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Month: November 2021

Unpacking the relevance of Traditional and Complementary Medicine through UiTM’s seminar

Posted on by Faculty of Pharmacy, UiTM Editorial Team

The Faculty of Pharmacy, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia, successfully organized a webinar on ‘Traditional & Complementary Medicine (T&CM): The Relevance of T&CM Practices in Malaysia and Indonesia’.

This first-ever webinar on T&CM was conducted as one of the online teaching methods for an elective course on Traditional & Complementary Medicine (PHC661) at the faculty.

This webinar was initially targeted at students registered for the course and aimed at allowing them to learn more from the experts; however, the organizers were pleasantly surprised when more than 500 participants, comprising of academicians, research scholars and students from both Malaysia and Indonesia, attended the webinar. The great interest and support shown by the attendees have indeed marked this event as a huge success.

The 3.5-hours webinar began with the opening speech by the Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy, UiTM, Associate Professor Dr Shariza Sahudin, followed by talks from three distinctive speakers. The first talk was given by Dr Dyanan Puvanandran, the Secretary of the Traditional & Complementary Medicine Council, from the Ministry of Health, Malaysia.

Dr Dyanan’s talk was on the topic of ‘Law & Regulation/Acceptance of T&CM in the Modern Health System’, which emphasizes law & policymaking and its enforcement on T&CM in Malaysia.

The second speaker was Associate Professor Dr Mahaneem Mohamed, a Senior Medical Lecturer at the Unit of Integrative Medicine & Department of Physiology, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Health Campus, Malaysia.

Dr Mahaneem shared the current practices and challenges in T&CM in Malaysia. Meanwhile, the final speaker for the webinar was Prof. Dr Edy Meiyanto, a Professor at the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia. Prof. Edy’s talk title was ‘Herbal Therapy as Adjunct Treatment for Cancer’, where he shared a lot of the ongoing and completed research work on cancer and herbs & other natural products at the Universitas Gadjah Mada.

T&CM although existed and been practised ages ago, is still not widely used and fully developed in Malaysia as well as Indonesia. According to the National Health and Morbidity Survey, 2015, less than 30% of the Malaysian population had ever sought any T&CM services. Thus, in order for the T&CM practices to reach a wider range of population, the Malaysian government established the T&CM division under the Ministry of Health in selected government hospitals that encourage the practice to co-exist with modern medicine.

The discussion also highlighted some of the challenges towards implementing the T&CM practices in Malaysia that include ensuring effective implementation of the T&CM Act 2016 and the introduction to statutory regulation of T&CM practitioners, lack of trained personnel, inadequate training facilities and appropriate mechanism to register T&CM without formal training.

The overwhelming response from the attendees was also translated into their active participation in the question and answer session at the end of each talk. The two-way communications with the speakers have turned the whole webinar into a more engaging and informative session.

Thammasat University lecturer discovers a new plant species

Posted on by Thammasat University

A name has been initiated and a botanical description has been written in accordance with the international rules for determining the scientific name of plants (ICN) by Dr Thiwthawat Napiroon, Lecturer in the Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Thammasat University with Mr Arun Sinbumroong, Forestry Technical Officer, Professional Level, Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation and Mr. Manop Phuphat, Forestry Technical Officer, Professional Level, Office of the Forest Herbarium, Department of National Parks.

“Cute Star Flower” has the scientific name Lasianthus ranongensis Sinbumroong & Napiroon, which was named in honour of Ranong Province, the area where it was first discovered, and the study team. It has been accepted for publication in the American Journal of Plant Biology PeerJ (Plant biology section), where part of the research was supported by the cooperation in the Flora of Thailand project.

Dr. Thiwthawat Napiroon, Lecturer in the Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Thammasat University who examined the genetics of this plant, said that from researching scientific evidence, this plant had never been reported or discovered before. It has been first discovered here in Thailand, in a tropical rainforest of the Andaman Sea at Namtok Ngao National Park, Ranong Province.

“The time of collecting this plant was right at its flowering period of around this April to May, using the laboratory of the Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Thammasat University. It took about a month to prove all of the plant genetic identification,” said Dr Thiwthawat.

Cute Star Flower is one of the members of the Lasianthus Jack genus. Various Rubiaceae species within this genus are wild medicinal plants that are rich in important phytochemicals such as scopoletin of a high amount. From the number of petals according to plant biology or botany, the number of petals is not within the range of 4-5 petals or is a multiple of that number according to the common dicotyledon, but appearing in the tropical forests of Thailand.

With the characteristics of the reproductive organs that are different from neighbouring species within the same genus, including other plant components; such as leaf morphology, monofilament-like strings corolla surface covering, beaded calyx, calyx, auricle morphology, etc. These traits are genetically controlled and they vividly indicate the uniqueness of a species in evolutionary biology and botany.

“I have discussed with the Department of National Park on the ongoing research and Namtok Ngao National Park in relation to the application of plant biotechnology or tissue culture to increase the number of plants in equilibrium or reduce the risk of disappearance which will be made into an area-specific model to keep plants in an environment where they can settle and later increase the chance of survival. In other areas, if the environment is suitable or similar to what was discovered, there is a chance to be found as well,” said Dr Thiwthawat.

Currently, it is kept at the Office of the Forest Herbarium, Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (Forest Herbarium-BKF), Bangkok. The study of the preserved prototypes of the flower is available, including the dried samples of the staff specimens.

TPU professor conferred Ordre des Palmes Academiques

Posted on by Tomsk Polytechnic University

Vladimir An, Professor of the Kizhner Research Center of the TPU School of Advanced Manufacturing Technologies, has been conferred the Ordre des Palmes académiques (Order of Academic Palms), the oldest French decoration that is conferred on civilians only.

Abdo Malac, Counsellor on Science and Technologies at the Embassy of the French Republic to the Russian Federation, conferred Vladimir on October 11.

The conference was held during the visit of the delegation of science attachés and counsellors on science and education of European countries headed by Laurent Bochereau, Minister-Counsellor and Head of Science and Technology and Other EU Policies Section of the Delegation of the European Union to Russian Federation. They met with university researchers actively cooperating with European colleagues, discussed promising research projects in biomedicine, the energy industry and green chemistry, as well as solutions to expand and strengthen the cooperation of Russian and European researchers.

In his welcome address, Laurent Bochereau emphasized the TPU professor’s contribution to cooperation development and strengthening of international research and academic contacts. He also thanked Vladimir An for the achieved results: jointly implemented projects, research articles, student training and young scientists.

The Ordre des Palmes académiques was established in March 1808 by Emperor Napoleon as a decoration to honour academicians and professors of the University of Paris. The Ordre des Palmes académiques has three grades: Commandeur (Commander), Officier (Officer), Chevalier (Knight). The decorations are conferred by the decision of the Minister of National Education.

The decoration is designed to distinguish the merits of staff of French ministers who are responsible for national and higher education. According to an offer of the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France, the order can be conferred on both French citizens living abroad and international residents who make an effective contribution to intellectual, research and cultural expansion of France in overseas countries. The Prime Minister of France affirms the candidate who will be conferred.

France is one of the main TPU European partners in research cooperation. Within agreements, TPU cooperates with 16 research and academic institutions, among which are Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, the University of Bordeaux, the University of Technology of Troyes, the University of Orléans and others.

The TPU Professor Vladimir An became a Chevalier of the Ordre des Palmes académiques. For over 20 years, Vladimir has been developing and supervising research areas of cooperation between French research and academic institutions and TPU. These are double degree programs, travel grants for young scientists, internships of TPU students at French universities.

Recently, the TPU master’s degree student Maxim Titov has successfully defended his thesis under the professor’s supervision at Paris Sciences et Lettres University (PSL University). Maxim became the first participant of the planned network program between TPU and PSL University, which will allow TPU students to obtain two diplomas at the same time. Among the research interests of the scientist, there are properties and application of nanopowders, green energy and the hydrogen economy.

“I am grateful to the Government of France for that they found an opportunity to distinguish my work in this field. I am also grateful to my TPU colleagues with whom we work together in the development of international educational programs. A special gratitude I would like to express to Svetlana Tovchikho, the first Director of the TPU Russia-France Center. She was that person who brought me up to date, helped me to start and successfully continue the development of international relations. Moreover, I am grateful to the university for its approach to the development of educational connections. I hope that such decorations will serve to recognize the important role of TPU in the development of Russia-France educational contacts,” Vladimir An said.

TPU scientist awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2021

Posted on by Tomsk Polytechnic University

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2021 has been awarded jointly to Benjamin List and David W.C. MacMillan for their development of a new tool for molecular construction — the development of asymmetric organocatalysis. The Norwegian Nobel Committee 2021 reported about it on October 6. Pavel Postnikov, Associate Professor of the TPU Research School of Chemistry and Applied Biomedical Sciences, explained the significance of the 2021 chemistry laureates’ research work and why it is a decent and well-deserved prize.

Benjamin List is a director of the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research (Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany), while David W.C. MacMillan conducts research at Princeton University (Princeton, the USA).“For a long time, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to organic chemists. During the last years, the Prize was often awarded for research breakthroughs in medicine and biomedicine. Therefore, the chemical community is excited over such a result,” Pavel Postnikov noted.

According to Pavel, asymmetric organocatalysis has made the synthesis of organic compounds considerably more environmentally friendly.

“Previously, metal complexes and enzymes were used as catalysts in asymmetric catalysis. Heavy metals always contaminate organic chemicals and sometimes it is challenging to remove them after. In this case, the Prize was awarded for organocatalysis. It means that a catalyst contains only organic compounds and only light elements, as we call them. It is an incomparably more environmentally friendly method. Moreover, hypervalent iodine chemistry actively developed at TPU is one of the types of organocatalysis,” the scientist explained.

Furthermore, the scientist noted that the method developed by the Nobel Prize laureates allows synthesizing chiral molecules, which can be often seen in medication — bioactive compounds.

“This method gave chemists a clear tool for the synthesis of such molecules. General principles haven’t existed before,” Pavel Postnikov added. “Therefore, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2021 for the chemical community is decent and well-deserved.”

Thammasat University wins 1st prize in Chulalongkorn Case Discovery 2021

Posted on by Thammasat University

Team Mercury from the Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Thammasat Business School, Thammasat University, has won 1st prize in Chulalongkorn Case Discovery 2021 at Chulalongkorn University.

Mercury team consisted of Ms. Yada Sotangkur, Ms. Parichaya Juntkuang, Mr. Nattapong Labpholtaweeying, and Mr. Apiwat Sitthijanyawan.

Chulalongkorn Case Discovery 2021 competition requires creating marketing plans for the application ‘Grab’.

“The case study involved the Grab application which is in daily use, so we had to understand deeply the services the app provides,” said Miss Parichaya Juntkuang (BBA), one of the Mercury team members. “The challenge was to expand their market beyond their current users, so we intensively studied other customers’ needs to come up with our solution.”

Due to the Covid-19 situation, the competition was held online.  This year, 251 teams from all over the country participated.

UiTM inks MoU on health communication with College Physicians of Malaysia

Posted on by A. HAMID SAIFUDDIN

Recognising the need and space for aligned and curated communication across fields and stakeholders, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) signed an MoU with the College Physicians of Malaysia to signify their collaborative effort in knowledge and expertise sharing between the institutions.

The MoU’s signing formally acknowledges an ongoing, strategic, and long-term relationship between the institutions. Activities will focus on academic research collaboration, joint activities and programs, student and staff exchange, and academic knowledge exchange.

Present during the virtual signing ceremony was, the Dean of the Faculty of Communication and Media Studies, Associate Professor Dr Massila Hamzah, and Dr Letchuman Ramanathan, the President of the College of Physicians Malaysia. The signing was witnessed by representatives from both parties, through which the ‘War on Cancer’ was initiated.

Historically, the signing marked the Faculty of Communication and Media Studies and the Faculty of Medicine, UiTM’s first partnership with the College of Physicians Malaysia. This MoU aspires to ensure field expertise and knowledge-sharing are accessible to all, from developing improvements in teaching and learning to close the gap between the entities involved through research and expertise exchange.

Additionally, a series of activities and assignments are already in the pipeline, with some nearing completion. From cross-field research to proposed media training and publicity, invested parties look forward to this collaboration that will enrich their stakeholders and witness the exponential growth in technical know-how between UiTM and the College of Physicians Malaysia, respectively.

Communications and medical sciences have always been in each other’s presence since the dawn of civilisation. The role of physicians is no longer restricted to bedside manners but has evolved intrinsically since then. More than ever before, doctors are considered actors in their field. Apart from manning the wards and providing medical advice, they also wear many hats to address issues, convey empathy, and attend to patients with Google as a second opinion.

In this age of digital sharing and fake news, the time is ripe to use proper communication tools and techniques to avoid misinterpretation, misrepresentation, and misinformation to the stakeholders. Today’s signing can be seen as a bridge built to address these issues, bearing huge potential to be a repository of data, case studies and a point of reference for many to denote.

According to Associate Professor Dr Massila Hamzah in her opening remark, “in regard to the idea in achieving the “Third Degree Separation” status as mentioned by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ts. Dr Hajah Roziah Mohd Janor’s recent address, Mass Comm, the Faculty of Medicine, and the College of Physician Malaysia have successfully materialised the first and second degree of separation. We are steadily making our way to the third degree via the activities running concurrently in the form of training, academic and industrial research collaborations, and external consultation and ePublication”.

In addition, “such integral collaboration effort will create more initiatives that could lead to greater conversations and meaningful practices on academic values, culture as well as cross-field sharing sessions and best practices between the three entities; Faculties and the College of Physicians Malaysia”, said Dr Letchuman respectively. UiTM’s Faculty of Medicine has been active in spearheading a health-awareness campaign and this collaboration will effectively see more visibility of such canvass in Malaysia.

The signing was also dedicated in memory of the late academician Allahyarham (the Late) Emeritus Professor Dato’ Dr Khalid Yusoff. This project was his brainchild, and it was his vision and aspiration to see this collaborative effort and change materialise.

This partnership will lead to many more mutually beneficial initiatives that are hoped to produce new synergies and add educational value for UiTM and College of Physicians Malaysia in the years ahead.

Chitkara Business School’s top performance in CSR-GHRDC B-School Survey 2021

Posted on by Dr K K Mishra

Chitkara Business School, Punjab has been ranked 1st among the ‘Top B-Schools (Private) in Punjab’ and 19th among ‘Top B-Schools of Super Excellence’ in the CSR-GHRDC B-School Survey 2021.

Competition Success Review is India’s premier current affairs and Career Magazine. It’s very beneficial for students preparing for competitive exams like Civil Services, MBA and banking. It is now in its 57th year of publication and has been a leader for almost 4 decades as per ABC.

Global Human Resource Development Centre ( GHRDC) is a research-based organization that has been the pioneer in starting the concept and practice of rating and ranking B-Schools from the very inception of its organization and has since (1998) been involved in rating and ranking of B- Schools in India.

UMY’s first female professor

Posted on by umy

Prof. Dr. Dyah Mutiarin recently achieved the title of Professor in the field of Government Science as well as being the first female Professor owned by the Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY).

The lecturer of the UMY Government Science study program stressed on the important role of women in decision making, especially in shaping the future of universities.

According to Dyah, women are very important in the family, in the work environment, and in society. Women must be able to show their ability to progress, be independent, and be in an equal position with men.

In the process to achieve this highest academic degree, Dyah conducted several pieces of research on Government and Public Policy. The research conducted by the Head of the UMY Research and Innovation Institute focuses on government management and public policy innovation within the government.

“In my opinion, an adaptive, innovative, responsible government (agile government) is very necessary for managing public policies, especially during this pandemic. For example, in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, the central government and regional governments make policies, but these policies often undergo changes, they also carry out policy innovations from experience in the field. Of course, this requires a bureaucratic model that is active, agile, and nimble in the government. However, this smart bureaucracy also requires strengthening community involvement to control the policy,” she explained.

Furthermore, Dyah hopes that her appointment as a Professor and her status as the first female Professor at UMY can be a motivation for other lecturers.

President University’s International Conference on Family Business and Entrepreneurship 2021

Posted on by President University

The Faculty of Business, President University (PresUniv), held the annual International Conference on Family Business & Entrepreneurship (ICFBE) in collaboration with Dhyana Pura University, Bali, and the Indonesia Strategic Management Society and under the theme On the Path to Recovery: Leadership, Resilience, and Creativity.

ICFBE 21 deliberately chose this theme because it is well aware that many companies, including family companies, are struggling to recover after more than 1.5 years of being hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.

A small part of the committee is located at the Grand Inna Hotel, Kuta, Bali, while the speakers and participants attended online. The speakers were academics and business practitioners, such as Prof. Ki-Chan Kim, Professor of the Management Catholic University of Korea, Prof. Ruth Rentschler, Professor of Art & Cultural Leadership from the University of South Australia, Dr. Hariyadi Sukamdani, Chairman of the Asosiasi Pengusaha Indonesia dan Persatuan Hotel dan Restoran Indonesia, Dr. Edhijanto W. Taufik who is also the founder of PT Mandaya Sehat, and Servatius Bambang P., the owner of PT Kutus Kutus Herbal.

PresUniv Rector Prof. Dr Jony Oktavian Haryanto, in his opening remarks, mentioned the strategic role of the family businesses.

Prof. Jony said, “Through the ICFBE 2021 event, I hope we can share knowledge and research results about how family businesses are recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic. We must immediately move on from the issues of succession, family vs. professionals, or the phrase “the first generation establishes, the second generation raises, the third generation spends,” even though this is still a latent issue in family companies.

While the Governor of Bali, Dr Ir. I Wayan Koster, MM, welcomed the hybrid implementation of ICFBE 2021 in Bali. He hoped that this conference provides input for Bali’s economic recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic.

“This pandemic provides a deep economic contraction for Bali. Because the Bali economy is very dependent on the tourism sector, which is very vulnerable to changes in external conditions, such as security disturbances and including the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Governor Wayan Koster. That is why in the future, Bali must rearrange its economy. “We will position tourism as an additional source or bonus for the Bali economy,” said Wayan Koster.

Chula successfully developes a portable sweat-test device for COVID-19

Posted on by Chulalongkorn University

The faculty members and students of the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University have successfully developed, for the first time, a quick and easy-to-use portable sweat test device for COVID-19 to detect specific scents in sweat caused by bacteria.  Sample collection only takes 15 minutes per person, and the results can be obtained in 30 seconds.  The sweat test is now being used in community screening.

This is based on the success of the “COVID-19 Sniffer Dogs” project which has been a collaboration between the Faculty of Veterinary Science, the Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, and Chevron Thailand Survey and Production Co., Ltd. — using sweat sniffer dogs to detect asymptomatic COVID-19 cases in the community.  Today, the “Portable Sweat Test for COVID-19 Detection” is announced as the latest innovation to supplement the army of sniffer dogs in accelerating and extending the coverage of community screening.

                                         Sniffer Dogs Mobile Unit for COVID-19 screening

Sniffer Dogs Mobile Unit for COVID-19 screening

“Previously, we worked with ‘Sniffer Dogs Mobile Units’ in the field to test for COVID-19 in communities with at-risk groups.  So, we took the samples that the dogs found and searched for specific substances that the dogs could detect,” explained Asst. Prof. Dr. Chadin Kulsing, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, about the inception of the innovation.
                                                        Asst. Prof. Dr. Chadin Kulsing, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University
                        Asst. Prof. Dr. Chadin Kulsing, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University

“From the samples, we found that people infected with COVID-19 secrete very distinct chemicals.  So, we used this finding to develop a device to detect the specific odors produced by certain bacteria in the sweat of COVID-19 patients.  This is the first time that COVID-19 is detected via these chemicals.”

People’s sweat may have more than 100 unique scents — be it from the powder, roll-on deodorant, or the bacteria that feed on sweat or skin secretions, then excrete the substances that are mixed with sweat.

“For those infected with COVID-19, the bacteria react abnormally to the virus and produce some distinct odors unique to COVID-19 infection,” Asst. Prof. Dr Chadin explained.

The portable sweat test device was developed from a commercially available portable chemistry analyzer which is generally used to measure chemicals that are toxic to the environment.  To adapt it to detect COVID-19, Asst. Prof. Dr Chadin installed a specific filter to detect the virus.

                                                                  The Portable Sweat Test Device for COVID-19
                                                                  The Portable Sweat Test Device for COVID-19

“The test kit consists of a glass vial and a cotton swab which screeners will receive one each. The screeners would place the cotton swab under the armpit of the person receiving the test and leave it for about 15 minutes.  After that, the cotton swab is put in the glass vile, which is then sterilized with UV rays. The technician then draws an appropriate amount of the sample using a suction hose, and pressurizes it into the analyzer to check the results,” said Asst. Prof. Dr. Chadin.

                                      Technician preparing samples for analysis
                                                                           Technician preparing samples for analysis

The advantage of this method is that it can be adapted to detect mutated variants of the virus or other microorganisms.

“Even with mutated variants, the chemical odor in the sweat of an infected person will be different from that of the uninfected.  So, the equipment should be able to handle the variable chemicals with just a change of filter,” added Asst. Prof. Dr. Chadin.

Field tests of the device on 2,000 people alongside the PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) testing found the results to be on a par – with 95% sensitivity and 98% specificity. However, Asst. Prof. Dr. Chadin recommends that if the sweat test shows positive results, patients should also get a PCR test for confirmation.

At present, the portable sweat test device for COVID-19 is still in the research and development phase, with Chula in collaboration with the Department of Disease Control and government agencies conducting tests in various communities.

“This device can help with proactive screening in the communities with emerging clusters. We also work with the “Sniffer Dogs Mobile Units” to take over from the canines during their rest period,” Asst. Prof. Dr. Chadin concluded.