THE ZOOPLANKTON COMMUNITY OF THE MHLATHUZE (RICHARDS BAY) ESTUARY: TWO DECADES AFTER CONSTRUCTION OF THE HARBOUR

The Mhlathuze (Richards Bay) Estuary on the KwaZulu-Natal coast, South Africa, was substantially altered during the early 1970s, when it was divided into two separate systems. The northern section was developed into a deep-water harbour, whereas the southern part was envisaged to function as the new estuary. This study investigates the composition of the zooplankton community of the new estuary 20 years after its construction and compares it with historical data. Compared with the original estuary, a much-reduced body of water is currently available to estuarine plankton. During the sampling period between February 1996 and February 1997, the surface area of the new estuary was about 75&#37 smaller than that of the original waterbody, originally as a result of a section being lost to harbour development and later to mangrove encroachment. Salinity levels throughout the new estuary were close to that of seawater, except for a few occasions during particularly strong freshwater inflows. Multivariate analyses indicate that patterns of zooplankton distribution of abundance during the present study were mostly determined by a combination of salinity and seasonal temperature variation. Zooplankton density had a seasonal pattern. Overall abundance of the estuarine zooplankton community of the system was low compared with the original system and other South African estuaries. The original estuarine zooplankton community, characterized by the typical estuarine copepods Pseudodiaptomus stuhlmanni and Acartia natalensis, had been replaced by a predominantly marine community, dominated by small paracalanid copepods.Afr. J. mar. Sci. 25: 289–29

The intake and quality of breakfast consumption in adolescents attending public secondary schools in the North West province, South Africa

Objectives: The objectives of the study were to determine the proportion and quality of breakfast intake in adolescents, and to determine the effect of breakfast intake and quality on overall diet quality.Design: A cross-sectional quantitative study design was used.Setting: The setting was seven public secondary schools in Potchefstroom and the surrounding areas in North West province.Subjects: The subjects were randomly selected adolescents in grades 9-11 (n = 244).Outcome measures: A self-administered demographic questionnaire was completed by the adolescents. Single 24-hour recall, using the four-stage multiple-pass method, was conducted to obtain information on breakfast and dietary intake for the day. Breakfast quality was measured by applying a breakfast quality score. The Diet Quality Index Revised was used to assess the quality of the overall diet. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was employed to assess an association between the continuous variables. The chi-square or Fisher’s exact test was utilised to assess an association between the categorical variables.Results: The proportion of breakfast intake and skipping was 81% and 19%, respectively. The mean breakfast quality score was moderate (3.1). No significant difference was shown in the diet quality score for the breakfast eaters and skippers. The breakfast quality score was marginally associated with calcium intake (p-value < 0.0001, r = 0.418), phosphorous intake (p-value < 0.0001, r = 0.378) and total diversity score (p-value < 0.0001, r = 0.369).Conclusion: The proportion of breakfast skipping, moderate quality of the breakfast consumed and trend of improved nutrient intake with improved breakfast quality highlights the need for breakfast education and intervention as part of the Integrated School Health Policy.Keywords: adolescent, breakfast, breakfast quality, diet quality, adolescenc

Educating and training a workforce for nutrition in a post-2015 world.

Nearly all countries in the world today are burdened with malnutrition, manifesting as undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, and/or overweight and obesity. Despite some progress, efforts to alleviate malnutrition are hampered by a shortage in number, skills, and geographic coverage, of a workforce for nutrition. Here, we report the findings of the Castel Gandolfo workshop, a convening of experts from diverse fields in March 2014 to consider how to develop the capacity of a global cadre of nutrition professionals for the post-2015 development era. Workshop participants identified several requirements for developing a workforce for nutrition, including an ability to work as part of a multisectoral team; communication, advocacy, and leadership skills to engage decision makers; and a set of technical skills to address future challenges for nutrition. Other opportunities were highlighted that could immediately contribute to capacity development, including the creation of a consortium to link global North and South universities, online training modules for middle managers, and practical, hands-on experiences for frontline nutrition workers. Institutional and organizational support is needed to enable workshop recommendations on education and training to be effectively implemented and sustained. The findings from the Castel Gandolfo workshop can contribute to the delivery of successful nutrition-relevant actions in the face of mounting external pressures and informing and attaining the forthcoming Sustainable Development Goals

Development of a Halotolerant Community in the St. Lucia Estuary (South Africa) during a Hypersaline Phase

Background: The St. Lucia Estuary, Africa’s largest estuarine lake, is currently experiencing unprecedented freshwater deprivation which has resulted in a northward gradient of drought effects, with hypersaline conditions in its northern lakes. Methodology/Principal Findings: This study documents the changes that occurred in the biotic communities at False Bay from May 2010 to June 2011, in order to better understand ecosystem functioning in hypersaline habitats. Few zooplankton taxa were able to withstand the harsh environmental conditions during 2010. These were the flatworm Macrostomum sp., the harpacticoid copepod Cletocamptus confluens, the cyclopoid copepod Apocyclops cf. dengizicus and the ciliate Fabrea cf. salina. In addition to their exceptional salinity tolerance, they were involved in a remarkably simple food web. In June 2009, a bloom of an orange-pigmented cyanobacterium (Cyanothece sp.) was recorded in False Bay and persisted uninterruptedly for 18 months. Stable isotope analysis suggests that this cyanobacterium was the main prey item of F. cf. salina. This ciliate was then consumed by A. cf. dengizicus, which in turn was presumably consumed by flamingos as they flocked in the area when the copepods attained swarming densities. On the shore, cyanobacteria mats contributed to a population explosion of the staphylinid beetle Bledius pilicollis. Although zooplankton disappeared once salinities exceeded 130, many taxa are capable of producing spores or resting cysts to bridge harsh periods. The hypersaline community was disrupted by heavy summer rains in 2011, which alleviated drought conditions and resulted in a sharp increase in zooplankton stock an

Educating and Training a Workforce for Nutrition in a Post-2015 World

Nearly all countries in the world today are burdened with malnutrition, manifesting as undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, and/or overweight and obesity. Despite some progress, efforts to alleviate malnutrition are hampered by a shortage in number, skills, and geographic coverage, of a workforce for nutrition. Here, we report the findings of the Castel Gandolfo workshop, a convening of experts from diverse fields in March 2014 to consider how to develop the capacity of a global cadre of nutrition professionals for the post-2015 development era. Workshop participants identified several requirements for developing a workforce for nutrition, including an ability to work as part of a multisectoral team; communication, advocacy, and leadership skills to engage decision makers; and a set of technical skills to address future challenges for nutrition. Other opportunities were highlighted that could immediately contribute to capacity development, including the creation of a consortium to link global North and South universities, online training modules for middle managers, and practical, hands-on experiences for frontline nutrition workers. Institutional and organizational support is needed to enable workshop recommendations on education and training to be effectively implemented and sustained. The findings from the Castel Gandolfo workshop can contribute to the delivery of successful nutrition-relevant actions in the face of mounting external pressures and informing and attaining the forthcoming Sustainable Development Goals. Adv Nutr 2015;6:639–47

Expert consensus document: A 'diamond' approach to personalized treatment of angina.

In clinical guidelines, drugs for symptomatic angina are classified as being first choice (β-blockers, calcium-channel blockers, short-acting nitrates) or second choice (ivabradine, nicorandil, ranolazine, trimetazidine), with the recommendation to reserve second-choice medications for patients who have contraindications to first-choice agents, do not tolerate them, or remain symptomatic. No direct comparisons between first-choice and second-choice treatments have demonstrated the superiority of one group of drugs over the other. Meta-analyses show that all antianginal drugs have similar efficacy in reducing symptoms, but provide no evidence for improvement in survival. The newer, second-choice drugs have more evidence-based clinical data that are more contemporary than is available for traditional first-choice drugs. Considering some drugs, but not others, to be first choice is, therefore, difficult. Moreover, double or triple therapy is often needed to control angina. Patients with angina can have several comorbidities, and symptoms can result from various underlying pathophysiologies. Some agents, in addition to having antianginal effects, have properties that could be useful depending on the comorbidities present and the mechanisms of angina, but the guidelines do not provide recommendations on the optimal combinations of drugs. In this Consensus Statement, we propose an individualized approach to angina treatment, which takes into consideration the patient, their comorbidities, and the underlying mechanism of disease

Sediment properties as important predictors of carbon storage in zostera marina meadows: a comparison of four European areas

Seagrass ecosystems are important natural carbon sinks but their efficiency varies greatly depending on species composition and environmental conditions. What causes this variation is not fully known and could have important implications for management and protection of the seagrass habitat to continue to act as a natural carbon sink. Here, we assessed sedimentary organic carbon in Zostera marina meadows (and adjacent unvegetated sediment) in four distinct areas of Europe (Gullmar Fjord on the Swedish Skagerrak coast, Asko in the Baltic Sea, Sozopol in the Black Sea and Ria Formosa in southern Portugal) down to similar to 35 cm depth. We also tested how sedimentary organic carbon in Z. marina meadows relates to different sediment characteristics, a range of seagrass-associated variables and water depth. The seagrass carbon storage varied greatly among areas, with an average organic carbon content ranging from 2.79 +/- 0.50% in the Gullmar Fjord to 0.17 +/- 0.02% in the area of Sozopol. We found that a high proportion of fine grain size, high porosity and low density of the sediment is strongly related to high carbon content in Z. marina sediment. We suggest that sediment properties should be included as an important factor when evaluating high priority areas in management of Z. marina generated carbon sinks

Household, community, sub-national and country-level predictors of primary cooking fuel switching in nine countries from the PURE study

Introduction. Switchingfrom polluting (e.g. wood, crop waste, coal)to clean (e.g. gas, electricity) cooking fuels can reduce household air pollution exposures and climate-forcing emissions.While studies have evaluated specific interventions and assessed fuel-switching in repeated cross-sectional surveys, the role of different multilevel factors in household fuel switching, outside of interventions and across diverse community settings, is not well understood. Methods.We examined longitudinal survey data from 24 172 households in 177 rural communities across nine countries within the Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiology study.We assessed household-level primary cooking fuel switching during a median of 10 years offollow up (∼2005–2015).We used hierarchical logistic regression models to examine the relative importance of household, community, sub-national and national-level factors contributing to primary fuel switching. Results. One-half of study households(12 369)reported changing their primary cookingfuels between baseline andfollow up surveys. Of these, 61% (7582) switchedfrom polluting (wood, dung, agricultural waste, charcoal, coal, kerosene)to clean (gas, electricity)fuels, 26% (3109)switched between different polluting fuels, 10% (1164)switched from clean to polluting fuels and 3% (522)switched between different clean fuels