Orthopaedic device innovation in South Africa: A study of patenting activity

We assessed knowledge development and exchange among actors who patent orthopaedic devices in South Africa over the period 2000–2015. A social network analysis was performed on bibliometric data using co-inventorship on patents as an indicator of collaboration between different organisations, with a focus on the spatial and sectoral contexts. Network metrics and innovation system indices are used to describe knowledge development and exchange. The results show that university, healthcare and industry organisations have primarily been responsible for increased patenting over time. The key actors were a set of industry actors – a national actor and its US partner – who have patented many devices jointly. National universities were found to make a small contribution, and science councils were found to be absent, despite the efforts in the changing innovation landscape to encourage publicly financed research organisations to protect their intellectual property. The collaboration networks were found to be sparse and disjointed, with many actors – largely from the private healthcare sector – patenting in isolation.Significance: The considerable number of patents filed by private sector clinicians in orthopaedic device innovation in their personal capacity is highlighted. Few patents emanate from national universities, and science council actors are largely absent, despite the Intellectual Property Rights from Publicly Financed Research and Development Act to protect intellectual property emanating from public research organisations. Patenting networks are more fragmented than are scientific publication networks

The medical device development landscape in South Africa: Institutions, sectors and collaboration

A characterisation of the medical device development landscape in South Africa would be beneficial for future policy developments that encourage locally developed devices to address local healthcare needs. The landscape was explored through a bibliometric analysis (2000–2013) of relevant scientific papers using co-authorship as an indicator of collaboration. Collaborating institutions thus found were divided into four sectors: academia (A); healthcare (H); industry (I); and science and support (S). A collaboration network was drawn to show the links between the institutions and analysed using network analysis metrics. Centrality measures identified seven dominant local institutions from three sectors. Group densities were used to quantify the extent of collaboration: the A sector collaborated the most extensively both within and between sectors; local collaborations were more prevalent than international collaborations. Translational collaborations (AHI, HIS or AHIS) are considered to be pivotal in fostering medical device innovation that is both relevant and likely to be commercialised. Few such collaborations were found, suggesting room for increased collaboration of these types in South Africa

Short emergency department length of stay attributed to full-body digital radiography - a review of 3 paediatric cases

Multiple casualties strain the resources of emergency departments. Two polytraumatised patients arriving simultaneously can overwhelm a small community hospital, while the capacity of a large urban emergency department does not extend beyond the treatment of 3 - 4 severely injured patients at the same time using the routine trauma protocol.1 Emergency department overcrowding because of multiple casualties leads to increased length of stay and can have an adverse effect on patient outcome. Variations from the norm in trauma management, particularly during the initial assessment and resuscitation phase of care, during a multiple casualty incident, has been associated with 10% and 9% incidence of preventable morbidity and mortality, respectively.2 Inadequate evaluation may contribute to up to 30% of early deaths in children with polytrauma.

Short emergency department length of stay attributed to full-body digital radiography - a review of 3 paediatric cases

Multiple casualties strain the resources of emergency departments. Two polytraumatised patients arriving simultaneously can overwhelm a small community hospital, while the capacity of a large urban emergency department does not extend beyond the treatment of 3 - 4 severely injured patients at the same time using the routine trauma protocol.1 Emergency department overcrowding because of multiple casualties leads to increased length of stay and can have an adverse effect on patient outcome. Variations from the norm in trauma management, particularly during the initial assessment and resuscitation phase of care, during a multiple casualty incident, has been associated with 10% and 9% incidence of preventable morbidity and mortality, respectively.2 Inadequate evaluation may contribute to up to 30% of early deaths in children with polytrauma.

Building needs-based healthcare technology competencies across Africa

Needs-based technology innovation for better health on the African continent requires that African countries develop a strong health technology research and development base, grounded in an understanding of the local context. The discipline of biomedical engineering plays an important developmental role in this regard, through research and training to advance health technology capacity. In recognition of this strategic imperative, the African Biomedical Engineering Consortium (ABEC) was founded in 2012, with the vision of building and nurturing the competencies required to support a robust and dynamic health technology sector

The X-Linked Inhibitor of Apoptosis Protein Inhibitor Embelin Suppresses Inflammation and Bone Erosion in Collagen Antibody Induced Arthritis Mice

Copyright © 2015 Anak A. S. S. K. Dharmapatni et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Objective. To investigate the effect of Embelin, an inhibitor of X-Linked Inhibitor of Apoptosis Protein (XIAP), on inflammation and bone erosion in a collagen antibody induced arthritis (CAIA) in mice. Methods. Four groups of mice ( per group) were allocated: CAIA untreated mice, CAIA treated with Prednisolone (10 mg/kg/day), CAIA treated with low dose Embelin (30 mg/kg/day), and CAIA treated with high dose Embelin (50 mg/kg/day). Joint inflammation was evaluated using clinical paw score and histological assessments. Bone erosion was assessed using micro-CT, tartrate resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) staining, and serum carboxy-terminal collagen crosslinks (CTX-1) ELISA. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect XIAP protein. TUNEL was performed to identify apoptotic cells. Results. Low dose, but not high dose Embelin, suppressed inflammation as reflected by lower paw scores () and lower histological scores for inflammation. Low dose Embelin reduced serum CTX-1 () and demonstrated lower histological score and TRAP counting, and slightly higher bone volume as compared to CAIA untreated mice. XIAP expression was not reduced but TUNEL positive cells were more abundant in Embelin treated CAIA mice. Conclusion. Low dose Embelin suppressed inflammation and serum CTX-1 in CAIA mice, indicating a potential use for Embelin to treat pathological bone loss

Gliomas and Farm Pesticide Exposure in Women: The Upper Midwest Health Study

An excess incidence of brain cancer in male farmers has been noted in several studies, but few studies have focused on women. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Upper Midwest Health Study evaluated effects of rural exposures for 341 female glioma cases and 528 controls, all adult (18–80 years of age) nonmetropolitan residents of Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. On average, controls lived longer on farms than did cases. After adjusting for age, age group, education, and farm residence, no association with glioma was observed for exposure to arsenicals, benzoic acids, carbamates, chloroacetanilides, dinitroanilines, inorganics, organochlorines, organophosphates, phenoxys, triazines, or urea-based or estrogenic pesticides. An increased risk of glioma was observed for carbamate herbicides but was not statistically significant (odds ratio = 3.0; 95% confidence interval, 0.9–9.5). No association was observed between glioma and exposure to 12 widely used specific pesticides, after adjustment for age, age group, education, and any other pesticide exposure. These results were not affected after exclusion of proxy respondents (43% of cases, 2% of controls). Women were less likely than men to have applied pesticides, but more likely to have laundered pesticide-contaminated clothes. Storing pesticides in the house was associated with a statistically non-significant increased risk. Results show that exposure to pesticides was not associated with an increased risk of intracranial gliomas in women. Other farm-related factors could be etiologic factors and will be discussed in future reports