Effect of lactic fermentation on the antioxidant capacity of Malaysian herbal teas

This study evaluated and compared the antioxidant capacity between freshly prepared and lactic fermented Malaysian herbal teas. Herbal teas are rich in antioxidants. Fermentation has been known to be the oldest and cost effective method with the ability to preserve or improve food nutritional qualities. Information on the antioxidant capacity of lactic fermented food or beverage is still lacking. Hence, the objective of this study is to determine the changes in the antioxidant properties of Malaysian herbal teas after being subjected to lactic fermentation. Commercially available local herbal teas were used for this study. Herbal teas such as “Allspice”, “Scaphium”, “Gora” and “Cinnamon” were purchased from the local store in Malaysia and were subjected to 24-hour lactic fermentation. Lactic fermented herbal teas were analyzed for their total phenolic, total flavonoid and antioxidant properties via DPPH, FRAP, and β-carotene linoleate bleaching assay. All lactic fermented herbal teas exhibited higher phenolic contents, flavonoid contents and antioxidant properties compared to the freshly-prepared herbal teas with majority showing significant changes (p < 0.05) in FRAP and β-carotene bleaching assay. Lactic fermented herbal teas also showed an increase in antioxidant capacity in DPPH assay, however non-significant changes were observed

Factors associated with emergency department green zone utilization in hospital

Introduction: In hospital, emergency departments are highly utilized by patients. Overcrowding, congestion and long waiting time were among the issues highlighted resulting from it. In Selangor, there has been a steady increase in utilization of emergency department of government hospitals over the past five (5) years. Utilization of green zone was the highest in these hospitals. Being a department that provides a comprehensive emergency service and provides easy access for the community, issues of appropriateness utilization arise. This study aims to determine the level of appropriateness of green zone utilization by patients attending Emergency Department in Serdang Hospital and factors influencing its utilization. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Emergency Department of Serdang Hospital. Sample sizes of green zone adult patients were obtained by systematic random sampling. Emergency Medicine and Trauma Services Policy Malaysia 2012 were used to classify patients to appropriate and inappropriate utilization of green zone. Pre-tested self-administered questionnaire were used to interview patients. Descriptive statistics, chi-square test and logistic regression used to analyse the data collected. Data analysis conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics version 22 and p value significant at <0.05. Result: There were 793 (90.7%) patients in this study. It was found that level of appropriateness utilization in green zone emergency department was 83.6% appropriate and 16.4% was inappropriate. Median age of patients were 29 years old (IQR ± 25th, 75th; 23, 40). Majority were Malays (74%). The results of chi-square test indicated that there were significant association between marital status (p=0.032), patients attending emergency department because treatment cost is cheap (p=0.025), emergency department operates 24 hours (p=0.045) and time of patient presentation to emergency department (p=0.001). From the study, the multivariate results revealed that the odds of married patients (AOR=1.481, 95% CI: 1.008, 2.174) to utilize the emergency department were higher than not married patients, the odds of patients utilize emergency department not because of the cheap treatment (AOR=1.614, 95% CI: 1.073, 2.469) was almost two times more and lastly the odds of utilization after office hours were two times more than during office hours (AOR=2.117, 95% CI: 1.388, 3.227). Conclusion: The study revealed majority of patients utilized green zone appropriately. Married patient, patient attend emergency department not because treatment cost is cheap and patient attending after office hour were significantly associated with appropriateness utilization of emergency department. Further study needed to determine the cause and effect relationship

Sintering temperature dependence of optimized microstructure formation of BaFe12O19 using sol–gel method

In an attempt to obtain the best possible properties of barium hexaferrite (BaFe12O19), the sol–gel synthesis method was chosen and, the optimum sintering conditions were established. The effects of the sintering temperature on the structural, morphological and magnetic properties of hexaferrite were studied. X-ray analysis indicates that the sintered samples (1,000–1,150 °C) remained in the hexagonal structure. From this analysis, no secondary phases are identified. The effect of sintering temperature on the grain growth of BaFeBaFe12O19 is confirmed by the microstructure using HR-SEM and is in good agreement with the XRD analysis based on the peak intensity of the (107) plane. The samples sintered at 1,150 °C showed the densities as ~93 % of theoretical density. Sintering temperature affected the grains in compact samples. The results show that homogeneous and dense BaFeBaFe12O19 ceramics obtained at a lower sintering temperature of 1,150 °C which is lower than the normally reported sintering temperature of ≥1,200 °C. The thermal treatment can markedly affect the grains in compact samples

Effect of Psychological Empowerment and Transformational Leadership on Organizational Commitment

According to recent literature that relates to organizational leadership, transformational leadership consists of three important elements: idealized influence, individual consideration and intellectual stimulation. Extant studies in this area highlighted that the ability of the leaders in implementing these transformational processes (to execute organizational functions) may have a significant impact on individual outcome especially organizational commitment. Although this relationship has been studied, the mediating role of transformational leadership has taken a less prominent role in organizational leadership model. Recent studies on organizational leadership have emphasized that transformational leadership has three important characteristics: idealized influence, individual consideration and intellectual stimulation. The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of empowerment in the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational commitment; by using 77 USAble questionnaires gathered from employees who worked at a foreign manufacturing company in Free Trade Zone, Malaysia. Results of SmartPLS path model analysis confirm that empowerment does act as an important mediating variable in the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational commitment in the organizational sample. In the succeeding sections, discussion, implications and conclusion are elaborated

Correcting of Pronated Feet Reduce Skeletal Muscle Injury in Young Women with Biomechanical Abnormalities

Abstract: Biomechanical abnormalities of pronated feet accompanied by functional leg length disparity may increase the risk of skeletal muscle injury. Objective of the study is to prove that correction of pronated feet by the foot orthoses will reduce the creatine kinase-MM (CK-MM) concentrations as the muscle injury indicator. The design study was double blind randomized clinical trials with control. Research subjects were divided into two groups, group 1 used the foot orthoses while group 2 did not used the foot orthoses. The whole subject examined the concentrations of the CK-MM enzyme before, and 24–72 hours after the walking test. The walking test was conducted 15 minutes with maximum speed. The concentration of the CK-MM enzyme before walking test on treatment group was 70.07±15.33 International Unit (IU), similar with the control group was 69.85±17.03 IU (P=0.971). The increased in CK-MM enzyme concentrations 45 hours after the walking test was lower in the treatment group (7.8±9 IU) than the control group (22.0±11.5 IU) (P=0.001). The CK-MM enzyme concentrations continued to decline in the treatment group after the second walking test (77.21±17.47 IU), and after the third walking test (69.86±11.88 IU) (P=0.018). The foot orthoses for correcting the pronated feet on the young women with biomechanical abnormalities is able to reduce the degree of the skeletal muscle injury after walking activity

Flood flow characteristics and bed load transport in non-vegetated compound straight channels

Floods are the most common natural disasters in Malaysia and have damaged structures, infrastructures, crops and even causes fatalities. It may also lead to erosion and sedimentation in rivers and this will result to complex river behaviour. A hydraulic laboratory experimental study was carried out. Also, flood flow and sediment transport in straight compound channels involving flow resistance, distribution of depth-averaged velocity, stream-wise vorticity patterns, channel bed morphology and bed load transport rate in non-vegetated compound straight mobile bed channels were investigated. The finding showed that the Darcy Weisbach friction factor f increased by 40% and 54% for floodplain and main channel, respectively when relative flood flow depth increase from 0.30 to 0.50. The small bed load transport rates of 0.09 g/s and 0.03 g/s for shallow and deep overbank flows, respectively were measured due to effect of very gentle or mild channel bed slope which was fixed at a gradient of 0.1%

Kritik al-Quran oleh Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd melalui terapan hermeneutics humanistic

Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd dikenali sebagai seorang tokoh yang lantang mengkritik al-Quran pada abad ini. Beliau mempunyai metode yang tersendiri ketika mentafsir al-Quran iaitu mengaplikasi hermeneutik dengan menerapkan elemen humanistic. Artikel ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis elemen humanistic yang dibawa oleh Abu Zayd dalam empat aspek iaitu definisi al-Quran, konsep bahawa wahyu, proses penurunan wahyu dan metode pentafsiran. Empat aspek tersebut dibandingkan secara berterusan dengan al-Quran dan al-Sunnah. Untuk mencapai validity data, artikel yang bersifat kualitatif ini menggunakan metode analisis kandungan yang terdiri daripada karyakarya Abu Zayd sebagai sumber pengumpulan data. Manakala analisis data menggunakan kaedah diskriptif dan perbandingan berterusan. Hasil kajian menunjukkan, elemen humanistic yang telah diterapkan kepada al-Quran telah mencetuskan implikasi terhadap al- Quran, konsep wahyu, tafsiran relatif dan liberalisasi hukum syariah

Connecting Library with APEX Community

Hamzah Sendut Library as an APEX university library has taken a more proactive approach to rebrand promotional and outreach programs. A more creative, unique and inno-vative style have been used to ensure that the library's mis-sion in reaching out to the users is accomplished. ‘Skuad Pelanggan’ was formed to increase the effectiveness of library’s engagement with customers. The ultimate goal is to reach out to customers, increase the usage of library facilities, improving the relevance of the existence of the library in the campus community and provide additional value to the library users. Important aspects emphasized in the program include teaching and learning supports, with the focus on research and consultation. Efforts conducted through myPHS programs, exhibitions, and virtual market-ing have established positive impacts and realization of library’s relevance by the campus community

Fluvial processes in compound straight channels: a laboratory investigation

Floods are become frequent occurrence in every part of the world. The field of flood hydraulics has been keenly studied to enhance the understanding on its processes and impacts to the environment. The main impacts of frequent floods incidents are soil erosion phenomenon which leads to sedimentation problems in the drainage and river systems. It is extremely important to understand the sedimentation process and the flow behaviour patterns in the water course for post-flood events. Experimental investigations on the overbank flow in mobile bed straight channels have been undertaken. Significant changes on the bed morphology due to the changes in flow behaviour are studied. The findings on roughness coefficient, lateral distribution of stream-wise velocity, secondary currents, bed shear stress and bed formation are presented in this paper. Results show that the resistance coefficient increased with flow depth in the channel and the increments are about 32% and 42% for floodplain and main channel sections respectively

Influence of the initial chemical conditions on the rational design of silica particles

The influence of the water content in the initial composition on the size of silica particles produced using the Stöber process is well known. We have shown that there are three morphological regimes defined by compositional boundaries. At low water levels (below stoichiometric ratio of water:tetraethoxysilane), very high surface area and aggregated structures are formed; at high water content (>40 wt%) similar structures are also seen. Between these two boundary conditions, discrete particles are formed whose size are dictated by the water content. Within the compositional regime that enables the classical Stöber silica, the structural evolution shows a more rapid attainment of final particle size than the rate of formation of silica supporting the monomer addition hypothesis. The clearer understanding of the role of the initial composition on the output of this synthesis method will be of considerable use for the establishment of reliable reproducible silica production for future industrial adoption