special issue - neuroscience and brain science...

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Thisfirst special issueof theNeuroscience-Orient Neuron Nexus was established aftera meeting on the 11th of March, 2014 in theUniversiti Sains Malaysian (USM) Press, whichwas chaired by Professor Dato Dr MohammedJantanagreedto“takeover”TheOrientNeuronNexus, which had been run by the Departmentof Neurosciences, School of Medical Sciences,Universiti Sains Malaysia and to have at leastone issue that included fundamental, appliedand clinical neuroscience manuscripts in ajournal already cited inPubMed.Weproceededwith6manuscripts andabstracts frompreviousOrient Neuron Nexus articles in the firstissue of December, 2014 and hope that thisyearly special issue will flourish in the future,thereby establishing citable research articles inneuroscienceandbrainscienceandinparticularneuroinformaticsinaMalaysianjournal. In 2013 and 2014 Malaysian neuroscienceafter two important meetings reached anotherlevel.Malaysiawill finally join the InternationalNeuroinformatics Coordinating Facility (INCF)afterrecentlybecomingamemberoftheSocietyof Brain Mapping and Therapeutics (SBMT)(Figure 1).The INCF is an international scienceorganisation that facilitates internationalcollaboration of activities and infrastructuresin neuroinformatics-related fields. It wasestablished in 2005 by recommendations fromtheGlobal Science Forumworking group of theOrganisation for Economic Co-operation andDevelopment (OECD). The secretariat is hosted

Special Issue - Neuroscience

Neuroscience and Brain Science Special Issue begins in the Malaysian Journalof Medical Sciences

Jafri Malin AbdullAh

Chief Editor, Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia Health Campus, 16150 Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, Malaysia

1Malays J Med Sci. Dec 2014; Special Issue: 1-5

Abstract TheMalaysianJournalofMedicalSciencesandtheOrientNeuronNexushaveamalgatedtopublishayearlyspecialissuebasedonneuro-andbrainsciences.Thiswillhopefullyimprovethequalityofpeer-reviewedmanuscriptsinthefieldoffundamental,applied,andclinicalneuroscienceandbrainsciencefromAsiancountries.OnefocusoftheUniversitiSainsMalaysiaistostrengthenneuroscienceandbrainscience,especiallyinthefieldofneuroinformatics.

Keywords: brain science, neuroscience, Malaysia, neuroinformatics

Submitted:27Oct2014Accepted:8Nov2014

by the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm,Sweden.Currently, theINCFhasnationalnodesin 17member countries.TheExecutiveDirectoris SeanHill, and the chairmanof the governingboardisJanGBjaaliefromtheUniversityofOslo. The recommendation to coordinateinternational efforts in the new field ofneuroinformaticswasfirstmadeinthereportonBioinformaticselaboratedundertheaegisof thethenOECDMegascienceForumin1998.Followingextensive discussions in the Neuroinformatics

Figure 1: A Memorandum of UnderstandingwassignedbetweenSBMTandUSMinthefieldofbrainmappingwherefuture research projects will becoordinated by Associate ProfessorDr Zamzuri Idris via the Centerfor Neuroscience Services andResearch..

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Malays J Med Sci. Dec 2014; Special Issue: 1-5

Working Group of the Global Science Forumchaired by Dr Stephen Koslow, the proposalto create an International NeuroinformaticsCoordinating Facility, as well as the fundingProgramme in International Neuroinformatics(PIN),was thenpresented in2002.ThisprojectwasendorsedbyOECDscienceministersattheirmeeting in January 2004. Australia, Canada,China, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland,France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, theNetherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, theUnitedKingdom,theUnitedStatesandVictoria,Australia as well as the European Commission,then established the working documents thatformthelegalbasisfortheINCFandthePIN. The field of information sciences studiesthe nervous system, neuroscience concerningstudiesonthegenometothoseonbrainimagingofbehavioursinhumansandotherspecies,underdifferentfunctionalstates,andatall interveninganalytical levels.Largequantitiesofdata,whichare constantly increasing to higher levels ofcomplexity have led to the development andcreation of shared neuroscience analytical data,and modelling tools as well as computationalmodels(1,2). Historically,neuroscienceandbrainsciencewere funded by the Hospital Universiti SainsMalaysiaundertheDirectorDrHajiRamliSaad(Figure2),wheretheneurosciencelabswithclass100and1000particleroomswereestablishedforstem cell work, neural cell growth experimentsandsophisticatedpatchclampelectrophysiologyand animal behaviour equipment leading to thehigh-quality publications in this field (3–7). In2009, the magnetoencephalography equipmentfollowed by the 3 Tesla magnetic resonanceimagingequipmentwithfunctionalsoftwareandhardware helped neuroscience advance to thenextlevel. Thebeginningoftheintroductionoftraineelecturers in neuroinformatics, biomedicalengineering, cognitive neurosciences andneuropsychology in 2010 has resulted in ametamorphosis of the human resource and thetransdisciplinary and translational group ofneuroscientistsinthecampus. The first neuroinformatics gathering ofscientistsfromMalaysia(Figure3)(Table1)withtheattendanceofDrSeanHillfromtheINCFonthe27thofNovember,2013initiatedtheseconddiscussion between Dr Sean Hill and MalaysiawiththeparticipationoftheUniversitiTeknologiPetronasasthegatekeeperforthenext3years,which was agreed upon on the 2nd of October2014(Figure4).

Figure 4: Final discussions between INCFrepresentedbyProfDrSeanHillwithUniversity Technology PetronasViceChancellorDatukIr(Dr)AbdulRahimHashim, Prof IrDrAhmadFadzilMohamadHani,andProfDrJafri Malin Abdullah, Director ofP3Neuroonthe2ndOctober2014atParryRoom,HotelLeMeridein,KualaLumpur.

Figure2:DrHajiRamliSaadpreviousDirectorofHospitalUniversitiSainsMalaysia.

Figure 3: Group photo of the firstneuroinformatics meeting inCenterforNeuroscienceServicesand Research, Universiti SainsMalaysia27thOctober2013withthepresenceofProfSeanHill.

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Table1:AttendanceofneuroscientistsfromalloverMalaysiaforthefirstneuroinformaticmeetingListofParticipantsNeuroinformaticCourse2013Date:27October2011Venue:SeminarRoom(1),StudentLearningandResourceBlockSchollpfMedicalSciences,UniversitiSainsMalaysia(USM)No Name Institution Email1 NurShafikaRazali SchoolofMathematical

Sciences,USMshahabel_razali@yahoo.com

2 NurIzzatiKhairudin SchoolofMathematicalSciences,USM

zat.khairudin@yahoo.com

3 NurizatulSyarfinasAhmadBakhtiar

SchoolofMathematicalSciences,USM

syarfinas.ahmad@gmail.com

4 DrNorhaslindaKamaruddin

UITM,ShahAlam norhaslinda@tmsk.uitm.edu.my

5 ProfDrAbdulWahabAbdulRahman

KullofInformation&CommunicationTechnology,IIUM

abdulwahab@iium.edu.my

6 DrRosniwatiGhafar SchoolofHealthSciences,USM rosni@kk.usm.my7 DrJoseMiguelSanchez

BornotUTP bornot@gmail.com

8 DrNordinZakaria UTP nordinzakaria@gmail.com9 RanaFayyazAhmad UTP rafayyaz@gmail.com10 ArslanShahid UTP arslanshahid@hotmail.com11 MunsifAliJatoi UTP munsif.jatoi@gmail.com12 MumtazHussain UTP Mumtaz.muet@gmail.com13 RashaHaider UTP haiderrasha@yahoo.com14 RaheelZafar UTP raheelsatti@yahoo.com15 EhtashamJaved UTP rajaehti@yahoo.com16 DrSaratChandraDass UTP sarat.dass@petronas.com.my17 NurInaniAbidin UNIMAS inaniabidin@gmail.com18 DrNorsiahFauzan UNIMAS19 ProfMandavaRajeswari ScienceComputerCenter,USM mandava@cs.usm.my20 D'yiaSarahMdShukri dyaserra@gmail.com21 NorSafiraElainaMohd

NoorUTP fira_elaina@yahoo.com

22 DrMohdIbrahimAbdullah UNIZA ibrahimabdullah@yahoo.com23 TeoYongChang USM matthew88teo@gmail.com24 WongJiaHui USM jiahui202@gmail.com25 AzmanSamsudin SchoolofComputersciences,

USMazman@cs.usm.my

26 NazeerahAbdRahman USM nazeerah.armanza@gmail.com

27 DrMohammedFaruqueReza

Neurosciences,USM faruque@kk.usm.my

28 AssocProfZamzuriIdris Neurosciences,USM zamzuri@kb.usm.my29 DrTahaminaBegum Neurosciences,USM tahamina@kk.usm.my

(Table 1 continue)

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Malays J Med Sci. Dec 2014; Special Issue: 1-5

(Table 1 continued)

30 HussainAzzahari Neurosciences,USM hss2_23@hotmail.com31 DrPutraSumari SchoolofComputerSciences,

USMputras@cs.usm.my

32 DrHoTattWei UTP hotatwei@petronas.com.my33 NorHisham UTP hishmid@petronas.com.my34 MuhammadBilal Neurosciences,USM pharmacist1133@yahoo.com35 KohJunHau Neurosciences,USM sunbinthesecond@hotmail.com36 Rumaisa Neurosciences,USM rumaisa.abuhasan@gmail.com37 Nazirah Neurosciences,USM nazirah.mmpum@gmail.com38 HazimOmar Neurosciences,HospitalUSM enhazim@gmail.com39 MaziraMohamadGhazali Neurosciences,USM mazira@kck.usm.my40 KeeSuiMei Neurosciences,USM smkee@kk.usm.my41 NurazaOthman Neurosciences,USM nuraza@kk.usm.my42 NurAmalinaHashim Neurosciences,HospitalUSM amalina@kk.usm.my43 AlwaniLiyanaAhmad Neurosciences,HospitalUSM alwani_liyana@yahoo.com44 NurHaziraMdZain P3Neuro hazira@kk.usm.my45 NurulAiniM.Nashir Neurosciences,USM neurosciencespa@yahoo.comAbbreviations:USM=UniversitiSainsMalaysia;UITM=UniversitiTeknologiMARA;IIUM=InternationalIslamicUniversityMalaysia;UTP=UniversitiTeknologiPetronas;UNIMAS=UniversitiMalaysiaSarawak;UNIZA=UniversitiZainalAbidin.

Figure5:BothpsychiatryandpsychologyhasreachedtheGlobalAverageofImpactRelativetoSubjectAreaof1.0and;NeuroscienceandBehaviourhasreachedtheMalaysianAverageof0.54.

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Figure6:AllahyarhamMohdAliMdSalimwasatraineelecturerunderUniversitiSainsMalaysia.

It is anticipated that neuroscience willflourish (Figure 5), and we hope funds throughphilanthropyor government initiativeswill helpestablishastrongSouthEastAsianneurosciencecentre that will impact solving neurologicalproblemsinAsia. The conclusion of this inaugural editorialendswithitsdedicationtothetragicsuddenlossofMohdAliMdSalim,aMalaysianneuroscientist(Figure 6) who was a clinical psychologistpursuing his PhD in the field of DevelopmentNeuropsychopathology from the ErasmusUniversity Rotterdam. The plane he was onboardMalaysiaAirlinesFlight17wasascheduledinternational passenger flight from AmsterdamtoKuala Lumpur that crashed on 17 July 2014,presumed to have been shot down and crashednear Torez in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. MJMShopes that neuroscientists will honour him bydeveloping pediatric neuropsychopathologysciences in this country. We enclose one of hispublication that he co-authored prior to hissuddendemise(8).

Correspondence

ProfessorDato’JafriMalinAbdullahMD,PhD,FRCS(Ed),FACS,DSCN(Belgium)ChiefEditorMalaysianJournalofMedicalSciencesUniversitiSainsMalaysiaHealthCampus16150KubangKerianKelantan,MalaysiaTel:+609-7676972Fax:+609-7672359Email:mjms.usm@gmail.com

References

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2. Poline JB, Breeze JL, Ghosh S, Gorgolewski K,Halchenko YO, Hanke M, et al. Data sharing inneuroimaging research. Front Neuroinform.2012;6:9.doi:10.3389/fninf.2012.00009.eCollection2012.

3. AbdullahJM,MustafaZ,IderisA.NewcastleDiseaseVirus Interaction in Targeted Therapy againstProliferationandInvasionPathwaysofGlioblastomaMultiforme.Biomed Res Int.2014;2014:386470.doi:10.1155/2014/386470.

4. HuatTJ,KhanAA,PatiS,MustafaZ,AbdullahJM,Jaafar H. IGF-1 enhances cell proliferation andsurvivalduringearlydifferentiationofmesenchymalstem cells to neural progenitor-like cells. BMC Neurosci. 2014;15:91.doi:10.1186/1471-2202-15-91.

5. Muthuraju S, IslamMR,Pati S, JaafarH,AbdullahJM, Yusoff KM. Normobaric hyperoxia treatmentprevents early alteration in dopamine level inmicestriatumafterfluidpercussioninjury:Abiochemicalapproach. Int J Neurosci.2014[Epubaheadofprint].doi:10.3109/00207454.2014.961065.

6. BegumT,RezaF,AhmedI,AbdullahJM.Influenceofeducationlevelondesign-inducedN170andP300componentsofeventrelatedpotentialsinthehumanbrain. J Integr Neurosci. 2014:13(1):71–88. doi:10.1142/S0219635214500058.

7. Idris Z, Mustapha M, Abdullah JM. Microgravityenvironment and compensatory: Decompensatoryphases for intracranial hypertension form newperspectives to explain mechanism underlyingcommunicating hydrocephalus and its relateddisorders. Asian J Neurosurg. 2014;9(1):7–13. doi:10.4103/1793-5482.131058.

8. Mohd Yusoff MNC, Md Salim MA, MohamedMustafar MF, Abdullah JM, Wan Mohamad WNA.Future Integration of EEG-fMRI in Psychiatry,Psychology,andCulturalNeuroscience. In:NidalK,MalikAS,editors.EEG/ERP Analysis: Methods and Applications. London (LDN): CRC Press; 2014. p.334.