Self-evaluation of medical students on the elective research course

The significance of learning research methodology and performing research has been accepted by various medical schools in Malaysia as well as in other countries. The aim of integrating research into medical curriculum is to inculcate the research culture and form part of the evidence-based practice among medical professionals. Hence, the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak has incorporated the research component into the preclinical year of the medical curriculum. A survey was conducted to gauge the second year medical students’ level of knowledge of research process at the end of the course using a set of questionnaires. Seventy nine of second year medical students participated in the study. The outcome of the study shows significant improvement in the students’ knowledge on research components after completing the one year course (p<.05). Our findings suggest that the course has met its main objectives to make the students better understand the research processes. It is recommended that further evaluation should be conducted to refine the course

Oxidizes Low Density Lipoprotein Cytoxicity and Vascular Diseases

The formation of oxidized low density lipoprotien (oxLDL) within atherosclerotic plaques is a significant event, which appears to drive the transition from fatty streaks to advanced complex plaque cytotoxic agent that triggers a number of competing cell death machanisms

Fatty acids composition and antimicrobial activities of Litsea garciae pulp and seed extracts

Litsea garciae is a native plant to Borneo Island. The current study aimed to identify and compare the fatty acids composition and antimicrobial activities of the pulp and seed extracts of L. garciae. The total lipids of L. garciae pulp and seed were extracted with petroleum ether (PE) and Bligh-Dyer (BD) methods and the fatty acids were analysed using gas chromatography. The fatty acids of seed extracts consisted of more than 80% saturated fatty acids whereas the pulp extracts contained a similar percentage of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids (approximately 50%). The predominant saturated fatty acids were palmitic acid followed by stearic acid for both PE and BD lipid pulp extracts. In contrast, the PE and BD lipid seed extracts had a high content of lauric acid followed by palmitic acid. The predominant monounsaturated fatty acid was oleic acid while polyunsaturated fatty acid was linoleic acid for all extracts. As for the antimicrobial activities, PE lipid pulp extract had higher antimicrobial activity against S. aureus, P. aeruginosa, and S. epidermidis than other extracts in both antimicrobial assays. This study showed that the PE and BD lipid pulp and seed extracts had similar major components of fatty acids but with different proportions. In addition, the components of fatty acids might contribute to the antibacterial activities of L. garciae

Antimicrobial Activity Of Partially Purified Peptides Isolated From The Skin Secretions Of Bornean Frogs In The Family Of Ranidae

The emergence of drug resistant bacteria has now become a major public health problem worldwide (Cohen, 2000; Kumarasamy et al., 2010; Sengupta et al., 2013). WHO report (2017) on global surveillance of antimicrobial resistance revealed a widespread development of resistance in both gram positive and gram negative bacteria which had threatened millions of people worldwide. A rapid increase in number of drug-resistant bacteria and incidence nosocomial infections pose a challenge to conventional therapies using existing antibiotics, leading to the need in finding alternative microbicides to control these infections (Lakshmaiah et al., 2015). Thus, a discovery of new and effective treatments that can replace current available antibiotics has become a critical area of research globally

Contents of boric acid in noodles and processed foods

Boric acid is commonly used as pesticides, antifungal and antiseptics. It was also used as a food preservative to prolong the shelf life and enhance the food texture. In Malaysia, the addition of boric acid during food processing is prohibited due to its detrimental effect on health. In this study, noodles and fish-based processed food from different manufacturers were analysed for their boric acid concentrations by using the curcumin method. The results showed that there was high concentration of boric acid found in the noodles and fish-based processed food samples. The amount of boric acid detected in yellow noodles varied over the four weeks and amongst manufacturers. A similar pattern was also observed for ‘kuey teow’ (flat rice noodle) and ‘kolok’ noodle. The highest amount of boric acid concentrations was found in ‘kuey teow’ followed by yellow noodles and ‘kolok’ noodle. There was also inconsistency in the concentration of boric acid in fish cakes, fish balls and crab sticks. For fish-based products, crab stick contained the highest amount of boric acid followed by fish ball and fish cake. Even though the addition of boric acid to food is banned in Malaysia, the results of this study showed that boric acid is still being used as a food preservative in food manufacturing

Contents of Boric Acid in Noodles and Processed Foods

Boric acid is commonly used as pesticides, antifungal and antiseptics. It was also used as a food preservative to prolong the shelf life and enhance the food texture. In Malaysia, the addition of boric acid during food processing is prohibited due to its detrimental effect on health. In this study, noodles and fish-based processed food from different manufacturers were analysed for their boric acid concentrations by using the curcumin method. The results showed that there was high concentration of boric acid found in the noodles and fish-based processed food samples. The amount of boric acid detected in yellow noodles varied over the four weeks and amongst manufacturers. A similar pattern was also observed for ‘kuey teow’ (flat rice noodle) and ‘kolok’ noodle. The highest amount of boric acid concentrations was found in ‘kuey teow’ followed by yellow noodles and ‘kolok’ noodle. There was also inconsistency in the concentration of boric acid in fish cakes, fish balls and crab sticks. For fish-based products, crab stick contained the highest amount of boric acid followed by fish ball and fish cake. Even though the addition of boric acid to food is banned in Malaysia, the results of this study showed that boric acid is still being used as a food preservative in food manufacturing

A model of complex plaque formation: 7,8-Dihydroneopterin protects human monocyte-derived macrophages from oxidised low density lipoprotein-induced death

Plasma neopterin is an excellent marker of inflammation and is found in elevated levels in plasma of patients with cardiovascular disease. Neopterin originates as the oxidation product of 7,8-dihydroneopterin (7,8-NP), which is secreted by human macrophages when stimulated with interferon-y during inflammation. 7,8-NP has been shown to be a very efficient free radical scavenger and a potent antioxidant which can protect macrophages from a range of oxidative stresses. The uptake of oxidised low density lipoprotein (oxLDL) by macrophages which lead to the formation of foam cells is a hallmark of early atherosclerotic lesions. OxLDL-induced cell death is also considered to be an important process in the formation of necrotic lipid rich plaques and in atherosclerotic plaque destabilisation. This thesis examined the extent of oxLDL-induced damaged to HMDMs and whether 7,8-NP can inhibit oxLDL-mediated cell death in HMDMs. Foam cells had previously been defined as cholesteryl ester (CE) macrophages that stained positive with oil red-O. This thesis shows that the foamy appearance and presence of lipid droplets stained with oil red-O was not dependent on accumulation of CE which raises the suitability of using oil-red-O staining to identify the foam cells. In addition, HPLC but not GC analysis showed an increased in CE levels of the macrophages when the macrophages were incubated with oxLDL. The HPLC approach spared the samples of lengthy manipulations that might cause ex vivo oxidation. It also avoided subjecting the samples to high temperature treatment that could alter the lipid composition and therefore quantification of the lipid contents. Previous studies showed that 7,8-NP is a potent antioxidant and cytoprotective agent. Exposure of HMDMs to 1 mg/ml oxLDL caused 50% loss of cell viability as measured by the MTT reduction and trypan blue exclusion assays. The development of apoptotic features including caspase-3 activity, cytochrome c release from mitochondria and phophatidyserine (PS) exposure was examined. OxLDL did not cause caspase-3 activation as shown by Western Blot analysis and did not cause DEVD-AMC cleavage in HMDMs. However, cytochrome c release and phosphatidylserine exposure were observed when HMDMs were incubated with oxLDL as shown by Western Blot analysis and Annexin V-FITC staining respectively. Dihydroethidium (DHE) staining showed that oxLDL treatment caused mitochondrial superoxide generation in HMDMs. OxLDL-induced oxidative stress appeared to cause a rapid loss of HMDMs' intracellular glutathione (GSH) as analysed by HPLC technique. Incubation of HMDMs' with buthionine sulfoximine (BSO) and diethyl maleate (DEM) caused similar loss in GSH as incubation with oxLDL but did not result in HMDMs' death. This showed that oxLDL-induced decrease in GSH alone was not sufficient to cause cell death. The loss of cell viability by oxLDL was inhibited by 7,8-NP in the concentration range of 50 to 200 lM. HMDMs' GSH loss caused by oxLDL was similarly inhibited by 7,8-NP supporting the idea that preventing the cellular GSH loss will protect the HMDMs from death. Incubation of HMDMs with 7,8-NP showed reduction in DHE fluorescence intensity staining suggesting that 7,8-NP inhibited or scavenged oxLDL-dependent generation of superoxide. 7,8-NP also effectively inhibited oxLDL-induced PS externalisation to the outer membrane but failed to inhibit the oxLDL-induced release of cytochrome c from mitochondria to the cytosol. The labelling of oxLDL with DiI showed that 7,8-NP significantly inhibited the uptake of oxLDL. However, the inhibitory effect was only measured at non-toxic concentration of oxLDL. The ability of 7,8-NP to inhibit oxLDL uptake raised the possibility that 7,8-NP protective effect against oxLDL involved modulation of the scavenger receptors'expression in particular SRA and CD36. The Western Blot analysis showed that incubation of HMDMs with 7,8-NP did not affect HMDMs' SRA protein expression. In 50% of the experiments, it was demonstrated that certain isoforms of CD36 protein were significantly down regulated by 7,8-NP suggesting that various factors might interact with 7,8-NP or CD36. The ability of 7,8-NP to protect HMDMs from oxLDL-induced death provides further evidence that this antioxidant is secreted by HMDMs to protect them against the oxidative damage in the highly oxidative environment of atherosclerotic plaque

A mini review on the nutritional compositions and pharmacological properties of Litsea garciae

Litsea garciae is an underutilized plant found in certain parts of South East Asia. The plant part has been traditionally used to treat, among others, skin infections, boil, rectal bleeding, muscular pain, and sprains. Besides its medicinal properties, its seasonal fruit is consumed for its avocado-like flavor. This article aims to provide information on what is known so far about the nutritional composition and pharmacological properties of Litsea garciae