The enhancement of insulin sensitivity by stevioside from Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni in in vitro and in silico models / Nabilatul Hani Mohd Radzman

The adoption of unhealthy, sedentary lifestyles has triggered the prevalence of metabolic diseases like diabetes and obesity. A condition referred to as insulin resistance has been found to be the precursor to these diseases. It commonly manifests itself in most if not all Type 2 diabetic cases. A cure is yet to be found and side effects from current drugs create complications among patients. Thus, alternative therapies from natural, plant-based products like stevioside are becoming a more preferred option. Stevioside that is extracted from Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni has impeccable sweetening potential, which provides an interesting aspect to its proposed antidiabetic potentials. Hence, in-depth investigations were conducted to analyse how stevioside can manifest its effects towards insulin sensitivity in in-vitro and in-silico models. Like many herbal products, scientific data on stevioside’s efficacies has been scarce. Its safety of consumption was hence tested through 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay on 3T3-L1 adipocytes as an in-vitro model. No IC₅₀ was observed as cell viability was only slightly reduced, signifying its non-cytotoxicity towards adipocytes. Preceding the assay, the cells were tested using Oil Red O to confirm differentiation which was also successfully achieved. Stevioside was observed to increase glucose uptake in adipocytes better than a drug both in normal an insulin resistant states based on the glucose uptake assay that was conducted. Through Western blotting, expression of the phosphorylated tyrosine (pY20) protein on the insulin receptor (IRβ) was also observed to be enhanced by stevioside. This suggests that stevioside has a high probability of interacting with the insulin receptor in improving insulin sensitivity and increasing glucose uptake

Nitrogen modulation of legume root architecture signaling pathways involves phytohormones and small regulatory molecules

Nitrogen, particularly nitrate is an important yield determinant for crops. However, current agricultural practice with excessive fertilizer usage has detrimental effects on the environment. Therefore, legumes have been suggested as a sustainable alternative for replenishing soil nitrogen. Legumes can uniquely form nitrogen-fixing nodules through symbiotic interaction with specialized soil bacteria. Legumes possess a highly plastic root system which modulates its architecture according to the nitrogen availability in the soil. Understanding how legumes regulate root development in response to nitrogen availability is an important step to improving root architecture. The nitrogen-mediated root development pathway starts with sensing soil nitrogen level followed by subsequent signal transduction pathways involving phytohormones, microRNAs and regulatory peptides that collectively modulate the growth and shape of the root system. This review focuses on the current understanding of nitrogen-mediated legume root architecture including local and systemic regulations by different N-sources and the modulations by phytohormones and small regulatory molecules.Nadiatul A. Mohd-Radzman was supported by ANU International PhD Scholarship. This work was supported by an Australian Research Council grant to Michael A. Djordjevic and Nijat Imin (DP140103714)

Study of the Mechanical & Sound Absorption Properties of Natural Fibre (Corn Husks) as Reinforced Composite

Recent years have shown that the increase in noise pollution have become a problem in developing countries. The dependency on fossil fuel products, primarily plastic products is also a concern as environmental awareness and the issues of sustainability is much more discussed. This research studies the sound absorption and mechanical properties of corn husks fibres as reinforced composites. Cornhusk fibre –Polyporpylene (CHF-PP) composites were made through compression moulding. Tests conducted were following the ASTM standard, C423 Standard Test for Sound Absorption and Sound Absorption Coefficient by the Reverberation Room Method and D638 Tensile Properties of Plastics. The results shows that CHF-PP composite has an affective sound absorption capability and the tensile strength increases with the increase in fibre ratio

Study of the Mechanical & Sound Absorption Properties of Natural Fibre (Corn Husks) as Reinforced Composite

Recent years have shown that the increase in noise pollution have become a problem in developing countries. The dependency on fossil fuel products, primarily plastic products is also a concern as environmental awareness and the issues of sustainability is much more discussed. This research studies the sound absorption and mechanical properties of corn husks fibres as reinforced composites. Cornhusk fibre –Polyporpylene (CHF-PP) composites were made through compression moulding. Tests conducted were following the ASTM standard, C423 Standard Test for Sound Absorption and Sound Absorption Coefficient by the Reverberation Room Method and D638 Tensile Properties of Plastics. The results shows that CHF-PP composite has an affective sound absorption capability and the tensile strength increases with the increase in fibre ratio

The enhancement of insulin sensitivity by stevioside from stevia rebaudiana bertoni in in-vitro and in-silico models / Nabilatul Hani Mohd Radzman

The adoption of unhealthy, sedentary lifestyles has triggered the prevalence of metabolic diseases like diabetes and obesity. A condition referred to as insulin resistance has been found to be the precursor to these diseases. It'commonly manifests itself in most if not all Type 2 diabetic cases. A cure is yet to be found and side effects from current drugs create complications among patients. Thus, alternative therapies from natural, plant-based products like stevioside are becoming a more preferred option. Stevioside that is extracted from Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni has impeccable sweetening potential, which provides an interesting aspect to its proposed antidiabetic potentials. Hence, in-depth investigations were conducted to analyse how stevioside can manifest its effects towards insulin sensitivity in in-vitro and in-silico models. Like many herbal products, scientific data on stevioside's efficacies has been scarce. Its safety of consumption was hence tested through 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5- diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay on 3T3-L1 adipocytes as an in-vitro model. No IC50 was observed as cell viability was only slightly reduced, signifying its noncytotoxicity towards adipocytes. Preceding the assay, the cells were tested using Oil Red O to confirm differentiation which was also successfully achieved. Stevioside was observed to increase glucose uptake in adipocytes better than a drug both in normal an insulin resistant states based on the glucose uptake assay that was conducted. Through Western blotting, expression of the phosphorylated tyrosine (pY20) protein on the insulin receptor (IR/?) was also observed to be enhanced by stevioside. This suggests that stevioside has a high probability of interacting with the insulin receptor in improving insulin sensitivity and increasing glucose uptake. Stevioside's actions are therefore, upstream rather than downstream of the insulin signalling pathway and were confirmed through computer simulations. Prior to that, a protein model was constructed using the MODELLER software. Multiple sequence alignment of the human and mouse insulin receptor sequences was first conducted through ClustalW. A human insulin receptor 3D structure with PDBID; 3LOH was selected as the protein template to model the Mus musculus insulin receptor. Subsequent docking of the stevioside ligand was conducted via AutoDock Vina and had managed to reveal possible binding sites. Interestingly, stevioside was observed to share the same binding region to that of insulin on the insulin receptor. Henceforth, insulin binding was analysed through radioimmunoassay (RIA) with radioactively tagged 1251-insulin; quantified using a y-counter. Stevioside was seen to reduce insulin binding but not as severe as S961 treatments; that are positive controls to insulin binding inhibition. In conclusion, stevioside enhances insulin sensitivity in adipocytes by increasing glucose uptake and enhancing expressions of pY20 on IR/? of the insulin signalling pathway. Computer simulations of insulin receptor-stevioside interactions have also revealed docking of stevioside onto a site shared by insulin binding on the receptor. This was confirmed through stevioside's reduction in total insulin binding analysed through RIA. Therefore, stevioside may have a role in manifesting its effects through the insulin receptor towards improving insulin sensitivity; upstream of the insulin signalling pathway by possibly binding to the insulin receptor

Cabaran dan solusi dalam dunia sukarelawan penganjuran sukan di universiti / Nurul Nisha Mohd Shah and Mohd Radzman Basinon

Penganjuran acara sukan di universiti sering melibatkan peranan penting sukarelawan dalam kalangan mahasiswa. Namun, mereka sering berdepan pelbagai cabaran dalam menjayakan acara sukan yang berprestij ini. Cabaran utama kepada para sukarelawan mahasiswa adalah dari aspek kekangan masa dan komitmen. Mereka perlu bijak mengimbangi antara tuntutan akademik dan tanggungjawab sebagai sukarelawan sukan yang lazimnya memakan masa berbulanbulan. Pengurusan masa yang efektif amat kritikal bagi memastikan prestasi akademik tidak terjejas, di samping kekal komited dalam penganjuran sukan. Cabaran seterusnya adalah kekurangan dana dan sumber, yang pastinya turut menyukarkan tugas sukarelawan. Sepertimana yang kita sedia maklum, penganjuran acara sukan memerlukan bajet yang besar meliputi aspek tempat program, peralatan, pengangkutan, penginapan dan sebagainya. Mahasiswa yang belum bekerja sering menghadapi kekangan kewangan. Sokongan padu pihak IPT dan tajaan korporat amat diperlukan bagi memastikan kelancaran penganjuran setiap acara yang telah dirancangkan

Mengoptimumkan pembelajaran melalui kemahiran visual learning untuk mahasiswa universiti / Nurul Nisha Mohd Shah and Mohd Radzman Basinon

Sebagai seorang mahasiswa universiti, proses pembelajaran yang berkesan amat penting untuk berjaya dalam pengajian. Salah satu kaedah pembelajaran yang terbukti berkesan ialah visual learning. Visual learning melibatkan penggunaan imej, gambar rajah, peta minda dan elemen visual lain untuk membantu pelajar memahami dan mengingati maklumat dengan lebih baik. Antara kelebihan utama visual learning ialah ia membolehkan pelajar memproses dan menyimpan maklumat dengan lebih efisien. Otak manusia dikatakan memproses imej visual 60,000 kali lebih pantas berbanding teks. Justeru, apabila konsep abstrak diterjemah kepada perwakilan visual, maka ia menjadi lebih mudah untuk difahami dan diingati. Keadaan ini membantu pelajar menguasai bahan pembelajaran dengan lebih cepat dan berkesan

Impact of climate change on food security of rice in Malaysia: an empirical investigation

Since rice is the staple food of the nation, the production of rice would strongly influence the country's food security. Thus, the objective of this study is to analyze the relationship between carbon dioxide emissions and rice yield in Malaysia that is, as a mean to assess the impact of climate change on the food security of the country. The results of the empirical analysis conducted using ARDL reveal that the impact of climate change as measured by carbon dioxide emissions does not significantly affect the rice yield in the short-run but positively affect it in the long-run. Further analysis using OLS regression however shows the adverse impact of carbon dioxide emissions on rice yield is traced when interaction effects are incorporated in the regression. The positive impact of carbon dioxide emissions on rice yield occurs depending on the consumption of fertilizers and the harvested area utilized. The results postulate a long-run positive impact of carbon dioxide emissions on rice production in Malaysia despite the expectation of pure negativity

MtCEP1 peptides regulate lateral organ development in the model legume, Medicago truncatula

Plant signalling peptides have been shown to have important roles in plant development. These peptides mediate signal transduction pathways that regulate specific developmental events including meristem development and cellular differentiation. In this thesis, a member of the C- terminally Encoded Peptide (CEP) family of regulatory peptides, MtCEP1, is studied in the model legume, Medicago truncatula, for its regulation of nitrogen-mediated root development, most particularly, lateral root and nodule formation. The MtCEP1 peptide-encoding gene is upregulated by low nitrogen condition, an environmental cue which strongly regulates both lateral root and nodule formation. Therefore, MtCEP1 provides an excellent research avenue as an important regulatory molecule for modulating root architecture in response to exogenous nitrogen levels. In this thesis, I have functionally characterized MtCEP1 for its role in regulating lateral root and nodule development. This is the first characterization of a CEP peptide member in Medicago and outside of Arabidopsis. MtCEP1 negatively regulates lateral root formation and promotes nodulation. There are three characteristic root phenotypes when MtCEP1 was overrepresented to the root (either by overexpressing the peptide-encoding gene or applying the synthetic peptide to the root): (1) reduction of lateral root number, (2) increased in nodulation competency and nodule number, (3) formation of periodic circumferential cell proliferation (CCP) sites. By knocking down MtCEP1 using a multigene RNAi construct to reduce gene redundancy effects, significantly more lateral roots were formed while there was no change in the nodule number. This corroborates the results with MtCEP1 promoter analysis using GUS reporter construct (pMtCEP1:GUS) which showed high expression in lateral root primordia when grown in low nitrogen condition. These results suggest the direct regulation of MtCEP1 in regulating lateral roots. Nonetheless, pMtCEP1:GUS also displayed high expression in young nodule primordia indicating that MtCEP1 could be indirectly regulating nodulation by modulating the root nodulation susceptibility during nitrogen limitation. Analysis of the nodule phenotypes revealed wider zone of susceptibility to nodulation, increased nodule number and nodule morphologies akin to ethylene-insensitive mutant, sickle. Therefore, this thesis further explores MtCEP1 regulation of nodule development, focusing on ethylene-mediated pathway. In Medicago, ethylene regulates nodulation susceptibility and provides positional information for nodulation. In the sickle mutant, a mutant of the EIN2 (ETHYLENE INSENSITIVE 2) in the ethylene signaling pathway, hypernodulation and loss of positional information of the nodules could be observed. By utilizing the sickle mutant, I have demonstrated in this thesis that MtCEP1 requires EIN2-mediated ethylene signaling pathway to increase the nodulation susceptibility. To further understand the regulation of MtCEP1, I have successfully isolated and identified the endogenous forms of MtCEP1 peptides. Nine peptides were identified which corresponds to two MtCEP1 peptide domains. The peptides were also hydroxylated and/or triarabinosylated for their biological activities. This is the first isolation of small signalling peptides in Medicago truncatula and the first characterization of triarabinosylated CEP peptide. Additionally, the differential biological activities imparted by the various MtCEP1 peptides on the root architecture provide a new insight in the complexity of plant signaling peptide regulation. In conclusion, MtCEP1 dynamically regulates lateral organ development through the different endogenous peptide species which provides developmental plasticity for the root in response to nitrogen availability

Teknik grounding: langkah pemulihan awal untuk kesihatan mental mahasiswa / Nurul Nisha Mohd Shah and Mohd Radzman Basinon

“Teknik grounding bantu atasi tekanan akademik.” Kesihatan mental mahasiswa/i merupakan isu yang sering mendapat perhatian dalam masyarakat. Pelbagai kajian memperlihatkan mahasiswa/i berhadapan dengan tekanan dan ketidakstabilan emosi yang boleh menjejaskan prestasi akademik dan kesejahteraan psikologi mereka [1]. Memandangkan hal ini adalah satu perkara yang serius maka perlu adanya intervensi untuk memulihkan kesihatan mental mahasiswa, khususnya di era pasca pandemik COVID-19 yang telah membawa kepada pelbagai cabaran baharu dan mengubah lanskap kehidupan sosial. Kita semua sedia maklum bahawa kehidupan sebagai seorang mahasiswa/i universiti adalah tempoh yang paling mencabar dan memberi banyak tekanan. Rutin seorang pelajar dari tugasan yang bertimbun hingga kepada peperiksaan yang sukar, maka tidak hairanlah ramai mahasiswa/i mengalami gangguan masalah kesihatan mental