Recent Advances in the Extraction of Pittosporum angustifolium Lodd. Used in Traditional Aboriginal Medicine: A Mini Review

Numerous native Australian plants are widely used as traditional medicines by the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Among the native plants, Pittosporum angustifolium Lodd. (Gumby Gumby) is claimed to be a promising medicinal plant in the treatment of a wide range of diseases that includes viral symptoms (colds and coughs), eczema, cancer, muscle aches, varicose veins, and many more. Various extraction techniques are used to extract the bioactive compounds of P. angustifolium, which are formulated into nutraceuticals. The present paper will provide an overview of the recent development in the extraction of bioactive ingredients from P. angustifolium, as well as the findings on the phytochemicals and antimicrobial activity of P. angustifolium extracts

The New Norms of Cosmetic Surgery among Youth in Malaysia

Aesthetics is a complex concept that makes it hard for humans to define beauty. Beauty is a relative term and varies from person to person. The desire to be beautiful is natural among most human beings nowadays. The main objective to conduct this research was to study the views of cosmetic surgery among youth in Malaysia. The specific objectives were to explore the causes that drive youth to undergo cosmetic surgery, to find out the physical and psychological effects on youth who underwent cosmetic surgery and to analyze the acceptance of cosmetic surgery as a common norm and an accepted form of self-improvement. This research focused on youth who underwent cosmetic surgery, between the ages of 15 to 40 years olds in Malaysia. The qualitative method chosen for this research was faceto-face interviews on four respondents using open-ended questions to obtain real data. This study informed about diverse perspectives of beauty which were held by different people from various backgrounds. The factors that influence youth were to enhance their appearance encountering the criticisms from public and to boost their confidence. However, the effects of doing so could be devastating as the risks are unpredictable. It is recommended that future research on this topic may include more respondents of diverse ages especially older men and women to find the extent of the factors

Mortality from gastrointestinal congenital anomalies at 264 hospitals in 74 low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries: a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study

Summary Background Congenital anomalies are the fifth leading cause of mortality in children younger than 5 years globally. Many gastrointestinal congenital anomalies are fatal without timely access to neonatal surgical care, but few studies have been done on these conditions in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared outcomes of the seven most common gastrointestinal congenital anomalies in low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries globally, and identified factors associated with mortality. Methods We did a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of patients younger than 16 years, presenting to hospital for the first time with oesophageal atresia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, intestinal atresia, gastroschisis, exomphalos, anorectal malformation, and Hirschsprung’s disease. Recruitment was of consecutive patients for a minimum of 1 month between October, 2018, and April, 2019. We collected data on patient demographics, clinical status, interventions, and outcomes using the REDCap platform. Patients were followed up for 30 days after primary intervention, or 30 days after admission if they did not receive an intervention. The primary outcome was all-cause, in-hospital mortality for all conditions combined and each condition individually, stratified by country income status. We did a complete case analysis. Findings We included 3849 patients with 3975 study conditions (560 with oesophageal atresia, 448 with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, 681 with intestinal atresia, 453 with gastroschisis, 325 with exomphalos, 991 with anorectal malformation, and 517 with Hirschsprung’s disease) from 264 hospitals (89 in high-income countries, 166 in middleincome countries, and nine in low-income countries) in 74 countries. Of the 3849 patients, 2231 (58·0%) were male. Median gestational age at birth was 38 weeks (IQR 36–39) and median bodyweight at presentation was 2·8 kg (2·3–3·3). Mortality among all patients was 37 (39·8%) of 93 in low-income countries, 583 (20·4%) of 2860 in middle-income countries, and 50 (5·6%) of 896 in high-income countries (p<0·0001 between all country income groups). Gastroschisis had the greatest difference in mortality between country income strata (nine [90·0%] of ten in lowincome countries, 97 [31·9%] of 304 in middle-income countries, and two [1·4%] of 139 in high-income countries; p≤0·0001 between all country income groups). Factors significantly associated with higher mortality for all patients combined included country income status (low-income vs high-income countries, risk ratio 2·78 [95% CI 1·88–4·11], p<0·0001; middle-income vs high-income countries, 2·11 [1·59–2·79], p<0·0001), sepsis at presentation (1·20 [1·04–1·40], p=0·016), higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score at primary intervention (ASA 4–5 vs ASA 1–2, 1·82 [1·40–2·35], p<0·0001; ASA 3 vs ASA 1–2, 1·58, [1·30–1·92], p<0·0001]), surgical safety checklist not used (1·39 [1·02–1·90], p=0·035), and ventilation or parenteral nutrition unavailable when needed (ventilation 1·96, [1·41–2·71], p=0·0001; parenteral nutrition 1·35, [1·05–1·74], p=0·018). Administration of parenteral nutrition (0·61, [0·47–0·79], p=0·0002) and use of a peripherally inserted central catheter (0·65 [0·50–0·86], p=0·0024) or percutaneous central line (0·69 [0·48–1·00], p=0·049) were associated with lower mortality. Interpretation Unacceptable differences in mortality exist for gastrointestinal congenital anomalies between lowincome, middle-income, and high-income countries. Improving access to quality neonatal surgical care in LMICs will be vital to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 of ending preventable deaths in neonates and children younger than 5 years by 2030

Fundamental solubility study of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in subcritical water and ethanol mixtures

Water is increasingly being used as a processing medium as a consequence of the current emphasis for sustainable processes. At relatively high temperatures and pressures, water acts as a good solvent, resulting in a number of potential applications. A lack of fundamental data, however, has limited the development of subcritical water technologies. Hence, solubility studies are essential to quantify the solvating power of subcritical water and to determine the thermodynamic limit of a process. A static analytical equilibrium method was used to measure the binary and ternary solubilities of anthracene and p-terphenyl in subcritical water and ethanol mixtures between 393 K and 473 K, and at 50 bar and 150 bar. Temperature was found to have the most significant effect on the solubility of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in subcritical water. The effect of pressure, and the combined effect of temperature and pressure on solubility were found to be insignificant, particularly when the range of pressure considered is relatively small. It was also found in this work that the solubilities of PAHs are governed primarily by sublimation pressure, and only secondarily by the dielectric constant of water. The use of small amounts of ethanol in subcritical water systems was found to greatly enhance the solubility of hydrophobic solutes and thus, is able to expand the range of applications of subcritical water technologies, while enabling relatively mild operating conditions to be maintained.The UNIQUAC, O-UNIFAC, and M-UNIFAC models were used to correlate the solubilities of PAHs in subcritical conditions. The UNIQUAC model best represents the solubilities of anthracene and p-terphenyl in binary and ternary systems while the O-UNIFAC and M-UNIFAC models perform poorly. The poor performance of the O-UNIFAC and the M-UNIFAC models were mainly due to the inadequacy of the residual component of the activity coefficient. All three models show increasing deviations from experimental data as ethanol concentration increases

Acid and Deep Eutectic Solvent (DES) extraction of pectin from pomelo (Citrus grandis (L.) Osbeck) peels

Pectin was extracted from pomelo peel using citric acid. A Box–Behnken design was employed to optimize the yield and the Degree of Esterification (DE) of pectin. The effects of pH, temperature, extraction time and liquid-solid ratio on the yield were investigated. It was found that under optimized conditions at pH 1.80, extraction time of 141 min, temperature of 88 °C and a liquid-solid ratio of 29:1 mL/g, a pectin yield of 39.72% and a DE value of 57.56% were obtained. The results indicate that the pectin extracted from pomelo peel is a slow set high methoxyl type of pectin. pH was found to have the greatest influence on pectin yield and DE. Varying pH at a narrow range between 1 and 2 interestingly showed the formation of diverse pectin functional groups with different structural modifications. The findings suggest that extraction conditions could influence pectin extraction performance, chemical structure, as well as morphological and gelling properties. This study also explored various acid based Deep Eutectic Solvents (DESs) in pectin extraction. The lactic acid–glucose–water DES with a ratio of 6:1:6 gave the highest pectin yield of 23.04%. Citric acid was found to have a better yield performance and more energy saving as compared to DES in pectin extraction

Surface mount adhesive: in search of a perfect dot

Surface mount adhesives are used to hold electronic components on printed circuit boards or substrates. When dispensed onto a surface, the adhesive dots have to meet distinctive geometric requirements, such as dot diameter and height. The present paper provides an insight into how the manipulation of three key components in the formulation of a surface mount adhesive can affect the characteristics of the dispensed dot. In the search for a formulation that yields perfect dots, the rheological and time-pressure dispensing characteristics of 12 adhesive samples of different formulations based on a mixture design were investigated. All formulations were subject to viscosity and dispensing tests. From the test results, the adhesive samples were found to be shear thinning and thixotropic. The break-up length, dot diameter and volume were found to decrease with increasing viscosity, while the dot height showed otherwise. From the regression of data, most of the responses can be correlated with a linear model to the composition of the adhesive samples. Increasing component C3 has a significant positive effect on the viscosity, break-up length, dot diameter and volume compared to component C2, while increasing component C1 has a negative effect on the responses. The adhesive sample, which was found to approach ‘perfection’, has the formulation of C1 = 0.6, C2 = 0.32, and C3 = 0.08. This finding agrees with the optimal formulation calculated by the optimization of the responses

Subcritical water extraction of low methoxyl pectin from pomelo ( Citrus grandis (L.) Osbeck) peels

Low methoxyl (LM) pectin was extracted from pomelo peels using subcritical water in a dynamic mode. The effects of pressure and temperature were analyzed through a face-centred central composite design. Extraction yield and the rate of extraction were found to be predominantly influenced by temperature. Optimization of the subcritical water extraction (SWE) yielded an optimized operating condition of 120 °C and 30 bar with a predicted pectin yield of 18.8%. The corresponding experimental yield was 19.6%, which is in close agreement with the predicted data. The pectin obtained from the optimized condition was further analyzed for its physicochemical properties. The kinetics of the SWE was also evaluated whereby the one-site kinetic desorption model was found to be in good agreement with experimental data (R2 > 0.94)

Process intensification of cellulase and bioethanol production from sugarcane bagasse via an integrated saccharification and fermentation process

The production of value-added products such as cellulase and ethanol via a consolidated bioprocess could be realized by tapping into the multiple actions of a microbial community. For this purpose, an in situ saccharification and fermentation process through a sequential co-culture white-rot fungus and Saccharomyces cerevisiae on NaOH-pretreated sugarcane bagasse (SCB) was investigated. In the present work, white rot fungus plays a role in the production of cellulase enzymes. With the produced cellulase, an in situ saccharification process took place in the reactor to depolymerize pretreated SCB into reducing sugar. The reducing sugar was converted into ethanol via fermentation by S. cerevisiae, which was added into the system sequentially. White rot fungus Pycnoporus sanguineus was selected due to its competency in producing cellulase and reducing sugar production. The operating condition to maximize the production of reducing sugar in situ was obtained through a Central Composite Design method. A total of 3.13 g reducing sugar/100 g SCB was obtained when P. sanguineus was cultivated at 0.6% inoculum loading, 70% moisture content and 4 days. Subsequently, 4.5 g ethanol/100 g SCB was obtained from the in situ saccharification and fermentation system after S. cerevisiae was sequentially inoculated

Effects of electromagnetic field on proliferation, differentiation, and mineralization of MC3T3 cells

The steep increasing incidence of bone diseases and fractures provides a commanding impetus and growing demands for bone tissue engineering research. Pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMFs) have been documented to promote bone fracture healing in nonunions and to enhance the maturation of osteoblastic cell, which is the key element in bone tissues. However, the optimal parameters for PEMF stimulation are still being explored. In this study, we investigated the effects of PEMF treatment on the proliferation, differentiation, and mineralization of osteoblast precursor cells MC3T3-E1 to explore the cell growth profile under different PEMF exposure durations (15, 30, and 60 min daily) with a magnetic field strength of 0.6 mT, at a frequency of 50 Hz, and cultured in media with or without osteogenic supplements for 28 days. Cell viability and metabolic activity were accessed by confocal microscopy, and alamarBlue time-course measurements and results indicated that there were no adverse effects under designated PEMF condition. After 7 days of PEMF exposure, in comparison with negative controls, cell numbers increased when exposed to PEMF in culture medium and were independent of osteogenic supplements. However, PEMF might not have significant impact on cellular mineralization as observed from calcium deposition analysis, even though osteogenic gene expression was upregulated for cells with PEMF exposure. Von Kossa and Alizarin Red staining indicated that extracellular matrix mineralization occurred at day 28 with osteogenic supplements only, and no significant differences were found among those samples with different PEMF treatment durations. In summary, our results suggested that PEMF stimulation for as short as 15 min could improve cell proliferation but not mineralization in vitro. Thus, this study highlights the importance of choosing appropriate PEMF parameters to achieve the desired effect on target cells. The optimization of PEMFs will enhance the efficiency of its usage as a clinical, adjuvant therapeutic treatment for bone defect regeneration. Impact Statement We present the study about how the parameters of pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) stimulus affected calvarial osteoblast precursor cell in terms of growth, viability, and differentiation. This research provides insight and foundation to clinical application of noninvasive therapy using PEMF to improve bone regeneration.ASTAR (Agency for Sci., Tech. and Research, S’pore)Accepted versio

The New Norms of Cosmetic Surgery among Youth in Malaysia

Aesthetics is a complex concept that makes it hard for humans to define beauty. Beauty is a relative term and varies from person to person. The desire to be beautiful is natural among most human beings nowadays. The main objective to conduct this research was to study the views of cosmetic surgery among youth in Malaysia. The specific objectives were to explore the causes that drive youth to undergo cosmetic surgery, to find out the physical and psychological effects on youth who underwent cosmetic surgery and to analyse the acceptance of cosmetic surgery as a common norm and an accepted form of self-improvement. This research focused on youth who underwent cosmetic surgery, between the ages of 15 to 40 years olds in Malaysia. The qualitative method chosen for this research was face-to-face interviews on four respondents using open-ended questions to obtain real data. This study informed about diverse perspectives of beauty which were held by different people from various backgrounds. The factors that influence youth were mainly to enhance their appearance encountering the criticisms from public and to boost their confidence. However, the effects of doing so could be devastating as the risks are unpredictable. It is recommended that future research on this topic may include more respondents of diverse ages especially older men and women to find the extent of the factors