Place Pulling Power: a case of Liverpool’08

The paper contributes to the developing knowledge of place branding and highlights the importance of place branding strategies, that enabling the place to seek continual development and prosperity. The theoretical concepts of place brand creators, influencers and key driving forces, together with the different brand user groups are set against both current and historic indicators of place branding to model the pulling power of place branding. Interviews with key stakeholders indicate that, in the case of the Liverpool ’08 campaign, they are generally positive about the re-branding campaign and considered it to be creating a positive image that will continue to drive inward investment and increase tourism. However, it is clear that reputation and intangible factors are more important than functional and tangible factors when creating a positive brand image. Understanding place brands and the influence on the performance of the place, in terms of continuous development, regeneration and sustainability is important. Future comparative-case analyses between places that have gone through regeneration and repositioning could help to understand the significance of place branding, in terms of sustainability of place, and identify the specific facets of a place that could prove critical when putting place branding practices into action

A STUDY ON PATIENTS AWARENESS ON RATIONAL USE OF ANTIBIOTICS AND ITS RESISTANCE

Objectives: Antibiotics are needed for many serious illnesses such as bacterial pneumonia, bacterial meningitis, septicemia, and even strep throat.These illnesses can be life threatening or can lead to serious complications. The work aims to create an awareness on antibiotics and its resistance inpatients. The main objective of this work is to study the patient knowledge through knowledge assessment questionnaire, to promote the rational useof antibiotics and to educate the patients using antibiotics.Methods: A questionnaire was prepared and data were collected from the patients based on which the study was carried out.Results and Conclusion: A very high consumption of antibiotics was observed.there was a higher use of cephalosporins. Dispensing of antibioticsis very high in community pharmacy despite of federal regulations, heath education programs should be taken to the patients regarding antibiotics.Keywords: Rational use, Antibiotics, Resistance

The number of privately treated tuberculosis cases in India: an estimation from drug sales data

Background Understanding the amount of tuberculosis managed by the private sector in India is crucial to understanding the true burden of the disease in the country, and thus globally. In the absence of quality surveillance data on privately treated patients, commercial drug sales data offer an empirical foundation for disease burden estimation. Methods We used a large, nationally representative commercial dataset on sales of 189 anti-tuberculosis products available in India to calculate the amount of anti-tuberculosis treatment in the private sector in 2013–14. We corrected estimates using validation studies that audited prescriptions against tuberculosis diagnosis, and estimated uncertainty using Monte Carlo simulation. To address implications for numbers of patients with tuberculosis, we explored varying assumptions for average duration of tuberculosis treatment and accuracy of private diagnosis. Findings There were 17·793 million patient-months (95% credible interval 16·709 million to 19·841 million) of anti-tuberculosis treatment in the private sector in 2014, twice as many as the public sector. If 40–60% of private-sector tuberculosis diagnoses are correct, and if private-sector tuberculosis treatment lasts on average 2–6 months, this implies that 1·19–5·34 million tuberculosis cases were treated in the private sector in 2014 alone. The midpoint of these ranges yields an estimate of 2·2 million cases, two to three times higher than currently assumed. Interpretation India's private sector is treating an enormous number of patients for tuberculosis, appreciably higher than has been previously recognised. Accordingly, there is a re-doubled need to address this burden and to strengthen surveillance. Tuberculosis burden estimates in India and worldwide require revision

Antibacterial activity of Glycyrrhiza glabra roots against certain gram-positive and gram-negative bacterial strains

The present study aimed to evaluate the antibacterial potency of grinded crude material (root of Glycyrrhiza glabra) against some gram-positive and gram-negative bacterial strains. Two solvents (methanol and acetone) were used to extract the phytochemicals from the test material. Four different concentrations (100%, 75%, 50% and 25%) of methanolic and acetonic extract were used to investigate the inhibiting properties against Salmonella typhi, Escherichia.coli, Vibrio cholerae, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus and Bacillus subtilis strains. Among methanol and acetone extracts, later exhibited low antibacterial activity. The 100% (w/v) concentration of both extracts showed maximum inhibition against B. subtilis followed by E. coli, S. aureus, B. cereus, S. typhi and V. Cholerae. Maximum activity in acetonic extract was obtained against B. cereus followed by S. typhi, E. coli, V. cholerae and S .aureus and minimum in B. subtilis. A reverse pattern of inhibition activity was found in both extacts (methanolic and acetonic) against B. subtilis. Maximum activity was found in methanolic extract against B. subtilis (18.6 mm) but it was only 14.3 mm against this strain in acetonic extract. The antibacterial activity of the crude samples corresponded to that of concentration. Hence there was positive correlation of antibacterial activity with the test material

Profiles of Cortisol, Triiodothyronine, Thyroxine and Neutrophil/Lymphocyte Ratio as Stress Indicators in Swamp Buffaloes 15 Days Post-Transportation

Transportation may cause stress that affects livestock\u27s health. This research was conducted to observe the effect of transportation on the profiles of blood cortisol, triiodothyronine (T3), thyroxine (T4) and neutrophil/lymphocyte (N/L) ratio as stress indicators during 15 days post-transportation. Four females swamp buffaloes, 2-yr-old were used in this research. The animals were transported using an open truck, along 15 kilometers distance for 2 h. During acclimatization, the animals were fed grass twice a day and access to water ad libitum. Blood was collected at the time of arrival and everyday for 15 d post-transportation. Cortisol, T3 and T4were analyzed using Radioimmunoassay (RIA) method. Blood smears were also prepared and stained with Giemsa for leukocyte differential counts. Results showed a significant relation (P<0.05) between transport and an increase in cortisol and T4 level on day-1 post-transportation compared to the normal levels. The level of T3 was also increased on day-3 post-transportation. Total leukocyte counts were 8.91-18.83×10³/μL. Neutrophil, eosinophil, monocyte, and lymphocyte counts were 4.87-10.41×10³/μL, 0.66-1.75×10³/μL, 0.11-0.58×10³/μL, and 2.98-6.21×10³/μL, respectively. N/L ratio was 1.23-3.49 with >1.5 in average throughout the period of the research. It is concluded that transportation causes stress and therefore changes metabolic process

Effect of impurity substitution on band structure and mass renormalization of the correlated FeTe0.5_{0.5}Se0.5_{0.5} superconductor

Using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), we studied the effect of the impurity potential on the electronic structure of FeTe$_{0.5}$Se$_{0.5}$ superconductor by substituting 10\% of Ni for Fe which leads to an electron doping of the system. We could resolve three hole pockets near the zone center and an electron pocket near the zone corner in the case of FeTe$_{0.5}$Se$_{0.5}$, whereas only two hole pockets near the zone center and an electron pocket near the zone corner are resolved in the case of Fe$_{0.9}$Ni$_{0.1}$Te$_{0.5}$Se$_{0.5}$, suggesting that the hole pocket having predominantly the $xy$ orbital character is very sensitive to the impurity scattering. Upon electron doping, the size of the hole pockets decrease and the size of the electron pockets increase as compared to the host compound. However, the observed changes in the size of the electron and hole pockets are not consistent with the rigid-band model. Moreover, the effective mass of the hole pockets is reduced near the zone center and of the electron pockets is increased near the zone corner in the doped Fe$_{0.9}$Ni$_{0.1}$Te$_{0.5}$Se$_{0.5}$ as compared to FeTe$_{0.5}$Se$_{0.5}$. We refer these observations to the changes of the spectral function due to the effect of the impurity potential of the dopants.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure

Extraction and Purification of Organophosphorus hydrolase Enzyme from Soil Microorganism Pseudomonas diminuta

Synthetic organophosphorus compounds are highly toxic hence, widely used as pesticides, insecticides and chemical warfare agents. Organophosphorus hydrolase (OPH) is an organophosphotriester hydrolyzing enzyme; effectively hydrolyze a range of organophosphate esters. The objective of the present study was extraction and purification of OPH enzyme from Pseudomonas diminuta bacteria (soil microorganism) and to study kinetic properties of the purified enzyme. Enzyme was extracted and purified from bacteria by ammonium sulphate precipitation and ion exchange chromatography. Purity of an enzyme was determined by sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacryamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Purified OPH enzyme specific activity was found to be 27.7 fold of 32.8U/mg protein, molecular weight of 72 Kda and it is a homodimer since it has shown a single band in SDS-PAGE separation. Maximum activity of the free OPH enzyme was found at Optimum pH 7.5 and temperature 35oC with the incubation time of 10 min. Michaelis constant (Km) and maximum velocity (Vmax) values of free OPH enzyme for methyl parathion as substrate was found to be 286.2μM and 2.5 μM/min respectively