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Shing Cheng Tan,1 Wen Tsin Poh,2 Audrey Chee Hui Yong,3 Eng Wee Chua,4 Der Jiun Ooi,5 Rozi Mahmud,6 Muthukkumaran Thiagarajan,7 Johnson Stanslas2 1UKM Medical Molecular Biology Institute, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 2Pharmacotherapeutic Unit, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia; 3Faculty of Pharmacy, MAHSA University, Jenjarom, Selangor, Malaysia; 4Drug and Herbal Research Centre, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 5Department of Oral Biology and Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry, MAHSA University, Jenjarom, Selangor, Malaysia; 6Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia; 7Department of Radiotherapy and Oncology, Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaCorrespondence: Johnson Stanslas, Email rcxjs@upm.edu.my; jstanslas@yahoo.co.ukAbstract: Considerable progress has been made in cancer drug development in recent decades. However, for people in low- and middle-income countries, including Malaysia, many of these drugs are not readily available. During the 2nd Malaysian Association for Cancer Research (MACR) International Scientific Conference, a forum discussion was held to address these challenges and explore strategies to improve access to cancer medicines in the country. This paper presents the results of the said forum discussion. A few challenges to cancer drug access were highlighted, including lengthy approval and regulatory practices, cost of medicines, and manufacturing barriers. Besides, a few strategies for mitigating some of these challenges were proposed, such as mechanisms for cost reduction, uptake of biosimilars and generics, local manufacturing, public-private partnerships, strengthening the role of insurance companies, funding and regulation, and advocacy for fair pricing, by drawing examples from cancer medicines access initiatives in Malaysia and initiatives for different disease groups. Overall, this paper provides a comprehensive overview of the challenges and strategies for improving access to cancer medicines in Malaysia and provides valuable insights for policymakers, healthcare providers, the pharmaceutical industry, cancer patients, cancer support groups, and other stakeholders working on this important issue.Keywords: cancer drug access, cancer treatment, Malaysia, non-equitable cancer drug distribution

This study was designed to investigate the ameliorating effect of methanolic extract of green walnut husk (GWH) in hypercholesterolemic rats. A total of thirty male Albino Wistar rats (Rattus norvegicus domestica) were divided randomly into six equal groups. Group 1, negative control, fed on a standard rat diet whereas groups 2–6, hypercholesterolemic rats, fed a high-fat diet (1% cholesterol in a standard diet). Group 2, positive control, was left untreated, whereas the groups 3–5 treated orally with methanolic extract of GWH at 200, 400, and 800 mg/kg/day BW, respectively. Group 6, treatment control, received atorvastatin intraperitoneally at a dosage rate of 0.8 mg/kg/day. The treatment lasted for 84 days. Lipid profiles, biomarkers for liver and kidney functions, some hematological parameters, and liver histopathological assessment were performed. No significant variation was observed on lipid profile values after 42 days of GWH intake; while after 84 days, there was significant reduction (P

Background: Modified Uniformly Redundant Array (MURA) Coded Aperture (CA) is a type of mask recently proposed for breast tumor imaging. Such masks have been frequently used in nuclear medicine clinical applications for the past two decades. All CA imaging methods are still limited to planar imaging, with only a few exceptions where they can be used for thin 3D imaging. At present, there is no commercially available SPECT camera that employs CA technology. Materials and Methods: This paper is investigating the proof-of-concept of the MURA CA mask for 3D breast tumor imaging. Such image formation performed well in planar imaging, but it is not fully evaluated for thick sources in 3D imaging. This paper demonstrated the performance of MURA in 3D breast imaging. The proposed imaging system uses a MURA mask and antimask dual reconstruction, and the raw projections are reconstructed using an iterative algorithm, Maximum Likelihood Expectation Maximization (MLEM). Results: The MURA antimask-reconstructed images are summed with mask images to enhance sensitivity, and the resultant image with up to 3 mm lesion diameter can be detected. The reconstructed image quality is measured by plotting profiles and by measuring contrast-to-background ratio, peak-signal-to-noise ratio, and mean square error. Conclusion: The proposed scintigraphy system has successfully reconstructed a breast phantom with a lesion of 3 mm diameter and tumor-to-background ratio of 10:1 using a MURA CA mask. Therefore, MURA 3D scintigraphy can be used to diagnose cancer at an early stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alhaji Zubair Jaji,1,2 Md Zuki Bin Abu Bakar,1,3 Rozi Mahmud,4 Mohamad Yusof Loqman,5 Mohamad Noor Mohamad Hezmee,1 Tijani Isa,3 Fu Wenliang,3 Nahidah Ibrahim Hammadi1 1Department of Veterinary Pre-Clinical Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia; 2Department of Veterinary Anatomy, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Kwara, Nigeria; 3Molecular Biomedicine Laboratory, Institute of Bioscience, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia; 4Department of Imaging, Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia; 5Department of Companion Animal Medicine and Surgery, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia Abstract: Calcium carbonate is a porous inorganic nanomaterial with huge potential in biomedical applications and controlled drug delivery. This study aimed at evaluating the physicochemical properties and in vitro efficacy and safety of cockle shell aragonite calcium carbonate nanocrystals (ANC) as a potential therapeutic and hormonal delivery vehicle for osteoporosis management. Free and human recombinant parathyroid hormone 1-34 (PTH 1-34)-loaded cockle shell aragonite calcium carbonate nanocrystals (PTH-ANC) were synthesized and evaluated using standard procedures. Transmission electron microscopy and field emission scanning electron microscopy results demonstrated highly homogenized spherical-shaped aragonite nanocrystals of 30±5 nm diameter. PTH-ANC had a zeta potential of −27.6 ± 8.9 mV. The encapsulation efficiency of the formulation was found to be directly proportional to the concentrations of the drug fed. The X-ray diffraction patterns revealed strong crystallizations with no positional change of peaks before and after PTH-ANC synthesis. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy demonstrated no detectable interactions between micron-sized aragonite and surfactant at molecular level. PTH-ANC formulation was stabilized at pH 7.5, enabling sustained slow release of PTH 1-34 for 168 h (1 week). A 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide cytocompatibility assay in Human Foetal Osteoblast Cell Line hFOB 1.19 showed that ANC can safely support osteoblast proliferation up to 48 h whereas PTH-ANC can safely support the proliferation at 72 h and beyond due to the sustained slow release of PTH 1-34. It was concluded that due to its biogenic nature, ANC is a cytocompatible antiosteoporotic agent. It doubles as a nanocarrier for the enhancement of efficacy and safety of the bone anabolic PTH 1-34. ANC is expected to reduce the cost, dosage, and dose frequency associated with the use of PTH 1-34 management of primary and secondary forms of osteoporosis. Keywords: bone, FESEM, FT-IR, MTT viability, PTH 1-34, sustained release, TEM, XRD, zeta potential

Conservative pipes conveying fluid such as pinned-pinned (p-p), clamped–pinned (c-p) pipes and clamped-clamped (c-c) lose their stability by buckling at certain critical fluid velocities. In order to experimentally evaluate these velocities, high flow-rate pumps that demand complicated fluid circuits must be used. This paper studies a new experimental approach based on estimating the critical velocities from the measurement of several fundamental natural frequencies .In this approach low flow-rate pumps and simple fluid circuit can be used. Experiments were carried out on two pipe models at three different boundary conditions. The results showed that the present approach is more accurate for estimating the critical velocities of p-p and c-p pipes. However, for c-c pipes it was not so unless a higher flow rate is used.

Zhiping Hou,1,2 Mustapha Umar Imam,1 Maznah Ismail,1,3 Der Jiun Ooi,1 Aini Ideris,4 Rozi Mahmud5 1Laboratory of Molecular Biomedicine, Institute of Bioscience, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia; 2Department of Pathology, Chengde Medical University, Chengde, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia; 4Department of Veterinary Clinical Studies, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia; 5Department of Imaging, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia Abstract: Estrogen deficiency alters quality of life during menopause. Hormone replacement therapy has been used to improve quality of life and prevent complications, but side effects limit its use. In this study, we evaluated the use of edible bird’s nest (EBN) for prevention of cardiometabolic problems in rats with ovariectomy-induced menopause. Ovariectomized female rats were fed for 12 weeks with normal rat chow, EBN, or estrogen and compared with normal non-ovariectomized rats. Metabolic indices (insulin, estrogen, superoxide dismutase, malondialdehyde, oral glucose tolerance test, and lipid profile) were measured at the end of the experiment from serum and liver tissue homogenate, and transcriptional levels of hepatic insulin signaling genes were measured. The results showed that ovariectomy worsened metabolic indices and disrupted the normal transcriptional pattern of hepatic insulin signaling genes. EBN improved the metabolic indices and also produced transcriptional changes in hepatic insulin signaling genes that tended toward enhanced insulin sensitivity, and glucose and lipid homeostasis, even better than estrogen. The data suggest that EBN could meliorate estrogen deficiency-associated increase in risk of cardiometabolic disease in rats, and may in fact be useful as a functional food for the prevention of such a problem in humans. The clinical validity of these findings is worth studying further. Keywords: ovariectomy, lipid metabolism, insulin resistance, antioxidant, aging

In this work a general dynamic response of two-story building due to earthquake is investigated .A spatial case of two degree mass-spring–damper random vibration model is employed .The base excitation acceleration is represented according to the well- known regression model by Kanai –Tajimi in term of the power specturm density (PSD). The transfer function between the ground an the roofs are evaluated assuming transverse modes of vibration. A case study of typical two symitrical story building manufactored from reinforced concret and steel is investigated.The vibration parameters such as effective mass and stiffiness and damping are calculated according to the ACI 318-11 code.The natural frequncies , mode shape and transfer functions are calculated and plotted.The PSD acceleration at the roofs are evaluated from which the mean and standared diviation of the random accelration are found .The drift at the walls is calculated and compared with the allowable limits recommended by IBC 2015 .It is found that the probability of the bulding to be safe is between (13.74 -7.35)% for the first story and (8.7 - 1.67) % for the second.

Sani Ismaila Muhammad,1,2 Ismail Maznah,1,3 Rozi Mahmud,4 Abu Bakar Zakaria Zuki,5 Mustapha Umar Imam1 1Laboratory of Molecular Biomedicine, Institute of Bioscience, 2Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Nigeria; 3Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, 4Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, 5Department of Veterinary Anatomy, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia Background: Osteoporosis and other bone degenerative diseases are among the most challenging non-communicable diseases to treat. Previous works relate bone loss due to osteoporosis with oxidative stress generated by free radicals and inflammatory cytokines. Alternative therapy to hormone replacement has been an area of interest to researchers for almost three decades due to hormone therapy-associated side effects. Methods: In this study, we investigated the effects of gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA), gamma-oryzanol (ORZ), acylated steryl glucosides (ASG), and phenolic extracts from germinated brown rice (GBR) on the expression of genes related to bone metabolism, such as bone morphogenic protein-2 (BMP-2), secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine (SPARC), runt-related transcription factor 2 (RUNX-2), osteoblast-specific transcription factor osterix (Osx), periostin, osteoblast specific factor (Postn), collagen 1&2 (Col1&2), calcitonin receptor gene (CGRP); body weight measurement and also serum interleukin-6 (IL-6) and osteocalcin, in serum and bone. Rats were treated with GBR, ORZ, GABA, and ASG at (100 and 200 mg/kg); estrogen (0.2 mg/kg), or remifemin (10 and 20 mg/kg), compared to ovariectomized non-treated group as well as non-ovariectomized non-treated (sham) group. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to measure the IL-6 and osteocalcin levels at week 2, 4, and 8, while the gene expression in the bone tissue was determined using the Genetic Analysis System (Beckman Coulter Inc, Brea, CA, USA). Results: The results indicate that groups treated with GABA (100 and 200 mg/kg) showed significant upregulation of SPARC, calcitonin receptor, and BMP-2 genes (P < 0.05), while the ORZ-treated group (100 and 200 mg/kg) revealed significant (P < 0.05) upregulation of Osx, Postn, RUNX-2, and Col1&2. Similarly, IL-6 concentration decreased, while osteocalcin levels increased significantly (P < 0.05) in the treated groups as compared to ovariectomized non-treated groups. Conclusion: GABA and ORZ from GBR stimulates osteoblastogenesis by upregulation of bone formation genes, possibly via the activation of GABAB receptors and by inhibiting the activity of inflammatory cytokines and reactive oxygen species. Therefore, it could be used effectively in the management of osteoporosis. Keywords: gene expression, GBR-bioactive compounds, osteocalcin, ovariectomized rats

Conservative pipes conveying fluid such as pinned-pinned (p-p), clampedpinned (c-p) pipes and clamped-clamped (c-c) lose their stability by buckling at certain critical fluid velocities. In order to experimentally evaluate these velocities, high flow-rate pumps that demand complicated fluid circuits must be used. This paper studies a new experimental approach based on estimating the critical velocities from the measurement of several fundamental natural frequencies .In this approach low flow-rate pumps and simple fluid circuit can be used.Experiments were carried out on two pipe models at three different boundary conditions. The results showed that the present approach is more accurate for estimating the critical velocities of p-p and c-p pipes. However, for c-c pipes it was not so unless a higher flow rate is used.

In many classes of problems of elastic systems such as gyroscopic and circulatory systems stability investigations are being conducted .The concept of a "stability boundary" arising in connection with multiple loading parameters is used for stability investigation. The concept is extended to analyze stability of conservative pipes conveying fluid since they are regarded as gyroscopic systems. In this approach the pipe system is discretized to a two –degree of freedom by using Galarkin projection. The solution of the Eigen-value problem leads to the characteristic equation describing the parameters -frequency relationship .By plotting the root locus of these characteristic equation the main stability features such as stability, buckling and flutter instability and destabilization has been investigated graphically .The validity of this approach was tested by comparing it with the other published methods The results gave good agreements. The effect of the fluid parameters such as fluid velocity, fluid pressure and pipe-fluid mass ratio on the pipe stability are also investigated. The results showed that the mass ratio has a major effect on stability behaviors since the sequence of stability can be dramatically changed whereas ,the fluid pressure showed slight effect since the stability sequence is not altered , for wide range of the fluid velocities .

Belt is a traveling continuous system.Such a system can subjected to a static divergence and parametric instability. This depend on whether the system parameters are constant or varying with the time ,respectively .In this paper ,instability problem is solved analytically .Bolotin method is used to evaluate the boundaries which separate the stable and instable regions.The present solution is checked with another solution available in the literature where the Variation principle is used .The results showed a good agreement where the maximum error do not exceed 5%. The effect of belt tension and transmitting speed on stability and natural frequency are studied .The results show that increasing belt tension can improve both buckling and parametric instability. Whilst, increasing the speed or its mean value is limited to critical values to avoid buckling or parametric instability, respectively.

Journal bearing is one of the most important mechanical parts which can vastly be found in any application of mechanical camcorders such as engine, roterdynamic, aerodynamic and many more. One of the main performance related problems that this mechanical part may encounter during its service life is due to friction and wear over a short period of time, especially at high speeds, a one of the main challenges was to keep the shaft running efficiently for another hours. Many designs and modifications are attempted by researchers to improve certain specifications of the journal. In this construction a new design of the magazine bearing system was developed. It consists of three floors; the second is the bearing (internal and external) and the third is the thrust bearing. All three bearing units are combined into a single case as a magazine assembly. In this configuration, two hydrodynamic pressure profiles can be generated around the inner and outer fluid films in the circumferential direction and one in the axial direction. To predict the journal parameters, a mathematical model for the new magazine bearing design was developed using Reynolds' hydrodynamic equations. Lubrication in two dimensions. The governing partial differential equation was solved using Finite Difference method via MATLAB software. The main bearing parameters such as pressure, load capacity, friction force and so on are evaluated and their effect on journal geometry and operating conditions are investigated. A sample journal model was fabricated using CNC machine and tested experimentally with specially made testing rig, Vibration characteristics and stability of the journal are analyzed and studied also. The stress analysis of the journal housing are performed by using Finite Element method and excited by ANSYS 14. The effect of using Nano additive to the lubricant oil is studied both theoretically and experimentally. The preliminary results of this work indicated that the new suggested journal can significantly increase the ability of withstanding higher pressure and carrying load by about 23.60% and 12.90% respectively more than the traditional journal. Furthermore it exhibits less friction and higher critical operating speed. Using oil with Nano-particles can reduce friction by 16% with higher temperature operation. The optimum design conditions are occurred at 0.92 eccentricity ratio and 0.5 compound size ratio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dermatophytes are among the most frequent causesof superficial skin infections in man and animals, collectively known as Dermatophytosis (ringworm). It is caused by fungi in the gener Microsporum, Trichophyton and Epidermophyton. Ecologically, dermatophytes may be anthropophilic (mostly associated with humans), zoophilic (associated with animals) and geophilic (found in the soil). However, species included in the three groups are associated with clinical disease in man and animals. It is well known that camels are susceptible to infection with a variety of dermatophytes. In this article, we present a case report on dermatophytosis in a three years old dromedary camel. Case history, clinical signs response to treatment and laboratory confirmation of infection are included; with a short review of literatures concerning reports on dermatophytosis in camels all around the world.

This work presents an analytical study of the flow and energy loss immediately downstream of rectangular sharp-crested weirs for free and submerged flows, using the theory of plane turbulent jets and the analysis of some relevant studies. The flow regimes downstream of the sharp-crested weir is characterized as the impinging jet and surface flow regimes. Based on the flow characteristics and the downstream tailwater depths, each flow regime is further classified, and the relative energy loss equation is developed. It is found that significant energy loss occurs for the regime of supercritical flow and the upper stage of impinging jet flow. The energy loss for the submerged flow regime is minimal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since transportation is one of the most complicated and the basic problem of urban life in developing countries at the present time and in various dimensions, so it is necessary to view it more scientifically‐ practically. Reducing travelling time is one way to reduce its cost .In public transportation system, it is important to determine proper travelling costs. There are various methods to determine the distances between stations. One of these methods used in England is based on logical and calculative relations in mathematics. In this paper, in addition to studying this method some changes have been made in order to reduce and modify required variables for calculation of those relations. A numerical example is designed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the method and thus developed to optimize the public transportation stop location problem. The sensitivity of the total travel time, access, speed and the effect of the parameters on the optimum stop location are analyzed and discussed. First Published Online: 27 Oct 2010