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2-Amino[2.2]paracyclophanereactswithsalicylaldehydeor2-hydroxyacetophenone to yield imines that then give access to a new series ofboranils (8b–d) upon complexation with BF2. These novel boron-containingcompounds display both planar and axial chiralities and were examined exper-imentally and computationally. In particular, their photophysical and chiropti-cal properties were studied and compared to newly prepared, simpler boranils(9a–d) exhibiting axial chirality only. Less sophisticated chiral architectureswere shown to demonstrate overall stronger circularly polarized luminescence(CPL) activity.

The synthesis of N, N-disubstituted –3-( 1-benzenesulphonylindol- 2-yl and 3-yl) propagylamines by cuprous catalyzed Mannich reaction of 2 and 3, 1-(1-benzenesulphonyl-indol)ethynes and secondary amines in ethanol at reflux temperature afforded the compounds 4-methylpiperazinomethyl-2-(1-benzenesulphonylindol-2-yl)ethyne (1), 4-methylpiperazinomethyl-2-(1-benzenesulphonylindol-3-yl)ethyne (2a), 4-methyl-piperazinomethyl-2-(1-benzenesulphonyl-5-methoxyindol-3yl)ethyne (2b), morpholino-2-(benzenesulphonylindol-3yl)ethyne (3a), morpholino-2-(1-benzenesulphonyl-5-methoxy-indol-3-yl)ethyne (3b) and N-carboxyethoxymethyl-3-(1- benzenesulphonylindol-3yl)ethyne (4) in good yields. All these compounds were fully characterized by means of Infrared spectroscopy, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (1H) and Mass spectrometry, and elemental analyses. Their potential trypanocidal activity was evaluated in vitro against Trypanosoma brucei brucei (S427/118 Mi Tat 1.5) and compound 1 was found to be the most active. This study has therefore established typical synthetic procedures for the new N, N-disubstituted -3-(1-benzenesulphonylindol-2-yl and -3-yl) propagylamines and furnished their spectral analysis.Keywords: Propagylamines, spectral analysis, synthesis, trypanocidal activityEast and Central African Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences Vol. 13 (2010) 72-77

Leaks from aircraft fuel tanks have always represented a problem for aircraft manufacturers, airline operators and maintenance crews. The integral fuel tanks within aircraft structures are typically located within the wings and they rely upon sealant materials to prevent leakage past joints and fasteners. However, the wing is designed as a structural member first and as a fuel tank second and there exist many potential leak paths for the fuel from these complex, highly loaded structures. Fuel leaks result in direct loss of fuel which may be dangerous, cause a loss in revenue due to aircraft being withdrawn from service and be difficult and expensive to repair. On top of this there are important health and safety issues involved in the repair of fuel tanks, for example, the Royal Australian Air Force's, F-lll Deseal Reseal Programme 1979 to 2000, where it was found that a significant number of RAAF personnel involved in the Deseal Reseal Programme were suffering from a variety of health problems. Current approaches to fuel tank sealant evaluation embrace immersion in a range of different fluids at different temperatures, of both bulk sealant samples and sealed joints. However, nearly all such tests are of a "static" nature and yet it is acknowledged that joint movement leads to leaks. Thus the missing component of testing is movement coupled with the other key variables. The aircraft industry has been searching for a relatively simple test method that can be used to evaluate sealed joint systems using realistic combinations of materials, joint geometries, imposed stresses and environmental conditions. The aim of this project was to do exactly this. A practical but realistic dynamic test, the Model Sealed System (MSS), was designed, made and evaluated. This unique mechanism consists of an axial stress machine into which fatigue, high and low temperatures and pressures can be programmed for automatic operation. A novel circular lap joint lies at the heart of the MSS in which test sealant is sandwiched between the circular coupons that are then assembled with aerospace fasteners and sealed. This joint configuration is representative of a wing skin butt-strap joint in a real aircraft. The MSS is easy to run, it accurately simulates real world dynamics and conditioning, and it provides results to qualify sealants in a more realistic manner than current testing methods provide. The MSS enables evaluation and comparative testing of sealant systems when used for interfay, fillet and overcoat applications. The information provided is complementary to that obtained from conventional small scale coupon testing; it is not seen as a substitute. Further work is required to refine the test variables and further data are required to provide confidence in the utility of the MSS. Development of the MSS was undertaken with the support of Airbus UK to ensure that the design, materials and all other variables met with the overall requirements of a commercial aircraft manufacturer. Airbus UK have a duplicate MSS of their own, installed by the author, from which they can obtain patterns of data for different combinations of materials and experimental variables.

Forced evictions are a prominent challenge facing developing world communities, and a major driver of forced migration. A study of forced urban eviction in Tanzania shows that grassroots mobilisation alone may be unable to confront the challenges of displacement and that there are risks when mobilisation around displacement is premised on unrealistic expectations.

Dan Jacobson is a prolific writer whose oeuvre spans some 65 years, and includes a range of different texts. He has lived in Britain for most of his adult life, but his roots are South African, and he set much of his early work in this country. It has however fallen into relative critical obscurity. His 1959 story ‘The Zulu and the Zeide’has been widely anthologised, but deserves more serious and more specific critical attention that it has recently received, because it evinces at an elemental level the ways in which, and the extent to which, human caring was able to challenge, arrest and undermine the public proscriptions set up to define and control interaction between people in our country during the apartheid years. This essay explores the embodiment of caritas in the story, the spatialisation that reflects the boundaries (and the crossing of boundaries) of the apartheid world he depicts, the micropolitics of power between the characters in the story and within the complex of relationships that develop between them, and the ethics of our reading of the story.Keywords: Caritas, embodiment, spatialisation, apartheid, micropolitics of power, ethics of reading

A key concept for the future evaluation of sealant materials for commercial aircraft is to expose realistic sealed joint systems to typical dynamic and environmental parameters representative of actual flight conditions. The development of a mechanism to undertake the full range of test parameters for the evaluation of sealants for current and future aircraft is described in this paper. This mechanism, or model sealed system (MSS), consists of an axial stress machine into which vibrational fatigue, high and low temperatures and pressures can be programmed for automatic operation. The test coupons, within the MSS, can be stressed to simulate flight conditions along with the flight pressures and temperatures. The MSS is described and the results of sealant evaluation to date are presented

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of once-yearly zoledronic acid on the number of days of back pain and the number of days of disability (ie, limited activity and bed rest) owing to back pain or fracture in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. This was a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in 240 clinical centers in 27 countries. Participants included 7736 postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. Patients were randomized to receive either a single 15-minute intravenous infusion of zoledronic acid (5 mg) or placebo at baseline, 12 months, and 24 months. The main outcome measures were self-reported number of days with back pain and the number of days of limited activity and bed rest owing to back pain or a fracture, and this was assessed every 3 months over a 3-year period. Our results show that although the incidence of back pain was high in both randomized groups, women randomized to zoledronic acid experienced, on average, 18 fewer days of back pain compared with placebo over the course of the trial (p = .0092). The back pain among women randomized to zoledronic acid versus placebo resulted in 11 fewer days of limited activity (p = .0017). In Cox proportional-hazards models, women randomized to zoledronic acid were about 6% less likely to experience 7 or more days of back pain [relative risk (RR) = 0.94, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.90–0.99] or limited activity owing to back pain (RR = 0.94, 95% CI 0.87–1.00). Women randomized to zoledronic acid were significantly less likely to experience 7 or more bed-rest days owing to a fracture (RR = 0.58, 95% CI 0.47–0.72) and 7 or more limited-activity days owing to a fracture (RR = 0.67, 95% CI 0.58–0.78). Reductions in back pain with zoledronic acid were independent of incident fracture. Our conclusion is that in women with postmenopausal osteoporosis, a once-yearly infusion with zoledronic acid over a 3-year period significantly reduced the number of days that patients reported back pain, limited activity owing to back pain, and limited activity and bed rest owing to a fracture.

Background: The randomized, double-blind Multiple Outcomes of Raloxifene Evaluation (MORE) trial found that 4 years of raloxifene therapy decreased the incidence of invasive breast cancer among postmenopausal women with osteoporosis by 72% compared with placebo. We conducted the Continuing Outcomes Relevant to Evista (CORE) trial to examine the effect of 4 additional years of raloxifene therapy on the incidence of invasive breast cancer in women in MORE who agreed to continue in CORE. Methods: Women who had been randomly assigned to receive raloxifene (either 60 or 120 mg/day) in MORE were assigned to receive raloxifene (60 mg/day) in CORE (n = 3510), and women who had been assigned to receive placebo in MORE continued on placebo in CORE (n = 1703). Breast cancer incidence was analyzed by a log-rank test, and a Cox proportional hazards model was used to compute hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). All statistical tests were two-sided. Results: During the CORE trial, the 4-year incidences of invasive breast cancer and estrogen receptor (ER)-positive invasive breast cancer were reduced by 59% (HR = 0.41; 95% CI = 0.24 to 0.71) and 66% (HR = 0.34; 95% CI = 0.18 to 0.66), respectively, in the raloxifene group compared with the placebo group. There was no difference between the two groups in incidence of ER-negative invasive breast cancer during CORE (P = .86). Over the 8 years of both trials, the incidences of invasive breast cancer and ER-positive invasive breast cancer were reduced by 66% (HR = 0.34; 95 % CI = 0.22 to 0.50) and 76% (HR = 0.24; 95% CI = 0.15 to 0.40), respectively, in the raloxifene group compared with the placebo group. During the CORE trial, the relative risk of thromboembolism in the raloxifene group compared with that in the placebo group was 2.17 (95% CI = 0.83 to 5.70). This increased risk, also observed in the MORE trial, persisted over the 8 years of both trials. Conclusions: The reduction in invasive breast cancer incidence continues beyond 4 years of raloxifene treatment in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. No new safety concerns related to raloxifene therapy were identified during CORE. © Oxford University Press 2004, all rights reserved.

This paper reports on the design and evaluation of a project aimed at fostering the critical thinking abilities and dispositions of first year students at an Australian university. Novel paper and pencil problems were designed to foster the range of critical thinking abilities identified by Ennis (1991). Most of these critical thinking tasks relate to applications of chemistry and physics in everyday life. Some of the tasks were developed from information and/or ideas obtained from critical incident interviews with scientists in private and government organisations. The first year university students were required to attempt the tasks in co-operative groups and to interact in these groups in ways aimed at fostering the dispositions of Ennis ideal critical thinker (Ennis 1996). The project was evaluated from discussions with groups of students, from comments of tutors who observed the students working in groups and from a questionnaire. Evidence obtained from these data indicated that many students considered their thinking skills were enhanced by their experience of attempting the tasks in small co-operative groups.

Previous researchers have found expansion of CD4+CD28- T cells in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) compared to age matched controls, and have identified expanded clones of autoreactive cells within this population. We examine the association of prior cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection (positive serum anti-CMV IgG) with the percentage of CD4+CD28- T cells and CD8+CD28- T cells in patients with RA.A total of 45 patients (36 women, 9 men), mean age of 59 years, with definite RA were studied.In this group 28 patients were seropositive for CMV and 17 seronegative. Seropositive and seronegative subjects did not differ significantly in age, sex, medication use, or severity of disease. Joint count, Health Assessment Questionnaire, pain score, patient global assessment, physician global assessment, and presence of extraarticular disease served to assess disease severity. Expression of CD4/CD28/CD57 and CD8/CD28/CD57 on lymphocytes was determined by 3 color flow cytometry. (CD28 and CD57 are reciprocally related.) CD4+CD28-CD57+ T cells were expanded only in CMV seropositive patients.The "carrier" phenotype that has been hypothesized based on a 2 population model for the distribution of CD4+CD28- T cells in RA can be explained by prior infection with CMV.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) exist widely in both the indoor and outdoor environment. The main contributing sources of VOCs are motor vehicle exhaust and solvent utilization. Some VOCs are toxic and carcinogenic to human health, such as benzene. In this study, TiO 2 –SiO 2 based photocatalysts were synthesized using the sol–gel method, with high surface areas of 274.1–421.1 m 2 /g obtained. Two types of pellets were used as catalysts in a fixed-bed reactor installed with a UV black light lamp. Experiments were conducted to compare their efficiencies in degrading the VOCs. Toluene was used as the VOC indicator. When the toluene laden gas stream passed through the photocatalytic reactor, the removal efficiencies were determined using a FTIR multi-gas analyser, which was connected to the outlet of the reactor to analyse the toluene concentrations. As the TiO 2 –SiO 2 pellets used have a high adsorption capacity, they had dual functions as a photocatalyst and adsorbent in the hybrid photocatalysis and adsorption system. The experiments demonstrated that the porous photocatalyst with very high adsorptive capacity enhanced the subsequent photocatalysis reactions and lead to a positive synergistic effect. The catalyst can be self-regenerated by photocatalytic oxidation of the adsorbed VOCs. When the UV irradiation and feeding gas is continuous, a destruction efficiency of about 25% was achieved over a period of 20 h. Once the system was designed and operated into adsorption/regeneration mode, a higher removal efficiency of about 55% was maintained. It was found that the catalyst pellets with a higher surface area (421 m 2 /g) achieved higher conversion efficiency (100%) for a longer period than those with a lower surface area. A full spectrum scan was carried out using a Bio-rad Infrared spectrometer, finding that the main components of the treated gas stream leaving the reactor, along with untreated toluene, were CO 2 and water. The suspected intermediates of aliphatic hydrocarbons and CO were found in minimal amounts or were non detectable. The kinetic rate constants were calculated from the experimental results, it appeared that the stronger adsorption capacity, i.e. larger specific surface area, the higher conversion efficiency would be achieved.