Understanding Durban University of Technology Students’ Perceptions of Biodiversity Loss

Biodiversity loss has been recognised as a global and local problem of increasing magnitude. As future leaders, university students may play an influential role in alleviating this serious and multifaceted problem. This particular research focuses on a relatively new area of study not yet covered in the literature, that of South African university students’ perceptions and understandings of biodiversity. This paper seeks to describe the knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of students at Durban University of Technology towards biodiversity and to consider some of the socio-cultural causal factors. Student opinions were sampled using an appropriate survey modelled after European biodiversity surveys and adapted to meet the unique challenges of South African conditions and rich biodiversity found in Durban’s urban green spaces. The quantitative data were then merged with qualitative data drawn from four focus groups sampled across selected faculties at the institution. The focus groups involved guided discussion on the relevance of biodiversity, viewing of video clips and local field visits to Pigeon Valley Nature Reserve and the Durban Botanic Gardens. The results indicated high levels of concern for biodiversity loss and strong cultural connections with traditional African medicinal plants

Superconductivity at 4 K in Pd-Deficient Layered Ta2PdxS6

In the present short letter, we report on the low dimensional 4d and 5d transition metals-chalcogenide based compounds i.e., Ta2PdxS6, showing semiconducting to superconducting transition at around 4K with their upper critical fields outside the Pauli paramagnetic limit. It seems couple of different superconducting phases do exist in these new set of compounds. Our short letter in this regards is thought provoking, asking to explore various unearthed possible new superconducting phases in (Nb/Ta)2Pdx(S/Se/Te)y systems

Multiple microbiologic tests for tuberculosis improve diagnostic yield of bronchoscopy in medically complex patients [version 1; peer review: 2 approved]

Background: Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) is indicated for medical evaluation of complex cases of lung disease. There is limited data on the performance of tuberculosis (TB) microbiologic tests on BAL in such patients, particularly in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and TB endemic areas. / Methods: We evaluated the performance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) culture and up to two simultaneous Xpert MTB/RIF tests on BAL fluid against a consensus clinical diagnosis in 98 medically complex patients undergoing bronchoscopy over a two-year period in Durban, South Africa. / Results: TB was the most frequently diagnosed lung disease, found in 19 of 98 participants (19%) and was microbiologically proven in 14 of these (74%); 9 (47%) were culture positive and 5 were positive on at least one Xpert MTB/RIF assay. Immunosuppression prevalence was high (26% HIV-infected, 29% on immunosuppressive therapy and 4% on chemotherapy). Xpert MTB/RIF had low sensitivity (45%) and high specificity (99%) when assessed against the consensus clinical diagnosis. Compared to TB culture, a single Xpert MTB/RIF increased the diagnostic yield by 11% and a second Xpert MTB/RIF by a further 16%. / Conclusion: Although Xpert MTB/RIF had a low sensitivity, sending two tests improved the microbiologically-proven diagnostic yield of bronchoscopy from 47% to 74% compared to culture alone

Facile synthesis of 2-dimensional transparent graphene flakes for nucleic acid detection

We report on the synthesis of 2-dimensional transparent graphene flakes (GF; 2.2 mu m x 50 mu m), onto indium-tin-oxide (ITO) coated glass plates, by electrochemical exfoliation of graphite rods using in situ intercalation of potassium ions. Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infra-red (FT-IR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy, are used to probe the formation of graphene structures, revealing the generation of GF. Synthesized GF are employed as DNA immobilization platform for genosensor design for Mycobacterium tuberculosis detection. This GF based biosensing electrode exhibits high sensitivity, fast response and wide detection range etc. These findings are important for cost-effective strategy for the production of GF for application to advanced biosensors, and to understand graphene-based biosensing mechanism specifically for nucleic acid detection