In Vitro and In Vivo Establishment of Pasteurella Haemolytica A2 in the Lungs of Goats

Pneumonic pasteurellosis is an important respiratory disease of sheep and goats throughout the world. It is mainly caused by Pasteurella haemolytica even though Pasteurella multocida has occasionally been associated with the same disease. In vitro challenge of lung tissues with Pasteurella haemolytica A2 revealed an early colonization of the bacteria onto the lung tissue as early as 1 hour post-challenge. The severity of colonization increased with time of challenge and reached a maximum rate at 6 hours post-challenge . Similar in vitro challenge on the lung tissues derived from goats that were exposed earlier to intranasal sprays of formalin-killed Pasteurella haemolytica A2, however, revealed a less severe colonization by 6 hours postchallenge. Following intratracheal challenge of goats with 108/ml colony forming units of Pasteurella haemolytica A2, 20% of the goats succumbed to peracute infection in which they died within 12 hours post-challenge. Examinations of the lungs revealed classical toxaemic lesions consisted of severe pulmonary oedema, pulmonary congestion and haemorrhage, and thrombosis with a few neutrophils in the alveoli. The lesions were remarkably similar to those peracute infections caused by Pasteurella multocida types A and D. The only difference was the absence of Pasteurella haemolytica A2 organisms in the heart blood samples compared to the infections by Pasteurella multocida types A and D. Goats that survived the peracute episode developed pneumonic lesion. Phagocytic activity by the bronchoalveolar macrophages was obvious by 4 days postchallenge and by day 7 post-challenge, the goats which were unable to phagocytose most of the bacterial cells succumbed to severe pneumonia in which the bacteria proliferated and overloaded the lungs leading to the invasion of the bacteria into the pneumocytes and spreading the infection further. Goats with efficient phagocytosis were able to reduce the number of bacterial cells in the lungs leading to failure of bacterial establishment in the lungs. Infections by Pasteurella haemolytica A2 isolated from nasal mucosa produced an insignificantly (p>0.05) less extensive lung lesions compared to infections by Pasteurella haemolytica A2 isolated from pneumonic lungs. The pulmonary responses and pattern of lesion developrrient, however, remained similar for both isolates

Antimicrobial activity of Allium cepa var. cepa (purple type) against foodborne pathogens / by Akmal binti Mat Amin

Allium cepa or commonly known as onion was primarily used in cooking. The wide use of onion increased due to its medicinal values. Nowadays, the food safety became the main concern as the foodborne disease increased. Thus, the synthetic antimicrobials or drugs were taken in order to treat the foodborne disease. However, these drugs contributed to adverse side effects like antibiotics resistance. This study was to evaluate antimicrobial activity of Allium cepa var. cepa purple type against foodborne pathogens and to screen the phytochemical compounds in the Allium cepa var. cepa purple type. Three tests were done in order to evaluate the antimicrobial of Allium cepa which were Antimicrobial Sensitivity Testing (AST) by disc diffusion assay, Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) by broth microdilution method and Minimum Bactericidal Concentration (MBC) by subculturing on Trypic Soy Broth (TSB). The phytochemical compound testing was done by standardized methods based on colour changes of reagent used. The result was showed the sensitivity of Gram positive bacteria against methanolic and aqueous were greater compared to Gram negative bacteria. Gram negative bacteria did not show any sensitivity to aqueous extract of Allium cepa. The largest zone of inhibition was shown by Bacillus cereus and the smallest zone of inhibition was shown by Escherichia coli. All the zones of inhibition for all the bacteria were considered significant since the p-value was less than 0.05. From the phytochemical compounds analysis result, the methanolic extract of Allium cepa contained all the tested phytochemical compounds such as glycosides, alkaloids, tannin, terpenoids, proteins and flavonoids. The aqueous extract of Allium cepa contained all tested phytochemical compound except tannins. In conclusion, the methanolic extract of Allium cepa was effective against both Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria. Allium cepa var. cepa purple type had the value in replacement of synthetic antimicrobial against foodborne pathogens. Additions, all the tested phytochemical compounds were present in this methanolic extract of Allium cepa

Cloning and Characterization of the Apoptotic Suppressor Gene P49 from Spodoptera Litura Nucleopolyhedrovirus

Baculoviruses possess two types of genes that can suppress apoptosis (programmed cell death), p35 and inhibitor of apoptosis (iap). The p49 gene of a Malaysian isolate of Spodoptera Iitura nucleopolyhedrovirus (SpltMNPV), a homolougue of baculovirus p35 gene was cloned and characterized. The open Reading Frame (OW) of SpltMNPV p49 gene was 13 17 bp long and encodes approximately 349 amino acid residues with a predicted molecular weight of 5 1.1 1 kDa. The SpltMNPV p49 gene shared 99% and 87% identity of nucleotide and amino acid sequence respectively to the SpltMNPV (AF325155), SpltMNPV (AF207549) and Spodoptera littoralis nucleopolyhedrovirus (SlNPV) p49 (AJ00675 1) obtained in the GenBank. The SpltMNPV P49 protein showed amino acid identities fiom 25 to 30% with 37 to 47% similarities to the p35 protein of Leucania separata, Spodoptera litura, Rachiplusia ou, Autographa californica and Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedroviruses, respectively. The SpltMNPV P49 protein molecule displays a potential caspase recognition site TVTDG at amino acid positions 94 to 98 in the polypeptide chain. The predicted secondary structure of SpltMNPV P49 protein including the hydrophilic (polar) and hydrophobic (basic) region was found to be similar to other P49 and P35 protein

Korelasi Strategi Dengan Motivasi Dalam Pembelajaran Bahasa Arab (The Correlation Between Language Learning Strategies And Motivation In Arabic Language Learning)

Beberapa kajian menunjukkan bahawa terdapat perkaitan yang signifikan antara penggunaan Strategi Pembelajaran Bahasa (SPB) dengan Motivasi Pembelajaran Bahasa (Oxford & Nyikos, 1989; Ehrman, 1990; Macaro, 2001). Kertas ini memerihalkan satu kajian yang direka bentuk untuk mengkaji korelasi di antara SPB dengan Motivasi Pembelajaran Bahasa Arab. Data kajian dikumpul dengan menggunakan soal selidik kendiri yang diubah suai daripada Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) (Oxford, 1990) dengan tambahan satu konstruk baru, dan soal selidik motivasi daripada Affective Survey (Ehrman & Oxford, 1991). Seramai 457 orang pelajar Tingkatan empat yang dipilih secara rawak daripada 13 buah sekolah menengah agama di Terengganu terlibat dengan kajian ini. Ujian statistik Pearson digunakan bagi menjawab soalan kajian dan menguji hipotesis berkaitan. Hasil kajian menunjukkan terdapat korelasi positif yang tinggi di antara SPB secara keseluruhan dengan Motivasi Pembelajaran Bahasa secara keseluruhan. Korelasi bermagnitud positif yang signifikan di antara penggunaan kategori SPB dengan kategori Motivasi Pembelajaran Bahasa turut dapat dikesan. Pelajar yang bermotivasi tinggi lebih kerap dan banyak menggunakan SPB berbanding pelajar yang bermotivasi rendah

The development of local solar irradiance for outdoor computer graphics rendering

Atmospheric effects are approximated by solving the light transfer equation, LTE, of a given viewing path. The resulting accumulated spectral energy (its visible band) arriving at the observer’s eyes, defines the colour of the object currently on the line of sight. Due to the convenience of using a single rendering equation to solve the LTE for daylight sky and distant objects (aerial perspective), recent methods had opt for a similar kind of approach. Alas, the burden that the real-time calculation brings to the foil had forced these methods to make simplifications that were not in line with the actual world observation. Consequently, the results of these methods are laden with visual-errors. The two most common simplifications made were: i) assuming the atmosphere as a full-scattering medium only and ii) assuming a single density atmosphere profile. This research explored the possibility of replacing the real-time calculation involved in solving the LTE with an analytical-based approach. Hence, the two simplifications made by the previous real-time methods can be avoided. The model was implemented on top of a flight simulator prototype system since the requirements of such system match the objectives of this study. Results were verified against the actual images of the daylight skies. Comparison was also made with the previous methods’ results to showcase the proposed model strengths and advantages over its peers

Capabilities of low cost and fast image acquisition using micro fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle system

Fast image acquisition is most important part for societal impact of a developing country. This paper aims to demonstrate the potential use of micro fixed wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system attached with high resolution digital camera for coastal mapping. In this study, a strip of aerial images of simulation models of coastal area was captured using a high resolution compact digital camera known as Canon Power Shot SX230 HS and it has 12 megapixel image resolution. The low cost supplying of micro fixed wing UAV can be used in various applications including mapping coastal area. The UAV equipped with an autopilot system and automatic method known as autonomous flying, can be utilized for data acquisition. In this study, the UAV system has been employed to acquire aerial images of a simulation model at low altitude. From the aerial images, photogrammetric image processing method is completed to produce mapping outputs such a digital terrain model (DTM), contour line and orthophoto. In term of the accuracy, of measurement, a milimeter-level is reached by ground control point (GCP) and check point (CP) using conventional ground surveying method (i.e accurate Global Positioning System (GPS)). For accuracy assessment, the coordinates of the selected points in the 3D of stereomodel were compared to the conjugate points observed using GPS and the root mean square error (RMSE) is computed. From this study, the results showed that the achievable RMSE are ± 0.018m, ± 0.013m and ± 0.034m for coordinates X, Y and Z respectively. It will anticipate that the UAV will be used for coastal survey and improve current method of producing with low cost, fast and good accuracy. Finally, the UAV has shown great potential to be used for coastal mapping and others applications that require accurate results or products using high resolution camera

Empirical strength envelope for shale

Effectively, strength envelope describes behavior of rock when subjected to common stresses in construction, i.e. compressive, triaxial and tensile stresses. This study is aimed at investigating the strength envelope for shale, a sedimentary rock obtained from dam project site in Baram, Sarawak. Series of triaxial compression tests were carried out to obtain the strength envelope for the rock samples. For verification of failure criterion, uniaxial compression and Brazilian tests were also conducted on the rock samples. Results from the relevant tests were analysed using RocData software to obtain the strength envelope. Subsequently, Mohr-Coulomb and Hoek-Brown failure criterion are used to determine failure envelop for the rock samples. Based on the failure envelopes and the related strengths (i.e. compressive and tensile strength), suitability of both approach, in defining strength envelope for shale, is verified. The study shows that for highly laminated sedimentary rock like shale, Hoek-Brown criterion gave a more representative failure behaviour. The failure envelope clearly shown all the strength limits when the rock is subjected to triaxial, uniaxial and tensile stress, which is not clearly shown in the Mohr-Coulomb criterion. Therefore, Hoek-Brown criterion is a more appropriate method for describing strength envelope, as it able to show the limiting stresses when rock samples are subjected to common stresses in construction

Pyramidal structure, firm capital structure exploitation and ultimate owners' dominance

In this paper we investigate how pyramid structure, separating cash flow rights and control rights, allows ultimate owners to control the company's resources for the creation of private benefits and to avoid punishment for such conduct. Empirical tests are conducted using three-stage least squares regression. The estimated results provide support for the hypotheses proposed that the separation of cash flow rights and control rights have led to the use of excess leverage among pyramidal companies to preserve ultimate owners' control. High levels of leverage, affect the firm's valuation negatively because of the potential for financial distress. Thus, our findings may provide one additional explanation for the severity of the decrease in corporate value among the pyramidal companies in Malaysia as pointed out in the studies of Claessens et al. (2002), Lins (2003), and Lemmon and Lins (2003). Secondly, the empirical evidence from this study provides insight into the forces that influence corporate valuation of firms in developed countries particularly those that have pyramidal structure

Effectiveness of teleworking using internet facilities (E-Teleworking)

Teleworking offers alternatives for people to work without concerning their geographical boundary or time zone. Work can be performed anywhere and anytime without restriction.Teleworking tends to be the trend in the world of business.However, in spite of its popularity, Malaysia is still lagging behind in its implementation.Telecommunication technology is the key factor in contributing to the successful implementation of teleworking.In order to carry out the task of teleworking,a variety of telecommunication facilities are available.However, nowadays, only one approach is considered effective that is using the Internet facilities (e-teleworking).The main objective of the research is to evaluate the effectiveness of e-teleworking. In depth literature review had been done in recognizing the traits of teleworking that can be implemented using Internet facilities.A prototype of e-teleworking had been developed as a tool in the evaluation phase. The findings had proven that Internet facilities are indeed one of the most effective alternatives in performing teleworking