2 research outputs found
Erythrocyte, Platelet, Serum Ferritin, and P-Selectin Pathophysiology Implicated in Severe Hypercoagulation and Vascular Complications in COVID-19
CITATION: Venter, C. et al. 2020. Erythrocyte, Platelet, Serum Ferritin, and P-Selectin Pathophysiology Implicated in Severe Hypercoagulation and Vascular Complications in COVID-19. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 21(21). doi:10.3390/ijms21218234The original publication is available at https://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijmsProgressive respiratory failure is seen as a major cause of death in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2)-induced infection. Relatively little is known about the associated morphologic and molecular changes in the circulation of these patients. In particular, platelet and erythrocyte pathology might result in severe vascular issues, and the manifestations may include thrombotic complications. These thrombotic pathologies may be both extrapulmonary and intrapulmonary and may be central to respiratory failure. Previously, we reported the presence of amyloid microclots in the circulation of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Here, we investigate the presence of related circulating biomarkers, including C-reactive protein (CRP), serum ferritin, and P-selectin. These biomarkers are well-known to interact with, and cause pathology to, platelets and erythrocytes. We also study the structure of platelets and erythrocytes using fluorescence microscopy (using the markers PAC-1 and CD62PE) and scanning electron microscopy. Thromboelastography and viscometry were also used to study coagulation parameters and plasma viscosity. We conclude that structural pathologies found in platelets and erythrocytes, together with spontaneously formed amyloid microclots, may be central to vascular changes observed during COVID-19 progression, including thrombotic microangiopathy, diffuse intravascular coagulation, and large-vessel thrombosis, as well as ground-glass opacities in the lungs. Consequently, this clinical snapshot of COVID-19 strongly suggests that it is also a true vascular disease and considering it as such should form an essential part of a clinical treatment regime.https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/21/21/8234Publishers versio
Veelvuldige gebruike vir huishoudelike toestelle
Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2013.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die eerste gedeelte van hierdie tesis ondersoek die ruimtelike basis vir morele agentskap in
Gert Vlok Nel se digbundel om te lewe is onnatuurlik. As teoretiese raamwerk word daar van
die teoloog/letterkundige Wesley Kort, die letterkundige/sosioloog Irma du Plessis en die
radikale geograaf David Harvey se werk gebruik gemaak.
Kwessies soos die (i) wisselwerking tussen omvattende, sosiale en intieme ruimtes deur
narratiewe ruimtelikheid in poësie, (ii) die onstandvastigheid van die onderskeid tussen
private en openbare ruimtes en (iii) verkillende vorms van ruimtelikheid, soos absolute,
relatiewe en relasionele ruimtes, asook materiële ruimte, gerepresenteerde ruimte en ruimtes
van representasie kom aan die bod.
Daar word aangevoer dat Gert Vlok Nel se bewustelike plasing van homself as
randfiguurdigter binne die Afrikaanse literĂŞre sisteem as vorm van morele agentskap gesien
kan word. Verder word getoon dat, as om te lewe is onnatuurlik in geheel en as
familiekroniek gelees word, die onderskeid tussen private en openbare ruimtes waar geweld
en trauma plaasvind ondergrawe word en sodoende politieke magskwessies as persoonliketiese
kwessies herdefinieer. Laastens word argument gevoer dat, alhoewel die sprekerdigter
in die bundel (“Gert”, of “Gertjie”) op die oog af gebrekkige agentskap blyk te toon,
die besonderse tydruimtelike plasing van die spreker-digter die moontlikheid vir
verruiming van agentskap skep en sodoende die idee van versplinterde subjek uitdaag.
Hierdie akademiese opstel hou verband met die kreatiewe gedeelte van die tesis, digbundel
getiteld Veelvuldige gebruike vir huishoudelike toestelle, waarin huishoudelike ruimtes as
vertrekpunt gebruik word om kwessies soos morele verantwoordbaarheid, kreatiewe
aandadigheid, post-koloniale manlikheid, sosiale verandering en trauma te ondersoek.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The first part of this thesis investigates the spatial grounds for moral agency in Gert Vlok
Nel’s collection of poems om te lewe is onnatuurlik [“to live is unnatural”]. The works of
theologian/literary theorist Wesley Kort, literary theorist/sociologist Irma du Plessis and
radical geographer David Harvey are used as theoretical framing.
Matters such as (i) the interplay between encompassing, social and intimate spaces through
narrative spatiality in poetry, (ii) flawed distinctions between private and public space, and
(iii) different forms of spatiality, such as absolute, relative and relational space, as well as
material space, represented space and spaces of representation are explored.
It is argued that Gert Vlok Nel’s conscious positioning of himself as poetic outsider within
the Afrikaans literary system can be seen as a form of moral agency. Furthermore, it is
pointed out that a reading of om te lewe is onnatuurlik in its entirety, as family chronicle,
destabilises the distinction between private and public spaces where violence and trauma
occur, thereby recasting political power as questions of personal ethics. Finally it is argued
that, although the narrator-poet in die collection (“Gert”, or “Gertjie”) seems to lack agency,
the peculiar spatio-temporal placing of the narrator-poet nevertheless opens up room for the
possibility of agency and by doing this, challenges the idea of a splintered subject.
This academic essay is related to the creative part of this thesis, a collection of poems titled
Veelvuldige gebruike vir huishoudelike toestelle [“Multiple uses for domestic appliances”], in
which household space is used as a vantage point from which to interrogate issues such as
moral responsibility, creative complicity, postcolonial masculinities, social change and
trauma