published_or_final_version / Pathology / Master / Master of Medical Sciences

Recent juvenile justice reforms aimed at increasing the certainty and severity of punishment also have increased the likelihood that youthful offenders will enter the adult prison system. In response to this distinct population, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) established the Youthful Offender Program (YOP) for all incarcerated offenders younger than 18 years of age. A central feature of the YOP is the therapeutic community (TC) – primarily for minimum security offenders. Analyses of the participants are largely descriptive; to date, there have been no known evaluations of the TC. Interview and survey data from security and treatment staff at five youth-oriented prisons in Texas, including the Clemens Unit which houses all male offenders in the YOP, suggest youthful offenders are different from adult offenders. As such, they enter prison with a variety of needs and require more time and supervision. Using TDCJ individual-level data of YOP participants from 1996–2002, a treatment group (i.e., TC participants) and a control group (i.e., non-participants) were constructed to assess the impact of participation in the TC on institutional adjustment as measured by the infractions. Descriptive statistics, independent samples t-tests, and chi-square analyses were conducted and discussed. Results from a Cox proportional hazard model indicate participation in the TC does not have an effect on time-to-failure (i.e., disciplinary infractions) within the one-year observation period. A sample of TC participants with short time lags between entry in TDCJ and entry in the TC was drawn for better comparison with non-participants, and additional analyses were conducted. Multiple regression, binomial logistic regression, and survival analysis indicate that participation in the TC has a statistically significant negative effect on the frequency of infractions (i.e., participation is associated with fewer infractions) but does not have an effect on the severity of infractions or time-to-failure. Offender education level was statistically significant in every model, which indicates increased education is associated with fewer infractions, less severe infractions, and decreased hazard of infractions. Other control variables reaching statistical significance were age (i.e., fewer infractions and decreased hazard), property offense (i.e., decreased hazard), and gang affiliation (i.e., more severe infractions). / text

Menopause is the period during which the level of estrogen secreted by the ovaries gradually declines and patients of menopausal syndrome may experience osteoporosis, cognitive decline, hot flush, mood disorder, night sweat, depression, nervous tension and insomnia. The report published by the World Health Organization in 1990 stated that the total population of postmenopausal women in the world was 476 million. By 2030, the predicted population will reach 1200 million. The current way to relieve menopausal syndrome is hormone replacement therapy (HRT) which restores the endogenous estrogen level by administration of supplementary exogenous estrogen or estrogen plus progestin. However, various studies showed that HRT might increase the incidence of breast cancer and ovarian cancer. There is a potential risk of using HRT for menopausal syndrome. The novel protein DO isolated in this study could be a potential alternative of HRT for the treatment of menopausal syndrome. DO isolated from Chinese yam Dioscorea opposite Thunb. had adistinctive N-terminal sequence Gly-Ile-Gly-Lys-Ile-Thr-Thr- Tyr-Trp-Gly-Gln-Tyr-Ser-Asp-Glu-Pro-Ser-Leu-Thr-Glu-Ala, indicating that DO might be a novel protein.DO was an acid stable and thermal stable protein. As determined by electro-chemiluminescence immunoassay (ECLIA) detection, DO could stimulate estradiol biosynthesis in rat granulosa cells in vitro as well as inducing both estradiol and progesterone secretion in female aging Sprague Darley (SD)-rat model in vivo. From the results of real-time PCR and Western blot, the possible mechanism might be through up-regulating the expression of ovarian follicle stimulating hormone receptor(FSHR)and aromatase. DO also exerted a beneficial effect on the cognitive function through elevating the translational level of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)and TrkB gp 145 receptor in the prefrontal cortex of female aging SD-rat model. Though further pharmacological studies are required, the results in this study suggested that DO could be a safer potential alternative for HRT in the treatment of menopausal syndrome with beneficial effects on hormone levels and cognitive function. / published_or_final_version / Chinese Medicine / Master / Master of Philosophy

The distribution of anthocyanin pigments and polyphenolics of sweet (Prunus avium) and sour cherries (Prunus cerasus) were determined by Ultraviolet- Visible (UV-Visible) spectrophotometry and High Performance Liquid Chromatography with photodiode array detector (HPLC-DAD). Their antioxidant properties were determined by Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) and Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP). The effect of frozen storage, canning, and brining on those properties was measured. Experiments were conducted on three sweet cherry cultivars; Bing, Rainier, Royal Ann and one sour cherry cultivar; Montmorency. Cherries were separated into skins, flesh, pits, and pitted cherries for subsequent analyses. Bing had the highest anthocyanin pigments (60.6 mg/lOOg fw) while Montmorency had both the highest total phenolic content (5.6 mg GAE/g fw) and the highest antioxidant activities (ORAC 51.02 μmoles Trolox equivalent (TE) /g fw, FRAP 47.96 μmoles TE/g fw). Hydroxycinnamates predominated in sweet cherries (70-80%) while flavanols were the major class of polyphenolics in sour cherries (70%). The major anthocyanins in sweet and sour cherries were cyanidin-3-rutinoside and cyanidin-3- glucosylrutinoside, respectively. Skins contained the highest amount of anthocyanins, polyphenolics, and antioxidant activities. Anthocyanins and flavonol glycosides predominated in cherry skins. Bing cherries were different from the others in that it had substantial anthocyanins in flesh and pits. The proportion of flavanols increased from skins to pits. Pitted Bing cherries were frozen and stored at -23 and -70°C for 3 and 6 months. Pitted Bing cherries were also canned in light syrup and stored at 2 and 22°C for 5 months. Both Bing and Royal Ann cherries were brined in bisulfite for one year. In all processing experiments, polyphenolics were more stable than anthocyanins. Degradation of hydroxycinnamates occurred during frozen storage and canning while flavonol glycosides were relatively stable. With both canning and brining, anthocyanins and polyphenolics leached into syrup and brine. With brining, hydroxycinnamates and flavonol glycosides disappeared, and unidentified compounds with UV-Visible spectra similar to flavanols were formed. Unidentified compounds possessed antioxidant activity. Cherry skins are high in anthocyanins, polyphenolics and antioxidant properties. Cherry pits and spent brine solution may be a potential source for natural colorants, nutraceuticals, and natural antioxidants. / Graduation date: 2004

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Thesis (D.Sc.)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Health Sciences, 2012.

A Research Report submitted to the Faculty of Science in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. 26 October 2016. / The cost of healthcare has become generally expensive the world over, of which the greater part of the money is spent buying drugs. In order to reduce the cost of drugs, drug manufacturers came up with the idea of manufacturing generic drugs, which cost less as compared to brand name drugs. The challenge which arose was how safe, effective and efficient the generic drugs are compared to the brand name drugs, if people were to buy them. As a consequence of this challenge, bioequivalence studies evolved, being statistical procedures for comparing whether the generic and brand name drugs are similar in treating patients for various diseases. This study was undertaken to show the existence of bioequivalence in drugs. Bioavailability is considered in generic drugs to ensure that it is more or less the same as that of the original drugs by using statistical tests. The United States of America’s Food and Agricultural Department took a lead in the research on coming up with statistical methods for certifying generic drugs as bioequivalent to brand name drugs. Pharmacokinetic parameters are obtained from blood samples after dosing study subjects with generic and brand name drugs. The design for analysis in this research report will be a 2 2 crossover design. Average, population and individual bioequivalence is checked from pharmacokinetic parameters to ascertain as to whether drugs are bioequivalent or not. Statistical procedures used include confidence intervals, interval hypothesis tests using parametric as well as nonparametric statistical methods. On presenting results to conclude that drugs are bioequivalent or not, in addition to hypothesis tests and confidence intervals, which indicates whether there is a difference or not, effect sizes will also be reported. If ever there is a difference between generic and brand name drugs, effect sizes then quantify the magnitude of the difference. KEY WORDS: bioequivalence, bioavailability, generic (test) drugs, brand name (reference) drugs, average bioequivalence, population bioequivalence, individual bioequivalence, pharmacokinetic parameters, therapeutic window, pharmaceutical equivalence, confidence intervals, hypothesis tests, effect sizes. / TG2016