The Roles of Zakat in Achieving Quality Education: Awareness and Effectiveness of Zakat Distribution Among UUM Students

This research aims to have a better understanding of the student’s awareness towards the availability of zakat for education in UUM. Furthermore, this study explores the effectiveness of Kiplepay as a medium of distribution for zakat funds among UUM students. Zakat is one of the important elements in providing quality education, especially for B40 students as zakat reflects Islamic values and principles in alleviating poverty through wealth redistribution as poverty, poor health, restricted food sources affect intellectual capabilities, thus lack of education opportunities. Zakat can facilitate access to quality education which helps in the receiver’s personal and the country’s economic growth through enhancement of knowledge and skills productivity and development. A study amongst B40 students in UUM was conducted to get a deeper understanding of zakat awareness, including the process and terms and conditions in applying and distributing zakat funds as well as the perception of Kiplepay e-wallet as a distribution medium for zakat funds. This study is expected to provide good groundwork to further enhancement of zakat distribution among the recipients of zakat for education in a higher education institution. The findings show a moderate level of awareness among the recipients regarding the process and terms and conditions of application and distribution of the zakat funds. The Kiplepay is also moderately effective in distributing the zakat funds in UUM. This study can contribute ideas to certain parties to improve the effectiveness of the application and distribution process for zakat funds. This study will benefit both future researchers and practitioners alike

Antioxidant, anticancer and antimicrobial activities of methanolic extracts from enicosanthellum pulchrum (King) heusden

Biological activities of crude methanolic extracts from leaves, barks, twigs and roots of Enicosanthellum pulchrum were investigated in four bioassays. The antioxidant, 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging assay showed that bark and twig extracts showed high inhibitory activity with 60 and 56% inhibition at 1 mg/mL and IC50 values of 0.43 ± 0.04 and 0.64 ± 0.05 mg/mL, respectively. The bark and root extracts showed greater reducing power (FRAP) than several standard drugs used in the bioassay. Methanolic extracts of leaves, twigs and roots displayed strong cytotoxicity to breast cancer cell line (MCF-7), myelomonocytic leukaemia cell line (WEHI-3) and ovarian cancer cell line (CAOV-3); the IC50 of the leaf extract were 7.8 ± 0.85 μg/mL (MCF-7) and 9.0 ± 0.13 μg/mL (WEHI-3), while those for the twig and root extracts were 13.9 ± 0.35 and 7.3 ± 0.98 μg/mL (CAOV-3), respectively. In the antimicrobial assays, the extracts were tested against ten bacterial strains and two fungal strains. Bark and twig extracts displayed high inhibitory activity to Bacillus subtilis with 13.3 ± 0.57 and 12.0 ± 0.01 mm inhibition, respectively. In addition, the twig extract displayed better minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) compared with the bark extract (MIC 0.5 and 1.0 mg/mL, MBC 1.0 and 2.0 mg/mL, respectively). For antifungal activity, all extracts showed inhibition on Candida albicans but not on Aspergillus niger. The obtained results suggested that this plant may possibly contain bioactive compounds in the active extracts

Acute Toxicity and Gastroprotective Role of M. pruriens in Ethanol-Induced Gastric Mucosal Injuries in Rats

The investigation was to evaluate gastroprotective effects of ethanolic extract of M. pruriens leaves on ethanol-induced gastric mucosal injuries in rats. Forty-eight rats were divided into 8 groups: negative control, extract control, ulcer control, reference control, and four experimental groups. As a pretreatment, the negative control and the ulcer control groups were orally administered carboxymethylcellulose (CMC). The reference control was administered omeprazole orally (20 mg/kg). The ethanolic extract of M. pruriens leaves was given orally to the extract control group (500 mg/kg) and the experimental groups (62.5, 125, 250, and 500 mg/kg). After 1 h, CMC was given orally to the negative and the extract control groups. The other groups received absolute ethanol. The rats were sacrificed after 1 h. The ulcer control group exhibited significant mucosal injuries with decreased gastric wall mucus and severe damage to the gastric mucosa. The extract caused upregulation of Hsp70 protein, downregulation of Bax protein, and intense periodic acid schiff uptake of glandular portion of stomach. Gastric mucosal homogenate showed significant antioxidant properties with increase in synthesis of PGE2, while MDA was significantly decreased. The ethanolic extract of M. pruriens leaves was nontoxic (<5 g/kg) and could enhance defensive mechanisms against hemorrhagic mucosal lesions

Plagioneurin B, a potent isolated compound induces apoptotic signalling pathways and cell cycle arrest in ovarian cancer cells

Plagioneurin B belongs to acetogenin group has well-established class of compounds. Acetogenin group has attracted worldwide attention in the past few years due their biological abilities as inhibitors for several types of tumour cells. Plagioneurin B was isolated via conventional chromatography and tested for thorough mechanistic apoptosis activity on human ovarian cancer cells (CAOV-3). Its structure was also docked at several possible targets using Autodock tools software. Our findings showed that plagioneurin B successfully inhibits the growth of CAOV-3 cells at IC 50 of 0.62 µM. The existence of apoptotic bodies, cell membrane blebbing and chromatin condensation indicated the hallmark of apoptosis. Increase of Annexin V-FITC bound to phosphatidylserine confirmed the apoptosis induction in the cells. The apoptosis event was triggered through the extrinsic and intrinsic pathways via activation of caspases 8 and 9, respectively. Stimulation of caspase 3 and the presence of DNA ladder suggested downstream apoptotic signalling were initiated. Further confirmation of apoptosis was conducted at the molecular levels where up-regulation in Bax, as well as down-regulation of Bcl-2, Hsp-70 and survivin were observed. Plagioneurin B was also seen to arrest CAOV-3 cells cycle at the G2/M phase. Docking simulation of plagioneurin B with CD95 demonstrated that the high binding affinity and hydrogen bonds formation may explain the capability of plagioneurin B to trigger apoptosis. This study is therefore importance in finding the effective compound that may offer an alternative drug for ovarian cancer treatment

Aporphine Alkaloids from the Leaves of Phoebe grandis (Nees) Mer. (Lauraceae) and Their Cytotoxic and Antibacterial Activities

The oxoaporphine alkaloid lysicamine (1), and three proaporphine alkaloids, litsericinone (2), 8,9,11,12-tetrahydromecambrine (3) and hexahydromecambrine A (4) were isolated from the leaves of Phoebe grandis (Nees) Merr. (Lauraceae). Compounds 2 and 3 were first time isolated as new naturally occurring compounds from plants. The NMR data for the compounds 2–4 have never been reported so far. Compounds 1 and 2 showed significant cytotoxic activity against a MCF7 (human estrogen receptor (ER+) positive breast cancer) cell line with IC50 values of 26 and 60 µg/mL, respectively. Furthermore, in vitro cytotoxic activity against HepG2 (human liver cancer) cell line was evaluated for compounds 1–4 with IC50 values of 27, 14, 81 and 20 µg/mL, respectively. Lysicamine (1) displayed strong antibacterial activity against Bacillus subtilis (B145), Staphylococcus aureus (S1434) and Staphylococus epidermidis (a clinically isolated strain) with inhibition zones of 15.50 ± 0.57, 13.33 ± 0.57 and 12.00 ± 0.00 mm, respectively. However, none of the tested pathogenic bacteria were susceptible towards compounds 2 and 3

In vitro assessment of anti-proliferative effect induced by alpha-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

IC₅₀ values of SKOV-3 cells and T1074 cells treated with artonin E, paclitaxel, and carboplatin at different time points.

<p>IC₅₀ values of SKOV-3 cells and T1074 cells treated with artonin E, paclitaxel, and carboplatin at different time points.</p

MTT assay of artonin E on various cell lines.

<p>MTT assay of artonin E on various cell lines.</p

Effects of Artonin E on ROS generation in SKOV-3 cells.

<p>Cells were treated with 8 μg/mL of artonin E for 24, 48, and 72 h. Values are expressed as mean±SD from three independent experiments. Statistical significance was expressed as <i>*p<0</i>.<i>05</i>.</p