bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Purification of protease from Coriandrum sativum using ion-exchange chromatography and gel filtration method
Authors: Gunasekaran Baskaran , Syed M.A. , Salvamani Shamala , Sinniah Subathra , Pattiram Parveen Devi , Sabullah Mohd Khalizan , Shukor Mohd Yunus
Published: April 2022

In the past decades, the interest towards plant proteases has increased significantly. Plant proteases are widely used in environment field, food and medicine industries. Proteases such as bromelain, papain and ficin are used in various areas such as in biosensors for detection of heavy metals, meat tenderization, brewing, cancer treatment, milk-clotting, viral disorders and digestion. In this study, protease from coriander leaf (Coriandrum sativum) was evaluated for protease activity using a Bradford-protease-casein assay system.  This enzyme was purified through anion exchanger using DEAE-Cellulose column and gel filtration using Agilent ZORBAX column. Its molecular weight was around 55 kDa. The specific activity of the purified protein is 45.0 units/mg protein, total activity is 2745.0 units, yield 33.2% and fold purification is 2.8. Further investigation on gene sequence should be performed in order to identify the type of protease involved.
Test for Outlier and Normality of the Residuals for the Pseudo-1st Order Kinetic Modelling of Glyphosate Adsorption onto Palm Oil Fronds
Authors: Abubakar Aisami
Published: April 2022

Generally, in nonlinear regression, the residuals of the curve must be distributed normally, and residuals must be tested for the presence of outliers. This is normally done using normality tests such as the Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Wilks-Shapiro and D'Agostino-Pearson and the Grubb's test, the latter test for the presence of an outlier, which is the focus of this study. Normality tests for residues used in general nonlinear regression revealed that the usage of the pseudo-1st order model in the fitting of glyphosate biosorption to palm oil fronds was adequate due to lack of an outlier. The Grubbâ€™s test was applied to the residual results. The critical value of Z from statistical table for Grubbsâ€™ test for a single outlier using mean and SD was 2.289 (n=10). The Grubbs (Alpha = 0.05) g value was 1.844. As the test statistic is lesser than the critical assigned value, no outlier was deemed present.
Test for the Presence of Autocorrelation in the Morgan-Mercer-Flodin (MMF) Model used for Modelling the Total Number of COVID-19 Cases for Brazil
Authors: Aisami A. , Abubakar Umar , Manogaran Motharasan , Shukor M.Y.
Published: April 2022

Mathematical models can be used to conduct COVID-19 pandemic analyses, including theoretical, quantitative, and simulation analyses. COVID-19 pandemic models such as the modified Gompertz, von Bertalanffy, modified logistics including the recent MMF model which was the best model in fitting the total number of COVID-19 cases for Brazil. We were the first to note the high suitability of the MMF model to fit total death and infection cases for COVID-19. The least-squares approach, which is employed in conventional nonlinear regression, including the MMF model, must be subjected to the idea that data points do not rely on one another and that the value of a data point is not impacted by the value of data points that came before or after it. This is known as autocorrelation and the Durbin-Watson test can be utilized to check the conformity of this model to non-autocorrelation. The value of the Durbin-Watson statistics was d =0.648. The statistic is approximately equal to 2(1âˆ’ p). We then test the hypothesis H0: Ï= 0 versus the alternative hypothesis of H1: Ï > 0. From the Durbin-Watson table [1,2] for n=50 and 4 parameters, the lower critical value for dL was 1.206, while the upper critical value dU was 1.537. According to this, the d value was lower than the lower critical value or dL, resulting in the null hypothesis being rejected or indicating that there is evidence of autocorrelation. This demonstrates that the MMF model used in the nonlinear regression model for modelling the total number of COVID-19 cases for Brazil needs remedial action, perhaps identifying potential outliers
Monitoring of heavy metals level in fish using Photobacterium sp. strain MIE
Authors: Halmi Mohd Izuan Effendi , Johari Lutfi , Syahir Amir , Sulaiman Mohd Rosni , Azlan Azrina , Shukor Mohd Yunus , Syed Mohd Arif
Published: April 2022

Luminescence-based assays for toxicants such as MicrotoxÂ®, ToxAlertâ„¢ and Biotoxâ„¢ have been used extensively worldwide. However, the use of these assays in near real-time conditions is limited due to nonoptimal assay temperature for the tropical climate. An aerobic isolate that exhibits a high luminescence activity in a broad range of temperatures was successfully isolated from the mackerel, Rastrelliger kanagurta. This isolate was tentatively identified as Photobacterium sp. strain MIE, based on partial 16S rDNA molecular phylogeny. Optimum conditions that support high bioluminescence activity occurred between 24 and 30 oC, pH 5.5 and 7.5, 10 and 20 g/L of sodium chloride, 30 and 50 g/L of tryptone, and 4 g/L of glycerol as the carbon source. Assessment of near real-time capability of this bacterium for heavy metals in a contaminated river running through the Juru River Basin that fed a large agriculture area has shown near real-time capability with assaying time of less than 30 min per samples. Thus, this strain is suitable for near real-time monitoring of toxicants especially in the tropics
Macroscopic And Microscopic Approaches For Identification Of Fungi From Plant Soil Of Cameron Highlands
Authors: Salvamani Shamala , Nawawi Norazah Mohammad
Published: April 2022

There were seven cultures of fungi isolated from vegetable soil in Cameroon Highlands. In this research project, two techniques have been used for the identification purpose, which are macroscopic and microscopic morphology approaches to identify the genus of the fungus. Macroscopic identification based on the characteristic of the fungus grown on the PDA plate and the microscopic identification was based on the spore and hyphae using lactophenol blue dye. Four genus that have been successfully identified using this approach are Aspergillus, Fusarium, Rhizopus and Gliocladium.
Potential of Plantâ€™s Bowman-Birk Protease Inhibitor in Combating Abiotic Stresses: A Mini Review
Authors: Othman Tajul Ariffien , Bakar Norliza Abu , Abidin Rabiatul Adawiah Zainal , Mahmood Maziah , Saidi Noor Baity , Shaharuddin Noor Azmi
Published: April 2022

Bowman-Birk Inhibitor (BBI) is one of the subfamilies of serine protease inhibitors. Numerousstudies have shown that in plants, BBI functions as part of their defense mechanism againstpathogens and microorganisms. The BBI is also known to have anti-carcinogenic properties.Furthermore, the BBI has been reported to function in controlling abiotic stresses such assalinity and drought stresses.. Abiotic stresses are the major problems in agricultural industry.Therefore, numerous researches have been carried out to characterize the BBI and to determineits roles during biotic and abiotic stresses. This paper presents a review regarding therelationship between Bowman-Birk inhibitor and the plant defensive mechanism against abioticstresses.
Isolation and characterization of a molybdenum-reducing and orange G-decolorizing Enterobacter sp. strain Zeid-6 in soils from Sudan
Authors: Othman Ahmad Razi , Abu Zeid Isam M. , Rahman Mohd Fadhil Abd. , Ariffin Fazilah , Shukor Mohd Yunus
Published: April 2022

Chemical toxins and organic contaminants such as hydrocarbons and dyes are major global contaminants with countless tones of those chemicals are created yearly with a significant amount release to the environment. In this work we screen the ability of a molybdenum-reducing bacterium isolated from contaminated soil to decolorize various azo and triphenyl methane dyes independent of molybdenum reduction. Biochemical analysis resulted in a tentative identification of the bacterium as Enterobacter sp. strain Zeid-6. The bacterium was able to decolorize the azo dye Orange G. The bacterium reduces molybdate to Mo-blue optimally at pH between 5.5 and 8.0 and temperatures of between 30 and 37 oC. Other requirements include a phosphate concentration of 5 mM and a molybdate concentration of 20 mM. The absorption spectrum of the Mo-blue produced was similar to previous Mo-reducing bacterium, and closely resembles a reduced phosphomolybdate. Molybdenum reduction was inhibited by copper, lead, mercury and silver which showed 36.8, 16.9, 64.9 and 67.6% inhibition to Mo-reducing activity of Enterobacter sp. strain Zeid-6, respectively. The resultant molybdenum blue spectrum closely resembles the spectrum of molybdenum blue from the phosphate determination method. The ability of this bacterium to detoxify molybdenum and decolorize azo dye makes this bacterium an important tool for bioremediation.
Near real-time biomonitoring of copper from an industrial complex effluent discharge site using a plant protease inhibitive assay
Authors: Halmi Mohd Izuan Effendi , Khayat Mohd Ezuan , Gunasekaran Baskaran , Masdor Noor Azlina , Rahman Mohd Fadhil Abd
Published: April 2022

In this work, a temporal monitoring work for heavy metals from an effluent discharge point in the Juru Industrial Estate was carried out using the protease extracted from garlic (Allium sativum) as the principal bioassay system. casein-Coomassie-dye binding assay method has utilized this purpose. The periodic sampling results for one day of a location in the Juru Industrial Estate showed temporal variation of copper concentration coinciding with garlic protease inhibition with the highest concentrations of copper occurring between 12.00 and 16.00 hours of between 3 and 3.5 mg/L copper. The crude proteases extracted from Allium sativum successfully detect temporal variation of copper form this location. In conclusion, this assay method has the potential to be a rapid, sensitive, and economic inhibitive assay for the large-scale biomonitoring works for the heavy metal copper from this area.
Partial purification of the molybdenum-reducing enzyme from Bacillus pumilus strain Lbna
Authors: Abo-Shakeer Lubna Kamil Abdulhussein , Yakasai Mohd Hafeez , Rahman Mohd Fadhil Abd , Bakar Nurlizah Abu , Syed Mohd Arif , Abdullah Norhani , Othman Ahmad Razi
Published: April 2022

Molybdenum is an emerging pollutant. Bioremediation of this heavy metal is possible by the mediation of Mo-reducing bacteria. These bacteria contain the Mo-reducing enzymes that can conver toxic soluble molybdenum into molybdenum blue; a less soluble and less toxic form of the metal. To date only the enzyme has been purified from only one bacterium. The aim of this study is to purify the Mo-reducing enzyme from a previously isolated Mo-reducing bacterium Bacillus pumilus strain Lbna using ammonium sulphate fractionation followed by ion exchange and then gel filtration. Two clear bands were obtained after the gel filtration step with molecular weights of 70 and 100 kDa. This indicates that further additional purification methods need to be used to get a purified fraction. Hence, additional steps of chromatography such as hydroxyapatite or chromatofocusing techniques can be applied in the future.
Test for the presence of autocorrelation in the modified Gompertz model used in fitting of Burkholderia sp. strain Neni-11 growth on acrylamide
Authors: Shukor Mohd Yunus
Published: April 2022

The growth of microorganism on substrates, whether toxic or not usually exhibits sigmoidal pattern. This sigmoidal growth pattern can be modelled using primary models such as Logistic, modified Gompertz, Richards, Schnute, Baranyi-Roberts, Von Bertalanffy, Buchanan three-phase and Huang. Previously, the modified Gompertz model was chosen to model the growth of Burkholderia sp. strain Neni-11 on acrylamide, which shows a sigmoidal curve. The modified Gompertz model relies on the ordinary least squares method, which in turn relies heavily on several important assumptions, which include that the data does not show autocorrelation. In this work we perform statistical diagnosis test to test for the presence of autocorrelation using the Durbin-Watson test and found that the model was adequate and robust as no autocorrelation of the data was found.
Isolation and characterization of a 2,4-dinitrophenol-degrading bacterium
Authors: Zin Noor Suffiah Md. Zin , Padrilah Siti Nadzirah Padrilah , Rahman Mohd Fadhil Abd , Sim Han Koh , Khalid Ariff , Shukor Mohd Yunus
Published: April 2022

2,4-dinitrophenol (2,4-DNP) is utilized in the production of wood preservatives, dyes, and also as a pesticide. Human acute (short-term) exposure to 2,4-DNP in humans by means of oral exposure are nausea or vomiting, sweating, headaches, dizziness, and weight reduction. Thus, the removal of this compound is highly sought. A 2,4-DNP-degrading bacterium (isolate 1) was isolated from a sample soil from Terengganu. This bacterium (isolate 1) was characterized as a rod Gram positive, non-sporulated, and non-motile bacterium. The bacterium is oxidase negative and had catalase positive activity and was able to grow aerobically on 2,4-dinitrophenol as the sole carbon source. This bacterium showed maximal growth on 2,4-DNP at the temperature optimum of 30 oC, pH 5.0 and was tolerant to 2,4-DNP concentration of up to 0.5 mM (0.092 g/L). This bacterium prefers to use urea as the nitrogen source in addition to yeast extract for mineral source and vitamin precursors.
Screening of hydrocarbon-degrading bacterial isolates using the redox application of 2,6-DCPIP
Authors: Habib Syahir , Johari Wan Lutfi Wan , Shukor Mohd Yunus , Yasid Nur Adeela
Published: April 2022

Petroleum hydrocarbons remain as the major contaminants that could be found across the world. Remediation approach through the utilisation of microbes as the bioremediation means is widely recognised due to their outstanding values. As a result, scientific reports on the isolation and identification of new hydrocarbon-degrading strains were on the rise. Colourimetric-based assays are one of the fastest methods to identify the capability of hydrocarbon-degrading strains in both qualitative and quantitative assessment. In this study, the hydrocarbon-degrading potential of nine bacterial isolates was observed via 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol (DCPIP) test. Two potent diesel-utilising isolates show a distinctive tendency to utilise aromatic (ADL15) and aliphatic (ADL36) hydrocarbons. Both isolates prove to be a good candidate for bioremediation of wide range of petroleum hydrocarbon components.
Mathematical Modelling of the Growth Curve of Vibrio sp. Isolate MZ Grown in Seawater Medium
Authors: Zahaba Maryam , Halmi Mohd Izuan Effendi , Othman Ahmad Razi , Shukor Mohd Yunus
Published: April 2022

Pollution in the environment is deteriorating the ecology due to human activities in a large array of industrial and agricultural sectors. Bioassay of polluted waters using bioluminescent bacterium has been touted as one of the most economical, rapid and sensitive tests. The growth of the bacterium on seawater medium exhibited a typical sigmoidal profile. To extract important growth parameters useful for further modelling exercise, various primary growth models were utilized in this study such as Modified Logistic, modified Gompertz, modified Richards, modified Schnute, Baranyi-Roberts, von Bertalanffy, Huang and the Buchanan three-phase model. The best performance was Huang model with the lowest value for RMSE, AICc and the highest value for adjusted R2. The AF and BF values were also excellent for the model with their values were the closest to 1.0. The Huang parameters, which include A or Y0 (bacterial growth lower asymptote), ï­m (maximum specific bacterial growth rate), ï¬ (lag time) and Ymax (bacterial growth upper asymptote) were 7.866 (95% confidence interval of 7.850 to 7.883), 0.329 (95% confidence interval of 0.299 to 0.359), 1.543 (95% confidence interval of 1.303 to 1.784) and 8.511 (95% confidence interval of 0.299 to 0.359).
Antibacterial Activity and Phytochemical Analysis of Cassia occidentalis Leaf Extract on Salmonella Typhimurium
Authors: Bagega A.I. , Usman A.A. , Dankaka S.M. , Amina M. , Mani A.U.
Published: April 2022

Different concentration extracts of Cassia occidentalis (Caesalpiniaceae) leaves were screened for their antimicrobial activity against Salmonella Typhimurium. The pattern of inhibition was varied with the concentration used. Antibacterial activity of the extracts at different concentrations on the S. Typhimurium was recorded with no activity at 20 mg/mL. Nevertheless, at concentrations of 40, 60, 80 and 100 mg/mL, activity was observed. This activity was seen increased as the concentration increases. At the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of 60 mg/mL, the bacteria were killed with no tidal activity at 30 mg/mL. The antibacterial activity of Cassia occidentalis leaf extract was recorded at concentrations of 40 mg/mL (12 mm), 60 mg/mL (15 mm), 80 mg/mL (16 mm) and 100 mg/mL (18 mm) with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 30 mg/mL and MBC of 60 mg/mL. This was due to the presence of phytochemical compounds. Some of these compounds were found in a trace amount, whereas saponin was present high amount, flavonoids were present in a moderate amount, while tannins, glycoside, cardiac glycosides, steroids, saponin glycoside, anthraquinones and volatile oil were present in trace amount. However, balsam and alkaloid are not detected.
Kinetic Analysis of the Adsorption of the Brominated Flame Retardant 4-bromodiphenyl Ether onto Biochar-immobilized Sphingomonas sp.
Authors: Abd Wahab Sha'arani Shakirah , Ros Saidon Khudri Muhammad Arif Mukhriz , Othman Ahmad Razi , Halmi Mohd Izuan Effendi , Yasid Nur Adeela , Shukor Mohd Yunus
Published: April 2022

4-bromophenyl phenyl ether or 4-bromodiphenyl ether (4-BDE) is a less brominated PBDE, which are brominated flame retardants (BFRs), that has come into importance when it was detected as the main pollutant in Sungai Buah, a tributary to the Sungai Semenyih that have recently caused the pollution of drinking waters in the Semenyih Water Treatment Plant, Putrajaya Selangor that led to water shortage for many days to affecting many areas. 4-BDE is also a recalcitrant priority pollutant where it is barely degraded at all. Many of the PBDE can cause developmental neurotoxicity. The absorption kinetics data of biosorption isotherm on the biosorption of 4-BDE onto Biochar-immobilized Sphingomonas sp. were analyzed using three modelsâ€”pseudo-1st, pseudo-2nd and Elovich, and fitted using non-linear regression. The Elovich model was the poorest in fitting the curve based on visual observation followed by the pseudo-1st order. Statistical analysis based on root-mean-square error (RMSE), adjusted coefficient of determination (adjR2), bias factor (BF), accuracy factor (AF), corrected AICc (Akaike Information Criterion), Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) and Hannanâ€“Quinn information criterion (HQC) that showed that the pseudo-1ST order model is the best model. Kinetic analysis using the pseudo-1st order model at 400 mg/L 4-BDE gave a value of equilibrium sorption capacity qe of 31.89 mg g-1 (95% confidence interval from 30.37 to 33.42) and a value of the pseudo-1st-order rate constant, k1 of 0.22 (95% confidence interval from 0.019 to 0.025). Further analysis is needed to provide proof for the chemisorption mechanism usually tied to this kinetic.
Predictive Mathematical Modelling of the Total Number of COVID-19 Cases for The United States
Authors: Yakasai Hafeez Muhammad , Shukor Mohd Yunus Abd
Published: April 2022

The current global COVID-19 pandemic is causing a lot of deaths and economic losses worldwide. The modelling of future death and cases is a very important aspect of managing the severity of the pandemic. In this paper, we demonstrated potential use of various growth models like modified Gompertz, Von Bertalanffy, Baranyi-Roberts, modified Logistics, Morgan-Mercer-Flodin (MMF), modified Richards and Huang in modeling the epidemic trend of COVID-19 in the form of total number of infection cases of SARS-CoV-2 in the United States as at 20th July 2020. The Morgan-Mercer-Flodin (MMF) model showed best fitting to the data set with least RMSE and AICc and the highest adjusted R2 values. The values for Accuracy and Bias Factors were closest to 1.0. Despite this, further statistical diagnosis of the data showed nonnormality with the residuals failing the runs and homoscedasticity tests. Interestingly, this was addressed by remodeling the data from day 132 onwards using the MMF model, which results in improving the statistical diagnosis. The fitting coefficients obtained include maximum growth rate (logmm) of 0.03 (95% CI 0.023 - 0.039), curve constant (d) that affects the inflection point of 1.42 (95% CI 1.304 - 1.540), lower asymptote value (b) of 6.454 (95% CI 6.451 - 6.456) and maximal total number of cases (ymax) of 7,906,786 (95% CI 6,652,732 - 10,839,269). The MMF model predicted that by 20th of August 2020 the total number of cases in the United States will be 5,560,168 (95% CI of 5,295,337 - 5,838,243), while the Fig. will rise to 6,366,506 (95% CI of 5,791,751 - 6,998,298) by 20th of September 2020. The predictive potential of the utilized model makes it a powerful tool for epidemiologist monitoring the severity of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) in the United States in the near future. Although, predictions from this model as with any other model, need to be taken with caution due to unpredictable nature of COVID-19 situation locally and globally.
Prediction of Cumulative Death Cases in Indonesia Due to COVID-19 Using Mathematical Models
Authors: Aisami Abu Bakar , Umar Abubakar M , Shukor Mohd Yunus Abd
Published: April 2022

Different growth models such as Baranyi-Roberts, Von Bertalanffy, modified Gompertz, Morgan-Mercer-Flodin (MMF), modified Richards, modified Logistics and Huang utilized in fitting and analyzing the COVID-19 outbreak pattern showing the cumulative number of SARS-CoV-2 deaths in Indonesia as of 15 July 2020. Out of all the models tested MMF was found to be the best one considering its highest adjusted R2 and the lowest RMSE values. Parameter such Accuracy and Bias Factors were found to have values close to unity (1.0). Values generated from the MMF model includes the maximum growth of death rate (log) of 0.051 (95% CI from 0.34 to 0.49), the curve constant (d) that affects the inflexion point of 0.4212 (95% CI from 1.029 to 1.171), lower asymptote value ( b  ) of -1.72 (95% CI from -2.53 to -1.22) and the maximal total number of death (ymax) of 889,201 (95% CI from 260,016 to 7,464,488). The MMF forecasted that the total death toll in Indonesia would be 5.315 (95 per cent CI from 5.079 to 5.562) and 6.857 (95 per cent CI from 6.450 to 7.289) on the 15th August and 15th September 2020 respectively. The prediction accuracy of the model used in this research article is a powerful tool for epidemiologists to monitor and evaluate the level the severity of COVID-19 in Indonesia in the coming months. Besides that, just like any other model, due to the intermittent nature of the COVID-19 dilemma both in the local and global context, these values must be considered with caution.
Thermodynamics Modelling of Lead (II) Biosorption using Cystoseira stricta Biomass
Authors: Abubakar Abdussamad , Sabo Ibrahim Alhaji , Yahuza Salihu
Published: April 2022

Lead (II) biosorption using Cystoseira stricta data from a previous study was used for thermodynamics investigation. Thermodynamics study of sorption is very important as it can reveal precious information regarding the spontaneity and reaction types. This study computed thermodynamics parameters for the biosorption reaction of Pb (II) by Cystoseira stricta biomass, energy change (Î”G= ï€­18.74, ï€­20.80, and ï€­21.82 kJ/mol at 30, 35 and 40oC respectively), enthalpy change (Î”H= 75.01 kJ/mol) and entropy change (Î”S= 309.78 J/mol). The parameters were found to be spontaneous (ï€­Î”G), endothermic (+Î”H) and the (+Î”S) value indicates increased randomness of the reaction. Likewise, the reaction process was found to be physical, deriving energy in the form of heat from the surrounding. Confidence interval (95%) for each of the parameter was also calculated.
Isolation and Characterization of Phenol-Degrading Microorganism: Recent Advances
Authors: Nawawi Norazah Mohamad , Ahmad Siti Aqlima , Shukor Mohd Yunus Abd , Syed Mohd Arif , Ibrahim Abdul Latif
Published: April 2022

Phenol is among the common toxic environmental pollutants that occur naturally and also originated from industrial effluents. Biodegradation is a major mechanism for the removal of pollutants from a contaminated site. The focal point of this review was on the recent researches on isolation and characterization of phenol degrading microorganisms mainly by bacteria, fungi and yeast from places around the world. Scientists are interested to have their own isolates because there are no individual organisms or groups of organisms that were universally appropriate and applicable for bioremediation since the place of origin does play a role in determining the important properties of microorganisms. The compatibility of the application site as well as thebiochemical and physiological potential of the microbes should be considered. Overall, bacteria were generally capable as biodegradation agents in aquatic systems, while fungi play a greaterrole in terrestrial system
Review: Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) versus Cancer
Authors: Sham Marina Mohd , Azmi Nina Suhaity , Rahim Mohd Hasbi Ab.
Published: April 2022

Cancer or tumor is a killer disease that brings mortality worldwide. Extracellular matrix (ECM) constituents involve in the potential growth, invasive and metastasis of the tumor cell through its interaction with cell-surface receptors, growth factors and cytokines. Thus, previous researchers came with a discovery of a potential anticancer compound known as glycosaminoglycans (GAGs). GAG is a polysachharide that plays an important role in physiological and pathologicalconditions by affecting the cell properties and its functions. GAGs are majored from chondroitin sulfate (CS), dermatan sulfate (DS), keratan sulfate, heparin and heparan sulfate (HS), and hyaluronan which have their own important roles in cancer progression and cell signalling. Many researchers have reported the finding of GAGs in animal but there were least research of GAGs extraction from seafood and marine fauna. There are a few researches on extraction and analysis of GAGs from seafood wastes and marine lives such as white shrimp heads, mollusks and cuttlefish that showed the potential of GAGs as anticancer. Therefore, more researches on extraction of GAGs from seafoods need to be carried out as it can be anticancer therapeutic approaches for future prospective.
Re-evaluation of Thermodynamic Parameters using Dimensionless Langmuir Constants from Published Data on Glyphosate Adsorption onto Activated Carbon Loaded with Manganese and Iron
Authors: Marbawi Hartinie , Othman Ahmad Razi , Halmi Mohd Izuan Effendi , Gansau Jualang Azlan , Sabullah Khalizan , Yasid Nur Adeela
Published: April 2022

Effect of temperature on the adsorption process will be reflected in the thermodynamic parameters. These data provide information on the efficiency of the adsorption process. Thus, an appropriate calculation for the thermodynamic parameter is crucial in adsorption research. In this paper, thermodynamic parameter data from a previously published paper on glyphosate adsorption onto AC/Mn/Fe was re-evaluated using the newly proposed method based on dimensionless equilibrium constant (Kc) derived from Langmuir sorption method. The recalculated results are as follows; entropy, Î”SÂ°=224.04 J mol-1, enthalpy, Î”HÂ° =39.97 kJ mol-1 and the range of Gibs fee energy for the five investigated temperature (5 â°C, 15 â°C, 25 â°C, 35 â°C and 45 â°C) were Î”GÂ°278.15K = -22.26 kJ mol-1 and Î”GÂ°318.15K = -32.52 kJ mol-1. Recalculated value of thermodynamics presented in this paper is mostly beyond the original data. Significant differences were observed in the sign and magnitude of Î”SÂ° and the value of Î”GÂ° of the tested temperature. Interestingly, the actual experiment was well represented by the recalculated results. Here we suggested the alternative calculation for thermodynamic parameters using the dimensionless equilibrium constant Kc.
Phytochemical Analysis and Antimicrobial Properties of Eugenia caryophyllata (Syzigium aromaticum L. Myrtaceae)
Authors: Dahiru Naziru , Paliwal Ritu
Published: April 2022

This study is aimed at analyzing the phytochemicals and elucidating the antimicrobial properties of Syzygium aromaticum (Clove) which is one of the most popular and widely used spice that has been reported to possess high nutritional value, antimicrobial properties. 100% aqueous and 20:80% (water and alcohol) for hydroethanolic and hydromethanolic extracts were prepared. About 13 phytochemical compounds were detected qualitatively in all of the three different extracts which include phenolic compounds, tannins, ascorbic acid e.t.c. Sensitivity disc method was used to test the antibacterial and antifungal properties of Syzygium aromaticum (clove) was found that all pathogenic bacteria and fungus were inhibited by the Clove. Staphylococcus aureus was more sensitive with greater zone of inhibition of (12.33Â±0.88 mm) than the other bacteria. Candida albicans had no activity at concentration of 0.25 mg/mL in comparison with standard antibiotic (amoxicillin). The clove methanolic extract produced same zones of inhibition with amoxicillin (12.33Â±1.20 mm), which was used as a control and minimum inhibitory concentration was found to be 0.25 mg/mL for both gram positive and Gram-negative bacteria, respectively, and 0.5 mg/mL for Candida albicans.
A Microplate Format for Characterizing the Growth of Molybdenum-reducing Bacteria
Authors: Shukor M.s. , Shukor M.Y.
Published: April 2022

Molybdenum is toxic to ruminants and the process of spermatogenesis in catfish and mice. The bioremediation of heavy metals including molybdenum is being intensely studied. More efficient reducers are being isolated. An advantage of microbial molybdate reduction to molybdenum blue is the intense blue product absorbs wavelength strongly in the far red region whilst cells without the addition of molybdenum showed little absorption in this region. This means that no sample treatments such as centrifugation are needed and the readings can be taken straight away. In this work we developed a microplate or a microtiter plate assay for monitoring molybdenum blue production from a bacterium. The molybdenum blue produced when measured from a microplate gave about 2 times less absorbance intensity compared to measurement using a normal cuvette, but is adequate for characterization works as the absorbance obtained was 0.886 compared to 1.709 for measurement using cuvette. The development of microplate format for monitoring microbial reduction to molybdenum blue is simple to perform and would ensure works on the characterizations of novel molybdenum reducers can potentially be carried out in a few days instead of a few weeks.
Test for the Presence of Autocorrelation in the Buchanan model used in the Fitting of the Growth of the Catechol-degrading Candida parapsilopsis
Authors: Shukor M.S. , Shukor M.Y.
Published: April 2022

Catechol is a metabolic byproduct of phenol degradation by microbes. Its toxicity to human, mammals, insects and fishes has been long studied and its presence in the environment at toxic concentrations has been demonstrated. Fortunately there are microbes that could degrade catechol and can be used in bioremediation works. The growth of these microbes usually exhibit sigmoidal pattern due to the toxicity of the substrate. Previously, using the least square method in nonlinear regression, we report that the Buchanan three-phase model is the best model in fitting the growth of the yeast Candida parapsilopsis on this substrate. The ordinary least squares method relies heavily on several important assumptions such as residuals conformation to normal distribution, does not have outliers, is truly random, of equal variance (homoscedastic) and does not show autocorrelation. If all of these assumptions are satisfied, the test is said to be robust. In this work we perform statistical diagnosis test to test for the presence of autocorrelation as the growth model is time-dependent and many time-dependent curves shows evidence of autocorrelation.
Effect of Heavy Metals on Cyanide Biodegradation by Resting Cells of Serratia marcescens strain AQ07
Authors: Ibrahim Karamba Kabiru , Syed M.A. , Shukor M.Y. , Ahmad Siti Aqlima
Published: April 2022

Effect of heavy metals was tested on Serratia marcescens strain AQ07 (accession number: KP213291) to affirm its effect on growth and biodegradation of cyanide. 1 ppm of ten different heavy metals was experimented in-vitro in buffer medium containing 200 ppm potassium cyanide. They are: silver, arsenic, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, cupper, mercury, nickel, lead and zinc. The results obtained illustrates that mercury have significant effect on the growth (optical density 0.13) and biodegradation of cyanide removing only 24.7% compared to the control which has no incorporation of heavy metal (optical density 0.74 and 92% removal respectively) while others remove above 80%. Further studies on mercury reveal that it has significant effect on the bacteria even as low as 0.1 ppm. This illustrates that mercury can significantly hinder biodegradation of cyanide by Serratia marcescens strain AQ07.
Comparison between the modified Gompertz and Churchill death models in modelling the growth of cell culture from leaf-derived cell suspension of Barringtonia racemose
Authors: Hussein Sobri , Shukor Mohd Yunus
Published: April 2022

The growth of plant cell suspension culture often is observed to show a declining phase. Commonly used growth models such as can be used to model sigmoidal growth curves but do not fit curves showing a declining or death phase. In this study, the growth curves of Barringtonia racemose cell suspension under light and dark conditions were modelled according to the Churchill model, which incorporates growth and decline phases, and was compared to the popular modified Gompertz model. For both growth conditions, the Churchill model gave better results for the error functions Root Mean Square Error, the coefficient of determination, adjusted coefficient of determination, bias factor and accuracy factor with the exception of the corrected Akaike Information Criterion (AICc). The regressed parameters or constants obtained from the Churchill model shows growth and decline rates with higher values for the growth rate compared to the decline rates for both growth conditions. The decline and growth rate parameters signify as ï¬1 and ï¬2 for growth under light conditions were 0.367 (95% confidence;  0.103 to 0.632) and 0.796 (95% confidence;  0.458 to 1.134), respectively, while the decline and growth rate parameters ï¬1 and ï¬2 for growth under dark conditions were 0.158 (95% confidence; 0.314 to 0.629) and 1.491 (95% confidence;  -0.809 to 3.720), respectively. The 95% confidence interval values were overlapped for both growth rate parameters under light, and dark conditions are indicating that the differences observed were not significant.
Detection of Pyricularia oryzae Based on Indirect ELISA Using Germinating Conidia as the Antigen Preparation
Authors: Masdor Noor Azlina , Rani Rashid Mat , Yahya Aseha , Awaluddin Norhafniza , Salam Faridah , Jack Allicia
Published: April 2022

One of the most destructive fungal diseases in rice crop in Malaysia is the Rice blast disease or Penyakit Karah, which is caused by Pyricularia oryzae Cav. (previously known as Magnoporthe grisea). The disease can cause a loss of yield of more than 50 percent. In this study a sensitive indirect ELISA method was developed for the detection of Pyricularia oryzae through an indirect ELISA method using rabbit polyclonal antibody against different concentrations of Pyricularia oryzae conidia to give seven calibration standard points ranging from 1Ã—101 to 1Ã—109 conidia/mL. The calibration curve shows a typical sigmoidal curve and the fitting of the curve was based on the four-parameter logistic equation. The calculated LOD value was 21.60 conidia/mL (95% confidence interval, 11.63 to 31.57 conidia/mL) with a good correlation coefficient value of 0.999 indicating the model fit the experimental data in an excellent manner. The sensitivity was comparable to another published work which claimed to be the most sensitive to date. This indicate that the current developed method can be utilized in the future as a sensitive method for the rapid and simple detection of this pathogen.
Emulsification Characteristics of Rhamnolipids by Pseudomonas aeruginosa Using Coconut Oil as Carbon Source
Authors: Sobri Izuani Mohamad , Halim Murni , Lai Oi-Ming , Lajis Ahmad Firdaus , Yusof Mohd Termizi , Halmi Mohd Izuan Effendi , Johari Wan Lutfi Wan , Wasoh Helmi
Published: April 2022

Rhamnolipids (RLs) production using coconut oil as a carbon source by the bacterium P. aeruginosa is studied. This bacterium was grown in media containing 1% carbon source (glucose/ coconut oil). The RLs were characterized by emulsification index (E24), thermal stability and oil spreading test. Further RLs quantification was carried out by the orcinol assay with L-rhamnose as the standard. The result showed that the highest production of RLs occurred in the presence of both coconut oil and glucose at 96 h (2.51 g/L). A stable emulsification index (E24) was observed using diesel with a maximum value of 57% at room temperature. Good stability to high temperature (120 oC) was observed when exposed at 55%. Oil displacement activity showed the presence of RLs with the highest value was at the highest RLs production. This study shows P. aeruginosa is able to produce RLs using coconut oil as the substrate and may potentially become a good source of biosurfactant for industry in the future.
Arrhenius Plot Analysis, Temperature Coefficient and Q10 Value Estimation for the Effect of Temperature on the Growth Rate on Acrylamide by the Antarctic Bacterium Pseudomonas sp. Strain DRYJ7
Authors: Abd Gafar Aa'ishah , Manogaran Motharasan , Yasid Nur Adeela , Halmi Mohd Izuan Effendi , Shukor Mohd Yunus , Othman Ahmad Razi
Published: April 2022

Several models are available to model the effect of temperature on the growth rate of microorganism on substrates. One of the models is Arrhenius and is very popular due to it having few parameters. An apparent activation energy based on the Arrhenius plot on the growth on acrylamide by Pseudomonas sp. strain DRYJ7 on acrylamide is reported for the first time. The bacterium was grown in minimal salts media supplemented with 1000 mg/L of acrylamide as a nitrogen source and glucose as the carbon source. The plot of ln ï­m (specific growth rate) against 1/T for growth on acrylamide was carried out spanning the range of temperature from 10 to 35 oC. Regression analysis from 10â€“20 oC results in an activation energy of 14.96 kJ mol-1. A relative 10 ËšC increase in the surrounding temperature, usually results in doubling the reaction rate, with corresponding Q10 value of 1.8, which is the approximate value for a number of biological reactions. The Q10 values, determined from the Arrhenius plot of 2.17 and a theta value of 1.03 obtained in this work, are within the normal range for many biological values. This is the first time that values for the activation energy, Q10 and theta for the growth of a bacterium on acrylamide is reported.
Optimization of Culture Conditions for the Production of Alkaline Cellulase Enzyme Produced from Fusarium oxysporum VSTPDK
Authors: Yakubu Abdulhadi , Uba Garba , Vyas Ashish
Published: April 2022

Alkaline cellulase producing Fusarium oxysporum VSTPDK was isolated and screened from the soil of Kapurthala district Punjab, India. This organism produced endoglucanase (CMCase) and exoglucanase (FPase) when grown at a different range of parameters pH (6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11), temperature (30, 40, 50 and 60OC), incubation time (4th 6th 8th 10th and 12th day) and nitrogen source (NH4SO4, NH4Cl, NaNO3 and NH4HCO3). Carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) and cellulose powder were used as the sole carbon source. In this research, statistical tools called Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was used for the optimization of cellulase enzyme by selecting three important parameters after one factor at a time (OFAT) approach. Using OFAT, optimum production of both CMCsase (3.52U/mL) and FPase (4.07U/mL) were achieved after 8 days incubation at pH 8, temperature 30OC and 1.0g/L ammonium sulphate while RSM produced CMCase 3.91U/mL and FPase 4.26U/mL respectively when incubated for 8 days at pH 8.5, temperature 45 and 3% ammonium sulphate concentration. Optimization of the culture conditions using RSM leads to an increase of 0.39U/mL (CMCase) and 0.19U/mL (FPase). The use of RSM has gained considerable attention in the past decade in the optimization of various physicochemical parameters and nutritional factors. Its application in different industries may find ways of selecting different factors influencing cellulase activity. The fungus can produce a considerable amount of cellulase enzyme at a pH of up to 10 and 50OC. To our knowledge, this is the first report of alkalothermophilic oxysporum VSTPDK from Punjab, India.
Isolation and screening of high efficiency biosurfactant-producing bacteria Pseudomonas sp.
Authors: Nordin Nordiyana , Zakaria Mohd Rafein , Halmi Mohd Izuan Effendi , Ariff Arbakariya , Zawawi Ruzniza Mohd , Wasoh Helmi
Published: April 2022

Biosurfactants are becoming an important alternative to chemical surfactants in almost every sector in the modern industry because of their improved properties compared to their chemical counterparts. The aim of this study is to isolate and identify bacterial strain from different environment conditions with the capacity to produce rhamnolipid-biosurfactants when grown on blue agar plate (BAP) selective medium. Five strains were screened out using the combination of modified drop-collapse test, oil spreading and emulsification index (E24) test. A strain with an outstanding performance and demonstrated good activity in all the above screening methods was successfully isolated and had shown comparable results against Triton-X 100, a chemical surfactant. The emulsifying capacity of this strain was evaluated by the emulsification index (E24) and it ranged from 54.7% - 62.1%. Using the morphological and BiologGen III MicroPlate analysis, the strain was identified as Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In this study, an efficient and simple protocol to screen out rhamnolipid-biosurfactants producing bacteria was used and this finding will also help to add novel members to the biosurfactants group as well as expanded its current knowledge regarding the diversity and productive capability biosurfactants from a single specific strain. Therefore, this strain might be useful as an alternative to chemical surfactants for a wide range of potential applications.
Chemistry, biochemistry, toxicity and pollution of molybdenum: A mini review
Authors: Halmi M.I.E , Ahmad Siti Aqlima
Published: April 2022

Molybdenum is used in various industries. Its pollution has been recorded globally and is an emerging pollutant. Molybdenum is poorly represented in the literature as compared to heavy metals such as mercury, chromium, arsenic, lead and cadmium for instance, due to the metalâ€™s low toxicity to humans. It has now been reported that molybdenum is very toxic to embryo and spermatogenesis of fish and mice and this worrying trend would place molybdenum at the forefront of toxicology and bioremediation studies in the future. This mini review attempts to summarize what we know on its chemistry, biochemistry, toxicity and pollution with the hope that this knowledge would be useful for future studies on molybdenumâ€™s removal from the environment.Â
Comparison of staining methods for two dimensional electrophoresis gel resolved with Puntius javanicus liver proteome
Authors: Sabullah Khalizan , Ahmad S.A. , Ahmad Fisal , Abidin Siti Aimi Farah Zainal , Gansau Azlan Jualang , Sulaiman Mohd Rosni
Published: April 2022

The aim of this study was to compare the various staining methods based on coomassie briliant blue and silver nitrate stain for the two-dimensional gel electrophoresis resolved with Puntius javanicus liver proteome. The staining methods were selected base on the previous report about their compatibility with the mass spectrometry analysis. Silver staining method is known as the most sensitive method to visualize the maximum number of protein spots resolved in 2D gel but it is less sensitive(incompatible) toward mass spectrometry detection. Results of this study showed that a modified staining method using colloidal coomassie blue G-250 (CCB) is roughly similarly sensitive but lower protein spot detected compared with silver staining (SS) as indicated at the number of 303Â±26 and 693Â±14 of protein resolved in both types of stained gels. The conventional methods of staining using coomassie brilliant blue G-250 and R-250 only detected less number of protein spots(128Â±17and 78Â±11, respectively) compared to modified CCB staining method. As the coomassie brilliant blue stain is known to be a very sensitive for mass spectrometry detection,  the modified method of CCB was selected for further study on Puntius javanicus liver proteome.
Overexpression, extraction, purification and characterisation of DppA from Escherichia coli
Authors: Zainol Mohd Khairi , Mohd Zin Z. , Linforth R.S.T , Scott D.J.
Published: April 2022

Components such as protein within the periplasmic space serve some vital purposes: such asÂ buffering against the outside environment, processing of essential nutrients for transport into theÂ cytoplasmic space, and cell wall biosynthesis. Dipeptide binding protein a (DppA) is a memberÂ of a family of ABC proteins and is involved in the transportation of potentially beneficialÂ dipeptides as nutrient source through the periplasmic space and into cell. DppA was successfullyÂ cloned into expression vectors and over expressed in Escherichia coli, extracted, purified, andÂ characterized. DppA was subjected to biophysical characterization using mass spectrometry.Â Mass spectrometry (ms) analysis and analytical ultra-centrifugation were used to evaluate theÂ recombinant DppAâ€™s molecular weight. The findings presented in this study highlighted theÂ ability to overexpress, extract and purify the recombinant DppA and reflect the differencesÂ techniques to asses its purity.
Antimicrobial activity of bergamot oil against Trichophyton verrucosum isolated from local cows
Authors: EL hafez Ekbal Abd
Published: April 2022

The fungal infection is zoonotic infectious disease, caused by different species ofdermatophytes. In this study, skin scrapings and hair samples were collected from cattle withÂ clinical symptoms of dermatophytosis. The collected samples were directly examined for fungalÂ elements by direct microscopy. Bergamot oil was shown to be a potent antimicrobial agent inÂ vitro against clinically important trichophyton verrucosum. In this study, the activities ofÂ bergamot natural essence on trichophyton verrucosum were investigated. The results indicatedÂ that the MICs (v/v) of the bergamot oil against the fungi Trichophyton verrucosum was 0.125.
Assessment of inhibitive assay for insecticides using acetylcholinesterase from Puntius schwanenfeldii
Authors: Sabullah Mohd Khalizan , Khayat Mohd Ezuan
Published: April 2022

In this study, the substrate specificity and the inhibition kinetics of various types of insecticides to the acetylcholinesterase (AChE) from a local fish; Puntius schwanenfeldii were investigated. The substrate specificity determination was done using three thiocholine substrates, which were ATC, PTC and BTC. The results showed that he partially purified cholinesterase from Puntius schwanenfeldii that preferred ATC is a true AChE. The Km and Vmax values of AChE for these substrates were 16.61 mmol and 286.5 U/mg for ATC, 19.92 mmol and 245.3 U/mg for PTC, and 48.64 mmol and 219.6 U/mg for BTC, respectively. The IC50 values for the carbamates bendiocarb, carbaryl, propoxur, carbofuran and methomyl were 0.838, 7.045, 29.441, 1.411 and 8.335 mg/L, respectively, which were comparable to the IC50 values for carbamates from several AChE from fish.