Self-medication with antibiotics is becoming a trend that threats the health systems worldwide through developing bacterial resistance which is associated with high health care costs and increased rate of morbidity and mortality. The main objective of this study is to assess antibiotic self-medication practice among Libyan university pharmacy students. This is a cross-sectional study conducted among pharmacy students at Sabratha University in the western region of Libya. A validated questionnaire was used to collect relevant data which were statistically analyzed. A total of 170 undergraduate Pharmacy students participated in the study during spring 2021. About 80% of the participants reported the use of antibiotics without consulting a physician. The major reason for using antibiotics was to get a quick relief of emergency conditions which was reported by 35% of the students. About 25% of the students used antibiotics to relieve their pains and aches. The most commonly used antibiotic was amoxicillin (55%). Most antibiotics were obtained over the counter from community pharmacies (85%). Half of the participants were not sure if they can advise patients to use antibiotics without a prescription, although 60% of them believed that it was good practice. In conclusion, prevalence of antibiotic self-medication among university pharmacy undergraduate students is high. Thus, serious interventions are required to ensure safe and effective use of antibiotics among the population in Libya.
Mediterranean journal of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences
Stem cells hold great promise for tissue regeneration and have the potential to treat many incurable degenerative diseases. Cancer stem cells (CSCs), or cancer initiating cells, have the ability to self-renew and differentiate into heterogeneous lineages of cancer cells. Current stem cell therapies face limitations, such as limited stem cell sources, time consumption, tumor formation, and immune rejection upon allogeneic transplantation. Allogeneic stem cell treatments simplify stem cell manufacturing and reduce transplant time, but their therapeutic potential is limited by human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-matched donors. CSCs retain characteristics essential for tissue regeneration. However, several limitations hinder cancer stem cell reprogramming with pluripotent factors. The development of 3D culture models for tissue imitating extracellular matrix in cancer cell lines aims to enhance CSC enrichment. This mini-review focuses on a new strategy for treating incurable degenerative diseases involving in vitro and in vivo 3D cancer models and the induced differentiation of CSCs into mature normal cell types. This allows tissue survival without immune rejection and offers a safe alternative to cancer stem cell reprogramming with pluripotent factors. In conclusion, preservation and banking of allogeneic CSCs offer an alternative, readily available, and safe strategy that can be used to facilitate stem cell-based cell therapy.
The article analyzes the main problems of making an assessment of public administration activities, gives important question and makes main ways of experiences of assessing criteria of public administration. This the article is also devoted to the analysis of the essence of efficiency and quality of public administration in the world and studies the main conceptual models of efficiency of public administration, the definition of types of efficiency and identification of the main problems when forming criteria for evaluation of efficiency and quality of the government
Sulfur dioxide, a noxious air pollutant, can cause health and environmental effects, and its emissions should be controlled. Nonthermal plasma is one of the most effective technologies in this area. This study evaluated the efficiency of a packed-bed plasma reactor (PBR) and in-plasma catalysis (IPC) in SO2 removal process which were finally optimized and modeled by the use of the central composite design (CCD) approach. In this study, SO2 was diluted in zero air, and the NiCeMgAl catalyst was selected as the catalyst part of the IPC. The effect of three main factors and their interaction were studied. ANOVA results revealed that the best models for SO2 removal efficiency and energy yielding were the reduced cubic models. According to the results, both PBR and IPC reactors were significantly energy efficient compared with the nonpacked plasma reactor and had high SO2 removal efficiency which was at least twice larger than that of the nonpacked one. Based on the results, the efficiency of IPC was better than in PBR, but its performance decreased over time. However, the PBR had relatively high SO2 removal efficiency and energy efficiency compared to the nonpacked reactor, and its performance remained constant over the studied time. In optimization, the maximum SO2 removal efficiency and energy efficiency were 80.69% and 1.04 gr/kWh, respectively (at 1250 ppm, 2.5 L/min, and 18 kV as the optimum condition) obtained by the IPC system which were 1.5 and 1.24 times greater than PBR, respectively. Finally, the model’s predictions showed good agreement with the experiments.
Apprenticeship is one way of learning by doing. The Student Apprenticeship Program (SAP) or Apprenticeship as referred to in this study is a curricular program of the Institute of Accounts, Business and Finance (IABF) of the Far Eastern University - Manila. It aims to enhance the preparation of the students for actual employment after college graduation. A study was conducted on the sixty-nine (69) Business Administration interns of a private university in Manila during the first semester of academic year 2017 - 2018. Performance Evaluation Forms were distributed to all the supervisors of host companies. Evaluation forms were personally monitored by the Apprentices Adviser which made it possible to collect a 100% response. A sort of quantitative analysis was used to analyze the information provided for in the evaluation forms. The purpose of this study is to assess the interns’ performances and skills as well as their strengths and weaknesses based upon the personal and direct observation by the supervisors of the various host companies. This study will also find the gap in the interns’ skills based upon the Institute expectation and observation by the supervisors. The study is limited to one time observation by supervisors of various host companies. This study is underpinned by sociocultural theory, cognitive apprentice theory, situated learning theory and the 21st Century Skills Framework.
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The requirements of stakeholders for the qualitative transformation of the approaches of industrial enterprises – environmental users to introduction of economic activities cause an increase in the role of environmental responsibility as their strategic priority for development. The purpose of the study is to improve the practical tools for calculating and developing strategies for the development of environmental responsibility of industrial enterprises. METHODS: In the study, tools for assessing the level of environmental initiative of an industrial enterprise as an integrated indicator of environmental initiative are suggested. It is expressed as the arithmetic mean of ten factors of environmentally proactive behavior of industrial enterprises. To achieve the objectives of the study, methods of criterion-qualitative assessment are suggested, such as expert assessment and survey. The assessment system includes ten factors rated on a 10-point scale and weighted by significance. The integrated indicator of the environmental initiative acquires values within, is a stimulant of environmental responsibility. FINDING: One justified a scientific and methodological approach to assessing the level of environmental responsibility or the industrial enterprise, including calculation of the corresponding taxonomic indicator with consideration of the quantitative factors of its environmental responsibility and the qualitative and quantitative factors of environmental initiative. This enables the possibility to assess the relevant state of environmental responsibility and determine the volumes for further correction of the ecological strategy for the development of the industrial enterprise. CONCLUSION: As a conclusion, practical recommendations are made for the implementation of organizational and economic support of environmental responsibility in the development strategy of an industrial enterprise taking into account the impact of its environmental initiative and environmental duty. The level of environmental responsibility of industrial enterprises taken into account when developing recommendations on adjustment of their environmental strategy of development is determined, which as a whole allowed to form organizational and economic support for environmental responsibility of the enterprises under study. Thus, an enterprise, which only ensures compliance with environmental emission standards (compensation strategy or sufficiency strategy) cannot be characterized by a high level of environmental responsibility. To ensure a high level of environmental responsibility, an industrial enterprise must rely on a proactive strategy or a strategy for sustainable use of nature.
Epilepsy is a chronic neurologic disease that comes third after cerebrovascular and Alzheimer’s disease. Anti-epileptic drugs may affect certain hematological parameters of epileptic patients. Few researches investigated hematological adverse effects of antiepileptic drugs in Libya. Thus, the aim was to evaluate hematological parameters in epileptic children who are on antiepileptic drugs. This retrospective study included 83 pediatric patients with epilepsy recruited from Benghazi Children Hospital, Department of Neurology, from December 2017 to April 2018. Data collected included demographic characteristics, types of epilepsy, anti-epileptic drugs and serum hematological parameters. Hematological parameters recorded included: hemoglobin, hematocrit, platelet, mean cell volume, mean cell hemoglobin, mean cell hemoglobin concentration and white blood cell count. In all treated patients, regardless of the number of antiepileptic drugs therapy used, the average levels of hematological parameters were significantly lower in treated group compared to control group (11.64 gm per dl, 34.53%, 27.74 pg and 33.13 gm per dl, respectively). A significant increase (12.12109 per l) in white blood cell counts in treated group was found. Average hemoglobin, hematocrit and mean cell hemoglobin concentration levels were significantly lower in patients on poly-therapy compared to mono-therapy and control groups. Average white blood cell counts were significantly increased in patients on anti-epileptic drugs. In sodium valproate users, levels of hematological parameters were significantly decreased but significantly increased in white blood cell counts. In diazepam users, significant increases in white blood cells and platelet but no difference in other parameters observed. There were no differences in all hematological parameters among patients using carbamazepine except for platelet counts (significantly decreased). In conclusion, there is substantial effect of the anti-epileptic drugs, especially sodium valproate, on hematological parameters of children despite the effects were not critical as the changes were still in the normal range.
Mediterranean journal of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences
This research work aimed to evaluate the effects of thermal processing treatments on the nutrient anti-nutrient composition of Afzelia africana (Akparata) flour. The seeds were sorted, cleaned and processed into boiled, roasted and autoclaved lima bean flours. The flours obtained were analysed for proximate, vitamin and anti-nutrient contents using standard methods. The proximate composition of the samples revealed that the flours had a range of moisture, 8.23-12.40%, crude protein, 15.98-25.95%, fat, 21.00-28.21%, ash, 1.34-2.89%, crude fibre, 2.00-3.45%, carbohydrate, 38.68-49.33%, and energy 424.13 – 482.37kJ/100g, respectively. The vitamin contents of the flours showed that the samples contained 0.02±0.00 - 0.08±0.00mg/100g riboflavin, 0.78 - 1.98 mg/100g niacin, 0.40 - 0.89 mg/100g thiamine, 120.40-234.70mg/100g vitamin A, 72.11-134.19mg/100g ascorbic acid, 09.67-17.65mg/100g vitamin E, 310.60-430.60mg/100g B6, 3.47-5.87mg/100g B12, respectively. The result of the anti-nutrient composition of the flours also showed that the phytate, tannin, oxalate, cyanogenic glycosides, protease inhibitors, haemagglutinins inhibitors, levels of the samples were significantly (p<0.05) reduced by roasting and boiling treatments compared to the sample processed by autoclaving. In addition, the saponin content of the flours was relatively higher in boiled sample than in roasted and autoclaved flours. However, the nutrient and anti-nutrient contents of the flours observed that the flours have the potentials to be used as nutritional supplements in the preparation of a variety of food products than the raw sample.
The rapid growth of wireless devices introduces a diverse range of applications and requires intelligent hardware platforms that integrate computing, sensing, and wireless connectivity in a compact systemon- chip (SoC). This paper presents a low-power, high-performance SoC platform that supports dynamic power management and secure communication. The SoC platform consists of 16-/32-bit programmable ARM9 cores, a power management unit with multiple low-power modes, analog and digital peripherals, and security engines. A complete tool-chain with an automatic platform generator has also been developed to ease and accelerate the application development. Fabricated in a 65 nm CMOS technology, an implementation of the proposed platform occupies an area of 1.0 × 1.7 mm2.
Poor water quality and lack of access to improved sanitation continue to pose a significant threat to human health. The burden of disease analysis suggests that lack of access to safe water supply, sanitation and hygiene is the third most significant risk factor for poor health in developing countries with high mortality rates. Diarrhoea is the leading disease associated with unsafe water supply, sanitation and hygiene and is responsible for the deaths. The study observed that out of the 150 respondents, 37% are 31-40 years, followed by 20-30 years with 32%. 130 (86.7%) respondents have got married, and 61% of the respondents are female. 85% adopted the nuclear family system, and 50% of respondents are illiterates in the study areas. 85% of respondents are daily wage earners, 37%are earnings rupees between 2000-2500 per month. 27% of respondents are landless labours, and 37% of households possess below 2 acres of land. 40% of respondents suffer from health problems, and 44% consume rice as their staple food. 62% of respondents have debts, and 33% got from money lenders. 62% of respondents do not have toilet facilities and go open defecation. 92% of respondents stated that toilet makes dignity, saves time and energy, saves their children school days, makes adolescent girls privacy, save wage loss, and toilet makes quality life.
This study was carried out to evaluate the effects of thermal processing techniques on the nutrient and antinutrient contents of pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) flours. The pigeon pea seeds were sorted, cleaned and divided into five equal lots of 0.5kg each. Four lots of pigeon pea seeds were processed into blanched, boiled, roasted, and autoclaved pigeon pea flours, while the fifth lot was processed raw and used as control. The raw and thermally processed samples obtained were analysed for nutrient and antinutrient composition using standard methods. The proximate composition of the samples showed that the flours had a range of 8.61 - 11.46 % moisture, 21.13 - 23.94 % crude protein, 1.26 - 1.68 % fat, 5.12 – 6.10 % crude fibre, 1.74 – 2.97 % ash, 55.56 – 60.41 % carbohydrate and 333.45 - 342.75 kJ/100g energy, respectively. The mineral composition showed that the flours contained 86.24 – 144.72 mg/100g calcium, 137.80 – 170.33 mg/100g magnesium, 125.86 - 156.76 mg/100g potassium, 66.66 – 95.62 mg/100g sodium, 4.38 – 6.64 mg/100g iron and 130.27 – 178.29 mg/100g phosphorus, respectively. The vitamin content of the flours were 3.09 - 4.33 mg/100g ascorbic acid, 0.05 - 0.17 mg/100g thiamine, 0.03 - 0.21 mg/100g riboflavin, 0.13 - 0.28 mg/100g niacin, 3.21 - 6.25 mg/100g vitamin A and 1.10 - 2.70 mg/100g vitamin E, respectively. The antinutrient composition of the flours also showed that the levels of trypsin inhibitor, tannin, phytate, oxalate, saponin and haemagglutinin ranged from, 2.30 – 5.61 Tiu/mg, 0.81 – 1.5mg/100g, 1.12 - 4.18mg/100g, 0.48-4.01 mg/100g, 1.28 – 3.66 mg/100g and 1.30 – 7.44 Hiu/g, respectively. Therefore, the study showed that thermally processed pigeon pea flours could be used as nutrient dense ingredients in the preparation of a wide range of foods for children, adolescents and aged adults especially in developing countries where the problems of protein-energy malnutrition and micronutrients deficiencies are prevalent than the raw sample.
Power and dominance exist everywhere and occur at the macro and micro levels. Being powerful and domineering are factors that serve as emblems for the people in the realm of politics. Power relations are overtly exercised in such discourse. But what is interesting is how power and dominance exist between or among those people who are branded as “powerful;” thus, using the Face Theory of Brown and Levinson (1978), this discourse analysis paper analyzed the power relations that transpired in a senate hearing and its relationship with the Face Threatening Acts (FTAs) used by the people involved in the discourse. A Philippine Senate hearing excerpt served as the primary corpus for analysis. Results showed that the people in the discourse were all powerful, creating tension when they projected their dominance on one another. Each member threatened and challenged their positive and negative faces. The power play evolved into a "pass-theball" effect, and no one has absolute power because it weakens once the person wielding its face is threatened. Hence, to disempower the empowered, a person must learn how to play and use FTAs such as insulting, disagreeing, disapproving, provoking, commanding, and demanding against the powerful to strike a social balance.
Industrial waste is one of the most essential sources of contamination in the environment. Chromium (Cr) is a toxic heavy metal, a major contaminant in tannery wastes and its accumulation in soil and water is a major environmental concern today. In the present study, an attempt was made and investigated the status of different beneficial microbes particularly plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) from tannery sludge samples collected from tannery effluent treatment plant at Dindugal, Tamil Nadu, India. Experiments were conducted and evaluated their chromium heavy metal tolerance abilities and plant growth promoting activities under in-vitro. Based on molecular analysis, the PGPRs were identified as Achromobacter xylosoxidans (LK391696), Azotobacter vinelandii (LK391702) and. The production of IAA was found to be high by Achromobacter xylosoxidans (46μg/ml) followed by Azospirillum lipoferum (30μg/ml). Phosphate solublization activity was also found to be positive in all these PGPR isolates. Significance of these results revealed that there is a possibility of using these potential PGPRs for bioremediation of chromium contaminated sites and also as good plant growth promoter.
This paper examines the influence of empowerment on job satisfaction in five-star hotels in Jordan. The influence of empowerment on job satisfaction remains a relatively unexplored area. A 52-item questionnaire, measuring empowerment and job satisfaction, was distributed to 332 employees in 12 five-star hotels in Jordan with a 56% response rate. Principal components analysis determined the factor structure and regression analysis determined the influence of empowerment on job satisfaction. The results revealed both structural and psychological empowerment have significant individual influences on job satisfaction, but more significant when structural and psychological empowerment are combined. Most of previous studies were conducted in western economies and little in the Middle East generally and Jordan in particular. This research contributes to the literature by including both dimensions of empowerment where previous scholars used only one.
Undergraduate students’ attitudes towards Artificial Intelligence (AI) in developing countries like Vietnam are rarely explored despite AI’s increasing presence in higher education. This study aims to investigate the attitudes of undergraduate students towards AI. A quantitative research method was used, involving a self-reported survey questionnaire. The sample consisted of 460 undergraduate students (196 males and 264 females) from five public and private universities in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Data collection took place through a cross-sectional survey in November and December 2023. The General Attitudes Towards Artificial Intelligence Scale (GAAIS), originally developed and validated in English by Schepman and Rodway (2020), was adapted to Vietnamese for this study. The scale comprised 20 items to evaluate students’ attitudes towards AI. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, t-tests, and one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The results indicated a Cronbach’s Alpha value of 0.705 for the total variable, demonstrating acceptable reliability. Consequently, Vietnamese undergraduate students displayed moderately positive attitudes towards AI. The findings also revealed no significant difference in attitudes based on gender, but there was a notable variation based on the student’s year of study at university.
The study has examined the similarities and differences in the coverage of two Palestinian news agencies Ma’an and Palestinian Information Center (PIC) on the reactions of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s regarding relocating the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The study has also aimed to explore the use of four function of framing by Entman 1993 in the news stories of both agencies. Qualitative content analysis has been adopted to achieve the aim of this study. The total sampling number was 9 news stories; 3 stories have been retrieved from Ma’an, and the other 6 have been retrieved from PIC. The time frame has started from December 5, 2017 which marked the day of informing Abbas by Trump’s decision to move the Embassy until December 22 2017 which was a day after gaining a sweeping victory in UN by President Abbas through a resolution that rejected the decision. Both of the news agencies were supportive to President Abbas in their coverage and none of them has any negative coverage about him. From the sampling number it can be seen that PIC has paid more attention for the coverage of this issue than Ma’an. However, PIC has ignored the success of President Abbas for achieving UN resolution against Trump’s decision. Morover, all the news stories has included “define the problem” while excluded “diagnose causes” functions. However both “make moral judgment” and “suggest remedies” have been included in all news stories of Ma’an, and only half of news stories of PIC.
The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency has recently been recognized in different parts of the world, even affecting healthy populations. The deficiency of vitamin D can lead to rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults. Few studies have been done to evaluate the status of vitamin D in the medical community around the world. No studies have been done in Libya to evaluate the status of vitamin D in medical students. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of low level of vitamin D in among healthy Libyan medical students of first year in University of Tripoli, Tripoli. Prospective study was conducted on 100 medical students of first year in Faculty of Medicine with a mean age of 19.5 years, 38 males and 62 females. Blood samples were taken and investigated for different biochemical parameters including serum calcium, serum vitamin D and serum parathyroid hormone levels. Questionnaire containing different data was completed for each student including personal data (age, address, nationality, and other data related to vitamin D deficiency. The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in all the participated students was 74% (58.7% in males and 83.8% in females), while 21% had vitamin D insufficiency (28% in males and 16.12% in females). Only 5% of the students that had normal vitamin D was males. The mean 25-hydroxy vitamin D level was 19.49 ± 8.56 ng/ml in males and 12.08 ± 6.70 ng/ml in female students. Statistical analysis revealed that there is a highly significant difference among the student in vitamin D deficiency. In conclusion, low concentration of vitamin D is highly prevalent among the medical students included. An urgent action has to be taken in order to prevent adverse consequences of low vitamin D in young population.
Mediterranean journal of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences
The daily water distillation of the single basin conventional solar still is limited. In the present work, experimental analysis of a parabolic disc type solar still and conventional solar still are investigated. The solar radiation is focused to the single point to produce higher basin temperature. The water is flown continuously inside the copper receiver to utilize the incident solar radiation. The hourly readings were taken to analyze the thermal performance of the parabolic disc type solar still and conventional solar still. The water collection of parabolic disc type solar still is increased about 40% over conventional solar still.
By using mathematical vectors calculations as financial modeling then further into a new form of quantitative analysis instrument for linear financial computation graphs. A new tool in financial data analysis as an indicator
Breast cancer is the most prevalent invasive form of cancer in females and poses a significant challenge to overcoming the disease burden. The growth in global cancer deaths mandates the discovery of new efficacious natural anti-tumor treatments. In this regard, aquatic species offer a rich supply of possible drugs. Studies have shown that several marine peptides damage cancer cells by a broad range of pathways, including apoptosis, microtubule balance disturbances, and suppression of angiogenesis. Many side effects, including immune response suppression, characterise traditional chemotherapeutic agents. The discovery of novel putative anti-cancer peptides with lesser toxicity is therefore necessary and timely, especially those able to thwart multi-drug resistance (MDR). This review addresses marine anti-cancer peptides for the treatment of breast cancer.