Mass hysteria among South African primary school

During August 2002, at a primary school in Kwa-Dukuza, KwaZulu-Natal, 27 children who had been well when they left their homes collapsed at school, displaying tremors and shivers throughout their bodies. Many of the children also presented with abdominal cramps and nausea. Almost all the children experienced a feeling of tightness in their chests as well as hyperventilation, which was then followed by fainting. This hysteria spread by line of sight (that is, other children seeing this also collapsed). Mass hysteria had presented similarly, with only a mild variation in the hallucinations, in secondary schools in Mangaung, Bloemfontein, during 2000 and in Gauteng during 2009. Radio stations, such as Radio 702, presented these incidents for discussion and for concerned parents’ questions to be answered. In all three episodes, the majority of the affected children were girls. Witchcraft, poisoning, insect bites – in the case of Mangaung – and gas leaks were proposed as causes of this strange behaviour by the previously well children. Experts who investigated these possibilities, however, excluded any identifiable cause. Nearly all the children were well again the next day. The assessment after the incidents was an outbreak of mass hysteria. The parents and the lay media, however, refused to accept this diagnosis, which added to the stress and the anxiety that the children faced when they returned to school. Mass hysteria can be taxomised into two broad categories: the explosive type, which typically appears in small, institutionalised social networks; and the large, diffused type, during which false rumours and beliefs overwhelm a community. This discussion focuses on the second category – that which affects people in one institution. The discussion includes the rare outbreak in Kwa-Dukuza, together with the common presentations and symptoms of mass hysteria. Also discussed are the consequences of not managing this condition well immediately on presentation. These consequences entail a perpetuation of the condition, spreading to a greater number of children, to the parents and to the teachers. This may then lead to a disruption in learning at the schools affected and, possibly, later on, to anxiety disorders.Keywords: withcraft; line of sight; pseudoseizure

Nurses’ monitoring of the Road to Health Chart at primary healthcare level in Makhado, Limpopo province

Background: The Road to Health Chart (RTHC) is a record chart carried by the caregiver that combines essential information on the growth monitoring of a child, immunisation, vitamin A supplementation, deworming medicine and other illnesses. It provides useful information to the parent and healthcare professional. This study sought to determine the challenges faced by professional nurses in monitoring the RTHC during consultation, the degree of implementation of the RTHC programme, and the most utilised aspect of the RTHC at Louis Trichardt Memorial Hospital and surrounding primary healthcare (PHC) clinics.Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 128 registered professional nurses. A self-administered questionnaire was used.Results: Ninety-six questionnaires were completed. Most of the respondents were female and aged 40-49 years. The majority of the PHC professional nurses stated that the challenges faced in monitoring the RTHC were staff shortages, lack of equipment, a work overload and unequal distribution of professional nurses on duty per shift. There was poor knowledge on how to identify malnutrition. The majority of PHC professional nurses had not completed their basic courses.Conclusion: PHC professional nurses voiced their concern that challenges encountered during consultations were direct reasons for their poor monitoring of the RTHC. The degree of implementation of the RTHC programme fell short of the norms and standards of the Department of Health and Social Development concerning child health care in South Africa. The most utilised aspect of the RTHC was the expanded programme on immunisation, vitamin A supplementation and deworming medicine.Keywords: immunisation, malnutrition, anthropometric indices, child mortality, child healt

Trade mark parody in South Africa — The last laugh!

This article endeavours to find the balance (if any) in South African law between the rights of trade mark owners from infringement of their trade marks, and the constitutional right to free expression (with particular reference to parody) in a society that advocates the values of democracy and freedom. As intellectual property, registered trade marks deserve the protection of the law, a careful balancing act between property rights and fundamental freedoms must be performed to determine if one outweighs the other. In this regard Laugh It Off Promotions CC v South African Breweries International will be discussed. The position of parody in South African trade mark law desperately needs to have a last laught, once and for all

Industry engagement in work-integrated learning - exploring the benefits, challenges and realities

Abstract: The purpose of the paper is to identify benefits and challenges for businesses serving as hosts for business students involved in work integrated learning (WIL) initiatives. A student and educator perspective on WIL targeting businesses is also identified. A literature review is applied for analyzing work integrated learning in a business perspective. This perspective is supplied with statistical data from a survey of business students and business educators revealing the extent and relevance of connectedness to businesses within curriculum and learning process. Four gaps between business schools and businesses are identified, which should be closed for a successful WIL. These are related to institutional support systems, the student mentor at the business school versus the host firm mentor, the student versus the host firm mentor/business peers, and gaps between curriculum and business cases/tasks. The findings have primarily implications for the business school both on institutional level and on mentor level. It is assumed that WIL has a marginal focus within businesses unless students are directly contributing in solving real business problems. Literature employing a business perspective on WIL is limited, and calls for further empirical research in order to design realistic and relevant WIL assignment in a business context

Coupled DEM-CFD Model to Predict the Tumbling Mill Dynamics

The charge motion in a tumbling mill has been mostly described by empirical, mechanistic and computational models. The computational model presented in this work is a three phase approach for the tumbling mill that combines a particle description for the solids modelled by the Discrete Element Method, and the continuum description for the fluid by CFD approach. In the present work a phase coupled approach is developed using C++ subroutines to model the charge and slurry dynamics inside a tumbling mill by mapping the particles on the CFD mesh and resolving the particle volume and velocities on per cell basis. The coupled DEM-CFD approach is implemented and the effect of drag force on the slurry by the particle motion. The set of coupled simulation were run varying the slurry rheology and results were validated with equivalent PEPT experiment of lab scale mills and a very good agreement is found in some cases. The Beeststra drag correlation was used to calculate the drag force between the fluid and the particles. The free surface profile of the charge as well as the slurry is calculated as well as the axial center of mass profile of the mil

Use of the partogram by doctors and midwives at Odi District Hospital, Gauteng, South Africa

Background: There is scientific evidence that using the partogram reduces maternal and foetal morbidity and mortality. The use of partograms by doctors and midwives at Odi District Hospital has been reported as inadequate by external audits. The level of knowledge of and use of partograms amongst doctors and midwives at Odi District Hospital was investigated.Methods: A cross-sectional survey of doctors and midwives was undertaken using a self-administered questionnaire. A mixedmethods research approach was used to elicit information on the knowledge and use of the partogram.Results: Despite 57 (83.8%) participants having had some form of training on the partogram, only 54 (79.4%) routinely used it. All but one participant had heard of the partogram. Reasons for not using the partogram included being unsure how to use it (13%), partogram charts not available (8.7%), partogram takes too long (21.7%), being too busy (26.1%), and a feeling that the partogram was not the doctor’s responsibility (26.1%). Overall knowledge of partograms was insufficient, resulting in inadequate use of partograms. In-service training is required to improve the skills of doctors and midwives in the correct knowledge and use of partograms.Conclusion: Partograms are not used as required by doctors and midwives, and further training is needed.Keywords: district hospital, doctors and midwives, in-service training, knowledge and use of partograms, partogra

The shape and behaviour of a granular bed in a rotating drum using Eulerian flow fields obtained from PEPT

Non-invasive single-particle tracking techniques, such as positron emission particle tracking (PEPT), provide useful information about the behaviour of a representative particle moving in a bulk of similar particles in a rotating drum. The Lagrangian trajectories that they yield can be used to study, for example, particulate diff usion or granular interaction. However, often the Eulerian flow fi elds of the entire granular bed are more useful-- they can be used to study segregation, for instance, or the evolution of the free surface of the bed. In this work, we present a technique for converting Lagrangian trajectories to Eulerian flow fields via a time-weighted residence time distribution (RTD) of the tracked particle. We then perform PEPT experiments on a mono-disperse bed of spherical particles in a cylindrical drum, rotated at various rates, and use the RTD procedure to obtain flow fi elds of the bed. We use these flow fi elds to investigate the e ffect of drum rotational speed on the shape and behaviour of a granular bed in a rotating drum, and the insights gained thereby to defi ne a comprehensive set of surfaces{ such as the bulk free surface{ to divide the bed into regions of distinct granular behaviour. We further defi ne scalar bed features-- such as the centre of circulation of the bed-- that can be used to quantitatively compare the behaviour of granular beds in rotating drums operated under various conditions

Piloting a trauma surveillance tool for primary healthcare emergency centres

Objective. We aimed to pilot a trauma surveillance tool for use ina primary healthcare emergency centre to provide a risk profile ofinjury patterns in Elsies River, Cape Town.Methods. Healthcare workers completed a one-page questionnairecapturing demographic and injury data from trauma patients presenting to the emergency unit of the Elsies River Community Health Centre over a period of 10 days.Results. Trauma cases comprised about one-fifth of the total headcount during the study period. Most injuries took place before midnight. Approximately 47% of the trauma patients were suspected of being under the influence of alcohol with 87% of these cases caused by interpersonal violence; 28% were males between 19 and 35 years old, suspected of being under the influence of alcohol and presenting with injuries due to violence.Conclusion. Injury surveillance at primary healthcare emergency centres provides an additional perspective on the injury burden compared with population-level mortality statistics, but the quality of data collection is limited by resource constraints. We recommend that the current trauma register be revised to separate trauma and medical headcounts and enable better resource planning at a facility and subdistrict level. Information gathered must be linked to health and safety interventions aimed at reducing the trauma burden within communities