ABSTRACT
Ficus deltoidea or ‘mas cotek,’ is a uterotonic herb traditionally consumed by women to improve menstrual circulation,assist labour, remove retained placenta and treat postpartum bleeding. The aim of the study was to elucidate the mechanismof F. deltoidea in uterine contraction. Crude extracts from 2 different variants of F. deltoidea were used in the study; F.deltoidea var. Deltoidea (FDD) and F. deltoidea var. Angustifolia (FDA). This study was conducted ex vivo on the strips ofisolated rats uterus treated with either FDD or FDA aqueous extract with increasing concentrations ranging from 10 µg/ml until 1280 µg/ml at time intervals of 5 minutes between doses. The frequency and intensity of the uterine contractionswere monitored via Powerlab software. Maximum contractions for both extracts were identified, recorded and the uterinestrips samples at maximum contraction were selected and homogenized in order determine the role of prostaglandinF2α (PGF2α) in the mechanism of uterine contraction. Other than that, phosphorylated 42/44 (p42/44) of mitogenactivated protein kinase (MAPK) expression was also detected via immunoblotting. The results showed that the maximumcontraction induced by FDD was at the concentration of 320 µg/ml, whereas for FDA was at 960 µg/ml. Both FDD andFDA increased the intensity of uterine strips contractions and there were notable trend of increased PGF2α expression aswell. Further analysis revealed that the uterine contractions involved the MAPK pathway through the phosphorylation ofp42/44 protein. In conclusion, Ficus deltoidea of both variants have the ability to stimulate uterine contraction throughthe mechanism of MAPK pathway.
ABSTRACT
Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the relationship between stress score and body mass index (BMI) of students of Science in Kuala Lumpur. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among 126 students. Data about stress score were collected using a questionnaire, the Student-Life Stress Inventory (SLSI) Data about BMI were calculated from height and weight of the respondents. Results: A total of 117 (92.85%) out of 126 students had responded. The mean difference of stress score among first, second and third year students were 87.6 ± 17.0, 83.4 ± 16.9 and 86.7 ± 15.4 respectively. The mean difference of stress scores between the Bumiputra and non-Bumiputra students were 87.9 ± 16.5 and 83.2 ± 15.9 .The mean of body mass Index(BMI) between first, second and third year students were 21.0 ± 3.5, 20.3 ± 2.7 and 21.8 ± 4.3 respectively. Conclusions: This study showed that the stress level is higher in first year, female and bumiputra student. There was no significant relationship between stress score and BMI.