Candida albicans and Cryptococcus neoformans can cause life-threatening infections, especially in immunecompromised patients. Treatment with currently available antifungal agents may lead to severe side-effects and emergence of resistant strains. The objective of this study was to evaluate the antifungal properties of MTH and SBP against C. albicans and C. neoformans. Broth dilution method was used to assess the antifungal properties of the MTH and propolis. Different concentrations of the MTH and propolis (0.78 mg/mL -50.00 mg/mL) in two-fold dilutions were tested against each fungus to determine the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) which was done by visual inspection and spectrophotometric (MIC95) reading at 620 nm. Minimum Fungicidal Concentration (MFC) was obtained by culturing on Sabouraud Dextrose Agar. Total phenolic acids and flavonoids contents were also determined by Folin-Ciocalteu and colorimetric assay respectively. The MICs of the MTH against C. albicans and C. neoformans by visual inspection were 6.25 mg/mL and 1.56 mg/mL respectively, meanwhile 6.25 mg/mL and 3.13 mg/mL by spectrophotometric reading. The MFCs of the MTH against C. albicans and C. neoformans were 12.50 mg/mL and 6.25 mg/mL respectively. The MICs of SBP against C. albicans and C. neoformans by visual inspection were both 1.56 mg/mL whereas spectrophotometric reading recorded MICs of 3.13 mg/mL and 1.56 mg/mL respectively. The MFCs of SBP against C. albicans was 6.25 mg/mL and 3.13 mg/mL for C. neoformans. The total phenolic acids and flavonoids contents of MTH were 275.6 mg gallic acid/kg and 71.8 mg quercetin/kg respectively whereas for SBP, the phenolic acids content was 1754.2 mg gallic acid/kg and the flavonoids content was 82.6 mg quercetin/kg. MTH and SBP exhibited significant antifungal activities against C. albicans and C. neoformans. Their antifungal activities might be attributed to the high phenolic acids and flavonoids. This result suggests that MTH and SBP could potentially be used as alternative therapeutic agents against these fungi.

This study was done to observe the anthropometry and body composition changes before, during, and after the holy month of Ramadan. This study was carried out on 46 staff from one of the local universities, which comprised of 14 males and 32 females ranging in age from 25 to 40 years old. There were four sessions done to complete this study, namely, a week before Ramadan (T1), 1st week of Ramadan (T2), 3rd week of Ramadan (T3), and a month after Ramadan (T4). All subjects were assessed according to weight, body circumference, and body composition status. It was found that subjects with different weight status showed a significant reduction in weight (P < 0.01) but no significant reduction in body fat percentage (P < 0.05). The findings suggest that weight reduction does not promise a reduction in body fat. Changes in neck circumference were only found in normal subjects. Hence, it can be said that overweight and obese subjects showed no changes in anthropometry status during Ramadan. No changes in body composition were reported in all three weight groups except for trunk body fat. In conclusion, normal subjects showed significant changes in various anthropometry parameters, but overweight and obese subjects showed no obvious difference.

Context:Lansium domesticum corr. is a member of the family Meliaceae, and known locally as duku and has been used traditionally in the prevention and treatment of various illness. Aim: To study the cytotoxic effect and morphological changes of human colorectal adenocarcinoma cells (HT-29) treated with different duku (Lansium domesticum corr.) extracts. Methods: The L.domesticum corr. fruit extracts were processed involving three different solvents; methanol, ethanol and ethyl acetate. HT-29 cell lines were treated with different concentrations of L. domesticum corr. (0-100 µg/ml) extracts for a total of 24, 48 and 72 hours. Cytotoxicity of cells line was determined by using MTT assay as per IC 50 values. Results: Methanol extract of L. domesticum corr. showed IC 50 value at 6.79 ± 0.00 µg/ml and 50.0 ± 0.00 µg/ml respective, while ethyl acetate extract of L. domesticum corr. reached IC 50 value at 86.00 ± 0.08 µg/ml, and 96.0 ± 0.12 µg/ml. There was no IC 50 value of ethanol extract from L.domesticum corr. Only methanol extract showed toxicity towards HT-29 cells line. Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first repeat the exploring the effect of duku (L. domesticum corr.) extract on HT-29 cells line.

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