Aims: Diarrheal disease is one of serious healthcare problems in developing countries. Endophytic bacteria have been known as a promising source of new antibiotics against susceptible and resistant forms of microorganisms. In this study, we identified three endophytic bacteria isolated from Neesia altissima and screened their antagonistic activity against diarrhea-causing bacteria in order to find new potential secondary metabolites. Methodology and results: Samples of N. altissima were collected from mount Halimun-Salak national park. Endophytic bacteria were isolated from roots, barks, and fresh leaves of N. altissima by surface sterilized method. Screening of antagonistics activity was conducted against five diarrhea-causing bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhimurium, Shigella flexneri, and Bacillus cereus using crude extract dilution and diffusion disc methods. Three endophytic bacteria showed antagonistic activity against the pathogenic bacteria. Identification of the three potential endophytic bacteria using molecular analysis showed that two isolates determined as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and one isolate belongs to P. azotoformans. Conclusion, significance and impact study: Crude extract of P. aeruginosa (strain 1.4.1A and 1.2.7D) and P. azotoformans (strain 1.8.7KB) showed growth inhibition activity to the diarrhea-causing bacteria. This is the first report of P. azotoformans exhibited antagonistic activities against diarrhea-causing bacteria. This data suggested that bacterial endophytes from N. altissima provided potential sources for the discovery of new secondary metabolites to combat the diarrhea-causing bacteria. This finding highlights potential prospects of endophytic bacteria utilization from endemic medicinal plants for the discovery of novel bioactive compounds.
Bacteria

ntroduction: Oral cancer is a life-threatening disease. Lack of public awareness is a potent barrier for the early detection of oral cancer, especially for high-risk populations. Objective: This study aimed to determine the awareness and knowledge of the signs, symptoms and risk factors of oral cancer among a Siamese ethnic group in Tumpat, Kelantan. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted, using a guided questionnaire on sociodemography, habits, awareness and knowledge of the signs, symptoms and risk factors of oral cancer. Individuals under 18 years old and who had been diagnosed with oral cancer were excluded from this study. Results: A total of 195 respondents participated, 61.5% were female and the mean age was 46 (1.64). About 41% of the respondents had received secondary education and 35.4% were illiterate. Most respondents were self-employed (21.5%), followed by farmers (19.5%) and housewives (20%). The majority of them had a monthly income that fell below the poverty level of RM 830 (76.9%). Among the respondents, 22.6% had the habit of smoking, 25.6% consumed alcohol, 8.2% were betel quid chewers and 2.6% chewed tobacco. Out of 195 respondents, only 6.7% were aware of oral cancer. About 16.9% of the respondents correctly answered all of the questions regarding the signs and symptoms of oral cancer and only 4.1% knew the risk factors of oral cancer. Conclusion: The awareness and knowledge of oral cancer in this targeted population were unsatisfactory. Future effective health promotion programs and education should be emphasised.

The incidence of lower limb amputation is high across the globe and continues to be a major threat to morbidity and mortality. Consequently, the provision of high quality and effective prosthetics services have been known as an essential component for a successful rehabilitation outcome. In Malaysia, amputation prevalence has been increasing in which several main components of service delivering aspects (such as service intervention, prosthetic personnel) should be anticipated to accommodate for the increasing demand. This article highlights the hurdles experienced in providing prosthetic services in Malaysia from multiple aspects such as financial burden to acquire the prosthesis and lack of expertise to produce quality prosthesis. This paramount issues consequently justify for the urgency to carry out national level survey on the current statistics of lower limb amputation and to ascertain the available workforce to provide a quality prosthetics services. Only with accurate and current information from the national survey, strategies and policies aimed at enhancing the outcome from prosthetics services can be achieved.

Introduction: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with periodontal disease due to its hyperinflammatory state. Limited studies have explored the prevalence of periodontal disease among CKD patients in Malaysia. Objective: To assess the periodontal status of pre-dialysis CKD patients in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia. Methods: A total of 46 pre-dialysis CKD patients who attended the nephrology clinic at Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia were enrolled in this study. Periodontal examination was performed using the periodontal probing depth (PPD), clinical attachment loss (CAL) and plaque index. Results: The majority of the CKD patients were Malay (95.7%) and 80.4% were males. The mean age of the patients was 58.5 years. Using PPD measurement, 37 (74.0%) of the patients had mild periodontitis, 9 (20.0%) had moderate periodontitis and 3 (6.0%) had no periodontitis. Based on CAL measurement, 12 (26%) patients had mild periodontitis, 29 (63.0%) had moderate periodontitis and 5 (11%) had severe periodontitis. The mean (standard deviation [SD]) value of mild and moderate-to-severe periodontitis by PPD measurement were 4.26 (0.26) and 5.24 (0.36), respectively. The mean of mild and moderate-to-severe periodontitis by CAL measurement were 2.66 (0.62) and 4.98 (0.73), respectively. There was no correlation between the periodontal parameters and estimated glomerular filtration rate (PPD: r = −0.160, P = 0.914; CAL: r = −0.135, P = 0.372; plaque index: r = 0.005, P = 0.974). Conclusion: This study revealed a greater prevalence and severity of chronic periodontitis among CKD patients. Thus, the periodontal health of CKD patients’ needs to be screened and monitored.

Chemical investigation of the methanol extract of Koordersiodendron pinnatum Merr. leaves resulted a new naphthalene derivative, (Z)-4-(tetradec-3-enyl)naphthalene-1,2,7-triol (1), together with three known compounds, β-sitosterol (2), 20-epibryonolic acid (3), and scopoletin (4). The structure of the new compound was elucidated based on spectroscopic evidence. The isolated compounds (1-4) were tested their cytotoxic activities against the P-388 murine leukemia cell line and compound 1 has highest activity with IC50 1.94 ㎛

Chemical investigation of the methanol extract of Koordersiodendron pinnatum Merr. leaves resulted a new naphthalene derivative, (Z)-4-(tetradec-3-enyl)naphthalene-1,2,7-triol (1), together with three known compounds, β-sitosterol (2), 20-epibryonolic acid (3), and scopoletin (4). The structure of the new compound was elucidated based on spectroscopic evidence. The isolated compounds (1-4) were tested their cytotoxic activities against the P-388 murine leukemia cell line and compound 1 has highest activity with IC50 1.94 ㎛

The present study discussed functional reorganization and alteration in respond to the slow-growing tumour,hemangiopericytoma in the occipital cortex. Visual evoked field (VEF) and auditory evoked field (AEF) usingmagnetoencephalography (MEG) was used to evaluate the source localization and brain activity. Results of VEF sourcelocalization show a typical brain waves. Brain activity of the occipital lobe demonstrate low activation in the ipsilateralto the tumour. However, result shows the activation on the contralateral hemisphere was high and bigger in activationvolume. AEF result shows an identical source localization and both side of the temporal lobe are activated. This resultsuggests that there is a positive plasticity in auditory cortex and slow-growing tumour can induce functional reorganizationand alteration to the brain.

This study was performed to assess the inconsistency of lesion quantification in standardised uptake value (SUV) [ 18F]-FDG between Ellipse (2-Dimensional) and Ellipsoid (3-Dimensional) quantification techniques by using PET/ CT image quality phantom. Reconstructed images of PET/CT ACR phantom was used to assess the quantification of SUV (SUVmax, SUVavg and SUVmin) on selected regions of interest. Statistical analysis of paired t-test was performed to compare the lesion quantification in SUV [18F]-FDG between 2D and 3D techniques. The quantification techniques were consistently similar of assessment between 2D SUVmax and 3D SUVmax at 12mm of ROI lesion with [(0.00 ± 0.02), t(29)=-0.48, p>0.05]. However, the rest of quantification techniques of 2D SUVmax, 3D SUVmax, 2D SUVavg, 3D SUVavg, 2D SUVmin and 3D SUVmin, results shown significant inconsistency since the p<0.05. This phantom study has proven that there were inconsistency of lesion quantitative assessment in 2D SUV and 3D SUV quantification techniques for [18F]-FDG PET/CT.

Background: Engaging in regular physical activity (PA) has become a worldwide issue for the prevention of numerous chronic diseases; therefore, is important to increase students’ desires to engage in PA by triggering their motivation. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between the motives for participating in PA and the amount of PA that secondary Chinese school students in Kelantan undertake. Methods: The participants consisted of 304 Chinese secondary school students (males = 165, females = 139) with a mean age of 13.55 years old (SD = 0.57) who volunteered to complete three measures, consisting of a demographic information form, the physical activity and leisure motivation scale for youth-Chinese version (PALMS-Y-C) and the Godin leisure-time exercise questionnaire-Chinese version (GLTEQ-C). Results: There were significant positive correlations between all the seven PA participation motives with amount of exercise (Enjoyment: r = 0.16, P = 0.010; Mastery: r = 0.23, P < 0.001; Competition: r = 0.21, P = 0.001; Affiliation: r = 0.22, P < 0.001; Psychological condition: r = 0.26, P < 0.001; Appearance: r = 0.20, P = 0.001; Physical condition: r = 0.20, P = 0.001). There were also significant mean differences among sweating exercise frequency categories in all the seven areas of PA participation motives (Enjoyment: P = 0.003, Mastery: P < 0.001, Competition: P = 0.001, Affiliation: P = 0.001, Psychological condition: P = 0.038, Appearance = 0.002, Physical condition: P = 0.004). Conclusion: The present study provided insight into how to promote PA in Kelantan Chinese school-aged children by specifically targeting their motives. Interventions targeting these motives could increase the amount of PA among Kelantan Chinese youths.

Introduction: The toxicity of high concentration monosodium glutamate (MSG) has become a controversial issue because of its inconsistent results in human and animal studies. This present study aims to evaluate the effect of subchronic high-doses oral administration of MSG on spatial memory performance and hippocampal pyramidal cells number. Methods: This study involved twenty-eight male Wistar rats, which were divided into a control group of NaCl 0.9% and three intervention groups of MSG 1.0 mg/g bodyweight (M1), 2.0 mg/g bodyweight (M2), and 4.0 mg/g bodyweight (M3) for 30 days. Statistical analysis used a One-way ANOVA test. Results: The result showed significant differences in spatial memory on the Morris Water Maze (MWM) test, including path length (p = 0.020) and escape latency (p = 0.011) according to general linear model repeated measurement analysis. The mean difference of estimated hippocampal pyramidal cells total number among the groups showed volume (p = 0.001), numerical density (p = 0.590), and cells number (p = 0.004). Furthermore, Post-Hoc analysis in both spatial memory and hippocampal pyramidal cells showed that the increasing MSG dose from 1.0 to 4.0 mg/g bodyweight led to a decrease in the results of spatial memory performance on the MWM test and a decrease in hippocampal cells. Conclusion: The present study has provided novel quantitative data that subchronic administration of high-dose MSG caused deleterious effects on the spatial memory function and the volume and number of hippocampal pyramidal cells.