COVID-19 has transformed higher education learning and teaching practices globally. Tertiary students, internationally face both opportunities and challenges in learning and adapting to this paradigm shift in the delivery of education. It remains unclear how students in international contexts are responding to these changes in digital learning during and post-COVID-19. This paper aims to compare student perceptions of digital competence, confidence, and resilience in present times using data from surveys of tertiary students from Australia, Cambodia, China, India, and Malaysia. There are disparities not only in the teaching and learning pedagogies amongst these countries but also in the levels of technological advancement, infrastructure support, and pace of digital innovation in the delivery of courses. These differences have put in focus students’ both digital competencies and resilience as they pursue higher education on various digital learning platforms. Resilience includes the ability to bounce back or adapt from stress (Smith et al., 2008) Digital resilience is students’ tech-savviness and preparedness to adapt to different digital environments as they pursue higher education. This paper examines the perceptions of tertiary undergraduate students from these countries in this emerging new digital learning norm-. A total of 687 tertiary students from the aforementioned countries participated in a survey to questions related to digital competence, confidence in using and/or adapting to digital innovation, and resilience. Statistically significant attributes are identified to help better understand the challenges these culturally diverse students perceive in digital learning environments. This study will reveal barriers that impact the digital transformation of undergraduate students which can be used to recommend necessary teaching and learning support frameworks to enhance their digital competence and resilience. This will help tertiary institutions better equip all stakeholders in adapting to the new normal of higher education in the future.

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Hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathology include acetylcholine (ACh) deficiency and plaque deposition. Emerging studies suggest that acetylcholinesterase (AChE) may interact with amyloid β (Aβ) to promote aggregation of insoluble Aβ plaques in brains of patients. Current therapeutic options available for AD patients, such as AChE inhibitors, provide only symptomatic relief. In this study, we screened four natural compounds believed to harbor cognitive benefits—curcumin, piperine, bacoside A, and chebulinic acid. In the first section, preliminary screening through computational molecular docking simulations gauged the suitability of the compounds as novel AChE inhibitors. From here, only compounds that met the in silico selection criteria were selected for the second section through in vitro investigations, including AChE enzyme inhibition assay, 3-(4,5-dimenthylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-dimethyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, Thioflavin T (ThT) assay, and biochemical analysis via a neuronal cell line model. Of the four compounds screened, only curcumin (−9.6 kcal/mol) and piperine (−10.5 kcal/mol) showed favorable binding affinities and interactions towards AChE and were hence selected. In vitro AChE inhibition demonstrated that combination of curcumin and piperine showed greater AChE inhibition with an IC 50 of 62.81 ± 0.01 μg/ml as compared to individual compounds, i.e., IC 50 of curcumin at 134.5 ± 0.06 μg/ml and IC 50 of piperine at 76.6 ± 0.08 μg/ml. In the SH-SY5Y cell model, this combination preserved cell viability up to 85%, indicating that the compounds protect against Aβ-induced neuronal damage ( p < 0.01). Interestingly, our results also showed that curcumin and piperine achieved a synergistic effect at 35 μM with an synergism quotient (SQ) value of 1.824. Synergistic behavior indicates that the combination of these two compounds at lower concentrations may provide a better outcome than singularly used for Aβ proteins. Combined curcumin and piperine managed to inhibit aggregation (reduced ThT intensity at 0.432 a.u.; p < 0.01) as well as disaggregation (reduced ThT intensity at 0.532 a.u.; p < 0.01) of fibrillar Aβ42. Furthermore, combined curcumin and piperine reversed the Aβ-induced up-regulation of neuronal oxidative stress ( p < 0.01). In conclusion, curcumin and piperine demonstrated promising neuroprotective effects, whereas bacoside A and chebulinic acid may not be suitable lead compounds. These results are hoped to advance the field of natural products research as potentially therapeutic and curative AD agents.

Alzheimer disease is a neurodegenerative disease that is signified by cognitive decline, memory loss, and erratic behavior. Till date, no cure for Alzheimer exists and the current Alzheimer medications have limited effectiveness. However, herbal medicines may slow down the disease’s progression, which may hopefully reduce the number of cases in the years to come. Numerous studies have been done on characterizing the neuroprotective properties from plants belonging to Scrophulariaceae family, particularly Bacopa monnieri and its polyphenolic compounds known as bacosides. This review presents the findings on bacosides in therapeutic plants and their impact on Alzheimer disease pathology. These reports present data on the clinical, cellular activities, phytochemistry, and biological applications that may be used in new drug treatment for Alzheimer disease.

Background: Dentists see many patients with undiagnosed or diagnosed HIV and Hepatitis B infection, posing threat to both doctor and patients. The aim of this study was to investigate dental students' knowledge, awareness and attitude towards HIV and Hepatitis B patients. Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was given to 164 clinical dental students in Kuala lumpur. Findings: A significant percentage (49%) of the students did not know that HBV is transmitted via saliva. Female students were consistently more knowledgeable and had positive attitude towards such patients. Students had sufficient knowledge about the importance of double-gloving (69%). They displayed in consistent knowledge about the difference in infection potential of HBV and HIV. Most students (87.3%) were aware of the possibility of accidental exposure during recapping needles and spraying biological material but they were not aware about other accidental exposures. 87% students agreed