Professional development and sustainable development goals

Professional development is defined as a consciously designed systematic process that helps professionals to attain, utilize, and retain knowledge, skills, and expertise. It is simply a process of obtaining skills, qualifications, and experience that help in advancement in one’s career. In the field of education, it is defined as the process of improving staff skills and competencies needed to produce outstanding performance of students. It also refers to a process of improving an organization’s staff capabilities through access to education and training opportunities for better output. Professional development can include a variety of approaches such as formal and informal education, vocational, specialized, or skill-based training, or advanced professional learning

SOS Response Induces Persistence to Fluoroquinolones in Escherichia coli

Bacteria can survive antibiotic treatment without acquiring heritable antibiotic resistance. We investigated persistence to the fluoroquinolone ciprofloxacin in Escherichia coli. Our data show that a majority of persisters to ciprofloxacin were formed upon exposure to the antibiotic, in a manner dependent on the SOS gene network. These findings reveal an active and inducible mechanism of persister formation mediated by the SOS response, challenging the prevailing view that persisters are pre-existing and formed purely by stochastic means. SOS-induced persistence is a novel mechanism by which cells can counteract DNA damage and promote survival to fluoroquinolones. This unique survival mechanism may be an important factor influencing the outcome of antibiotic therapy in vivo

What health professionals should know about omega-3 fatty acid supplements

Omega-3 (n-3) fatty acids are essential to maintain satisfactory human health and need to be consumed in the diet. Western diets are often deficient in n-3 fatty acids because of an insufficient intake of cold water oily fish. The main n-3 fatty acids in fatty fish are eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). To date, no formally accepted dietary reference intakes for EPA and DHA exist, while international intake recommendations differ widely. Supplementation is an easy and convenient way of increasing dietary n-3 fatty acid intake, but very little information is available to health professionals when advising consumers on choosing a supplement to suit their lifestyle. Reliable nutrition information on product labels is vital since misleading information may lead to erroneous dosages with concomitant adverse effects. Since no formal regulatory structure for dietary supplements currently exists in South Africa, consumers depend on self-regulation within the industry for assurance of product quality, consistency, potency and purity of n-3 fatty acid supplements. Therefore, the aim of this article is to equip health professionals with proper knowledge with special reference to the bioavailability of fish oil supplements, reliability of labelling information, dietary intake recommendations, potential adverse effects and some general advice when purchasing n-3 fatty acid supplement

Analysis of the omega-3 fatty acid content of South African fish oil supplements: A follow-up study

Globally the omega-3 (n-3) fatty acid supplement industry is expanding rapidly while consumers are becoming more aware of the health benefits of n-3 fatty acids. Our group conducted a survey in 2009 on 45 commercially available fish oil supplements on the South African market. The aim of the study was to determine the fatty acid composition and content of supplements for comparison with the claimed contents on the product label. The survey was repeated in 2012 on 63 supplements. Methods: Sixty-three commercially available n-3 fatty acid supplements were analysed using gas–liquid chromatography to determine their fatty acid composition and content. Results: This analysis has shown an improvement in the accuracy of EPA content (44% in 2009) declared on supplement labels compared to the 2012 (52%) survey. It was also evident that a higher percentage of supplements (13% in 2009 vs 35% in 2012) contained DHA levels higher than declared. In 2009, 64% of supplements cost R2.01 to R5.00 or more to achieve a daily intake of 500 mg EPA + DHA, compared to 81% in 2012. Forty-four per cent of supplements were found to be in the early stages of rancidity [conjugated diene (CD) levels] compared to 73% in 2009. More than 80% of supplements had peroxide levels higher than the recommended content as specified by the Global Organisation for EPA and DHA Omega-3 (GOED). The majority (81%; n = 51) of the supplements under study in 2012 had a 1.1–1.5:1 EPA-toDHA ratio or less, compared to 56% in 2009. Almost a third (32%) of the supplements in the 2012 survey contained ethyl esters (EE) or a combination of ethyl esters and triglycerides. Conclusion: Although the results of the 2012 versus the 2009 analysis were encouraging in terms of the accuracy of EPA declared on the supplement labels, the high peroxide levels found in the supplement oils are of concern. High peroxide levels are associated with potential health implications. EE were present in some of the supplements, even though the safety of EE has not been confirmed in vulnerable groups such as pregnant women and children

Smart water distribution system based on IoT networks, a critical review

The purpose of this paper is to discuss different existing technologies related to sensing in smart cities. The continuous growth of urban areas is a reality that should be faced by innovating more solutions that are efficient. Smart cities are one of the remarkable solutions, it can be seen as different intelligent systems or platforms that work together to ensure better sustainability. Sensors are at the core of smart cities. They collect data from different environments or infrastructures in order to send them to the cloud using different communications platforms. These data can be used to better manage the infrastructures or provide smarter services. However, they are various issues and challenges related to the ubiquitous sensors that should be solved. In the last section of this paper, a case study of smart water distribution system is presented with an overview of the related issues and challenges such as reliability, cost, and scalability. Also, a table is provided in this section to compare the results and challenges of the last five studies on producing smart pipes with the most common challenges