Phytochemicals from Malaysian Uncaria longiflora var. pteropoda (Miq.) ridsd. and their activities against the human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cell line / Fatimah Salim

Phytochemical investigation on the methanolic extract of the stems and leaves of Malaysian Uncaria longiflora var. pteropoda (Miq.) Ridsd. was carried out with the aim of isolating and identifying their chemical constituents. The extract of the stems was subjected to acid-base extraction, while the leaf extract was successively triturated with hexane, CHCl3, EtOAc and MeOH. The crude extracts were then further fractionated and purified using extensive chromatographic techniques. Structural elucidation of the phytochemicals was based on spectroscopic evidence and comparison with literature values. The absolute configurations of the new chiral compounds were established by comparing the CEs of the experimental ECD spectra to the simulated ECD values, as well as to the ECD spectra of the known related chiral compounds in hand. A total of thirtytwo phytochemicals were isolated of which six are new and nine are common to the leaves and stems. Phytochemicals isolated from the stem extract include two new pentacyclic oxindole alkaloids (POAs) deduced as rauniticine-allo-oxindole B ULS1 and rauniticinicallo acid B ULS2, five known POAs (isopteropodine ULS3, pteropodine ULS4, isopteropodic acid ULS5, uncarine F ULS6 and speciophylline ULS7), two coumarins (scopoletin ULS8 and 4-hydroxy-3,7- dimethoxycoumarin ULS10), one phenyl compound (4-hydroxybenzoic acid methyl ester ULS9) and three terpenes (stigmasterol ULS11, β-sitosterol ULS12 and β-sitostenone ULS13). Phytochemistry on the leaf extract successfully afforded three new alkaloids named as 2-oxosecologanine ULL5, isoformosaninol ULL6 and formosaninol ULL7, one new flavonoid deduced as uncariechin ULL14, four known POAs (isopteropodine ULL1, pteropodine ULL2, uncarine F ULL3 and isopteropodic acid ULL4), two flavonoids [(-)-epi-afzalechin ULL12 and (-)-epicatechin ULL13], two coumarins (scopoletin ULL8 and 3,4-dihydroxy-7-methoxycoumarin ULL11), two phenyl compounds (4-hydroxybenzoic acid methyl ester ULL9 and 4-hydroxy-benzaldehyde ULL10) and five terpenes (β-tocopherol ULL15, 6,10,14-trimethyl- 2-pentadecanone ULL16, stigmasterol ULL17, β-sitosterol ULL18 and β-sitostenone ULL19). Seven phytochemicals of sufficient quantities, comprising five alkaloids (isopteropodine, pteropodine, isopteropodic acid, uncarine F and rauniticine-allo-oxindole B) and two flavonoids [(-)-epi-afzalechin and (-)-epi-catechin] were further tested for their cytotoxic, neurotoxic, as well as neuroprotective activities against human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cell line. The alkaloid uncarine F was found to be both cytotoxic and neurotoxic against the cancer and normal human neuroblastoma SHSY5Y cell lines, while the alkaloid pteropodine was found to be neurotoxic, both at a high concentrations. As antioxidants, the flavan-3-ols, (-)-Epi-afzalechin and (-)-epi-catechin possessed neuroprotective properties against the H2O2-induced toxicity on normal cell line with cell viabilities ranging from 75-88% compared to 50- 60% cell viability following treatment with H2O2 alone. The alkaloids isopteropodine and isopteropodic acid, and the new alkaloid rauniticine-allo-oxindole B also consistently showed even higher protective properties with cell viabilities of 83-96%, thus suggesting their potential as an anti-neurodegenerative agent. With respect to the cytotoxic, neurotoxic and neuroprotective activities of the pure compounds tested, it may be suggested that the toxic properties of both the stem and leaf extracts of the plant at the maximum concentration against the cancer and normal human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cell lines may be due to the alkaloid uncarine F, and not the synergistic effect among the constituents

OPTIMAL NUMBER AND PLACEMENT OF POWER QUALITY MONITORS FOR MONITORING VOLTAGE SAG IN POWER SYSTEM NETWORKS

The occurrence of voltage sags often interrupt the operating process of modern equipment, especially in manufacturing and semiconductor plants. To avoid high production loss in industries, power quality monitoring is essential. Monitoring the whole power system will provide important data to a utility company. As most power system networks are large, allocating a Power Quality (PQ) monitor at every bus in the system is costly. Therefore, the optimal number of PQ monitors should be determined. In this thesis, an optimum number of PQ monitor locations is identified through a searching procedure developed based on the method of fault position combined with certain network characteristics such as the number of connecting lines and the size of the coverage area, or sag vulnerability area. The proposed searching procedure will be enhanced with the usage of monitor redundancy level. To allow redundancy in monitoring sags, a minimum of three recordings are required. This is to allow functioning of two recordings when a monitor fails. The monitor redundancy criterion is used to ensure that every fault in the power system can be observed and validated with sufficient redundancy to ensure the monitoring system is not affected when one of the monitors fails to function. The monitor searching procedure is developed by using the MATLAB software. The monitor searching procedure is simulated to three different IEEE standard test systems: IEEE 30, 118 and 300 bus systems. Simulation results demonstrate that it is possible to monitor the occurrence of a voltage sag in the entire power system with an optimum number of power quality monitors. The monitor searching procedure is then validated through the implementation of monitoring the voltage sag event in the Peninsular Malaysia’s utility network project. The number of monitors used under this project has been able to record sag events with optimum redundancy and the introduction of remote monitoring has enhanced the monitor searching procedure as the monitors used are able to upload data automatically to the database

Cystic fibrosis-related diabetes: The unmet need

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a common autosomal recessive disease. Life expectancy of patients with CF continues to improve mainly driven by the evolving therapies for CF-related organ dysfunction. The prevalence of CF-related diabetes (CFRD) increases exponentially as patients’ age. Clinical care guidelines for CFRD from 2010, recommend insulin as the mainstay of treatment. Many patients with CFRD may not require exogenous insulin due to the heterogeneity of this clinical entity. Maintenance of euglycemia by enhancing endogenous insulin production, secretion and degradation with novel pharmacological therapies like glucagonlike peptide-1 agonist is an option that remains to be fully explored. As such, the scope of this article will focus on our perspective of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist in the context of CFRD. Other potential options such as sodiumglucose cotransporter-2 and dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitors and their impact on this patient population is limited and further studies are required

Analgetic Activity of Cep-cepan (Saurauia Cauliflora Dc.) Leaves Extract

. Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage. The people who live in Karo use several types of plants to relieve pain, one of which is cep-cepan (Saurauia cauliflora DC.) The leaves of this plant traditionally used to treat gastrointestinal disorders. There is no scientific evidence about analgetic effect of the leaves. Thus, this study aimed to determine the potential effect of the ethanolic extract of cep-cepan leaves as an analgesic. Fresh Cep-cepan leaves were dried in a drying cabinet at 40°C. Furthermore, the water content of the powdered dried leaves was determined using azeotropic distillation method. Phytochemical screening was carried out to determine chemical groups contained in the dried leaves. Plant extraction was done by maceration method using ethanol 96%. Analgesic effect of the extract was evaluated by observing respon time of mices to infrared as pain inducer. Mices were grouped into six categories, they were: vehicle, antalgin 65 mg/kgBW, and extracts at the dose of 500 mg/kgBW, 250 mg/kgBW, 125 mg/kgBW, 62,5 mg/kgBW, all were administered orally. The data were analayzed using ANOVA followed by LSD. Results showed that the dried leaves contained flavonoids, alkaloids, tannins, anthraquinone glycosides and steroids/triterpenoids. The water contain of the dried leaves was 5,3%. The analgesic test results showed the extract at the dose of 250 mg/kgBW had strong analgesic effect similar to that of 500 mg/kgBW and antalgin 65 mg/kgBW

INTERAKSI SOSIAL DALAM BENTUK KERJASAMA DAN PERSAINGAN ANTAR PEDAGANG DAGING SAPI DI PASAR FLAMBOYAN

AbstractThe title of this research was "Social Interaction in the form of cooperation and competition between Beef Traders in the Flamboyan Market". The purpose of this study was to find out how social interaction in the form of cooperation and competition among fellow beef traders in the Flamboyan Market. The method used was a qualitative method with descriptive analysis. Data collection tools were used observation guidelines, interview guidelines, and documentation tools. The results showed that: 1) Cooperation among traders in the form of harmony among fellow beef traders that fellow traders help each other without expecting anything in return. The form of harmony in helping helps was to look after each other's shanties, helping to prepare shanties, showing goods to other traders and selling their wares. 2) Cooperation between traders in the form of bargaining between beef traders that there was exchange of goods in the form of money without any agreement from fellow traders. 3) The form of competition that occurs within the trader’s environment was economic competition. Competition in attracting consumers becomes a concrete form of competition in the form of competition in service, quality of goods and forms of inventory available in shanties.Key words: Beef Traders , Competition, Cooperation, Social Interactio

Herbal sensitivity of Pseudomonas bacteria isolated from cultured tilapia with useful applications in vaccine preparation.

The antibacterial activity of certain commercial antibiotics and common herbs was evaluated against pathogenic Pseudomonas fluorescens, Pseudomonas putida and Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from Malaysian and Egyptian cultured fish, mainly tilapia. A suspension of freshly cultured isolates was prepared (with 0.5 OD) and 100 μL of this suspension was spread over the Muller’s Hinton agar plates. The antibiotic discs were inoculated on each cultured plate while the herbal extracts were soaked on Whatman filter paper (20 μL each) that have been cut into discs and later inserted on to bacteria-cultured plates to screen their sensitivity to both antibiotics and herbs. Double-fold dilution was used to determine the Minimal Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) for the effective herbs at 100, 50, 25, 12.5 and 6.25%. Results revealed high resistance of the tested bacteria against most of the screened antibiotics except Ciprofloxacin. With regard to herbal sensitivity, only Origanum vulgare showed effectiveness and inhibition zone against all isolates. The MIC ranged from 15-40% for both Egyptian and Malaysian isolates. Thus, Origanum vulgare is recommended as a feed additive for cultured fish and can also be applied for inactivated and live-attenuated Pseudomonas vaccines’ preparation

Eleusine Indica for Food and Medicine

Eleusine indica, a perennial herb that belongs to the Poaceae family, is locally known as “rumput sambau”. The species can be found in the tropical regions and it is the only species of Eleusine in Malaysia. In India, some parts of the plant such as the roots and the seeds are used as food and can be eaten raw or cooked. The young seedling is also used as a side dish with rice, while the seeds are sometimes used as a famine food. Although this grass is not considered as food in Malaysia, the local people utilise it to treat various ailments such as hastening the placenta delivery after childbirth, pain relieve for vaginal bleeding, asthma, fever, urinary infection, haemorrhoids, and tonic for flu related symptoms. Due to wide spectrum of traditional usage, a complete review of E. indica which focusing on food and medicinal perspectives is necessary to organize and evaluate its potential for further studies and commercial exploitation. The information on the species was collected from scientific journals, books, and reports searched through available databases such as Google Scholar, PubMed, Directory of Open Access Journals, Science Direct, Bioline International, and Reaxys. Contextually, the present review reveals that apart from the roots, the plant is relatively safe to ingest. It represents a rich source of nutrients and contains therapeutic phytochemicals such as flavonoids, steroids, essential oils, cardiac glycosides, coumarins, fatty acids, anthraquinones, anthrones, triterpenes, tannins, and alkaloids. Thus, E. indica can be considered as a natural reservoir for both food and medicine

Rauniticine-allo-oxindole B methanol monosolvate

The title penta­cyclic oxindole alkadoid, isolated from Uncaria longiflora, crystallizes as a methanol solvate, C20H22N2O4·CH4O. The five-membered ring comprising the indole fused ring is nearly planar [maximum atomic deviation = 0.031 (2) Å], whereas the five-membered ring having alphatic C atoms adopts an envelope shape (with the tertiary N atom representing the flap). The six-membered ring that shares an N atom with the envelope-shaped ring adopts a chair shape; the six-membered ring having an O atom is sofa-shaped. The carb­oxy­lic acid group acts as a hydrogen-bond donor to a methanol mol­ecule; this, in turn, acts as a hydrogen-bond donor to the double-bond carboxyl O atom of an adjacent mol­ecule, generating a chain. Adjacent chains are linked by N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, forming a layer motif

Development of Nonlinear Adaptive PI Controller For Improved Pneumatic Actuator System

The wide application of pneumatic actuator in electrical and electronics sectors are undeniable hence ask for a good control environment. PID controller is always known with easy implementation and good control performance. But the limitation of the PID static gains to effectively control the complex nonlinear system is unavoidable. This suggests the enhancement of the PI controller with a nonlinear adaptive interaction algorithm (AIA). The modification is introduced by integrating a nonlinear gain function that adaptively tunes the AIA parameter, hence resulting the best tuning of the PI control gains. The uncertainties and nonlinearities inherent in the system parameters are believed to be handled by the integration, therefore improving the controller performances while maintaining the pneumatic actuator at the desired position. It was proved that improved error performance criteria’s, settling time and overshoot were resulted by the nonlinear AIA PI compared to fix AIA PI. Besides, the nonlinear AIA PI has successfully reduced the overshoot to 5.35% and 6.70% compared to optimal AIA PI and optimal PI controller, respectively. To conclude, the development of the proposed controller is demonstrated to function well and offers an alternative tuning strategy in other electronical and electronic engineering applications

Development of Nonlinear Adaptive PI Controller For Improved Pneumatic Actuator System

The wide application of pneumatic actuator in electrical and electronics sectors are undeniable hence ask for a good control environment. PID controller is always known with easy implementation and good control performance. But the limitation of the PID static gains to effectively control the complex nonlinear system is unavoidable. This suggests the enhancement of the PI controller with a nonlinear adaptive interaction algorithm (AIA). The modification is introduced by integrating a nonlinear gain function that adaptively tunes the AIA parameter, hence resulting the best tuning of the PI control gains. The uncertainties and nonlinearities inherent in the system parameters are believed to be handled by the integration, therefore improving the controller performances while maintaining the pneumatic actuator at the desired position. It was proved that improved error performance criteria’s, settling time and overshoot were resulted by the nonlinear AIA PI compared to fix AIA PI. Besides, the nonlinear AIA PI has successfully reduced the overshoot to 5.35% and 6.70% compared to optimal AIA PI and optimal PI controller, respectively. To conclude, the development of the proposed controller is demonstrated to function well and offers an alternative tuning strategy in other electronical and electronic engineering applications