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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 ofneuroinformaticswasfirstmadeinthereportonBioinformaticselaboratedundertheaegisofthethenOECDMegascienceForumin1998.Followingextensive discussions in the Neuroinformatics
Figure 1: A Memorandum of Understandingwas signed between SBMT andUSM in the field of brain mappingwherefutureresearchprojectswillbecoordinated by Associate ProfessorDr Zamzuri Idris via theCenter forNeuroscienceServicesandResearch.
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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.
Special Issue - Neuroscience |Brainsciencesspecialissue
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Table1:AttendanceofneuroscientistsfromalloverMalaysiaforthefirstneuroinformaticmeetingListofParticipantsNeuroinformaticCourse2013Date:27October2011Venue:SeminarRoom(1),StudentLearningandResourceBlockSchollpfMedicalSciences,UniversitiSainsMalaysia(USM)No Name Institution Email1 NurShafikaRazali SchoolofMathematical
Sciences,[email protected]
2 NurIzzatiKhairudin SchoolofMathematicalSciences,USM
3 NurizatulSyarfinasAhmadBakhtiar
SchoolofMathematicalSciences,USM
4 DrNorhaslindaKamaruddin
UITM,ShahAlam [email protected]
5 ProfDrAbdulWahabAbdulRahman
KullofInformation&CommunicationTechnology,IIUM
6 DrRosniwatiGhafar SchoolofHealthSciences,USM [email protected] DrJoseMiguelSanchez
BornotUTP [email protected]
8 DrNordinZakaria UTP [email protected] RanaFayyazAhmad UTP [email protected] ArslanShahid UTP [email protected] MunsifAliJatoi UTP [email protected] MumtazHussain UTP [email protected] RashaHaider UTP [email protected] RaheelZafar UTP [email protected] EhtashamJaved UTP [email protected] DrSaratChandraDass UTP [email protected] NurInaniAbidin UNIMAS [email protected] DrNorsiahFauzan UNIMAS19 ProfMandavaRajeswari ScienceComputerCenter,USM [email protected] D'yiaSarahMdShukri [email protected] NorSafiraElainaMohd
NoorUTP [email protected]
22 DrMohdIbrahimAbdullah UNIZA [email protected] TeoYongChang USM [email protected] WongJiaHui USM [email protected] AzmanSamsudin SchoolofComputersciences,
26 NazeerahAbdRahman USM [email protected]
27 DrMohammedFaruqueReza
Neurosciences,USM [email protected]
28 AssocProfZamzuriIdris Neurosciences,USM [email protected] DrTahaminaBegum Neurosciences,USM [email protected]
(Table 1 continue)
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Malays J Med Sci. Dec 2014; Special Issue: 1-5
(Table 1 continued)
30 HussainAzzahari Neurosciences,USM [email protected] DrPutraSumari SchoolofComputerSciences,
32 DrHoTattWei UTP [email protected] NorHisham UTP [email protected] MuhammadBilal Neurosciences,USM [email protected] KohJunHau Neurosciences,USM [email protected] Rumaisa Neurosciences,USM [email protected] Nazirah Neurosciences,USM [email protected] HazimOmar Neurosciences,HospitalUSM [email protected] MaziraMohamadGhazali Neurosciences,USM [email protected] KeeSuiMei Neurosciences,USM [email protected] NurazaOthman Neurosciences,USM [email protected] NurAmalinaHashim Neurosciences,HospitalUSM [email protected] AlwaniLiyanaAhmad Neurosciences,HospitalUSM [email protected] NurHaziraMdZain P3Neuro [email protected] NurulAiniM.Nashir Neurosciences,USM [email protected]:USM=UniversitiSainsMalaysia;UITM=UniversitiTeknologiMARA;IIUM=InternationalIslamicUniversityMalaysia;UTP=UniversitiTeknologiPetronas;UNIMAS=UniversitiMalaysiaSarawak;UNIZA=UniversitiZainalAbidin.
Figure5:BothpsychiatryandpsychologyhasreachedtheGlobalAverageofImpactRelativetoSubjectAreaof1.0and;NeuroscienceandBehaviourhasreachedtheMalaysianAverageof0.54.
Special Issue - Neuroscience |Brainsciencesspecialissue
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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 bygrowning development 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:[email protected]
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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.
