Effect of Apium Graveolens (Celery) Seed Extract on Serum Uric Acid Level of Hyperuricemic Rats and its Comparison with Allopurinol

Background: Plant derived medicines are widely used in traditional culture all over the world. Objectives: To determine the effect of Celery Seed Extract (CSE) on uric acid levels in hyperuricemic rats and to compare the effect of allopurinol and CSE. Methods: It was an animal experimental research study. Group A served as negative control whereas Group B served as positive control. CSE was given orally to three groups of rats (C, D, and E). One hour prior to administration of CSE; potassium oxonate was injected intraperitoneally in all groups except negative control to induce hyperuricemia. Similarly, group F was given allopurinol one hour after injection of potassium oxonate. Blood samples were collected for uric acid estimation. Results: It was found that administration of both CSE (group C, D, E) and allopurinol (group F) significantly lowered serum uric acid levels (p<0.001) as compared to positive control (group B). Serum uric acid lowering effect of both drugs CSE and allopurinol was found to be statistically significant on day 3rd and day 7th and was almost comparable. Conclusions: Celery seed extract significantly reduces serum uric acid levels in potassium oxonate-induced hyperuricemic rats and its uric acid lowering effect was comparable with that of allopurinol.

Comparative Study of Organizational Commitment, Morale and Job Satisfaction of Subject Specialists and Lecturers Teaching at Intermediate Level

This study was aimed at comparing the organizational commitment, morale and job satisfaction of Subject Specialists and Lecturers teaching at intermediate level. The major objectives of the study were to compare the level of organizational commitment, morale and job satisfaction of Subject Specialists and Lecturers and also to determine the relationship among organizational commitment, morale and job satisfaction of Subject Specialist and Lecturers. The differences in the level of organizational commitment, morale and job satisfaction of Subject Specialists and Lecturers were calculated and relationship among their organizational commitment, morale and job satisfaction was found. The study was delimited to Subject Specialists of Government Higher Secondary Schools and Lecturers of Government Colleges working on regular basis, in the jurisdiction of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan. It was an inferential study and the survey method was used for data collection. The population for the study was all the Subject Specialists of 292 Government Higher Secondary Schools and the Lecturers of 177 Government Colleges of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Using the single-stage duster sampling technique a sample of 610 Subject Specialists from 95 Government Higher Secondary Schools and 526 Lecturers from 45 Government Colleges was selected. Three instruments i.e. Organizational Commitment Scale (OCS) adapted from Organizational Commitment Questionnaire by Mowday, Steers, and Porter (1979), Morale Scale (MS) adapted from Purdue Teacher Opinionaire used by Houchard (2005) and Job Satisfaction Scale (JSS) adapted from Scale of Job Satisfaction by Bas and Ardic (2002) were used for the collection of data in this study. All the three instruments were validated by seven experts and administered to 145 respondents (74 Subject Specialists and 71 Lecturers) for pilot testing. Data were collected through vitipersonal visits. The number of respondents in this study was 951 (542 Subject Specialists and 409 Lecturers). Data were analyzed by applying two-sample t-test and the Pearson’s correlation test. The major findings of the study were that Lecturers showed a higher level of organizational commitment, morale and job satisfaction as compared to Subject Specialists. There was no difference in level of organizational commitment, morale and job satisfaction between the urban and rural Subject Specialists; the rural Lecturers have higher level of morale and job satisfaction than urban Lecturers while no difference was found in their level of organizational commitment, Both die male and female Subject Specialists as well as Lecturers showed no difference in their level of job satisfaction. Bui male Subject Specialists and Lecturers both showed higher level of organizational commitment than their female counterpart. On the other hand in case of morale, male and female Subject Specialists showed no difference while male Lecturers have higher level of morale than females. The Subject Specialists having more than 7 years experience showed higher level of organizational commitment and job satisfaction than the less experienced Subject Specialists while no difference was found in their level of morale. On the other hand Lecturers showed no difference in all the three variables i.e. organizational commitment, morale and job satisfaction with respect to experience and qualification. The Subject Specialists having only Master degree showed higher level of morale and job satisfaction as compared to those having higher qualification of M. Phil, and Ph, D., while no difference was found in their level of organizational commitment with respect to qualification. A strong positive relationship was found among organizational commitment, morale and job satisfaction for both the cadres of Subject Specialists and Lecturers. It was recommended that enough physical facilities, conducive working ixenvironment and higher qualification allowance might be given to Subject Specialists, there was need to change the physical facilities and working environment in the Higher Secondary Schools and higher qualification allowance may be awarded to Subject Specialists.