Rhodes University Chemistry Professor Tebello Nyokong Receives The 2009 L'oreal-Unesco Award For Women In Science
- Authors: Limson, Janice L
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:7200 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006365
- Description: Professor Tebella Nyokong has become the first South African scientist to win the L'OREAL-UNESCO award for women in science, for physical sciences. The awards honour exceptional women in science. Each year one laureate is selected from five world regions. Professor Nyokong is the laureate for Africa and the Arab states for 2009.
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Effect of laundry activities on in-stream concentrations of linear alkylbenzene sulfonate in a small rural South African river
- Authors: Gordon, Andrew K , Muller, Wilhelmine J , Gysman, N , Marshall, S J , Sparham, C J , O'Connor, S M , Whelan, M J
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: vital:7094 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012427
- Description: In many parts of the world clothes are washed near to or in rivers and streams. Little information is available on resulting concentrations of detergent ingredients or on any potential effects caused. In this study, the fate of a commonly used anionic surfactant, linear alkylbenzene sulphonate (LAS) was investigated in a reach of the Balfour River (Eastern Cape Province, South Africa) which was regularly used as a site for laundry activity. Samples of river water were collected upstream of the main washing site and at a number of locations downstream on several occasions in winter and summer. Sediment samples were also collected and analysed. In addition, a household survey was conducted to ascertain the amount of detergent used and the distribution of washing practices. The results of the survey suggested that the use of riverside locations for laundry activities was seasonal. Most washing tended to be done at home during the winter with riverside sites used more frequently during the summer months. The monitoring data showed that LAS concentrations in water were very variable. They were occasionally high in the immediate vicinity of the laundry site (up to 342 µg L− 1) but were generally very low (< 11 µg L− 1) at downstream monitoring stations, suggesting that LAS was rapidly dissipated by a combination of degradation, hydrodynamic dispersion and dilution. Concentrations in the immediate vicinity of the washing site were lower than expected on the basis of the household survey because most waste water was disposed of on the river bank rather than directly in the river. No ecological effects are expected from LAS emissions at this site.
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- Date Issued: 2009
Compositional varition of the Essential Oils of Artemisia afra Jacq. from three Provinces in South Africa- A Case Study of its safety
- Authors: Oyedeji, O A , Afolayan, A J , Hutchings, A
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/11260/748 , vital:29679
- Description: In South Africa, Centella asiatica. (L.) Urb is used traditionally for the treatment of various diseases. Analyses of the essential oil of this medicinal plant revealed 11 monoterpenoid hydrocarbons (20.20%), nine oxygenated monoterpenoids (5.46%), 14 sesquiterpenoid hydrocarbons (68.80%), five oxygenated sesquiterpenoids (3.90%), and one sulfide sesquiterpenoid (0.76%). α.-Humulene (21.06%), β.-caryophyllene (19.08%), bicyclogermacrene (11.22%), germacrene B (6.29%), and myrcene (6.55%) were the predominant constitutes. The essential oil extract exhibited a broad spectrum of antibacterial activities against Gram-positive (Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus.) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Shigella sonnei.) organisms.
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- Date Issued: 2009
Intellectual challenge is as necessary as breathing: an interview with Laurence Wright
- Authors: Wright, Laurence , Pearce, B
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: vital:7059 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007422
- Description: Professor Laurence Wright is Director of the Institute for the Study of English in Africa at Rhodes University. In 2009, he will have completed 25 years of research, teaching and scholarship at Rhodes University and this interview marks the occasion. A Rhodes Scholar and a Commonwealth Scholar, he studied at the universities of Rhodes, Warwick and Oxford. He is also Honorary Life President of the Shakespeare Society of Southern Africa. He has published widely in literary studies and is the Managing Editor of two academic journals as well as of the poetry magazine New Coin. He currently serves on the Council of the English Academy and is a co-opted member of the English National Language Body. He has taken a broad interest in the role of English in this country, ranging from language policy and teacher education matters, to archival research and the role of the humanities in public life. I thought that it would be worthwhile to interview him as his knowledge of literature is substantial, while his incisive and engaging thoughts on a range of topics are worth hearing. The interview was conducted intermittently by email between July and October, 2008.
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- Date Issued: 2009
'Fetal "rights"? The need for a unified approach to the fetus in the context of feticide'
- Authors: Kruuse, Helen
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/54163 , vital:26397 , https://store.lexisnexis.co.za/products/tydskrif-vir-hedendaagse-romeinshollandse-reg-journal-of-contemporary-romandutch-law-skuZASKU9780409079241/details
- Description: The issues of fetal protection, fetal rights and the status of unborn life have been debated on a variety of levels in a variety of disciplines over the past centuries. One needs only think of John Milton who asked the “hard” question: “For man to tell how human life began / Is hard: for who himself beginning knew?” (Paradise lost (1667) Bk 8 251–252). While the issue of fetal rights most often arises in abortion debates, the issue of fetal rights in the context of feticide has received scant attention in South Africa. (For a thought-provoking general discussion of fetal rights, see Du Plessis “Jurisprudential reflections on the status of unborn life” 1990 TSAR 44; Van Niekerk (ed) The status of prenatal life (1991) and Kahn (ed) The sanctity of human life (1983).) This note seeks to initiate a discussion on the current legal position in South Africa in respect of feticide.
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- Date Issued: 2009
Synthesis and Pd(II) binding studies of octasubstituted alkyl thio derivatised phthalocyanines
- Authors: Ogunbayo, T B , Nyokong, Tebello
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6587 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004170
- Description: Synthesis and characterization of non-peripherally (4,5) and peripherally (6,7) substituted metal free and Pd octapentylthiophthalocyanine and coordination of palladium ions to these Pcs are reported. The unmetalated complexes (4 and 6) show Pd coordination at the central metal and at the ring. The number of Pd ions bound to complex 4 were found to be five and to complex 6 were three. The equilibrium constant for the binding of Pd to complexes 4 was lower (K = 1.2 × 109 dm3 mol−1) than for complex 6 (K = 5.7 × 1010 dm3 mol−1).
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- Date Issued: 2009
New soluble methylendioxy-phenoxy-substituted zinc phthalocyanine derivatives : synthesis, photophysical and photochemical studies
- Authors: Erdoğmuş, Ali , Nyokong, Tebello
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6572 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004135
- Description: The syntheses of new three phthalonitriles (1, 2 and 3), together with photophysical and photochemical properties of the resulting peripherally and non-peripherally tetrakis- and octakis 3,4-(methylendioxy)-phenoxy-substituted zinc phthalocyanines (4, 5 and 6) are described for the first time. Complexes 4, 5 and 6 have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, IR, 1H NMR spectroscopy, electronic spectroscopy and mass spectra. Complexes 4, 5 and 6 have good solubility in organic solvents such as CHCl3, DCM, DMSO, DMF, THF and toluene and are mainly not aggregated (except for complex 6 in DMSO) within a wide concentration range. General trends are described for singlet oxygen, photodegradation, fluorescence quantum yields, triplet quantum yields and triplet life times of these complexes in DMSO and toluene. Complex 4 has higher singlet oxygen quantum yields, fluorescence quantum yields, triplet quantum yields and triplet life times than complexes 5 and 6. The effect of the solvents on the photophysical and photochemical parameters of the zinc(II) phthalocyanines (4, 5 and 6) are also reported.
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- Date Issued: 2009
Treating posttraumatic stress disorder in South Africa : an integrative model grounded in case-based research
- Authors: Edwards, David J A
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6232 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007782
- Description: The article presents a model for formulating and planning treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in South Africa derived from the existing literature and in conjunction with a review of a series of studies of cases treated using the guidelines of Ehlers and Clark's cognitive therapy. It is argued that the construction of psychotherapies (or even components of psychotherapy) for PTSD in terms of traditional categories ("psychodynamic", "cognitive-behavioural", "narrative" etc.) is misleading and unhelpful. Instead, superordinate concepts derived from thinking about evidence-based practice provide a more grounded focus on the practical issues faced by therapists treating PTSD. These concepts, which include competences and metcacompetences, therapist responsiveness, stages of therapy and case formulation, provide a basis for a genuinely integrative approach. The proposed model suggests seven broad areas of clinical focus for work with PTSD which can be arranged at three levels of priority: level 1 crisis intervention and stabilization; level 2 promoting engagement with treatment, and level 3 selection, sequencing and timing of active treatment interventions. Material from the case series is used to illustrate the application of the model.
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- Date Issued: 2009
Pointfree pseudocompactness revisited
- Authors: Dube, T , Matutu, Phethiwe P
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6781 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006924
- Description: We give several internal and external characterizations of pseudocompactness in frames which extend (and transcend) analogous characterizations in topological spaces. In the case of internal characterizations we do not make reference (explicitly or implicitly) to the reals.
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- Date Issued: 2009
What services and supports are needed to enable trauma survivors to rebuild their lives? Implications of a systematic case study of cognitive therapy with a township adolescent girl with PTSD following rape
- Authors: Payne, Charmaine , Edwards, David J A
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6278 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008279
- Description: This systematic clinical case study describes the psychological assessment and treatment with cognitive therapy of Zanele, a Xhosa-speaking adolescent rape survivor with major depressive disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A case narrative was developed to document the main features of the therapy process and progress was monitored using scales measuring symptoms of depression and PTSD. The narrative documents the operation in a local context of factors that maintain PTSD that have been identified in the international literature and, with the self-report scales, provides evidence for Zanele’s recovery from PTSD and the transportability to this context of an evidence-based psychological treatment. The narrative also documents the lack of safety for young women and girls in a South African township as well as significant limitations in the professional services available: in this case, Zanele was infected with HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases but medical management had not been followed through, and criminal charges against the rapist were dropped, and dropped again even after he had committed another rape on a six-year-old girl. This provides a basis for examining the complementary roles that can be played by psychologists and other professionals in empowering trauma survivors to regain a sense of dignity and control over their lives.
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- Date Issued: 2009
An account of the life of Captain Samuel Jervois
- Authors: Jervois, W
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:7005 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008380
- Description: [From the introduction]: In this paper, an attempt is made to link the known details of the life of Samuel Jervois with a chain of hypotheses that are based on a study of the people, places and events that made up the environment in which he lived.
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- Date Issued: 2009
Danger and disease in sex education : the saturation of ‘adolescence’ with colonialist assumptions
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article , text
- Identifier: vital:6252 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007870
- Description: The United Nations Development Programme’s Millennium project argues for the importance of sexual and reproductive health in the achievement of all Millennium Development Goals. Sex education programmes, aimed principally at the youth, are thus emphasised and are in line with the specific Millennium Development Goals of reducing the incidence of HIV and improving maternal health. In this paper I analyse recent South African sex education and Life Orientation (a learning area containing sex education) manuals. Danger and disease feature as guiding metaphors for these manuals, with early reproduction and abortion being depicted as wholly deleterious and non-normative relationships leading to disease. I argue, firstly, that these renditions ignore well-designed comparative research that calls into questions the easy assumption of negative consequences accompanying ‘teenage pregnancy’ and abortion, and, secondly, that the persistence of danger and disease in sex education programmes is premised on a discourse of ‘adolescence’. ‘Adolescence’ as a concept is always already saturated with the colonialist foundation of phylogeny re-capitulating ontogeny. Individual development is interweaved with collective development with the threat of degeneration implied in both. This interweaving allows for the instrumentalist goal of sex education in which social changes are sought through changing individuals’ sexual attitudes and behaviour.
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- Date Issued: 2009
Spectroscopic and photophysicochemical behaviour of novel cadmium phthalocyanine derivatives tetra-substituted at the alpha and beta positions
- Authors: Nyokong, Tebello , Chidawanyika, Wadzanai J U
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6582 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004147
- Description: The syntheses of three cadmium phthalocyanine derivatives tetrakis{1,(4)-(4-benzyloxy)phenoxyphthalocyaninato} (5a), tetrakis{1,(4)-(2-pyridyloxy)phthalocyaninato} (5b) and tetrakis{2,(3)-(4-benzyloxy)phenoxyphthalocyaninato} (6a) are reported here for the first time. Spectroscopic and photophysical properties have also been determined and the results are discussed here paying particular attention to the influence of various organic solvents in relation to the position and type of substitution. Singlet oxygen quantum yields (ΦΔ) and photodegradation quantum yields (ΦPd) have also been discussed. The triplet quantum yields have been determined and ranged from ΦT = 0.36 to 0.85, where the peripherally (β) substituted derivatives generally give higher values than those substituted at the non-peripheral (α) positions. The triplet lifetimes ranged from τT = 5 to 40 μs. In all cases (except toluene, due to the lack of data), the highest singlet oxygen quantum yields obtained were for the pyridyloxy-substituted derivatives 5b (ΦΔ = 0.60 in DMF) and 6b (ΦΔ = 0.74 in DMSO).
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- Date Issued: 2009
Why we should avoid the use of the term “Post-Abortion Syndrome” : commentary on Boulind and Edwards (2008)
- Authors: Macleod, Catriona I
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6277 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008277
- Description: Boulind and Edwards (2008) present a case study of Grace, a women suffering, in their words, from post-abortion syndrome (PAS). In this commentary I argue that while Boulind and Edwards’ (2008) report is useful in terms of documenting the therapeutic processes engaged in, they would have been better served in not hanging the distress experienced by Grace on the diagnostic category of post-abortion syndrome. Reasons for this are that: PAS is not a recognised category of diagnosis, despite having been initially proposed in 1981; applying a PTSD framework to abortion is questionable; PAS focuses attention on the abortion itself in isolation from the fact that abortion occurs in the context of severely problematic pregnancies and other important socio-cultural stressors; PAS, in the very manner in which it is formulated, invokes to a very complex politics of the foetus. Boulind and Edwards (2008) are careful in their documentation of the complexities of the case, and thus their use of PAS is unfortunate.
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- Date Issued: 2009
Seeing is natural, but viewing is not: teaching visual literacy in a rural classroom
- Authors: Mbelani, Madeyandile , Murray, Sarah R
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: vital:7022 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007203
- Description: This paper reports on a collaborative action research case study into Grade 10 teaching and learning of visual literacy in a rural high school into the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Visual literacy is a new aspect that has been incorporated in English First Additional Language National Curriculum Statement (Grade 10-12), which has been implemented in Grade 10 from 2006. With the aim of gaining knowledge and improving performance in visual literacy, I designed a unit of lessons, which exposed learners to visual grammar and visual texts and I collected data around the implementation of the lesson unit as evidenced by journal writing, interviews and non-participant observation. The data revealed that visual literacy could be taught meaningfully in a rural high school as the learners could identify, cut, paste and critically discuss elements of visual language and they finally designed their own advertisements in groups. However, the following factors emerged as hindrances to the successful teaching of visual literacy in this case: lack of resources; learners' lack of a foundation in visual literacy from Grades 7-9; and problems revolving around time management and pacing.
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- Date Issued: 2009
Municipal commonage policy and livestock owners : findings from the Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Davenport, Nicholas A , Gambiza, James
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6628 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006820
- Description: The new African National Congress government announced after 1994 that municipal commonage would be a pillar of their land reform programme. The Department of Land Affairs spearheaded this by acquiring new land to complement the existing ‘old’ commonages. The aim of old commonage was to supplement the income of poor urban residents through the subsistence user system whereas new commonage was intended as a ‘stepping stone’ for emergent farmers. We investigated the differences between old and new commonage farmers as well as how they perceived the Makana local municipality's capacity to manage the commonage. The results showed that local institutions were weak. Only 46% of the old commonage farmers were members of a local livestock association whereas 74% of the new commonage farmers were members. Most old commonage farmers (59%) were dissatisfied with local government's management of the commonage. In contrast, only 37% of the new commonage farmers were dissatisfied with the management of the commonage. There were no differences between old and new commonage farmers in terms of livestock owners’ characteristics and mean annual net direct-use value of livestock. There were also no differences in the age of the two types of commonage farmers. Furthermore, there was no association between the type of commonage and level of education. The mean annual net direct-use value of livestock on old commonage was R6308 compared with R9707 on new commonage. Although the income from livestock for new commonage farmers varied slightly from that of old commonage farmers, the annual productive output per farmer on old commonage was R473 ha−1, three times higher than that of new commonage farmers which was R134 ha−1. We suggest that new land policy legislation is needed in which poverty as well as the legal arrangements between all stakeholders is clearly defined. Furthermore, national departments need to be more involved with local municipalities to increase local management capacity.
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- Date Issued: 2009
Rapid method for the quantitative determination of efavirenz in human plasma
- Authors: Kanfer, Isadore , Mogatle, Seloi
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6388 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006309
- Description: A pharmacokinetic interaction study between efavirenz (EFV), a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor used in the treatment of HIV-1 infection, and an African traditional medicine, African potato in human subjects was undertaken. This necessitated the development and validation of a quantitative method for the analysis of EFV in plasma. A simple mobile phase consisting of 0.1 M formic acid, acetonitrile and methanol (43:52:5) was pumped at a low flow rate of 0.3 ml/min through a reverse phase Phenomenex® Luna C18 (2) (5 μm, 150 mm × 2.0 mm i.d.) column maintained at 40 °C. Diclofenac sodium was used as an internal standard (IS) and EFV and IS were monitored at 247 nm and 275 nm, respectively. A simple and rapid sample preparation involved the addition of mobile phase to 100 μl of plasma to precipitate plasma proteins followed by direct injection of 10 μl of supernatant onto the column. The procedures were validated according to international standards with good reproducibility and linear response (r = 0.9990). The intra- and inter-day accuracies were between 12.3 and 17.7% at the LLOQ and between −5.8 and 9.1% for the QC samples. The intra- and inter-day precision of EFV determinations were 5.1 or less and 7.2% RSD or less, respectively across the entire QC concentration range. Mean recovery based on high, medium and low quality control standards ranged between 92.7 and 94.1% with %RSD values better than 3%. Plasma samples were evaluated for short-term (ambient temperature for 6 h) and long-term (−10 ± 2 °C for 60 days) storage conditions and were found to be stable. The method described is cost-effective and has the necessary accuracy and precision for the rapid quantitative determination of EFV in human plasma.
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- Date Issued: 2009
Rapid UPLC - MS/MS method for the determination of ketoprofen in human dermal microdialysis samples
- Authors: Tettey-Amlalo, Ralph N O , Kanfer, Isadore
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: vital:6444 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006631
- Description: Dermal microdialysis (DMD) is a technique capable of determining the percutaneous penetration of drugs from topical formulations intended for local and/or regional activity. Typically, the concentrations of drug collected in dialysates are very low, generally in the ng/ml or even pg/ml range. An additional challenge is the very low volume of sample collected at each collection time and which can range from 1 to 30 μl only. Hence the objective was to develop and validate a rapid, accurate, precise, reproducible and highly sensitive LC–MS/MS method for the quantitative analysis of ketoprofen (KET) in dialystes following application of a topical gel product to the skin of human subjects. UPLC–MS/MS was used and KET was separated on an Acquity™ UPLC BEH C18 column (100 mm × 2.1 mm i.d., 1.7 μm) and analysed in negative-ion (NI) electrospray ionisation (ESI) mode. The mobile phase (MP) consisted of acetonitrile:methanol:water (60:20:20, v/v/v) under isocratic conditions at a flow rate of 0.3 ml/min. Samples were extracted using ethyl acetate with ibuprofen (IBU) as internal standard (IS) and the organic solvent was then evaporated to dryness and the residue re-constituted in methanol. 5 μl samples were injected and analysis was performed at ambient temperature 22 ± 0.5 °C. KET and IBU eluted at 1.07 and 1.49 min, respectively. KET and IBU responses were optimised at the transitions 253.00 > 209.00 and 205.00 > 161.00, respectively. Calibration curves were linear over the range 0.5–500 ng/ml with correlation coefficients > 0.999. The accuracy and precision of the method were found to be between 99.97% and 104.67% (R.S.D. < 2%) and the mean recovery of KET from normal saline was 88.03 ± 0.3% (R.S.D. < 2.20%). The LLOQ and LOD values were found to be 0.5 and 0.1 ng/ml respectively whereas the ULOD was set at 500 ng/ml. The method was successfully applied to determine the bioavailability of KET following application of topical KET gel, Fastum® gel, to the skin of human volunteers.
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- Date Issued: 2009
Obesity: a preliminary report of an introductory service-learning course on the role of pharmacy students in health promotion
- Authors: Srinivas, Sunitha C , Wrench, Wendy W , Karekazi, Catherine W , Radloff, Sarah E , Daya, Santylal
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: vital:6454 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006833
- Description: Lifestyle diseases such as obesity have been neglected in developing countries partly due to a more urgent focus on infectious diseases in these countries. The incidence of obesity is on the increase in developing countries, with a marked rise in childhood obesity. A health promotioning service-learning principles required final year pharmacy students to prepare a pilot-tested computer-based quiz, using a pre- and post-intervention test design, along with other learning material, for participants at the 2007 Sasol National Festival of Science and Technology (SciFest). Interactive models, posters and information leaflets were used in explaining the prevention and control of obesity to learners. The results showed that the pre-existing knowledge of the participants was good. There was a further improvement after the educational intervention. Activities such as this are important in heightening awareness of obesity in learners as it is likely to reduce the incidence of obesity later in life. Furthermore, the activity also served to increase awareness of the role of pharmacists in the prevention of lifestyle diseases such as obesity.
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- Date Issued: 2009
Fluorescence studies of quantum dots and zinc tetraamino phthalocyanine conjugates
- Authors: Britton, Jonathan , Antunes, Edith M , Nyokong, Tebello
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: vital:6565 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004124
- Description: CdTe Qds capped with mercapto propionic acid (MPA) were covalently linked to zinc tetraamino phthalocyanine (ZnTAPc) using N-ethyl-N(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide (EDC) and N-hydroxy succinimide (NHS) as the coupling agents. The results presented give evidence in favour of the formation of an amide bond between ZnTAPc and CdTe QDs. Both the linked ZnTAPc–QD complexes and a mixture of QDs and ZnTAPc (i.e. without chemical linking) showed Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET). ZnTAPc quenched the QDs emission, giving quenching constants in the order of 103 M−1.
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- Date Issued: 2009