In mid-May, a data leak was reported by local tech portal Amanz, where a 160GB-sized database with personal details of 22 million Malaysians belonging to the National Registration Department (NRD) was being sold for US$10,000 (RM43,950) on the dark web.
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Gut Bacteria and Viruses
Human's gut virus composition is as unique as a fingerprint: Study
What is the gut microbiome?
How the food you eat affects your gut - Shilpa Ravella
How the food you eat affects your brain - Mia Nacamulli
Lee’s work titled “The gut virome in two indigenous populations from Malaysia” has been published in the prestigious Nature publication, Scientific Reports.
“The sole purpose of a virus’s life is to multiply, but the irony is that it cannot multiply on its own.”
VIRUSES have been in our lives and newsfeeds almost incessantly in the last two years. We have been double-jabbed and masked for much of this time in an effort to avoid the SARS-CoV-2 virus. As we have learnt, these steps can help limit the spread of Covid-19 and help us avoid infection. But can we avoid viruses entirely? The simple answer is no. The sole purpose of a virus’s life is to multiply, but the irony is that it cannot multiply on its own. Instead, viruses must rely on the cellular machinery from more advanced forms of life – bacteria, plants or animals. How many viruses in total are there in the world at any time? An estimated ten nonillion (1031) is the figure that has been bandied about – a number so enormous that we cannot truly appreciate what it means. There are so many types of viruses occupying so many different hosts and ecosystems that we have no idea of how many categories of viruses there are. Humans carry an astronomical number of viruses all the time. These viruses do not kill us because their targets are the billions of bacteria that reside in our bodies, principally in the gut. A recent paper from Chuen Zhang Lee, an Honours student at Monash University Malaysia, reports progress in identifying bacterial viruses in our guts by using human faeces as the starting material. Lee used faecal matter from two Malaysian Orang Asli groups, the Jehai and the Jakun, to show that the viruses they contain are different from viruses in more frequently studied groups, such as Europeans or Chinese. Lee enriched the viruses in the faeces (as an indicator, of what is actually in the gut) away from all the yucky material, bacterial cells and human cells and extracted the genetic material from this virus enriched material. The viral DNA was then sequenced at the Monash University Malaysia Genomics Facility using a technique that allows one to read long stretches of DNA. Muhammad Zarul Hanifah, who works at the Genomics Facility, assisted Lee in analysing his data. Using this method, Lee recognised approximately half the DNA as coming from known viruses. Based on the viruses he found, he could identify what some of the sample-givers had consumed and their lifestyle and environment. He also identified some of the bacteria in our guts these viruses could attack and therefore, get a partial picture of what types of bacteria could be in our guts. These results start to build up a picture of how our gut health is determined, which can significantly determine our overall health. It is clear that viruses may also have a role in determining gut health – a complex topic. Lee was supervised by a group of researchers including Prof Maude Phipps from the Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dr Jeremy Barr from Monash University School of Biological Sciences and Prof Qasim Ayub, Prof Sunil Lal and Prof Sadequr Rahman from the School of Science. Lee’s work titled “The gut virome in two indigenous populations from Malaysia” has been published in the prestigious Nature publication, Scientific Reports. Viruses are clearly ‘cool’ and ‘hot’ right now, and are likely to remain that way for a long time. We look forward to furthering discoveries on viruses and insights into how they can be used to our benefit.To know more about the programmes offered by the School of Science, Monash University Malaysia, visit www.monash.edu. my/science. Alternatively, visit www.monash.edu.my for more information.
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WATCH your wallet, don’t buy fake designer goods and skip the ice cubes if you’re in the tropics – most people are aware of these “issues” when going abroad.
But there are more travel taboos than you may know. Bear these eight tips in mind on what not to do in order to be safe, and enjoy your trip. 1. Trusting the hotel safe You may be used to stowing your passport, money, tickets and other valuable items in the hotel room safe, to avoid losing them when you are out and about, or getting robbed. How safe are hotel safes, though? Not particularly – some very old models can be opened if the power supply is cut. Other safes can be opened if they are returned to their factory setting. Then there are those that spring open if you punch the lid. Safes in hotel rooms often present little obstacle for thieves as they are only mounted in the wardrobe or on the wall with screws so they can easily be removed from the site, a German consumer advice centre warned in 2019. It is safer to use the safe at hotel reception, where you can drop off your valuables. You’ll get a receipt and your items will be fully insured – unlike if you use the room safe. 2. Making phone calls or downloading a video onboard a ship If you’re on a ferry, say from Germany to Sweden or Norway in Europe, you might not think twice about reaching for your smartphone, after roaming charges in the European Union and some other countries were dropped back in 2017. But that only applies to landbased networks. As passengers would not have a mobile phone connection at sea, major ferries often have an onboard mobile phone network, connected to a satellite network. Sadly these onboard networks are very expensive and the costs are not capped at a certain level. A brief call in Europe costs between €3 (RM14) and €7 (RM33) per minute. You can also expect to pay up to €2.50 (RM12) per 100KB of data – and bear in mind that a brief Whatsapp video of less than a minute has a volume of around 1MB to 3MB. This means that playing it back could cost €25 (RM117) to €75 (RM352). The cost of letting the kids watch a Youtube film would be eye-watering, so you are safest if you switch the phone to flight mode until you reach dry land. 3. Packing everything in your check-in bag Another piece of vital travel advice is to put your necessities in your hand luggage. In 2019, airlines worldwide lost around 25.4 million luggage items, or just over 5.5 suitcases per thousand passengers, according to IT service provider Sita. That is not necessarily a cause for concern, as 99.5% of all missing luggage eventually turn up, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). But if you want to avoid being among the remaining 0.5%, make sure your bag doesn’t have loose straps dangling off it, and ensure your suitcase is not excessively worn. A further issue to bear in mind is the minimum connecting time at a transfer airport. If you have less than the minimum specified, time might get tight and your suitcase will probably only reach your destination on the airline’s next flight at the earliest, to be sent onwards by taxi or courier. So if you want to avoid being stranded without fresh underwear and a toothbrush, carry the bare minimum in your hand luggage. 4. Being unprepared in case of an emergency Have you ever checked out where the hotel’s emergency exit is? No matter how good the sprinkler system, you want to know the way out if something catches fire, particularly if you’re on an upper storey as fire brigade ladders only reach up to the seventh or eighth floor. While we’re at it, make sure you know what emergency number to dial in the country you’re in – and whether it is worth calling there at all. Just over 70 countries (two-thirds of them in Europe) have a nationwide emergency service that’s always available. Elsewhere, you need to make your own way to the nearest hospital. 5. Skipping a leg of a flight It seems odd that a flight ticket from Oslo (Norway) to New York via Berlin (Germany) costs less than a ticket from Berlin to New York, without the first leg. You might wonder, do I really have to board the plane in Oslo? Yes, you do. If you skip a leg of the journey on your ticket, the airline may charge you the difference compared to the regular route price. Legally, that may be a grey area, but it could be an expensive headache afterwards. 6. Being unaware of local laws Most travellers make an effort to be sure they abide by local laws but sometimes that requires some extra research. Be aware that if you are in Thailand for example, you don’t want to place your foot on a banknote, as there’s a picture of the king on it, so you could get into trouble. Meanwhile in Buddhist countries, some people don’t like to see tourists posing playfully by Buddha statues. If you’re in the native islands of the Maldives, that aren’t part of tourist resorts, bikinis are banned. In Bhutan, you may not smoke in public. And if you are in Singapore, you may not transport the musty-smelling durian fruit on the train. (In Malaysia, you can’t bring durian into any hotel premises.) Taking pictures using drones may cause you problems in several places – special permits are required in many countries, while the practise is banned completely in Morocco, Iran, Kenya and Egypt, for example. Flying a drone without the right paperwork close to a military zone could land you in jail. 7. Being careless with your medication There are pills for everything from tension to fear of flying but think twice about whether to pack them when travelling. Many countries have strict drug laws such as the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Malaysia and many others, so while a drug might be commonplace in Europe, for example, even a small quantity could land you in jail abroad. Check embassy websites before you travel and a letter from your doctor confirming that the medication is necessary is also advisable. 8. Checking your bank balance at the hotel It’s a bad idea to do online banking at the hotel particularly if the Wifi is not password-protected. You might wind up in the wrong network, if you see something like “Guest” on the list of free networks and assume that is the one for you. It could be a scam set up close to the hotel and if you are unlucky, thieves can find your email log-ins and bank passwords, track all your activities, install malware or redirect the connection to phishing sites.Beware of similar issues at airports and in restaurants. For safer browsing, you can also use your own mobile data or VPN tunnel software.
