Trans fatty acids in selected bakery products and its potential dietary exposure

High intake of trans fatty acids (TFA) may cause adverse changes in blood lipids as shown in many epidemiological studies. The major sources of TFA in human diet come from bakery products such as cookies, cakes, muffins, breads and pastries. In this study, total fat of baked products was determined using Soxhlet method while TFA content was determined on gas chromatograph using a highly polar capillary column and flame ionization detector. Exposure to TFA from the baked product was estimated based on Food Consumption Statistics of Malaysia 2003. High level of TFA was observed in muffins (3.21-7.34 g per 100 g food) followed by pastries (2.90-6.03 g per 100 g food) and cakes (2.26-8.36 g per 100 g food) regardless of products having brand name or not. Among the TFA isomers, trans 18:1 6t was the most abundant followed by trans 18:1 9t, trans 16:1 9t, trans 18:2 and small quantities of trans 18:1 11t. Exposure to TFA based on the Malaysian Food Consumption Statistics 2003 of the baked products was ranging from 0.14-0.18 g/day. Even with the low estimated exposure, actual intake of baked products must be monitored closely as other high fat food as these products is one of main contributor to TFA in the diet following their high frequency of daily intake

Anti-malarial and anti-inflammatory effects of Gleichenia truncata mediated through inhibition of GSK3ß

Gleichenia truncata is a highland fern from the Gleicheniaceae family known for its traditional use among indigenous communities in Asia to treat fever. The scientific basis of its effect has yet to be documented. A yeast-based kinase assay conducted in our laboratory revealed that crude methanolic extract (CME) of G. truncata exhibited glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK3)-inhibitory activity. GSK3β is now recognized to have a pivotal role in the regulation of inflammatory response during bacterial infections. We have also previously shown that lithium chloride (LiCl), a GSK3 inhibitor suppressed development of Plasmodium berghei in a murine model of malarial infection. The present study is aimed at evaluating G. truncata for its anti-malarial and anti-inflammatory effects using in vivo malarial and melioidosis infection models respectively. In a four-day suppressive test, intraperitoneal injections of up to 250 mg/kg body weight (bw) G. truncata CME into P.berghei-infected mice suppressed parasitaemia development by >60%. Intraperitoneal administration of 150 mg/kg bw G. truncata CME into Burkholderia pseudomallei-infected mice improved survivability by 44%. G. truncata CME lowered levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IFN-γ) in serum and organs of B. pseudomallei-infected mice. In both infections, increased phosphorylations (Ser9) of GSK3β were detected in organ samples of animals administered with G. truncata CME compared to controls. Taken together, results from this study strongly suggest that the anti-malarial and anti-inflammatory effects elicited by G. truncata in part were mediated through inhibition of GSK3β. The findings provide scientific basis for the ethnomedicinal use of this fern to treat inflammation-associated symptoms

Asymbiotic seed germination and seedling development of Vanda dearei

The effects of basal media, complex additives, plant growth regulators and carbon sources on in vitro seed germination and seedling development of Vanda dearei are reported. Immature seeds from four months old capsule were used as plant materials. All cultures were grown under 24h light at 25±2ºC. Results showed that seeds cultured on Knudson C (KC) basal medium germinated after 25 days with 63.0±3.2% germination rate followed by half-strength Murashige & Skoog (½MS) (45.4±10.4%) and Vacin and Went (VW) (41.8±4.0%). Addition of 0.5% (w/v) yeast extract significantly enhanced (85.9±0.7%) seed germination and shortened germination time to 23 days. A NAA at 0.1mg/l had similar performance (80.2±20.5%), however, this treatment delayed seed germination and induced necrosis to protocorm development. Sucrose at 1% (w/v) also enhanced seed germination (98.3±2.3%), while glucose and fructose treatments showed moderate effects. For growth and development of protocorms, KC basal media recorded the highest percentage of protocorm with root (37.0±4.3%), mean number of leaf (4.50±1.00) and mean number of roots produced (2.0±0.6) with largest leaf area (3.7x2.3mm) and longest root length (11.7±8.4mm). Addition of 20% (v/v) coconut water significantly improved protocorm development and shoot growth

Computer aided learning knowledge among medical students in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia

Computer proficiency has become necessary in many areas of medicine, administration, clinical practices, research, as well as education. The need for greater competence in information and communication technologies (ICT) by doctors and medical students is increasingly recognised. Objectives: This study was undertaken to determine the knowledge, attitude and practices on ICT in the medical students of a local university. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among medical students (Years 1-5) from December 2005 to May 2006 in Universiti Putra Malaysia. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. Descriptive statistics were used to obtain frequencies for all variables studied. Results: There were 343 respondents aged 18-29 years old. The results showed 82.2% of the respondents (82.2%) were comfortable using computers after entering medical school and 89.2% believed that ICT and computers skills are important for doctors. About 81.3% of the respondents were aware of the role of ICT and computers in learning medicine, 90.4% had used presentation packages, and 83.4% used word processing and search engines as software tools. Conclusion: The findings of this study show that medical students are knowledgeable and do have skills in information technology (IT) and computers. They are also aware of the role of information technology (IT) and computers in medicin

Risk Analysis of the Implementation of IPv6 Neighbor Discovery in Public Network

Internet is ubiquitous, and in recent times its growth has been exponential. This rapid growth caused the depletion of the current Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) address, prompting IETF with the design of the new Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) in the 1990\u27s. IPv6 is the next generation of the Internet Protocol designed with much larger address space and additional functions to ease its use for the users. One of the new functions is address auto configuration of new host\u27s via Neighbor Discovery Protocol (NDP). However, the implementation of NDP is not without risk in terms of security. This paper analyzes the risk of NDP implementation in public network. The result shows a number of risks that appear on the implementation of NDP over a Public Network. Neighbors cannot be trusted 100%. One of them could be an attacker who may exploit the NDP message to get their own benefit. In addition the number of insiders increases time to time

Evaluation of banana (Musa sp.) flowers of selected varieties for their antioxidative and anti-hyperglycemic potentials

Consumption of banana flower as a vegetable is popular among many countries in Southeast Asia. In this study, banana flowers of six different Malaysian cultivars namely, pisang Abu (Musa balbisiana cv P. Abu), pisang Berangan (Musa acuminata cv P. Berangan), pisang Nipah (Musa balbisiana cv P. Nipah), pisang Susu (Musa acuminata cv P. Susu), pisang Mas (Musa acuminate cv P. Mas) and pisang Rastali (Musa paradisiaca cv P. Rastali) were investigated for their antioxidant and anti-hyperglyemic properties. The total poly phenolic content and antioxidant activities, the α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory potentials of the banana flower extracts were studied in vitro using relevant assays. Among the six cultivars, cultivar Susu was found to have the highest phenolic content (80.13 ± 4.64 mg of GAE/g of extract) and displayed the highest ABTS+ and DPPH radical scavenging activities (24.73 ± 0.04 and 25.10 ± 0.15 μmole of Trolox equivalent/g of extract). The anti-amylase and antiglucosidase activity of the banana flowers extracts were in the range of 47.31-62.58% and 74.98-91.62%, respectively. All banana flower extracts inhibited the activity of α-glucosidase better than α-amylase at the concentration of 200 μg/ml. This study concluded that the extracts of Malaysian banana flowers were potent sources of natural antioxidants, which can be used as postprandial hyperglycemia regulators

Heavy metals (mercury, arsenic, cadmium, plumbum) in selected marine fish and shellfish along the Straits of Malacca

Level of heavy metals in marine ecosystem has been intensively studied during recent years as these hazardous substances could be accumulated in the biota. Generally, the presence of contaminants in fish is a result of human activities such as industrial and agricultural wastes. In this study, the marine fish and shellfish from the Straits of Malacca were analyzed using Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrophotometer (ICP-OES) and Flow Injection Mercury System (FIMS) for Cd, As and Pb and Hg, respectively. The Straits of Malacca is one of the busiest shipping routes in the world that make the level of heavy metals potentially high besides the various industrial activities along the west region of Peninsular Malaysia. The range of heavy metals in samples were 1.0-3-6.5-3 μg/ g wet sample for Hg, 0.5-2-47-2 μg/ g wet sample for Cd, 0.01-0.39 μg/ g wet sample for Pb and 0.14-6.57 μg/ g wet sample for As. Most part of the values was below the permitted limit set by FAO/WHO 2004 as well as Food Act 1983 and Food Regulations 1985. Therefore it can be generalized that fish and shellfish from the Straits of Malacca are safe to consume in terms of these heavy metals concentration and do not constitute a risk for human health

Effect of pressure on density, porosity and flexural strength during cold isostatic press of alumina-ysz chromia cutting too

This study presented the effect of pressure on the density, porosity and flexural strength when cold isostatic press (CIP) was applied to compact the ceramic powders in the form of insert cutting tools. Specific composition of alumina (Al2O3) wt.90%,yittria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) wt.10%, chromium oxide(Cr2O3) wt.0.6% and polyethylene glycol (PEG) wt.0.6% were ball milled and hand pressed to form green body of ceramic inserts. These green body were undergone further compaction inside CIP with pressures variation of 200 MPa, 300 MPa, 400 MPa with 30 seconds and 60 seconds pressuring time. The ceramic composts were then sintered at 1440°C for 9 hours before being assessed with density, porosity, Rockwell hardness (HRC) and bending test. The results show that CIP use with 300 MPa parameters with 60 seconds shows the best mechanical properties with relative density 95.5%, porosity 4.5% and HRC 65.5 hardness. Further assessment of microstructure revealed that the particles size distributed evenly along fracture surface with coarse grain and porosity dominant in the certain area