Enhancing economic development through economic empowerment: Challenges for women

Status of women around the world varies among parts of the world.Some developing countries like Africa, the status of women is low compared to the developed countries.There is an urgent need to give attention to the needs and problems of women to enable them to enjoy and exercise their rights and opportunities; thus, women can be part of a group contributing to national development. Generally, women and economy often are separated as two different identities in enhancing the sustainable economy.The facts that the number of women working in the industries is less than the number of men are no longer false.Therefore, the paper aims to discuss women empowerment specifically in regard to economic empowerment. Three elements, namely microfinance, education and legal aid that contribute towards economic empowerment for women also will be argued in the paper.The challenges women faced towards achieving economic empowerment also will be discussed

Delivery of recombinant plasmid containing human insulin gene-GLP1 promoter into L cells in the rats with a type-1 diabetes

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the treatment with recombinant plasmid consisted of human GLP1 promoter and insulin gene can treat diabetic rats. Rats were induced type-1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) by a single dose of intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ)at dose of 55mg/kg. The induction of diabetes was confirmed in rats by checking the blood glucose level for seven days. The recombinant plasmid, GLP1/Ins/pBud plasmid, was wrapped with chitosan and then transferred to diabetic rats by force feeding. The blood glucose level was checked from the tips of the tails by needle puncture using a glucometer and test strips. The blood levels of human and rat insulin were assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The results showed no significant effects of orally treatment with recombinant plasmid DNA at both doses of 100 and 600 μg/mL of the human insulin level in diabetic rats (p>0.05). The human insulin level was significantly increased by orally treatment at dose of 300 μg/mL (p=0.04). The findings indicated that the intraperitoneal injection of 300 μg/mL of this nanoparticle complex prominently increased the human insulin level in diabetic rats in contrast to both doses of 100 and 600 μg/mL. Despite above results, both methods was not effective enough to decrease the blood glucose levels in diabetic rats. It was concluded that the treatment of diabetic rats with recombinant plasmid consisted of human GLP1 promoter and insulin gene was not effective to reduce the blood glucose levels in diabetic rats

Political Involvement among Youth in Malaysia: Lessons Learnt

Youth are asset for the country and their ideas may provide significant contribution towards the country development process.  They are the driving force towards the progress of the country and their contributions are undeniable in providing new ideas.  Other than as the human capitals provided for the workforce, youth are also backbone of the country.  Youth involvement in politics happen throughout the world and Malaysia has no exception.  Youth have voice out their concern on the government’s policies and actions towards developing process by using available platform such as social media other than joining political parties or any association specifically for youth.  The opportunities should be given to this group since country will lose creative, dynamic and innovative ideas from this group, known as Generation Y.  The tagline like young leaders have create phenomena to give them opportunities to be leader at every level of government (community, state as well as country). This article will discuss the political involvement  based on the survey among students in Universiti Utara Malaysia. Findings showed that internet (social media) has attracted the respondents to know more about politics.  Their lower involvement in political parties’ activities are quite contradictory in which their willingness to vote and  encourage others to vote during the election process in Malaysia. This paper will highlight the importance of social media as a platform for gaining youth involvement in political scenario in Malaysia

Role of xanthan gum on physicochemical and rheological properties of rice bran oil emulsion

Xanthan gum is a high molecular weight substance with potential in improving emulsions properties. The formulation composition was selected on Tween 80 ternary phase diagram and was modified by the addition of xanthan gum at different concentrations (0.0% – 1.0%). The main objective of this study was to determine the effect of xanthan gum on physicochemical and rheological properties of rice bran oil emulsion. Xanthan gum concentrations have affected the formulations droplet size. Yet, they did not show any effect on pH of the formulations. However, an increase in xanthan gum concentration had increased the zeta potential value, stability, and viscosity of the formulations. Xanthan gum also enhanced the flow behaviour of the formulations

Prevalence of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) and cytosolic serine hydroxymethyltransferase (cSHMT) genes polymorphisms in healthy Malaysian population

Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) and Cytosolic serine hydroxymethyltransferase (cSHMT) are enzymes involve in folate regulation in human. The C to T transition of the cSHMT and MTHFR genes at the 1420 as well as 677 nucleotides both carries TT genotype respectively. These enzymes have direct and indirect relations with the production of homocysteine. TT genotypes of both genes give rise to high level of homocysteine which in turn is linked to cardiovascular diseases susceptibility. This study evaluates MTHFR 677C-T and cSHMT 1420C-T polymorphisms and the distribution of their genotypes in a Malaysian study population emphasizing on the gender and major ethnics. Three hundred and ten (310) healthy subjects were recruited and genotyping of the variants were performed using PCR-restriction fragement length polymorphism (RFLP) method. Our results showed that for MTHFR gene, the frequency of TT genotype on the whole study population was 0.17±0.374. Females (21.08%) were identified to carry higher frequency of TT genotype while the Chinese (28.83%) had the highest frequency of TT genotype compared to Malay and Indian (p < 0.05). The frequency of TT genotype of cSHMT gene on the other hand was 0.24±0.425. Females (16.32%) and the Chinese displayed highest frequency of cSHMT TT genotype (p < 0.05). Our preliminary results showed that female and the Chinese display higher prevalence of TT genotype of both MTHFR and cSHMT genes in Malaysia.Keywords: methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), cytosolic serine hydroxymethyltransferase (cSHMT), polymorphisms, PCR-RFLP, Malaysian populatio

Two-dimensional profiling of proteins from Curculigo latifolia fruit by three different extraction protocols.

Lemba, Curculigo latifolia (family Hypoxidaceae) is an indigenous plant of Malaysia, found mainly in swampy areas of tropical Asia and Australia. This study was designed to compare the efficiency of three protocols employed for the extraction of proteins from C. latifolia fruit and to find the best compatible with proteomic analysis of fruit on the basis of profiling using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Phenol, trichloroacetic acid–acetone and trichloroacetic acid–acetone/phenol-based extraction protocols were evaluated by examining the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the extracted proteins. A few modifications were introduced to the phenol and the combination of phenol and trichloroacetic acid–acetoneprotocols in order to improve the two-dimensional gel electrophoresis analysis results. With the exception of trichloroacetic acid–acetone method, the two other protocols were found to extract proteins efficiently and reproducibly. The protein yields from the phenol (3.5 ± 0.12 mg/g) and trichloroacetic acid–acetone/phenol-based (3.7 ± 0.11 mg/g) protocols as well as and the two-dimensional gel electrophoresis patterns showed no appreciable differences. Since using phenol protocol is considerably more time consuming and laborious than the trichloroacetic acid– acetone/phenol-based protocol, therefore trichloroacetic acid–acetone/phenol-based protocol was considered to be a superior protocol for total proteins extraction of C. latifolia fruit

A survey of women entrepreneurs in Malaysia: A case of Siti Khadijah Market, Kelantan and Pekan Rabu, Kedah

Efforts taken by Malaysian government to encourage her people to venture into business are undeniable.As women constitute nearly half of the total population, women’s contribution towards national economic development has been recognized by Malaysian government. Women have to compete together with men in order to ensure that their status within the society is uplifted. Their involvement as business entrepreneurs make them at par with other successful male counterparts. This paper is to look at women entrepreneurs at both Siti Khadijah Market, Kelantan and Pekan Rabu, Kedah.Data were based on research done to both places.The findings of the research show that strong competition has been identified as the most challenge those women faced as an entrepreneur. Besides, assisting family total income is the most influencing factor that lead them to become entrepreneurs and acquiring appropriate skills as entrepreneur is also has been identified will further improve on their way of doing business

Insulin secreted from genetically engineered intestinal cells reduces blood glucose levels in diabetic mice

Poorly controlled diabetes mellitus can result in serious complications. Gene therapy is increasingly being considered as an alternative approach to treat diabetes, because of its ability to induce physiological insulin secretion and it allows patients to escape insulin injections. The properties of gut K and L-cells, including glucose sensitivity, the ability to process insulin and a regulated secretion pathway support their use as surrogate β-cells. Previous in vitro studies have provided sufficient evidence supporting the use of these cells for gene therapy studies. Therefore, we examined the ability of K and L-cells to produce insulin in diabetic mice. Chitosan nanoparticles were used to transfer the insulin gene into intestinal cells via oral administration. The efficiency of chitosan as a gene vehicle was investigated through the use of reporter gene. Insulin mRNA and protein expression levels were measured by RT-PCR and ELISA, respectively. Blood glucose testing revealed that this treatment reduced glucose levels in diabetic mice. The decrease in blood glucose level in the first week of treatment was greater in mice with K-cell specific insulin expression compared with mice with L-cellspecific insulin expression. These results indicate that inducing insulin secretion in K-cells conferred a quicker response to gene therapy

Women and entrepreneurship: An overview of women entrepreneurship programs in Malaysia

Entrepreneurs have been recognized by many as the catalyst for economic growth and development.Raising women as entrepreneurs is a part of current government initiative.Although women entrepreneurs have become more important players in the entrepreneurial landscape, the number is still small as compared to businesses owned by men.This paper will look into the entreperneurial programs implemented by governmental agencies in Malaysia.After looking at the programs, analysis of the programs will be further discussed. Indeed, this paper found that there are only a number of entrepreneurship programs which are specially designed for women by some selected agencies despites lack of evaluation of existing entrepreneurship programs

Engineering an L-cell line that expresses insulin under the control of the glucagon-like peptide-1 promoter for diabetes treatment

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a complicated disease with a pathophysiology that includes hyperinsulinemia, hyperglycemia and other metabolic impairments leading to many clinical complications. It is necessary to develop appropriate treatments to manage the disease and reduce possible acute and chronic side effects. The advent of gene therapy has generated excitement in the medical world for the possible application of gene therapy in the treatment of diabetes. The glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) promoter, which is recognised by gut L-cells, is an appealing candidate for gene therapy purposes. The specific properties of L-cells suggest that L-cells and the GLP-1 promoter would be useful for diabetes therapy approaches. Results: In this study, L-cells were isolated from a primary intestinal cell line to create suitable target cells for insulin expression studies. The isolated cells displayed L-cell properties and were therefore used as an L-cell surrogate. Next, the isolated L-cells were transfected with the recombinant plasmid consisting of an insulin gene located downstream of the GLP-1 promoter. The secretion tests revealed that an increase in glucose concentration from 5 mM to 25 mM induced insulin gene expression in the L-cells by 2.7-fold. Furthermore, L-cells quickly responded to the glucose stimulation; the amount of insulin protein increased 2-fold in the first 30 minutes and then reached a plateau after 90 minutes. Conclusion: Our data showed that L-cells efficiently produced the mature insulin protein. In addition, the insulin protein secretion was positively regulated with glucose induction. In conclusion, GLP-1 promoter and L-cell could be potential candidates for diabetes gene therapy agents