public static function getFeaturedGroups($groupList)
	{
		//database object
		$database = \App::get('db');

		//parse the group list
		$groupList = array_map('trim', array_filter(explode(',', $groupList), 'trim'));

		//make sure we have a list of groups
		if (count($groupList) < 1)
		{
			return array();
		}

		//query to get groups
		$sql = "SELECT g.gidNumber, g.cn, g.description, g.public_desc
				FROM `#__xgroups` AS g
				WHERE (g.type=1
				OR g.type=3)
				AND g.published=1
				AND g.approved=1
				AND g.discoverability=0
				AND g.cn IN ('".implode("','", $groupList)."')";

		$database->setQuery( $sql );
		if (!$database->getError())
		{
			return $database->loadObjectList();
		}
	}