FIELD TRIALS AS AN EXTENSION TECHNIQUE: THE CASE OF SWAZILAND

One potentially serious problem in evaluating the effectiveness of extension programs is that participants are not picked at random. Self-selection can be a problem, and it can be compounded if extension officials concentrate on the most progressive farms. This study explores the relationships between adoption of maize high-yielding varieties (HYVs) and participation in field trials intended to foster HYV usage, drawing on data from Swaziland. Results indicate that it is impossible to say if field trials had any effect on adoption. Participating farms used more HYVs, but this could have been due to self-selection or the government's selection process.Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

CURRENT STATUS, CHALLENGES AND PREVENTIVE STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME DATA INTEGRITY ISSUES IN THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY

The pharmaceutical industry is currently one of the most dynamic among all industries. At present, it is striking with various compliance challenges like never before there is increased regulation, acquisitions, push toward harmonization and endemic in a Data Integrity (DI) concern. DI weakness is identified, either as a result of an audit or a regulatory inspection, companies with multiple sites should ensure that appropriate corrective and preventive actions are implemented across the organizations and appropriate notification to regulatory authorities should be made wherever applicable. The objective of the study carries the number of issues involved within data integrity in current GMP aspects, the root causes were addressed based on warning letters. This review intends to study the concept of data integrity holistically in all aspects, regulatory expectations and to evaluate the state of compliance and challenges that explore to suggest appropriate remedial and proactive measures to avoid DI issues. There were many challenges involved to overcome the issues, which are all about the one's handling by maintaining good documentation practice. The importance, strategies and recommendations were discussed to overcome from the repeated data integrity mistakes. This review was carried out by systematic searches of data integrity in relevant guidelines, published articles, reviews and abstracts in Google scholar, Pubmed, Science direct, Embase, Web of science, Cochrane database of systematic reviews of articles up to March 2020. The keywords used for gathering information were listed below

PHARMACY PROFESSIONS IN INDIADURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC: PRESENT STATUS, FUTURE CHALLENGES AND A WAY FORWARD

People in every country became exposed to COVID-19 pandemic and cannot able to find a right solution and strategies to overcome from it. Pharmacy is the most important, dynamic and versatile health care profession in the world, whereas its scope and importance are always being emerging at any situation. Pharmacy professionals (PPs) working proactively for the public even in this pandemic situation. Since dependency is high, the responsibility and preference also high for PPs especially in this pandemic situation. Current status in pharmacy education and emerging future challenges of PPs in all aspects, particularly in thispandemic situation were addressed based on observational studies among various pharma industries and published news of Pharmacy Council of India (PCI). While in the development phase it has crossed many barriers, not only in the economic level,but also involves regulations, duration, process controls, legal hurdles and situational defects. The purpose of this review discusses the evolution and updates in pharmacy, education, pharmacy practice, regulations, and types of challenges along with recommendations for PPs in India in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. This review was carried out to summarize knowledge about the updates and challenges in pharmacy professions in all aspects. Sources were retrieved from relevant guidelines and published articles in Google scholar, Pubmed and Science direct of articles up to June 2020. The keywords used for gathering information were listed below

Signature of nearly icosahedral structures in liquid and supercooled liquid Copper

A growing body of experiments display indirect evidence of icosahedral structures in supercooled liquid metals. Computer simulations provide more direct evidence but generally rely on approximate interatomic potentials of unproven accuracy. We use first-principles molecular dynamics simulations to generate realistic atomic configurations, providing structural detail not directly available from experiment, based on interatomic forces that are more reliable than conventional simulations. We analyze liquid copper, for which recent experimental results are available for comparison, to quantify the degree of local icosahedral and polytetrahedral order

Applications of real-time quantitative PCR for environmental microbiology studies

© Global Science Publications. The real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) is a robust and sensitive molecular technique to quantify phylogenetic and key functional genes of microbial populations in various natural and engineered environmental ecosystems under varying physical and chemical environmental conditions. The generated quantitative qPCR data can be used to relate variation in abundance of specific microbial groups, species, family or functional gene of interest and levels of gene expression in comparison with the change in environmental factors and or system processes. In this review, several applications of qPCR for the understanding of environmental microorganisms have been presented. The main qPCR applications reviewed are: quantification of uncultured environmental bacteria, detection of pathogens in environmental samples, the effect of antibiotics on anaerobic digester microbial community and understanding mechanism of nitrification and ammonia metabolism in engineered environmental ecosystems

An overview of real-time quantitative PCR: Principles and formats for environmental microbiology studies

© Global Science Publications. A fluorescence-based real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) is a powerful and commonly used molecular technique for quantifying the rRNA or DNA of targeted organisms in environmental samples. qPCR assays are easy to perform, making them capable of high throughput and can combine high sensitivity with reliable specificity. qPCR analysis is the combination of the traditional endpoint PCR attached with fluorescents to record the accumulation of the amplicons in real time during each cycle of the PCR. Detection of amplicons during the early exponential phase enables quantification of the gene numbers because they are proportional to the starting template. This review is focussed on currently used qPCR platforms, the chemistries involved in real-time PCR systems mainly applied for the environmental microbiology studies. The various factors affecting quantification of environmental microbial communities using qPCR have also been discussed

Investigation of Shear Stud Performance in Flat Plate Using Finite Element Analysis

Three types of shear stud arrangement, respectively featuring an orthogonal, a radial and a critical perimeter pattern, were evaluated numerically. A numerical investigation was conducted using the finite element software ABAQUS to evaluate their ability to resist punching shear in a flat plate. The finite element analysis here is an application of the nonlinear analysis of reinforced concrete structures using three-dimensional solid finite elements. The nonlinear characteristics of concrete were achieved by employing the concrete damaged plasticity model in the finite element program. Transverse shear stress was evaluated using finite element analysis in terms of shear stress distribution for flat plate with and without shear stud reinforcement. The model predicted that shear studs placed along the critical perimeter are more effective compared to orthogonal and radial patterns

Diagnostic accuracy of ultrasonography in goiters: a tertiary centre experience

Background: Thyroid diseases are highly prevalent in India, especially in the southern states. Evaluation of thyroid pathologies revolves mainly on imaging and cytology. Recent advances in thyroid imaging have greatly improved the diagnosis, treatment and follow-up in thyroid diseases. Though there are advanced modalities including Computed Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Ultrasonography remains the cornerstone for the evaluation of thyroid gland, due to its ubiquitous availability and cost-effectiveness. The objectives of the study were to find out the diagnostic accuracy of ultrasonography in thyroid swellings and to find out the most reliable diagnostic feature of thyroid malignancy in ultrasonography.Methods: This was an observational study, conducted on 71 patients admitted to the General surgical wards of Government Medical College, Trivandrum, with thyroid swellings, for a period of 18 months. For all these patients, ultrasound scan of the thyroid gland was done on an ultrasound machine with a 17/5 MHz linear transducer, by experienced faculty.Results: Ultrasonography was found to have a sensitivity of 87.2% and a specificity of 79.2% in diagnosing thyroid pathologies. The most common malignancy of thyroid found in the study was papillary carcinoma and the most reliable ultrasound finding suggestive of malignancy was microcalcification.Conclusions: As per the present study, it is concluded that high resolution ultrasonography is very useful in diagnosing the nature of thyroid swellings, with an accuracy rate of 84.5%. Ultrasonography is a valuable diagnostic tool in the evaluation of thyroid diseases and is the imaging modality of choice

Diversity assessment of Nerium accessions for growth and flower yield

Thirty nerium accessions were evaluated for growth and flower yield. Each accession had specific vegetative and flowering traits, among them ACC-19 (Rasipuram pink double) recorded the maximum plant height (236.84 cm) and flower yield per plant (333.09g). ACC-2 (Panamarathanpatty white single) recorded the maximum number of primary branches (6.80). Leaf area (33.61 cm2), early flower bud initiation (90.47), flower bud length (3.40), number of inflorescences per plant (24.17), number of flowers per plant (10.67) were maximum in ACC-12. Accessions 12 (Rasipuram pink single) displayed profuse blooming and long-lasting blooming characteristics, which made them an excellent choice for commercial cultivation and landscaping