1.Scanning electron micrographs of medically important dust mite, Suidasia pontifica (Acari: Astigmata: Saproglyphidae) in Malaysia
Ahamad, M.* ; Louis, S.R. ; Hamid, Z. ; Ho, T.M.
Tropical Biomedicine 2011;28(2):275-282
Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of dust mites, Suidasia pontifica, is
presented to provide an improved visualization of the taxonomic characters of these mites.
Suidasia pontifica can easily be identified by its scale-like cuticle, presence of external
vertical setae (ve), longer external scapular setae (sce) compared to internal scapular setae
(sci) and 3 ventral spines on apex of tarsus I. The differences in morphology of male and
female S. pontifica are also discussed.
2.Purification and characterization of thermostable chitinase from a novel S. maltophilia strain
Rifat Hamid ; Mahboob Ahmad ; Malik M. Ahmad ; M. Z. Abdin ; Saleem Javed
Malaysian Journal of Microbiology 2013;9(1):7-12
Aims: The presents study examines the purification and characterization of a chitinase from S. maltophilia SJ602 strain isolated from a soil sample collected from Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi.
Methodology and Results: The purification steps included chitin affinity using colloidal chitin as the affinity matrix and column chromatography using Sephadex G-100. The chitinase was purified to 66 fold having a yield of 17%. The molecular weight of the chitinase was found to be around 29 kDa by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel
electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). The pH and temperature optima of the purified chitinase were found to be at pH 5.5 and
60 °C, respectively.
Conclusion, Significance and Impact of the study: Besides showing a significant yield, the enzyme has a high
thermal stability which has its applicability in the recycling of chitin waste.
3. Metabolomics for characterization of gender differences in patients infected with dengue virus
Nurul SHAHFIZA ; Tang T. HOCK ; Abdel-Hamid Z. ABDEL-HAMID ; Hasnah OSMAN ; Khozirah SHAARI ; Abdel-Hamid Z. ABDEL-HAMID
Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Medicine 2015;8(6):451-456
Objective: To determine the metabolic response associate with dengue infection based on human gender metabolic differences by means of 1H NMR-spectrometry. Methods: The mid-stream urine collected from both male and female patients diagnosed with dengue fever at Penang General Hospital and fourty-three healthy individuals were analyzed with 1H NMR spectroscopy, followed by chemometric multivariate analysis. NMR signals which highlighted in the OPLS-DA S-plot were further selected and identified using Human Metabolome Database, Chenomx Profiler. Results: The results pointed out that NMR urine profiling was able to capture human gender metabolic differences that are important for the distinction of classes of individuals of similar physiological conditions; infected with dengue. Distinct differences between dengue infected patients versus healthy individuals and subtle differences in male versus female infected with dengue were found to be related to the metabolism of amino acid and tricarboxylic acid intermediates cycle. Conclusions: The 1H NMR metabolomic investigation combined with appropriate algorithms and pattern recognition procedures, gave an evidence for the existence of distinct metabolic differentiation of individuals, according to their gender, modulates with the infection risk.