Immune system is essential to human body as it protects our bodies from pathogens in an orchestrated manner. From a computational viewpoint, the immune system has much to offer by way of inspiration. Recently, there has been growing interest in the use of natural immune system as inspiration for the creation novel approaches to computational problem. This field of research is referred as Immunological Computation or Artificial Immune System. The use of artificial system computer security is an appealing concept for two reasons. Firstly, the human immune system provides human body with a high level protection from invading pathogens in robust manner. Secondly, current techniques used in computer security are not able to cope with the dynamic and increasingly complex nature of computer systems and their security. This paper introduces the concept of apoptosis for computer security. This term is borrowed from cell biology and designates the programmed cell death. � 2008 IEEE.

INTRODUCTION: The first step in the forensic identification is sex determination followed by age and stature estimation, as both are sex-dependent. The mandible is the largest, strongest and most durable bone in the face. Mandible is important for sex confirmation in absence of a complete pelvis and skull. AIM: The aim of the present study was to determine sex of human mandible from morphology, morphometric measurements as well as discriminant function analysis from the CT scan. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The present retrospective study comprised 79 subjects (48 males, 31 females), with age group between 18 and 74 years, and were obtained from the post mortem computed tomography data in the Hospital Kuala Lumpur. The parameters were divided into three morphologic and nine morphometric parameters, which were measured by using Osirix MD Software 3D Volume Rendering. RESULTS: The Chi-square test showed that men were significantly association with square-shaped chin (92%), prominent muscle marking (85%) and everted gonial glare, whereas women had pointed chin (84%), less prominent muscle marking (90%) and inverted gonial glare (80%). All parameter measurements showed significantly greater values in males than in females by independent t-test (p< 0.01). By discriminant analysis, the classification accuracy was 78.5%, the sensitivity was 79.2% and the specificity was 77.4%. The discriminant function equation was formulated based on bigonial breath and condylar height, which were the best predictors. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the mandible could be distinguished according to the sex. The results of the study can be used for identification of damaged and/or unknown mandible in the Malaysian population.

Due to the issues of species substitution and product mislabelling of beche-de-mer worldwide, this study aimed to identify the species of seven gamat-based beche-de-mer specimens from Kuah, Langkawi Island, Kedah, Malaysia based on ossicle shapes and non-protein-coding 12S mitochondrial rRNA gene sequences. In general, ossicles were well extracted from the specimens. At least eight ossicle shapes were observed i.e. large I-shaped rod, perforated plate, table, C-shaped rod, button, rosette, I-shaped rod and X-shaped rod. Except for button, I-shaped rod and X-shaped rod, the other five ossicle shapes are common in Stichopus horrens. However, the species status could not be resolved at this level due to the presence of uncommon ossicle shapes and the physical features of the specimens could not be used as supporting data as they were different from the live or unprocessed sea cucumber. In this study, 12S mitochondrial rRNA gene sequences were analysed using the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool programme for Nucleotides (blastn), resulting in the species identification of the beche-de-mer specimens as S. horrens, known locally as gamat emas (golden sea cucumber) with 96-99% similarity (an average of 98%). The phylogenetic trees based on the Neighbour-Joining method, Maximum Parsimony method and Maximum Likelihood method indicated that all 12S mitochondrial rRNA gene sequences of the beche-de-mer specimens clustered with the reference samples of S. horrens from Pangkor Laut, Pangkor Island, Perak, Malaysia, supporting the BLASTN results and confirming their species status as S. horrens. Furthermore, 10 partial 12S mitochondrial rRNA gene sequences of the reference samples and the beche-de-mer specimens of S. horrens were registered with the GenBank (Accession No.: KX879628-KX879637). Overall, the findings suggested that the species identification of the beche-de-mer specimens using 12S mitochondrial rRNA gene sequence gave better inference than ossicle-shape identification. The outcomes of this study benefit enforcement agencies in their work of monitoring and overcoming the issues of species substitution and product mislabelling of beche-de-mer or commercial dried sea cucumber in Malaysian markets as well as in global markets. � Universiti Putra Malaysia Press.

This paper discusses on the enhancement of the current Intrusion Detection System (IDS) based on Artificial Immune System called apoptosis. Nowadays network systems are required to be more secured since the virus is now growing stronger and more dangerous. Unfortunately, not all of the Intrusion Detection System (IDS) is effective enough to defend against viruses entering the network. In this paper, the researchers' propose a new enhanced IDS system that will defend the computer system from being attacked by viruses. By using apoptosis system as the basis of the enhancement, these IDS will work similar to the human defence system and solve the problem of the virus infection in the computer system. In addition, the researchers' have also improved the accuracy of IDS for detecting the virus by using this method. � 2008 IEEE.

The presence of antimicrobial substances at low concentration may act as chemical signals in altering metabolic processes that take place in bacteria. The chemical signals may activate lots of signal transduction that result in the secretion of bioactive proteins by the stimulated bacterial cells. The bioactive proteins production is strongly influenced by certain factors such as pH and nutrient sources. Therefore, the study of environmental stress factors and growth conditions is very important in inducing the production of bioactive proteins by microbes. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the effects of environmental stress factors and growth conditions on the production of bioactive proteins by Bacillus subtilis ATCC21332 in the presence of Cymbopogon flexuosus essential oil. The microbial proteins were produced by fermentation process using Nutrient broth with adjustment of pH media (pH 6, 7 and 8), and supplementation with 1% (w/w) of three different nutrients, including carbon sources (glucose, sucrose and starch), nitrogen sources (urea, casein and gelatin) and inorganic salts (calcium chloride, sodium nitrate, sodium dihydrogen phosphate) separately. The extracellular protein produced by B. subtilis ATCC21332 was isolated and analyzed using sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) to detect appearance of new protein bands. Results showed that new extracellular proteins were synthesized by B. subtilis ATCC21332 after being induced with C. flexuosus essential oil and grown in each media with 1% (w/w) of starch, 1% (w/w) of gelatin, 1% (w/w) of casein, 1% (w/w) of sodium dihydrogen phosphate and 1% (w/w) of calcium chloride with approximate size of 30.43 kDa, 30.66 kDa, 31.92 kDa, 31.35 kDa and 30.80 kDa respectively. Hence, B. subtilis ATCC21332 in the presence of 0.01 MIC C. flexuosus essential oil under different conditions are able to produce or secrete new extracellular proteins. � 2018, Malaysian Society of Applied Biology. All rights reserved.

Kojic acid is a well known as natural whitening agent and widely use in skincare product formulation. However, kojic acid are water-soluble, unstable at high temperature for long term storage and cannot be directly incorporated in oil based skincare products. Therefore, natural-based kojic acid ester was produced to improve the properties via esterification reaction in the presence of immobilized lipase. The synthesized kojic acid ester was purified through crystallization method. Besides, bioassay study of the kojic acid ester and kojic acid performances on tyrosinase activity and free radical scavenging activity were also carried out. The result shows that, kojic acid gave the highest percentage of tyrosinase activity (77.16%) at 25% of ester concentration. While for kojic acid ester, it gave the highest percentage of tyrosinase activity (23.71%) at 50% of ester concentration. Whilst, the study on radical scavenging activity shows that kojic acid also yield higher percentage of radical scavenging activity which was 84.24% than kojic acid ester which gave 67.65% only. � 2017 American Scientific Publishers All rights reserved.

Problem statement: This study reports the isolation of lactic acid bacteria from 13 honey samples produced in Malaysia, Libya and Saudi Arabia and their antibacterial activity against three Gram negative pathogenic bacteria. Approach: A modified MRS agar with 0.8% CaCO3 and MRS with 1% glucose was found to facilitate isolation of LAB compared to MRS, tomato juice agar and modified tomato juice agar. 32 isolates were confirmed LAB by catalase test and Gram staining. Six isolates were screened for antibacterial activity and identified as strains of Lactobacillus acidophilus 1 by API CH50. Results: All the isolates showed very good inhibitory activity against target Gram negative bacteria as indicated by the diameter of inhibition zone: Salmonella Typhimurium (23-30 mm), Escherichia coli (7-18 mm) and Enterobacter aerogenes (10-18 mm) after 24 h incubation at 30�C. Supernatants of L. acidophilus 1 strains showed good antibacterial activity against all target bacteria. Heating the supernatants at 90 and 121�C for 1 h enhanced the antibacterial activity against all target bacteria except supernatants H006-A and H010-G against S. Typhimurium. Antibacterial activity of supernatants were maintained after pH adjustment to 3, but at pH5 supernatants H006-A, H008-D and H010-G lost the activity against S. Typhimurium and E. coli within 48 h of incubation while at pH 6 all supernatants lost activity except against E. aerogenes. Enzymes treatments of supernatants with RNase II and Proteinase K for 1 h inhibited all target bacteria except supernatants H008-D, H008-E and H006-A which were relatively sensitive to both enzymes against S. Typhimurium and E. coli. Conclusion/Recommendations: In conclusion, honey from different sources contains strains of L. acidophilus 1 that produced compounds with good antibacterial activity which may be responsible for the antibacterial properties of honey. � 2012 Science Publications.

Enzymatic synthesis of kojic ester, a bio-based whitening agent, was successfully carried out via esterification reaction between oleic acid and kojic acid. Commercial immobilized lipases of Novozym 435 and Lipozyme RM IM were used in combination as biocatalyst in the reaction system. Various reaction parameters were chosen to optimize the reaction in order to obtain a high yield of kojic ester including the best ratio of lipases, reaction time and reaction temperature. The optimum conditions for the synthesis of kojic ester was achieved at reaction time of 12 hours, temperature of 60 �C and equal ratio of lipases to produce more than 70 % yield. Antimicrobial tests of synthesized kojic ester towards several types of bacteria via Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and Minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) analyses were also examined. The results obtained suggested that kojic ester exhibits a good bactericidal effect towards all bacteria tested such as Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium. Copyright � 2014 Trans Tech Publications Ltd, Switzerland.

Holothuria (Mertensiothuria) leucospilota is the most abundant sea cucumber species in Malaysia. This study aimed to identify bacteria isolated from the external and internal body parts of H. leucospilota collected from the coastal water of Pangkor Island, Perak, Malaysia. A total of 26 bacterial samples were isolated using streak plate method from eight body parts of two fresh H. leucospilota specimens and from the surrounding surface sediments and seawater. Identification of the bacterial isolates was based on microscopic examination, 16S rDNA amplification and phylogenetic analysis using the neighbour-joining method. Three genera of bacteria were identified namely Vibrio, Bacillus, and Acinetobacter. The genus Vibrio was found to be the main bacterial group associated with the H. leucospilota specimens from Pangkor Island. � 2018, Malaysian Society of Applied Biology. All rights reserved.

Ragi is a traditional dry starter culture frequently used in many fermented food products in Asian countries. Ragi contains starch that can be degraded by amylases provided by bacteria and other microorganisms during fermentation in producing fermented foods. This study was carried out to isolate bacteria from ragi and to screen for their ability to hydrolyse starch. Seven bacterial colonies were isolated from ragi, with three samples showing starch hydrolysis activity. Two of the starch-degrading bacterial isolates were identified using partial 16S rRNA gene sequencing as Bacillus licheniformis with 97% and 98% similarity, and one sample identified as a lactic acid bacteria, Enterococcus faecium (98%). Isolation and identification of these bacteria from ragi can provide a promising source of amylase that can be further studied and manipulated for the development of starter culture and to improve the quality of traditional ragi-based fermented food products. � 2018, Malaysian Society of Applied Biology. All rights reserved.

Kojic acid is an organic acid that widely used in cosmetic, health care, food and chemical industries. However, kojic acid is not stable at high temperature, for long storage and it has low lipophilic properties. To overcome this problem, a study was conducted to improve its properties by enzymatic reaction. This study was focused on the synthesis of kojic acid monooleate from kojic acid and oleic acid using enzymatic catalysts at optimized conditions. This study was divided into three parts starting from enzymatic synthesis of kojic ester or specifically kojic acid monooleate (KAMO) by using a dual enzymes system that consisted of Novozym 435 and Lipozyme RM IM. Then, optimization of four variables such as screening of dual enzymes ratio, temperature, substrate molar ratio and the reaction time via conventional method of one parameter at-a-time approach and lastly verification of the product using Fourier Transfer Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The optimum conditions for the enzymatic synthesis of KAMO were at the dual enzymes ratio (1:1) of Novozym 435 and Lipozyme RMIM, temperature at 50C, the molar ratio of kojic acid and oleic acid were 4:1 respectively and 24 hours of reaction time. The highest percentage conversion of KAMO achieved at the most optimum conditions was 13.22 %. Finally, kojic ester produced was verified by using FTIR proved the presence of ester bond (C=O) at 1743 cm-1. � 2018 Author(s).

Proteins levels produced by bacteria may be increased in stressful surroundings, such as in the presence of antibiotics. It appears that many antimicrobial agents or antibiotics, when used at low concentrations, have in common the ability to activate or repress gene transcription, which is distinct from their inhibitory effect. There have been comparatively few studies on the potential of antibiotics or natural compounds in nature as a specific chemical signal that can trigger a variety of biological functions. Therefore, this study was focusing on the effect of essential oil from Cymbopogon flexuosus in regulating proteins production by Bacillus subtilis ATCC21332. The Minimum Inhibition Concentration (MIC) of the C. flexuosus essential oil on B. subtilis was determined by using microdilution assay, resulting 1.76mg/ml. The bacteria cells were further exposed to the C. flexuosus essential oil at concentration of 0.01 MIC for 72 h. The proteins were then isolated and analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Proteins profile showed that a band with approximate size of 30 kDa was appeared for the treated bacteria with C. flexuosus essential oil. Thus, B. subtilis ATCC21332 in stressful condition with the presence of C. flexuosus essential oils at low concentration could induce the protein production. The isolated protein also showed antimicrobial activity against selected Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Copyright � 2014 Trans Tech Publications Ltd, Switzerland.