Cytotoxicity of extract of Malaysian Mitragyna Speciosa Korth and its dominant Alkaloid Mitragynine

Mitragyna speciosa Korth (Kratom), a herb of the Rubiaceae family is indigenous in southeast Asia mainly in Malaysia and Thailand. It is used as an opium substitute and has been increasingly abused by drug addicts in Malaysia. Recently, the potent analgesic effect of plant extract and its dominant alkaloid mitragynine (MIT) were confirmed in vivo and in vitro. MIT acted primarily on μ- and δ-opioid receptors, suggesting that MIT or similar compounds could be promising alternatives for future pain management treatments. However the potential cytotoxicity of this plant is unknown. Therefore, the cytotoxicity of methanol-chloroform extract (MSE) and MIT on human cell lines (HepG2, HEK 293, MCL-5, cHol and SH-SY5Y cells) has been examined. MSE appeared to exhibit dose-dependant inhibition of cell proliferation in all cell lines examined, at concentration > 100 μg/ml with substantial cell death at 1000 μg/ml. SH-SY5Y was the most sensitive cell line examined. MIT showed a similar response. Clonogenicity assay was performed to assess the longer- term effects of MSE and MIT. The colony forming ability of HEK 293 and SH-SY5Y cells was inhibited in a dose-dependant manner. Involvement of metabolism in cytotoxicity was further assessed by clonogenicity assay using rat liver S9 (induced by Arochlor 1254); toxicity increased 10-fold in both cell lines. To determine if cytotoxicity was accompanied by DNA damage, the Mouse lymphoma tk gene mutation assay was used. The results were negative for both MSE and MIT. Studies on the involvement of metabolism in cytotoxicity of MSE and MIT were performed using MCL-5 and it appeared that CYP 2E1 is involved in activation of cytotoxicity. Studies with opioid antagonists were performed using SH-SY5Y cells treated with MSE and MIT. Naloxone (μ and δ receptor antagonists), naltrindole (δ receptor antagonist) and cyprodime hydrobromide (μ receptor antagonist) confirmed that MSE cytotoxicity was associated with μ and δ receptor while MIT mainly acted on μ receptor. Studies on mechanism of MSE and MIT cytotoxicity showed that cell death observed at high dose was preceded by cell cycle arrest, however MSE cell arrest was independent of p53 and p21 while MIT showed opposite result. Studies have been undertaken to examine the nature of this cell death. Morphological examinations showed that cell death induced by MSE was cell type dependant, in which SH-SY5Y cells appeared to die via apoptosis-like cell death while HEK 293 and MCL-5 cells predominantly via necrosis. Biochemical assessments confirmed that MSE induced cell death independent of p53 or caspases pathway while MIT cell death appeared to be associated with p53 and caspases pathway. The involvement of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation in MSE and MIT mediating cell death was performed using SH-SY5Y cells. The results appeared negative for both MSE and MIT treated cells. Collectively, the findings of these studies suggest that MSE and its dominant alkaloid MIT produced cytotoxicity effects at high dose. Thus, the consumption of Mitragyna speciosa Korth leaves may pose harmful effects to users if taken at high dose and the evidence for involvement of CYP 2E1 in increasing the MSE cytotoxicity suggests that caution may be required if the leaves are to be taken with CYP 2E1 inducers

EVALUATION OF PERFORMANCE ON RESIN COATED LOCAL SAND

The purpose of this project is to improve well treatment method which employs resin coated material. The project is experimental oriented which study the affect of percentage of resin in coating method to the compression strength, permeability and porosity. For this project we are using local sand taken from Terengganu area. Results to be achieved are the best compressive strength and good permeability and porosity. There are possibilities to use local sand as resin coated which will be very economical method and can be commercialized. This project will be the first to use local sand as resin coated sand

A study on financial risk tolerance among employee in a private sector / Nor Aini Rahim

This paper was conduct because want to analyze the financial risk tolerance among employee in a private sector. The objectives of this research are to determine the relationship between self-risk awareness and financial risk tolerance, to determine the relationship between risk management knowledge and financial risk tolerance and lastly, to determine the relationship between financial management knowledge and Financial risk tolerance. The researcher used stratified random sampling as a sampling method. For this method, every employee in a private sector can be selected as a respondent. Researcher has been distributed 130 questionnaires to the employee in a private sector at Mid Valley Mega mall. From the findings, only self-risk awareness is significant toward dependent variables while another two independent variables are not significant. As a conclusion, researcher found that self-risk awareness is the most influence factors that affecting financial risks tolerance among employee in a private sector

Measurement of needs of food security during flood disaster in Bera, Pahang, Malaysia / Nor Aini Hamidi

Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. It comprises of food availability, food access, food utilization, and food stability. This paper studies the flood situation in Bera district area, by assessing the intensity of flood damages and its impacts on food security, which comes out with the measurement of needs of food security during flood. A cross sectional study was performed on 100 samples of population living in the affected area by using questionnaires adapted from Cambodia Post-Flood Relief and Recovery Survey 2012 and District and Community Questionnaire. These samples were selected randomly regardless of gender and age category. The results of this study were analyzed by using SPSS version 21.0. This study suggested that household composition and family income are linked to the household food security in terms of food consumption. There is a significant effect on the number of meals and quantity of the food consumed which shows less than usual, especially among the lowincome family and in family with more household composition. Therefore, further studies on measurement of needs of food security during disaster is required, to find out a better coping strategies of food insecurity faced by the disaster victims

Synthesis And Characterization Of Superhydrophobic Alumina Membrane Via Chemical And Morphological Modification

Hydrophobicity is commonly known to have “water repellent” feature on a surface. Although ceramic membranes possess superior mechanical strength, excellent chemical resistance and great thermal stability, the natural hydrophilic feature of ceramic membranes limits their applications. Membrane modification by silane grafting has been widely reported due to its ease of handling, but the growth of hydrophobic structure introduces additional resistance in mass transfer. The major aim of this study is to synthesis superhydrophobic membrane with minimum membrane resistance. The effects of (heptadecafluoro-1,1,2,2-tetra hydrodecyl) triethoxysilane (HFDS) concentration on mass transfer resistance of superhydrophobic alumina membrane is studied as well. Besides direct grafting on membrane, HFDS was grafted on the additional thin alumina films prepared by sol-gel method with calcinations or steam treatment in order to reduce pore blockage. Alumina supports were first directly grafted with different volume ratios HFDS in ethanol (0.1-2.5 ml of HFDS:50 ml of ethanol). The HFDS grafted membranes showed static water contact angle in the range of 85.84 o (0.1ml of HFDS) to 138.91 o (1.0 ml of HFDS). The increment of HFDS concentration, however, caused membrane pore blockage due to the penetration of HFDS chain

THE DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENT ATTENDANCE SYSTEM FOR UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI PETRONAS

This project is about the portable student attendance system used to record digitally student’s attendance in class. This system is dedicated to Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS students which use their matrix cards as medium for recognition. It is chosen to shorten the time of recording attendance compared to the manual method. The student attendance system can be practiced using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) as a medium for data recording. The microchip-embedded cards use RFID reader to record the attendance in class. This system involves the circuit fabrication as well as the programming. It is found that this system is suitable for students’ attendance purpose as well as replacing the existing inefficient method

Bioconversion of Palm Oil Mill Effluent for the Production of Organic Acids and Polyhydroxyalkanoates

In this study, palm oil mill effluent (POME) was utilized as a substrate for the production of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) by Alcaligenes eutrophus. PHA production was achieved via a two-stage process; organic acids production from POME followed by PHA production from the organic acids. In the first stage, the study focused on optimisation of organic acids production as part of an integrated zero-emission system. Optimisation of organic acids production was performed by batch and continuous anaerobic treatments. In batch treatment, POME was mixed with different inoculum sizes (POME sludge) of 25%, 33%, 50% and 33% diluted sludge (two times) with tapwater in all conical flask. The result showed using inoculum size of 25%, 33% and 50% gave high organic acids production (7.0 g/L) after 4 days/of treatment.Continuous treatment was carried out at four different retention times (2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10 days). POME was mixed with an equal ratio of anaerobic POME sludge in a 12 L stirred-tank bioreactor. The pH was controlled at 7.0 to enhance organic acids production, particularly acetic and propionic. Total organic acids produced were 7.7 to 9.6 g/L for 2.5, 5 and 7.5 days retention times. More than 75% of the chemical oxygen demand (COD) conversion of POME was achieved during anaerobic treatment at 5, 7.5 and 10 days retention times. The best retention time was 5 days which produced 9.53±1.28 g/L of total organic acids, 11700 mg/L COD and 77% COD conversion of POME at steady state. After separation of the organic acids in the treated effluent by ion exchange chromatography, the residual COD of the effluent was less than 100 mg/L which met the effluent discharge standard set for the industry by the Department of Environment of Malaysia. The effluent collected during continuous anaerobic treatment at 5 days retention time was concentrated by evaporation to be used in the second stage for polyhydroxyalkanoate production. The results showed that by evaporation, the organic acids could be concentrated ten-fold to about 100 giL for use as substrates for the fed-batch fermentation. The concentrated organic acids were successfully converted to PHA by Alcaligenes eutrophus strain ATCC 17699 under a non-sterile fermentation system when the initial cell density was kept high at 4 g/L. After 150 hours, 20 g/L cells were obtained with more than 60% (gig) PHA content being produced

A Preliminary Study of Genetic Variation of Selected Species of a Lowland Forest at Ayer Hitam Forest Reserve, Selangor

A preliminary study of the extent and pattern of genetic variation of 10 selected species (Shorea parvifolia, Shorea macroptera, Shorea acuminata, Shorea leprosula, Hopea beccariana, Dipterocarpus crinitus, Endospermum malaccensis, Artocarpus elasticus, Palaquium gutta and Macaranga gigantea at Ayer Hitam Forest Reserve was carried out using the horizontal starch gel electrophoresis. Analysis of eight enzymes indicated that they were coded by 9 to 12 loci. Levels of polymorphism and mean of expected heterozygosities of these species ranged from 0.9 to 1.0 and from 0.454 (S. leprosula) to 0.602 (H. beccariana) respectively

Human resource practices in a non governmental organization: A case study at Malaysian Nature Society (MNS)

Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) is one of the largest and longest surviving NGOs in Malaysia. MNS is dependent upon membership fees through subscriptions as a main source of income; however it is not adequate to cover the cost of running MNS. The biggest challenge in MNS is to seek financial support through projects to maintain and sustain the organization. This exploratory qualitative research was carried out to study the human resource management practices in an Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in a Malaysian context. Issues and challenges were also examined. Applying saturation and purposive sampling in this study, ten respondents were interviewed. Data gathered were transcribed, sorted, coded and analysed manually using Excel. Findings in this study revealed three themes, namely leadership, career development, and compensation and benefits. This study proposed with effective leadership, career development, and compensation and benefits, employees will perform better, increase retention and reduce high staff turnover. Majority of the participants also mentioned about the low salaries. Salary is the biggest motivator and MNS should look into a salary revision periodicall

Professional nieligence of doctors / Nor Aini Mohd Arif

There is no doubt that professional negligence is a matter of increasing concern to professionals and the public alike. It is unknown how'often patients sue their doctors for negligence.These actions are likely to increase with the growing public reliance on health care sevices. There is no statutory law for professional negligence and therefore the negligence of doctors is an area of law whichis based on judicial decisions. It requires a detailed study of various cases to see how they have developed the law. One important legal consequence-421‘ this has been the development of the law on medical negligence, particularly in the area of the standard of care owed by doctors to their Ipattients.In this context. it is proposes to examine the obligations and liability of medical men in the various aspects of their work,and. since the study is based on judicial decisions and not statutory law, the discussions will therefore be based primarily on cases