Category Health/Medical

Asam keping

Dr Suraya A. Sani, recent PhD graduate from The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC), has been working with a tropical fruit, locally called asam keping, under the supervision of Dr Teng-Jin Khoo at UNMC’s School of Pharmacy. Funded by the Sarawak Tunku Abdul Rahman Scholarship, she was able to spend her time on research work for the first two years at UNMC and a year working on her research at the Centre for BioMolecular Sciences at University Park, The University of Nottingham, UK under the co-supervision of Professor Dr Jonas Emsley.

Dr Suraya A. Sani conducts research on the medicinal properties of the Garcinia plant species; a plant species which is largely available in Malaysia and throughout Southeast Asia...

(A) Image of Rothia mucilaginosa grown on a blood agar plate showing mucoid, grayish colonies after incubation at 37℃ for 48 hr. (B) Microscopic image of the cultured isolates showing clusters of gram-positive cocci (Gram stain, ×1,000).

Researchers have isolated an enzyme from bacteria present in human saliva that has potential as a therapy for celiac disease (CD). An estimated 3 million people in the U.S. have celiac disease. Currently, the main course of treatment for people with CD is adherence to a strict gluten-free diet. “Gluten are proline- and glutamine-rich proteins present in wheat, barley and rye, and contain the immunogenic sequences that drive celiac disease (CD),” the researchers wrote...

Childhood asthma. Mother helping her baby son to use an inhaler. The inhaler is attached to a spacer. The spacer acts as a reservoir, retaining the vapour from the inhaler and allowing the patient to inhale it at their chosen rate.

“Our study is the first to show that breastfeeding can modify the effect of asthma-related genetic profiles on respiratory symptoms in the first year of life,” commented Dr Olga Gorlanova, from the University Children’s Hospital Basel (UKBB), and the University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland. Genes that are associated with asthma risk are located on chromosome 17 and called 17q21. A recent study reported that children who possessed genetic variants on chromosome 17q21 had an increased risk of developing wheeze, when combined with certain environmental exposures.

PRC1 (polycomb complex) maintains intestinal homeostasis by repressing the expression of ZICs, a family of transcription factors inactivating the β-catenin/TCF complex. Importantly, interfering with PRC1 activity completely inhibits the formation of Wnt-dependent tumors.

Researchers at the University of Tampere discovered a regulation mechanism governing the intestinal homeostasis. Disturbances in this mechanism are implicated in celiac disease and possibly also in colorectal cancer. The study provides new information on the pathogenesis of the differentiation defect of the epithelium in the small intestine in celiac disease.

In celiac disease, ingested dietary gluten causes intestinal mucosal damage with villus atrophy and crypt hyperplasia...