The co-use of conventional drug and herbal medicines may lead to herb-drug interaction via modulation of drug-metabolizing enzymes (DMEs) by herbal constituents. UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs) catalyzing glucuronidation are the major metabolic enzymes of Phase II DMEs. The in vitro inhibitory effect of several herbal constituents on one of the most important UGT isoforms, UGT2B7, in human liver microsomes (HLM) and rat liver microsomes (RLM) was investigated. Zidovudine (ZDV) was used as the probe substrate to determine UGT2B7 activity. The intrinsic clearance (Vmax/Km) of ZDV in HLM is 1.65 µL/mg/min which is ten times greater than in RLM, which is 0.16 µL/mg/min. Andrographolide, kaempferol-3-rutinoside, mitragynine and zerumbone inhibited ZDV glucuronidation in HLM with IC50 values of 6.18 ± 1.27, 18.56 ± 8.62, 8.11 ± 4.48 and 4.57 ± 0.23 µM, respectively, hence, herb-drug interactions are possible if andrographolide, kaempferol-3-rutinoside, mitragynine and zerumbone are taken together with drugs that are highly metabolized by UGT2B7. Meanwhile, only mitragynine and zerumbone inhibited ZDV glucuronidation in RLM with IC50 values of 51.20 ± 5.95 μM and 8.14 ± 2.12 µM, respectively, indicating a difference between the human and rat microsomal model so caution must be exercised when extrapolating inhibitory metabolic data from rats to humans.

We reported a case of a woman with no past medical illness who presented with a few days’ history of fever, myalgia, arthralgia, hypochromic microcytic anaemia and thrombocytopaenia and who was nonstructural protein 1 antigen (NS1Ag)-positive. Haemolytic anaemia including full blood picture work-up revealed high reticulocyte count and haemolysis with positive direct Coombs test. She was started on prednisolone and was discharged well.

A combination of seismic refraction survey, electrical resistivity method and integration with borehole method has been used for ground exploration to study the slope surface failure along the study area at Kayangan Height, Selangor. This study focuses on investigating the possible cause of the slope failure at the area. By necessity, non-destructive method like electrical resistivity test is the most suitable method as this method can determine the subsurface water conditions. Meanwhile, seismic refraction test is able to determine the type of subsurface layers and level of bedrock. Seismic refraction test can guide the borehole drilling works which can provide borelog data. Based on the study, seismic tomogram and 2D resistivity imaging results provide complementary information to each other. The existing geotechnical borehole logs refined both seismic and 2D resistivity results. Therefore, the study shows that the electrical resistivity test, seismic refraction test and borelog data in combination, could be an effective tool and cost effective for slope failure investigation.

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