Published Scholarly Output

Background and Aim: Edible bird’s nest (EBN) is known as the “Caviar of the East” because of its high nutritional and medicinal values. Nevertheless, its effect on human immunity is yet to be explored. This study examined the effects of EBN’s aqueous extract (EBNE) on human immunity through the modular immune in vitro construct (MIMIC) model consisting of peripheral tissue equivalent (PTE) and lymphoid tissue equivalent (LTE) modules. Materials and Methods: One hundred twenty mL of full blood was obtained from four healthy human volunteers. The human immune system was simulated using an in vitro model, called MIMIC. Under EBNE treatment, monocyte transendothelial migration through reversed endothelial layers was observed. Using PTE and LTE modules, monocytes were differentiated into dendritic cells with lipopolysaccharide, then co-cultured with T- and B-cells for cytokine and immunoglobulin (Ig) production. The human cytokine array G2000 and quantitative human Ig isotyping array were used to identify the cytokine profile and Ig isotypes, respectively. Results: IgE, IgA, and IgG3 levels were significantly raised by EBNE. These cytokines, including brain-derived neurotrophic factor, ciliary neurotrophic factor, glial cell line-derivative neurotrophic factor, insulin-like growth factor 1, and insulin-like growth factor binding protein 4, were generated. Conclusion: For the first time, this work uses a MIMIC model to illustrate the impact of EBNE on human immune response. This new understanding of EBN’s immunoregulatory effect allows for further exploration of how EBN interacts with the human immune system. Keywords: cytokines, edible bird’s nest, immunoglobulins, modular immune in vitro construct model, swiftlets.

The shortage of academic staff in private universities is at an alarming stage and would have a huge-impact on educational quality. This study aims to examine the mediating role of job embeddedness (JE) in the relationship between perceived organizational support (POS), perceived co-worker support (CWS) and employee retention (ER) in Malaysian private universities. Numerous studies have been conducted to examine POS, CWS and turnover with on-the-job factors such job satisfaction and job commitment. These two on-the-job factors are the two attitudinal constructs most frequently studied by the researchers. However, the mediating role of JE plays in understanding ER has yet to be completely specified. Stratified sampling technique was used to collect data from 482 academic staff. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to test all the hypotheses. The findings indicated that JE mediates the relationship between POS and ER partially. However, there is no direct relationship between CWS and ER. ER cannot be increased by providing high CWS directly. It should go through JE as a mediator. This study could contribute fresh-insight for human resource practitioners from private universities to get more effective retention strategies on how to retain staff even if an opportunity arises by emphasizing JE.

The echo of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is often heard in the contemporary business management since the last four decades. CSR continuously getting attention due to the ever changing business landscape. As CSR marks its notion of importance in the business context, its roles, and values among academicians who are entrusted to educate the future generation remains ambiguous. Current research aims to look into the impact of perceived roles of ethics and social responsibility (PRESOR) and Internal CSR on the Employee Engagement among academicians in the education setting. Judgemental sampling method is used to locate the targeted respondents and data collected is analysed using Partial Least Squares Equation Modeling. The results reveal that PRESOR has a positive impact on Internal CSR. Internal CSR has no significant impact on Employee Engagement among academicians and its’ indirect effect between PRESOR and Employee Engagement is also found to be insignificant. The findings contribute by providing some insights on the role of ethics and social responsibility among academicians in the education sector. Education institutions may wish to look into other means to increase academicians’ employee engagement instead of ethics and social responsibility.