Life on a low income in austere times

Following the ‘credit crunch’ 2007-2008, the UK entered the deepest recessionary conditions in living memory. As the liquidity from the financial services sector came to an abrupt halt, the investment ‘life blood’ of the economy in short supply, numerous companies, including long established high street businesses, ceased trading and consequently, unemployment rates rose to the highest levels since the 1980s. After the initial ‘bailout’ of the banking sector, political attention turned to the growing public deficit and the spectre of public sector austerity came to dominate the policy agenda. This agenda swiftly moved from how best to regulate the financial services industry to the question of the ‘welfare bill’ and the growing problem of ‘worklessness’. From this point, particularly as the Universal Credit Scheme passed through parliament and came to be implemented in various phases, much was said in political and policy debates about the lives of the ‘poor’ and many ‘common sense’ assumptions informed these discussions. However as is often the case, omitted from these discussions were the voices of those people living of low income. To redress this imbalance, the report aims to document the reality of life on a low income during this period, by affording primacy to the ‘voices’ of those living in poverty

Development and evaluation of ibuprofen transdermal gel formulations

Purpose: To develop an ibuprofen transdermal gel with a capability for both topical and systemic drug delivery. Methods: Ibuprofen gel formulations, incorporating various permeation enhancers, were prepared using chitosan as a gelling agent. The formulations were examined for their in vitro characteristics including viscosity, pH and drug release as well as in vivo pharmacological activities. Carrageenan-induced rat paw oedema model was used for the evaluation of their analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities. A commercial ibuprofen gel product (Ibutop®) was used as a reference. Results: The formulations containing 5 % of either menthol or glycerol as permeation enhancers gave drug release patterns comparable to that of the reference product. Propanol increased the apparent viscosity of the test gels to the same extent as that of the reference. Drug release from the formulationsfitted best to the Higuchi model. A significant in vivo analgesic effect was produced by the test formulations containing 5 % menthol and 20 % propylene glycol and the effect was superior to that obtained with the reference product. However, no significant anti-inflammatory activity was exerted by any of the test gel formulations (p > 0.05).Conclusion: Ibuprofen gel preparations containing 5 % menthol and 20 % propylene glycol, respectively, exhibited pronounced analgesic activity and could be further developed for topical and systemic delivery of ibuprofen.Keywords:  Transdermal gel, Chitosan, Ibuprofen, Menthol, Propylene glycol, Penetration enhance

Attitudes and Perceptions of Healthcare Providers and Medical Students Towards Clinical Pharmacy Services in United Arab Emirates

Purpose: To explore healthcare providers' (HCPs) and medical students’ attitudes to, and perceptions of the pharmaceutical services that clinical pharmacists can provide in United Arab Emirates.Methods: A total of 535 participants (265 HCPs and 270 medical students) were asked to complete a questionnaire over a period of three months (January through March 2009). Results: Almost three quarters of the students perceived that the clinical pharmacist is an important part of the healthcare team while 82% believed that clinical pharmacists can help improve the quality of medical care in hospitals. Eighty one percent of medical students expressed confidence in the ability of clinical pharmacists to minimize medication errors. Although slightly more than half of the respondents (53%) reported that they did not have clinical pharmacy services in their institutions, there was substantial willingness among physicians and nurses to cooperate with clinical pharmacists. The majority of physicians (92%) and nurses (87%) expressed the view that the clinical pharmacist is an important integral part of the healthcare team. Conclusion: The HCPs and medical students in the study setting valued the role of clinical pharmacists in healthcare delivery. However, new developments in pharmacy services in the UAE hospital setting is recommended for adoption in hospitals.Key words: Clinical pharmacy services, Pharmaceutical care, Perception, Healthcare providers

Progressive Magnetic Resonance Image Reconstruction Based on Iterative Solution of a Sparse Linear System

Image reconstruction from nonuniformly sampled spatial frequency domain data is an important problem that arises in computed imaging. Current reconstruction techniques suffer from limitations in their model and implementation. In this paper, we present a new reconstruction method that is based on solving a system of linear equations using an efficient iterative approach. Image pixel intensities are related to the measured frequency domain data through a set of linear equations. Although the system matrix is too dense and large to solve by direct inversion in practice, a simple orthogonal transformation to the rows of this matrix is applied to convert the matrix into a sparse one up to a certain chosen level of energy preservation. The transformed system is subsequently solved using the conjugate gradient method. This method is applied to reconstruct images of a numerical phantom as well as magnetic resonance images from experimental spiral imaging data. The results support the theory and demonstrate that the computational load of this method is similar to that of standard gridding, illustrating its practical utility

Nile perch fish nuggets: Partial replacement of fish flesh with sesame hulls and sunroot — Quality assessment and storage stability

This study aimed to produce Nile perch fish nuggets by replacing a part of fish flesh with different concentrations of sesame hulls and sunroot to reach the optimal recipe. Chemical, microbiological, and sensory characteristics of nuggets were evaluated during 3 months of frozen storage at –18 °C. According to the obtained data on the chemical composition of raw materials, Nile perch flesh had the highest content of protein (20.21%), sesame hulls contained the highest amount of fat (13.54%), fiber (17.24%) and ash (16.11%), while sunroot tubers had the highest amount of carbohydrates (15.76%). Based on the sensory score, the acceptable replacement ratio for fish nuggets prepared with sunroot (T1) and sesame hulls (T2) was 10% and 7.5%, respectively. Thiobarbituric acid (TBA) analysis at zero time shows that the T1 samples had the minimum value compared to the T2 and control samples. During storage, the TBA levels increased slightly in all samples, but after three months T1 also showed the lowest value. The total plate count (TPC) and psychrophilic bacterial (PSY) count in the samples were affected by the period of frozen storage at –18 °C. The initial TPC and PSY loads were 2.32 and 2.02 log cfu/g for control; 2.24 and 1.72 log cfu/g for T1; 2.30 and 1.47 log cfu/g for T2, respectively. During storage, the values of TPC and Psy slightly decreased. In conclusion, this study succeeded in the replacement of Nile perch fish with sesame hulls and sunroot as new sources to improve the nutritional value and quality characteristics of fish nuggets.This study aimed to produce Nile perch fish nuggets by replacing a part of fish flesh with different concentrations of sesame hulls and sunroot to reach the optimal recipe. Chemical, microbiological, and sensory characteristics of nuggets were evaluated during 3 months of frozen storage at –18 °C. According to the obtained data on the chemical composition of raw materials, Nile perch flesh had the highest content of protein (20.21%), sesame hulls contained the highest amount of fat (13.54%), fiber (17.24%) and ash (16.11%), while sunroot tubers had the highest amount of carbohydrates (15.76%). Based on the sensory score, the acceptable replacement ratio for fish nuggets prepared with sunroot (T1) and sesame hulls (T2) was 10% and 7.5%, respectively. Thiobarbituric acid (TBA) analysis at zero time shows that the T1 samples had the minimum value compared to the T2 and control samples. During storage, the TBA levels increased slightly in all samples, but after three months T1 also showed the lowest value. The total plate count (TPC) and psychrophilic bacterial (PSY) count in the samples were affected by the period of frozen storage at –18 °C. The initial TPC and PSY loads were 2.32 and 2.02 log cfu/g for control; 2.24 and 1.72 log cfu/g for T1; 2.30 and 1.47 log cfu/g for T2, respectively. During storage, the values of TPC and Psy slightly decreased. In conclusion, this study succeeded in the replacement of Nile perch fish with sesame hulls and sunroot as new sources to improve the nutritional value and quality characteristics of fish nuggets

The emergence of pottery in Africa during the tenth millennium cal BC: new evidence from Ounjougou (Mali)

New excavations in ravines at Ounjougou in Mali have brought to light a lithic and ceramic assemblage that dates from before 9400 cal BC. The authors show that this first use of pottery coincides with a warm wet period in the Sahara. As in East Asia, where very early ceramics are also known, the pottery and small bifacial arrowheads were the components of a new subsistence strategy exploiting an ecology associated with abundant wild grasses. In Africa, however, the seeds were probably boiled (then as now) rather than made into bread

The emergence of pottery in Africa during the tenth millennium cal BC: new evidence from Ounjougou (Mali)

New excavations in ravines at Ounjougou in Mali have brought to light a lithic and ceramic assemblage that dates from before 9400 cal BC. The authors show that this first use of pottery coincides with a warm wet period in the Sahara. As in East Asia, where very early ceramics are also known, the pottery and small bifacial arrowheads were the components of a new subsistence strategy exploiting an ecology associated with abundant wild grasses. In Africa, however, the seeds were probably boiled (then as now) rather than made into brea

Rapid solution of problems by nuclear-magnetic-resonance quantum computation

We offer an improved method for using a nuclear-magnetic-resonance quantum computer (NMRQC) to solve the Deutsch-Jozsa problem. Two known obstacles to the application of the NMRQC are exponential diminishment of density-matrix elements with the number of bits, threatening weak signal levels, and the high cost of preparing a suitable starting state. A third obstacle is a heretofore unnoticed restriction on measurement operators available for use by an NMRQC. Variations on the function classes of the Deutsch-Jozsa problem are introduced, both to extend the range of problems advantageous for quantum computation and to escape all three obstacles to use of an NMRQC. By adapting it to one such function class, the Deutsch-Jozsa problem is made solvable without exponential loss of signal. The method involves an extra work bit and a polynomially more involved Oracle; it uses the thermal-equilibrium density matrix systematically for an arbitrary number of spins, thereby avoiding both the preparation of a pseudopure state and temporal averaging.Comment: 19 page