Sustained Release Drug Delivery Devices

A method and device for treating a mammalian organism to obtain a desired local or systemic physiological or pharmacological effect is provided. The method includes administering a sustained release drug delivery system to a mammalian organism in need of such treatment at an area wherein release of an effective agent is desired and allowing the effective agent to pass through the device in a controlled manner. The device includes an inner core or reservoir comprising the effective agent; a first coating layer, which is essentially impermeable to the passage of the effective agent; and a second coating layer, which is permeable to the passage of the effective agent. The first coating layer covers at least a portion of the inner core; however, at least a small portion of the inner core is not coated with the first coating layer. The second coating layer essentially completely covers the first coating layer and the uncoated portion of the inner core

The integration of tgfu into the secondary school physical education curriculum – how successful has it been?.

In 2005, a new Personal Development, Health and Physical Education (PDHPE) Years 7–10 Syllabus (Board of Studies, 2003) was implemented in NSW (Australia) secondary schools. One area that underwent major changes within the syllabus was that of the teaching of games, with the move towards a TGfU framework. Forty PDHPE teachers were surveyed with questionnaires and focus group interviews to determine their knowledge and understanding of TGfU and the extent to which they have incorporated TGfU into their teaching of games. Pre-service teachers’ observations of Physical Education classes were also used to determine the extent that TGfU was being implemented. Fifty-five percent of PDHPE teachers surveyed had poor knowledge and understanding of TGfU, with 32% unaware that the principles of TGfU were written into the PDHPE syllabus. Forty-five percent of teachers reported that they had incorporated TGfU to some extent into their teaching of games, however only 22% of pre-service teachers surveyed indicated that they had observed classes that incorporated TGfU principles. Continuing teacher training and development is required to support teachers in developing an understanding and skills necessary to utilise a TGfU approach that underpins the teaching of games within the new NSW Years 7-10 PDHPE syllabus

Promoting physical activity through teaching games for understanding in undergraduate teacher education

Physical education teachers play a significant role in influencing the likelihood that their students will engage in lifelong physical activity. However, with declining physical activity levels, particularly amongst young people, and the increased prevalence of obese and overweight children and adolescents, promoting lifelong physical activity is one of the many challenges currently facing physical education teachers. Teachers are required to engage students in quality learning opportunities to develop prescribed learning outcomes and skills, and make the experience enjoyable to enthuse young people to be physically active. This study examines whether teaching games for understanding (TGfU) and technique based pedagogy models in touch football lessons influenced participant physical activity and enjoyment levels

Building community partnerships to enhance participation in sport and physical activity: tertiary institutions and primary schools

Decreasing levels of physical activity and increasing obesity levels amongst Australian children have received much attention in recent years, with research finding that the prevalence of overweight Australian children and adolescents, almost doubled during the ten year period from 1985-1995. Schools have been identified as one community setting that has the potential to address concerns regarding child physical activity and obesity levels by providing an environment which promotes lifelong physical activity, through both structured and unstructured programs

Game sense online - utilising the web for the professional development of physical and health education teachers

In 2005, a new Personal Development, Health and Physical Education (PDHPE) Years 7–10 Syllabus will replace the current syllabus and be implemented with Year 7 and Year 9 students in NSW secondary schools. Informed by contemporary research, the new syllabus represents changes to both the content and the teaching strategies traditionally utilised by teachers. One area that has undergone major changes within the syllabus has been that of the teaching of games, with the move towards a Game Sense framework. It is expected that the implementation of the new syllabus will also be accompanied by a variety of traditional professional development opportunities for teachers. What is also now possible given the affordances of information and communication technologies is online delivery that has the potential to increase teachers’ level of confidence and readiness for implementing a Game Sense approach. This paper discusses the planning and development of a Game Sense online resource within the ActiveHealth framework (www.activehealth.uow.edu.au), a new Physical and Health Education Web resource for teachers. Principles for guiding the development of online teaching resources for practicing and pre-service teachers will also be discussed. The results of a small pilot study designed to investigate teachers perceptions of the effectiveness of such a resource indicate that it is of benefit to teachers in developing a deep understanding of Game Sense, however greater consideration will need to be given to the quality of the learning resources and learning support structures should no face to face opportunities exist

Biochronology and evolution of Pulleniatina (planktonic foraminifera)

Pulleniatina is an extant genus of planktonic foraminifera that evolved in the late Miocene. The bottom and top occurrences of its six constituent morphospecies (P. primalis, P. praespectablis, P. spectabilis, P. praecursor, P. obliquiloculata, P. finalis) provide a series of more or less useful constraints for correlating tropical and subtropical deep-sea deposits, as do some prominent changes in its dominant coiling direction and a substantial gap in its record in the Atlantic Ocean. Biostratigraphic information about these events has accumulated over many decades since the development of systematic deep-sea drilling in the 1960s, during which time the geochronological framework has evolved substantially, as have taxonomic concepts. Here we present new data on the biochronology of Pulleniatina from International Ocean Discovery Program Site U1488, which has a record of its entire evolutionary history from the centre of its geographic range in the Western Pacific Warm Pool. We then present and compare revised calibrations of 183 published Pulleniatina bioevents worldwide, with stated sampling errors as far as they are known, using a consistent methodology and in the context of an updated evolutionary model for the genus. We comment on the reliability of the various bioevents; their likely level of diachrony; and the processes of evolution, dispersal, and extinction that produced them

Cerebellar-inspired algorithm for adaptive control of nonlinear dielectric elastomerbased artificial muscle

© 2016 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved. Electroactive polymer actuators are important for soft robotics, but can be difficult to control because of compliance, creep and nonlinearities. Because biological control mechanisms have evolved to deal with such problems, we investigated whether a control scheme based on the cerebellum would be useful for controlling a nonlinear dielectric elastomer actuator, a class of artificial muscle. The cerebellum was represented by the adaptive filter model, and acted in parallel with a brainstem, an approximate inverse plant model. The recurrent connections between the two allowed for direct use of sensory error to adjust motor commands. Accurate tracking of a displacement command in the actuator's nonlinear range was achieved by either semi-linear basis functions in the cerebellar model or semi-linear functions in the brainstem corresponding to recruitment in biological muscle. In addition, allowing transfer of training between cerebellum and brainstem as has been observed in the vestibulo-ocular reflex prevented the steady increase in cerebellar output otherwise required to deal with creep. The extensibility and relative simplicity of the cerebellar-based adaptive-inverse control scheme suggests that it is a plausible candidate for controlling this type of actuator. Moreover, its performance highlights important features of biological control, particularly nonlinear basis functions, recruitment and transfer of training

Identification of lead chemotherapeutic agents from medicinal plants against blood flukes and whipworms

Schistosomiasis and trichuriasis are two of the most common neglected tropical diseases (NTD) that affect almost a billion people worldwide. There is only limited number of effective drugs to combat these NTD. Medicinal plants are a viable source of parasiticides. In this study, we have investigated six of the 19 phytochemicals isolated from two Bhutanese medicinal plants, Corydalis crispa and Pleurospermum amabile, for their anthelmintic properties. We used xWORM technique and Scanning Electron Microscope-based imaging to determine the activity of the compounds. Of the six compounds tested, isomyristicin and bergapten showed significant anthelmintic activity against Schistosoma mansoni and Trichuris muris with bergapten being the most efficacious one against both parasites (S. mansoni IC50 = 8.6 μg/mL and T. muris IC50 = 10.6 μg/mL) and also against schistosomula stage of S. mansoni. These two compounds induced tegumental damage to S. mansoni and affected the cuticle, bacillary bands and bacillary glands of T. muris. The efficacy against multiple phylogenetically distinct parasites and different life stages, especially the schistosomulum where praziquantel is ineffective, makes isomyristicin and bergapten novel scaffolds for broad-spectrum anthelmintic drug development that could be used for the control of helminths infecting humans and animals