Delay in diagnosis of lung cancer: a case report

This case report highlights delay in the diagnosis of adenoma carcinoma of the lung in a female patient who has never smoked. It took three months to reach the diagnosis of stage IV lung carcinoma despite the presence of symptoms and an abnormal chest radiograph finding from the beginning. The clinical characteristics and predictors of missed opportunities for an early diagnosis of lung cancer are discussed. In this case, patient and doctor factors contributed to the delay in diagnosis. Thus, early suspicions of lung cancer in a woman with the presence of respiratory symptoms despite being a non-smoker are important in primary care setting

In-vitro gastrointestinal digestion of kenaf seed oil-in-water nanoemulsions

The high nutrition value of kenaf seed oil has good potential to be used as functional foods or nutraceutical products. Kenaf seed oil-in-water nanoemulsions stabilised by ternary emulsifier mixtures, namely sodium caseinate, gum Arabic and Tween 20 were produced by using high pressure homogeniser. A two-stage in-vitro model was employed to investigate the bioaccessibility of bioactive compounds that is naturally present in the kenaf seed oil-in-water nanoemulsions. The changes in the antioxidants properties before and after in-vitro digestion and the structural changes during digestion were also evaluated. By comparing the digested and undigested nanoemulsions, the digested nanoemulsions had increased the total phenolic content by 71% and tocopherol content by 230%. However, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH ) radical scavenging activity was decreased by 34% and phytosterols content was decreased by 39%. The amount of free fatty acids (FFA) released from gastric digested nanoemulsions during 120 min of intestinal digestion was 247.7 μmol/mL. This high release of FFA indicates good lipid digestion, which is the preliminary step for releasing and absorption of lipophilic bioactive in the small intestine. This study provides useful insights into the changes of kenaf seed oil-in-water nanoemulsions during gastrointestinal digestion

In vitro evaluation of the structural and bioaccessibility of kenaf seed oil nanoemulsions stabilised by binary emulsifiers and β-cyclodextrin complexes

Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) seed oil contains high nutrition value, suggesting its potential applications in food and nutraceutical fields. However, the poor water solubility and stability strictly limit its applications. A good physical stability of kenaf seed oil-in-water nanoemulsions stabilised by sodium caseinate, Tween 20 and β-cyclodextrin complexes were produced using high pressure homogeniser. A simple model of two-stage dynamic in vitro digestion was employed to investigate the releasing rate of bioactive compounds from kenaf seed oil-in-water nanoemulsions, compared to unencapsulated bulk oil. The particles size and structural changes during digestion were also evaluated. Digested nanoemulsions showed good lipid digestion (85.25%), good bioaccessibility of antioxidants (tocopherols and total phenolic contents) and lower degradation rate of phytosterols compared to digested bulk oil. This study provides good information about the characteristic and release behaviour of formulated kenaf seed oil-in-water nanoemulsions, which is important for the future application in food and nutraceutical industries

Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) seed oil-in-water Pickering nanoemulsions stabilised by mixture of sodium caseinate, Tween 20 and β-cyclodextrin

The limit application of functional kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) seed oil in food and pharmaceutical industry owing to the poor water solubility and low storage stability can be overcome by the development of kenaf seed oil-in-water Pickering nanoemulsions. In this study, oil-in-water Pickering nanoemulsions were produced to investigate its stability by optimising emulsifier mixtures, namely sodium caseinate (SC), Tween 20 (T20) and β-cyclodextrin (β-CD). The interaction effects of SC and T20 on the formation of Pickering nanoemulsions with β-CD was studied and found synergistic effect among them that enhanced the stability of Pickering nanoemulsions. The optimum proportion of emulsifier mixtures obtained by employing simplex centroid mixture design was found to be 57.9% (w/w) SC, 27.6% (w/w) T20, and 14.5% (w/w) β-CD, which produced Pickering nanoemulsion with mean particle size of 155.53 nm, PDI of 0.07 and zeta-potential of −46.67 mV. These experimental values were in accordance with the predicted value, indicating the adequacy of the fitted models. The mixture design was found to be a valuable tool to optimise and study the interaction effects of different components for the development of stable Pickering nanoemulsions

Profiling the differentially expressed genes in two rice varieties during rapid grain-filling stages

Grain filling is an important agronomic trait, which directly affects the final yield of rice. Partially filled and empty rice grains are among the factors that limit the yield of MR219, one of the highest yielding rice varieties in Malaysia. In this study, the NSF 20 K rice oligonucleotide array, which contains 20,000 70-mer oligonucleotide probes, was used for direct comparison of the transcriptomes of MR219 and MR84 (a rice variety that has higher percentage of filled grains compared to MR219), during rapid grain-filling period at 5 and 10 days after fertilization (DAF). A total of 155 and 233 genes were differentially expressed in MR219 compared to MR84 at 5 and 10 DAF, respectively; and 9 of these expression ratios were tested using quantitative real-time RT PCR. Among the differentially expressed genes identified were those encoding hexokinase, various sugar transporters, GSDL-like lipase/acylhydrolase, brassinosteroid-insensitive 1-associated receptor kinase 1 precursor and homeobox protein GLABRA2, which were analyzed by real-time RT PCR in this study. The differences demonstrated by these genes in their transcript levels and profiles, between the two rice varieties understudied at different stages of grain filling may contribute to the formulation of hypotheses toward the understanding of poor percentage of filled grains in MR219

Relationship Between Capital Structure And Profitability : A Time-Series Cross-Sectional Study On Malaysian Firms

Ever since the M&M Propositions were made in 1958, the issue of capital structure has gained much interest and controversy. The propositions which contended that the value of a firm is independent of its capital structure, have been put to test and researched into time and again. Most of the studies, however, were done in the U.S., hence doubts arise on whether the conclusions would apply in the Malaysian context. Based on this motivation, this study attempted to solve the dearth of research on capital structure, particularly its effect on profitability, of local firms. A total of 267 firms listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange Main Board were put under study for a period of ten years (1985 - 1994). Two major sets of variables were used to indicate capital structure i.e. Debt/Equity Ratio, Debt Ratio, Financial Leverage Ratio, Funded Capital Ratio, Funded Debt Ratio, Current Debt Ratio, Funded Assets Ratio, and, profitability i.e. Return On Equity, Earnings Per Share, Return On Investment, Profit Before Tax, Net Income. The variables were analyzed using the time-series cross-sectional methodology. In order to generate empirical evidence, the Pearson Product-Moment Correlation, mean and bar chart analysis were employed. The results implied that profitability is significantly related to capital structure. Specifically, profitability was inversely related to the amount of liability in a company’s capital structure. Therefore, the more debt a firm incur, the worse its earnings is hurt. This study also found evidence of the existence an optimal capital structure among listed companies. Firms of different sectors were found to adjust their capital structure regularly in order to achieve an optimal combination of debt and equity