• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.121-127
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• 1998

Thirty two Omani sheep with eight animals each of; intact males (INT), males castrated with rubber rings immediately after birth (RR), males castrated with a burdizzo at 8 weeks of age (BC) and intact females (IF) were fed ad libitum a concentrate diet (CP 16%) plus chopped Rhodesgrass hay (8% CP) from weaning until slaughter at 28 kg. INT lambs grew faster from 9 to 20 weeks of age (p < 0.05) thus they were significantly heavier at 20 weeks of age than BC and IF, but not RR lambs. INT consumed more total feed than other sex groups over the period from 9 to 20 weeks of age. There were no significant differences between lambs of all experimental groups in feed per gain ratio. INT lambs had lower (p < 0.01) dressing percentage (DP) than RR, BC and IF. As a percentage in the empty body weight (EBW), INT had higher proportions of head, feet, empty gut (p < 0.001), liver (p < 0.05) and genitals (p < 0.05) but lower proportions of lungs and trachea (p < 0.05) than BC and IF lambs. INT males had a significantly higher (p < 0.05) proportion of bone than RR and IF lambs but lower (p < 0.05) proportion of fat than RR and IF. As a percentage in EBW, IF had the highest protortion (p < 0.001) of total body fat (TBF) followed by BC and RR whereas INT males had the lowest proportion. There was a general trend of IF having the highest proportion of individual and total non-carcass fat (TNCF) and total carcass fat (TCF) followed by BC and RR lambs whereas INT lambs had the lowest protortions of individual carcass and non-carcass fat depots. There were only few sex or castration effects on carcass tissue distribution. IF had higher proportions of intermuscular fat in the chuck, plate, leg and flank than INT and BC. The current study demonstrated that castration of intensively-raised male Omani native sheep especially at weaning using a burdizzo retarded growth rate and reduced carcass quality by increasing fat content.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.21
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• pp.9225-9232
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• 2014

Ensuring adherence to chemotherapy is important to prevent disease progression, prolong survival and sustain good quality of life. Capecitabine is a complex chemotherapeutic agent with many side effects that might affect patient adherence to treatment. This cross sectional study aimed to determine adherence to capecitabine and its contributing factors among cancer outpatients in Malaysia. One hundred and thirteen patients on single regime capecitabine were recruited from Hospital Sultan Ismail and Hospital Kuala Lumpur from October 2013 to March 2014. Adherence was determined based on adherence score using validated Medication Compliance Questionnaire. Patient socio-demographics, disease, and treatment characteristics were obtained from medical records. Satisfaction score was measured using the validated Patient Satisfaction with Healthcare questionnaire. The mean adherence score was 96.1% (standard deviation: 3.29%). The significant contributing factors of adherence to capecitabine were Malay ethnicity [${\beta}=1.3$; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.21, 2.43; p value=0.020], being female [${\beta}=1.8$; 95%CI: 0.61, 2.99; p value=0.003]), satisfaction score [${\beta}=0.08$; 95%CI: 0.06, 1.46; p value=0.035], presence of nausea or vomiting [${\beta}=2.3$; 95%CI: 1.12, 3.48; p value <0.001] and other side effects [${\beta}=1.45$; 95%CI: 0.24, 2.65; p value=0.019]. Adherence to capecitabine was generally high in our local population. Attention should be given to non-Malay males and patients having nausea, vomiting or other side effects. Sufficient information, proactive assessment and appropriate management of side effects would improve patient satisfaction and thus create motivation to adhere to treatment plans.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.311-316
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• 2019

Artocarpus heterophyllus has been used as traditional medicine. This plant is one of the sources of flavonoid. Flavonoid compounds possessed a wide range of biological properties including anticancer. This study was performed to investigate the cytotoxic effect of flavonoids from A. heterophyllus on H460 and MCF-7 cell lines. The interaction of flavonoids and cisplatin against tested cancer cells was also evaluated. MTT assay was used to determine the cytotoxic effect of flavonoid. Isobologram analysis was selected to evaluate the synergistic effect between flavonoid and cisplatin, their interaction was then confirmed using AO/PI staining method. Amongst of flavonoid compounds, artocarpin exhibited strong cytotoxic effect on both MCF-7 and H460 cell lines with IC₅₀ values of 12.53 ㎍/mL (28.73 μM) and 9.77 ㎍/mL (22.40 μM), respectively. This compound enhanced anticancer activity of cisplatin against H460 and MCF-7. The combination produced a synergistic effect on H460 and MCF-7 cell lines with a combination index (CI) values of 0.2 and 0.18, respectively. The AO/PI stained demonstrated that the combination of artocarpin and cisplatin caused morphological changes that indicated apoptosis. Moreover, artocarpanone also significantly increased cytotoxic effect of cisplatin compared to its single concentration with CI below than 1. This result suggested the potency of flavonoid named artocarpin to enhance the anticancer activity of cisplatin on H460 and MCF-7 cell lines.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.611-616
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• 1995

A study was conducted which demonstrated that Dhofari cattle responded well to intensive management systems in terms of growth rates and carcass yields. Twenty-four Omani Dhofari bulls and steers (12 of each) were reared from birth until slaughter at 110, 160 and 210 kg body weight (for of each sex at each slaughter weight). Calves were fed ad libitum a diet of concentrate (16.5% CP) and Rhodesgrass hay (8.8% CP). Bulls and steers reached the predetermined slaughter weights of 110, 160 and 210 kg at 154 and 164; 219 and 233; 273 and 310 days of age, respectively. Respective mean pre and post-weaning daily body weight gains for bulls and steers were 581 and 530; 796 and 706 g averaging 645 and 596 g over 36 weeks. At 210 kg, the heaviest weight of the study, dressing-out percentage (DO) was 54.5 and 56.9 yielding carcasses of 115.9 and 118.5 kg which contained 60.4 and 61.5% muscle; 11.6 and 11.4% bone and 24.5 and 22.9% fat for bulls and steers, respectively. Proportion of bone in the carcass decreased, that of fat increased, whereas that of muscle remained unchanged between slaughter weights of 110 to 210 kg. That resulted in increased muscle : bone and decreased muscle : fat ratios. At 160 kg body weight, bulls had less fat and more muscle and bone than steers but there were no sex differences in carcass composition at 210 kg slaughter weight.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.617-625
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• 1995

Distribution of wholesale carcass cuts and tissues was studied in Omani Dhofari bulls and steers raised under intensive management and slaughtered over a range of 110 to 210 kg body weight. The fore quarter of Dhofari cattle carcasses was heavier than the hind quarter with the chuck being the heaviest cut in the half carcass followed by the round whereas the flank was the lightest cut. Proportions of the fore quarter and its cuts increased whereas that of the hind quarter and its cuts decreased with increasing carcass weight. The fore quarter contained higher proportions of carcass tissues especially intermuscular fat than the hind quarter. The chuck and round contained the highest proportions of lean and bone and the flank the least. There was a general trend of increasing proportions of fat and decreasing proportions of lean and bone in carcass cuts and fore and hind quarters with increasing slaughter weight and age. As % total body fat (TBF), total carcass fat (TCF) increased whereas total non-carcass fat (TNCF) decreased. The largest proportion of TBF was deposited in the intermuscular site. Among the TNCF depots, the kidney and omental contributed the highest proportions whereas the pelvic and channel were the lowest. Proportions of M. rhomboideus and M. splenius increased in the half carcass whereas that of M. semitendinosus decreased as the cattle increased in size. The axial skeleton contributed 47.4-51.1, the fore limb 21.6-22.6 and the hind limb 23.9-26.2% of the total carcass bone. Proportions of axial skeleton increased whereas that of fore and hind limbs decreased with increasing slaughter weight and age. There were no major effects of castration on the distribution of weight of carcass cuts or carcass tissues. Steers had higher total body fat at 160 kg body weight and higher proportions of mesenteric, scrotal, pelvic, kidney and total non-carcass fat at 210 kg weight than bulls. As % of total body fat, steers fad significantly higher kidney and total non-carcass fat. There was little effects of castration on proportions of dimensions of individual muscles or bones.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.11
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• pp.6273-6280
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• 2013

Goniothalamin, a natural compound extracted from Goniothalamus sp. belonging to the Annonacae family, possesses anticancer properties towards several tumor cell lines. This study focused on apoptosis induction by goniothalamin (GTN) in the Hela cervical cancer cell line. Cell growth inhibition was measured by MTT assay and the $IC_{50}$ value of goniothalamin was $3.2{\pm}0.72{\mu}g/ml$. Morphological changes and biochemical processes associated with apoptosis were evident on phase contrast microscopy and fluorescence microscopy. DNA fragmentation, DNA damage, caspase-9 activation and a large increase in the sub-G1 and S cell cycle phases confirmed the occurrence of apoptosis in a time-dependent manner. It could be concluded that goniothalamin show a promising cytotoxicity effect against cervical cancer cells (Hela) and the cell death mode induced by goniothalamin was apoptosis.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.198-203
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• 2015

The present study was conducted to assess the status of vitamin C among healthy young adults in relation to serum antioxidant parameters [glutathione (GSH), thiols, and total antioxidant capacity, (TAC)], and oxidative stress markers [malondialdehyde (MDA), and nitrites plus nitrates (NN)]. A prospective study included 200 young adults, and their dietary intake was assessed by using food diaries. Fasting plasma vitamin C, serum levels of GSH, thiols, TAC, MDA, and NN were measured using biochemical assays. It was observed that 38% of the enrolled subjects, n=76, had an adequate dietary intake of vitamin C (ADI group). Meanwhile, 62%, n=124, had a low dietary intake of vitamin C (LDI group) as compared to the recommended dietary allowances. The fasting plasma level of vitamin C was significantly higher in the ADI group as compared to the LDI group. Oxidative stress in the sera of the LDI group was evidenced by depletion of GSH, low thiols levels, impairment of TAC, an elevation of MDA, and increased NN. In the ADI group, positive correlations were found between plasma vitamin C and serum antioxidant parameters (GSH, thiols, and TAC). Meanwhile, the plasma vitamin C was negatively correlated with serum MDA and NN levels. This study reveals a significant increase of oxidative stress status and reduced antioxidant capacity in sera from healthy young adults with low intake of the dietary antioxidant, vitamin C.

• International Journal of Knowledge Content Development & Technology
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.67-86
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• 2017

The emergence of smart devices such as smartphones (e.g., iPhone) and tablets (e.g., iPad) may enhance e-learning by increasing communication and collaborative learning outside the classroom. These devices also facilitate the use of online technologies such as Facebook. However, the adaptation of Learning Management System (LMS) services to mobile devices took longer than social networks or online tools such as Facebook and Twitter have already been long used via smartphone. The main purposes of this study are to explore students' skill levels of LMS (Moodle) and their knowledge of online tools or technologies and then examine if there is a correlation between smartphone use and using of online tools and Moodle in learning. The study conducted among 173 students in the Department of Information Studies (DIS) in Oman, using online survey. The study found that most students demonstrated high levels of accessing course/subject materials and regularly engaging with studies of using LMSs. YouTube, Wikipedia and Facebook were clearly recorded as the most popular sites among students while LinkedIn and Academia.edu were two online tools that had never been heard of by over half of the 142 participants. Emailing and searching are recorded the most popular online learning activities among students. The study concluded that students prefer to use smartphone for accessing these tools rather than using it to access LMSs, while a positive correlation was found between the use of these tools and smartphones, but there was no correlation between smartphones and using LMSs.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.55-61
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• 2021

One of the major problems in fish production is that parasite-induced episodes of disease can result in significant impacts to the health of stock, mortalities and, economical losses. Seabreams are economically important fish in both the capture fishery and aquaculture sectors in Oman and represent potential species for aquaculture. The current study set out to investigate infection of polyopisthocotylean monogeneans on the gills of wild goldlined seabream, Rhabdosargus sarba, caught from Musairah region in Oman. The prevalence, mean intensity and abundance of polyopisthocotyleans on 145 fish was found to be 52.41%, 5.65 and 3.04, respectively. Three species of microcotylid parasite were isolated, one being Atrispinum acarne while the remaining two species require further study to identify them. There was no significant difference in the infection rate between host sex, however, parasite burdens were higher on larger sized fish (p<0.05) and were found to favour the first gill arch (p< 0.05). The study found that the sample of Rhabdosargus sarba landed in the waters around Musairah are heavily infected, with a predominantly immature population of microcotylids. Further work is required to better understand the potential risk each species poses to the health of its host before a decision is made on the suitability of new candidate fish species for commercial aquaculture.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.21 no.10
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• pp.39-49
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• 2023

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore areas that have been studied extensively in previous studies related to franchising as a platform for global distribution. Furthermore, franchising is a strategic distribution method that gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to replicate an established business model. In addition, franchisees benefit from the use of established branding and receive support from the franchisor. Research design, data, and methodology: This study used the Preferred Reporting Items Systematics Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) method to analyse data from 2003 to 2023 in the Web of Science and Scopus databases. Results: A total of 79 articles were identified and analysed to see trends and related themes such as product distribution, business distribution, business strategy, emerging market, and franchising relationship. Also, publication trends by year related to franchises are also presented. Conclusions: Overall, the research trend related to franchising as a global distribution is well seen, and every year, many researchers begin to explore the topic of franchising as a method of distribution that can be explored from various aspects either quantitatively or qualitatively. Lastly, limitations and recommendations are made to provide guidance for future studies related to the topic broadly and deeply in enriching the findings.