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Lake is one of the complete ecosystems and source of freshwater itself. Lake serves as a habitat for aquatic plants and animals, including the microorganisms. Lake can either be formed naturally or manmade. Most formed lakes are from volcanic eruptions, or cave ruins and lakes are formed from the rainwater. Man-made lakes usually formed after mining activities, and many can be found all over the world. Water pollution, including lake pollution, is common worldwide. It can be from point-source or non-point source. Natural environmental factors can also contribute to the lake pollution. In this study, aquatic life has been found dead and the samples of both water and aquatic life were taken for analysis. Two types of analysis were conducted; in-situ sampling analysis with YSI handheld parameter and an ICP-OES analysis were conducted. The analysis shown that early low concentration of dissolved oxygen (DO) (3.5~4.5 mg/L) and highest concentration of ammoniacal nitrogen (NH4-N) (20.69 mg/L) as well as high concentration of sulphur (S) 3.506 mg/L) were found in both water sample and the tissue samples of the organisms. This concludes that the death of the aquatic life was due to the toxicity of sulphur found in the tissue samples.

Climate change, a global challenge and among one of the significant keyword(s) that potentially attract various fields of studies to be performed. Assessing its changes in various types of analysis such as in terms of bibliometrics illustrate the importance of considering its global impacts. Recently, scientometric study has become interactive methods for determining the performance of certain fields of study in which it will show the interactive figures and visualizations of various types of dimensions (i.e., query of information). Scientometric study has also provided tools for summarized literature-based evidence from available or selected scientific databases. The WOS database has been started to collect scientific publications from 1970, and the results of climate change related research in Malaysia have been conducted from 1976, and it shows the increasing trends starting from the year of 1976 until 2021. Thus, the objective of this study is to determine the current status of climate change research in Malaysia through the scientometric analysis. The evolution of scientific research publication in climate change had shown the increasing trends, in which the total overall publication was recorded as low as 2 papers in 1992 up until tenfold in 2020, with a total of 200 papers. The highest total scientific publication in the knowledge domain is 13.01% which is in 2020. The study showed that a total of 1,049 authors with 1,522 organizations have been involved actively in climate change research in Malaysia. The study also showed that a total of 35,550 citations were received from these areas and a total of 38 co-citation clusters of research emerged in the cluster analysis. In conclusion, climate change research in Malaysia is one of the potential top knowledge domains (i.e., field of study) in the future scientific research areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: The demand for green products is pushing industries to search for more eco‐friendly materials, especially for food packaging applications. Starch biopolymer has been recognized as biodegradable material that can be produced from various plants. However, the strength of starch‐based bioplastic retards their widespread application. Simultaneously, the high amount of agricultural waste produced by the food industry has been a growing environmental issue. Incorporating agro‐waste fibers as a biofiller in starch‐based bioplastic can improve the properties of the bioplastic, allowing its use in various applications. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the effect of chemical treatment on the structural, thermal, and mechanical properties of sugarcane bagasse as filler for starch‐based bioplastic. RESULTS: Results showed that alkaline treatment improved surface roughness and freed it of surface impurities. Results revealed that the thermal stability and mechanical properties improved significantly with the incorporation of sugarcane bagasse (SB) loading into potato starch (PS). The highest tensile strength (5.30 MPa) and Young's modulus (28.72 MPa) were exhibited by the sample with 6% SB loading and further increments of SB led to a decrease in the strength of the biopolymer. CONCLUSION: The incorporation of alkali‐treated SB could increase and enhance the tensile strength and thermal stability of the bioplastic. This would contribute to reinforced materials that will allow for the application of PS as a new potential biodegradable material. Thus, it reduces the disposal period process and has great potential as an environmentally friendly, biodegradable, and renewable material. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry (SCI). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chitin is the second most abundant polysaccharide, produced mainly as an industrial waste stream during crustacean processing. Chitin can be derived into chitosan through the deacetylation process. Conversion of shrimp waste into chitosan via the deacetylation process could be considered a practical approach for shell waste remediation. In this study, chitosan's physicochemical characteristics extracted from two types of Pacific white leg shrimp, L. vannamei's shell (i.e., rough and smooth), were compared with commercial chitosan. The yield, moisture, ash, solubility, water and fat binding capacity were measured. The degree of deacetylation (DDA) was calculated using FTIR, and their chemical Structure was confirmed using XRD and SEM-EDS. Both extracted chitosan showed no significant difference in yield, moisture, ash, solubility and water binding capacity but showed a significant difference with commercial chitosan. Moreover, the fat binding capacity of commercial chitosan showed the lowest percentage (408.34 ± 0.83%) as compared to extracted chitosan (smooth shell 549.59 ± 12.48%; rough shell 500.55 ± 12.10%). The DDA indicated that extracted chitosan from the smooth and rough shell was considered good chitosan as compared to commercial chitosan with 84.08 ± 1.27%, 80.78 ± 0.79% and 74.99 ± 1.48%, respectively. Additionally, the presence of hydroxyl and amino groups from FTIR and a good crystallinity index was recorded using XRD of extracted chitosan. Based on observed characteristics, shrimp shell waste from L. vannamei can achieve chitosan standard quality as a biopolymer and highly potential to be applied in various industrial applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reproductive health and male fertility are closely related to dietary practices. In recent years, Malaysia has shown a lot of interest in using herbal plants as dietary supplements or in the treatment of numerous diseases. Aquilaria malaccensis, commonly known as karas or gaharu, has recently gained attention for its potential to cure many diseases due to its pharmacological properties. However, studies on its effect on male fertility and reproductive organs are very scarce. This study was conducted to determine the effect of A. malaccensis on male reproductive organs' weight (testis, epididymis, prostate gland and seminal vesicle) and sperm quality (sperm count, sperm morphology and sperm motility) in adult Sprague Dawley rats. Twenty-four male Sprague Dawley rats were allocated into four treatment groups; Control (C: 1 mL of distilled water, n = 6), Treatment 1 (T1: 1 g A. malaccensis/kg body weight, n = 6), Treatment 2 (T2: 2 g A. malaccensis/kg body weight, n = 6) and Treatment 3 (T3: 3 g A. malaccensis/kg body weight, n = 6), respectively. Distilled water and A. malaccensis were administered by oral gavage once daily for 28 days. The rats were euthanised on Day 29 for assessment of reproductive organs' weight and sperm quality. Result shows that weight of testis, epididymis, prostate gland, seminal vesicle and sperm motility did not differ (p > 0.05) among control and treated groups. A significant increase (p < 0.05) of sperm number (1.36 × 10-6) and a decrease (p < 0.05) in percentage of the abnormal sperm (8.17%) were observed in T1 group when compared to Control group. Incremental dosage of A. malaccensis seemed to decrease number of sperm (T3: 0.78 × 10-6 < T1: 1.36 × 10-6 with p < 0.05) and increase percentage of abnormal sperm (T3: 18.83% > T2: 12.17% > T1: 8.17% with p < 0.05). In conclusion, the administration of either 1, 2 or 3 grams of A. malaccensis did not alter the reproductive organs' weight and sperm motility. However, the higher concentration of A. malaccensis consumed by the rats seemed to have detrimental effects on the number and morphology of sperm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Textile industry has been rapidly progressing over the years, leading to an increasing volume of water usage that contributes to the large production of textile wastewater. Biological treatment processes have been proven to be the most environmentally friendly, cost-effective and requiring reduced production treatment by-products. In this study, using microbial treatment was applied. Three potential local isolates of micro-organism had been isolated from textile wastewater. The treatment processes were studied under two conditions, namely aerobic and anaerobic. Decolourization of seven commercial textile dyes, namely Crystal Violet 3, Acid Black 1, Basic Blue 8, Acid Blue 147, Congo R, Chrysoiodine R and Yellow 2 G were studied. After seven days of incubation, a significant reduction of 92% for Yellow 2G (Y) and 73.73%for Chrysoiodine R was observed, indicating a high capability of the bacterial isolates indye-degrading activities. Highest chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal was achieved byisolate C3K (93.93%), followed by isolate C3W (90.5%) and isolate C1 (89.173%) in nineincubation days, highlighting the ability of these microbial isolates in removing COD from the individual textile dyes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of the implementation of a rainwater harvesting system as an alternative water source supply for non-potable use, therefore the characteristic of chemical compounds was significantly explored. The Department of Chemistry, Malaysia, gave the data set for three years (2017-2019). Some chemometric techniques, including PCA, were performed to identify the dimensionality of the rainwater data, hence establishing the rainfall index's purity to determine the quality of rainwater in the study area. Discriminant analysis managed to differentiate each rain gauge station. Cluster analysis was then applied to perform smaller group of rain gauge stations. The result demonstrates that sea salt, secondary aerosols, trace metals, crustal origin, and organic acid dominated the dimensionality of rainwater data with a total variance of 53.38% and indicated that the PRI was significantly diversified into good purity of rainfall index (GPRI), (Labuan and Danum Valley), moderate purity of rainfall index (MPRI), (Kuching and Tawau) and bad purity of rainfall index (BPRI), (Kota Kinabalu and Bintulu). From the study, it can be stipulated that the chemical composition of rainwater in the study area was attributable to the local activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]