1.A new isolate of thermophilic and organic solvent tolerant bacteria for lipase production using basal medium of palm kernel cake 80-87
Nurul Hidayah Mohd Zubairi ; Md. Zahangir ALAM ; Md Noor SALLEH ; Hamzah Mohd SALLEH ; Nurul Alia FAZIL
Malaysian Journal of Microbiology 2018;14(2):80-87
Aims: This research focused on the selection of potential strains especially bacteria that can grow effectively in palm kernel cake (PKC) and produce high amount of thermostable and solvent tolerant (TS-OST) lipase. The work involved the exploration of renewable PKC as potential fermentation medium for discovery to novel TS-OST lipase that would have excellent tolerance and activity in presence of organic solvents with high temperatures for industrial applications.Methodology and results: Using palm kernel cake (PKC) as source of thermophilic bacteria, 53 bacterial strains were found survived at temperature 65 °C. However, after subcultured several times, only 17 strains were found as pure thermophilic strains. Preliminary screening both qualitative and quantitative was performed to all 17 potential thermophilic bacterial strains and showed that only 11 purified thermophilic strains are lipase producer. Strain PKC-P1 produced highest enzyme activity (11.13 U/g), followed by PKC-P13 and PKC-C9. The lowest enzymeactivity was lipase produced byPKC-C10 (0.76U/g). Strain PKC-P1 has been classified as Gram negative bacteria and identified as Bacillus smithiistrain PKC_P1.Conclusion, significance and impact of study: PKC as a by-product of oil palm industry consistsof many nutrients that can give benefits towards industry and can be utilized in order to produce enzymes like lipases. From these results, it could be concluded that this lipase stable at temperature 65 °C and pH 7 and may be a potential candidate to be used in a variety of biotechnological applications. This finding revealed that a bacterial strain obtained from oil-rich environment which is PKC through isolation process has potential as a source of more economical enzyme to be applied in biotechnology industr
2.Fear of Covid-19 and Burnout Among Healthcare Providers in Malaysia: Is Resilience a Missing Link?
Siew-Mooi Ching ; Ramayah Thurasamy ; Ai Theng Cheong ; Anne Yee ; Poh Ying Ling ; Irmi Ismail Zarina ; Kai Wei Lee ; Jun Ying Ng ; Rofina Abdul Rahim ; Mohd Khairi Mohd Noor ; Chang Li Cheng ; Ahmad Iqmer Nashriq Mohd Nazan ; Hafizah Md Salleh ; Noor Hasliza Hassan
Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences 2023;19(No.4):265-272
Introduction: During the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare providers have been in great fear due to the high risk of
contracting COVID-19 infection at any time. This study aimed to determine the mediating role of resilience on the
relationship between fear of COVID-19 and burnout in primary care healthcare providers in Malaysia. Methods: This
was an online cross-sectional study involving 1280 healthcare providers aged 18 years and older from 30 government primary care clinics in Malaysia. We used the COVID-19 Fear Scale, the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory Scale,
and the Short Brief Resilience Scale to collect data from the respondents. Smart-PLS was used to perform mediation
analysis. Results: The mean age of the respondents was 36 years old and mean duration of working experience was
11 years. The majority of the respondents were female (82.4%) and Malays (82.3%). The study population consisted of nurses (47.4%), doctors (26%), medical assistants (11.9), healthcare assistant (7.1%), medical laboratory
technicians (6.4%) and drivers(1.3).The results show that fear of COVID-19 positively predicts burnout. According
to the results, resilience mediates the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and all the three burnout domains,
namely personal burnout (β=0.175,p<0.001), work-related burnout (β=0.175,p<0.001) and client-related burnout
(β=0.172,p<0.001). Additionally, resilience reduces the impact of COVID-19 fear on the three domains of burnout.
Conclusion: Our study has reported a mediating effect of resilience on the relationship between fear of COVID-19
and burnout.