Refugee Experiences of Finding Decent Work in the Australian Construction Industry

Construction is a major source of employment for refugees in most countries yet there has been a surprising lack of research into their experiences of securing work in the industry. Addressing this gap and also the lack of voice for refugees in the construction management literature, this paper reports the results of a survey of refugees who have worked or attempted to seek work in the Australian construction industry. Findings reveal that the main perceived barriers to securing decent employment in construction relate to lack of local work experience, employers discriminating against refugees and not recognising previous qualifications, skills and experience and both employment agencies and employers not understanding the challenges they face. Government procedures and systems are also perceived to be overly complex. Recommendations are made to address these barriers including initiatives to provide refugees with work experience in the industry, education to break-down negative stereotypes of refugees among employers and simplification and targeting of government and employment agency systems and procedures

Targeting GSK-3β enzyme by diazepino-quinolone derivatives

Purpose: To synthesize a heterocyclic system containing quinolone and diazepine scaffolds as GSK-3β inhibitor. Methods: The diazepino-quinoline derivatives were synthesized starting from quinolone nucleus in a simple chemical reaction. The in vitro GSK-3β enzyme assay and MTT assay against cancer cell lines were carried out followed by Z´ı-LYTE GSK-3β assay. Anticancer activity was determined using U-87 glioma cell line. Results: Diazepino-quinoline derivatives were obtained in a good yield, and compound 102 exhibited significant activity against in vitro GSK-3β (IC50: 0.114 μM), and anticancer activity (IC50: 37 μM) against U-87 glioma cell line. Conclusion: The GSK-3β enzyme is a potential target to treat different diseases, and diazepines derivatives are a successful template for inhibitors design against GSK-3β enzyme with IC50 in a micromolar range

Narghile (water pipe) smoking among university students in Jordan: prevalence, pattern and beliefs

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background and objectives</p> <p>Narghile is becoming the favorite form of tobacco use by youth globally. This problem has received more attention in recent years. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and pattern of narghile use among students in three public Jordanian universities; to assess their beliefs about narghile's adverse health consequences; and to evaluate their awareness of oral health and oral hygiene.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The study was a cross-sectional survey of university students. A self-administered, anonymous questionnaire was distributed randomly to university students in three public Jordanian universities during December, 2008. The questionnaire was designed to ask specific questions that are related to smoking in general, and to narghile smoking in specific. There were also questions about oral health awareness and oral hygiene practices.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>36.8% of the surveyed sample indicated they were smokers comprising 61.9% of the male students and 10.7% of the female students in the study sample. Cigarettes and narghile were the preferred smoking methods among male students (42%). On the other hand, female students preferred narghile only (53%). Parental smoking status but not their educational level was associated with the students smoking status. Smokers had also significantly poor dental attendance and poor oral hygiene habits.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study confirmed the spreading narghile epidemic among young people in Jordan like the neighboring countries of the Eastern Mediterranean region. Alarming signs were the poor oral health awareness among students particularly smokers.</p

Readying a developing economy for national performance measurement and benchmarking: A case study of the Jordanian construction industry

In many developing countries, national construction performance measures and benchmarking processes are yet to be formulated, implemented and tracked. This inherent weakness of an economic sector has negative impacts on, productivity, efficiency and performance. This paper takes the Jordanian construction industry as a case study of a developing economy and highlights the significant challenges it faces in implementing performance measurement. Findings from this study reveal a number of specific and general characteristics, and the extent and severity of industry-based barriers. The paper identifies a range of requirements at the national level that must be met to move from a state of relative disarray to an industry ready for the successful implementation of performance measurement and benchmarking. The authors anticipate that the findings of this paper will be of interest to academics and professionals involved in other developing countries construction industries

Asthma related quality of life in western Saudi subpopulation and its correlation to level of asthma control

Asthma is a chronic health problem that encompasses the patient’s entire lifetime, and causes significant mental and social problems in addition to physical symptoms. It is; therefore, considerably important to evaluate the quality of life of the patients in addition to the symptoms in order to gather full information about the health status of the patients. Aim of the work: This study objective was to assess asthma related quality of life in a group of persistent asthmatic patients and its correlation to level of asthma control, and objective measure of pulmonary function (FEV1). Patients and methods: 30 patients with persist asthma according to GINA classification of asthma were entrolled in the study, assessment of asthma related quality of life was done by Juniper mini-AQLQ (1999), level of asthma control by SINA-ACT questionnaire Arabic version, FEV1 by vitalograph and Laboratory measurement of total IgE. Results: total AQLQ was more in males than females weakly correlated with age, ACT was significantly correlated with total AQLQ and three domains (activity, symptoms, environmental) while non significant correlation with emotional domain, no significant correlation between AQLQ and FEV1, total IgE, no significant difference between patients on omalizumab and patients not on the treatment regarding total AQLQ and its four domains except environmental domain, ACT or FEV1. Conclusion: Asthma quality of life is strongly correlated to level asthma control rather than the objective measures of FEV1, so it complements the results of objective assessments. Asthma related quality of life questionnaire should be implemented in the routine assessment of persistent asthmatic patients

Design and physicochemical characterisation of novel dissolving polymeric microneedle arrays for transdermal delivery of high dose, low molecular weight drugs

AbstractWe describe formulation and evaluation of novel dissolving polymeric microneedle (MN) arrays for the facilitated delivery of low molecular weight, high dose drugs. Ibuprofen sodium was used as the model here and was successfully formulated at approximately 50% w/w in the dry state using the copolymer poly(methylvinylether/maleic acid). These MNs were robust and effectively penetrated skin in vitro, dissolving rapidly to deliver the incorporated drug. The delivery of 1.5mg ibuprofen sodium, the theoretical mass of ibuprofen sodium contained within the dry MN alone, was vastly exceeded, indicating extensive delivery of the drug loaded into the baseplates. Indeed in in vitro transdermal delivery studies, approximately 33mg (90%) of the drug initially loaded into the arrays was delivered over 24h. Iontophoresis produced no meaningful increase in delivery. Biocompatibility studies and in vivo rat skin tolerance experiments raised no concerns. The blood plasma ibuprofen sodium concentrations achieved in rats (263μgml−1 at the 24h time point) were approximately 20 times greater than the human therapeutic plasma level. By simplistic extrapolation of average weights from rats to humans, a MN patch design of no greater than 10cm2 could cautiously be estimated to deliver therapeutically-relevant concentrations of ibuprofen sodium in humans. This work, therefore, represents a significant progression in exploitation of MN for successful transdermal delivery of a much wider range of drugs

Preparation and Characterization of Patch Loaded with Clarithromycin Nanovesicles for Transdermal Drug Delivery

Clarithromycin (CLR), categorized as a Biopharmaceutical Classification System class II drug, has several gastrointestinal tract side effects and an extremely unpalatable bitter taste. The current study aimed to design transdermal patch-embedded CLR niosomes to overcome the aforementioned CLR-related challenges. Various niosomal formulations were successfully fabricated and characterized for their morphology, size, in vitro release, and antimicrobial efficacy. Subsequently, the CLR niosomes were loaded into transdermal patches using the solvent casting method. The polydispersity index of the niosomes ranged from 0.005 to 0.360, indicating the uniformity of the niosomes. The encapsulating efficiency (EE)% varied from 12 to 86%. The optimal Chol: surfactant ratio for drug release was found to be 0.5:1. In addition, the encapsulation of CLR into niosomal nanovesicles did not reduce the antibacterial activity of the CLR. The niosomal patch had a significantly higher permeability coefficient of CLR than the conventional patch. In addition to that, a shear-thinning behavior was observed in the niosomal gels before loading them into a niosomal patch. The flux (Jss) of the niosomal patch was significantly higher than the conventional patch by more than 200 times. In conclusion, niosome-based transdermal patches could be a promising method for the transdermal drug delivery of class II drugs and drugs experiencing GIT side effects