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This study discusses the uses of smartphones on children that have a positive and negative impact on the development of children's social interaction. Today’s generation is also experienced significant lifestyle changes due to the influence of modern technology by today. Children in this century are less likely to interact with people around them because parents have revealed to children smartphones for daily use. This study aims to identify whether smartphones impact usage on social interactions over five years old and to identify the development of children's social interaction at home. This study case uses a qualitative method involving five respondents that involve parents of five years children at the University College of Yayasan Pahang Kindergarten. Data instruments will be applied such as interviews with parents or guardians of the children as a sample of the study and observation will be made while children are in the classroom. The researcher will record the results of the observations on the checklist provided. A predicted result of the study is smartphones will have a negative influence on children's social interactions. However, if the use of smartphones is restricted by parents can also have a positive effect on children.

The population of horseshoe crabs, Tachypleus gigas, in Malaysian waters is declining due to overexploitation, pollution, and loss of natural habitats. As an initiative to increase their population, adult T. gigas were reintroduced in Setiu lagoon, Terengganu. In the interest of sustainable management of bivalve resources in that area, feeding experiments were carried out to determine quantity consumption and feeding preferences of adult T. gigas in captivity on four species of economically important bivalves from Setiu namely Scapharca cornea, Meretrix meretrix, Geloina expansa and Magallana bilineata. Tachypleus gigas consumed less than a single intact bivalve per day and the amount increased to almost twice when fed with bivalve flesh. Females T. gigas showed a preference for intact M. meretrix, whereas males showed preference for M. bilineata and M. meretrix when fed with flesh only. Our findings suggest that T. gigas may not prey upon live adult bivalves in Setiu as they only scavenge on dead or weak bivalves. However, the impact of horseshoe crab reintroduction on other small invertebrates in Setiu including the juveniles of these bivalves needs to be explored in order to ensure the success of this conservation effort.

Clinical trials using human mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (hMSCs) for cell replacement therapy showed varied outcomes, where cells' efficacy has been perceived as the limiting factor. In particular, the quality and number of the expanded cells in vitro. In this study, we aimed to determine molecular signatures of hMSCs derived from the pulp of extracted deciduous teeth (SHED) and Wharton's jelly (WJSCs) that associated with cellular ageing during in vitro passaging. We observed distinct phenotypic changes resembling proliferation reduction, cell enlargement, an increase cell population in G2/M phase, and differentially expressed of tumor suppressor p53 in passage (P) 6 as compared to P3, which indicating in vitro cell senescence. The subsequent molecular analysis showed a set of diverse differentially expressed miRNAs and mRNAs involved in maintaining cell proliferation and stemness properties. Considering the signaling pathway related to G2/M DNA damage regulation is widely recognized as part of anti-proliferation mechanism controlled by p53, we explored possible miRNA-mRNA interaction in this regulatory pathway based on genomic coordinates retrieved from miRanda. Our work reveals the potential reason for SHED underwent proliferation arrest due to the direct impinge on the expression of CKS1 by miRNAs specifically miR-22 and miR-485-5p which lead to down regulation of CDK1 and Cyclin B. It is intended that our study will contribute to the understanding of these miRNA/mRNA driving the biological process and regulating different stages of cell cycle is beneficial in developing effective rejuvenation strategies in order to obtain quality stem cells for transplantation.

Stem cells provide various potential applications in regenerative medicine through its ability of self-renewal and differentiation. Among the various stem cells, dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) have shown encouraging results in their ability to regenerate. Honey has been used in traditional culture as a natural medicine in supporting wound healing. Yet, very few studies on honey were conducted for its potential as a proliferative agent for stem cells. The aim of this study is to evaluate the stability of two Trigona spp. honeys (1 and 2) added in culture media and its proliferative effect on DPSCs. Both honeys were diluted with standard culture medium through dilution process to prepare the concentrations of 0.01%, 0.04%, 0.10% and 0.25%. DPSCs were treated with the diluted honeys for 24 hours. The proliferative activity was determined through the images taken using an inverted microscope for every six hours. In addition, the MTT assay was conducted to determine the cell viability of DPSCs when treated with both honey 1 and 2 at various concentrations. The results showed a stable culture media added with honey for three days and a dose-dependent proliferative effect of both Trigona spp. honey samples on DPSCs. Optimum proliferative effects were observed at 24 hours for both Trigona spp. honey 1 and 2 on DPSCs. The optimum concentration of Trigona spp. honey 1 was from 0.04% to 0.10% and Trigona spp. honey 2 was below 0.01%. It is concluded that Trigona spp. honey has a promising proliferative effect on DPSCs. © 2019, University of Malaya. All rights reserved.

This thesis was scanned from the print manuscript for digital preservation and is copyright the author. Researchers can access this thesis by asking their local university, institution or public library to make a request on their behalf. Monash staff and postgraduate students can use the link in the References field.

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake.

Ramin Khanabdali,1 Anbarieh Saadat,1 Maizatul Fazilah,1 Khairul Fidaa’ Khairul Bazli,1 Rida-e-Maria Qazi,2 Ramla Sana Khalid,2 Durriyyah Sharifah Hasan Adli,1 Soheil Zorofchian Moghadamtousi,1 Nadia Naeem,2 Irfan Khan,2 Asmat Salim,2 ShamsulAzlin Ahmad Shamsuddin,1 Gokula Mohan1 1Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 2Dr Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research, International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University ofKarachi, Karachi, Pakistan Abstract: Small molecules, growth factors, and cytokines have been used to induce differentiation of stem cells into different lineages. Similarly, demethylating agents can trigger differentiation in adult stem cells. Here, we investigated the in vitro differentiation of rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) into cardiomyocytes by a demethylating agent, zebularine, as well as neuronal-like cells by β-mercaptoethanol in a growth factor or cytokines-free media. Isolated bone marrow-derived MSCs cultured in Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s Medium exhibited a fibroblast-like morphology. These cells expressed positive markers for CD29, CD44, and CD117 and were negative for CD34 and CD45. After treatment with 1µM zebularine for 24hours, the MSCs formed myotube-like structures after 10days in culture. Expression of cardiac-specific genes showed that treated MSCs expressed significantly higher levels of cardiac troponin-T, Nkx2.5, and GATA-4 compared with untreated cells. Immunocytochemical analysis showed that differentiated cells also expressed cardiac proteins, GATA-4, Nkx 2.5, and cardiac troponin-T. For neuronal differentiation, MSCs were treated with 1 and 10mM β-mercaptoethanol overnight for 3hours in complete and serum-free Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s Medium, respectively. Following overnight treatment, neuron-like cells with axonal and dendritic-like projections originating from the cell body toward the neighboring cells were observed in the culture. The mRNA expression of neuronal-specific markers, Map2, Nefl, Tau, and Nestin, was significantly higher, indicating that the treated cells differentiated into neuronal-like cells. Immunostaining showed that differentiated cells were positive for the neuronal markers Flk, Nef, Nestin, and β-tubulin. Keywords: MSCs, cardiomyocytes, demethylating agent, zebularine, neuron-like cells, β-mercaptoethanol

This study was carried out to determine the characteristics of pure durian seed gum in terms of moisture and ash content, mineral content, effect of temperature and pH on viscosity and sugar composition of the gum. Durian seed gum isolated from defatted local durian seeds yielded about 18% of light brown crude gum powder. Further purification of durian seed gum was carried out by barium complexing to give a yield of 1.2% of pure air-dried gum or 0.5% of freeze-dried gum. The purified durian seed gum had 17.9% moisture and 29.8% total ash. Mineral content of durian seed gum was comparable to commercial gum except for zinc content which was quite high in durian seed gum. The viscosity of 1% durian seed gum solution was 65 mPa s at a shear rate of 1000 s−1 at 29.8 °C. The viscosity of fully hydrated gum solutions decreased as temperature increase. It was found that increasing the temperature from 10 to 70 °C causing the viscosity to decrease about 34% at shear rate 1000 s−1 and 42% at shear rate 0.93 s−1. The pH of 1% gum solution at room temperature was 6.93, which is quite similar to guar gum. The viscosity of the durian seed gum was found to be highest at the neutral state. Generally, the gum solutions were fairly stable over a wide range of pH (2.0–10.0). Sugar analysis by PC and HPLC revealed the presence of l -rhamnose, glucose and d -galactose sugars in the hydrolyzed durian seed gum. The gum contained l -rhamnose, glucose and d -galactose in the ratio of 3:9:1. The results indicated that durian seed gum is not a galactomannan.

There are various thoughts and opinions when it comes to how people think of their selected banks. Therefore, to choose the best bank with a good personal loan package can be a bit tricky especially for first time customer. This research offers a guide in choosing the right bank for applying personal loan package by highlighting the important criteria that applicants should take into consideration. In order to cater the problem above, we used Consistent Fuzzy Preference Relations (CFPR). Based on expert and public opinions, the important criteria in selecting an Islamic personal loan package are interest rate, tenure of loan, processing period and security of the loan. We developed questionnaire with the criteria mention earlier and distributed it among academic staffs and non academic staffs at Faculty of Computer and Mathematical Sciences (FSKM), UiTM Shah Alam. Based on the questionnaire, we found that four banks have been selected for multiple reasons. Before we could determine the best bank, calculations are divided into 2 phases which are criteria weights determination and ranking of alternatives. We implemented these phases to get the aggregation result and to obtain the ranking in descending order. As a result, our objectives have been achieved. As a conclusion, CFPR can help others in the decision making process.

Given modules M and P, we introduce in section 2 the concept of an (M, P)-injective module. This concept contains many versions of injectivity known in the literature, such as principal injectivity...

(1998). Rings with krull dimension one. Communications in Algebra: Vol. 26, No. 7, pp. 2147-2158.

A ring R is said to left SF if all simple left R-modules are flat. We study some homological properties of such rings and find situations in which these become von Neumann regular.

Let R be a left and right perfect right self-injective ring. It is shown that if the radical of R is countably generated as a left ideal then R is quasi-Frobenius. It is also shown that the same conclusion can be drawn if r(A ∩ B) = r(A) + r(B) for all left ideals A and B of R.

Sulfated derivatives of a glycosaminoglycan containing l-glutamic acid produced by a marine Pseudomonas species, No. 42 strain, were prepared by the method of dicyclohexyl-carbodiimide-mediated reaction. Both low and high degrees of sulfation of the polysaccharides (products A1 and A2, respectively) were investigated for their antiviral activities against influenza virus type A (FluV-A) and B (FluV-B) in MDCK cells. Both preparations showed antiviral activity against FluV-A at the 50% antiviral effective concentration of 17.3 and 5.2 µg/ml, respectively, whereas they had no antiviral activity against FluV-B. No cytotoxicity of either product was noted against MDCK cells at the 50% cytotoxic concentration of 100 µg/ml.

Let S = Si=1n Rai be a finite normalizing extension of R and suppose that SM is a left S-module. Denote by crk(A) the dual Goldie dimension of the module A. We show that crk(RM) = n · crk(SM) if either SM is artinian or the group homomorphism M ? aiM given by x ? aix is an isomorphism.