Diversity of Mosquito Species (Diptera: Culicidae) in the Residential Area and Rice Field of Kampung Rembus, Samarahan Division, Sarawak, Malaysia

The information on the distribution and occurrence of mosquito species is crucial for anticipating the prevalence of mosquito borne diseases. The surveillance data of mosquitoes for Sarawak continues up to recently. Anthropogenic activities provide breeding grounds for mosquitoes. For example, a flooded wetland rice field created an artificial aquatic habitat for mosquitoes. In Sarawak, Malaysia no data is available on the occurrence of mosquito species in wetland rice fields so far. The objective of this study was to document the diversity of mosquitoes in the rice field and residential area of Kampung Rembus, Sarawak, Malaysia during the early stages of the rice planting season. Ten plastic containers containing one litre of rainwater were placed permanently in the residential area and rice field, respectively. All mosquito larvae and pupae were collected from every plastic container once a week and identified. The water temperature, ambient temperature and relative humidity were monitored during the study. A total of four BG-Sentinel trap baited with BG-Lure were also set in the residential area and rice field. The trapped adult mosquitoes were identified and counted. Eight mosquito species from six genera were recorded in the present study namely Aedes albopictus, Culex quinquefasciatus, Culex fuscocephala, Culex pseudovishnui, Coquillettidia sp., Uranotaenia maxima, Toxorhynchites indicus and Lutzia fuscanus. A total of 4,756 individuals were encountered in residential areas and 1,390 individuals from rice field. The highest number of mosquito species collected was Ae. albopictus with 4,515 individuals at the study sites. The two mosquito species with the lowest number of individuals were Cx pseudovishnui and Coquillettidia sp. with only one individual collected during a three-month study. Aedes albopictus, Cx quinquefasciatus, Cx fuscocephala and Cx pseudovishnui are recorded for the first time in the rice field of Sarawak. Aedes albopictus and Cx. quinquefasciatus showed a weak correlation with ambient temperature and relative humidity. However, both species demonstrated a strong correlation with water temperature. Our findings are the first report for the study area and for the rice field of Sarawak. There were mosquito species which are vectors of mosquito borne diseases. To prevent the spread of mosquito borne diseases among residents in Kampung Rembus, it is crucial to continuously monitor and manage mosquito breeding sites

Critical Risk Factors in Construction Projects: A Dematel-Based Model

Construction projects are defenceless to more risks compared to the other industries due to their nature and complexities. These risks can lead to performance reductions, increased costs, scheduling delays, and even project failure. It is noted that the success of the project depends on identifying the most common risk factors and mitigate them effectively. Numerous studies have discussed the significance of investigating the critical risks in the construction projects but the complex causal relationships among the risk factors and their relative significance with respect to each other remain unexplored. The purpose of this paper is to identify the critical risk factors and investigate the interrelationship among the risk factors in the construction projects. Detailed literature review has been conducted and ten risk factors were identified. Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) is employed in the study to prioritize the risks and then analyse the causal relationship among the factors. Based on the interview data from thirteen experts, the results show design risks are the critical risk factors. The findings in this study can provide structural visualization of complex causal relationships among risk factors and also allow construction experts to prioritize the resource allocation to achieve project objectives. Keywords: Construction Industry; Critical Risks; Decision Making Trial & Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL)

New Species of Termitomyces (Lyophyllaceae, Basidiomycota) from Sabah (Northern Borneo), Malaysia

The genus Termitomyces (Lyophyllaceae, Basidiomycota) is often associated with fungus-feeding termites (Macrotermitinae) due to their strong symbiotic relationships. The genus is widely found exclusively in certain regions of Africa and Asia. They are recognized as edible mushroom within Southeast Asia as well. But it is often misidentified based on morphology by the local communities especially in Malaysia for Chlorophyllum molybdites which is a highly poisonous mushroom. Thus, it is necessary to study the genus for Malaysia with the synergy of using both morphological and molecular identification. In this study, we aim to describe another new species as an addition to the genus Termitomyces found within Sabah, Malaysia. We generated two new sequences (nrLSU and mtSSU) for the new species and a total of 28 nrLSU and mtSSU sequences were retrieved from GenBank for the phylogenetic analysis using maximum likelihood and Bayesian inferences. We identified that the new collection from Sabah province is a new species and named as Termitomyces gilvus based on the termites found in the mound. A phylogeny tree made from the concatenated genes of LSU and mtSSU suggests that T. gilvus is closely related to T. bulborhizus from China. According to our results, the combination of molecular and morphology proved to be a robust approach to re-evaluate the taxonomic status of Termitomyces species in Malaysia. Additional surveys are needed to verify the species diversity and clarify their geographic distributio

Genotype and organ effect on the occupancy of phyllosphere prokaryotes in different rice landraces

Bacteria community provides essential ecological services to rice plants. The bacterial diversity of rice varies across host plant genotype and organs. This study employed 16S rDNA amplicon sequencing to characterise the bacterial community associated with three rice landraces using leaf blade and stem samples. The prokaryotic community found in these rice landraces comprised of two kingdoms, 12 phyla, 25 classes, 40 orders, 80 families, and 118 genera. Proteobacteria (53.9%) was the most abundant phylum. The most abundant genus was an undefined genus under Cyanobacteria (33.0%). Homogeneity of prokaryotic community was observed across the three rice landraces, which may suggest a high similarity in biological and genetical properties of the rice landraces. The difference in prokaryotic composition between leaf blade and stem was depicted based on principal coordinate analysis. This study observed that the prokaryotic inhabitants in rice plants is predominantly determined by rice plant organs

A cross-sectional study on the prevalence, knowledge, attitude and practice of alcohol consumption among the population aged 13 years and above in longhouses Johnnie, Langgie and Hamdam, Kampung Sare, Sarikei from 14 February 2009 to 3 April 2009

In Malaysia, prevalence of binge drinking is more than 30% and is more common in rural area. No known available data regarding the prevalence, knowledge, attitude and practice of alcohol consumption among the population aged 13 years and above in Kampung Sare, Sarikei

Dynamic phenotypic heterogeneity and the evolution of multiple RNA subtypes in hepatocellular carcinoma: the PLANET study

Intra-tumor heterogeneity (ITH) is a key challenge in cancer treatment, but previous studies have focused mainly on the genomic alterations without exploring phenotypic (transcriptomic and immune) heterogeneity. Using one of the largest prospective surgical cohorts for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with multi-region sampling, we sequenced whole genomes and paired transcriptomes from 67 HCC patients (331 samples). We found that while genomic ITH was rather constant across stages, phenotypic ITH had a very different trajectory and quickly diversified in stage II patients. Most strikingly, 30% of patients were found to contain more than one transcriptomic subtype within a single tumor. Such phenotypic ITH was found to be much more informative in predicting patient survival than genomic ITH and explains the poor efficacy of single-target systemic therapies in HCC. Taken together, we not only revealed an unprecedentedly dynamic landscape of phenotypic heterogeneity in HCC, but also highlighted the importance of studying phenotypic evolution across cancer types.National Medical Research Council (NMRC)National Research Foundation (NRF)Published versionThis work is supported in part by the Singapore National Medical Research Council grants (TCR/015-NCC/2016, CIRG18may-0057l, NMRC/CSA-SI/0018/2017, and NMRC/ OFIRG/0064/2017) and the National Research Foundation, Singapore (NRF-NRFF2015-04). W.Z. is supported in part by the National Key R&D Program of China (2018YFC1406902 and 2018YFC0910400), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31970566), and the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDPB17). H.Y. is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32000407)