Complementary and Alternative Medicine versus Conventional Medicine Use in Thalassemia Patients

Background: This study explores thalassemia patients' perceptions concerning the effectiveness of conventional therapies for Thalassemia healthcare. Method: The semi-structured interviews were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim, and translated into English. Results: Nearly all thalassemia patients reported to have relied on conventional treatment methods to treat and reduce the severity of their disease. Few patients reported not to comply with their treatment procedures due to fear of infection through blood transfusion, surgery and organ failure. Conclusions: In conclusion, patients showed positive views about the conventional therapies carried out for Thalassemia. Keywords:: Thalassemia; qualitative; conventional; complementary and alternative medicine eISSN: 2398-4287© 2021. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v6i16.266

Proteomic Analyses Of Streblus Asper Root Extract On Cervical Cancer

Cervical cancer is the third most prevalent cancer in women. Despite recent advances in cancer treatment, there were 569,847 incidents and 311,365 deaths worldwide in 2018. The current treatment options such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy have been typically found to cause adverse side effects that hinder the treatment efficacy. In contrast, natural products have been found to provide better treatment efficacy. Therefore, this study was conducted to explore the potential of one natural product known as Streblus asper root extract to be an alternative prospect to the current treatment practise

Antioxidant Activity, Total Phenolic and Flavonoid Content and LC–MS Profiling of Leaves Extracts of <i>Alstonia angustiloba</i>

Plants have a wide range of active compounds crucial in treating various diseases. Most people consume plants and herbals as an alternative medicine to improve their health and abilities. A. angustiloba extract showed antinematodal activity against Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, antitrypanosomal action against Trypanosoma brucei and anti-plasmodial activity against the chloroquine-resistant Plasmodium falciparum K1 strain. Moreover, it has demonstrated growth inhibitory properties towards several human cancer cell lines, such as MDA-MB-231, SKOV-3, HeLa, KB cells and A431. DPPH and ABTS assays were carried out to determine the antioxidant activity of the aqueous and 60% methanolic extract of A. angustiloba leaves. Moreover, total phenolic and flavonoid contents were quantified. The presence of potential active compounds was then screened using liquid chromatography coupled with a Q-TOF mass spectrometer (LC–MS) equipped with a dual electrospray ionisation (ESI) source. The EC50 values measured by DPPH for the 60% methanolic and aqueous extracts of A. angustiloba leaves were 80.38 and 94.11 µg/mL, respectively, and for the ABTS assays were 85.80 and 115.43 µg/mL, respectively. The 60% methanolic extract exhibited the highest value of total phenolic and total flavonoid (382.53 ± 15.00 mg GAE/g and 23.45 ± 1.04 mg QE/g), while the aqueous extract had the least value (301.17 ± 3.49 mg GAE/g and 9.73 ± 1.76 mg QE/g). The LC–MS analysis revealed the presence of 103 and 140 compounds in the aqueous and 60% methanolic extract, respectively. It consists of phenolic acids, flavonoids, alkaloids, amino acids, glycosides, alkaloids, etc. It can be concluded that the therapeutic action of this plant is derived from the presence of various active compounds; however, further research is necessary to determine its efficacy in treating diseases

Antioxidant Activity, Total Phenolic and Flavonoid Content and LC&ndash;MS Profiling of Leaves Extracts of Alstonia angustiloba

Plants have a wide range of active compounds crucial in treating various diseases. Most people consume plants and herbals as an alternative medicine to improve their health and abilities. A. angustiloba extract showed antinematodal activity against Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, antitrypanosomal action against Trypanosoma brucei and anti-plasmodial activity against the chloroquine-resistant Plasmodium falciparum K1 strain. Moreover, it has demonstrated growth inhibitory properties towards several human cancer cell lines, such as MDA-MB-231, SKOV-3, HeLa, KB cells and A431. DPPH and ABTS assays were carried out to determine the antioxidant activity of the aqueous and 60% methanolic extract of A. angustiloba leaves. Moreover, total phenolic and flavonoid contents were quantified. The presence of potential active compounds was then screened using liquid chromatography coupled with a Q-TOF mass spectrometer (LC&ndash;MS) equipped with a dual electrospray ionisation (ESI) source. The EC50 values measured by DPPH for the 60% methanolic and aqueous extracts of A. angustiloba leaves were 80.38 and 94.11 &micro;g/mL, respectively, and for the ABTS assays were 85.80 and 115.43 &micro;g/mL, respectively. The 60% methanolic extract exhibited the highest value of total phenolic and total flavonoid (382.53 &plusmn; 15.00 mg GAE/g and 23.45 &plusmn; 1.04 mg QE/g), while the aqueous extract had the least value (301.17 &plusmn; 3.49 mg GAE/g and 9.73 &plusmn; 1.76 mg QE/g). The LC&ndash;MS analysis revealed the presence of 103 and 140 compounds in the aqueous and 60% methanolic extract, respectively. It consists of phenolic acids, flavonoids, alkaloids, amino acids, glycosides, alkaloids, etc. It can be concluded that the therapeutic action of this plant is derived from the presence of various active compounds; however, further research is necessary to determine its efficacy in treating diseases

Antibacterial Activity of Hoya Diversifolia Ethanolic Leaves Extract

The rapid emergence of resistance bacteria toward various antibiotics may associate with higher medical cost and increase mortality rate. Hoya diversifolia was used to cure skin diseases and alleviate rheumatism pain. The aim of this study is to evaluate in vitro antibacterial properties of H. diversifolia ethanolicleaves extract against several Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria. The antibacterial study was determined based on pattern of inhibition zones using disc diffusion assay and also minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC). It is shown that the extract can inhibit the growth of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus,Escherichia coliandBacillus cereus.The lowest MIC values of extract were 25 mg/mL for MRSA and E. coli as well as 100 mg/mL for B. cereus at 24 and 48 hours of incubation period. The plant had potential to act as antibacterial agent that can be applied in pharmaceutical and cosmetic fields. © 2019 Oriental Scientific Publishing Company. All rights reserved

iNutritionApp: Mobile Application for Nutrition Monitoring using FatSecret API

Mobile application is a software designed to run on smartphones, tablet computers, and other mobile devices. The growing millions of users who are using mobile applications have contributed to an increase in the development of the mobile applications for enterprises, education, the social network and healthcare. Widely used healthcare application nowadays includes general health and wellness, tele-medicine, personal coaching and consultation, medical record tracking, custom reminders and various health management apps. This paper presents a mobile application related to general health and wellness named as iNutritionApp for providing nutrient information, tracking nutrition and calorie intakes with the integration of FatSecret API. The API provides nutritional information based on type of food provided by user. The application was intended to overcome manual calorie intake calculations and assists diet plan. Development methodology of this mobile application utilizes three phases that are system requirements, system design and development, as well as testing. Technology acceptance model with three parts were conducted with 30 respondents by evaluating the developed mobile application through questionnaires. Results of the testing showed that perceived of usefulness (PU) part achieved highest mean score compared to perceived ease of use (PEOU) that include user interface design and navigation parts. Therefore, features and functionality offered by the iNutritionApp is proven to be useful for user in tracking calorie intakes and provide access to nutritional information