The translation profession in Malaysia: the translator’s status and self-perception

This paper aims to discuss the current status of translators practising in Malaysia and their perceptions towards the profession. The study was motivated by the dearth of literature on the status of the translator’s profession in Malaysia. Past studies have shown that translation is not considered a full-fledged profession in many other countries. Translators also do not perceive their own job as belonging to a profession due to a number of reasons. This study which adopts hermeneutic phenomenology as its method of inquiry is mostly qualitative in nature with an inclusion of some basic quantitative measures. The findings of this study has revealed that though Malaysian translators regard themselves as professionals in society, clients and the public unfortunately do not share the same views. The translators also cited unfair competition from amateur translators and unprofessional practices in their profession due to a lack of code of ethics, as challenges which seriously undermine the status of their professions. The findings of this study markedly highlight the concerted effort that is needed to set up a professional body to represent the translators in Malaysia

Human-machine Translation Model Evaluation Based on Artificial Intelligence Translation

As artificial intelligence (AI) translation technology advances, big data, cloud computing, and emerging technologies have enhanced the progress of the data industry over the past several decades. Human-machine translation becomes a new interactive mode between humans and machines and plays an essential role in transmitting information. Nevertheless, several translation models have their drawbacks and limitations, such as error rates and inaccuracy, and they are not able to adapt to the various demands of different groups. Taking the AI-based translation model as the research object, this study conducted an analysis of attention mechanisms and relevant technical means, examined the setbacks of conventional translation models, and proposed an AI-based translation model that produced a clear and high quality translation and presented a reference to further perfect AI-based translation models. The values of the manual and automated evaluation have demonstrated that the human-machine translation model improved the mismatchings between texts and contexts and enhanced the accurate and efficient intelligent recognition and expressions. It is set to a score of 1-10 for evaluation comparison with 30 language users as participants, and the achieved 6 points or above is considered effective. The research results suggested that the language fluency score rose from 4.9667 for conventional Statistical Machine Translation to 6.6333 for the AI-based translation model. As a result, the human-machine translation model improved the efficiency, speed, precision, and accuracy of language input to a certain degree, strengthened the correlation between semantic characteristics and intelligent recognition, and pushed the advancement of intelligent recognition. It can provide accurate and high-quality translation for language users and achieve an understanding of natural language input and output and automatic processing

The Effects of a Weight Loss Program Focusing on Maternal Education on Childhood Obesity

PurposeChildhood obesity is a matter of great concern because of its negative health and social consequences. We examined the effect of a weight control program focusing on maternal education on childhood obesity, given that the incidence of obesity is greatly affected by parents.MethodsA two-group pre-test/post-test design was used. Participants consisted of 65 obese children and their mothers. The children were fourth- to sixth-grade elementary students who did not currently receive any therapy for weight loss. The children and their mothers were randomly assigned to either an experimental (n = 32) or a control group (n = 33). The 8-week intervention for mothers included one-time group education, three-time phone counseling, and four-time fliers regarding obesity management. Four outcomes (self-control, obesity index, abdominal circumference, and body fat percentage) were measured before and after the intervention. Chi-squared test or t test was used to test homogeneity between the two groups. Analysis of covariance was used to test the intervention effects.ResultsAfter the intervention was completed, the level of self-control was significantly heightened and obesity levels in the other three outcomes were greatly lowered in the experimental group when compared with the control group.ConclusionDue to strong maternal effects on children's weight control, mothers' active participation must be encouraged in order to resolve childhood obesity

Haloperidol regulates the phosphorylation level of the MEK-ERK-p90RSK signal pathway via protein phosphatase 2A in the rat frontal cortex

Haloperidol, a classical antipsychotic drug, affects the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) pathway in the brain. However, findings are inconsistent and the mechanism by which haloperidol regulates ERK is poorly understood. Therefore, we examined the ERK pathway and the related protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) in detail after haloperidol administration. Haloperidol (0.5 and 1 mg/kg) induced biphasic changes in the phosphorylation level of mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (MEK), ERK, and p90 ribosomal S6 kinase (p90RSK) without changing Raf-1 phosphorylation. Fifteen minutes after haloperidol administration, MEK-ERK-p90RSK phosphorylation increased, whilst PP2A activity decreased. At 60 min, the reverse was observed and the binding of PP2A to MEK and ERK increased. Higher dosages of haloperidol (2 and 4 mg/kg), affected neither MEK-ERK-p90RSK phosphorylation nor PP2A activity. Accordingly, PP2A regulates acute dose- and time-dependent changes in MEK-ERK-p90RSK phosphorylation after haloperidol treatment. These findings suggest the involvement of a dephosphorylating mechanism in the acute action of haloperidol

Loss of Autophagy Diminishes Pancreatic β Cell Mass and Function with Resultant Hyperglycemia

SummaryAutophagy is a cellular degradation-recycling system for aggregated proteins and damaged organelles. Although dysregulated autophagy is implicated in various diseases including neurodegeneration, its role in pancreatic β cells and glucose homeostasis has not been described. We produced mice with β cell-specific deletion of Atg7 (autophagy-related 7). Atg7 mutant mice showed impaired glucose tolerance and decreased serum insulin level. β cell mass and pancreatic insulin content were reduced because of increased apoptosis and decreased proliferation of β cells. Physiological studies showed reduced basal and glucose-stimulated insulin secretion and impaired glucose-induced cytosolic Ca2+ transients in autophagy-deficient β cells. Morphologic analysis revealed accumulation of ubiquitinated protein aggregates colocalized with p62, which was accompanied by mitochondrial swelling, endoplasmic reticulum distension, and vacuolar changes in β cells. These results suggest that autophagy is necessary to maintain structure, mass and function of pancreatic β cells, and its impairment causes insulin deficiency and hyperglycemia because of abnormal turnover and function of cellular organelles

Human AQP5 Plays a Role in the Progression of Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML)

Aquaporins (AQPs) have previously been associated with increased expression in solid tumors. However, its expression in hematologic malignancies including CML has not been described yet. Here, we report the expression of AQP5 in CML cells by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. While normal bone marrow biopsy samples (n = 5) showed no expression of AQP5, 32% of CML patient samples (n = 41) demonstrated AQP5 expression. In addition, AQP5 expression level increased with the emergence of imatinib mesylate resistance in paired samples (p = 0.047). We have found that the overexpression of AQP5 in K562 cells resulted in increased cell proliferation. In addition, small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting AQP5 reduced the cell proliferation rate in both K562 and LAMA84 CML cells. Moreover, by immunoblotting and flow cytometry, we show that phosphorylation of BCR-ABL1 is increased in AQP5-overexpressing CML cells and decreased in AQP5 siRNA-treated CML cells. Interestingly, caspase9 activity increased in AQP5 siRNA-treated cells. Finally, FISH showed no evidence of AQP5 gene amplification in CML from bone marrow. In summary, we report for the first time that AQP5 is overexpressed in CML cells and plays a role in promoting cell proliferation and inhibiting apoptosis. Furthermore, our findings may provide the basis for a novel CML therapy targeting AQP5

Occupational Neurologic Disorders in Korea

This article presents a schematic review of the clinical manifestations of occupational neurologic disorders in Korea and discusses the toxicologic implications of these conditions. Vascular encephalopathy, parkinsonism, chronic toxic encephalopathy, cerebellar dysfunction, peripheral neuropathy, and neurodegenerative diseases are common presentations of occupational neurotoxic syndromes in Korea. Few neurotoxins cause patients to present with pathognomic neurologic syndrome. Detailed neurologic examinations and categorization of the clinical manifestations of neurologic disorders will improve the clinical management of occupational neurologic diseases. Physicians must be aware of the typical signs and symptoms of possible exposure to neurotoxins, and they should also pay attention to less-typical, rather-vague symptoms and signs in workers because the toxicologic characteristics of occupational neurologic diseases in Korea have changed from typical patterns to less-typical or equivocal patterns. This shift is likely to be due to several years of low-dose exposure, perhaps combined with the effects of aging, and new types of possibly toxicant-related neurodegenerative diseases. Close collaboration between neurologists and occupational physicians is needed to determine whether neurologic disorders are work-related

Expression of Aquaporin 5 (AQP5) Promotes Tumor Invasion in Human Non Small Cell Lung Cancer

The aquaporins (AQP) are water channel proteins playing a major role in transcellular and transepithelial water movement. Recently, the role of AQPs in human carcinogenesis has become an area of great interest. Here, by immunohistochemistry (IHC), we have found an expression of AQP5 protein in 35.3% (IHC-score: ≥1, 144/408) of the resected NSCLC tissue samples. Cases with AQP5-positive status (IHC-score: ≥2) displayed a higher rate of tumor recurrence than negative ones in NSCLC (54.7% vs. 35.1%, p = 0.005) and worse disease-free survival (p = 0.033; OR = 1.52; 95%CI:1.04−2.23). Further in vitro invasion assay using BEAS-2B and NIH3T3 cells stably transfected with overexpression constructs for full length wild-type AQP5 (AQP5) and its two mutants, N185D which blocks membrane trafficking and S156A which blocks phosphorylation on Ser156, showed that AQP5 induced cell invasions while both mutants did not. In BEAS-2B cells, the expression of AQP5 caused a spindle-like and fibroblastic morphologic change and losses of cell-cell contacts and cell polarity. Only cells with AQP5, not either of two mutants, exhibited a loss of epithelial cell markers and a gain of mesenchymal cell markers. In a human SH3-domains protein array, cellular extracts from BEAS-2B with AQP5 showed a robust binding activity to SH3-domains of the c-Src, Lyn, and Grap2 C-terminal. Furthermore, in immunoprecipitation assay, activated c-Src, phosphorylated on Tyr416, showed a stronger binding activity to cellular extracts from BEAS-2B with AQP5 compared with N185D or S156A mutant. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis failed to show evidence of genomic amplification, suggesting AQP5 expression as a secondary event. Based on these clinical and molecular observations, we conclude that AQP5, through its phosphorylation on Ser156 and subsequent interaction with c-Src, plays an important role in NSCLC invasion and, therefore, may provide a unique opportunity for developing a novel therapeutic target as well as a prognostic marker in NSCLC