The perception of Faculty of Health Sciences (FSK) students towards Projek Tunas FSK and the conventional mentor-mentee programme in FSK, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

The mentor-mentee programme was started in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) in the early 90’s and involved monitoring students (mentee) academic performances with the lecturer (mentor). The mentor-mentee programme in the Faculty of Health Sciences (FSK), UKM, needs improvement to stay relevant to students. Therefore, some modifications were made by implementing a new programme known as Projek Tunas FSK, which is more comprehensive and employs the Modul Mentor Berkesan© in rebranding the existing mentor-mentee programme. Our research was conducted to study the perception of FSK, UKM students on the conventional mentor-mentee programme and Projek Tunas FSK. The Year 2

Epitokous metamorphosis, reproductive swimming, and early development of the estuarine polychaete, Neanthes glandicincta Southern, 1921 (Annelida, Nereididae) on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula

The reproductive and developmental characteristics of the nereidid polychaete, Neanthes glandicincta Southern, 1921, commonly recorded in tropical estuaries in the Indo-West Pacific, were examined from Malaysia (the mangrove area of Kuala Ibai, Terengganu) and Thailand (the Lower Songkhla Lagoon) on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula. Epitokous metamorphosis of fully mature males and females and their reproductive swimming behaviour were recorded based on ten Malaysian epitokous specimens, which were collected at night during spring tides in a period of January 2018 to March 2019. Six Thailand epitokes were obtained in February and March 2006 by the laboratory rearing of immature worms. Epitokous metamorphosis is characterised by the enlargement of eyes in both sexes, division of the body into three parts and modification of parapodia with additional lobes in the mid-body of males, and replacement of atokous chaetae in the mid-body by epitokous natatory chaetae, completely in males and incompletely in females. The diameter of coelomic unfertilised eggs in females was 100–140 µm. After fertilisation, each egg formed a jelly layer, inside which embryonic development progressed. Trochophores hatched out of the jelly layer, entering a short free-swimming larval phase followed by demersal life at the early stage of 3-chaetiger nectochaeta one day after fertilisation. Then, the larvae entered benthic life as juveniles, crawling on the bottom, at the late stage of 3-chaetiger nectochaeta two days after fertilisation. The results indicate that N. glandicincta has an annual life cycle, which is usually completed within an estuary with limited larval dispersal ability

Gut microbiome of women diagnosed with breast cancer within Pahang, Malaysia

Background Breast cancer is an ongoing issue that is plaguing many young women especially within the regions of Asia. Many factors have been studied thoroughly and have been ruled out over the years. Nevertheless, emergent studies towards the gut microbiome suggest its potential as another cause or treatment to the current predicament. This study aims to elucidate the role of the microbiome in relation to breast cancer by comparing the observed gut flora within healthy individuals to those afflicted with breast cancer in Pahang, Malaysia. Methods Stool samples were collected from all 69 participants. 36 subjects were of newly diagnosed breast cancer patients, pre-treatment while 33 subjects were control group. Samples were homogenized with water prior to performing DNA extraction using standard protocols of QIAamp® PowerFecal® Pro Kit. Metagenome sequencing of V3 variable region of 16S rRNA gene was conducted on a NovaSEQ6000 (Illumina, San Diego, CA) using standard protocols. Data analysis was conducted on the MicrobiomeAnalyst platform using default settings. Results We report a total of 114 695 read counts generated which represents 704 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) from the raw data. IDDF2022-ABS-0263 Figure 1 shows the top 30 features observed among the groups at genus level where it was shown that Holdemanella and Akkermansia were more abundant within the cancer group. Significant beta-diversity results from IDDF2022-ABS-0263 Figure 2 (p-value ≤ 0.001) suggest that the composition between breast cancer patients and healthy individuals are distinct from each other. Furthermore, IDDF2022-ABS-0263 Figure 3A indicates that Holdemanella is significant to the study whereas IDDF2022-ABS-0263 Figure 3B shows that Akkermansia has positive correlations towards breast cancer patients.Conclusions This study found that the microbiome observed within breast cancer patients is indeed different from healthy individuals at least within Pahang, Malaysia. Genera of interest are Holdemanella and Akkermansia which are found to be more abundant within the cancer group. Further studies are warranted to better understand the roles of these features towards breast cancer development or treatment