Heritage Narratives, Motivation to Learn English and the Development of National Identity : An Indonesian Perspective

Ahmad Bukhori Muslim 아시아영어교육학회 2017 The Journal of Asia TEFL Vol.14 No.3

Although locality has been considerably discussed in the area of teaching of English as a foreign language, little is known how it relates to young learners’ motivation and their sense of national identity. Framed by Canagarajah’s (2005) local reclamation, this descriptive qualitative study investigates the potential impact of using Indonesian heritage narratives in English teaching on students’ motivation to learn English and the development of their sense of national identity. Data are generated from English text-book analysis, a questionnaire administered to 100 students of junior and senior high schools and 20 English teachers followed by semi-structured interviews on the use of heritage narratives in the classroom. Students’ motivation in the foreign language was classified into Dörnyei’s (1994) types; language, learner, and learning situation. Meanwhile, students’ identity development was analysed by Kelman’s (1998) agency of identity development and Guibernau’s (2007) dimensions of national identity. Analysis reveals that students’ familiarity with the topic of heritage narratives can improve their language skills and motivation to learn English. How these heritage narratives can also lead to heightened sense of national pride, involving cultural, psychological and territorial dimensions is further explored.

Diseases Severity, Genetic Variation, and Pathogenicity of Ceratocystis Wilt on Lansium domesticum in South Sumatra, Indonesia

Ahmad Muslim,Rahmat Pratama,Suwandi Suwandi,Harman Hamidson 한국식물병리학회 2022 Plant Pathology Journal Vol.38 No.2

Ceratocystis wilt disease has caused significant mortality in duku (Lansium domesticum) since 2014 and has now spread to all districts in South Sumatra, Indonesia. Recently, 16 isolates from duku representing populations from various districts in South Sumatra were isolated. Analysis for the morphological characteristic of the isolate showed that the population has a uniform morphology. Genetic analysis based on internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and β-tubulin sequences verified that the population has being dominated by the ITS5 haplotype of Ceratocystis fimbriata and a new ITS group, the ITS7b haplotype that was localized in Musi Banyuasin. Both haplotypes were highly pathogenic to duku. Inoculation tests on various forest and agroforestry plant hosts showed that both haplotypes were highly pathogenic to Acacia mangium, moderately pathogenic to Acacia carsicarpa, Eucalyptus urophylla, and Melaleuca cajuputi, but weakly pathogenic to Dyera costulata, Hevea brasiliensis, and Alstonia scholaris. Therefore, this pathogen becomes a serious threat to Indonesia’s biodiversity due to its ability to infect forest and agroforestry plants, especially the indigenous ones.

Isolation and Structure Elucidation, Molecular Docking Studies of Screlotiumol from Soil Borne Fungi Screlotium rolfsii and their Reversal of Multidrug Resistance in Mouse Lymphoma Cells

Ahmad, Bashir,Rizwan, Muhammad,Rauf, Abdur,Raza, Muslim,Azam, Sadiq,Bashir, Shumaila,Molnar, Joseph,Csonka, Akos,Szabo, Diana Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2016 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.17 No.4

A new compound namely (13-(3,3-dihydroxypropyl)-1,6-dihydroxy-3,4-dihydro-1H-isochromen-8(5H)-one (1) was isolated from an ethyl acetate extract of the borne fungi Screlotium rolfsii. Its chemical structure was elucidated by spectroscopic analysis. Screlotiumol 1 were evaluated for their effects on the reversion of multidrug resistant (MDR) mediated by P-glycoprotein (P-gp) of the soil borne fungi. The multidrug resistant P-glycoprotein is a target for chemotherapeutic drugs in cancer cells. In the present study rhodamine-123 exclusion screening test on human mdr1 gene transfected mouse gene transfected L5178 and L5178Y mouse T-cell lymphoma which showed excellent MDR reversing effect in a dose dependent manner against mouse T-lymphoma cell line. Moreover, molecular docking studies of compound-1 also showed better results as compared with the standard. Therefore the preliminary results obtained from this study suggest that screlotiumol 1 could be used as a potential agent for the treatment of cancer.

Reversal of Multidrug Resistance and Computational Studies of Pistagremic Acid Isolated from Pistacia integerrima

Rauf, Abdur,Uddin, Ghias,Raza, Muslim,Ahmad, Aftab,Jehan, Noor,Ahmad, Bashir,Nisar, Muhammad,Molnar, Joseph,Csonka, Akos,Szabo, Diana,Khan, Ajmal,Farooq, Umar,Noor, Mah Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2016 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.17 No.4

Pistagremic acid (PA) is a bioactive triterpenoid isolated from various parts of Pistacia integerrima plants. The aim of this research was to investigate PA for reversion of multidrug resistant (MDR) mediated by P-glycoprotein using rhodamine-123 exclusion study on a multidrug resistant human ABCB1 (ATP-binding cassette, sub-family B, member 1) gene-transfected mouse T-lymphoma cell line in vitro. Results were similar to those with verapamil as a positive control. Docking studies of PA and standard Rhodamine123 were carried out against a P-gp crystal structure which showed satisfactory results. Actually, PA cannot bind exactly where co-crystallized ligand of P-gp is already present. However, the docking study predicted that if a compound gives a lesser score then it may have some potency. The docking scores of PA and Rhodamine were similar. Therefore, we can conclude that there are certain important chemical features of PA which are responsible for the inhibiting potency of P-gp.

Reversal of Multidrug Resistance in Mouse Lymphoma Cells by Extracts and Flavonoids from Pistacia integerrima

Rauf, Abdur,Uddin, Ghias,Raza, Muslim,Ahmad, Bashir,Jehan, Noor,Siddiqui, Bina S,Molnar, Joseph,Csonka, Akos,Szabo, Diana Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2016 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.17 No.1

Phytochemical investigation of Pistacia integerrima has highlighted isolation of two known compounds naringenin (1) and dihydrokaempferol (2). A crude extract and these isolated compounds were here evaluated for their effects on reversion of multidrug resistance (MDR) mediated by P-glycoprotein (P-gp). The multidrug resistance P-glycoprotein is a target for chemotherapeutic drugs from cancer cells. In the present study rhodamine-123 exclusion screening test on human mdr1 gene transfected mouse gene transfected L5178 and L5178Y mouse T-cell lymphoma cells showed excellent MDR reversing effects in a dose dependent manner. In-silico molecular docking investigations demonstrated a common binding site for Rhodamine123, and compounds naringenin and dihydrokaempferol. Our results showed that the relative docking energies estimated by docking softwares were in satisfactory correlation with the experimental activities. Preliminary interaction profile of P-gp docked complexes were also analysed in order to understand the nature of binding modes of these compounds. Our computational investigation suggested that the compounds interactions with the hydrophobic pocket of P-gp are mainly related to the inhibitory activity. Moreover this study s a platform for the discovery of novel natural compounds from herbal origin, as inhibitor molecules against the P-glycoprotein for the treatment of cancer.

A Baseline Assessment of Coral Reef in Malacca Straits, Malaysia

Che Din Mohd Safuan,Azizi Ali,Zuraini Zainol,Ahmad Ali,Mohd Fadzil Mohd Akhir,Aidy M. Muslim,Zainudin Bachok 한국해양과학기술원 2018 Ocean science journal Vol.53 No.2

Coral reefs along the Malacca Straits (MS) are poorly developed mainly due to turbidity and sedimentation. This study describes the health status and community structure of the corals in Cape Rachado, West Coast of Peninsular Malaysia (WCPM), utilizing the Coral Video Transect (CVT) technique. All the survey transects were categorized as ‘fair’ coral conditions (27.39 ± 5.41%–48.56 ± 18.96%) with the reef floor mainly covered by corals and sediment. Twelve families of coral comprised of 25 distinct genera were identified. Coral communities were differentiated into four clusters with each being predominated by Galaxea, Diploastrea, Fungia and Pectinia respectively. Among all, Pectinia is the most spectacular genera and dominated the survey area. Along the MS, Favia, Favites and Porites are commonly found while Porites and Pectinia dominated the reefs. Low coral cover and diversity was recorded in MS as compared to the reefs in the South China Sea (SCS). The most prominent results include changes in the dominant coral from Porites to Pectinia while some species such as Acropora were absent from the study area. Based on the presented data, the reef in the study area was predominantly occupied by sediment and the coral communities were formed by a species with a high tolerance to turbidity and sedimentation.