A profile of resuscitations at the Kalafong Hospital Emergency Unit

Background: All serious emergency cases arriving at the Kalafong Hospital emergency department are first resuscitated by doctors from the Family Medicine Department. The aim of this study was to construct a profile of the patients that the emergency unit doctors consider necessary to admit to the resuscitation unit and to describe the procedures carried out on them. Method: All data from the records of resuscitated patients from 1 July 2000 until 31 December 2000 were included in the study. Results: During the period of the study, 309 patients were resuscitated. Two hundred and three patient records could be traced, of which five files were excluded due to insufficient data. Medical complications were the most common reasons for resuscitation. These patients presented with complications due to chronic diseases such as heart failure, myocardial infarction, diabetic complications, hypertensive crisis and stroke. Suicide attempts were also common, with organophosphates often being used in the attempted suicide. Men between the ages of 18 and 40 under the influence of alcohol were the most frequent type of patient resuscitated for trauma injuries. Gunshot wounds and car accidents were the major causes of serious injuries. Conclusions: The disease profile of the resuscitation patients reflects the medical and social problems of our society. A holistic, bio-psychosocial approach to health care in the primary health care setting could prevent resultant mortality and morbidity. For full text, click here:SA Family Pract 2004;46(6): 28-3

Curriculum design as an enabler of student involvement and success in higher education

Quality assurance, promotion, and the success of students are core drivers in Higher Education. Students shifted from being receivers in the knowledge transfer process of Higher Education to active co-producers in the learning process, which makes students more involved in the quality assurance process today than they were in the past. This shift requires curriculum developers of programmes to not only understand the nature of the change in the students’ role in Higher Education but also to anticipate future changes in their role. The Mode 1, Mode 2 and Mode 3 models of knowledge production are useful systems to help curriculum designers understand this daunting task. This research conducts a theoretical exploration into students’ shift in knowledge production as they engage with the curriculum in higher education, which explores the different modes of knowledge production. The exploratory research includes practical curriculum examples that highlight the changes in the structures of control, characteristics, and practicalities of the different modes, changes in assessment strategies, changes in teacher-student relationships, and the inclusion of other role-players such as industry and society. The first mode of knowledge production is a disciplinary and homogeneity model, with the second mode shifting to a transdisciplinary, heterogeneous, transient, and more systemic model which includes industry stakeholders, with a permeable boundary. The third mode of knowledge production is situated in the fourth industrial revolution space and looks at the combined future of science, knowledge, and technology

Developing ESCo procedures for large telecommunication facilities using novel simulation techniques

Peak electricity demand in South Africa will exceed the available operational generation capacity in 2007. The state utility, Eskom, is addressing this challenge, inter alia, with the implementation of a national Demand-side Management (DSM) initia-tive. Studies in South Africa have shown that 20%of the total municipal energy is utilised in commer-cial buildings. Telecommunication companies own and operate a large portfolio of diverse buildings within the municipal boundaries. Energy Services Company (ESCO) analyses on these buildings showed huge savings as well as load reduction opportunities. ESCOs however face major prob-lems in evaluating DSM projects on telecommuni-cation facilities. To address these problems a new ESCO procedure for telecommunications facilities was developed and successfully implemented. It was proven that the new ESCO procedure is suc-cessful in solving the unique problems in perform-ing ESCO analyses for telecommunications facili-ties

Defective Gpsm2/G alpha(i3) signalling disrupts stereocilia development and growth cone actin dynamics in Chudley-McCullough syndrome

Mutations in GPSM2 cause Chudley-McCullough syndrome (CMCS), an autosomal recessive neurological disorder characterized by early-onset sensorineural deafness and brain anomalies. Here, we show that mutation of the mouse orthologue of GPSM2 affects actin-rich stereocilia elongation in auditory and vestibular hair cells, causing deafness and balance defects. The G-protein subunit Gαi3, a well-documented partner of Gpsm2, participates in the elongation process, and its absence also causes hearing deficits. We show that Gpsm2 defines an ∼200 nm nanodomain at the tips of stereocilia and this localization requires the presence of Gαi3, myosin 15 and whirlin. Using single-molecule tracking, we report that loss of Gpsm2 leads to decreased outgrowth and a disruption of actin dynamics in neuronal growth cones. Our results elucidate the aetiology of CMCS and highlight a new molecular role for Gpsm2/Gαi3 in the regulation of actin dynamics in epithelial and neuronal tissues

The use of point-of-care ultrasound in Tshwane public and private sector emergency units

Background: The use of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is an essential skill in the practice of emergency medicine (EM), with benefit to patient care by improving diagnostic accuracy. Despite this, there exists little data evaluating the use of POCUS in South African emergency units (EUs.). Methods: One hundred and seventeen doctors working in 12 public and private sector EUs in Tshwane were included. A questionnaire was used comprising of descriptive data regarding doctor demographics, levels of experience, and outcome data including POCUS frequency use, training level, indications for, and barriers to its use. Results: Many participants were general practitioners working in EUs (58.1%) followed by EM specialists and EM registrars. Of these participants, 88% used POCUS. Seventy one percent received informal POCUS training only. The indications for POCUS use were similar for both public and private sector, with no significant differences in overall use. The only significant association to POCUS use was age ( 33.3 years) and number of years since qualification ( 6.9 years.) Lack of and/or access to training were the main reasons for not using POCUS (18.8%.) There were no significant differences in the barriers to the use of POCUS between the sectors. Conclusion: Point-of-care ultrasound is used similarly in both public and private sector EUs in Tshwane. Lack of and/or access to POCUS training are the main barrier to its use. Contribution: This study underlines the state of POCUS use in Tshwane and highlights the barriers to its use, thus allowing academic heads and hospital managers to address them

Race, colonial history and national identity: Resident Evil 5 as a Japanese game

Resident Evil 5 is a zombie game made by Capcom featuring a White American protagonist and set in Africa. This paper argues that approaching this as a Japanese game reveals aspects of a Japanese racial and colonial social imaginary that are missed if this context of production is ignored. In terms of race, the game presents hybrid racial subjectivities that can be related to Japanese perspectives of Blackness and Whiteness where these terms are two poles of difference and identity through which an essentialised Japanese identity is constructed in what Iwabuchi calls “strategic hybridism” (Iwabuchi, 2002). In terms of colonialism, the game echoes structures of Japanese colonialism through which Japanese colonialism is obliquely memorialised and a “normal” Japanese global subjectivity can be performed