Application of protein-A indirect ELISA (PAI-ELISA) for the detection of anti-Smith antibodies in systemic lupus erythematosus patients

An indirect form of protein-A ELISA (PAI-ELISA) was optimized and, when used to detect anti-Smith antibodies in sera of 31 systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients, gave results comparable with those using a commercial immunodiffusion kit. The number of sera found to be positive for anti-Smith antibodies by ELISA was seven, four of which were also found positive by immunodiffusion.B.O. Siti-Rohana is with the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Faculty of Medicine, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I.B. Ahmad is with the Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, 43600 UKM, Malaysia; B.A. Nasaruddin is with the Institute for Medical Research, Malaysia.     

Sensitivity of the conidia of plant pathogenic fungi to Gamma-rays,electron particles and X-ray (Bremsstrahlung) irradiation

Twelve species of plant pathogenic fungi were exposed to high-energy irradiation and their sensitivities compared by the irradiation (termed D ₁₀) required to decrease the viability of conidia by 10%. The D ₁₀ of conidia in 0.06 Mxxx phosphate buffer and irradiated with gamma-rays at 32 to 35°C ranged from 0.16 to 0.71 kGy. When conidia were mixed with trehalose and vacuum dried, their sensitivity towards gamma-rays doubled. There was no identifiable trend in the response of dry conidia towards irradiation by gamma-rays, electron particles or X-rays.M. LebaiJuri and N. Yusof are with the Nuclear Energy Unit, PUSPATI Complex, Bangi, 43000 Kajang, Malaysia; M. Omar is with the Department of Microbiology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 43600 Ukm Bangi, Malaysia.     

Rethinking Power and Culture in Anthropology

Who Can Compete against the World? Power-Protection and Buddhism in Shan Woridview. Nicola Tannenbaum. Ann Arbor, MI: Association of Asian Studies, 1995.228 pp.
State Power and Culture in Thailand. E. Paul Durrenberger. ed. Yale Southeast Asia Studies Monograph, 44. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1996. 200 pp.     

Indigenous Peoples and the State: Politics, Land and Ethnicity in the Malayan Peninsula and Borneo.

Indigenous Peoples and the State: Politics, Land and Ethnicity in the Malayan Peninsula and Borneo. Robert L. Winzeler. ed. New Haven, CT: Yale University Council on Southeast Asia Studies, 1997. 316 pp.     

Merit and Blessing in Mainland Southeast Asia in Comparative Perspective

Merit and Blessing in Mainland Southeast Asia in Comparative Perspective. Cornelia Ann Kammerer and Nicola Tannenbaum. eds. Yale Southeast Asia Studies, 45. New Haven, CT: Yale University Southeast Asia Studies, 1996. 263 pp.     

Contemporary Headhunting

Headhunting and the Social Imagination in Southeast Asia. Janet Hoskins. ed. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1996.296 pp.
Showing Signs of Violence: Tfte Cultural Politics of. Twentieth Century Headhunting Ritual. Kenneth George. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996. 356 pp.     

Culture and the Question of Rights: Forests, Coasts, and Seas in Southeast Asia

Culture and the Question of Rights: Forests, Coasts, and Seas in Southeast Asia . Charles Zerner, ed. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2003. 289 pp.     

"Visual Anthropology Is Dead, Long Live Visual Anthropology!"

Rethinking Visual Anthropology. Marcus Banks and Howard Morphy. eds. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997. 306 pp.
Principles of Visual Anthropology. Paul Hockings. ed. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 1995. 562 pp.
Fields of Vision: Essays in Film Studies, Visual Anthropology, and Photography. Leslie Devereaux and Roger Hillman. eds. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995. 362 pp.     

GROWTH, MORTALITY, AND FEEDING RATES OF THE SNAIL HELIX ASPERSA AT DIFFERENT POPULATION DENSITIES IN THE LABORATORY, AND THE DEPRESSION OF ACTIVITY OF HELICID SNAILS BY OTHER INDIVIDUALS, OR THEIR MUCUS

When reared at high densities, young Helix aspersa show lessshell growth, even if waste products are removed. They alsofeed less, and show increased mortality. It is suggested thatthese effects are linked to reduced activity. Juveniles showreduced activity in the presence of adults or their mucus. Mucusof adult Cepaca nemoralis also depresses the activity of bothadult and young Helix and Cepaea. ^* Present Address: Unit Zoologi, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia,Jalan Pantai Baru, Kuala Lumpur, West Malaysia. (Received 12 May 1981;     

Pacific Islanders at Sea

Seafaring in the Contemporary Pacific Islands: Studies in Continuity and Change, Richard Feinberg. ed. Dekalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1995. 237 pp.
Guardians of the Marovo Lagoon: Practice, Place and Politics in Maritime Melanesia. Edvard Hviding. Pacific Islands Monograph, 14. Honolulu; University of Hawaii Press, 1996.473 pp.     

Changing Work, Changing Workers: Critical Perspectives on Language, Literacy, and Skills

Changing Work, Changing Workers: Critical Perspectives on Language, Literacy, and Skills. Glynda Hull, ed. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1997. 392 pp.     

Inversion polymorphism in Southeast Asian populations of the Drosophila nasuta subgroup

Heterozygosity for chromosomal arrangements was investigated in four species of the nasuta complex. D. sulfurigaster albostrigata, D. albomicans and D. kohkoa are highly polymorphic whereas D. pulaua is monomorphic. Inversions were identified with the aid of photographic chromosome maps. The geographic distribution and frequencies of inversions detected and their possible phylogenies were discussed. Most inversions in D.s. albostrigata and D. albomicans occur on chromosome IIL. In D. kohkoa there is marked preponderance of inversions on chromosome III. Non-random association of certain inversions was noted. Variation in frequencies of inversions is interpreted as a result of adaptation to local ecogeographic conditions. Shared extant polymorphisms indicate phylogenetic relationships between species.The contents of this paper were incorporated in a Ph.D. thesis accepted by the University of Queensland in 1978. The author's present address is: Unit Genetik, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Pantai Baru, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.     

Continuity and Change in Modern India

A Caste in a Changing World: The Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmans, 1700–1935 . Frank F. Conlon. Sponsored by the Center for South and Southeast Asia Studies. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977. xv + 255 pp. $15.00 (cloth).
Shanti Nagar: The Effects of Urbanization in a Village in North India. Vol. 1: Social Organization . Stanley A. Freed and Ruth S. Freed. Anthropological Papers, 53, Part 1. New York: The American Museum of Natural History, 1976. 254 pp. $13.85 (paper).
Family and Social Change in Modern India . Giri Raj Gupta , ed. Main Currents in Indian Sociology, 2. Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic Press, 1976. xxxiv + 263 pp. n.p. (cloth).
Caste, Class and Democracy: Changes in a Stratification System . Vijai P. Singh. Cambridge, Mass.: Schenkman, 1976. viii + 158 pp. $12.50 (cloth), $5.95 (paper).
Dimensions of Social Change in India . M. N. Srinivas, S. Seshaiah , and V. S. Parthasarathy , eds. New Delhi: Allied Publishers Private, 1977. xiii + 518 pp. Rs 60.00 (cloth).     

A new species of Globba (Zingiberaceae) from Peninsular Malaysia

Ibrahim, H. & Larsen, K. 1995. A new species of Globba (Zingiberaceae) from Peninsular Malaysia. - Nod. J. Bot. 15: 157–159. Copenhagen. ISSN 0107–055X.
Globba nawawii from the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia is described, illustrated and compared with its nearest allies, G. corneri and G. unifolia .     

Essential Outsiders: Chinese and Jews in the Modern Transformation of Southeast Asia and Central Europe

Essential Outsiders: Chinese and Jews in the Modern Transformation of Southeast Asia and Central Europe. Daniel Chirot and Anthony Reid. eds. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1997.336 pp.     

Making a Mark: Rock Art Research

The Hunter's Vision: The Prehistoric Art of Zimbabwe. Peter Garlake. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995. 176 pp.
Rock Art Studies in the Americas. Jack Steinbring. ed. Oxford, England: Oxbow Books, 1994. 186 pp.
L'art pariéetal Paléolithique. Techniques et méthodes d'étude. Le Groupe de Réflexion sur l'Art Pariétal Paléolithique. Documents Préhistoriques, 5. Paris: Comité des Travaux Historiques et Scientifiques, 1993. 427 pp.     

Identification of novel large genomic rearrangements at the BRCA1 locus in Malaysian women with breast cancer

Background: The incidence of breast cancer has been on the rise in Malaysia. It is suggested that a subset of breast cancer cases were associated with germline mutation in breast cancer susceptibility (BRCA) genes. Most of the BRCA mutations reported in Malaysia were point mutations, small deletions and insertions. Here we report the first study of BRCA large genomic rearrangements (LGRs) in Malaysia. We aimed to detect the presence of LGRs in the BRCA genes of Malaysian patients with breast cancer. Methods: Multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) for BRCA LGRs was carried out on 100 patients (60 were high-risk breast cancer patients previously tested negative/positive for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations, and 40 were sporadic breast cancer patients), recruited from three major referral centres, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC), Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) and Hospital Putrajaya (HPJ). Results: Two novel BRCA1 rearrangements were detected in patients with sporadic breast cancer; both results were confirmed by quantitative PCR. No LGRs were found in patients with high-risk breast cancer. The two large genomic rearrangements detected were genomic amplifications of exon 3 and exon 10. No BRCA2 genomic rearrangement was found in both high-risk and sporadic breast cancer patients. Conclusion: These results will be helpful to understand the mutation spectrum of BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes in Malaysian patients with breast cancer. Further studies involving larger samples are required to establish a genetic screening strategy for both high-risk and sporadic breast cancer patients.     

Explorations in Southeastern Archaeology

The Paleoindian and Early Archaic Southeast. David G. Anderson and Kenneth E. Sassaman. eds. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1996. 526 pp.
Native American Interactions: Multiscalar Analyses and Interpretations in the Eastern Woodlands. Michael S. Nassaney and Kenneth E. Sassaman. eds. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1995. 376 pp.     

Medical virology in Malaysia

Virology is a branch of biological science dealing with the study of viruses, and medical virology focuses on the study and control of diseases due to viruses that is of medical importance. The development of medical virology in Malaysia has its beginning in the Institute for Medical Research (IMR), following the establishment of the Division of Medical Zoology and Virus Research in the institute on 23 March 1953. The second institution in the country to establish diagnostic and research work in medical virology was Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University Malaya. This was followed by University Kebangsaan Malaysia, University Sains Malaysia and University of Sarawak Malaysia. The National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL) is the latest institution to establish a laboratory in 2003 for virus isolation and services to support country surveillance and outbreak investigation of infectious diseases due to viruses. In the field of medical virology, Malaysia contributed substantially in the areas of virus diagnostic services, development and research ranging from survey and documentation on the existence and prevalence of viruses causing diseases in Malaysia, clinical presentation and epidemiological features of virus diseases, evaluation of new diagnostic tests to pathogenesis of viral diseases. Malaysia contributed to the discoveries of at least 12 new viruses in the world. ASEAN plus Three (China, Japan, Republic of Korea) Emerging Infectious Programme was established to overcome the challenges and impact of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases in this region. Malaysia as the co-ordinator of the laboratory component of the programme, contributed to strengthen the regional laboratory capability, capacity, laboratory-based surveillance and networking. The future of medical virology in Malaysia in terms of integration of diagnostic, reference and research to support the country's need will be enhanced and strengthened with the on-going development of the National Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC Malaysia) which also incorporates a futuristic Special Diagnostic and Reference Laboratory.     

The Hernando de Soto Expedition: History, Historiography, and "Discovery" in the Southeast; Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun: Hernando de Soto and the South's Ancient Chiefdoms

The Hernando de Soto Expedition: History, Historiography, and "Discovery" in the Southeast. Patricia Galloway. ed. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1997.458 pp.
Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun: Hernando de Soto and the South's Ancient Chiefdoms. Charles Hudson. Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 1997.562 pp.