Slaves of the state – medical internship and community service in South Africa

Owing to a chronic shortage of medical staff in South Africa, sleep-deprived medical interns and community service doctors work up to 200 hours of overtime per month under the state’s commuted overtime policy. Nurses moonlight in circumvention of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act. For trainee doctors, overtime over 80 hours is unpaid, and rendered involuntarily under threat of not qualifying to practise medicine in South Africa. As forced labour, and sleep deprivation amounting to cruel and degrading treatment, it is outlawed in international law. No other professional group in the country is subjected to such levels of exploitation and discrimination by the state. These abuses should be challenged under the Constitution. Solutions include theinstallation of electronic time-recording in state hospitals, cessation of unpaid overtime, limits on medical intern shifts to a maximum of 16 hours, and an investigation by the Human Rights Commission of South Africa

Variations in size compositions of populations of Upogebia africana (Ortmann) (Decapoda, Crustacea) within the Swartkops estuary and possible influencing factors

The size frequencies of various populations of the mud prawn Upogebia africana sampled within the Swartkops estuary were determined and the size compositions of these populations varied along the length of the estuary, as well as vertically within the intertidal zone. Ovigerous prawns were recorded from sites representing the extremes in population structures and their mean sizes differed significantly (P < 0,05) from each other. The variations in the size compositions were therefore attributed to differences in the growth of the prawns, rather than a spatial separation of adults and juveniles. The mean sizes of the adult prawns from the various stations were determined and plotted against factors such as water temperatures and salinities, nitrogen and organic contents of the substrata, population densities and distances of the populations from the estuarine mouth. The latter factor, which was used to give a relative measure of the exposure (in terms of duration and current velocity) of the populations to the flow of water entering the estuary during flood tides, gave the most significant (P < 0,01) correlation with the mean size of the adult prawns and could satisfactorily account for patterns observed

Effect of Cissampelos capensis rhizome extract on human spermatozoa in vitro

Cissampelos capensis is commonly known by the Afrikaans name ‘dawidjies’ or ‘dawidjieswortel’. C. capensis is the most important and best-known medicinal plant of the family Menispermaceae used by the Khoisan and other rural people in the western regions of South Africa. Among numerous other ailments, it is traditionally taken to treat male fertility problems. Yet, no studies have investigated the effects of this plant or its extracts on human spermatozoa. The aim of study was to investigate the effects of C. capensis extracts on sperm function. A total of 77 semen samples were collected. Spermatozoa were washed with HTF-BSA medium and incubated with different concentrations of C. capensis (0, 0.05, 0.5, 5, 50, 200 μg ml−1) for 1 h at 37 °C. Sperm motility, vitality, acrosome reaction, reactive oxygen species (ROS), capacitation, Annexin V binding, DNA fragmentation and mitochondrial membrane potential (Δψm) were determined. While viability, Annexin V positivity and Δψm were not affected, the percentages of ROS-positive, TUNEL-positive, capacitated and hyperactivated spermatozoa increased significantly and dose-dependently. It is concluded that the alkaloids present in the extract of C. capansis rhizomes triggered sperm intrinsic superoxide production leading to sperm capacitation and DNA fragmentation.Web of Scienc

Implementation of the regulations of the board of directors of TVRI public agency on Non-Civil Servant in public television broadcasting agency in Indonesia

Purpose: This research aims to analyze the implementation of the regulation of the board of directors of the TVRI public broadcasting institution regarding non-civil servants (Study at the Indonesian Television Public Broadcasting Institute (TVRI), East Nusa Tenggara Station. Research methodology: In this study, the authors used an interpretive research paradigm. The interpretive approach aims to understand the "world of human experience". In this study, the total population was 110 people consisting of 27 non-civil servants and 83 civil servants. Furthermore, purposively, the researcher selected 11 people as informants with details of 1 Head of the Office as Key Informants and 10 non-civil servants as Ordinary Informants Results: The conclusions of this study can be grouped into four aspects, namely actors, organizations, procedures, and techniques. Limitations: this research only analyzes the implementation of policies on the development of Indonesian migrant workers' families in the field of economic empowerment in Kupang city. Contribution: This research becomes scientific information for public administration science. Keywords: Regulations, Implementation, Broadcasting agency, Non-Civil Servan

1-(2,4-Dinitro­phen­yl)-5-ferrocenyl-3-methyl-1H-pyrazole

In the title compound, [Fe(C5H5)(C15H11N4O4)], the dinitro­phenyl and cyclo­penta­dienyl rings make dihedral angles of 53.61 (6) and 23.11 (9)°, respectively, with the pyrazole unit. The two cyclo­penta­dienyl rings are in an eclipsed conformation. The crystal structure is stabilized by inter­molecular C—H⋯O inter­actions, which link mol­ecules into chains parallel to the b axis

Practical reflections on combining workshops and mentorships to build capacity in demand and use of evidence in government organisations

Decision makers’ capacity to use evidence is a key component of evidence-informed decision making (EIDM) at a policy level. This paper describes a unique combination of EIDM workshops and mentoring to build decision makers’ capacity to use evidence. It reflects how the deliberate design of sequential workshop and mentoring capacity-building activities enhanced programme effects and reports on the design features that we believe have most contributed to the observed effects. We have found that this combined approach is most effective when it is underpinned by a relationship-building theory of change and remains flexible and responsive to delivering on the needs of participants, and when it is delivered in a timely manner by partners who have been carefully paired with participants based on required expertise