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The purpose of this paper is to report on the anti‐cholesterol activities of Ganoderma lucidum on Sprague–Dawley white rats.

Rats were divided into four groups with a sample size of six rats per groups. Different formula diets were given to each group for a period of six months. At regular intervals, blood samples were taken and analysed for the total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL‐C) and low density lipoprotein (LDL‐C) levels.

Administration of hyperlipidemia diet in rats fed with 1 per cent cholesterol diet caused an increase in the TC, TG, as well as LDL‐C level as compared to the control. A decrease of 23.6 per cent in the HDL‐C level was also noted. However, supplementation of the feed with G. lucidum (0.1 per cent) in rats decreased the TC, TG and LDL‐C level significantly (P < 0.05) while further increased the plasma concentration of HDL‐C. In the case of rats fed with diet containing a mixture of 1 per cent cholesterol and 0.1 per cent of Ganoderma, the lipid profile showed much higher readings (p < 0.05) compared to the chol group.

The possible efficacy of G. lucidum in reducing the deposition of cholesterol in the wall of the blood vessels was indicated.

This article provides useful information to health care providers and consumers.

The aim of this study is to identify and quantify sugar and polysaccharide contents in locally grown Hericium erinaceus.

The experiment is presented of chromatography methods to determine sugars in Malaysian–grown H. erinaceus. After the extraction, the crude polysaccharide solution was followed by hydrolysis with acid as well as enzymes reaction, respectively.

In thin–layer chromatography, two sample spots turned blue after treatment with sugar visualizing reagent. The HPLC analysis of the H. erinaceus hot water crude extract showed arabinose as the major component. All H. erinaceus water crude extract showed the components of arabinose, glucose and rhamnose when reacting with different enzymes. The ratio of arabinose and glucose was 2.3:1 after enzymatic reaction compared with 2.7:1 before the enzymatic reaction.

The H. erinaceus polysaccharides from the fruiting body can be further isolated and purified by means of GCMS. In this way, the contents of the polysaccharides isolated and types of the linkage can be determined thoroughly in a more detailed way. The purified polysaccharides also should be screened for the bioassay guide fractionation.

The H. erinaceus can also be analyzed for its various nutritional values. In this way, it is hoped that Malaysia can produce Hericium products locally for the benefit of the local consumers with a more competitive price.

This paper fulfils an identified information of sugar and polysaccharide content in Malaysian–grown H. erinaceus.

In recent years, several performance indicators have been proposed in humanitarian supply chains (HSCs). Selecting the most relevant key performance indicators (KPIs) is challenging for some humanitarian organizations (HOs) because it involves a considerable amount of complexity and information overload which could lead to judgment biases in the decision-making process. Existing performance measurement studies lack critical analysis for prioritization of performance indicators. Since the process of KPIs selection and categorization is a complex, domain based and subjective process, a systematic guideline is needed. To address this gap, the purpose of this paper is to propose an integrated performance measurement scheme that can consolidate KPIs into an overall performance score based on the weighting of the performance indicators in HSCs.

Data collection was based on questionnaire surveys and direct interviews with practitioners from international HOs.

This paper proposes an integrated scheme based on balanced scorecard and analytic hierarchy process for performance evaluation of HOs.

The respondents were limited to the humanitarian logistics experts from Malaysian-based international HOs.

The scheme enables the benchmarking of HOs’ performance that could be useful for decision makers in HSCs.

This paper provides the ranking and prioritization of KPIs in HSCs. The approach presented in this paper enables an effective and integrated performance measurement in HSCs.