Studies on appetite regulation and lipid biology in vertebrates

In Part 1, importance of appetite control and non-adipose sources of leptin was established as being important for water conservation in desert-adapted mammals. In Part 2, the characterisation of fatty acid desaturase 2 in rainbow trout with &Delta;5 desaturase activity provided new knowledge on fatty acid biosynthesis in fish.<br /

Justice in Malaysian society: Islamic finance and social cohesion / Nur Khalidah Dahlan... [et al.]

The uniqueness of Malaysia is reflected towards its multi ethnicity society and how the society co-exists and accepting each other differences. History has shown that, harmonisation in Malaysian society is essential and should not be taken for granted. As a result, the government will always prioritize on the economy and social aspect in order to achieve peace and harmony among Malaysian. Therefore, by comparing the pertinent literature on Islamic finance and social cohesion theory, this paper seeks to illustrate the link between economy aspect pertaining to the Islamic finance and the social aspect on how its reflect justice to the whole society

KAEDAH PENYELESAIAN PERTIKAIAN ALTERNATIF DARI SUDUT SYARIAH DI MALAYSIA ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION METHODS FROM THE SYARIAH PERSPECTIVE IN MALAYSIA

Family and marital disputes are commonly heard cases in our daily lives. The trial courts and the alternative resolution methods may be used for the parties involved in the disputes to settle their problems. This paper reviews the aspects of the legal provisions concerning the jurisdiction of courts (civil and Syariah) and also the alternative dispute resolution methods. Some of the proposed alternative methods are arbitration, mediation, and sulh. These alternative resolution methods may be used to avoid the tedious court processes and to reduce the cost of settling the disputes. The alternative methods are strongly encouraged in Islam and there are clear guidelines in Malaysia regarding the ways to employ the alternative methods. The use of the alternative methods is effective as reflected in the number of cases which have been succesfully solved using the methods. This paper concludes that Muslim community in Malaysia has the convincing options to resolve their family / marital disputes either in courts or through the alternative resolution methods.  Keywords: Syariah Court, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Sulh Council, Arbitration, Mediation.Cite as: Dahlan, N.K., Palil, M.R., Abdul Hamid, M., &amp; Yaakub, N.I. (2017). Kaedah penyelesaian pertikaian alternatif dari sudut syariah di Malaysia [Alternative dispute resolution methods from the syariah perspective in Malaysia]. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 2(1), 86-98.  http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol2iss1pp86-98

Isolation and functional characterisation of a fads2 in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) with ∆5 desaturase activity

Rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, are intensively cultured globally. Understanding their requirement for long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) and the biochemistry of the enzymes and biosynthetic pathways required for fatty acid synthesis is important and highly relevant in current aquaculture. Most gnathostome vertebrates have two fatty acid desaturase (fads) genes with known functions in LC-PUFA biosynthesis and termed fads1 and fads2. However, teleost fish have exclusively fads2 genes. In rainbow trout, a fads2 cDNA had been previously cloned and found to encode an enzyme with &Delta;6 desaturase activity. In the present study, a second fads2 cDNA was cloned from the liver of rainbow trout and termed fads2b. The full-length mRNA contained 1578 nucleotides with an open reading frame of 1365 nucleotides that encoded a 454 amino acid protein with a predicted molecular weight of 52.48 kDa. The predicted Fads2b protein had the characteristic traits of the microsomal Fads family, including an N-terminal cytochrome b5 domain containing the heme-binding motif (HPPG), histidine boxes (HDXGH, HFQHH and QIEHH) and three transmembrane regions. The fads2b was expressed predominantly in the brain, liver, intes- tine and pyloric caeca. Expression of the fads2b in yeast generated a protein that was found to specifically convert eicosatetraenoic acid (20:4n-3) to eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5n-3), and therefore functioned as a &Delta;5 desaturase. Therefore, rainbow trout have two fads2 genes that encode proteins with &Delta;5 and &Delta;6 desaturase activities, respectively, which enable this species to perform all the desaturation steps required for the biosynthesis of LC- PUFA from C18 precursors

Exploring the roles of phytobiotics in relieving the impacts of Edwardsiella tarda infection on fish: a mini-review

Edwardsiellosis caused by Edwardsiella tarda resulted in significant economic losses in aquaculture operations worldwide. This disease could infect a wide range of hosts, including freshwater, brackish water, and marine aquatic animals. Currently, antibiotics and vaccines are being used as prophylactic agents to overcome Edwardsiellosis in aquaculture. However, application of antibiotics has led to antibiotic resistance among pathogenic bacteria, and the antibiotic residues pose a threat to public health. Meanwhile, the use of vaccines to combat Edwardsiellosis requires intensive labor work and high costs. Thus, phytobiotics were attempted to be used as antimicrobial agents to minimize the impact of Edwardsiellosis in aquaculture. These phytobiotics may also provide farmers with new options to manage aquaculture species' health. The impact of Edwardsiellosis in aquaculture worldwide was elaborated on and highlighted in this review study, as well as the recent application of phytobiotics in aquaculture and the status of vaccines to combat Edwardsiellosis. This review also focuses on the potential of phytobiotics in improving aquatic animal growth performance, enhancing immune system function, and stimulating disease resistance

Fish oil replacement in current aquaculture feed : is cholesterol a hidden treasure for fish nutrition?

Teleost fish, as with all vertebrates, are capable of synthesizing cholesterol and as such have no dietary requirement for it. Thus, limited research has addressed the potential effects of dietary cholesterol in fish, even if fish meal and fish oil are increasingly replaced by vegetable alternatives in modern aquafeeds, resulting in progressively reduced dietary cholesterol content. The objective of this study was to determine if dietary cholesterol fortification in a vegetable oil-based diet can manifest any effects on growth and feed utilization performance in the salmonid fish, the rainbow trout. In addition, given a series of studies in mammals have shown that dietary cholesterol can directly affect the fatty acid metabolism, the apparent in vivo fatty acid metabolism of fish fed the experimental diets was assessed. Triplicate groups of juvenile fish were fed one of two identical vegetable oil-based diets, with additional cholesterol fortification (high cholesterol, H-Chol) or without (low cholesterol, L-Chol), for 12 weeks. No effects were observed on growth and feed efficiency, however, in fish fed H-Col no biosynthesis of cholesterol, and a remarkably decreased apparent in vivo fatty acid b-oxidation were recorded, whilst in LChol fed fish, cholesterol was abundantly biosynthesised and an increased apparent in vivo fatty acid b-oxidation was observed. Only minor effects were observed on the activity of stearyl-CoA desaturase, but a significant increase was observed for both the transcription rate in liver and the apparent in vivo activity of the fatty acid D-6 desaturase and elongase, with increasing dietary cholesterol. This study showed that the possible effects of reduced dietary cholesterol in current aquafeeds can be significant and warrant future investigations

Waqf (endowment) practice in Malaysian society

Justice and equality are not identical in the sense that under certain circumstances, justice may only be achieved through inequality or unequal distribution of wealth. The two aspects of justice, which are corrective justice and distributive justice in this definition both comprehend of justice as a social concept as it incorporates social relations and would have little meaning if it were to apply to an individual in total isolation from society. Thus by comparing the pertinent literature on jurisdiction of the courts in terms of waqf and judicial decisions, this article seeks to describe the pros and cons of waqf practices and how it reflects justice to the Malaysian society

The roles of polysaccharides in tilapia farming: A review

Impairment of fish growth and immune system due to stress and disease are major constraints in aquaculture industry. Traditionally, antibiotic was used as prophylactic agent in the health management of aquaculture species. However, antibiotic only provide a temporary solution to the problem of disease outbreak. Over-reliance on antibiotic also has led to the increasing cases of antibiotic resistance among pathogenic bacteria from aquaculture sites and contamination of antibiotic residues into human food chain. Probiotic, prebiotic and symbiotic are therefore suggested as alternatives to prophylactic antibiotic to be used in the aquaculture industry. A potential prophylactic agent is polysaccharide that could be developed into an alternative antibiotic for aquatic animals. In this review paper, definition, sources, and mode of action of polysaccharide are presented. The roles of polysaccharides in fish farming with emphasis on growth improvement, immune system enhancement, disease resistance stimulation in tilapia farming, and the effects of polysaccharides on abiotic stressors are summarized and discussed

Sulh: pengadilan tanpa perbicaraan mahkamah dalam memenuhi tuntutan pasaran kewangan Islam di Malaysia

Malaysia merupakan salah satu negara yang mengamalkan dua sistem ekonomi yang berbeza iaitu sistem kewangan konvensional dan sistem kewangan Islam dalam bidang perbankan. Kewujudan kedua-dua sistem kewangan ini dipraktikkan secara serentak di mana sistem perbankan yang biasa adalah berdasarkan sistem perbankan konvensional manakala sistem perbankan Islam berlandaskan prinsip-prinsip syariah. Oleh hal yang demikian, artikel ini akan merujuk kepada kajian yang terdahulu mengenai perkembangan kewangan Islam, kes-kes mahkamah yang berkaitan dengan produk-produk perbankan Islam dan juga kaedah penyelesaian pertikaian alternatif dalam menyelesaikan masalah terutamanya dalam aspek kewangan Islam. Perbincangan dalam artikel ini akan menumpukan ke arah menonjolkan undang-undang dan mekanisme-mekanisme penyelesaian kepada permasalahan berkaitan dengan produk kewangan Islam. Turut dititikberatkan apabila melakukan analisis terhadap kaedah analisis kandungan dokumen dan pemerhatian yang berdasarkan elemen tema dan konsep seperti kewangan Islam, perniagaan, budaya dan perilaku masyarakat terhadap kewangan Islam serta penyelesaian pertikaian alternatif bagi isu-isu dalam kewangan Islam. Antara penemuan-penemuan utama yang ditonjolkan dalam kajian ini adalah semua kes-kes yang berkaitan dengan kewangan Islam boleh diuruskan dan diselesaikan melalui kaedah sulh tanpa merujuk kepada sesuatu kriteria yang tertentu. Pelaksanaan kaedah sulh menekankan tempoh proses penyelesaian pertikaian yang singkat iaitu dalam tempoh masa 3 bulan. Proses penyelesaian pertikaian yang adil, telus dan mengikut persetujuan bersama antara pihak-pihak yang terlibat. Tiada kos dikenakan oleh mahkamah terhadap permohonan pihak-pihak yang terlibat berhubung dengan apa-apa prosiding sepanjang prosedur kerja sulh ini dilaksanakan. Akhir sekali, kaedah sulh ini walaupun kaedah penyelesaian pertikaian dalam Islam, ia boleh diguna pakai oleh pelbagai kaum dan agama tanpa prejudis bagi menyelesaikan kes-kes berkaitan dengan kewangan Islam