Safety of Traditional Arab Herbal Medicine

Herbal remedies are widely used for the treatment and prevention of various diseases and often contain highly active pharmacological compounds. Many medicinal herbs and pharmaceutical drugs are therapeutic at one dose and toxic at another. Toxicity related to traditional medicines is becoming more widely recognized as these remedies become popular in the Mediterranean region as well as worldwide. Most reports concerning the toxic effects of herbal medicines are associated with hepatotoxicity although reports of other toxic effects including kidney, nervous system, blood, cardiovascular and dermatologic effects, mutagenicity and carcinogenicity have also been published in the medical literature. This article presents a systematic review on safety of traditional Arab medicine and the contribution of Arab scholars to toxicology. Use of modern cell biological, biochemical, in vitro and in vivo techniques for the evaluation of medicinal plants safety is also discussed

Pemilihan dan autoriti sumber berita bingkai pilihanraya di Malaysia

Dalam dunia kewartawanan, sumber memainkan peranan penting dalam sesuatu berita. Wartawan bergantung kepada sumber dalam pengolahan berita mereka untuk disampaikan kepada khalayak. Sumber dibahagikan kepada beberapa kategori antaranya pegawai kerajaan, pengamal industri media, golongan elit awam, para saintis, doktor, peguam, profesional atau pakar. Kategori sumber politik menjurus kepada sumber yang lebih berkait rapat dengan individu yang aktif dalam aktiviti politik termasuklah dari kalangan rakyat biasa. Artikel ini membincangkan kategori sumber yang popular yang digunakan dalam berita pilihan raya kecil pada tahun 1987, 1997 dan 2014 dalam akhbar Utusan Malaysia dan Berita Harian. Kaedah analisis kandungan telah dilakukan ke atas sebanyak 419 artikel berita pilihan raya kecil yang dipilih secara rawak. Kaedah temubual mendalam bersama enam wartawan turut digunakan untuk memperkukuhkan pemilihan sumber yang berautoriti dalam berita pilihanraya. Hasil kajian mendapati bahawa walaupun ahli politik tempatan merupakan sumber utama dalam berita bingkai pilihan raya sedangkan sumber yang menjadi pilihan adalah mereka yang berautoriti dalam sesuatu isu politik

A Finite State Machine Fall Detection Using Quadrilateral Shape Features

A video-based fall detection system was presented; which consists of data acquisition, image processing, feature extraction, feature selection, classification and finite state machine. A two-dimensional human posture image was represented by 12 features extracted from the generalisation of a silhouette shape to a quadrilateral. The corresponding feature vectors for three groups of human pose were statistically analysed by using a non-parametric Kruskal Wallis test to assess the different significance level between them. From the statistical test, non-significant features were discarded. Four selected kernel-based Support Vector Machine: linear, quadratics, cubic and Radial Basis Function classifiers were trained to classify three human posture groups. Among four classifiers, the last one performed the best in terms of performance matric on testing set. The classifier outperformed others with high achievement ofaverage sensitivity, precision and F-score of 99.19%, 99.25% and 99.22%, respectively. Such pose classification model output was further used in a simple finite state machine to trigger the falling event alarms. The fall detection system was tested on different fall video sets and able to detect the presence offalling events in a frame sequence of videos with accuracy of 97.32% and low computional time

Penggunaan kaedah ‘Pass The Marker!’ dalam pengajaran dan pembelajaran (P&P) subjek ekonomi / Fadli Fizari Abu Hassan Asari and Azlina Mat Saad

Subjek-subjek ekonomi kaya dengan pelbagai jenis gambarajah dan persamaan. Justeru, lakaran graf dan penyelesaian persamaan adalah kemahiran-kemahiran asas yang perlu dikuasai para pelajar. Bagaimanapun, kaedah pengajaran yang terlalu menggunakan slaid, adakalanya menyekat perkembangan kemahiran-kemahiran asas ini. Justeru kaedah ‘Pass the Marker!’ telah diperkenalkan oleh penulis. Kaedah seakan ‘Chalk and Talk’ ini digunakan bersama konsep-konsep lain seperti Ekono‘Cinta’Metrik, Ekono‘Cinta’ dan Ekono‘Raya’. Ianya didapati berjaya memberikan pemahaman yang kukuh selain mengurangkan kadar kegagalan subjek secara drastik. Selain itu kaedah ini berjaya membantu para pelajar memenangi pingat di pertandingan inovasi. Juga, tugasan kelas para pelajar berjaya diangkat sebagai kertas kerja di persidangan antarabangsa. Kesemuanya bermula dengan kaedah ‘Pass the Marker!’ ini

KOMPETENSI KEPIMPINAN STRATEGIK DALAM KALANGAN PENTADBIR PROFESIONAL UNIVERSITI MENGURUSKAN VUCA DI ERA PASCA PANDEMIK: SATU TINJAUAN

(Strategic Leadership Competence among Professional University Administrators in Managing VUCA in the Post-Pandemic Era: A Review)ABSTRAK Pandemik Covid-19 telah mencipta persekitaran yang tidak stabil, tidak pasti, kompleks dan kabur (VUCA) serta memberikan impak yang signifikan kepada perkembangan sektor pendidikan tinggi di Malaysia. Sebagai tindak balas, pentadbir professional universiti perlu memiliki kompetensi dalam kepimpinan strategik untuk mengendalikan dengan jayanya bagi tempoh mencabar. Penulisan ini bertujuan untuk mengenal pasti kompetensi kepimpinan strategik yang diperlukan oleh pentadbir profesional universiti di Malaysia menguruskan VUCA di era pasca pandemik. Oleh itu, penulisan ini akan menganalisis dapatan kajian lepas yang berkaitan dengan definisi VUCA, cabarannya di universiti dan apakah kompetensi kepimpinan strategik yang diperlukan oleh pentadbir profesional di universiti seperti di UTeM bagi mengurus persekitaran VUCA pasca pandemik. Dapatan penulisan daripada sorotan kajian lepas ini juga akan membantu dalam penyusunan pandangan yang lebih sistematik dan signifikan untuk kajian yang akan datang. Kata Kunci: Kepimpinan strategik, pentadbir profesional, VUCA, pasca pandemik ABSTRACT  The Covid-19 pandemic has created an environment that is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA), and has significantly impacted the development of the higher education sector in Malaysia. In response, professional university administrators need to possess competencies in strategic leadership to effectively navigate through this challenging period. This paper aims to identify the strategic leadership competencies required by professional university administrators in Malaysia to manage VUCA in the post-pandemic era. Therefore, this paper will analyze past research findings related to the definition of VUCA, its challenges in universities, and the strategic leadership competencies needed by professional administrators in universities such as UTeM to manage the post-pandemic VUCA environment. The findings from this review of past research will also contribute to the development of a more systematic and significant framework for future studies. Keywords: Strategic leadership, professional administrators, VUCA, post-                  pandemic

Evaluation of Medicinal Plant Hepatotoxicity in Co-cultures of Hepatocytes and Monocytes

Non-parenchymal cells might play an important role in the modulation of xenobiotic metabolism in liver and its pharmacological and toxicological consequences. Therefore, the role of cell-to-cell interactions in herbal induced liver toxicity was investigated in monocultures of cells from the human hepatocyte cell line (HepG2) and in co-cultures of cells from the HepG2 cell line and cells from the human monocyte cell line (THP1). Cells were treated with various concentrations (1–500 µg ml(−1)) of extracts of Pistacia palaestina, Juglans regia and Quercus ithaburensis for 24 h. Extracts from Cleome droserifolia, a known toxic plant, were taken as positive control. In the co-culture system, toxic effects were observed after exposure to extracts of Pistacia palestina and C. droserifolia. These two extracts significantly reduced by cell viability as measured the MTT test and the LDH assay. Whereas in hepatocyte cultures, only extracts of C. droserifolia were found to affect the cell viability. The production levels of albumin from hepatocytes were not affected by treatment with plant extracts in both culture systems. It seems that the observed reduction in cell viability after exposure to extracts of P. palestina in co-cultures but not in monocultures is a result of monocyte-derived factors. The use of liver cell co-cultures is therefore a useful approach to investigate the influence of intercellular communication on xenobiotic metabolism in liver

Efficiency of commercial biological compounds as anticoagulant agents in natural rubber latex

This work studied the effect of streptomycin sulphate and surfactin on the stability of field natural rubber (NR) latex. Field NR latex was treated with streptomycin sulphate and surfactin in the absence and presence of ammonia. The stability of NR latex was determined by formation of volatile fatty acid (VFA), enumeration of the bacterial population, measurement of NR latex alkalinity and pH of the latex. Streptomycin sulphate caused significant reduction in bacterial population and VFA formation with an additional advantage as OH- ion stabiliser. Surfactin on the other hand was not suitable as NR latex preservative agent in the absence or presence of ammonia. Although instability of NR latex still appeared, combination of streptomycin sulphate and surfactin showed better control in terms of bacteria and VFA number compared to 0.3% ammoniated NR latex

Traditional Arabic and Islamic Medicine, a Re-emerging Health Aid

Complementary medicine is a formal method of health care in most countries of the ancient world. It is expected to become more widely integrated into the modern medical system, including the medical curriculum. Despite the perception of modern medicine as more efficacious, traditional medicine continues to be practiced. More than 70% of the developing world's population still depends primarily on the complementary and alternative systems of medicine (CAM). In rural areas, cultural beliefs and practices often lead to self-care, home remedies or consultation with traditional healers. Herbal medicine can be broadly classified into four basic systems as follows: Traditional Chinese Herbalism, Ayurvedic Herbalism, Western Herbalism—which originally came from Greece and Rome to Europe and then spread to North and South America and Traditional Arabic and Islamic Medicine (TAIM). There is no doubt that today the concept of Arabic traditional herbal medicine is a part of modern life in the Middle East, and it is acquiring worldwide respect, with growing interest among traditional herbalists and the scientific community. TAIM therapies have shown remarkable success in healing acute as well as chronic diseases and have been utilized by people in most countries of the Mediterranean who have faith in spiritual healers. TAIM is the first choice for many in dealing with ailments such as infertility, epilepsy, psychosomatic troubles and depression. In parallel, issues of efficacy and safety of complementary medicine have become increasingly important and supervision of the techniques and procedures used is required for commercial as well as traditional uses. More research is therefore needed to understand this type of medicine and ensure its safe usage. The present review will discuss the status of traditional Arab medicine (particularly herbal medicine), including the efficacy and toxicity of specific medicinal preparations, with an emphasis on the modern in vitro and in vivo techniques