Primary School Students’ Ideas Concerning the Apparent Movement of the Moon

In the present study, primary school students’ ideas concerning the apparent movement of the Moon are investigated. The research was carried out in five primary schools of Athens (Greece) with a sample of forty (40), fifth and sixth grade students. Semistructured interviews were used to gather scientific data and students had the opportunity to provide their answers either orally and/or as a drawing. The results revealed that students think that (a) apparent movement of the Moon takes place always at night and (b) simultaneous presence of the Sun and the Moon occurs mainly around sunset and sunrise. These ideas were found to be barriers for the construction of the scientific view concerning the relative positions of the Sun-Earth-Moon system, since three-quarters of the students have the idea that the Sun and the Moon are at opposite sides of the Earth

Cost Effectiveness of Antibacterial Restriction Strategies in a Tertiary Care University Teaching Hospital

Objective: To compare various strategies for antibacterial administration in terms of patient outcomes, overall costs and quality of care provided. Design: Prospective, nonblind, randomized, clinical study. Setting: Tertiary care hospital in Greece from November 1995 to June 1996. Patients and participants: 458 patients admitted to the internal medicine department who received antibacterial therapy for infectious diseases. Methods: Patients were randomized into 4 different antibacterial administration policies defined by various levels of restriction control. Efficacy and resource use data were obtained from clinical study case report forms, the hospital financial database and physician expert opinion. Outcomes included complete infection control, disease improvement, unchanged patient condition, infection needing surgical treatment, and death. Direct medical costs were estimated. The perspective adopted was that of the healthcare system (hospital budget; third-party payor). Cost-minimisation analysis was based on cost per patient treated. Results: 382 eligible patient records examined showed no significant difference in clinical outcomes among patient groups. Baseline analysis showed the strict antibacterial control policy to produce statistically significant differences (pAntibacterials, Bacterial infections, Cost analysis, Pharmacoeconomics

Clerodane diterpenes: sources, structures, and biological activities

The clerodane diterpenoids are a widespread class of secondary metabolites and have been found in several hundreds of plant species from various families and in organisms from other taxonomic groups. These substances have attracted interest in recent years due to their notable biological activities, particularly insect antifeedant properties. In addition, the major active clerodanes of Salvia divinorum can be used as novel opioid receptor probes, allowing greater insight into opioid receptor-mediated phenomena, as well as opening additional areas for chemical investigation. This article provides extensive coverage of naturally occurring clerodane diterpenes discovered from 1990 until 2015, and follows up on the 1992 review by Merritt and Ley in this same journal. The distribution, chemotaxonomic significance, chemical structures, and biological activities of clerodane diterpenes are summarized. In the cases where sufficient information is available, structure activity relationship (SAR) correlations and mode of action of active clerodanes have been presented