Scopus

Background and Objective: Orphaned children face an increased risk of being malnourished. This study was aimed to explore knowledge and attitudes towards nutrition as well as nutritional practices and Body Mass Index (BMI) of adolescent residents of orphanages. Methodology: Five orphanage institutions in Selangor and Malacca were chosen for this study and 85 adolescents aged 13-18 years old were enrolled. Questionnaires concerning nutritional knowledge were administered in face-to-face interviews to prevent bias and to ensure questionnaire completion. Results: The results showed that out of the 85 subjects, 80% were orphans and 20% non-orphans. The majority of respondents were of normal weight (61.2%), while 2.4 and 4.7% were thin and severely thin, respectively. Meanwhile, 16.5% of subjects were overweight and 15.3% were obese. Fewer than 20% of respondents (14/85) were scored as having a “good” level of nutritional knowledge score but more than half had nutrition attitude and practice scores within the “good” range. Although no significant correlation was found between nutrition knowledge and attitude (rp = -0.043, p = 0.694) or knowledge and practice (rp = -0.222, p = 0.148), there was significant correlation between nutrition attitude and practice (rp=0.295, p = 0.006). Conclusion: Less than half of the total respondents obtained a “good” score for nutritional knowledge but the majority of the participants scored at the “good” level for attitude and practice. Although most respondents scored at the “good” level for nutritional practice, this outcome was not reflective of the situation as a whole, particularly given the “poor” scores for exercise and breakfast practices.

The application of pre-treatment on oilseeds prior to extraction process may exert undesirable impact towards the quality of oils as well as microstructures of seed. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effects of three drying methods on the microstructures of rambutan seeds and its effects on physicochemical properties of rambutan seed fat (RSF). The fats that being pre-treated with three different drying methods showed shrinkage or alteration of porous structure in terms of size, shape, and diameter. The differences between the RSF pre-treated with oven-, freeze-, and cabinet drying RSF were in fatty acids (oleic and arachidic acids), and free fatty acid (1.56–1.80 mg KOH/g fat). From the results obtained, the useful information regarding to the effects of pre-treatment on RSF, which is a potent ingredient to be used as a cocoa butter substitute in the formulation of chocolate in the confectionery industries. Moreover, the outcomes of this work able to provide information for better grasp about the correlation of drying methods and quality of RSFs, as well as its applications in other food industries.

This paper reviews the techniques for optimization switching frequency used in Wireless power transfer (WPT). WPT is one of the most useful ways to transfer power. Based on distances power transfer, the WPT system can be divided into three categories, namely, near, medium, and far fields. Inductive coupling and capacitive coupling contactless techniques are used in the near-field WPT. Magnetic resonant coupling technique is used in the medium-field WPT. Electromagnetic radiation is used in the far-field WPT. From the comparison in this paper, a model and design algorithm to optimize switching frequency for energy encryption of medium field wireless power transfer system are purposed. The maximum value of the performance are suitable to compute the optimal circuit parameter by algorithm itself.

The remediation of heavy metal contaminated mangrove soil with proper washing agents is critical for reducing the harmfulness of heavy metal contaminated soil to the environment. This work is aimed to investigate the potential of natural-based deep eutectic solvents as soil washing agents. Choline chloride (ChCl) and two organic acids, lactic acid and levulinic acid, are used as degradable and natural washing agents to remove Pb in the soil. Results verified that ChCl: Lactic Acid (1:2) [ChCl-LacA] and ChCl: Levulinic Acid (1:2) [ChCl-LevA] were found to be suitable for the removal of Pb from the contaminated soils, which significantly lowers the total Pb concentration in the soil. The high distribution ratio from the Conductor-like Screening Model for Real Solvents (COSMO-RS) screening gave an early indication that natural acid DESs are effective soil washing agents. The effect of washing agent concentration, soil to liquid ratio, contact time, and the interaction between acid DESs and metal ions was evaluated. ChCl-LacA and ChCl-LevA remove lead to 97% and 99%, respectively, under optimum conditions. ICP-MS, XRD, and FTIR spectroscopy analysis clarified the interaction between DES and metal ions. As a washing agent, green and natural DESs provide an environmentally sustainable alternative. Employing soil washing to remove heavy metals is a simple, rapid, and cheap remediation technology that could potentially be used in mitigating soil pollution.

Background: Many studies on biochemical and psychological variables have aimed to elucidate the association between aging and cognitive function. Demographic differences and protein expression have been reported to play a role in determining the cognitive capability of a population. Objective: This study aimed to determine the effect of age on the protein profile of Malay individuals and its association with cognitive competency. Methods: A total of 160 individuals were recruited and grouped accordingly. Cognitive competency of each subject was assessed with several neuropsychological tests. Plasma samples were collected and analyzed with Q Exactive HF Orbitrap. Proteins were identified and quantitated with MaxQuant and further analyzed with Perseus to determine differentially expressed proteins. PANTHER, Reactome, and STRING were applied for bioinformatics output. Results: Our data showed that the Malay individuals are vulnerable to the deterioration of cognitive function with aging, and most of the proteins were differentially expressed in concordance. Several physiological components and pathways were shown to be involved, giving a hint of a promising interpretation on the induction of aging toward the state of the Malays' cognitive function. Nevertheless, some proteins have shown a considerable interaction with the generated protein network, which provides a direction of focus for further investigation. Conclusion: This study demonstrated notable changes in the expression of several proteins as age increased. These changes provide a promising platform for understanding the biochemical factors affecting cognitive function in the Malay population. The exhibited network of protein-protein interaction suggests the possibility of implementing regulatory intervention in ameliorating Malay cognitive function.

Nigella sativa (NS) is widely used in traditional medicine and several studies have been conducted to reveal NS effects on different medical disorders including hyperlipidemia. Since hyperlipidemia is a common risk factor for the development of cardiovascular illness. We evaluated the effects of NS supplementation on lipid profile in clinical trial performed among humans. A search on published studies was done by using databases including Scopus, PubMed, Google Scholar, Thomas Reuters Web of Science, and CINAHIL. Terms searched included "Nigella sativa, Black seed, Black cumin, Triglycerides, Cholesterol, Lipoproteins". Initially 432 articles were extracted. However, four hundred eighteen papers were unrelated, reviews, animal studies, combined and duplicated studies were excluded, and finally only fourteen articles were eligible for this review. After analysing 14 articles including 738 participants from different countries and nations. Results of these clinical trials revealed that Nigella sativa is effective to change the lipid profile significantly in different conditions. This systematic review revealed that Nigella sativa supplementation might be effective in hyperlipidemic control in humans and seems potential target of future drug for hyperlipidemic conditions. � 2017 Redhwan Ahmed Al-Naggar et al.

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Salvadora persica L. and Azadirachtaindica A.Juss. are listed within the most common sources of miswak or chewing stick that widely used among Western Asia and Muslim populations worldwide. Miswak use in conjunction with toothbrush (adjunctive) has become apparent among the adults. Furthermore, miswak has been reported to have mechanical and pharmacological activities, and benefits to the oral health, by many studies. Aim of the study: To assess the effectiveness of miswak in maintaining periodontal health among adults. Materials and methods: We searched for randomised controlled trials (RCTs) investigating the effect of miswak published in PubMed, EBSCOHOST (Dentistry & Oral Sciences), SCOPUS, and Cochrane Database for Systematic Review (CDSR) from inception to May 08, 2022. The primary outcomes of interest were changes in the periodontal health measured with plaque and gingivitis scores as well as subgingival bacteria load. The quality of evidence was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluations (GRADE) approach while the estimates of effect were pooled using a random-effects model. Results: Ten eligible articles were identified, of which 9 could be analysed quantitatively. The remaining report was included as part of the qualitative analysis. The meta-analysis showed that miswak was comparable with the toothbrush in reducing the mean plaque score (p= 0.08, SMD: 0.39, and 95% CI: −0.05 to 0.83) and mean gingivitis score (p= 0.37, SMD: 0.13, and 95% CI: −0.16 to 0.43). Even higher certainty of evidence for the effect of miswak on mean plaque reduction on labial surface of anterior teeth. However, the adjunctive effect of miswak was significantly more superior for reducing plaque (p= 0.01, SMD: 0.68, and 95% CI: 0.14 to 1.22) and gingivitis score (p= 0.04, SMD: 0.66, and 95% CI: 0.03 to 1.29). Conclusions: Miswak effectively reduced plaque and gingivitis scores to a level comparable to toothbrush when used exclusively. Adjunctive miswak use was particularly effective in improving periodontal health. However, the included studies inadequately reported on the method of toothbrushing using miswak and the frequency of miswak use. Therefore, further clinical studies are recommended to explore on the advantages and proper method of miswak practice for optima outcome and safety.

The objective of this study was to optimize the extraction of oil from pre-dried roselle seeds using response surface methodology (RSM). We also determined the oxidative stability of oil extracted from oven and freeze-dried roselle seed in terms of iodine value (IV), free fatty acid (FFA) value, peroxide value (PV), P-anisidine and total oxidation values (TOTOX value). The RSM was designated based on the central composite design with the usage of three optimum parameters ranged from 8 to 16 g of sample weight, 250–350 mL of solvent volume, and 6–8 h of extraction time. The highest oil yielded from roselle seed using the optimization process was 22.11% with the parameters at sample weight of 14.4 g, solvent volume of 329.70 mL, and extraction time of 7.6 h. Besides, the oil extracted from the oven dried roselle seed had the values of 89.04, 2.11, 4.13, 3.76 and 12.03 for IV, FFA, PV, P-anisidine, and TOTOX values, respectively. While for the oil extracted from freeze-dried roselle seed showed IV of 90.31, FFA of 1.64, PV of 2.47, P-anisidine value of 3.48, and TOTOX value of 8.42. PV and TOTOX values showed significant differences whereas; IV, FFA, and P-anisidine values showed no significant differences between the oven and freeze-dried roselle seed oils.

Cocoa butter improver (CBI) is typically composed of high melting symmetrical triacylglycerols (TAGs) that aid in the hardness of chocolate products in tropical/subtropical regions. High-melting symmetrical TAG (1,3-di-stearoyl-2-oleoyl-glycerol, SOS) rich fats were produced by two-stage acetone fractionation. Different chromatographic and thermal techniques were used to determine TAGs, thermal properties, and polymorphic behavior of each bambangan kernel fat (BKF) fraction. The first (S-1) and second (S-2) stearins composed of 55.83% and 64.70% symmetrical SOS were the valuable CBIs produced from the fractionated BKF. The stearin fractions also melted and crystallised rapidly at high temperatures with one maximum peak starting at 20.30–21.74 °C and ending at 38.72–42.45 °C (melting), and another starting at 17.05–18.46 °C and ended at 5.63–8.20 °C (crystallisation). In comparison with pure BKF and commercial cocoa butter (CB), the stearins showed sharper melting curves and higher melting properties. The stearins also exhibited β-polymorphic form which was similar to that of CB. Results suggested that the stearins were suitable to be applied as CBI to improve the melting properties and the availability of confectionery products in tropical/subtropical countries. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd

Novel nanocomposite film of chitosan/graphene oxide (CHIT/GO)/multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs)/gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) was applied to fabricate glassy carbon electrode (CHIT/GO/MWCNTs/AuNPs/GCE) for the determination of Tartrazine (TZ), synthetic dyes in food products. The electrochemical sensors found it to be highly sensitive by combining the signal amplification properties of GO and the excellent electronic and antifouling properties of MWCNTs. The CHIT/GO/MWCNTs/AuNPs/GCE exhibited as superior electron transfer materials and possesses intercalation properties which provide synergistic influence on the increment of the current signals. The optimum conditions were found at pH 7, 30 s, and 0.3 Vs−1. The modified GCE obtained with a linear response ranging from 10 to 100 mg mL−1 (r2 = 0.99037) with a sensitivity of 0.018 μA μM−1. The limit of detection (LOD) and quantification obtained were 1.45 and 4.83 mg mL−1, respectively. The determination of TZ in spiked samples was reliable with recovery percentage from 94.52 to 109.0%. The developed sensor successfully tested in the determination of TZ analyte in commercial candy, jelly, and soft drinks with acceptable results.

Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) is a major economic problem in commercial chicken farms with acute multiple-system infection, especially in respiratory and urogenital systems. A live-attenuated and killed vaccine is currently immunized to control IBV infection; however, repeated outbreaks occur in both unvaccinated and vaccinated birds due to the choice of inadequate vaccine candidates and continuous emergence of novel infectious bronchitis (IB) variants and failure of vaccination. However, similar clinical signs were shown in different respiratory diseases that are essential to improving the diagnostic assay to detect IBV infections. Various risk factors involved in the failure of IB vaccination, such as various routes of application of vaccination, the interval between vaccinations, and challenge with various possible immunosuppression of birds are reviewed. The review article also highlights and updates factors affecting the diagnosis of IBV disease in the poultry industry with differential diagnosis to find the nature of infections compared with non-IBV diseases. Therefore, it is essential to monitor the common reasons for failed IBV vaccinations with preventive action, and proper diagnostic facilities for identifying the infective stage, leading to earlier control and reduced economic losses from IBV disease

Fulfilling communal rights to customary lands has still become an unresolved polemic. As a country adhering to Pancasila ideology, all laws and regulations should embody in Pancasila, including regulation on Agrarian Reform. This research aimed to figure out the reduction of values found in the 2nd principle of Pancasila against the Presidential Regulation Number 86 Year 2018 concerning Agrarian Reform in the context of fulfilling communal rights of indigenous peoples to customary lands. The research used a normative-juridical method with both statutory and analytical approaches. This research specifically examined and analyzed the reduction of values in the second principles of Pancasila toward the regulation of agrarian reform in Indonesia. The data sources were in the form of secondary data to obtain objective research results including primary, secondary, and tertiary legal materials obtained through documents and literatures. The collected data were then qualitatively analyzed and presented in the forms of narrative text. By implementing the second principle of Pancasila, the communal rights to customary lands are fulfilled in Agrarian Reform and become the basis to strengthen the position of indigenous peoples in national legal system.

Goat’s milk can be considered as one type of natural functional food due to its variety of nutritional benefits. Nowadays, the dairy milk production in Malaysia is highly focusing on cow’s milk compared to goat’s milk. However, the demand for goat’s milk is increasing especially among Muslims as it is considered as one of the foods which consumed by the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). A cross-sectional study was conducted involving 221 residents in Pulau Langkawi, Kedah, Malaysia. This study showed that the practice of drinking goat’s milk among the local residents was still low; only 11.8% of the residents consumed goat’s milk daily and 40% chose goat’s milk in its powdered form. The main barriers to goat’s milk consumption included: not interested to consume goat’s milk (54%), unpleasant taste (51.3%) and non-staple food (50.8%). This study also found that knowledge (r2= 0.200, p = 0.003) and attitude (r2= 0.174, p<0.001) are positively correlated with goat’s milk consumption. In conclusion, further health intervention need to be done to promote the practice of drinking goat’s milk. With proper knowledge and positive attitude, the consumption of goat’s milk may improve the quality of life and sustain an optimal wellness and health throughout life.

Hard fats, obtained from liquid oils by different fat modification techniques, are composed of high-melting-point triacylglycerols (TAGs) that can be used as alternatives to improve the functional characteristics of lipid systems. These low‐cost industrial products are regarded as raw materials in lipid technology. They can behave as modifiers in crystallization processes, acting as preferential nuclei for ordering crystal lattices and inducing specific polymorphic patterns because of their homogeneous TAGs. Adding hard fats, such as mango, illipe, kokum, sal, shea, rambutan, palm oil, palm kernel oil, and sunflower oil, into other oils is beneficial as it increases their compatibility for uses in fat-based products, especially confectionery products. The addition of hard fats has a significant effect on the rate of crystallization, significantly decreasing the induction time for nucleation and leading to a higher hardness, and increases the thermal resistance for applications in fat-based products. The aim of this article is to review the changes in the physicochemical and thermal properties of hard fats and their mixtures obtained by fractionation, enzymatic interesterification and blending, which broaden their applicability in the food industry.

In Malaysia halal meat is fully defined by Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia (JAKIM) based on the killing method. Halal meat is usually associated with quality as Muslim sought meat from animal killed using Islamic method. In order to ensure the food are meeting the Halal and thoyyiban aspects, the procedure must be monitored along the supply chains beginning from farm to fork. However, there are lack of studies on effect of slaughtering methods on chickens’ metabolite profile. Therefore, metabolomics approach by Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) And Ultra High Performance Liquid Chromatography-Time of Flight-Mass Spectrometry (UHPLC-TOF-MS) are used in this study to understand the metabolite profile of chickens when subjected to different slaughtering process. The broiler chickens were subjected to Halal (Islamic tradition) and non-Halal slaughtering method (neck poking) where pectoral major muscle tissues from the slaughtered meat were selected for FTIR and UHPLC-TOF-MS analysis. Results from FTIR analysis showed Halal and non-Halal chicken displayed different spectra regardless time of extraction, which was 0 and 24 hours. Spectra obtained from UHPLC-TOF-MS were further analyzed for statistical analysis, which are Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Partial Least-Squares Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) using MetaboAnalyst 4.0. PLS-DA model showed higher intensity of histidine and inosine was recorded in non-Halal chicken while Halal chicken has higher concentration of hypoxanthine. Result from this study indicates that method of slaughter affects the metabolite profile of chicken. © 2020, Malaysian Society of Applied Biology. All rights reserved.

The search for hard fats is increasing by the day due to their demand for industrial purposes. Rambutan seed fat (RSF) was fractionated prior to investigate the melting and crystallisation behaviours, triacylglycerols (TAGs), and morphology using different chromatographic and thermal techniques. The increasing trends were observed for high-melting symmetrical monounsaturated TAGs such as 1,3-distearoyl-2-oleoyl-glycerol and 1-palmitoyl-3-stearoyl-2-oleoyl-glycerol in both solid fractions upon fractionation. The solid fractions (F1-S) and (F2-S) exhibited small peaks towards low melting area and big peaks towards high melting area with the offset temperatures of 35.29–48.75 °C and 43.58–52.70 °C with significantly higher enthalpies (93.49 and 105.13 J g−1) upon fractionation. F2-S showed the densely packed microstructure compared to that of crude RSF and F1-S. Based on the thermal behaviours as well as morphology of RSF fractions, cocoa butter improver could be prepared that has the potential to be utilised in chocolate manufacturing in tropical countries.

Purpose: To investigate the incidence, characteristics and risk factors of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in hospitalized children in a Malaysian hospital. Methods: Patients admitted to the Paediatric Department of Hospital Ampang in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia were monitored for occurrence of ADRs by spontaneous reporting or daily review of their case notes. Characteristics of ADRs were categorised and ADRs were analysed for causality, severity and preventability. Multivariate analyses were performed to determine associations between certain selected risk factors and ADR occurrence. Results: In 423 paediatric patients admitted in Hospital Ampang (436 admissions), the ADR incidence rate was 8.0% (95% CI, 5 - 11%). The most commonly involved medications were systemic antibacterial drugs (77.4%). About 61.3% of the ADRs were of probable causality and 12.9% were definitely preventable. No severe ADRs were detected, with 41.9% being moderate and 58.1% being mild, based on a severity scale. Younger children (OR = 3.387, 95% CI, 1.377, 8.334) and the number of systemic antibacterial drugs given (OR = 1.469, 95% CI 1.201, 1.798) were potential risk factors associated with ADRs. Conclusion: ADRs occur at a significant rate in the Malaysian children admitted to the hospital studied. Further studies are needed to provide drug safety data for the paediatric population in Malaysia. � 2018 Ithnin M, Rani MDM, Latif ZA, Kani P, Syaiful A, Mohd TAMT, Aripin KNN.

Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) poses significant financial and biosecurity challenges to the commercial poultry farming industry. IBV is the causative agent of multi-systemic infection in the respiratory, reproductive and renal systems, which is similar to the symptoms of various viral and bacterial diseases reported in chickens. The avian immune system manifests the ability to respond to subsequent exposure with an antigen by stimulating mucosal, humoral and cell-mediated immunity. However, the immune response against IBV presents a dilemma due to the similarities between the different serotypes that infect poultry. Currently, the live attenuated and killed vaccines are applied for the control of IBV infection; however, the continual emergence of IB variants with rapidly evolving genetic variants increases the risk of outbreaks in intensive poultry farms. This review aims to focus on IBV challenge–infection, route and delivery of vaccines and vaccine-induced immune responses to IBV. Various commercial vaccines currently have been developed against IBV protection for accurate evaluation depending on the local situation. This review also highlights and updates the limitations in controlling IBV infection in poultry with issues pertaining to antiviral therapy and good biosecurity practices, which may aid in establishing good biorisk management protocols for its control and which will, in turn, result in a reduction in economic losses attributed to IBV infection

Malay traditional medicine has been said to be cross-pollinated with Islamic traditional wisdom originating from the Middle East, including using ingredients mentioned by the Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h) referred to as prophetic foods. A systematic review of Malay manuscripts was conducted to delineate traditional medicinal practices for four common illnesses found in the ‘bottom billion’ of the world’s population namely worm infestation, gastroenteritis, fatigue and anaemia. Methods: A search strategy was developed to scan established catalogues of Malay manuscripts. The physical manuscripts were then systematically handsearched for relevant treatments for the above illnesses. The relevant prescriptions were captured, transliterated and translated for analysis. Results: Traditional medicinal prescriptions were obtained from 80 Malay manuscripts and commonly used ingredients were nutmeg, black seed, garlic and others. Few treatments used prophetic food ingredients such as date palm and goat’s milk. Conclusion: Malay traditional medicines draw mainly on local wisdom and ingredients, with enrichment from Islamic medicinal practices.

There are many references to the date palm in Judeo-Christian scripture and also in the Islamic holy book, the Quran. The date palm is prominently featured in the description of Maryam’s (also known as the virgin Mary) travails during her childbirth. By reviewing some of the verses mentioning the date palm in the Quran and relating them with current scientific findings, this paper explores the potential beneficial properties of the date palm to human health. Although relatively few scientific studies have been done on the date palm, many very promising beneficial properties are shown and further work should be done to highlight the benefits of this important plant.