Effect of eucation level and religion on attitude to stem cells in Malaysia

The issue of using stem cells derived from human embryos and adult tissues to treat diseases has been divisively debated mainly due to ethical concerns. The objective of this article was to assess and compare the attitude level of the Malaysian public in the Klang Valley region towards human adult stem cells (hASCs) and human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). Results of the survey on 509 adult respondents revealed that the Malaysian public expressed higher support for hASCs, perceived the application as having lower moral concern and more acceptable by their religion as compared to hESCs. Univariate analysis following Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) confirmed that there were significant differences for perceived benefits and religious acceptance of hASCs across education level. Respondents who hold tertiary education level tended to perceive both hESCs and hASCs as more beneficial and believed the applications as more acceptable from their religious point of view. Their opinion of hASCs differed significantly compared to the respondents who hold pre-university education. Respondents from all religions perceived both hESCs and hASCs as having moderate benefits and risks. Significant differences were only detected for perceived moral concerns and encouragement of hESCs across religion. The Christians expressed greater moral concern of both hESCs and hASCs compared to other religions but post hoc test only detected significant difference in their opinion on hESCs from the Buddhists. The Buddhists were found to be more supportive towards both hESCs and hASCs but their support level for hESCs only differed significantly from the Muslims

Sikap pihak berkepentingan terhadap kecukupan peraturan dalam undang-undang biokeselamatan di Malaysia

Malaysia telah mengenal pasti bioteknologi sebagai salah satu daripada lima teknologi utama yang mampu menjadi pemacu transformasi Malaysia ke arah negara perindustrian menjelang 2020. Namun begitu, pembangunan yang pesat dalam bidang ini telah mendatangkan kebimbangan masyarakat, lebih-lebih lagi yang melibatkan isu biokeselamatan. Di Malaysia, Akta Biokeselamatan 2007 telah diluluskan pada 11 Julai 2007 dan dikuatkuasakan pada 1 Disember 2009 untuk mengawal selia bioteknologi moden dan hasilannya. Namun terdapat kritikan yang mengusulkan beberapa kekurangan peraturan dalam akta ini berkaitan aspek bioetika dan sosioekonomi. Justeru penilaian kecukupan peraturan yang sedia ada untuk memastikan keselamatan penggunaan bioteknologi dan hasilannya, perlu dilakukan. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk menilai tahap kepercayaan terhadap pihak kerkeutamaan, keterlibatan pihak berkepentingan dalam aktiviti kawal selia, dan sikap terhadap kecukupan peraturan biokeselamatan di Malaysia. Sehubungan dengan itu, satu set soal selidik telah diedarkan kepada 451 orang responden yang terdiri daripada pelbagai pihak berkepentingan di Lembah Klang. Penganalisisan data dilakukan dengan menggunakan program SPSS versi 18.0. Hasil kajian menunjukkan bahawa tahap keterlibatan pihak berkepentingan dalam aktiviti kawal selia adalah rendah dan tahap kepercayaan terhadap pihak berkeutamaan sebagai sederhana. Pihak berkepentingan menilai kecukupan struktur kawal selia, kecukupan penilaian dan pengurusan risiko, pengambilkiraan prinsip penting dalam Akta Biokeselamatan 2007, kecukupan denda, kecukupan hebahan umum dan sikap keseluruhan terhadap biokeselamatan sebagai sederhana

Transportation and acclimation optimisation of wild marble goby (Oxyeleotris marmorata Bleeker, 1852)

The Marble goby (Oxyeleotris marmorata Bleeker) is usually found in freshwater bodies. Due to its high commercial value and demand, it is farmed in cages and pond systems. Marble goby fish are preferred to be freshly killed and processed upon request in Asian restaurants. Currently, there are some challenges faced by fishermen who wish to transport live fish to restaurants or markets due to the traditional method of using water tanks as carriers. These water tanks are usually very heavy and bulky, increasing transportation costs. Furthermore, coping with the survivability of fish post-transportation has proven to be a challenge. This study was aimed at investigating the semi-dry method for fish transport and acclimatization of fish after transport in different tank sizes. In the semi-dry, where fish were covered using a towel transportation method where the survival rate at ~92%. For the acclimation experimental group, stream water was found to be the most appropriate type of water for rearing the marble goby fish, which demonstrated a conspicuous survivability rate of ~83%. whereas, for adaptation, marble goby fish from the wild had a faster adaptation rate in smaller spaces like aquariums as compared to large ‘stock tanks.’ To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that will provide a better understanding of the transportation method, acclimation conditions, and habitat that can lead to a reduction in the mortality rate during the marble goby transit processes

Pengaruh tahap stres terhadap kepuasan kerja dalam Kalangan pengajar kolej vokasional di Negeri Pahang

Kajian ini dijalankan bertujuan untuk mengkaji mengenai pengaruh stres terhadap kepuasan kerja dalam kalangan pengajar KV di negeri Pahang dengan memberikan tumpuan kepada tiga aspek iaitu aspek beban kerja, aspek karenah pelajar serta aspek penghargaan dan sokongan. Seramai 240 orang responden yang terdiri daripada kalangan pengajar di lapan buah KV di negeri Pahang telah dipilih secara rawak mudah. Nilai kebolehpercayaan Alpha Cronbach bagi keseluruhan soal selidik ini ialah 0.898. Soal selidik berkaitan pengaruh stres terhadap kepuasan kerja dibina sendiri dan selebihnya diubahsuai berpandukan instrumen yang digunakan oleh penyelidik terdahulu bagi menyediakan pelbagai jenis soalan berdasarkan objektif kajian. Kajian sebenar dijalankan dengan mengedarkan borang soal selidik mengandungi 58 item soalan kepada 240 responden. Data yang diperolehi dianalisis menggunakan Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) versi 22. Analisis statistik deskriptif iaitu skor min dan sisihan piawai digunakan bagi mengenal pasti tahap stres bagi aspek beban tugas, karenah pelajar serta penghargaan dan sokongan dalam kalangan pengajar. Manakala analisis ujian regrasi pelbagai digunakan bagi mengesan pengaruh stres terhadap kepuasan kerja. Dapatan kajian mendapati min keseluruhan tahap stres bagi aspek beban tugas dan karenah pelajar adalah sederhana dengan nilai skor min 3.49. Manakala hasil dapatan keseluruhan nilai min bagi konstruk tahap stres aspek penghargaan dan sokongan berada pada tahap yang tinggi iaitu 3.81. Dapatan analisis ujian regrasi pelbagai pula menunjukkan tahap stres bagi aspek beban tugas, aspek karenah pelajar dan aspek penghargaan dan sokongan mempengaruhi kepuasan kerja. Oleh itu, beberapa cadangan telah dikemukakan dalam kajian ini dalam usaha menangani stres yang berterusan serta boleh mempengaruhi tahap kepuasan kerja. Antara cadangan pengkaji adalah tenaga pengajar diberi lebih banyak pendedahan berkaitan perubahan sistem pendidikan vokasional yang dialami sekarang agar mereka lebih bersedia dalam menggalas tugas yang baharu seterusmya akan memberi kepuasan kerja dalam kalangan pengajar KV

ISSUES IN BIOTECHNOLOGY TEACHING - A nationwide biotechnology outreach and awareness program for Malaysian high schools

Biotechnology education in developing nations remains one of the rate limiting factors in achieving optimal human resource capacity to drive and tap the bio-resources of these nations. Many developing countries are situated within rich bio-diversity enclaves. Biotechnology offers the promise of tapping these bio resources towards due process of developing these nations. While there may be a steady stream of biology and biotechnology based graduates, from Malaysian as well as foreign universities contributing to the human resource base for these countries, the numbers and knowledge diversity produced, still lack the capacity to optimally power research and development as well as supply the industrial biotechnology sectors of these countries. Realizing the need to address these issues at the grassroots level of higher education, Malaysia has taken an active step of bringing biotechnology into the classrooms of high schools throughout the country. These future generations of Malaysians, are hoped to progress towards manning and driving Malaysia's BioValley initiatives (a biotech based R&D and industry cluster), towards the national dream of developed nation status by the year 2020, using biotechnology as an economic growth vehicle. Here, we share our experiences in developing and proliferating a biotechnology awareness program for Malaysian high schools. It is hoped that similar programs will strive towards similar objectives in other developing countries

Construction of molecule markers for prolific oil palm tissue culture

The use of DNA marker could minimize problems in tissue culture especially when applied during the selection of plants for tissue culture. Therefore, the aimed of this research was to develop molecular markers for prolific oil palm tissue culture using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) technique. AFLP analysis was carried out upon 20 oil palm clones that have divided into three classes which are non-prolific clone (10 types of clone), normal clone (6 types of clone) and prolific clone (4 types of clone). All of the clones used were from different cell line. There were 25 primer combinations used in the AFLP analysis and 13 out of them have produced significant polymorphic amplification patterns. From these results, 44 polymorphic DNA fragments were isolated where 33 fragments for non-prolific clone, one fragment for normal clone and 10 fragments for prolific clone. These fragments were cloned into plasmid, sequenced and then sequence analysis was done. There were 36 polymorphic fragments have undergone the subsequent experiments. A pair of specific primers for each fragment was designed based on their sequences. The expected size of amplified DNA bands for each primer pair was between 70 bp to 500 bp. The optimized primer pairs were tested to the 20 types of oil palm clones in order to confirm the markers developed. From the 36 designated primers combinations, 2 pairs of the primers showed the potential to be used as marker for prolific oil palm tissue culture

Pembinaan penanda molekul bagi kultur tisu kelapa sawit prolifik

Penggunaan penanda DNA boleh mengurangkan masalah dalam kultur tisu khususnya apabila diaplikasikan semasa pemilihan pokok untuk kultur tisu. Oleh itu, penyelidikan ini dijalankan bertujuan untuk membina penanda molekul bagi kultur tisu kelapa sawit prolifik dengan menggunakan teknik polimorfisme panjang cebisan teramplifikasi (AFLP). Analisis AFLP dijalankan ke atas 20 klon kelapa sawit yang terbahagi kepada tiga kelas iaitu klon tidak prolifik (10 jenis klon), klon normal (6 jenis klon) dan klon prolifik (4 jenis klon). Kesemua klon yang digunakan adalah daripada titisan sel yang berbeza. Sebanyak 25 kombinasi pencetus telah digunakan dalam analisis AFLP dan 13 daripada mereka memberikan corak amplifikasi polimorfisme. Daripada hasil ini, sebanyak 44 cebisan polimorfik telah dipencilkan dengan 33 cebisan adalah bagi klon tidak prolifik, 1 cebisan bagi normal dan 10 cebisan bagi klon prolifik. Cebisan ini telah diklon ke dalam plasmid, berjujukan dan seterusnya, analisis jujukan dijalankan. Sebanyak 36 cebisan polimorfik telah digunakan bagi kajian seterusnya. Berdasarkan kepada jujukan yang diperoleh, sepasang pencetus yang khusus kepada setiap cebisan telah dijana. Jangkaan julat saiz jalur DNA yang diamplifikasi bagi setiap pencetus adalah antara 70 hingga 500 bp. Pasangan pencetus yang optimum diuji ke atas 20 jenis klon kelapa sawit untuk mengesahkan penanda yang telah dibina. Daripada 36 pasangan pencetus yang dibina, 2 pasang pencetus telah menunjukkan potensi untuk digunakan sebagai penanda kepada kultur tisu kelapa sawit prolifik

Short Communication Cloning of a Partial β-glucosidase Gene From Aspergillus terreus SUK-1

Abstract The breakdown of cellulose to glucose is catalysed by a complex cellulase enzyme which is comprised of three classes of enzymes; endoglucanase, exoglucanase and β-glucosidase. Many studies have been done on cellulase and several genes encoding for β-glucosidase have been reported. Here we describe the cloning and sequence analysis of partial putative β-glucosidase gene from Aspergillus terreus SUK-1. Its potential to produce cellulase enzyme has been studied and reported. A pair of specific primer was designed from the conserved regions of several fungal sequences taken out from the GenBank. PCR amplification has successfully amplified a DNA fragment of approximately 233 bp and this fragment was cloned (designated as SA3). The sequence analysis with BLAST showed high similarity towards β-glucosidase gene and protein. 80% and 79% homology were observed between SA3 nucleotide sequence and β-glucosidase gene of A. niger and both A. kawachii and A. aculeatus. Whereas, amino acid sequence of SA3 showed 83% homology towards β-glucosidase of A. niger, A. kawachii and A. aculeatus