Foundations of Islamic antidrug abuse education

Among the basic objectives of the Islamic SharÊ‘ah is to protect the human life and human intellect ‒ as such, the consumption of mind-altering and intoxicative substances is prohibited in Islam. Furthermore, Islam imposes criminal penalties on those who consume intoxicative substances such as wine. Muslim jurists (fuqahā) have provided descriptive accounts on the foundations of the Islamic antidrug abuse teachings, categories of mind-altering substances, and preventive laws. They a so identified three categories of mind-altering substances: al-muskirāt, al-mukhaddirāt, and al-muftiraāt. This paper aims to explore the rationale and jurisprudential foundations of Islamic antidrug abuse education. While highlighting the philosophical background of the Islamic antidrug teachings, the paper presents the jurisprudential foundations of the legal penalties for drug abusers. The Qur’ānic terms and the Prophetic statements related to the subject will be referred to, while the opinions of Muslim jurists and theologians on the subject will be unveiled

Antibacterial activity of extracts from Calophyllum canum

The species of the genus Calophyllum (Guttiferae) are mainly distributed in tropical area. Plants from this genus are known as a rich source of secondary metabolite such as xanthones, coumarins, chromenes, flavonoids and triterpenoids. Some of this compounds exhibit significant biological effects antibacterial, antifungal, anti HIV and immunomodulatory activities. Calophyllum canum or Betangur baatu is a forest tree that found in Penisular of Malaysia. The research is aimed to investigate the bioactivity of C. canum extracts against selected bacteria. The chemical constituent of the plant is also investigated. The extracts are tested for their activity to inhibit the growth of Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus. The anti bacterial testing is carried out by disc diffusion method. It is concluded the C. canum has a greater potency to inhibit the growth of bacteria. The results of antibacterial of the extracts will be discussed in this paper

Acetylcholine esterase as a possible marker for the detection of halal way of slaughtering

Introduction: Different methods of slaughtering are being practiced because of differences in religious guidelines and environmental issues (use of electricity) or convenience of handling etc. Variation in methods of slaughtering results in different conditions namely, release of varying amount of blood and different degree of movement of its body parts prior to death. These issues are related to the release of neurotransmitter (NT) at the neuro-muscular junction (NMJ) eventually is subject to be released from the body through the blood flow. Experimental design: Muscle samples from chicken in small pieces were collected immediately after slaughtering. Slaughtering was carried out using sharp knife. Two different conditions pertaining to the Islamic guidelines of slaughtering were investigated. such as whether the neck was severed (S+) or not (S-) from the body during slaughtering and whether the animal just after slaughtering was released (R+) or not (R-). The level of acetylecholine esterase mRNA involved in the degradation of acetylecholine, a NT at NMJ was investigated by RT-PCR. Results: The level of acetylecholine esterase mRNA was not detected in the sample obtained from the chicken slaughtered following Islamic guidelines i.e., neck should not be severed and body should be released just after the slaughtering (R+S-). Conclusions: Level of acetylcholine or acetylcholine esterase can be used as a biomarker to identify if the slaughtering is performed following Islamic guidelines

Study of externally waste-gated turbine performance under steady and pulsating inlet conditions for improved turbocharger matching

The demand for drastic reduction in CO2 emission among road vehicles has seen downsizing becoming a megatrend in modern engine developments due to its benefits in reducing throttling loss and improvement in engine efficiency. In light of this, turbocharging is seen as one of the key enabling technologies and therefore carries along with it an ever-increasing challenge in terms of system-matching as the device is required to operate in ranges never encountered before. The increasing reliance on 1-D engine performance simulation tools calls for more accurate representation of the turbocharger model. The present study assessed the turbocharger turbine maps for use in commercial 1-D gas dynamics engine code from several aspects, namely the width of the map and the representation of turbine unsteady performance in the virtual environment. Furthermore, the present work assessed the performance of turbine under waste-gated operations. For this, an experimental work has been carried out on a bespoke waste-gated turbine layout over a wide range of operating conditions. The performance of the radial turbine under steady inlet conditions was evaluated for different waste-gate openings, at various points along several speed-lines. Then the unsteady tests saw the turbine performance evaluated at various sets of pulse frequencies, turbine loadings and waste-gate openings. Analysis of this study include the impact of turbine map width on the turbine performance modelling in a commercial 1-D gas dynamics engine simulation software and subsequently the prediction of the engine’s performance. This simulation work is carried out based on an actual heavily downsized gasoline engine with a series super-turbocharging system. The study also examined the method of incorporating the effects of turbine unsteady performance under waste-gated and non-waste-gated conditions in the performance maps used in 1-D code and evaluate its impact on the engine performance prediction. The outcome of the study aims at providing a deeper understanding on the unsteady performance of a turbocharger turbine which will lead to improved turbocharger-engine matching methods in the future

Antimicrobial compounds from Calophyllum canum

Calophyllum species have been used in traditional medicine for its therapeutic properties in many tropical climate counteries. Calopyllum canum locally known as bintagor merah has been isolated and tested for its antimcirobial activity. Stembarks of C. canum were extracted by soxhlet extraction with n-hexane, ethyl acetate and then methanol, successively. The antimictovial activity was carried out by disc difussion method and determination of MIC and MBC values. n-Hexane extracts was active against S.aureus and B.subtili, while methanol extract inhibited the growuth of S.aureus, B.subtilis and E.coli. Ethyl acetate extract was also active against S.aureus and B.subtilis. Both n-haxena and methanol extracts were furhter subjected to column chramotography by guiding of its antimicrobial actvity. Four compounds were sucesfully isolated.; two (D1 and D2) from n-hexane extract and two from methanol (CCM1 and CCM2). The compondsD1 and d2 were active against S.aureus and B. anthracis. While CCM1 and CCM2 were active against S.aureus. Furhter research need to be done to identify the structure of the active compounds and investigate their mood of action

Fabrication of 316L stainless steel (SS316L) foam via powder compaction method

Metal foam is the cellular structures that made from metal and have pores in their structures. Metal foam also known as the porous metals, which express that the structure has a large volume of porosities with the value of up to 0.98 or 0.99. Porous 316L stainless steel was fabricated by powder metallurgy route with the composition of the SS316L metal powder as metallic material, polyethylene glycol (PEG) and Carbamide as the space holder with the composition of 95, 90, 85, 80, and 75 of weight percent (wt. %). The powders were mixed in a ball mill at 60 rpm for 10 minutes and the mixtures were put into the mold for the pressing. The samples were uniaxially pressed at 3 tons and heat treated by using box furnace at different sintering temperature which are 870°C, 920°C, and 970°C separately. The suitable sintering temperature was obtained from the Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA). There are several tests that have been conducted in order to characterize the physical properties of metal foam such as density and porosity testing, and the morphological testing (Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)), and Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX). From the result, it can be conclude that, the sintering temperature of 920°C was compatible temperature in order to produce the metal foams which have large pores. Other than that, the composition of 85 and 75 wt. % is the best compositions in order to creates the homogenous mixture and allow the formation of large pore uniformly compared to other compositions which in line with the objective to produce foams with low density and high porosity which suitable for implant applications. The average pore size was within range 38.555μm to 54.498 μm which can be classified as micro pores

Calophyllum canum : antibacterial and anticancer plant

Human have used plants as a source of medicine throughout the world since time immemorial. Today there are at least 120 distinct chemical substances derived from plants that are considered as important drugs currently in use in one or more countries in the world. In particular, 60% drugs currently in clinical use for treatment of cancer were found to be of natural origin. Calophyllum canum is a large tree which grows in South East Asia and which is popular for its timber. This plant belongs to the family Guttiferae; a family that boasts species which are rich in bioactive phytochemicals. Some species are believed to having medicinal values and are used against several diseases including anti-inflammatory, anti infectious, astringent and antipyretic. We have successfully isolated two compounds from the methanol extract of Calophyllum canum stembarks that active inhibit the growth of Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 29213 and ATCC 25923). The cytotoxic study on the extracts revealed that the n-hexane extract had the strongest antiproliferation activity, followed by the methanol extract. n-hexane strongly inhibited the growth of TE1 and MCF7 cell lines. IC50 for n-hexane and methanol extract activity on the A549 cell line was found to be 27.96 μg/mL and 78.9 μg/mL respectively.The compounds (CE0 - CE5) isolated from ethyl acetate extract of C. canum are active to inhibit cell proliferation of human cervix adenocarcinoma cells

Flaxseed ethanolic crude extract influences growth of stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth (SHED)

Previous study reported that plant natural product promotes stem cell growth. Flaxseed (Linum usitatissimum) contains numerous compounds recognized for its health benefits. This study aimed to investigate the biological effects of flaxseed crude extract on stem cells obtained from human exfoliated deciduous teeth (SHED). Whole flaxseeds were ground and extracted with absolute ethanol using soxhlet extractor. The effects of flaxseed crude extract on SHED were assessed at concentration 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16 mg/ml for cell viability using MTT assay, cell morphology using inverted microscope and proliferative activity describe as population doubling time (PDT) using alamarBlue assay. The fatty acid composition of flaxseed was analysed using gas chromatographymass spectrometry (GCMS) instrumental technique.Although insignificant, flaxseed at concentration up to 4 mg/ml slightly increased SHED proliferation activity while maintaining cell viability and morphology. However, 8 mg/ml of flaxseed inhibited cell viability and proliferation activity, and changed the cell morphology. GCMS analysis revealed the presence of linolenic acid, linoleic acid, palmitic acid and stearic acid. Overall, ethanolic crude extract of flaxseed at concentration up to 4 mg/ml slightly enhanced the growth and maintained the morphology of SHED

Farmakologi okular

Buku ini sesuai sebagai buku asas untuk bidang optometri terutamanya berkaitan pengetahuan farmakologi. Isi buku ini diatur mulai dengan memberi penjelasan asas farmakologi seperti definisi reseptor, agonis, antagonis serta prinsip farmakologi am terutamanya mengenai farmakokinetik dan farmakodinamik. Bab awal menerangkan farmakokinetik secara am dan kemudiannya ditumpukan lebih khusus kepada farmakokinetik optometri. Bab-bab seterusnya adalah mengenai sistem saraf autonomik dan ubat-ubatan yang berguna dalam bidang optometri yang bertindak ke atas sistem saraf ini. Selain itu ubat-ubatan lain seperti antibiotik, pewarna untuk kegunaan diagnostik, ubat antihistamin, ubat bius setempat, analog prostaglandin dan bahan lain seperti air mata tiruan yang digunakan di dalam bidang optometri juga dihuraikan. Untuk memudahkan pemahaman, susunan perbincangan tiap bab yang menyentuh ubat-ubatan bermula dengan cara tindak dan kegunaan ubat berkenaan diikuti dengan kesan buruk serta keadaan yang membuat ubat itu dikontraindikasi. Di akhir sekali disenaraikan ubat-ubatan yang dibenarkan oleh Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia untuk penggunaan optometris

Quantum chemical quantitative structure activity studies of anticancer activity of Aldohexose chloroethylnitrosourea Analogs

Quantitative structure activity relationship involving 18 aldohexose chloroethylnitrosourea compounds having anticancer activity against Ip-Implanted Murine L1210 Lymphoid Leukemia, is investigated using semi-empirical quantum chemical AM1 methods. Quantum chemical methods are used to calculate several electronic and molecular properties of these compounds and these properties are used to obtain the best QSAR using statistical procedures. A best QSAR with correlation coefficient of R2 = 0.7270 is established with four theoretical molecular descriptors. The QSAR obtained in our study can be used to predict the anticancer activity of new aldohexose chloroethylnitrosourea analogs, without resorting to any experimental studies