Tag: Indonesia

Breast cancer, also known as Carsinoma mammae, is a type of cancer that can affect both men and women. It originates in the milk glands, fatty tissue, and connective tissues. The 2020 report by Global Cancer Observatory (GLOBOCAN) records over 600,000 deaths and 2 million new cases, proving that this cancer remains potentially lethal, particularly for women. In Indonesia, it has been recognized as the leading cancer case and second to lung cancer in terms of cancer-related deaths, with 65,000 new cases being detected in the same year. It is estimated to increase to 200,000 within the past five years. Early detection is, therefore, crucial to anticipate new cases, allow proper treatment, and minimize mortality.

Early breast cancer detection methods include mammography, breast ultrasound, MRI, PET scan, and biopsy. However, many sufferers express discomfort and embarrassment about these methods, in addition to their substantial cost, leaving room for improvements in terms of simplicity, practicality, effectiveness, and accuracy. Enter “Breath Analyzer Kits”: a breath analyzer with a Fusion Sensor system that integrates several smell detection tools intended to detect, identify, and analyze both simple and complex smells in addition to volatile organic compounds (VOC).

Cancer cells influence the abundance of VOC compounds in a patient’s breath. Considering that chemical analysis of a patient’s breath has been a known method to detect various types of cancer, a team of researchers from the Universitas Sumatera Utara, led by Dr. Zikri Noer S.Si, M.Si, along with members Oki Gunawan Harahap, A.Md., Awwa Chaga Qambara Taqwa, Dhuha Annisa Haque, Disty Ratna Marisya, David Kevin Handel Hutabarat, Misuki Awanda, and Ikhwanuddin, S.Si, M.Si, developed this innovative Fusion Sensor technology for real-time early detection of breast cancer by measuring the concentration of formaldehyde in exhaled breath.

The standard amount of formaldehyde (H2CO) in a healthy person’s breath ranges from 0.3 – 0.6 ppm, compared to a breast cancer patient’s 0.45 – 1.2 ppm. The Fusion Sensor picks up the formaldehyde compound using the iontophoresis in situ method, which analyzes the accumulated VOC in exhaled breath. The gas blown into the Sensor is ionized, causing changes in resistivity and generating distinct potential patterns from the TGS813, TGS822, TGS2600, and TGS2602 sensors. By using Arduino, the electrical signal generated from the potential difference in the pattern is then transformed into digital data. With its practicality, effective, and accurate early detection features, the Breath Analyzer Kit with Fusion Sensor system is innovative as a portable medical check-up technology.[vc_single_image image=”37129″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”]

Mount Sinabung in the Karo Regency, North Sumatra Province, is one of Indonesia’s more active volcanoes, with numerous eruptions recorded since 2010. An eruption in 2013 was recorded as one of the most intense, displacing thousands of people in the mountain’s vicinity. In 2023, MAGMA (Multiplatform Application for Geohazard Mitigation and Assessment) Indonesia issued a level II alert warning for Mount Sinabung since the month of May, prompting the Indonesian government to evacuate villagers around Sinabung for safety, among them being villagers from Gurukinayan Village.

Suri Mutia Siregar, M.Psi., a lecturer at the Faculty of Psychology, Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU), Medan, Indonesia, supervised a team consisting of students from the Faculty of Psychology and the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Sumatera Utara, to research the psychological well-being of the survivors and refugees from Gurukinayan Village. The team found that, despite the tragic loss of their family members or relatives and the significant damage to property and livelihood, the villagers live in relative harmony while in close vicinity of the volcano. They have an excellent awareness of natural disasters and are vigilant to sudden activities and eruptions from Sinabung.

The research team conducted qualitative research using 12 ethnographic steps: 1) identify informants, 2) informants interview, 3) ethnographic recording, 4) descriptive questions interview, 5) interview analysis, 6) domain analysis, 7) structured interview, 8) taxonomy analysis, 9) contrasting questions interview, 10) formulation of components of analysis, 11) identify cultural themes, and 12) ethnographical write-up. Through the procedure, the team found that the villagers’ resilience and harmonious coexistence towards disasters are founded on heritage wisdom called the Nini Galoh oral tradition.

The Nini Galoh tradition involves a ceremonial ritual to revere the ancestors of Gurukinayan Village. The villagers, alongside the village elders, conduct a series of communal rites that they believe maintain their connection to their ancestors. The ceremony becomes a means through which all generations are reminded of the messages of wisdom they inherited, such as: 1) the Gurukinayan Village lies on blessed land, safe from the ravages of volcanic materials such as lava; 2) the villagers trust each other on their bond of kinship, everyone helps each other in need readily during trying times; 3) the villagers are intimate with the layout of their land, allowing quick response and navigation during disaster evacuations, and; 4) the villagers are highly adaptable to change in livelihood as situation calls.

With funding from the Directorate of Learning and Student Affairs from the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture, the USU team believes that the core philosophy and positive messaging of the Nini Galoh oral tradition contribute significantly to the development of psychological well-being of Mount Sinabung survivors, namely in aspects of self-acceptance, positive relations with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, and personal growth. The team recommends that the local and central government and responsible bodies allow volcanic eruption survivors and refugees in Indonesia to embrace their local wisdom, potentially reducing psychological burdens and encouraging acceptance and harmonious living with natural disasters. Considering that Indonesia lies on the Ring of Fire volcanic belt, and there are vulnerable communities and settlements living close to each of the hundreds of active volcanoes across the archipelago, this recommendation might contribute to the literature on psychological well-being for better disaster response nationwide.

Rapid mangrove loss rates have prompted the urgent implementation of conservation and restoration programs. Currently, restoration efforts have high failure rates (mainly because they only consider intensive planting of mangrove seedlings, often in monocultures and low-lying tidal flats. In many cases, this approach must pay more attention to measuring ecosystem habitat functionality and adaptive management.

A study from the Center of Excellence for Mangrove Universitas Sumatera Utara (CoE for Mangrove USU) recently reported that macrozoobenthic community assemblage is a key indicator for mangrove restoration success. The idea behind this new study, led by Prof. Mohammad Basyuni of Universitas Sumatera Utara and Dr. Alejandra G. Vovides of the University of Glasgow and published in the journal Restoration Ecology (https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.13614), was simple. The recognition of the high value of mangrove forests and the wide array of ecosystem services they provide has motivated investment in worldwide restoration efforts. However, current metrics of functional restoration (other than seedling survival rates and plant community composition) are often not readily available for local community managers, highlighting an urgency to identify easy-to-measure indicators to assess the functionality of restored mangroves.

The macrozoobenthic community could be such a practical indicator, as macrozoobenthic communities are sensitive to changes in their environment and can be surveyed easily within local managing programs.

The study focusing on three main mangrove management conditions (natural, planted, and naturally regenerated) in North Sumatra and the province of Aceh, Indonesia, compared vegetation and macrozoobenthic community diversity indices and identified environmental variables that best describe the forest management conditions and their associated macrozoobenthic community assemblage. These land uses have further undergone mangrove vegetation recovery either due to abandonment followed by natural regeneration of mangroves or due to mangrove planting efforts. This provided the possibility to compare two management conditions (i.e., planted and naturally regenerated) with mature natural mangroves used as reference. The study found that the macrozoobenthic community can be used as a restoration indicator and could serve as a baseline to empower monitoring activities and community-based adaptive management practices to improve the outcomes of restoration efforts. Coastal communities that utilize the mangrove forest are familiar with the macrozoobenthos species. This familiarity will help in designing community-based monitoring programs to evaluate mangrove restoration success.

Environmental conditions at mangrove restoration sites can rapidly change, as evidenced by Pulau Sembilan in Malaysia, which was first managed through planting between 2008 and 2012, but then additionally underwent hydrological connectivity restoration. Despite the limitations of this study, low pH and DO at Percut Sei Tuan are probable evidence of hydrologically impaired conditions. These environmental attributes, alongside the early pioneer vegetation recorded at Percut Sei Tuan, indicate low restoration success due to a continued hydrological impairment. However, allowing natural regeneration to occur without any intervention could result in functional recovery times becoming prolonged or even not occurring at all, depending on the nature, intensity, and duration of the disturbance (Ellison et al., 2020). Here, both vegetation and macrozoobenthos community assemblages formed three distinct groups associated with management. The vegetation NMDS showed high dissimilarities between natural and planted mangroves, where the differences in vegetation and environmental attributes might, in turn, influence the macrozoobenthic community assemblage, as was found to occur in riparian streams.

CoE for Mangrove USU is collaborating with the School of Geographical & Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom, and the Department of Environment, Thuyloi University, Vietnam. The project suggested that identifying indicator species to support rapid bio-assessments can aid conservation diagnostics and management program design. Overall, the study showed that the community assemblage has the potential to be an indicator of mangrove functional restoration success. It showed that natural mangrove regeneration favors the recovery of macrozoobenthic functional groups over plantations. Facilitating natural mangrove regeneration through ecological and hydrological restoration may take longer than direct planting. Still, it will create the suitable flooding regimes and “natural” species assemblages needed to facilitate the functional recovery of the macrozoobenthic communities. Documenting the macrozoobenthic community under different mangrove conditions (including bare mudflats) and throughout the restoration programs can help understand the functional restoration trajectories. Further, combining nature-based solutions such as elevation or hydrological restoration with planting or dispersal of local pioneer species could accelerate the natural functional recovery of ecosystems.