAD; however the reports have been conflicting. Objectives: to investigate (i) the prevalence of young CAD in sudden death cases in a Malaysian population; (ii) the association between CT CS and CAD in such cases and correlation with age. Methods: Sudden death cases received at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine, Kuala Lumpur between September 2012 and December 2013 were recruited. The cases were divided into young [=40] and old [>40 years old] age groups. Presence of CAD was recorded during autopsy. Results: A total of 155 cases was included; 64.5% of the subjects were below 40 years old. CAD was the cause of death of 34 [21.9%] cases; of these, young individuals comprise 47.1% of cases [n=16; 10.3% of total cases, 16% of young sudden death cases]. Both young and old subjects with CAD had lower CS compared to those without CAD [p<0.000; p=0.003 respectively]. Multivariable regression analysis showed CS to be significantly correlated with CAD in both young and old subjects. In contrast, other factors such as gender, ethnicity, body-mass index and waist-hip ratio did not show any correlation with CAD in both groups. Conclusion: The revalence of CAD in young sudden death cases is relatively high. CS is useful in discriminating CAD in both young and old SD subjects

Investigation of solid velocity measurement using single-plane versus dual-plane of electrical capacitance tomography for coal power plant application

Electrical Capacitance Tomography (ECT) is a visualization tomographic modality that provides cross-sectional distribution information of any kind of multiphase flow. The paper aims to overcome the problems in the coal power plant which are sedimentation of pulverised coal in the piping system before entering boiler system and non-uniform of its velocity. A single plane and dual-plane experiment were carried out to measure the solid velocity of PMMA material. Eight electrodes for each plane was implemented in this research. The single plane ECT system was able to determine the average axial velocity of the PMMA ball as it can be applied manually if there is no expensive software was implemented. Besides, the velocity measurement using dual-plane ECT sensor through the application of Parseval’s theorem and adaptation of parabolic fit interpolation method showed accurate results with the highest percentage error of 1.94%