Chordoma

The history, origin, pathology, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of chordoma involving the axial skeleton are reviewed, and the clinical histories of 3 cases of chordoma are given, noting some remarkable features, along with one case misdiagnosed as chordoma on the radiological appearance of the sacrum and treated as such, which later proved to be a case of multiple myelomatosis.S. Afr. Med. J., 48, 383 (1974

Radiological case book

No Abstract

Inoperable broncial cancer treated by combined telecobalt and natulan therapy

No Abstract

Two patients cured of bone cancer: Osteogenic sarcoma and Ewing's sarcoma of bone

No Abstract

An innovative educational strategy for learning and teaching clinical skills during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background. Educational institutions were compelled to adapt their educational strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic. The innovation of boot camps as a strategy for learning and teaching clinical skills was applied by a school of nursing immediately after the hard lockdown in South Africa. Objectives. To describe the outcomes of implementing an innovative educational strategy for the learning and teaching of clinical skills in an undergraduate nursing programme. Methods. The study comprised a parallel convergent mixed-methods design. Qualitative data were collected from educators (n=7) involved with the boot camps, while the quantitative data comprised module evaluations by 219 students and summative practical assessment scores. Thematic analysis through an inductive approach was applied for the qualitative data, while central tendency and frequencies were used to analyse the quantitative data. Results. Three themes emerged from the narrative data, i.e. rationalising the boot camps, executing the boot camps and learning from the boot camps. Quantitative data support each of the themes. The boot camps appeared to have been appreciated as an emergency innovative educational strategy, with improved student assessment outcomes. Conclusions. The COVID-19 pandemic forced education institutions to adopt a variety of innovative educational strategies. Boot camps appear to have positively influenced the learning and teaching of clinical skills at a school of nursing. There is a need for robust longitudinal research evaluating the long-term effect of such innovative educational strategies

Chromomycin a 3 (toyomycin)and radiotherapy in the treatment of advanced malignancy

No Abstract

A technique for thoracic duct-portal vein anastomosis in the dog

A technique for effecting a thoracic duct-portal vein anastomosis in dogs is described.The journals have been scanned in colour with a HP 5590 scanner; 600 dpi. Adobe Acrobat v.11 was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format

Venous bicarbonate and creatine kinase as diagnostic and prognostic tools in the setting of acute traumatic rhabdomyolysis

Background. Myorenal or crush syndrome often develops following soft-tissue traumatic injury. It is a spectrum of disease that may result in severe renal dysfunction and kidney injury requiring renal replacement therapy.Objectives. To review a large cohort of patients with so-called myorenal or crush syndrome and assess the biochemical markers of venous bicarbonate and creatine kinase as predictors for the development of acute kidney injury (AKI).Methods. All patients with myorenal syndrome who presented to Khayelitsha District Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa (SA), and Ngwelezana Hospital, Empangeni, KwaZulu-Natal, SA, between January and December 2017 were identified and reviewed.Results. A total of 212 patients were included in the study. At both hospitals, 94% of the patients were male. Using the Pearson correlation coefficient, we compared creatinine kinase (CK) against serum creatinine. The mean CK level was 5 311.8 U/L and the mean creatinine level 133.457 μmol/L. The r-value was 0.2533. Although this is a technically positive correlation, the relationship between the variables is weak. Using the Pearson R Calculator, we inserted the r-value to calculate the p-value. The p-value was 0.000208. When comparing venous bicarbonate (HCO3) against creatinine, the mean HCO3 level was 22.296 mmol/L and the mean creatinine level 162.053 μmol/L. The r-value was –0.3468. Although this is a technically negative correlation, the relationship between the variables is weak. Using the Pearson R Calculator, we inserted the r-value to calculate the p-value. The p-value was 0.000013. The inverse ratio shown with HCO3 v. creatinine, although still a weak correlation, is significantly better in predicting an increase in creatinine compared with the weak positive correlation of CK v. creatinine.Conclusions. Although both venous HCO3 and CK showed a weak correlation with creatinine, the former performed significantly better in predicting AKI. In a resource-constrained system, we recommend that HCO3 be measured to assess patients with crush injury and that CK be regarded as a complementary modality

Preserving and providing access to South African Social Science and Humanities research data

Science Seminar, CSIR Conference Centre, 5 Novembe

Preserving and providing access to South African Social Science and Humanities research data

Science Seminar, CSIR Conference Centre, 5 Novembe