The Role Expectations for the Division Director of Education of Seventh-day Adventists : As Perceived by Seven Status Groups Within the Church

Problem: One of the most important and costly services provided by the Seventh-day Adventist Church is education. With a rapidly growing membership overseas and new nations sprouting up almost overnight, the need for adapting and fitting the Adventist educational mold to church school systems in these new nations is crucial. In this context, the Division Director of Education appears to play a vital part, yet his role has not been clearly delineated. It is with a view to ascertaining what his role should be, that this study has been undertaken. Method: The respondents drawn from eight overseas divisions as well as from the world headquarters of the Seventh-day Adventist church were grouped under the organizational levels (sectors) of General Conference, Division, Union, and Local, and the professions (units) of principals, pastors, and teachers. A thirty statement questionnaire so designed as to be easily answered and computer scanned, and containing a five-point scale of response covering the range from I, strongly agree, to 5, strongly disagree, was provided. These statements were grouped under six areas, namely, communicator and coordinator; director of personnel; educational specialist and consultant; relations with management; spiritual leader; and supervisor and evaluator. This descriptive study used three statistical procedures to aid in analyzing the data. The first, the Kendall Coefficient of Concordance W, tested the reliability within groups. The second, the Cattell Coefficient of Pattern Similarity, presented a Gestalt view of the inter-relationships of the group responses. The third, the median and Q test, assisted in item identification. Results: The reliability was low but statistically significant. The Gestalt view indicated a negative pattern of similarity among the group responses. The views of teachers, church administrators, educational administrators, and education secretaries compared more closely than did those of pastors, Division Directors of Education, and General Conference respondents. The divergence of reaction indicated a certain independence of thought and response. The areas of the role of the Division Director of Education, according to the degree of agreement awarded them, are placed in priority as follows: specialist and consultant; spiritual leader; supervisor and evaluator; communicator and coordinator; relations with management; director of personnel. Conclusions: The priorities set by all respondents for the specific aspects of the role of the Division Director of Education were to: (1) propagate the philosophy of Christian education, (2) consult and advise Division administrators on educational matters, (3) ensure relevant, spiritual Bible teaching, (4) communicate with the General Conference education department, (5) encourage upgrading and in-service training for educators in all sectors, (6) ensure an Adventist emphasis in the curriculum of all schools, (7) organize division-level workshops, conferences, institutes and extension schools, (8) provide resource materials, (9) emphasize character development, (10) consult through associates, on educational planning and operation, (11) communicate with all levels of educators, (12) consult in planning and problem-evolving situations, (13) ensure the optimum balance among work, study, worship, and recreation in school programs, (14) assist in assessing the professional performance of educators, (15) uphold professional and religious standards, (16) ensure that current files are maintained on educational workers, (17) ensure that schools have current master plans of development, (18) ensure adequate supervision of schools, (19) have responsibility for professional aspects of inter-division transfers of educational personnel, (20) generally communicate with church members, and (21) advise in the selection of union education secretaries

COMPARATIVE PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF GREEN SYNTHESIS USING CROTON SPARSIFLORUS MORONG LEAF WITH CYNODON DACTYLON LEAF

There is an increasing commercial demand for nanoparticles (NPs) due to their wide applicability in various areas. The development of reliable and eco-friendly processes for synthesis of metallic nanoparticles is an important step in the field of nanotechnology. Plant extracts are eco-friendly and thus can be an economic and efficient alternative for the large-scale synthesis of nanoparticles. This process of plant extracts based synthesis is called as Green Synthesis. We evaluated the silver nanoparticles produced by green synthesis of two different plants leafs. This paper presents Comparative Performance Analysis of Green Synthesis using Croton Sparsiflorus Morong leaf with Cynodon Dactylon leaf. Green synthesis of Exopolysaccharides coated silver nanoparticles uses Croton sparsiflorus morong leaf and silver nanoparticles uses Cynodon Dactylon leaf. Comparative performance analysis uses EDX analysis, UV- Vis Spectral Analysis, FTIR analysis and Antimicrobial Activity. Compare to green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using Cynodon Dactylon leaf, Green synthesis of Exopolysaccharides coated silver nanoparticles uses Croton sparsiflorus morong leaf is high efficient in terms of different performance analysis.&nbsp

Liquisolid Technology: Preparation, Characterization and Applications

With the advent of high throughput screening, drugs are emerging to be more lipophilic and less hydrophilic. Liquisolid Technology aims at solubility enhancement of such entities via cosolvency concept in a relatively minimalistic setup where there is no need of sophisticated machinery and is cost effective. It involves constituting a drug into molecular dispersion via a non-volatile solvent and then transforming it into a dry looking, free flowing compressible powder. This article aims at mapping Liquisolid Technology where its preparation techniques and potential applications are reviewed. An overview of the performance of Liquisolid in areas of dissolution enhancement, zero order release, photostability enhancement, liquipellets and its role in natural product formulations is recorded for a number of drugs. Keywords: Liquisolid, Dissolution Enhancement, Flowability, Compressibility, Cosolvenc

Simultaneous Estimation of Epicatechin, Trigonelline, Stigmasterol, and Gymnemagenin in Polyherbal Products: A Bioanalytical RP-HPLC Approach

The present study is about the development of bioanalytical method for the simultaneous estimation of Epicatechin (EPI), Trigonelline (TRG), Stigmasterol (STIG) and Gymnemagenin (GYM) in the polyherbal formulation using HPLC.   The polyherbal formulation were prepared by extracting Pterocarpus marsupium, Gymnema sylvestre, Trigonella foenumgrecum, Momordica charantia herbs which has wide acceptance in the treatment of diabetes and other chronic disorders. To investigate the pharmacokinetic of this developed polyherbal formulation, current work have devised a simple reverse phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) method for the estimation of EPI, TRG, STIG and GYM in rat plasma. In doing this the plasma samples were spiked with the marker compounds and then extracted by solid phase extraction with Phenomenex Strata-X 33µm cartridges. Further, chromatographic separation was performed on C18 column using isocratic acetonitrile:water composition.  The developed method was validated for accuracy, precision, linearity and recovery. Linearity studies were found to be acceptable over the range of 0.1–6 lg/ml. The method was successfully applied for the analysis of rat plasma sample for the application in pharmacokinetic study, drug interaction, bioavailability and bioequivalence. The mean %  recovery from plasma  of  EPI were 92.8, 91.2 & 94.7, for TRG 91.5, 92.8 & 93.4, STIG 91.8, 92.5 & 91.8 and GYM 92.8, 93.1 & 92.5 % for LQC, MQC & HQC respectively.  The recovery of EPI, TRG, STIG and GYM were found to be within the limit of acceptance

Receptor targeted gene delivery using folate ligand conjugated cationic liposomes.

Ph. D. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2014.Gene therapy has become an important strategy to treat several human diseases, including cancer, viral infections and inherited disorders. In response to this growing trend, a number of gene delivery vectors have been manufactured both to facilitate nucleic acid uptake by target cells and also to promote the transport of genetic materials into the nucleus. The success of gene therapy however depends on the efficient delivery of therapeutic genes into target cells both in vitro and in vivo. Cationic liposomes represent a class of non-viral vectors that have shown the ability to bind and deliver DNA cargo to defective cells efficiently. This study has focused on the development of a novel folate-targeted cationic liposome-mediated gene delivery system. This receptor is overexpressed on numerous cancer cell types and offers a convenient docking point for subsequent cellular uptake of folate decorated liposome-DNA complexes by receptor mediation. In this study, a total of six cationic liposome preparations comprising either cationic cholesterol cytofectin -dimethylpropylamidosuccinylcholesterylformylhydrazide (MSO9) or 3β[N(N1,N1-dimethlaminopropylsuccinamidoethane)-carbamoyl]-cholesterol (SGO4) were formulated by mixing the fusogenic neutral helper lipid, dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE) as a common constituent. DSPE-PEG₂₀₀₀ was also used in formulations for possible in vivo development of PEGylated, targeted liposomes. The targeting ligand folate was appended to the distal end of liposome-anchored DSPEPEG₂₀₀₀, for prominent display and optimal receptor recognition. Transmission electron micrographs revealed liposomes to be unilamellar, spherical shaped vesicles with a narrow size range (50 - 80 nm in diameter). Agarose gel retardation studies demonstrated complex formation between cationic liposomes and plasmid DNA, whilst serum nuclease protection assays showed that the liposome formulations were capable of protecting the complexed DNA in lipoplexes against serum nuclease digestion. Ethidium bromide dye displacement studies yielded information on the compaction or condensation efficacy of the liposomes with respect to the cargo plasmid. In addition, particle sizes determined by dynamic light scattering confirmed the suitability of lipoplexes for future in vivo applications in which extravasation is essential. Importantly, these liposome:DNA complexes were found to exhibit minimal growth inhibition levels in HEK293, HeLa and KB cells. Further investigations were carried out to determine the optimal transfection activity of complexes in the folate receptor-positive cell lines (HeLa and KB). The plasmid containing the transgene firefly luciferase (pCMV-luc) was used in transfection studies. Results showed that folate targeted liposomes, irrespective of cytofectins MSO9 or SGO4 achieved highest transfection activities in vitro, specifically via receptor mediation. Lower transfection activity was observed for by untargeted PEGylated and unPEGylated liposomes compared to that of the folate targeted liposomes, strongly implicating folate receptor-mediation in the uptake of ligand-displaying lipoplexes. This was further confirmed by flow cytometry analysis. Furthermore, zeta potential values obtained for targeted complexes revealed low negative surface charge, thus minimizing the possibility of electrostatic interaction between lipoplexes and target cells. The cytofectin, MSO9, achieved 10 fold greater transfection activity than the cytofectin SGO4 although they are closely related, differing only in their spacer lengths. Competition assays using free folate (200 μM) to confirm folate receptor mediated lipoplex uptake in the HeLa, and KB cells revealed a dramatic decline in transfection activity due to the excess free folate binding to and blocking access to the folate receptors on the cell membrane. The two novel PEGylated lipoplexes designed for folate receptor-mediated uptake by transformed mammalian cells display very favourable physicochemical characteristics, low cytotoxicity and promising transfection profiles in vitro. Therefore further investigation of the cationic liposome formulations examined in this study in vivo is warranted

A questionnaire base survey on the knowledge, attitude and practices about antimicrobial resistance and usage among the faculty and resident doctor of teaching tertiary care hospital, Chittoor, India

Background: 10million could die every year due to antibiotic resistant infections by 2050 unless the threat is addressed. Irrational use of antibiotic use is a global phenomenon. So, 50% all anti bionics are prescribed, sold are dispensed inappropriately, while 50% of patients are not taking antibiotics correctly (WHO 2004).Methods: This was a cross section study it was a conducted in RVS institute, tertiary care teaching hospital. Chittoor. The questionnaire was distributed along the faculty resident doctors and senior faculty of this RVS institute Where their knowledge, attitude, practice regarding antibiotic prescription and resistance was assessed by a five point likert scale, whose response ranged from strongly agree to disagree. Some questionnaire were of useful or nor useful and yes or no.Results: Irrational prescription of antibiotics is worldwide problem and also in India was known to most of the physicians in our institute (n=95%) of participants. 80% subjects answered that prescription writing influenced by senior faculty and medical representatives. 50% subjects answered that antimicrobial resistance is a problem in daily practice.80 % subjects answered that most of the antibiotics available as over the counter drugs (OTC).Conclusions: This study concludes, prescription writing influences by senior faculty and medical representatives. It’s important to monitor and auditing prescription writing based on WHO Antibiotic guidelines to prevent resistance. Strict vigilance of OTC sales of antibiotics to prevent resistance

FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF IN-SITU GEL CONTAINING CIPROFLOXACIN HYDROCHLORIDE IN THE TREATMENT OF PERIODONTITIS.

Objective: The present study describes the use of in-situ gel in periodontal drug delivery systems which contains gellan gum (0.4–0.6% w/v), pluronic F127 (14, 15 and 16% w/v), and drug Ciprofloxacin HCl (0.1% w/v). Number of peoples around the world suffered from dental problem and ultimate fear is tooth loss hence in-situ gelling system was designed for the treatment of periodontal diseases. The therapeutic efficacy of drug can be greatly improved by prolonging its contact time.Methods: Formulations were developed by simple solution method. Each formulation was characterized in terms of in gelling strength, viscosity, rheology, content uniformity, in vitro drug release, and syringeability.Results: In vitro gelation time and the nature of the gel formed in simulated saliva for prepared formulations showed polymeric concentration dependency. Drug release data from all formulations was fitted to different kinetic models and the Korsemeyer-Peppas model was the best fit model. Drug release was significantly decreased as the concentration of each polymer component was increased. Increasing the concentration of each polymeric component significantly increased viscosity, syringeability, and time for 50%, 70%, and 90% drug release. In conclusion, the formulations described offer a wide range of physical and drug release characteristics. The formulation containing 0.6% w/v of gellan gum and 14% w/v of pluronic F127 exhibited superior physical characteristics. The formulation stored at 4ËšC before application, which is syringeable through 21 gauge needle.Conclusion: This formulation was made to inject directly in to periodontal pocket where it immediately converts in to gel form at body temperature.Â