Atherosclerosis poses serious health problems and increases the risk of various cardiovascular diseases, including myocardial infarction, heart failure, ischemic stroke, and peripheral arterial disease. Atherosclerosis patients require long-term medications to prevent complications, some of which are costly and may result in unwanted adverse reactions. Natural products have emerged as potential sources of bioactive compounds that provide health benefits in cardiovascular diseases. Increased inflammation and vascular remodeling have been associated with atherosclerosis pathogenesis. The molecules involved in signaling pathways are considered valuable targets for new treatment approaches. Therefore, this review aimed to summarize the available evidence of the anti-inflammatory effects of thymoquinone, the major active compound isolated from Nigella sativa L., via inflammatory signaling pathways in atherosclerosis. Specifically, nuclear factor-κB and mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathways were considered. Furthermore, the potential toxic effects elicited by thymoquinone were addressed. These findings suggest a potential role of thymoquinone in managing atherosclerosis, and further studies are required to ascertain its effectiveness and safety profile.

Identification of skeletal human remains as the biggest challenge in forensic anthropology. Human stature estimation is an important biological profile component during forensic anthropological investigation. This systematic review summarised the application of anthropometric measurements on human vertebral column for stature prediction in different population. An extensive literature search was done in PubMed, Science Direct and Google Scholar from 2009 to 2019. The inclusive criteria include English studies that used anthropometry method on human vertebral columns for prediction of stature during identification skeletal remains. During the literature search, 38 related articles were found, whereby 13 had met the inclusion criteria. Most study showed a positive correlation of various anthropometric measurements on human vertebra column for stature estimation in different populations. This evidence-based review revealed the usefulness of anthropometric measurements using human vertebra column as an alternative method other than long bones for identification of human remains among different populations. Further studies are needed to determine the best reliable methods for stature estimation among various anthropometric measurements with a more advanced meta-analysis of the results on human vertebra column. � 2020 Elsevier Ltd

Age estimation in adults is a complicated task because of various external factors occur concurrently with increasing age. The geometric morphometric method (GMM) is an approach that focuses on shape analysis and is widely recognized for its high reliability and reproducibility. The aim of this study was to explore the variation of cervical vertebrae among different age groups of the Malaysian population by GMM. Lateral skull radiographs of 432 subjects comprising four adult age groups; young adult age group (20–30 years old), early middle age group (31–40 years old), late middle age group (41–50 years old) and, elder adult age group (51–60 years old) were selected. Fifty-three 2-dimensional (2D) landmarks were applied to the digitalized radiographs by TPSDig2 (Version 2.31) software. Geometric morphometric analysis was performed by MorphoJ software. Results showed that the first three principal components (PC) contributed to 47.71 % of the cervical vertebrae variation and were shown in both lollipop and wireframe graphs. Procrustes ANOVA indicated that the shape was significantly different among different age groups. Canonical variate analysis revealed significant differences of both mahalanobis and procrustes distances among age groups with substantial individual overlap within groups. Discriminant function analysis (DFA) showed a correct classification rate for 61.5 % of cases respective to age groups. In conclusion, this study found significant differences in the shape of cervical vertebrae among different age groups of the Malaysian population using the GMM.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) such as angina, hypertension, myocardial ischemia, and heart failure are the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. One of the major transcription factors widely associated with CVDs is nuclear factor-kappa B (NF kappa B). NF kappa B activation initiates the canonical and non-conical pathways that promotes activation of transcription factors leading to inflammation, such as leukocyte adhesion molecules, cytokines, and chemokines. Flavonoids are bioactive polyphenolic compounds found abundantly in various fruits, vegetables, beverages (tea, coffee), nuts, and cereal products with cardiovascular protective properties. Flavonoids can be classified into six subgroups based on their chemical structures: flavanones, flavones, flavonols, flavan-3-ols, isoflavones, and anthocyanidins. As NF kappa B inhibitors, these flavonoids may modulate the expression of pro-inflammatory genes leading to the attenuation of the inflammatory responses underlying various cardiovascular pathology. This review presents an update on the anti-inflammatory actions of flavonoids via inhibition of NF kappa B mechanism supporting the therapeutic potential of these natural compounds in various CVDs.

Background: Age estimation of unidentified human remains is an essential for establishing the biological profile of unidentified human remains. Previous studies have investigated the value linear measurements of the frontal sinus for age estimation while the value of two-dimensional (2D) geometric morphometric measurements have not been explored for this purpose. Objective: This study aims to evaluate the morphological variation of frontal sinus among adults Malaysian for age estimation using 2D geometric morphometric methods. Methods: Lateral skull radiographs of 453 adult Malaysians, comprising 151 young adults (20–39 years old), 150 middle-aged adults (40–59 years old) and 152 old adults (60–79 years old), were retrieved retrospectively. Eight 2D landmarks were applied to digitalized radiographs using TPSDig2 software. 2D geometric morphometric analysis was performed by MorphoJ software. Results: Procrustes ANOVA revealed no significant differences in shape and size (p-value > 0.05) of frontal sinus between the three age groups. However, Canonical Variate Analysis showed significant differences for Mahalanobis and Procrustes distances (p-value < 0.05) between young and old adult groups. Discriminant Function Analysis after cross-validation demonstrated an age classification accuracy of 53.5 %. Conclusion: The study suggests that 2D geometric morphometric analysis of the frontal sinus cannot be reliably used to estimate the age of an unknown Malaysian individual.

Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) causes an accumulation of blood in the brain parenchyma that disrupts the normal neurological function of the brain. Despite extensive clinical trials, no medical or surgical therapy has shown to be effective in managing ICH, resulting in a poor prognosis for the patients. Urocortin (UCN) is a 40-amino-acid endogenous neuropeptide that belongs to the corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) family. The effect of UCN is activated by binding to two G-protein coupled receptors, CRH-R1 and CRH-R2, which are expressed in brain neurons and glial cells in various brain regions. Current research has shown that UCN exerts neuroprotective effects in ICH models via anti-inflammatory effects, which generally reduced brain edema and reduced blood-brain barrier disruption. These effects gradually help in the improvement of the neurological outcome, and thus, UCN may be a potential therapeutic target in the treatment of ICH. This review summarizes the data published to date on the role of UCN in ICH and the possible protective mechanisms underlined.

Sex identification is essential for the establishment of an accurate biological profile from skeletal remains in forensic anthropology. Conventional method using calipers is time-consuming and associated with a high margin of error especially in the case of highly fragmented skeletal remains. Geometric morphometric method is an approach which utilizes qualitative and quantitative description of biological forms according to geometric definitions of their shape. This study aimed to determine sexual dimorphism of third cervical (C3) vertebra on the lateral cervical radiograph by geometric morphometric method. Lateral cervical radiographs of 432 samples comprising of 262 males and 170 females of known individuals were retrieved retrospectively. The samples were adult Malaysian population aged from 20 to 60 years old. Eleven 2-dimensional (2D) landmarks were applied on the digitalized radiographs by TPSDig2 (Version 2.31) software. Geometric morphometric analysis was performed by MorphoJ software. Procrustes ANOVA showed that centroid size and shape are significantly different with p<0.001. Discriminant function analysis (DFA) showed 70% classification accuracy, with identification accuracy of 70.6% for males and 70.0% for females. There were significant differences between sex in the height of vertebral body, length of the superior articular process as well as length of the superior part of spinous process of C3 (p<0.05; Independent t-test). In conclusion, sexual dimorphism demonstrated in the C3 vertebra confirms the utilization of 2D geometric morphometric as one of the methods for sex estimation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to report such findings among Malaysian population.