Hydrodynamic analysis of the proposed flood bypass channel upstream of Kuching city

Sarawak River had experienced several disastrous flood events over the past 50 years, with the worst being in 1963, followed by February 2003, January 2004 and January 2009 flood. A flood bypass channel had been suggested as a flood mitigation measure to reduce the flooding effects along the Sarawak River. The proposed flood bypass channel is 8 km long with 250 m base width man-made channel starting from Kampong Paroh to divert a significant portion of flood waters from Sarawak River away from Kuching city to Batang Salak. The main purpose of this project was to review the flooding problems in flood-prone areas of Sarawak River basin and to carry out hydrodynamic analysis on the Sarawak River together with the impacts of the upcoming flood bypass channel. Sarawak River and its floodplains were modeled using one-dimensional hydrodynamic modeling approach, by utilising the Wallingford Software model - InfoWorks River Simulation (RS), coupled with its embedded GIS applications, to obtain the flood hydrographs of the river and its floodplains in extreme flooding condition of January 2004 flood. The simulated results of January 2004 flood obtained showed that the flood bypass channel had been diverting significant portion of flood waters from Sarawak River. Results taken from Batu Kawa showed an average water level reduction of 48.45% which reflects the effectiveness of the flood bypass channel

European contribution to the study of ROS: A summary of the findings and prospects for the future from the COST action BM1203 (EU-ROS).

The European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) provides an ideal framework to establish multi-disciplinary research networks. COST Action BM1203 (EU-ROS) represents a consortium of researchers from different disciplines who are dedicated to providing new insights and tools for better understanding redox biology and medicine and, in the long run, to finding new therapeutic strategies to target dysregulated redox processes in various diseases. This report highlights the major achievements of EU-ROS as well as research updates and new perspectives arising from its members. The EU-ROS consortium comprised more than 140 active members who worked together for four years on the topics briefly described below. The formation of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) is an established hallmark of our aerobic environment and metabolism but RONS also act as messengers via redox regulation of essential cellular processes. The fact that many diseases have been found to be associated with oxidative stress established the theory of oxidative stress as a trigger of diseases that can be corrected by antioxidant therapy. However, while experimental studies support this thesis, clinical studies still generate controversial results, due to complex pathophysiology of oxidative stress in humans. For future improvement of antioxidant therapy and better understanding of redox-associated disease progression detailed knowledge on the sources and targets of RONS formation and discrimination of their detrimental or beneficial roles is required. In order to advance this important area of biology and medicine, highly synergistic approaches combining a variety of diverse and contrasting disciplines are needed.The EU-ROS consortium (COST Action BM1203) was supported by the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST). The present overview represents the final Action dissemination summarizing the major achievements of COST Action BM1203 (EU-ROS) as well as research news and personal views of its members. Some authors were also supported by COST Actions BM1005 (ENOG) and BM1307 (PROTEOSTASIS), as well as funding from the European Commission FP7 and H2020 programmes, and several national funding agencies

Complete genome characterization of non-hev71 species a enteroviruses associated with hand, foot and mouth disease in Sarawak (1999-2007)

Hand Foot and Mouth Disease is a common exanthema of young children, characterized by fever, rash on the palm and bottoms of the feet and ulcers in the oral cavity. In this study, the entire region of CV A16 genome for 22 CV A16 strains associated with HFMD in Sarawak (Malaysia Borneo), isolated between 1997 and 2008 were successfully sequenced. There were 25 sets of full CVA16 genome primers which were designed in such a way that it targets the whole genome of CVA16 regions in addition to three anti-sense gene specific primers that were used to amplify the 5'UTR region and two sense gene-specific primers that were used to amplify the 3'UTR region of the CVA16 genome. These primers successfully amplified the expected product size from extracted RNA of all 22 isolates