J Sep Sci
January 2023
In toxicological analysis, the analytical validation method is important to assess the exact risk of contaminants of emerging concern in the environment. Syringe filters are mainly used to remove impurities from sample solutions. However, the loss of analyte to the syringe filter could be considerable, causing an underestimate of the analyte concentrations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntraoperative neuromonitoring (IONM) has been used to help monitor the integrity of the nervous system during spine surgery. Transcranial motor-evoked potential (TcMEP) has been used lately for lower lumbar surgery to prevent nerve root injuries and also to predict positive functional outcomes of patients. There were a number of studies that proved that the TcMEP signal's improvement is significant towards positive functional outcomes of patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe ubiquity and detrimental effects of plastics in the environment have become global environmental concerns over the past decade. Intensive anthropogenic activities, such as urbanisation, industrialisation and increasing population density, have resulted in increased plastic pollution in the environment. Recently, nanoplastics have received increased research attention and concern because of their potential adverse effects on marine organisms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExtensive global plastic production has led to microplastic (MP) pollution of marine ecosystems. This study analysed the abundance of MPs in the surface water of tropical coastal and estuarine zones in Malaysia affected by rapid urbanisation and intense human activity. It also estimated the risk posed by MPs to the marine environment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis paper investigated the effects of petroleum-based oils (PBOs) as a dispersing aid on the physicochemical characteristics of natural rubber (NR)-based magnetorheological elastomers (MREs). The addition of PBOs was expected to overcome the low performance of magnetorheological (MR) elastomers due to their inhomogeneous dispersion and the mobility of magnetic particles within the elastomer matrix. The NR-based MREs were firstly fabricated by mixing the NR compounds homogeneously with different ratios of naphthenic oil (NO), light mineral oil (LMO), and paraffin oil (PO) to aromatic oil (AO), with weight percentage ratios of 100:0, 70:30, 50:50, and 30:70, respectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSpine surgeries impose risk to the spine's surrounding anatomical and physiological structures especially the spinal cord and the nerve roots. Intraoperative neuromonitoring (IONM) is a technology developed to monitor the integrity of the spinal cord and the nerve roots via the surgery. Transcranial motor evoked potential (TcMEP) (one of the IONM modalities) is adopted to monitor the integrity of the motor pathway of the spinal cord and the motor nerve roots.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFor patients with pyogenic spondylodiscitis, medical therapy with antibiotics is the first line of treatment. Response to antibiotics can be assessed by improvement of symptoms, reduction in inflammatory markers, and radiological evidence of infection resolution with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We report a case of a 60-year-old man who presented with intermittent fever and persistent back pain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicroplastics have been considered as contaminants of emerging concern due to ubiquity in the environment; however, the occurrence of microplastics in river estuaries is scarcely investigated. The Klang River estuary is an important ecosystem that receives various contaminants from urbanised, highly populated areas and the busiest maritime centre in Selangor, Malaysia. This study investigates the abundance and characteristics of microplastics in surface water of the Klang River estuary.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicroplastics receive global attention due to its strong presence in marine and freshwater organisms. Yet, there are few studies on estuarine organisms. This baseline study evaluates the abundance and distribution of microplastics in the gastropods of a tropical estuary in Selangor, Malaysia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnethole is an ingredient in many flavours, fragrances and pharmaceutical formulations. To reduce the dependence of its supply on natural oils, a green route for anethole synthesis was designed on the basis of Meerwein-Pondorf-Verley (MPV) reduction and dehydration of 4'-methoxypropiophenone. The one-pot cascade reactions were heterogeneously catalysed by dual-functional Zr-MSU-3, a predominantly Lewis-acidic catalyst with a Si/Zr ratio of 10 and pores with sizes in the range of 3.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSpectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc
May 2016
We synthesized 2-aminonicotinic acid (2-ANA) complexes with metals such as Co(II), Fe(III), Ni(II), Mn(II), Zn(II), Ag(I),Cr(III), Cd(II) and Cu(II) in aqueous media. The complexes were characterized and elucidated using FT-IR, UV-Vis, a fluorescence spectrophotometer and thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA). TGA data showed that the stoichiometry of complexes was 1:2 metal/ligand except for Ag(I) and Mn(II) where the ratio was 1:1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAcute Helicobacter pylori infection produces hypochlorhydria. The decrease in acid facilitates survival of the bacterium and its colonization of the stomach. The present study was designed to identify the pathways in oxyntic mucosa by which acute H.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground & Aims: Amylin, a peptide that displays 50% homology with calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), is colocalized with somatostatin in endocrine cells of the gastric fundus. The present study was designed to determine the mechanism of action of amylin on gastric exocrine and endocrine secretion.
Methods: Acid secretion was measured in the isolated mouse stomach by titration.