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Gut microbiota plays an important role in mammalian host metabolism and physiological functions. The functions are particularly important in young children where rapid mental and physical developments are taking place. Nevertheless, little is known about the gut microbiome and the factors that contribute to microbial variation in the gut of South East Asian children. Here, we compared the gut bacterial richness and composition of pre-adolescence in Northern Malaysia. Our subjects covered three distinct ethnic groups with relatively narrow range of socioeconomic discrepancy. These included the Malays (n = 24), Chinese (n = 17) and the Orang Asli (indigenous) (n = 20). Our results suggested a strong ethnicity and socioeconomic-linked bacterial diversity. Highest bacterial diversity was detected from the economically deprived indigenous children while the lowest diversity was recorded from the relatively wealthy Chinese children. In addition, predicted functional metagenome profiling suggested an over-representation of pathways pertinent to bacterial colonisation and chemotaxis in the former while the latter exhibited enriched gene pathways related to sugar metabolism.

We investigate the amplitude flatness of Rayleigh-assisted Brillouin-Raman comb laser in a linear cavity in which feedbacks are formed by high-reflectivity mirror. The optimization of Brillouin pump power and wavelength is very crucial in order to obtain a uniform power level between Stokes lines. The Brillouin pump must have a relatively large power and its wavelength must be located closer to the Raman peak gain region. The flat-amplitude bandwidth is also determined by the choice of Raman pump wavelengths. A flat-amplitude bandwidth of 30.7 nm from 1527.32 to 1558.02 nm is measured when Raman pump wavelengths are set to 1435 and 1450 nm. 357 uniform Brillouin Stokes lines with 0.086 nm spacing are generated across the wavelength range. The average signal-to-noise ratio of 17 dB is obtained for all the Brillouin Stokes lines.