Simultaneous Determination of Different Polyamines and their Mono-Acetylated Derivatives in Gastric Tissue by HPLC with Post-Column Derivatization

A simple and highly sensitive procedure is described enabling the simultaneous determination of biogenic polyamines (PAs) and their related monoacetyl derivatives in stomach tissue. The method is based on HPLC using octane sulfonate as an ion-pairing agent employed in acetate buffers at pH 4.5. The application is accompanied with fluorescence detection followed by post-column derivatization with o-phthaldialdehyde at room temperature (20±0.5°C). N1- and N8-acetylspermidines (ASPD) can be determined with this method in the same run without performing any special procedures or pre-purification in concentrations exceeding 8.5 pmoles. The variability in reproducibility of the day-today precision and duplicate determination, and simultaneous determination of standard mixture and biological samples were found < 2%. The mean (± s.e.mean) retention times (n=12) for putrescine (Put), N1-ASPD, N8-ASPD, spermidine (Spd) and spermine (Spm) are 8.97±0.025; 17.64±0.063; 18.99±0.133; 28.20±0.070 and 39.81±0.098 min, respectively. The method was applied to determine PAs and specifically N1- and N8-ASPD in glandular part of stomach tissue of fasting rats (STFR) without any interference with endogenous aminoacids, histamine, and other reactive moieties. PAs and both mono-ASPD have been successfully determined in the STFR and the values are as follows: Put 37.2±10.1; N1-ASPD 5.88±0.48; N8-ASPD 4.43±0.94; Spd 750.7±22.7 and Spm 618.2±37.4 nmole/g of wet tissue. Information on gastric tissue polyamines and their acetylated derivatives may be useful in understanding the mechanism of drugs or agents that play some part in gastric ulcer production or its repair mechanisms

Pendidikan bukan formal (PBF) di Malaysia: cabaran dan hala tuju Wawasan 2020

Pendidikan Bukan Formal (PBF) adalah pelengkap kepada pendidikan formal dan tidak formal. Justeru itu, ia amat penting dan bermakna kepada pembangunan manusia secara menyeluruh; selain membantu dalam proses pembangunan sesebuah negara. Pendidikan Bukan Formal amat penting kepada sesebuah negara yang sedang pesat membangun seperti Malaysia. Oleh yang demikian, pendidikan seumpama ini secara langsung atau tidak langsung mampu membangunkan literasi masyarakat dalam pelbagai disiplin ilmu seperti teknologi maklumat, pengurusan, kemanusiaa dan kemasyarakatan, keusahawanan, kenegaraan dan sebagainya. Pengayaan dan penguasaan ilmu pengetahuan amat penting dalam membina masyarakat yang berilmu dan bertamadun. Tentu sekali, dalam konteks Malaysia ia dapat dicapai menerusi minat dan ketekunan masyarakat dan galakan yang diberikan oleh pelbagai pihak termasuk kerajaan untuk belajar terus menerus sepanjang hayat. Justeru itu, kertas kerja ini akan memerihalkan bagaimana Pendidikan Bukan Formal boleh menjadi katalis kepada Pendidikan Sepanjang Hayat di Malaysia. Secara konseptual, kertas kerja ini akan dimulai dengan definisi konsep, jenis dan bentuk Pendidikan Bukan Formal. Selanjutnya, kertas kerja ini akan menjelaskan tentang faktor penarik dan penolak yang secara tidak langsung memberi kesan terhadap penglibatan masyarakat dan peranan yang dimainkan oleh pihak kerajaan, Pertubuhan Bukan Kerajaan mahu pun swasta. Paling penting, Pendidikan Bukan Formal ini akan disorot dalam pelbagai perspektif seperti pelan perancangan dan pembangunan negara, modenisasi dan pembangunan sosioekonomi. Selain itu, kertas kerja ini turut mengupas isu permasalahan yang timbul dalam perancangan dan pelaksanaan Pendidikan Bukan Formal Di Malaysia. Akhirnya, kertas kerja ini akan merumuskan akan harapan dan cabaran Wawasan 2020 dan Pendidikan Bukan Formal di Malaysia

A new route maintenance strategy for dynamic source routing protocol

Although DSR can respond a route quickly, it yields a long delay when a route is rebuilt. This is because when source node receives RERR packet, it will try to find alternative routes from route cache. If alternative routes are not available, source node, then, will enter route discovery phase to find new routes. In this paper we introduce a new route maintenance strategy by utilizing location information. We called this new route maintenance strategy as DISTANCE (Distance baSed rouTe maintenANCE). DISTANCE works by adding another node (called bridge node) into the source list to prevent the link from failure. From the simulation result, DISTANCE improves the performance of DSR in terms of packet sending ratio and delay

Mobility models towards the performance of geographical-based route maintenance strategy in DSR

In the future, Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANET)s are expected to be deployed in myriads of scenarios having complex node mobility and connectivity dynamics. Unfortunately, these complex movement scenarios give a tough challenge to the MANET routing protocol. We reviewed some mobility models that have different mobility characteristic, and also studied the effect of these mobility models towards the performance of geographical-based route maintenance strategy in the Dynamic Source Routing (DSR) protocol

Settlement reduction of dredged marine soils (DMS) admixed with cement & waste granular materials (WGM): 1-D compressibility study

Dredged marine soils (DMS) are considered as geo-waste and commonly disposed far into the sea. Environmental impacts raised from dredging such as turbidity and disturbance of marine ecosystem had increased the social demand to reuse DMS in engineering application. Typically, DMS have low shear strength and low bearing capacity. Hence, the DMS could be strengthened up by soil solidification. In present study, waste granular materials (WGM) such as coal bottom ash (BA) and palm oil clinker (POC) were utilized as additional binder to cement. The DMS were solidified with 3 series of admixtures; namely cement and/or WGM. The factor that influenced the compressibility of the soil sample such as percentages of admixtures were considered. Proportioned samples of 10, 15 and 20 % of cement, and/or 50 and 150 % of WGM of dry weight of DMS were subjected to one-dimensional oedometer test. The test samples were cured for 7 days in room temperature. Results show that cement- and WGM-admixed DMS have reduced the soil’s compressibility considerably than the untreated sample. As expected, the cemented soil had significantly reduced the settlement better than WGM-admixed soil. Hence, homogeneous samples of 15C50BA and 10C100POC produced almost similar reduction of compressibility as sample 20C. Therefore, reusing WGM as partial replacement of cement in DMS could provide beneficial reuse of these materials

Morphological Characterization of Malaysian Wild Banana Musa Acuminata

Fourteen populations of Musa acuminata ranging from populations in the lowlands of northern (ssp. siamea) to central Malaysian region (ssp. malaccensis) and highland banana (ssp. truncata) were characterized based on chromosome number and 46 morphological characters. A large amount of variation was observed within the populations. However, only highland bananas appeared morphologically distinct. Lowland populations both from northern and central Malaysia were found to be overlapping and no distinguishing pattern was observed. The morphological characters found variable within these populations were related to developmental changes and mutations. The results obtained in this study were not revolutionary. However, the survey of a large number of characters treated with multivariate techniques further sharpened the existing groupings of the Musa acuminata subspecies

Characterization of Malaysian Wild Bananas Based on Anthocyanins

The male buds of 16 Musa species (Musaceae) populations were investigated by HPLC for the occurrence of anthocyanins. The investigation was based on the presence of 6 anthocyanins. The 16 Musa samples could be classified into three distinct species i.e. Musa acuminata, Musa violascens and Musa balbisiana. Musa acuminata could be divided into two subspecies : malaccensis (lowland) and tmncata (highland) according to their constituents and content of major anthocyanins. No variation was observed in the composition of the anthocyanins of Kedah type ssp. siamea and Selangor types ssp. malaccensis. The classification of M. acuminata into two subspecies based on anthocyanin data further supported the current taxonomic grouping of the species

Kinetin Ameliorates Cisplatin‐Induced Hepatotoxicity and Lymphotoxicity via Attenuating Oxidative Damage, Cell Apoptosis and Inflammation in Rats

Though several previous studies reported the in vitro and in vivo antioxidant effect of kinetin (Kn), details on its action in cisplatin‐induced toxicity are still scarce. In this study we eval-uated, for the first time, the effects of kinetin in cisplatin (cp)‐ induced liver and lymphocyte toxicity in rats. Wistar male albino rats were divided into nine groups: (i) the control (C), (ii) groups 2,3 and 4, which received 0.25, 0.5 and 1 mg/kg kinetin for 10 days; (iii) the cisplatin (cp) group, which received a single intraperitoneal injection of CP (7.0 mg/kg); and (iv) groups 6, 7, 8 and 9, which received, for 10 days, 0.25, 0.5 and 1 mg/kg kinetin or 200 mg/kg vitamin C, respectively, and Cp on the fourth day. CP‐injected rats showed a significant impairment in biochemical, oxidative stress and inflammatory parameters in hepatic tissue and lymphocytes. PCR showed a profound increase in caspase‐3, and a significant decline in AKT gene expression. Intriguingly, Kn treatment restored the biochemical, redox status and inflammatory parameters. Hepatic AKT and caspase‐3 expression as well as CD95 levels in lymphocytes were also restored. In conclusion, Kn mitigated oxidative imbalance, inflammation and apoptosis in CP‐induced liver and lymphocyte toxicity; therefore, it can be considered as a promising therapy

Hybrid Signal Processing and Machine Learning Algorithm for Adaptive Fault Classification of Wind Farm Integrated Transmission Line Protection

The technological advancement in integration of Renewable Green Energy Sources (RGES) like Wind Farm Generators (WFG), and Photovoltaic (PV) system into conventional power system as a future solution to meet the increase in global energy demands in order to reduce the cost of power generation, and improve on the climate change impact. This innovation also introduces challenges in the power system protection by it being compromised due to injected fault current infeeds on existing facilities. These infeed lead to the undesired trip of a healthy section of the line, and protection system failure. This paper presents a soft computational approach to adaptive fault classification model on High Voltage Transmission Line (HVTL) with and without RGES-WFG integration topologies, using extracted one-cycle fault signature of voltage and current signals with wavelet statistical approach in Matlab. The results are unique signatures across all fault types and fault distances with distinct entropy energy values on proposed network architecture. The supervised machine learning algorithm from Bayesian network classified 99.15 % faults correctly with the operation time of 0.01 s to produced best-generalized model with an RMS error value of 0.05 for single line-to-ground (SLG) fault identification and classification. Best suitable for adaptive unit protection scheme integration

The Effects Of Pixel Aggregation On The Radiometric Properties Of Landsat-8 Satellite Imagery

This study aims to evaluate the effects of pixel aggregation on the radiometric properties of Landsat-8 satellite imagery. Two images of north-western Peninsular Malaysia (i.e. clear day and cloudy day) were selected for the study. The aggregated average method was used due to its simplicity and practicality. Paired sample t-test and similarity matrix analysis were performed to assess and evaluate the effects of aggregation to Landsat-8 radiometric properties. The results show that the higher the aggregation scale the lower the similarity to the original pixel value for all bands. However, pixel aggregation does not significantly change the radiometric properties of all bands in both images except for the infrared bands in the clear image