Tahfiz school is an institution that specialises in educating students to memorize and recite the whole Al-Quran. Memorizing the Al-Quran by rote learning will activate the brain to improve the brain ability to process, store information and build memory. The presence of heavy metals affects the nervous system and interferes with the function of the central and peripheral nervous system which will then cause the impairment of mental and cognitive function. The ability to learn, remember or memorize, use of language and to understand something may be disrupted and cause small decrease in IQ and attention. Cross-sectional studies was conducted to measure and to determine the correlation between the levels of heavy metals, Al-Quran memorization and intelligence (IQ) among students in selected tahfiz schools compared to non-tahfiz schools in Selangor. Levels of heavy metals in nail and hair samples were analyzed by using the Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). WASI-II test for intelligence was used to measure the student’s IQ. Questionnaires was used to obtain demographic data and was analyzed by using the SPSS version 23.0. Based on the Pearson correlation test, there was a very weak negative correlation and significant relationship between manganese in the hair samples with the level of Al-Quran memorization (r= -0.178, p=0.017). In addition, there was a weak positive correlation but significant relationship between the level of intelligence (IQ) with the level of Al-Quran memorization (r= 0.375, p=<0.001). As a conclusion, the higher the concentration of manganese will cause a decline in the level of Al-Quran memorization and the higher the level of Al-Quran memorization will cause an increase in the level of intelligence (IQ).

The accumulation of tear film proteins as well as microbes colonization onto worn contact lenses can be eliminated conventionally by mechanical rubbing during the cleaning process. Lens2® functions in rotation manner to loosen the deposits on the contact lens and has antimicrobial coating to keep lenses away from contamination. The objective of this study was to determine the efficiency of Lens2® to remove deposited protein and reduce microbial contamination compared to conventional method. Twenty-eight subjects each wore a pair of contact lens FDA Group 1 (Polymacon, SoftLens®38, Bausch & Lomb) for one month and cleaned them using multipurpose solution (COMPLETE® MoisturePLUSTM, Advanced Medical Optics) separately using two different methods. The right lens was cleaned conventionally while the left lens were cleaned using the Lens2®. The control group of thirteen subjects each wore a pair of contact lens for the same period and cleaned both conventionally. These lenses and its cases were then analyzed for protein deposition using Bichinchoninic Acid Assay (BCA) Kit (Sigma, USA) in 96-well plate. Microbial contamination was determined by culturing the samples on nutrient agar for bacteria and fungi and non-nutrient agar for amoeba isolation. The mean of total protein on control lenses (17.014 ± 13.246 μg/mL) was not significantly different from those on the Lens2® (21.623 ± 19.127 μg/mL). There were also low growth numbers of amoeba in each group of samples. Interestingly, there were no growths of amoeba from all Lens2® samples collected. There was also low growth numbers of bacteria in each sample group whereby Lens2® had the lowest growth of bacteria. No growth of fungi was obtained from all samples. The automatic lens cleaner, Lens2® was found to be as efficient as the conventional cleaning method. However, the Lens2® has additional advantage because of its antimicrobial material and need shorter time in the cleaning process as well as easy and effective.

Quassia borneensis has been traditionally used as antihypertensive agent without any scientific literature on its mechanism of action. The objective of this study was to evaluate the antiinflammatory, antioxidant and antiproliferation properties of Q. borneensis extracts. The hexane, chloroform and aqueous extracts of root and bark of Q. borneensis were subjected to nitric oxide (NO) inhibition assay in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. Expression of inducible NO synthase (iNOS) protein level was analyzed by Western blot. The antioxidant and antiproliferative activities of the extracts on HL-60 cells were determined using Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP) and MTT assays, respectively. The chloroform extract of Q. borneensis root obtained by soxhlet method (CSR) significantly inhibited 97.64 ± 0.96% of NO production (p < 0.001) and suppressed iNOS expression (p < 0.05) at the highest concentration of 1.0 μg/ml. The chloroform extract of bark obtained by maceration (CMB) exhibited the highest antioxidant capacity in the absence and presence of HL-60 cells, where the FRAP value were 125.45 ± 9.10 μM FeSO4.7H2O and 181.55 ± 3.45 μM FeSO4.7H2O, respectively. The greatest inhibition of HL-60 cell proliferation was exhibited by the chloroform extract of bark obtained by soxhlet method (CSB) with the IC50 of 5.0 μg/ml. The findings suggested that the chloroform extracts of Q. borneensis possess antiinflammatory, antioxidant and antiproliferative activities.

Hibiscus sabdariffa Linn. or also known as roselle which is rich in polyphenols, has been demonstrated to cause loweringof blood pressure in animal and clinical settings. However its exact mechanism of action particularly from polyphenoliccompounds is not clearly understood. Therefore, we aimed to determine the effects of H. sabdariffa polyphenol extract(HPE) towards vascular reactivity and its mechanism of action. The HPE was studied on isolated thoracic aortic ringsfrom normal Sprague-Dawley rats, suspended in a 15-ml organ chambers containing Krebs-Henseleit solution. Thechanges in tension were recorded by isometric transducer connected to data acquisition. HPE relaxed the contractioninduced by phenylephrine (PE, 1 μM) in similar pattern for both endothelium-intact and endothelium denuded aorticrings in dose-dependent manner 0.1 ~ 0.9 mg/ml. The pretreatment with atropine (1 μM), a competitive muscarinicantagonist, and propranolol (1 μM), a non-selective beta- blocker did not alter HPE vasorelaxation response. In addition,HPE did not inhibit the contraction induced by extracellular Ca2+ precontracted by PE (1 μM) or KCl (60 mM), in Ca2+-free solution, suggesting that the relaxation effect of HPE was not via inhibition of calcium channels. In conclusion,HPE demonstrated vasorelaxation effects on rat thoracic aorta although the underlying mechanism is still unknown.The vasorelaxation effect could be via angiotensin type 1 receptor inhibition in the vascular smooth muscle cells or theactivation of hyperpolarizing K+ chan

Alpinia conchigera (small ginger) is a herbaceous plant that is usually used as an alternative treatment in the fi eld of traditional medicine. This study was conducted to evaluate the cytotoxicity, genotoxicity and mode of cell death of hexane extract of A. conchigera towards Chang liver cells. The 24 hours MTT assay as carried out to determine the viability percentage of Chang liver cells after being treated with hexane extract of A. conchigera. The results showed that there was a signifi cant decrease in cell viability (p < 0.05) and IC50 value of hexane extract of A. conchigera was 8.6 μg/ml compared to negative control. Based on this IC50 value, AO/PI staining was done to determine the mode of cell death in liver Chang cells by means of apoptosis or necrosis. The results showed that there was a signifi cant change (p < 0.05) for mode of Chang liver cells death through apoptosis compared to negative control. In this study, the evaluation of DNA damage was also done using alkaline comet assay. The IC10 and IC25 values of 4 μg/ml and 6 μg/ml respectively that were obtained in MTT assay were used. Chang liver cells were treated with A. conchigera hexane extract for 2 hours. There was a signifi cant change (p < 0.05) for percentage of DNA damage in treated group compared to negative control. As a conclusion, hexane extract of A. conchigera gave cytotoxic and genotoxic effect towards Chang liver cells as well as to induce cell death through apoptosis.
Cytotoxins

Mutagenic and antimutagenic activities of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) Lactobacillus plantarum isolated from the localfermented durian (tempoyak) was determined by Ames test (Salmonella/microsome mutagenicity assay). Our study alsoinvolved pre-incubation assay against Salmonella typhimurium TA 98 and TA 100 bacterial strain in the presence andabsence of metabolic activator S9 system. It was found that the L. plantarum showed no mutagenic activity on bothS. typhimurium strain TA 98 and TA 100 in the presence and absence of metabolic activator. Significant antimutagenicactivity (p < 0.05) was observed in both cell-free supernatant and bacterial cell suspension of L. plantarum as comparedto the mutagenicity induced by 2-Aminoanthracene in the presence of metabolic activator. Meanwhile, in the absence ofmetabolic activator, only the bacterial cells of L. plantarum showed antimutagenicity acitivity against Sodium Azide and2-Nitrofluorene. In conclusion, L. plantarum could play a vital role as chemopreventive agent by binding to mutagensand suppressing mutagenesis. Thus, L. plantarum could be consider as a good candidate for functional food developmentas a supplement product to prevent development of colon cancer.

Forensic entomology is defined as knowledge about insect and its relationship with a decomposed human body. With this knowledge, post-mortem interval (PMI) can be estimated. PMI can be determined by taking into consideration the insect species and the developmental stage of the insects. Identification of the insect species requires the insect to develop into adulthood. Since this will take a relatively long time, the objectives of this study were to optimize temperature and humidity for the growth of Chrysomya megacephala larvae to adults. C. megacephala larvae were transferred into a rearing container and put inside a special incubator with temperature adjusted to 27, 30, 33, 36 and 39°C separately. Once optimum temperature for larvae growth was determined, optimum relative humidity was determined then for the length of time taken for C. megacephala larvae to develop into adults. To achieve this, the larvae of C. megacephala were incubated in a special incubator and the relative humidity set at 54.2, 57.6, 76.0 and 67.5% (control) separately. The developmental stages of C. megacephala for both temperatures and humidity levels were recorded accordingly. Results obtained indicated that C. megacephala developmental stages grew much faster in 33oC than other temperatures. The optimum relative humidity level for the species was 76.0%. By utilizing the appropriate temperature and relative humidity the development of C. megacephala, from eggs to adults could be reduced from 8 to 9 days to 5 days.

Drug Metabolizing Enzyme (DME) has been a target of natural chemopreventive agents to inhibit, retard and reverse theprocess of carcinogenesis. Pterostilbene, an analog to resveratrol has been reported to possess various pharmacologicalbenefits including chemoprevention. In our study, benzo[a]pyrene-induced HT-29 colorectal cell line was used as theDME model. The activity of phase I enzyme CYP1A as determined by the 7-ethoxyresorufin O-deethylation (EROD) assaywas found to be inhibited significantly by pterostilbene at 50 µM, 75 µM and 100 µM (p ≤ 0.01, p ≤ 0.05, p ≤ 0.01respectively) compared to the benzo[a]pyrene treated group. Meanwhile, pterostilbene induced glutathione-S-transferase(GST) activity significantly (p ≤ 0.01) at 50 µM as compared to the untreated. In addition, However, the protein expressionof CYP1A1 and GST in pterostilbene treated group was not significantly affected compared to untreated. On the otherhand, pterostilbene at 25 and 75 µM were able to increase the protein expression of transcription factor Nrf2 significantly(p ≤ 0.01). Results indicated that pterostilbene could reduce metabolic activation of procarcinogens and increase thedetoxification process which can be potentially developed as chemopreventive agent.

Pesticide exposure can lead to low trace elements levels in human body. Trace element plays important role in body metabolism. The aim of this study was to study the levels of selenium, zinc and chromium among paddy farmers who expose to pesticide in Wilayah I, MADA, Perlis. This cross sectional study involved 70 males paddy farmers and 57subjects living in fisherman village as control group who were aged between 21 to 80 years old. Subjects were interviewed to obtain information on their demographic data by using validated questionnaire. Subjects also were examined for their blood pressure and glucose level. Selenium, zinc and chromium levels were analyzed by using acid digestion method and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). Results showed that selenium levels in hairs (5.11 ± 17.05 μg/L) and nails (4.92 ± 2.17 μg/L) were significantly (p < 0.05) lower compared to selenium levels in hairs (15.67 ± 10.59 μg/L) and nails (6.67 ± 2.81 μg/L) in control group. Chromium levels in hairs (31.83 ± 15.17 μg/L) and nails (87.64 ± 23.30 μg/L) were also significantly lower (p < 0.05) compared to chromium levels in hairs (85.19 ± 56.90 μg/L) and nails (99.36 ± 56.89 μg/L) of control group. However there were no significant different (p>0.05) between all trace element levels and duration of pesticide exposures. In conclusion, levels of trace elements were lower in nails and hairs of paddy farmers than fisherman community group

Pesticides and chemical fertilizers are widely used in agriculture to increase crop productivity among farmers.However, exposure to pesticides will give potential risk to human health. The aim of this study was to analyze thefrequency of micronucleus (MN) and binucleus (BNu) formation in buccal cells from farmers who were exposedto pesticides using the MN assay. Buccal swabs were collected from the farmers in Tanjung Karang (n = 32) andKelantan (n = 43) using wooden tongue depressor. A structured questionnaire was used to obtain demographic dataof the farmers. Cytogenetic analysis was carried out by Acridin Orange (AO) staining 0.0025% (w/v). The frequencyof MN and BNu as the biomarkers for cytogenetic damage was observed by using a fluorescence microscope.Comparison of frequency of MN and BNu is conducted in two areas namely Tanjung Karang, Selangor and Kelantanbecause of the agricultural activity and the type of pesticides used are different. Results showed that the frequencies of bothMN and BNu among farmers in Tanjung Karang were significantly higher (p < 0.05) compared to farmers in Kelantan.Meanwhile, for the socio-demographic factors (age, smoking status, working period), MN and BNu frequencies amongfarmers in Tanjung Karang were also significantly higher (p < 0.05) as compared to farmers in Kelantan. While in theaspect of pesticide exposure, the frequencies of MN and BNu showed no significant difference between the frequency ofpesticide spraying (p > 0.05) and the practices of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) (p > 0.05). This may suggeststhat cytogenetic changes were not influenced by these factors. In addition, correlation study shows positive correlationbetween the frequency of MN with the pesticide exposure of farmers in Tanjung Karang (p > 0.05, r = 0.015) and Kelantan(p > 0.05, r = 0.0158). Besides, the frequency of BNu also has a positive correlation with the pesticide exposure amongfarmers in Tanjung Karang (p > 0.05, r = 0.036) and farmers in Kelantan (p > 0.05, r = 0.013). Hence, this present study demonstrated that exposure to pesticides increasedthe formation of MN and BNu among farmers and theprolonged use of pesticides may induce genotoxicity andDNA damage to human.