103 research outputs found
Minding the gap between policy and practice amongst extension workers : lessons from KwaZulu Natal
No full textCITATION: Mohamed Sayeed, C.N., Reddy, P.S. & Pillay, P. 2015. Minding the gap between policy and practice amongst extension workers: Lessons from KwaZulu Natal. South African Journal of Agricultural Extension, 43(1):57-65.The original publication is available from http://www.scielo.org.za20 years into a post-apartheid South Africa, the National Development Plan (NDP) provides the contextual and institutional framework for all of governments activities. As a result, there is a call for extension to increasingly become associated with efficient and effective delivery of services in line with government policy to improve the quality of public services which are critical to achieving a transformed racially equitable public service. This article interrogates the issue of a gap between policy and implementation amongst Extension Workers by reflecting on the findings of research conducted as part of a doctoral study in Public Administration by the main author at the University of KwaZulu Natal. The article makes reference to the findings related to policy knowledge amongst Extension Workers and the challenges related to policy implementation in KwaZulu Natal, and seeks to use the findings of this research to present opportunities and challenges for the implementation of the NDP and concludes that whilst Extension Workers are now challenged to find a balance between their functionality within extension and as public servants, it is important for some consideration to be made by government and education institutions for the changing roles of Extension Workers.http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S0301-603X2015000100006&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=enPublisher's versio
Studies on High Fiber Sugar Free Fenugreek Biscuits
No full textThis Dissertation / Report is the outcome of investigation carried out by the creator(s) / author(s) at the department/division of Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore mentioned below in this page
Poster 422: Successful Treatment of Cervical Facet Joint Pain using Platelet Rich Plasma—A Novel Case Report
No full textInvestigation into Impact of Train Speed for Behavior of Ballasted Railway Track Foundations
No full textAbstractTraffic congestion of highways in many countries around the world has led railways to become the most popular means of public transportation, which increased the demand for faster and heavier trains. High- speed trains and heavy train loads are normally accompanied with strong vibrations in the track-ground system, which increases the risk of train derailment and track damages. Therefore, to allow for safer and reliable operation of high-speed trains, an investigation into the behavior of ballasted railway track foundations subjected to train moving loads at various speeds is a subject of prime importance in design of railway tracks. In the current study, sophisticated three dimensional (3D) finite elements (FE) numerical modelling was developed to investigate the impact of train speed on the dynamic response of track-ground system. In addition, some factors of the track-ground system affecting the critical speed including the modulus and thickness of track subgrade and ballast materials, and amplitude of train loading were investigated. The results were analyzed and presented, and their practical implications were discussed
The Risk of Subsequent Joint Arthroplasty after Primary Unilateral Total Knee Arthroplasty, a 10-Year Study
No full textExperimental study of the flow past submerged half-cylinders
No full textThis investigation studies the details of the flow behind and over two identical semicircular cylinderspositioned in tandem. Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV) measurements are carried out in a laboratory waterflume using two different gap ratios (Sp/d = 1 and Sp/d = 0.5; where Sp indicates distance between the cylindersand d indicates cylinder diameter) under two different flow situations. These LDV measurement are used toderive velocities, formation length and Power spectral density for the various flow conditions. Flowvisualizations are also added in this investigation. The results indicate that the flow is significantly affected dueto gap ratios.</p
Guanosine protects against reperfusion injury in rat brain after ischemic stroke
No full textAfter ischemic stroke, early thrombolytic therapy to reestablish tissue perfusion improves outcome but triggers a cascade of deleterious cellular and molecular events. Using a collaborative approach, our groups examined the effects of guanosine (Guo) in response to ischemic reperfusion injury in vitro and in vivo. In a transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) in rats, Guo significantly reduced infarct volume in a dose-dependent manner when given systemically either immediately before or 30 min, but not 60 min, after the onset of the 5.5-hr reperfusion period. In a separate experiment, Guo significantly reduced infarct volume after 24 hr of reperfusion when administered 5 min before reperfusion. Western blot analysis did not reveal any significant changes either in endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress proteins (GRP 78 and 94) or HSP 70 or in levels of m-calpain. In vitro oxygen and glucose deprivation (OGD) significantly increased production of both reactive oxygen species (ROS) and interleukin-8 (IL-8) in the primary astrocytes. Guo did not alter ROS or IL-8 production when given to the astrocytes before OGD. However, Guo when added to the cells prior to or 30 min after reperfusion significantly reduced IL-8 release but not ROS formation. Our study revealed a dose- and time-dependent protective effect of Guo on reperfusion injury in vitro and vivo. The mechanisms by which Guo exerts its effect are independent of unfolded proteins in ER or the level of intracellular calcium or ROS formation. However, the effect may be induced, at least partially, by inhibiting IL-8, a marker of reperfusion-triggered proinflammatory events. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Nearly 80% of strokes are caused by occlusion of the middle cerebral artery (MCA) by a thrombus. Thus, effective stroke therapies require recanalization of occluded cerebral blood vessels. During cerebral ischemia, cerebral blood flow (CBF) is reduced by the occlusion of blood vessels that supply vital oxygen to brain tissues. Reperfusion strategies (i.e., early intravenous thrombolytic therapy) to reestablish tissue perfusion in order to reduce neurological deficits and improve functional outcome have been the most effective therapies (The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, 1995; Hacke et al., 2008; Fisher, 2011). However, reperfusion of ischemic brain tissue can also have harmful consequences, including breakdown of the blood–brain barrier, which can lead to cerebral edema and/or brain hemorrhage as well as neurovascular injury and neuronal death. In the acute phase of reperfusion injury (within the first 6 hr), reperfusion after ischemia causes oxidative stress, which is the result of overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in mitochondria. This, in turn, triggers many cellular and molecular events, including protein oxidation, lipid peroxidation, and DNA damage, which can induce cell death (Sugawara and Chan, 2003; Saito et al., 2005; Jung et al., 2010). Reperfusion injury also recruits large numbers of inflammatory cells and causes other cellular and molecular cascades (Kidwell et al., 2000; Li et al., 2000; Warach and Latour, 2004). The complications resulting from reperfusion injury reduce the effectiveness of thrombolytic therapy, hence the narrow therapeutic window (within 4–6 hr following stroke onset) of many thrombolytics on the market today. This has led to a search for strategies to protect the brain against such injuries or at least to limit these effects. Ultimately, the development of neuroprotective drugs with multiple effects on the ischemic cascade will impede the tissue and cellular consequences of the vascular occlusion and its removal (Endres et al, 2008; Fisher, 2011).
The purine nucleoside guanosine (Guo) has been shown to exist extracellularly and, like adenosine, to be an intercellular messenger demonstrating a plethora of both trophic and neuroprotective effects in vitro and in vivo (Rathbone et al., 1999, 2008; Ciccarelli et al., 2001; Traversa et al., 2002; Di Iorio et al., 2002, 2004; Pettifer et al., 2004, 2007; Moretto et al., 2005, 2009; Jiang et al., 2007, 2008a, b; Tavares et al., 2008; Su et al., 2009; Torres et al., 2010). Interestingly, after focal stroke in rats, Guo is elevated within 2 hr and remains high for 7 days (Uemura et al., 1991). This led to the investigation of the effects of exogenously administered Guo in stroke models, specifically, protection against combined oxygen and glucose deprivation (OGD) in vitro (Chang et al., 2008) and protection against stroke in an ex vivo model (Moretto et al., 2005, 2009), as well as in an in vivo rodent model of permanent ischemic stroke by MCA occlusion (MCAO; Rathbone et al., 2011).
In the present study, our groups collaborated in examining the neuroprotective effects of Guo in response to reperfusion injury using two different in vivo rat models of transient MCAO. We examined the effect of Guo not only on infarct size but also on molecular chaperones such as glucose-regulated proteins (GRP 78 and GRP 94) and the cytosolic heat-inducible protein HSP 70. Their induction has been shown to increase when protein synthesis is interrupted following ischemia, and unfolded proteins accumulate in the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) as a result of changes in oxidative status and calcium homeostasis. In addition, the widespread overactivation of glutamate receptors in response to focal ischemia can produce a sudden increase in intracellular calcium concentrations, resulting in activation of the cysteine protease m-calpain (Siman and Noszek, 1988; Choi, 1995). Sustained calpain activation can result in cellular apoptosis (Sareen et al., 2007), and inhibition of calpain has been shown to provide neuroprotection in a model of focal ischemia (Hong et al., 1994). Therefore, we investigated the effect of Guo on m-calpain after transient cerebral ischemia. We also examined whether Guo has any effect on ROS formation and the inflammatory events in primary cultured astrocytes after induction of OGD in a model of in vitro reperfusion–ischemia
A bibliometric and co-occurrence analysis of COVID-19–related literature published between December 2019 and June 2020
No full textPurpose The main purposes of this study were to analyze the document types and languages of published papers on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), along with the top authors, publications, countries, institutions, and disciplines, and to analyze the co-occurrence of keywords and bibliographic coupling of countries and sources of the most-cited COVID-19 literature. Methods This study analyzed 16,384 COVID-19 studies published between December 2019 and June 2020. The data were extracted from the Web of Science database using four keywords: “COVID-19,” “coronavirus,” “2019-nCoV,” and “SARS-CoV-2.” The top 500 mostcited documents were analyzed for bibliographic and citation network visualization. Results The studies were published in 19 different languages, and English (95.313%) was the most common. Of 157 research-producing countries, the United States (25.433%) was in the leading position. Wang Y (n=94) was the top author, and the BMJ (n=488) was the top source. The University of London (n=488) was the leading organization, and medicine-related papers (n=2,259) accounted for the highest proportion. The co-occurrence of keywords analysis identified “coronavirus,” “COVID-19,” “SARS-CoV-2,” “2019-nCoV,” and “pneumonia” as the most frequent words. The bibliographic coupling analysis of countries and sources showed the strongest collaborative links between China and the United States and between the New England Journal of Medicine and the JAMA. Conclusion Collaboration between the United States and China was key in COVID-19 research during this period. Although BMJ was the leading title for COVID-19 articles, the co-author link between New England Journal of Medicine and JAMA was the strongest
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