Scouting and Education

“The greatest contribution to education in the 20th century was made not by an educationist, but by a soldier who founded the scout movement”, says George Benard Shaw. The scout movement was started by Lord Baden Powell of Gillwell in 1907. Scouting is not only a training but a supplement to education. And it itself is an education, since it has the similar forms and process of education such as aim, objectives, curriculum, teaching-learning methods and so on. But generally, education means the school and collegiate education, which aims at mental, moral and physical development of the youngmen (boys) and women (girls). We teach systematically, sincerely and scientifically; but with all that, we find education in the doldrums. We hardly find the positive results of teaching or training of mind and character. More so, we find education that makes the boys good and useful citizens

Amoebic forms of Blastocystis spp. -evidence for a pathogenic role

Background: Blastocystis spp. are one of the most prevalent parasites isolated from patients suffering from diarrhea, flatulence, constipation and vomiting. It�s pathogenicity and pathophysiology remains controversial to date. Protease activity and amoebic forms have been reported previously in symptomatic isolates but there has been no conclusive evidence provided to correlate the protease activity and any specific life cycle stage of the parasite thus far. Methods: Symptomatic isolates with amoebic form were tested for protease activity and compared with symptomatic and asymptomatic isolates without amoebic form for 10 days culture period. Results: The present study demonstrates an elevated protease activity in cultures having a higher percentage of amoebic forms seen in symptomatic isolates. The growth curve demonstrated a significantly (p < 0.05) higher average number of parasite counts in asymptomatic compared to symptomatic isolates. Symptomatic isolates showed amoebic forms with percentages ranging from 5 to 17. Elevated protease activity was demonstrated in isolates that had higher percentages of amoebic forms with intense bands at higher molecular weight proteases (60 � 100 kDa). As days of culture proceeded, the protease quantification also showed a steady increase. Conclusion: This study elucidates a correlation between protease activity and percentage of amoebic forms. The finding implies that these forms could play a role in exacerbation of intestinal symptoms during Blastocystis spp. infection

Short Communication - Current status of Blastocystis in cockroaches

There are few reports on Blastocystis spp. infections in invertebrate hosts namely, cockroaches. Due to their close proximity to humans especially to their dwellings prompted this study as these organisms could possibly play a role in human transmission. A total of 151 cockroaches consisted predominantly of nymph and adult stages were captured from several types of dwellings in the state of Perak and Selangor, Malaysia. Approximately half (40.4%) of the cockroach intestinal contents screened were positive and were found associated to two main factors, host-stage and types of dwellings. The granular and vacuolated forms were the most common cell form found in the in vitro cultures and were morphologically similar to B. hominis. However, the surface coat observed was thick with an electron lucent area observed in the central vacuole. The isolates grew in room temperature but optimal growth was observed at a 24ºC similar to the reptilian Blastocystis with a high number of cells were recovered. Using the DNA barcoding method, two isolates were identified as ST3 (allele 56), one isolate was consider as the new subtype with close relation to allele 11