Salmonella typhi central nervous system infection

This report aims to document Salmonella typhi as a cause of central nervous system infection

Diving into the vertical dimension of elasmobranch movement ecology

Knowledge of the three-dimensional movement patterns of elasmobranchs is vital to understand their ecological roles and exposure to anthropogenic pressures. To date, comparative studies among species at global scales have mostly focused on horizontal movements. Our study addresses the knowledge gap of vertical movements by compiling the first global synthesis of vertical habitat use by elasmobranchs from data obtained by deployment of 989 biotelemetry tags on 38 elasmobranch species. Elasmobranchs displayed high intra- and interspecific variability in vertical movement patterns. Substantial vertical overlap was observed for many epipelagic elasmobranchs, indicating an increased likelihood to display spatial overlap, biologically interact, and share similar risk to anthropogenic threats that vary on a vertical gradient. We highlight the critical next steps toward incorporating vertical movement into global management and monitoring strategies for elasmobranchs, emphasizing the need to address geographic and taxonomic biases in deployments and to concurrently consider both horizontal and vertical movements

Diving into the vertical dimension of elasmobranch movement ecology

Knowledge of the three-dimensional movement patterns of elasmobranchs is vital to understand their ecological roles and exposure to anthropogenic pressures. To date, comparative studies among species at global scales have mostly focused on horizontal movements. Our study addresses the knowledge gap of vertical movements by compiling the first global synthesis of vertical habitat use by elasmobranchs from data obtained by deployment of 989 biotelemetry tags on 38 elasmobranch species. Elasmobranchs displayed high intra- and interspecific variability in vertical movement patterns. Substantial vertical overlap was observed for many epipelagic elasmobranchs, indicating an increased likelihood to display spatial overlap, biologically interact, and share similar risk to anthropogenic threats that vary on a vertical gradient. We highlight the critical next steps toward incorporating vertical movement into global management and monitoring strategies for elasmobranchs, emphasizing the need to address geographic and taxonomic biases in deployments and to concurrently consider both horizontal and vertical movements

Diving into the vertical dimension of elasmobranch movement ecology

Knowledge of the three-dimensional movement patterns of elasmobranchs is vital to understand their ecological roles and exposure to anthropogenic pressures. To date, comparative studies among species at global scales have mostly focused on horizontal movements. Our study addresses the knowledge gap of vertical movements by compiling the first global synthesis of vertical habitat use by elasmobranchs from data obtained by deployment of 989 biotelemetry tags on 38 elasmobranch species. Elasmobranchs displayed high intra- and interspecific variability in vertical movement patterns. Substantial vertical overlap was observed for many epipelagic elasmobranchs, indicating an increased likelihood to display spatial overlap, biologically interact, and share similar risk to anthropogenic threats that vary on a vertical gradient. We highlight the critical next steps toward incorporating vertical movement into global management and monitoring strategies for elasmobranchs, emphasizing the need to address geographic and taxonomic biases in deployments and to concurrently consider both horizontal and vertical movements

Salmonella typhi central nervous system infection

This report aims to document Salmonella typhi as a cause of central nervous system infection

Prevalence of blaSHV, blaTEM and blaCTX-M antibiotic resistance genes in selected bacterial pathogens from the Pretoria Academic Hospital

Extended spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) are considered one of the most important antibiotic resistance mechanisms. Multidrug resistance is emerging in many Gram-negative pathogens and is associated with severe nosocomial infections. The emergence of ESBL-producing bacteria coincided, in the 1980s, with the increased usage of cephalosporins. This study investigated the prevalence of ESBLs in 56 selected clinical bacterial isolates, collected over a three week period during August 2006, from the Pretoria Academic Hospital. Isolates included: one Citrobacter freundii; 13 Escherichia coli; three Morganella morganii ssp morganii; four Enterobacter cloacae; 34 Klebsiella pneumoniae and one Proteus penneri. Multiplex PCR was used to detect the presence of the blaSHV, blaTEM and blaCTX-M genes. The results were as follow for each of the isolates: i) E. coli: blaSHV detected in 8% (1/13); blaTEM and blaSHV detected in 15% (2/13); blaTEM and blaCTX-M detected in 23% (3/13) and blaTEM detected in 54% (7/13) of the isolates. ii) M. morganii: blaSHV detected in 33% (1/3) and blaTEM and blaCTX-M detected in 33% (1/3) of the isolates. The third M. morganii isolate was negative for all the genes. iii) The P. penneri isolate was positive for the blaTEM gene only. iv) K. pneumoniae: blaSHV detected in 3% (1/34); blaSHV and blaTEM detected in 6% (2/34); blaTEM detected in 15% (5/34) and blaTEM and blaCTX-M detected in 35% (12/34) of the isolates. v) E. cloacae: blaTEM detected in 25% (1/4); blaSHV and blaTEM detected in 25% (1/4); blaSHV and blaCTX-M detected in 25% (1/4) while the last isolate was negative for all three genes. The overall prevalence of these ESBL genes in this study was 48% (27/56). According to the literature these results were higher when compared to 33% for E. coli and 15% for K. pneumoniae in Europe and only 0.8% in Denmark for similar pathogens. These research findings indicated that it is crucial to routinely monitor the prevalence of these resistance genes in a hospital setting to ensure that antibiotic treatment regimens can be adjusted accordingly.Poster presented at the University of Pretoria Health Sciences Faculty Day, August 2008, Pretoria, South Afric

Awaking a sleeping epidemic

Two patients with African sleeping sickness (SS) presented to the neurology unit, Pretoria Academic Hospital, during 2004 and 2005. SS has shown a recent resurgence, with epidemics in the Sudan, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The number of infected people in Africa is currently estimated at more than 500 000. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 20 Trypanosoma brucei gambiense and 30 T. b. rhodesiense infections are diagnosed yearly outside endemic areas in Africa. Migration, tourism, peacekeeping and military interventions and the re-emergence of SS epidemics might increase these numbers.1 The electroencephalogram (EEG) is often useful in the diagnosis of coma and delirium, but has not been widely used in the diagnosis of SS. The EEG is proposed as a novel way to follow disease progression, treatment response and treatmentinduced encephalopathy.Due to large file sizes, articles (pdfs) may take a while to downloa

Diving into the vertical dimension of elasmobranch movement ecology.

Knowledge of the three-dimensional movement patterns of elasmobranchs is vital to understand their ecological roles and exposure to anthropogenic pressures. To date, comparative studies among species at global scales have mostly focused on horizontal movements. Our study addresses the knowledge gap of vertical movements by compiling the first global synthesis of vertical habitat use by elasmobranchs from data obtained by deployment of 989 biotelemetry tags on 38 elasmobranch species. Elasmobranchs displayed high intra- and interspecific variability in vertical movement patterns. Substantial vertical overlap was observed for many epipelagic elasmobranchs, indicating an increased likelihood to display spatial overlap, biologically interact, and share similar risk to anthropogenic threats that vary on a vertical gradient. We highlight the critical next steps toward incorporating vertical movement into global management and monitoring strategies for elasmobranchs, emphasizing the need to address geographic and taxonomic biases in deployments and to concurrently consider both horizontal and vertical movements