Normal soaking extraction (NSE) of rotenone from Derris elliptica

Derris elliptica or the tuba plant contains rotenone, bio-active compound known that has the potential to be used as bio-pesticide. Bio-pesticide is the best-known alternative bio-pesticide which has the potential to replace the use of conventional pesticides, as it is more environmentally friendly. The main objective of the paper is to obtain the best extraction solvent for optimizing the yield in rotenone extraction. Rotenone was extracted from Derris root using three different parts of roots and three types of solvent in Normal Soaking Extraction (NSE). The types of Derris roots are: (1) Fine root (2) Coarse root (3) Stem. The three types of solvent system are: (1) Acetone 95 % (v/v), (2) Chloroform 99.9 % (v/v) and (3) a mixture of ethanol: H2O (9:1) added with oxalic acid (1mg/ml). The liquid crude extracts were further cleaned up to remove the fine debris of roots. The presence of rotenone was confirmed using qualitative analysis Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) and thereupon the determination of rotenone content was carried out using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). From the results obtained, it was found that the Normal Soaking Extraction (NSE) using acetone 95 % (v/v) was the best method to extract the highest yield of rotenone; 1.14 % (w/w)

Intelligent glove for suppression of resting tremor in Parkinson’s disease

One of the significant symptoms in Parkinson’s disease is resting tremor. Resting tremor occurs when the muscle is relaxed, causing the limb to shake. Rhythmic muscle movement of the patients commonly happens within the range of 4 Hz to 6 Hz. Thus, reducing this type of tremor will help improve patients’ quality of life. In this paper, to suppress resting tremors, an intelligent glove was designed utilizing the concepts of vibrations and gyro effect. A rotating brass disc attached to the glove creates a gyroscopic effect of the smart glove. Therefore, the disc will do their utmost to stay upright and counter any input forces instantaneously by providing the counterforce. A reduction of more than 50 % with the intelligent glove is also shown

Grip force measurement of soft- Actuated finger exoskeleton

Over recent years, the reseach in the field of soft actuation has been extensively increased for achieving more complex motion path with smooth, high flexible movement and high generated force at minimum operating pressure. This paper presents the study on gripping force capability of soft actuators applied on glove-type finger exoskeleton, developed in motivation to assist individuals having weak finger gripping ability in their rehabilitation exercise towards hand function restoration. The exoskeleton utilizes five cylindrical shaped pneumatic bending actuators developed in the lab, which use fiber reinforcement as a cause of bending motion that drive finger’s flexion movement. Four right-handed healthy volunteers simulated paralysis participated in the study. At 200kPa safe operating pressure, the soft exoskeleton worn by the subjects demonstrates the ability to provide adequate grip force. The grip force generated from exoskeleton worn on passive right hand is 4.66 ± 0.2 N and 3.61± 0.2 N from passive left hand, both higher than the minimum grip forces measured to hold the Hand Dynamometer of 240 g. It shows good potential to be used as a finger rehabilitation assist device

In vitro assessment of anti-proliferative effect induced by α-mangostin from Cratoxylum arborescens on HeLa cells

Natural medicinal products possess diverse chemical structures and have been an essential source for drug discovery. Therefore, in this study, α-mangostin (AM) is a plant-derived compound was investigated for the apoptotic effect on human cervical cancer cells (HeLa). The cytotoxic effects of AM on the viability of HeLa and human normal ovarian cell line (SV40) were evaluated by using MTT assay. Results showed that AM inhibited HeLa cells viability at concentration- and time-dependent manner with IC50 value of 24.53 ± 1.48 µM at 24 h. The apoptogenic effects of AM on HeLa were assessed using fluorescence microscopy analysis. The effect of AM on cell proliferation was also studied through clonogenic assay. ROS production evaluation, flow cytometry (cell cycle) analysis, caspases 3/7, 8, and 9 assessment and multiple cytotoxicity assays were conducted to determine the mechanism of cell apoptosis. This was associated with G2/M phase cell cycle arrest and elevation in ROS production. AM induced mitochondrial apoptosis which was confirmed based on the significant increase in the levels of caspases 3/7 and 9 in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, the MMP disruption and increased cell permeability, concurrent with cytochrome c release from the mitochondria to the cytosol provided evidence that AM can induce apoptosis via mitochondrial-dependent pathway. AM exerted a remarkable antitumor effect and induced characteristic apoptogenic morphological changes on HeLa cells, which indicates the occurrence of cell death. This study reveals that AM could be a potential antitumor compound on cervical cancer in vitro and can be considered for further cervical cancer preclinical and in vivo testing

The extract region of interest in high-resolution palmprint using 2d image histogram entropy function

The segmentation of high-resolution palmprint is has been challenged and the research in this filed is still limited because of variations in location and distortion of these images. To achieve superior recognition result, accurate segmentation of a region of interest is very crucial. Therefore, in this paper, a novel palmprint extraction method has been presented using a 2D image histogram entropy function and mathematical dilation. The proposed method has two phases. The first phase is the binarization image where the histogram of the image will be determined after applying a median filter to remove noise and then calculating the 2D image histogram entropy function. Finally, the maximum entropy that will be the adaptive threshold value to build a binary palmprint image will be selected. The second phase is to extract the ROI, apply a dilation method on the binary image, then dividing the dilate image into four regions and finding four reference points depending on the white percentage and finally the ROI will be extracted. The publically available high-resolution palmprint THUPALMLAB has been used for testing. The result indicates a high percentage of accuracy up to 93%. The findings strongly indicate that the proposed method was able to extract the palm's ROI more consistently. These ROIs will be used in the recognition system instead of whole palmprints and hence assists in improving the performance of a traditional palmprint system. High-resolution palmprint images are highly used in the forensic application

Design and analysis of bending motion in single and dual chamber bellows structured soft actuators

As one of the most important characteristics of soft actuators, bending motion has been widely used in the field of soft robotics to perform different manipulation and tasks. In this study, we design silicone rubber material based soft actuators consisting of single and dual chambers, and a bellows structure. Several models of bellows soft actuators were designed, simulated and analyzed using finite element analysis (FEA) software MARC®, in order to understand the characteristics of bellows structured soft actuator with single and dual chambers and to optimize the performance of bending motion of bellows soft actuators. The results confirm that the bellows structured pneumatic soft actuator model 4 of single chamber and model 5 of dual chamber produces the best bending motion and bending angles

Evaluation of parameters for subcritical water extraction of zingiber zerumbet using fractional factorial design

Zingiber zerumbet (Z. zerumbet) is recognized for decades for its usability as spice and condiment in food flavoring as well as having high medicinal properties. Up to date, there are limited literature on evaluation of the effects of multiple variables in details especially in pilot-scale subcritical water extraction (SWE) of Z. zerumbet. The aim for this study is to implement the fractional factorial design with five variables which are temperature (100-170°C), time (10-40 minutes), pressure (10-20 bar), particle size (0.89-3.56 mm) and solvent to solid ratio (20-40 ml/g) in SWE of Z. zerumbet. Analysis of variance for all responses stated that temperature, time, particle size and solvent to solid ratio are significant variables. Temperature is the most significant factor for zerumbone concentration and antioxidant activity with a p-value of <0.0001 and 0.0002, respectively. The solvent to solid ratio was the most significant factor for the yield of extraction with a p-value of 0.0002. Time and particle size were significant towards all responses, however pressure was not significant on zerumbone concentration and yield. Thus, the fractional factorial design could give a broad overview in selecting the significant variables for further optimization in SWE from the findings

Patterned membrane in an energy-efficient tilted panel filtration system for fouling control in activated sludge filtration

A membrane bioreactor enhances the overall biological performance of a conventional activated sludge system for wastewater treatment by producing high-quality effluent suitable for reuse. However, membrane fouling hinders the widespread application of membrane bioreactors by reducing the hydraulic performance, shortening membrane lifespan, and increasing the operational costs for membrane fouling management. This study assesses the combined effect of membrane surface corrugation and a tilted panel in enhancing the impact of air bubbling for membrane fouling control in activated sludge filtration, applicable for membrane bioreactors. The filterability performance of such a system was further tested under variable parameters: Filtration cycle, aeration rate, and intermittent aeration. Results show that a combination of surface corrugation and panel tilting enhances the impact of aeration and leads to 87% permeance increment. The results of the parametric study shows that the highest permeance was achieved under short filtration-relaxation cycle of 5 min, high aeration rate of 1.5 L/min, and short switching period of 2.5 min, to yield the permeances of 465 ± 18, 447 ± 2, and 369 ± 9 L/(m2h bar), respectively. The high permeances lead to higher operational flux that helps to lower the membrane area as well as energy consumption. Initial estimation of the fully aerated system yields the energy input of 0.152 kWh/m3, much lower than data from the full-scale references of <0.4 kWh/m3. Further energy savings and a lower system footprint can still be achieved by applying the two-sided panel with a switching system, which will be addressed in the future

Correspondence:

We questioned 180 patients with end-stage renal disease on maintenance haemodialysis, chronic ambulatory peritoneal dialysis and those who had undergone renal transplantation at the Department of Nephrology, General Hospital, Kuala Lumpur. Twelve patients (6.7%) had consumed excessive quantities ofanalgesics prior to the institution oflong-term dialysis or transplantation. Primary renal disease was considered to be analgesic nephropathy in seven patients (3.9%); in five patients (2.8%), analgesic abuse could have been a contributory factor to end-stage renal failure. Analgesic nephropathy is hence an uncommon cause of end-stage renal disease in Malaysia. However, it is important to be aware of the problem and to institute preventive measures as the cost of treatment for end-stage renal disease is prohibitive

Effects of Honey-Spices Marination on Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Heterocyclic Amines Formation in Gas-Grilled Beef Satay

The effects of honey-spices marination on simultaneous formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heterocyclic amines (HCAs) in gas-grilled beef satay were investigated at different grilling temperatures (150 °C, 250 °C, and 350 °C). Beef satay samples used in this study were prepared using two types of honey-spices marination (Apis mellifera-spices and Trigona sp.-spices). Quantifications of fifteen PAHs using high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection (HPLC-FLD) and nine HCAs using liquid chromatography tandem-mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) were performed with gradient programme. Results on PAHs and HCAs in marinated samples were compared with control. Highest concentrations (p < 0.05) of PAHs (marinated beef satay) and HCAs (control) were detected at 350 °C. The most prominent PAH and HCA were phenanthrene (24.61–84.36 ng/g) and 9H-pyrido-[4,3-b]indole (Norharman) (2.67–393.89 ng/g). Marination significantly (p < 0.05) reduced naphthalene, fluorene, pyrene, 2-amino-9H-pyrido[2,3-b]indole (AαC), 1-methyl-9H-pyrido-[4,3-b]indole (Harman), and Norharman in gas-grilled beef satay across all temperatures. Overall, inverse quantitative profiles of PAHs and HCAs formation were observed in marinated gas-grilled beef satay