Orchids of Perlis: new records and distribution

An intensive study on orchid diversity was conducted in Perlis especially within the Perlis State Park during the period 2003 - 2004. During the numerous field trips and studies, a total of 1,783 orchid specimens where collected from the 12 hills (11 limestone hills and one partly granite stone mountain). These samples were identified and differentiated into 119 taxa in 50 genera which are represented by 4 subfamilies. Ninety were identified to species level and the remaining 29 were only identified to genus level as the specimens were incomplete, because of lack of flowers. From these numbers, 62 species in 20 genera are new records for Perlis and 9 species and one genus, Panisea, are new records for Malaysia. The diversity of orchids in Perlis is characteristically closely related to Thailand’s orchid flora, which is Indo- Malayan Floristic Region or Thailand - Burmese Floristic Region as compared to the other parts of Malaya which is Malayan Floristic Region. This can be to the climatic conditions (northern dry - monsoon), geographical location (bordering Peninsular Thailand) and the limestone habitat which is known to haboura high rate of species endemism. As much as 90% of these new records of orchids were collected from near the Malaysian-Thailand border and from Gunung Perlis, the highest peak in Perlis (733m)

Colorectal cancer screening: Barriers to the faecal occult blood test (FOBT) and colonoscopy in Singapore

Introduction: This study aims to identify the barriers to adopting faecal occult blood test (FOBT) and colonoscopy as colorectal cancer (CRC) screening methods among the eligible target population of Singapore. Materials and methods: This study was previously part of a randomised controlled trial reported elsewhere. Data was collected from Singapore residents aged 50 and above, via a household sample survey. The study recruited subjects who were aware of CRC screening methods, and interviewed them about the barriers to screening that they faced. Collected results on barriers to each screening method were analysed separately. Results: Out of the 343 subjects, 85 (24.8%) recruited knew about FOBT and/or colonoscopy. Most of the respondents (48.9%) cited not having symptoms as the reason for not using the FOBT. This is followed by inconvenience (31.1%), not having any family history of colon cancer (28.9%), lack of time (28.9%) and lack of reminders/recommendation (28.9%). Of the respondents who indicated not choosing colonoscopy as a screening method, more than one-half (54.8%) identified not having any symptoms as the main barrier for them, followed by not having any family history (38.7%) and having a healthy/low-risk lifestyle (29.0%). There was no difference between the reported barriers to each of the screening methods and the respondents\u27 dwelling types. Conclusions: Lack of knowledge, particularly the misconceptions of not having symptoms and being healthy, were identified as the main barriers to FOBT and colonoscopy as screening methods. Interventions to increase the uptake of CRC screening in this population should be tailored to address this misconception

In Vitro and In Silico study on the interaction between apigenin, kaempferoland 4-hydroxybenzoic acid in xanthine oxidase inhibition

Xanthine oxidase (XO) is a biological enzyme that takes part in purine catabolism. It catalyses the conversion of hypoxanthine to xanthine and eventually xanthine to uric acid. The catabolism reaction increases the level of uric acid and subsequently leads to hyperuricemia. Allopurinol is a XO inhibitor that is used clinically to prevent purine catabolism. Although it is an effective XO inhibitor, it causes some side effects. Therefore, a more effective inhibitor with fewer side effects is in an urgent need. Phenolic compounds have been identified as effective XO inhibitors in many studies. In vitro and in silico study were conducted to investigate the interaction between apigenin, kaempferol and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid in XO inhibition. Apigenin was found to be the most effective XO inhibitor among the compounds tested with the best docking score of -8.2 kcal/mol as demonstrated in the molecular docking simulation which indicated its favourable interaction with XO enzyme. Additive interactions between compounds namely apigenin-kaempferol, apigenin-4-hydroxybenzoic acid and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid-kaempferol were demonstrated in both in vitro and in silico studies. The results showed that 4-hydroxybenzoic acid- apigenin (-7.4 kcal/mol) was the most stable ligands combination docked to XO. The multiple ligands docking simulation showed independent ligands bound to the XO active site at non-interfering regional location. In conclusion, the combination of these three compounds can be explored further for their additive interaction in XO inhibition, which could be beneficial in terms of the enhanced effectiveness and lower side effects when each is used at lower dose to give the same effect

Migration and proliferation effects of Thymoquinone-loaded nanostructured lipid carrier (TQ-NLC) and Thymoquinone (TQ) on in vitro wound healing models

Wound healing is a regulated biological event that involves several processes including infiltrating leukocyte subtypes and resident cells. Impaired wound healing is one of the major problems in diabetic patients due to the abnormal physiological changes of tissues and cells in major processes. -ymoquinone, a bioactive compound found in Nigella sativa has been demonstrated to possess antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant effects. Today, the rapidly progressing nanotechnology sets a new alternative carrier to enhance and favour the speed of healing process. In order to overcome its low bioavailability, TQ is loaded into a colloidal drug carrier known as a nanostructured lipid carrier (NLC). -is study aimed to determine the effect of TQ-NLC and TQ on cell proliferation and migration, mode of cell death, and the antioxidant levels in normal and diabetic cell models, 3T3 and 3T3-L1. Cytotoxicity of TQ-NLC and TQ was determined by MTT assay. -e IC10 values obtained for 3T3-L1 treated with TQ-NLC and TQ for 24 hours were 4.7 ± 3.3 and 5.3 ± 0.6 μM, respectively. As for 3T3, the IC10 values obtained for TQ-NLC and TQ at 24 hours were 4.3 ± 0.17 and 3.9 ± 2.05 μM, respectively. TQ-NLC was observed to increase the number of 3T3 and 3T3-L1 healthy cells (87–95%) and gradually decrease early apoptotic cells in time- and dose-dependant manner compared with TQ. In the proliferation and migration assay, 3T3-L1 treated with TQ-NLC showed higher proliferation and migration rate (p < 0.05) compared with TQ. TQ-NLC also acted as an antioxidant by reducing the ROS levels in both cells after injury at concentration as low as 3 μM. -us, this study demonstrated that TQ-NLC has better proliferation and migration as well as antioxidant effect compared with TQ especially on 3T3-L1 which confirms its ability as a good antidiabetic and antioxidant agent

Antiulcer properties of Kelulut honey against ethanol-induced gastric ulcer

Ulcers in the gastrointestinal tract refer to any appreciable depth of break in the mucosa lining that may involve submucosa. Common types of ulcer include peptic, gastric and duodenal ulcer, which may lead to chronic inflammation. Ulcers may be caused by excessive alcohol intake or prolonged use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID), in addition to several other factors. Conventional medication such as Omeprazole (proton pump inhibitor) and Ranitidine (H2 blockers) for management of ulcers may cause severe side effects such as myelosupression and abnormal heart rhythm. This has driven researchers to explore the potential of natural products for management of ulcers with reduced side effects. Kelulut honey (KH) is a type of honey that is produced by stingless bees from the Trigona species. It is believed to have a lot of medicinal properties such as being antimicrobial, antioxidant and antidiabetic. Yet, no scientific study has been carried out on its antiulcer properties. This study was carried out to determine the antiulcer properties of KH. Eighteen male Sprague dawley rats (5 to 6 weeks old, weighing between 200 and 300 g) were divided into three groups (n=6). The groups were 1) normal control group (without ulcer, without KH), 2) positive control group (with ulcer, without KH) and 3) treatment group (with ulcer, treated with KH). The treatment, KH (1183 mg/kg), was given twice daily for 30 consecutive days by oral administration. On Day 31, the rats were induced with absolute ethanol (5 mL/kg) via oral administration after being fasted for 24 h and were sacrificed 15 min after the induction. The stomach was collected for macroscopic and histopathological evaluation. Pretreatment with KH significantly reduced (p<0.05) both the total area of ulcer and the ulcer index compared to the positive control group. The percentage of ulcer inhibition in the KH pre-treated group was 65.56% compared with the positive control group. The treatment, KH, exhibited antiulcer properties against ethanol-induced gastric ulcer

Dillenia suffruticosa dichloromethane root extract reduced metastasis of 4T1 cells to the liver and heart without causing toxicity in female BALB/c mice

Introduction: Breast cancer is ranked first among other cancers in women. Ineffectiveness of current treatments and adverse effects such as multiple organ failure and nephrotoxicity are the common problems faced in cancer therapy. Therefore, alternatives to treat breast cancer metastasis with fewer toxic effects are actively sought-after. Dillenia suffruticosa (DS) commonly known as ‘Simpoh air’ has been a traditional remedy for cancer growth. Therefore, this study investigated the metastasis inhibiting properties of DS root dichloromethane extract (DCMDS) in tumour bearing female BALB/c mice and sub-acute multiple dose oral toxicity upon treatment with this extract. Methods: Forty-eight tumour bearing mice were given either oral treatment of DCMDS (50, 100 and 200 mg/kg) or doxorubicin (2 mg/kg) for 28 days and the degree of metastasis was analysed in each group. Thirty other female BALB/c mice were treated with DCMDS (50, 100 and 200 mg/kg) and the general behaviours, biochemical, haematological and histopathological changes were observed. Data were analysed with One-way ANOVA and Dunnet’s test where p<0.05 was considered significant. Results: All doses of DCMDS showed lowered metastatic cells in liver and DCMDS at (50 and 100 mg/kg) had less metastatic cells in the heart compared to doxorubicin (2 mg/kg). All DCMDS treated groups showed no abnormal behaviours and all tested physiological parameter values fall within the normal ranges. Conclusion: DCMDS reduced metastasis of 4T1 cells to the liver and heart better than doxorubicin without causing toxicity. This study highlights that DCMDS is a promising drug to be further developed for cancer therapy

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals &lt;1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Toxicity and anti-breast cancer properties of thymoquinone-loaded nanostructured lipid carrier in mice

Thymoquinone (TQ), the bioactive compound extracted from seeds of Nigella sativa, has exhibited anti-cancer properties against several cancer cell lines including breast cancer cells. Despite the promising anti-cancer activities, the clinical translation of TQ was hindered by its hydrophobic property. In order to overcome its low water solubility and poor bioavailability, TQ has been encapsulated into a lipid based nanocarrier known as nanostructured lipid carrier (NLC) in the previous study. TQ that was loaded into NLC (TQNLC) has shown in vitro anti-proliferative activity towards breast cancer cell lines (MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7) and cervical cancer cell lines (HeLa and SiHa). Towards realising the clinical translation of TQNLC, the toxicity and anti-breast cancer properties of TQNLC in 4T1-tumour bearing BALB/c mice were evaluated in the present study. After the production of TQNLC by hot highpressure homogenisation, its physicochemical characteristics and cytotoxicity were determined. The oral acute and sub-acute toxicity studies were conducted in healthy BALB/c mice in accordance with Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) 420 and 407 Guidelines, respectively. The toxicological parameters including mortality, body weight change, haematological profile, biochemical profile and histological change were assessed. The anti-breast cancer properties of oral administration of TQNLC and TQ for 28 days in 4T1-tumour bearing female BALB/c mice were determined based on the tumour volume, tumour weight, survival time and survival rate. India ink staining was performed to assess the inhibition of lung metastases. Apoptosis in the tumour was evaluated by TUNEL assay. Effects of TQNLC on the expression of apoptotic-, metastatic- and angiogenic-related proteins were analysed by Western blot. TQNLC has excellent physicochemical characteristics such as particle size less than 50 nm, polydispersity index less than 0.2, high zeta potential, high encapsulation efficiency (98.96%), high drug loading (7.45%) and good stability. In the acute toxicity study, the encapsulation in NLC minimised the toxic effect of TQ based on the LD50 value. TQNLC is regarded safe at the dose of 10 mg/kg in mice with human equivalent dose of 0.813 mg/kg/d for long term oral consumption. Both treatments at 50 mg/kg and 100 mg/kg of TQNLC and TQ reduced the tumour volume and weight via induction of intrinsic apoptotic pathway with downregulation in the expression of Bcl-2 protein and up-regulation of Bax and caspase-8. Treatment with 25 mg/kg of TQ and 50 mg/kg of TQNLC significantly inhibited lung metastasis (p<0.05) by suppressing the expression of MMP-2. NLC enhanced the therapeutic effect of TQ by improving the survival rate of the tumour-bearing mice. In conclusion, TQNLC is a potential anti-breast cancer agent as compared to free TQ and doxorubicin (the standard chemotherapeutic drug) with reduced side effect and improved survival rate