Molecular Characterisation of Lactobacillus Plantarium Isolated from Malaysian Fermented Foods (Tempeh and Tempoyak)

Ten and fifteen strains of Lactobacillus plantarum were isolated from tempeh and tempoyak, respectively. The identity of these isolates was confirmed with API 50 CHL kit and the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using a pair of specific primers. All strains were resistant towards nalidixic acid. kanamycin, gentamycin, streptomycin, bacitracin, moxalaactam norfloxacin and, vancomycin. 9, 22, 19, 22 and 22 strains of L. plantarum were resistant against penicillin, cefuroxime, tetracycline, cephalothin and ceftazidime, respectively. Six (60%) and 13 (86.7%) strains of L. plantarum isolated from tempeh and tempoyak, respectively harboured small plasmid DNA ranging in size from 4.7 to 1.2 MDa, and 10 (40%) of these strains were harboured two plasmids. These strains could be grouped into 13 groups based on the size and number of plasmid DNA. Different random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)pattern was obtained when the DNA of these strains were amplified with four 10-mer primers that known as GEN1-50-05, GEN1-50-06, GEN1-50-07 and GEN1-50-08. The strains were separated into 7 clusters in a constructed dendrogram at low similarity index (0.15 to 0.42). The whole cell protein profiles of 14 representatives L. plantarum strains were obtained using sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and analysed with the Gelcompar Version 4.1 (Applied Maths, Kortrijk, Belgium). These strains have almost the sam.. number of protein bands ranging in size from 34.7 to 100 kilodalton (kDa). The whole cell protein profiles demonstrated intra-species differences and enabled to separate three distinct clusters of L. plantarum at 84% similarity. A dendrogram of L. plantarum strains was obtained by the unweighted average pair group matrix analysis of correlation values. Twelve strains were grouped into three main clusters and two strains were separated. The whole cell proteins of ten strains were resolved into 13 bands and 12 bands were resolved from two strains, whereas the other two strains were exhibited 11 and 14 bands, respectively. Among the characterization techniques used, RAPD has been concluded as the best, rapid and reproducible tool in characterising the L. plantarum strains isolated from tempeh and tempoyak

Protein structure prediction using robust principal component analysis and support vector machine

Existence of bioinformatics is to increase the further understanding of biological process. Proteins structure is one of the major challenges in structural bioinformatics. With former knowledge of the structure, the quality of secondary structure, prediction of tertiary structure, and prediction function of amino acid from its sequence increase significantly. Recently, the gap between sequence known and structure known proteins had increase dramatically. So it is compulsory to understand on proteins structure to overcome this problem so further functional analysis could be easier. The research applying RPCA algorithm to extract the essential features from the original highdimensional input vectors. Then the process followed by experimenting SVM with RBF kernel. The proposed method obtains accuracy by 84.41% for training dataset and 89.09% for testing dataset. The result then compared with the same method but PCA was applied as the feature extraction. The prediction assessment is conducted by analyzing the accuracy and number of principal component selected. It shows that combination of RPCA and SVM produce a high quality classification of protein structur

Authenticity of Ficus Hispida as a Local Traditional Product in the Lembah Lenggong World Heritage Site

Lembah Lenggong is a place well known amongst locals as an archaeological site; the valley has been attested as a World Heritage Site. There is an overwhelming variety of plant species that are uniquely used in their cultural and traditional cuisines including Ficus hispida (Senia). Ficus hispida is a well-known species restricted to the native people in Lembah Lenggong. It is recognized as one of the plants used specifically in the traditional cuisine of the locals, especially amongst the old folks. The plant leaves are a major part of a local traditional dish called ‘Masak Pindang’. The fruit of Ficus hispida is also edible, and consumed locally in candied form (halwa). In their traditional herbal remedies, Ficus hispida is used in treating wounds and as a medicine in post and pre natal care (maternal remedies). The desired outcome of this study is to emphasize and promote this specific species as one of the more unique products of Lembah Lenggong in a tourism aspect. The traditional knowledge and practices involving the use of Ficus hispida should be cherished and treasured by future generations to retain the authenticity of their local traditional and cultural products in the light of the awakening tourism industry

Pembangunan E-Kuliah Menggunakan Perisian Articulate.

Sejarah pendidikan jarak jauh bermula pada penghujung abad kelapan belas dan awal abad kesembilan belas di Eropah Utara dan Amerika Utara selaras dengan perkembangan teknologi berkaitan revolusi industry ketika itu (Keegan 2002)

The Influence of Job Demand, Respect, and Rapport on Work Engagement of Employees in the Foodservice Sector

Many foodservice operators in Malaysia depend on superior services to entice customers to keep visiting their business. The researchers chose a purposive convenience sampling, and questionnaires were distributed to 303 employees in the foodservice industry in three selected districts in Terengganu, Malaysia. Results of the inferential analysis revealed that there are positive relationships between two of the independent variables, respects, and Rapport with the dependent variable, job engagement. Job demand, however, has no significant impact on Job Engagement. We proposed that trust, efficient communication, mutual respect, and the honest relationship has a strong impact on employees’ engagement with their job.Keywords: Job Engagement; Job Demand; Rapport; Foodservice Industry eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2019. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/e-bpj.v4i12.193

The diversity of medicinal plant resources in Kampung Batu Ring-Kampung Beng: A case study of Lenggong Valley, World Heritage Site

This ethnomedical survey was conducted in Kampung Batu Ring, part of the small villages included in Kampung Beng, a village commercialized and well known as one of the Homestay villages established in Lenggong District, Hulu Perak. The documentation focuses on the diversity of medicinal plants, its use and dependency of people in Kampung Batu Ring on herbal remedies. The richness of the biodiversity and cultural heritage of Kampung Batu Ring makes it more attractive as a potential traditional village to be commercialized in the tourism aspect. Geographically, it is located in the Piah Reserve Forest valley and mountains in the mid of Banjaran Titiwangsa. Data was obtained from the villagers of fifty most common wild plant species used in daily life in terms of cooking and healthcare. Most of the herbs used are harvested from the forests and being planted around their homeland. The remedies are used internally and externally for treating various ailments from common stomach ache to severe high blood pressure and diabetes. There are several species being consumed as salads especially those which are renown for anti-aging purposes. The practices on the utilization and consumption of these plants in the daily life of the villagers are traditionally transmitted from their great ancestors. Thus, these plant benefits are found to be well known amongst the elderly

Peningkatan daya saing Lembah Lenggong berasaskan pelancongan sumber setempat

Lembah Lenggong telah mendapat pengiktirafan sebagai Tapak Warisan Dunia oleh Pertubuhan Pendidikan, Saintifik dan Kebudayaan Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu (UNESCO) pada 30 Jun 2012 lalu. Lembah Lenggong perlu meningkatkan daya saing kerana arus globalisasi menyebabkan persaingan antara tempat, terutama tempat pelancongan menjadi semakin sengit. Antara kaedahnya ialah dengan mengenengahkan kelebihan dan keunikan elemen yang dimiliki tempat. Usaha ini adalah sesuatu yang kritikal dan hasil kajian mendapati Lembah Lenggong ternyata mempunyai pelbagai keunikan tersendiri, selain daripada sumber arkeologi yang menyebabkan status istimewa ini diperolehi. Artikel ini membincangkan kerelevenan konsep elemen setempat dan kaitannya dengan kelebihan atribut tempat di Lembah Lenggong. Moga pendedahan ini akan meningkatkan lagi daya saing Lembah Lenggong di persana dunia dan berupaya menjadi antara tarikan pelancongan utama negara dalam masa terdekat

Overview of Multiobjective Optimization Methods in in Silico Metabolic Engineering

Multiobjective optimization requires of finding a trade-off between multiple objectives. However, most of the objectives are contradict towards each other, thus makes it difficult for the traditional approaches to find a solution that satisfies all objectives. Fortunately, the problems are able to solve by the aid of Pareto methods. Meanwhile, in in silico Metabolic Engineering, the identification of reaction knockout strategies that produce mutant strains with a permissible growth rate and product rate of desired metabolites is still hindered. Previously, Evolutionary Algorithms (EAs) has been successfully used in determining the reaction knockout strategies. Nevertheless, most methods work by optimizing one objective function, which is growth rate or production rate. Furthermore, in bioprocesses, it involves multiple and conflicting objectives. In this review, we aim to show the different multiobjective evolutionary optimization methods developed for tackling the multiple and conflicting objectives in in silico metabolic engineering, as well as the approaches in multiobjective optimization

Practices of food producers in producing halal food products in Malaysia

Malaysian Government has taken proactive steps in making Malaysia as a regional halal hub. Tremendous potential in the development and production of halal products especially food should be expected. The aim of this study is therefore to investigate the level of practice by the food producers in producing halal food products. Studied variables are adherence on halal labeling, understanding on halal process and procedures and awareness on halal demand, and associated factor including food producers’ practices. A set of questionnaires was designed and sent to 60 selected food producers in Malaysia by post. The data collected were then analyzed using the SPSS version 13 for descriptive statistics, Pearson Correlation Coefficient, and also multiple regressions. The results showed that most of the respondents, who are Muslim food producers, claimed that they have obtained halal certification from JAKIM. The results also revealed that all the adherence towards halal labeling, understand the halal processes and procedures, and aware of consumers’ demand towards halal food have significantly related to the halal practices and were moderately positively correlated. This present study can be used to serve as a basis for future research in determining the level of halal practices by all food producers in Malaysia

Effects of Cytochrome P450 Inhibitors on Itraconazole and Fluconazole Induced Cytotoxicity in Hepatocytes

Itraconazole and fluconazole have been reported to induce hepatotoxicity in patients. The present study was designed to investigate the role of cytochrome P450 inhibitors, SKF 525A, and curcumin pretreatment on the cytotoxicity of antifungal drugs fluconazole and itraconazole. For 3 consecutive days, female rats were administered daily SKF 525A or curcumin (5 and 25 mg/kg). Control rats received an equivalent amount of dosed vehicle. The animals were anaesthetized 24 hours after receiving the last dose for liver perfusion. Hepatocytes were then exposed to various concentrations of antifungal drugs. In vitro incubation of hepatocytes with itraconazole revealed significantly lower viability when compared to fluconazole as assessed by lactate dehydrogenase, aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase activities. The cytotoxicity of itraconazole was enhanced when incubated with hepatocytes pretreated with SKF 525A. SKF 525A had no effects on the cytotoxicity of fluconazole. Curcumin failed to either increase or decrease the cytotoxicity of both antifungal drugs. ATP levels also showed significant decrease in both itraconazole and fluconazole incubated hepatocytes. However, SKF 525A pretreated hepatocytes had significantly lower ATP levels after itraconazole incubations. Collectively, these results confirm the involvement of cytochrome P450 in the cytoprotection in itraconazole induced hepatocyte toxicity. Differences of the effects of SKF 525A on the cytotoxicity induced by itraconazole and fluconazole may be due to the differences on the metabolism of each antifungal drug in vivo