Authorship: practices and experiences in the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of the Free State

Background: The allocation of authorship of papers can lead to controversy. In medical journals, papers tend to be multiauthored and the contribution of each author is not always apparent. The International Committee for Medical Journal Editors provides clear guidelines regarding rights to authorship, and these guidelines are used by some journals. We wished to propose guidelines for the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of the Free State (UFS) and, in order to do so, first determined the practices and experiences regarding authorship in the Faculty.Methods: Personal confidential interviews were conducted by the researcher in the Faculty of Health Sciences with first authors of papers published in accredited journals in 2000.Results: Eighteen of the 19 first authors interviewed in relation to 28 papers were in favour of a guideline for the Faculty. The issue of authorship was discussed beforehand among the authors for just under half of the papers with more than one author (48%). No problems were experienced regarding authorship in relation to 64% of the papers. In only 9% of the papers with more than one author did all the authors fulfil all three criteria of the international guidelines.Conclusion: On the basis of the positive feedback from the respondents, and their suggestions and experiences, a guideline was drafted for the Faculty. This should assist researchers in problematic cases and ensure that all, and only those, authors who deserve authorship are in fact listed as authors. SA Fam Pract 2005;47(4): 57-6

Hierarchically designed hybrid nanoparticles for combinational photochemotherapy against a pancreatic cancer cell line

© The Royal Society of Chemistry 2018. Here, we report the formulation of hybrid nanoparticles consisting of aggregated gold nanoparticles (GNPs) impregnated into a gemcitabine-polymer conjugate matrix that exhibit synergistic photo-chemo-therapeutic activity against pancreatic cancer. Well-defined, sub-100 nm hybrid NPs were successfully formulated and their photothermal conversion efficiency was evaluated, which was found to be as high as 63% in the red-visible spectrum. By varying the GNP and GEM-polymer feed, it was possible to control the red-shifting of the surface plasmon resonance at therapeutically relevant wavelengths. The hybrid NPs exhibited significant cytotoxicity against MiaPaCa-2 cells with a half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC 50 ) of 0.0012 mg mL -1 ; however the IC 50 decreased by a factor of 2 after the cells were irradiated with a continuous wave red laser for 1 min (1.4 W cm -2 ). Although the irradiation of the aggregated GNPs loaded in the hybrid NPs produced a higher thermal effect for the same amount of non-loaded GNPs, the IC 50 of the hybrid NPs was significantly lower than that of the free GNPs, hence indicating a synergistic effect of the polymer bound GEM and the GNPs

Profile of Research Methodology and Statistics Training of Undergraduate Medical Students at South African Universities

Background: Medical practitioners need to have knowledge of statistics and research principles, especially with the increasing emphasis onevidence-based medicine. The aim of this study was to determine the profile of research methodology and statistics training of undergraduatemedical students at South African universities in terms of which topics are taught, by whom teaching is done, when these topics are taught and howthey are taught.Method: Respondents for this descriptive study were persons responsible for the teaching of statistics and research methodology at the eightmedical schools in South Africa. They were identified by the head of each school who also gave permission for the school to participate. Therespondents completed a questionnaire and checklist after giving informed consent. No response was obtained from one university. Responses werecompared to international guidelines.Results: At five universities the material is taught in the first year, at one in the second year and one in the third or fourth year, depending on whenit is selected as an elective. The material is reinforced in other modules in the medical programme at three universities. The persons responsible forteaching are mainly statisticians (six universities). Class sizes vary from 40 to 320 students with four universities having 200 or more students perclass. At two universities the current course has been in place since 2003, at two since 2000, and at two since the 1970/80s. The following topicsare taught at the majority of universities: study designs in medical research, exploring and presenting data, summarising data, probability, sampling, statistical inference, analysis of cross tabulation and critical reading. At four universities there are practical classes, three of these mainly for computer work. At three universities tutors are used, at two of these the tutors are postgraduate students in statistics whereas at one university registrars, doctors and researchers are used as tutors. Students at three of the universities complete a research project, at two of these the students complete the full research process from planning up to reporting, whereas the project at the other university focuses mainly on the analysis of data.Conclusion: Recommendations have been made regarding topics which should be covered and teaching methods which should be used at alluniversities. Doctors should be involved in the training to ensure clinically appropriate material and examples

Intravenous paracetamol — waste not, want not: a retrospective audit on the appropriate use of intravenous paracetamol at Universitas Academic Hospital Complex—Bloemfontein

Background: Paracetamol can be given both orally and intravenously (IV) with similar clinical efficacy, but the IV formulation is 360 times more expensive. IV paracetamol is therefore only recommended when the oral route is not available. This study investigated whether IV paracetamol was being used appropriately and whether there had been a change in prescribing patterns between 2008 and 2015 after the introduction and update of a prescribing protocol at an academic hospital complex in Bloemfontein, South Africa.Methods: A retrospective comparative audit of patient files was undertaken. The prescribing and administration habits of IV paracetamol were compared for two consecutive months, seven years apart, including 88 and 83 patients, respectively, who had received IV paracetamol.Results: IV paracetamol was administered appropriately in 37.5% of patients in 2008 and in 43.4% of patients in 2015 (p = 0.43). There was an improvement in the duration that IV paracetamol was prescribed for, which decreased from a median two days in 2008 to one day (p < 0.01) in 2015. In total, 55 (32.4%) patients had a concomitant oral and IV paracetamol prescription, of which 37 (21.6%) patients also received concomitant paracetamol administration. Twenty patients exceeded the 24-hour maximum dose. Seventeen patients weighed less than 40 kg; six of these patients (three paediatric and three adult) did not receive the correct weight adjusted dose of paracetamol, 15 mg/kg, resulting in excessive doses of paracetamol being administered (21– 32.3 mg/kg).Conclusions: Patients are receiving IV paracetamol when the oral route is available; this is an unnecessary waste of money. Excessive doses of paracetamol were administered due to concomitant oral and IV paracetamol prescription and administration, and a failure to calculate dose of paracetamol according to body weight in low body weight patients. Further remedial interventions are therefore required.Keywords: acetaminophen, analgesia, appropriate, audit, intravenous, pain, paracetamol, pyrexi

Interest in and Willingness to Use Complementary, Alternative and Traditional Medicine among Academic and Administrative University Staff in Bloemfontein, South Africa

Background: Healthcare systems worldwide are changing and the use of complementary, alternative and traditional medicine (CAM) form part ofthis transformation. South Africa has a large number of CAM practitioners, but they are not included in the official healthcare system. The aim of thisstudy was to determine the perception and usage of CAM among the academic and administrative staff of the University of the Free State (UFS) in Bloemfontein, South Africa.Methods: A questionnaire was compiled and sent electronically to all the academic and administrative staff of the UFS who had a university emailaddress, to be completed online.Results: The response rate was 5.5%, with most of the respondents from the Faculty of Health Sciences. The respondents (n=165) were mainly women of 41–60 years of age with more than one tertiary qualification. Most of the respondents were in good health and considered CAM as moderately helpful and mostly safe. Most of the CAM recommendations were not from a medical physician. The respondents wanted alternatives to certain medications, such as antibiotics. They also had good previous experience with CAM and felt that conventional treatment was not always effective to treat their problems. They identified a need for CAM in the health system.Conclusion: The study has limitations due to the data collection method and the low response rate. The results showed that the respondents favored a more integrated healthcare system including different CAM therapies, and that conventional doctors should be better informed about these therapies and its uses.Keywords: perceptions; usage; complementary medicine; alternative medicine; traditional medicine; university staff