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The aim of this study was to explore the relation between self-regulation, psychopathology and gender amongst a group of South African university students (N=384). Self-regulation was measured with the Shortened Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SSRQ: Carey, Neal, & Collins, 2004), and psychopathology with the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ: Goldberg & Hiller, 1979) as well as with an alcohol- and eating risk questionnaire. Results: A negative association was found between self-regulation and psychopathology, but significantly stronger for male students. Self-regulation was found to be more important to males regarding alcohol use and to females regarding eating behaviour. Gender differences in the relationship between self-regulation and psychopathology are probably due to differences in the tendency to rely on self or others, as well as to differences in socio-cultural and control mechanisms regarding alcohol and eating behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives The aim of this study was to synthesise and determine the transdermal penetration of cytarabine alkylamide derivatives and assess the correlation of flux with physicochemical properties. Methods The alkylamide derivatives of cytarabine were synthesised by acylation at the N4-amino group by the mixed anhydride method. The in-vitro permeation studies were performed using the Franz diffusion cell methodology. Furthermore, partition coefficients ( n-octanol-water) and aqueous solubility of the N4-alkylamide derivatives of cytarabine were determined in order to obtain information about their lipophilicity and hydrophilicity. Key findings The N4-alkylamides of cytarabine (acetyl, butanoyl, hexanoyl, octanoyl, and decanoyl derivatives) showed decreased hydrophilicity and increased lipophilicity. The log D values of the alkylamides were higher than that of the parent compound and increased linearly as the alkyl chain lengthened. N4-hexanoyl-4-amino-1-[(2R,3S,4R,5R)-3,4-dihydroxy-5-(hydroxymethyl)oxolan-2-yl] pyrimidin-2-one) showed the highest median steady-state flux (Jss) of 89.0 nmol/cm2 per h in the series, which shows a high statistical difference with the parent compound flux value (3.70 nmol/cm2 per h). Conclusions The prodrug approach appears to be a promising strategy for the enhancement of transdermal penetration of cytarabine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greening disease of citrus is a serious disease known in South Africa since the late 1920s. In South Africa, it is associated with infection by 'Candidatus Liberibacter africanus', a heat sensitive, phloem-limited, noncultured alpha-proteobacterium. Huanglongbing (HLB), a similar, but more devastating disease that was described initially from China but which now occurs in several citrus producing countries, is associated with a different Liberibacter species, 'Ca. L. asiaticus'. A 'Ca. L. africanus' subspecies, 'Ca. L. africanus subsp. capensis', has been found only in South Africa infecting an indigenous Rutaceous species, Calodendrum capense (Cape Chestnut), in the Western Cape in 1995. The discovery of a new Liberibacter species in Brazil, 'Ca. L. americanus', and the spread of 'Ca. L. asiaticus' to a number of additional countries over the last few yeass prompted us to assess whether only 'Ca. L. africanus' is present in commercial citrus orchards in South Africa. Samples displaying greening or similar symptoms were collected from 249 citrus trees from 57 orchards distributed throughout the greening affected citrus production areas of South Africa. Multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed on DNA extracts to detect the known citrus Liberibacters. Amplicons were obtained from 197 samples. None of the samples yielded a 1,027-bp amplicon indicative of 'Ca. L. americanus' infection. The amplicons of 84 samples were sequenced, and all were identical to the cognate 'Ca. L. africanus' Nelspi-uit sequence in GenBank. No instance of 'Ca. L. asiaticus' or 'Ca. L. africanus subsp. capensis' sequence was found. Geographically representative samples that tested negative for Liberibacter also tested negative for phytoplasmas based on real-time PCR results. Based on the results of this survey, it is concluded that to date only 'Ca. L. africanus' is associated with citrus greening in commercial citrus in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]