Revisiting PAGAD Machoism or Islamism?

Two years after the first free elections in the history of South Africa, which brought the liberation movement to political power, a new twist was added to the seemingly ever-present violence of the gang-lands of Cape Town. A vigilante movement dominated by Cape Muslims, People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (PAGAD), launched a series of assassinations of local drug lords and vowed to free the postapartheid townships of the scourge of crime and drugs. Since autumn of the year 2000, PAGAD's militant actions have ceased to pose a security threat in Cape Town. Most of the militants of the movement are behind bars. But even long after the movement reached its zenith and decline, academics have failed to reach a consensus over what the peculiar phenomenon of PAGAD actually represented

How “Islamic” is Secularism? Lessons from Cape Town

Secularism is often seen as anathema to Islamic traditions. The findings from research on the responses of Muslims in Cape Town to state secularism and societal secularization in postapartheid South Africa indicate the emergence of an ambiguous accommodation between Muslims and the secular state, and thus challenge reductionist assumptions about the relation of Islamic traditions to secularism

Matrix metalloproteinases in subjects with type 1 diabetes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Nephropathy is serious complication of diabetes. We have previously shown that level of the proteoglycan syndecan-1 in blood is associated with ultrastructural kidney changes in young persons with type 1 diabetes. Dysregulation of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and tissue inhibitors of matrix metalloproteinases (TIMPs) may contribute to the development of nephropathy. The aim of this study was to investigate if the levels of MMPs in blood samples are potential markers of early nephropathy in type 1 diabetes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Blood samples were collected from type 1 diabetes patients after 11 years of diabetes (n = 15) and healthy volunteers (n = 12) and stored at ÷80°C until measurement. Levels and activities of serum MMP-2, MMP-9, TIMP-1 and TIMP- 2 were analyzed and compared to those of control individuals using ELISA, SDS-PAGE gelatin zymography, and Western blot analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The serum levels of both MMP-9 and MMP-2 were significantly higher in subjects with type 1 diabetes, compared to controls (p = 0.016 and p = 0.008 respectively). Western blotting revealed no differences between the two groups in the levels of TIMP-1 or TIMP-2, respectively.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our MMP analysis of serum from a limited number of patients with type 1 diabetes suggest that such analysis is potentially useful as markers in studies of people at risk of progression to chronic kidney disease.</p

A922 Sequential measurement of 1 hour creatinine clearance (1-CRCL) in critically ill patients at risk of acute kidney injury (AKI)

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