Design, Synthesis and biological evaluation of novel acridine-polyamine conjugates against prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is the most common cause of cancer death in men, aged 85 and over. Androgen receptor, a single polypeptide with three functional domains is very important during initiation and progression of the disease. In this study, a DNA intercalating agent, acridine is linked to the testosterone via a polyamine linker to obtain a compound with trifunctional characteristics, where the acridine intercalates the DNA, the polyamine linker binds the phosphoryl groups of the DNA backbone and the testosterone moiety binds into the AR ligand binding domain, with which its DNA binding domain is bound already to the DNA. This trifunctional compound and related derivatives have been synthesized and tested against androgen dependent- and androgen independent- prostate cancer cell lines and they have demonstrated to be cytotoxic at the micromolar concentrations

The importance and implementation of technology for diploma accounting students at the University of Johannesburg

The curriculum for accounting students is evolving to meet advancement in computer technology. To keep up with current concepts, the curriculum needs to have more depth with specific reference to technology, to facilitate the learning and development of students. This study aimed to explore how the implementation of technology can assist in assessing the students doing the diploma course in accounting. Secondary research methods such as books, peer-reviewed journals, magazines, newspapers and Internet resources were used to collect data and establish how technological advancement facilitates all features of professional accounting, thereby adding to the success of an organisation. Limited research on the use of technology in accounting warrants universities in South Africa to rethink the traditional learning model. The teaching of accounting has shifted from being teacher-centred to student-centred; the technological change in the teaching of accounting has also changed the culture of educational institutions. Students are being assessed on their theoretical as well as on their practical knowledge. For example, both the theoretical and practical knowledge of students are evaluated by requiring them to process transactions in a fictitious firm that they create. Students are also required to create a business plan and use software such as Microsoft Excel and Sage Pastel. While the study was based in South Africa, the findings of the study and the use of technology in accounting education could be utilised globally

Language and social power

Unequal social relations and domination by individuals and groupings in a society can be created and maintained by violence. But this generally is inadequate for the legitimation of that situation or for the acquiescence of those less privileged; the maintenance of the inequality is affected by language, by devaluing the subjugated's language and by using language to create the impression of the legitimacy of the unequal relations. This study aims to explore some aspects of how language and specifically speech acts are structured to create unequal social relations and link this to discourse practices that maintain this inequality. Language is, however, not an inflexible medium; as it can be used to shape the subjugated's consciousness to regard the inequality as normal, it can also form and reflect a resistance consciousness. Language and power mesh in many ways. Chapter one will deal generally with issues of language and power relations in society. This dissertation hopes to focus on how ideology and power are present in and structured into utterances. Chapter two will show that the speech act theory can be extended to include ideological force or intent as part of a speech act. This intent is structured in the details of the utterance; and that will be the area of chapter three, which reviews the "critical linguistics" thinking around discourse analysis of manipulative intent; and the last chapter will focus on how language can be a means of resisting social domination and creating true consensus

A Strategy for Imidazotetrazine Prodrugs with Anti-cancer Activity Independent of MGMT and MMR

The imidazotetrazine ring is an acid-stable precursor and prodrug of highly-reactive alkyl diazonium ions. We have shown that this reactivity can be managed productively in an aqueous system for the generation of aziridinium ions with 96% efficiency. The new compounds are potent DNA alkylators and have antitumor activity independent of the O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase and DNA mismatch repair constraints that limit the use of temozolomide

Greening Chemical Engineering laboratory at Bradford University

YesThis paper highlights the work undertaken to assess the current state of the art of the Chemical Engineering Laboratory at the University of Bradford (UK) in terms of total energy and water usage and sound pollution and to propose an action plan to ‘greening’ the laboratory so that future students are trained in a laboratory where sustainability is the key feature of all learning activities. The project was funded by National Higher Education STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) Programme. This review and assessment was carried out by two academic staff and one technical staff member with chemical engineering background.National HE STEM Programm

A Reckless shot at the Central Bank of South Africa by the Public Protector Spells Economic Disaster for the Country Amidst a Recession and Ratings Down Grades: More Kicks for the Economy and South Africa in Turmoil

This paper delves into the perplexing issue as captured in the title of the paper. The announcement by the Public Protector will further dampen the economy of South Africa. It will lead to further economic downgrades by the ratings agencies in an era of recession, very high employment, and rising inflation. The issue straddles the reckless shot at the Central Bank by the Public Protector, pushing for change in the Bank’s role, which saw the rand fall by two percent and has deteriorated even further to trade at R13.50 to the US dollar. She has called for a revision of the Reserve Bank’s constitutional mandate. The Public Protector charged that protecting the value of the rand, to a focus on the protection of ‘citizens’ socio – economic wellbeing is cardinal to South Africa’s development. The question arises – Is she doing this at the bidding of the ruling ANC and, supporting the misguided notion of radical economic transformation of the economy, propounded by the President of the country and the African National Congress, given the failure of the ruling ANC government to bring about coordinated development after 23 years of South African democracy. The paper will therefore look at this issue and, elaborate on the possible devastating effects upon an already compromised economy and the, effects upon the general population.  In adding to the narrative, the policy documents of the ANC were critiqued very briefly, in order to show the paranoia that exists within the ruling ANC government, which is aimed at hanging on to power at all costs and, not serving the people of the Republic of South Africa

Multimodal role of amino acids in microbial control and drug development

Amino acids are ubiquitous vital biomolecules found in all kinds of living organisms including those in the microbial world. They are utilised as nutrients and control many biological functions in microorganisms such as cell division, cell wall formation, cell growth and metabolism, intermicrobial communication (quorum sensing), and microbial‐host interactions. Amino acids in the form of enzymes also play a key role in enabling microbes to resist antimicrobial drugs. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and microbial biofilms are posing a great threat to the world’s human and animal population and are of prime concern to scientists and medical professionals. Although amino acids play an important role in the development of microbial resistance, they also offer a solution to the very same problem i.e., amino acids have been used to develop antimicrobial peptides as they are highly effective and less prone to microbial resistance. Other important applications of amino acids include their role as anti‐biofilm agents, drug excipients, drug solubility enhancers, and drug adjuvants. This review aims to explore the emerging paradigm of amino acids as potential therapeutic moieties

An analysis of the AHPCSA telehealth and telemedicine guidelines published during COVID-19 in 2020 for Chiropractors

Abstract: Background: In 2020, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared Covid-19 as a pandemic. In South Africa, on 24 March 2020, the president of the Republic of South Africa announced that the country would be placed in a total lockdown from 27 March 2020 in which no persons were allowed to operate businesses unless they were healthcare workers or in some other essential business concerns. As set out in an extraordinary policy decision of the executive committee of the Allied Health Professions Council of South Africa (AHPCSA) of 25 March 2020, AHPCSA-regulated practitioners and therapists were able to receive patients using a telehealth/ telemedicine modus, this decision suspending a previous AHPCSA 2011 decision which disallowed the practice. In clarification of the AHPCSA executive committee extraordinary policy decision, the AHPCSA Registrar issued a notification on 26 March 2020 indicating that patients could be received, but in essential cases only, namely in emergencies only, at the registered place of practice on a face-to face basis. In all other cases, the reception of patients was required in terms of the telehealth/telemedicine modus according to the AHPCSA published Telehealth and Telemedicine Guidelines. The restriction on receiving patients in cases of emergency only was lifted on 1 May 2020 pursuant to a subsequent extraordinary AHPCSA executive committee policy decision on 29 April 2020, but the AHPCSA Telehealth and Telemedicine Guidelines remain in force for AHPCSA-regulated practitioners and therapists to receive patients. The research question must then consider whether these AHPCSA Guidelines included similar recommendations to those of other countries, and if these Guidelines could be supported by published literature. It remains important that, despite the method of practice used, Chiropractic care is required to ensure that the fundamental rights of patients were still respected, namely those of dignity, privacy, confidentiality and informed consent.M.Tech. (Chiropractic

CP violation and lifetime measurements of two-body charmless decays of B hadrons at LHCb

This thesis presents lifetime measurements of charmless two-body decays of b hadrons, specifically the decay modes known as B->hh', where B refers to meson or baryon containing a b quark and h' refers to a proton p, pion pi or kaon K. Using the large data samples collected by the LHCb detector, the \BTohh channels with the largest branching fractions provide an opportunity to perform high-precision measurements of the properties of the decays. The leading-order processes in B->hh' decays are tree and penguin topologies, where the loop-dominated channels could be sensitive to non-standard model physics. The Bs->KK mode is particularly interesting as it has a CP-even final state, as well as being dominated by penguin decay processes. The Bs->KK effective lifetime can be used to calculate the Bs decay-rate asymmetry A_{\Delta \Gamma}, which quantifies the amount of CP violation in the decay. Using LHCb data with an integrated luminosity of 3 fb^{-1} collected at centre of mass energies of 7 TeV and 8 TeV, the lifetimes of the decays Bs->KK, Bd->Kpi, Bs->piK, Bd->pipi, Lambda_b->ppi and Lambda_b->pK are measured to be tau_{Bs->KK} = 1.410 +\- 0.009 ps (stat) +\- 0.011 ps (syst), tau_{Bd->Kpi} = 1.504 +\- 0.006 ps (stat) +\- 0.023 ps (syst), tau_{Bs->piK} = 1.548 +\- 0.028 ps (stat) +\- 0.023 ps (syst), tau_{Bd->pipi} = 1.495 +\- 0.012 ps (stat) +\- 0.007 ps (syst), tau_{Lambda_b->ppi} = 1.511 +\- 0.028 ps (stat) +\- 0.012 ps (syst), tau_{Lambda_b->pK} = 1.477 +\- 0.022 ps (stat) +\- 0.022 ps (syst). All these lifetime measurements are compatible with the current world averages. The decay-rate asymmetry is calculated to be A_{\Delta \Gamma}= -0.975 +\- 0.092 (stat) +\- 0.113 (syst) \pm 0.082 (ext), which agrees with the standard model prediction. A performance study measuring the photoelectron yield of the Ring Imaging Cherenkov (RICH) subdetector during 2012, 2015 and 2016 is also presented in this thesis. The RICH is used for particle identification and it distinguishes between pion, kaon and proton tracks. During the long shutdown between the 2012 and 2015 data taking periods, the aerogel in the RICH 1 detector was removed and the centre-of-mass energies of the proton-proton collisions increased from 7-8 TeV to 13 TeV. The photoelectron yield of RICH 1 was found to increase by ~3 photoelectrons in 2015 and 2016 and the photoelectron yield of RICH2 remained the same. This increase in RICH1 was expected due to the increased path length of the tracks through the Cherenkov medium once the aerogel was removed. Overall the contribution of photoelectron yield to the performance of the RICH remains acceptable for continued data taking

Public service delivery in an era of governance : the case of water services in the city of Johannesburg.

The primary question of this research report is: ‘Why has the current service delivery model not enabled the government to meet its social obligations?’ The South African government has a vision of establishing a democratic developmental state that would enable it to effectively address the social conditions of the masses of the people and realise economic progress for the poor. This study attempts to assess the service delivery process at the local government level to establish the factors that are contributing to the current service delivery model not enabling the government to meet its strategic intention. The analysis focuses on three key components that underpin an effective service delivery process, i.e. the governance framework, the spatial policy directives and the financial management process. In attempting to develop a response to this question, this study focuses on the water services delivery process from policy formation at national government level to service delivery in the City of Johannesburg from 2006. Research through in-depth interviews and documentation analysis was conducted at the Department of Water and Environment, City of Johannesburg and Johannesburg Water. The selection of water services from the range of public services is informed by the absolute necessity of water, as the failure of any individual or community to secure a regular supply of water will result in the loss of life. More specifically, the production and supply of food and energy are increasingly inter-linked, and both depend on a vulnerable resource: water. This immediate and universal need is the very reason why the withdrawal and denial of water services is also potentially the most explosive political issue today. The study is based on the view that a service delivery model that would enable the government to meet its social obligations must include the following components : the active participation of the working class and the marginalised sectors of society in the design, development and implementation process of service delivery; a governance framework that is based on the experiences and reality of those that are marginalised; that all projects and programmes are designed with the objective of reconfiguring the socio-spatial characteristics prevalent in the apartheid era and most importantly the goals and objectives of the service delivery process must be based on achieving social value. The framework of social value demands that people have equal rights and opportunities and that basic needs such as water, electricity, shelter, health facilities, and education must be available to all. Some of the key findings of the research have shown that the current service delivery model is not based on a holistic, integrated view of service needs within the municipality leading to a lack of understanding of communities’ service needs, increase in cost, disparate information and an inability to realise the benefits of economies of scale. The current performance management system is based on revenue generation and not the number of disconnections, health cost due to inaccessibility to clean water, environmental cost due to inefficient water treatment processes, etc. With regards to the current socio-spatial dynamics it has been found that the disparities in terms of access, quality and quantity are not too dissimilar from the racial demarcations characteristic of the apartheid era. A key focus of Johannesburg City has been the establishment of utility companies based on corporate governance and profitable balance sheets while the spatial distortions of apartheid and its current manifestations have been neglected. An analysis of the complex regulatory framework governing the micro projects implemented at the local government level, revealed that the current governance mechanisms has not achieve the intended economic development as envisaged by the national government within its policy framework. In fact the municipality is facing a financial crisis, compounded by an increase in unemployment and a decrease in the number of people accessing water services as a result of high tariffs. The key finding from the analysis of the financial management process has revealed that one of the main municipal revenue sources is from basic services such as water service delivery. To ensure that the required revenue is generated, municipal entities have been structured as corporations to enable them to sell services at a market related price and to ring fence the financial management process to assist with efficient billing and revenue management necessary for funding the local government bureaucracy. Finally, the research on the Lesotho Highlands Water Project confirmed that the agenda put forward by the World Bank and the World Water Council, significantly influences domestic policy formulation, specifically in terms of institutional arrangements for water service delivery, cost recovery and water resource management. The case of the LHWP bears testimony to the fact that these global institutions have a significant influence on corporatizing natural resources by developing mega projects for the financial benefit of transnational corporation