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Stingless bees are in a diverse group of highly eusocial bees (meliponines) which are reared for their products and pollination potentials. The main source of stingless bee colonies is depending on feral colony hunting that potentially affects the ecosystem. Therefore, establishment of a good practise in colony transfer and splitting may extend the survival of a colony in a new location. This study describes a colony transfer strategy from log to hive and nest characteristics of stingless bee Heterotrigoma itama upon colony splitting from the hive. All 15 colonies from the hollow trunks of trees could survive after one month of transfer to hives. Pre-colony splitting data of 10 daughter colonies showed that the height of brood cells was 14.5 ± 1.20 cm, the number of brood layer was 8.9 ± 2.13, while the number of queen cell was 5.2 ± 1.32. After 12 weeks, the height of brood cells became 16.42 ± 1.05 cm, while the numbers of brood layer and virgin queen eggs were increased to 12.1 ± 1.85 and 6.4 ± 1.65, respectively. However, the correlation between the number of brood layer and virgin queen egg was significantly low (r = 0.421). These results show the ideal strategy for colony transfer from log and colony splitting, and the number of brood layer does not correlate to the presence of virgin queen egg which is crucial for survival of the colony. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Honey is uniquely produced by honeybees (Apis sp.) and stingless bees (Meliponini sp.) and exhibits tremendous medicinal properties such as antimicrobial, anticarcinogen and anti-oxidant. However, it has not been included as a mainstream approach to disease management and has been disregarded in the modern pharmaceutical era. The stingless bee, which is known locally as lebah kelulut in Malaysia, is an important species that is well adapted for tropical countries and has emerged as an alternative source of honey. The reinventing honey quality (RHQ) project was introduced in 2012 to empower growth in the stingless bee industry, which has a direct impact on the production of high-quality honey. The objectives of the project include transforming the industry into a sustainable source of income for beekeepers, while simultaneously catalysing bee conservation activities for plant and crop pollination, thus becoming a new medium for targeting socio-economies and ecology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the effect of 460 nm and 532 nm laser irradiation on anaemic blood compared with normal samples at different exposure times. Blood smears were prepared to study the effect of laser irradiation on erythrocyte deformability. Irradiation of normal and anaemic blood samples with 460 and 532 nm laser light significantly changed erythrocyte deformability. The deformability of both the normal and anaemic blood samples increased as the exposure time increased. The analysis also revealed that erythrocyte deformability is greater in anaemic blood than normal blood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study determined the antiaging effect of stingless bee honey on the expression of extracellular matrix genes. MTS (3‐(4,5‐dimethylthiazol‐2‐yl)‐5‐(3‐carboxymethoxyphenyl)‐2‐(4‐sulfophenyl)‐2H‐tetrazolium, inner salt) assay was performed for determination of optimum concentration and incubation time of stingless bee honey. Gene expression of matrix metalloproteinase‐1 (MMP‐1) and collagen type Ⅰ (COL1A1) were analyzed using real time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction technique. Incubation with stingless bee honey at concentration of 0.02% for 72 hr showed significant increase in the viability of human fibroblast cells. Stingless bee honey significantly downregulates metalloproteinase‐1 gene expression in both pre‐senescence and senescence fibroblast cells and upregulates collagen type Ⅰ gene expression in senescence fibroblast cells. In conclusion, stingless bee honey potentially delayed skin aging through modulation of extracellular matrix genes. Practical applications: Changes of the extracellular matrix regulation promote skin aging. Stingless bee honey is a good source of natural antioxidant which potentially delays skin aging. This study demonstrated that stingless bee honey beneficially increases collagen type Ⅰ expression and decreases MMP‐1 expression during cellular aging of human dermal fibroblast cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There has been increasing evidence showing that stingless bee honey exhibits anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. Pharmacologically-active components in honey such as flavonoids and phenolic constituents are known to contribute to its medicinal benefits. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study on evaluating anticancer effects of locally-produced Malaysian stingless bee honey from Heterotrigona itama sp. on malignant glioma cells. Methods: Proliferation and apoptosis studies of U-87 MG cells following stingless bee honey treatment were carried out using MTS assay and acridine orange/propidium iodide dual staining, respectively. Results: Results demonstrated time and dose-dependent cytotoxicity using 0.625%, 1.25% and 10% stingless bee honey (P < 0.05). IC50 values were calculated using cells treated with 10% stingless bee honey. It was also observed that 10% stingless bee honey induced nuclear shrinkage, chromatin condensation and nucleus fragmentation, indicating that cellular changes were consistent with the apoptotic characteristics of the cells. Conclusion: These data provide a good basis for further evaluation of the medicinal properties of stingless bee honey from Heterotrigona itama sp. This source of honey may serve as a potential therapy for malignant glioma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent interest in multiple sclerosis research warrants literature analysis to evaluate the current state of the discipline and new research domains. This bibliometric review summarised the research trends and analysed research areas in multiple sclerosis over the last decade. The documents containing the term 'multiple sclerosis' in the article title were retrieved from the Scopus database. We used Harzing's Publish or Perish and VOSviewer for citation analysis and data visualisation, respectively. We found a total of 18,003 articles published in journals in the English language between 2012 and 2021. The emerging keywords identified utilising the enhanced strategic diagram were 'covid-19', 'teriflunomide', 'clinical trial', 'microglia', 'b cells', 'myelin', 'brain', 'white matter', 'functional connectivity', 'pain', 'employment', 'health-related quality of life', 'meta-analysis' and 'comorbidity'. This study demonstrates the tremendous growth of multiple sclerosis literature worldwide, which is expected to grow more than double during the next decade especially in the identified emerging topics.

As stingless bee honey (SBH) is gaining in popularity in the Malaysian market, it is now prone to adulteration. The higher price of SBH compared to floral honey has led to the use of unusual adulterants such as vinegar and even floral honey to mimic the unique taste and appearance of SBH. Since the current AOAC 998.12 method fails to detect these adulterants as their δ 13 C values are in the range for C 3 plants, untargeted 1 H NMR metabolomics was proposed. Principal component analysis of SBH 1 H NMR fingerprints was able to distinguish authentic SBHs from adulterated ones down to 1% adulteration level for selected adulterants. Discriminant analysis showed promising results in distinguishing the preliminary datasets of authentic SBHs from the adulterated ones, including discriminating SBHs adulterated with different adulterants derived from C 3 and C 4 plants. Hence, to assure any emerging adulterant can be detected, all 1 H NMR regions should be considered., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)