Aims: Capsicum annuum (pepper) is one of the most important crops in the world. It contains an impressive list of phytonutrients that were found to have disease-preventing and health-promoting properties. Today, they are grown widely in many parts of the world as an important commercial crop. However, fungal infection is the main problem that leads to the common pepper disruptive disease, known as the Anthracnose, which lowers the yields of this plant. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the growth, enzymatic antioxidant specific activities of catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), and guaiacol peroxidase (g-POD) as well as non-enzymatic antioxidants including ascorbic acid, α-tocopherol and carotenoids content in C. annuum as a response to the fungal infections by Colletotrichum capsici. Methodology and results: The assays were conducted at 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 weeks of fungal treatment periods. The results showed that plant growth (plant height, leaves number, length and width, chlorophyll content) was significantly lower in treated plants compared to controls. The CAT specific activity increased drastically at the early stages of the experiment and decreased thereafter. In contrast, the APX and g-POD specific activity were initially lower, but increased significantly at the later stages of the experiment. For the non-enzymatic antioxidants, the amount of ascorbic acid, α- tocopherol and carotenoids content were significantly higher at the first week of treatment and slowly reduced afterwards. Conclusion, significance and impact of study: This study shows that fungal infection inhibited the growth of pepper plants and the enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants worked in concert to fight against the stress caused by the fungal infection, with their different specific roles in removing and reducing the reactive oxygen species in stress condition.
Capsicum

Aims: Melon Manis Terengganu, MMT is one of the economically important fruits in Terengganu, which contains numerous nutritional values and bioactive compounds that benefit human health. The major problem is MMT has been affected by Fusarium sp., which is the common fungus in the Cucurbitaceae family resulting in Fusarium wilt disease and lowering melon production. It may also affect the antioxidant value of MMT; however, limited study has been conducted on this issue. Hence, the objective of this study was to determine the non-enzymatic as well as enzymatic activities in response to Fusarium sp. (S2 and S4) infection. Methodology and results: In this study, MMT leaves were incubated in culture filtrate (CF) obtained from Murashige and Skoog (MS) liquid medium. The antioxidative responses were assayed at 0, 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 days of treatment. In response to Fusarium infection, the ascorbic acid, α-tocopherol and carotenoid content were significantly stimulated at the early stages of the experiment and slowly reduced afterward. This current study also demonstrated that the CAT-specific activities were initially induced in S2 CF-treated leaves. Similar APX and gPOD specific activity patterns were observed in both S2 and S4 CFs treatments. The APX and gPOD-specific activities were induced at the later stages of infection in S4 CF-treated leaves. Conclusion, significance and impact of study: The results revealed that enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants worked together to fight against stress caused by the fungal infection, with the activation of the plant defense system.

The art of talking to patients and their relatives does not come naturally to most of us and the ability to put oneself in the patients’ predicament is difficult particularly for the young doctors. To identify the communication abilities of the young doctors, a cross sectional study was carried out on 32 house officers who graduated from UKM in 2004 during their house jobs at different hospitals in Malaysia. A standardized questionnaire was used to collect the data. Fifty nine percent respondents claimed that they had communicated very well with patients while 69% with support staff and 88% with peers. On the other hand 38% and 41% of the respondents claimed they communicated very well with their superiors and families of patients. Only 22% of the graduates’ skills of communication in breaking bad news were very well, while 50% and 81% were very well in counselling patients and taking consent for procedures. Curriculum planners need to emphasize the importance of developing good communication skills in all aspects for the future doctors.

Aims: This study aimed to screen the plant growth-promoting fluorescent bacteria (FLB) which isolated from the healthy rice rhizophere and to evaluate its biocontrol and growth promotion properties against Pyricularia oryzae on aerobic rice seedling of MARDI Aerob 1. Methodology and results: King’s B agar with glycerol was used as the selective medium to isolate FLB from the healthy rice rhizosphere soil. All FLB obtained were in vitro screened for antagonistic activities against P. oryzae using dual culture, volatile substances and hydrogen cyanide productions. The potential FLB isolates were further evaluated on rice seedling early growth promotion before identified using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. A total of 24 FLB were isolated from the healthy rice rhizosphere soil in Setiu, Terengganu, Malaysia. Isolates: FLB4, FLB5, FLB7 and FLB10 scored the total of percentage inhibition radial growth (PIRG) values ranged 99.5-105.0%. Further seedling growth promotion screening revealed that FLB4, FLB7 and FLB10 were significantly improved seedling growth with vigor index of 378.32%, 461.53% and 335.60% over control (133.31%). 16S rRNA sequencing identified that FLB7 as Bacillus subtilis and the FLB4 and FLB10 as Pseudomonas putida. Conclusion, significance and impact of study The selected FLB isolates (FLB4, FLB7 and FLB10) are potential to be developed as biological control agents against P. oryzae with growth promoting property on aerobic rice seedling.
Plant Breeding--methods