The ‘bite’ in paediatric food allergy

No Abtract

Pseudocercospora opuntiae sp. nov., the causal organism of cactus leaf spot in Mexico.

Pseudocercospora opuntiae is newly described from Opuntia spp. from Mexico, where it causes a serious disease of this host. Although P. opuntiae is morphologically similar to other members of the genus with pigmented conidia and conidiophores, and unthickened, not darkened conidiogenous scars, DNA sequence data of the ITS region revealed that it clusters distant from other species of Pseudocercospora within Mycosphaerella. These data support the assumption that Pseudocereospora is paraphyletic within Mycosphaerella

The value of the D1/D2 and internal transcribed spacers (ITS) domains for the identification of yeast species belonging to the genus Yamadazyma

In a taxonomic study of yeasts that have been isolated in French Guiana and Thailand, five yeast strains isolated from plants were found to belong to the Yamadazyma clade of Saccharomycotina. On the basis of morphology, physiology and the nucleotide divergence in the D1/D2 domain of the 26S nuclear ribosomal RNA (nrRNA) gene, as well as the internal transcribed spacers (ITS) domain of the nrRNA gene operon, these strains were identified to represent three novel species in this teleomorphic clade. An additional isolate, that is publicly available from the CBS yeast collection and isolated from Taiwan, was found to be similar to one of the novel species described from Thailand. Yeast species belonging to the Yamadazyma clade have previously been described as members of the Candida membranifaciens clade. These species are widely distributed and were isolated from diverse habitats, including water, plants, animals and guts of insects and termites. In the present study the ITS region is shown to be a valuable region for species identification within this clade, and the novel species proposed are Candida vaughaniae (ex-type strain CBS 8583), Candida khao-thaluensis (ex-type strain CBS 8535) and Candida tallmaniae (ex-type strain CBS 8575)

A systems approach to improving pedestrian safety in rural communities

Paper presented at the 33rd Annual Southern African Transport Conference 7-10 July 2014 "Leading Transport into the Future", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa.Pedestrian behaviour is influenced by many factors which may result in pedestrians being involved in accidents and could increase the risk and vulnerability of pedestrians. There is no simple universal solution that will reduce pedestrian accidents or the severity thereof. Pedestrian safety is everybody’s concern and we should all work together to find solutions to the problem. A systems approach to improving human behaviour suggests that we need to address the problem at different levels by simultaneously implementing engineering, enforcement, education and encouragement interventions. This paper consists of a literature review of pedestrian behavioural studies carried out internationally and outlines a longitudinal study that consists of three phases, namely: 1. a before-study; 2. a phase where community pedestrian safety projects are implemented (including a community road safety forum and community road safety officers that will educate learners and either start a ‘walking school bus’ or scholar patrol, improvement of pedestrian facilities and increased enforcement); and 3. An after-study. Each phase consists of four aspects namely: Engineering, Education, Law enforcement, and Encouragement. The before study includes a road safety assessment of the pedestrian facilities, pedestrian accident statistics for the last three years, and a human behaviour ‘before’ questionnaire. The questionnaire was used to test the knowledge and attitude of pedestrians. The after-study consists of a review of the pedestrian facilities and pedestrian statistics, and a post-project questionnaire conducted on the same respondents, in order to determine if there was a measurable change in behaviour of pedestrians and an increase in road safety knowledge. This paper also reports on the implementation of the above proposed methodology as part of the Olifant’s River-Water-Resources-Development-Project: Phase 2. The Olifant’s River-Community-Road-Safety-Project consists of road safety education at seven schools over a 12 month period, pedestrian safety audits and pre- and post-implementation questionnaires. The paper concludes by summarizing strengths and weaknesses of the project and highlighting lessons learnt to be implemented in future projects.This paper was transferred from the original CD ROM created for this conference. The material was published using Adobe Acrobat 10.1.0 Technology. The original CD ROM was produced by CE Projects cc. Postal Address: PO Box 560 Irene 0062 South Africa. Tel.: +27 12 667 2074 Fax: +27 12 667 2766 E-mail: [email protected]

Re-evaluation of Cryptosporiopsis eucalypti and Cryptosporiopsis-like species occurring on Eucalyptus

Cryptosporiopsis eucalypti is a common follicolous pathogen of Eucalyptus species in tropical and temperate regions where these trees are grown in plantations. The taxonomy of C. eucalypti is confused by the fact that it is phylogenetically unrelated to the type species of Cryptosporiopsis (Cryptosporiopsis nigra = C. scutellata, Helotiales). The aim of this study was to resolve the taxonomic position of C. eucalypti based on morphology and phylogenetic inference. Thirty-two Eucalyptus leaf samples with symptoms typical of C. eucalypti infection were collected from 10 tropical and temperate countries across four continents. Cultures were established from single conidia, as well as from ascospores of a previously unreported teleomorph state. DNA sequences were obtained for the 28 S nrDNA, the internal transcribed spacers of the nrDNA operon, and beta-tubulin regions to determine generic and species-level relationships. DNA-sequence analysis showed that conidial and ascospore isolates of C. eucalypti have low intraspecific variation, although two collections from Australia and one from Uruguay represented two novel taxa. Based on the newly collected teleomorph stage, as well as the phylogenetic data, C. eucalypti is shown to represent a new genus closely related to Plagiostoma (Gnomoniaceae, Diaporthales) for which the names Pseudoplagiostoma gen. nov. and Pseudoplagiostomaceae fam. nov. (Diaporthales) are introduced. Two new species of Cryptosporiopsis (Dermateaceae, Helotiales) on Eucalyptus from Australia and California (USA) are also described

Factors affecting extension workers in their rendering of effective service to pre and post-settled farmers in government initiated and supported farming small, micro and medium enterprises

Small, micro and medium entrepreneurs play an important role in economic growth and poverty alleviation across the globe. To this effect, the South African government has instituted a policy to encourage the formation, promotion and support of small, micro and medium enterprises (SMME’s). In particular, the Department of Agriculture and Forestry(DAF) and Rural Development and Land Affairs (DRDLA), through land acquisition, restitution and other agrarian development systems, initiates and supports agriculturally based SMME’s with the objective of achieving sustainable livelihoods for the poor and commonages. However, an intensive investigation using desktop, government reports, research articles and case studies on the pre and post-settlement delivery of services by extension officers, revealed that support is grossly inadequate in terms of funding, training, technical advice, mentoring, monitoring and evaluation. This is also exacerbated by the extension workers’ lack of capacity and specialization in particular fields, such as production, marketing and management to adequately service the land reform programs. It is therefore recommended that extension workers be capacitated on specialisation, production, management, mentoring, monitoring and evaluation in order for them to deliver qualityservices that will contribute to in making these SMME’s sustainable