Multiple sclerosis in South Africa

Since there are no well-documented epidemiological studies on multiple sclerosis (MS) in South Africa, we devised a questionnaire to determine qualitative data. Responses were obtained from 430 patients: 91% had magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, 64% had lumbar punctures and 49% had evoked potentials to establish the diagnosis of MS. A total of 71% of the respondents were aged 30 - 59 years, 73% were female, and 89% were white. In terms of MS type, 46% had relapsing-remitting MS, 13 % secondary progressive MS, 12% primary progressive MS, 12% benign MS, and 17% not known. Disease-modifying treatment was not used by 32% of respondents, and 30% were treated with methotrexate and 22% with interferon beta. These findings are similar to those in the literature, except for the under-utilisation of interferons as disease-modifying treatment. South African Medical Journal Vol. 98 (5) 2008 pp. 391-39

Stevens’ Cure (Umckaloabo)—the vindication of a patent medicine

Stevens’ Cure (Umckaloabo) emerged as a patent medicine claiming to treat tuberculosis in the United Kingdom at the beginning of the 20th century. However, due to its identity being shrouded in secrecy, it was never truly accepted by the medical community. It was “rediscovered” in the 1970s and subsequently developed into a very popular and successful phytopharmaceutical for the treatment of upper respiratory tract infections. Whether Stevens’ Cure contained the same ingredient(s) as the modern Umckaloabo has not yet been demonstrated. We attempted to elucidate for the first time the identity of the original ingredient by comparative analysis of historical product samples. Three historical samples of Stevens’ Cure were compared with Pelargonium sidoides DC. and P. reniforme Curt. root per UPLC-MS analysis. We confirm that the ingredient–P. sidoides DC.—is indeed the same as used in modern phytotherapy. We also attribute the first ethnopharmacological record of P. sidoides DC. being used for the treatment of tuberculosis to C. H. Stevens, the “creator” of Umckaloabo

Genetic Susceptibility to Acute Rheumatic Fever: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Twin Studies

Acute rheumatic fever is considered to be a heritable condition, but the magnitude of the genetic effect is unknown. The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of twin studies of concordance of acute rheumatic fever in order to derive quantitative estimates of the size of the genetic effect.We searched PubMed/MEDLINE, ISI Web of Science, EMBASE, and Google Scholar from their inception to 31 January 2011, and bibliographies of retrieved articles, for twin studies of the concordance for acute rheumatic fever or rheumatic heart disease in monozygotic versus dizygotic twins that used accepted diagnostic criteria for acute rheumatic fever and zygosity without age, gender or language restrictions. Twin similarity was measured by probandwise concordance rate and odds ratio (OR), and aggregate probandwise concordance risk was calculated by combining raw data from each study. ORs from separate studies were combined by random-effects meta-analysis to evaluate association between zygosity status and concordance. Heritability was estimated by fitting a variance components model to the data.435 twin pairs from six independent studies met the inclusion criteria. The pooled probandwise concordance risk for acute rheumatic fever was 44% in monozygotic twins and 12% in dizygotic twins, and the association between zygosity and concordance was strong (OR 6.39; 95% confidence interval, 3.39 to 12.06; P<0.001), with no significant study heterogeneity (P = 0.768). The estimated heritability across all the studies was 60%.Acute rheumatic fever is an autoimmune disorder with a high heritability. The discovery of all genetic susceptibility loci through whole genome scanning may provide a clinically useful genetic risk prediction tool for acute rheumatic fever and its sequel, rheumatic heart disease

Quantitative Survey of 3-alkyl-2-methoxypyrazines and First Confirmation of 3-ethyl-2-methoxypyrazine in South African Sauvignon blanc Wines

3-Alkyl-2-methoxypyrazines are important aroma components in Sauvignon blanc wine, contributing tothe typical vegetative character associated with the cultivar. The analysis of methoxypyrazines is highlychallenging and, as a result, limited quantitative data are available for South African Sauvignon blancwines. In this study, liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was applied for the sensitivequantification of the three principal methoxypyrazines in 881 South African Sauvignon blanc wines. Thetotal wine methoxypyrazine concentration exceeded the combined recognition threshold for the vegetativearoma in more than 60% of the samples, demonstrating the involvement of these compounds in the typicalaroma of the cultivar. The analytical method was adapted to allow the accurate quantitation and spectralconfirmation of 3-ethyl-2-methoxypyrazine in Sauvignon blanc wines for the first time. Concentrationsranged between 1.1 and 4.9 ng/L. Statistically significant relationships between wine methoxypyrazineconcentrations and parameters related to the maturity of the grapes and to the climate, as well asgeographical origin and vintage, were found

Applying supervised machine learning to predict optimal playing positions for netball players

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WbC-0ocZwv8JBj6QYjp4mGcknFw1fgOW/view?usp=sharinghttps://drive.google.com/drive/folders/16tXOVlxDmNZhKcBppVkOt6O0rzuIFdSE?usp=sharinghttps://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1kg27Ds3zYTfKIEFideN8YO-6csKHLtNm?usp=sharin

Applying supervised machine learning to predict optimal playing positions for rugby players

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-0IzahwQxlA5IJhjWX3d3wWPzqj5G1dD/view?usp=sharinghttps://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Kq-9Vr8xmi_vOmvGZfPCjX62tuxq02xS?usp=sharinghttps://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1p2-BLglFh0k-ILOs6gba4TML22L9nKoY?usp=sharin

Chaos and crises in a model for cooperative hunting: A symbolic dynamics approach

In this work we investigate the population dynamics of cooperative hunting extending the McCann and Yodzis model for a three-species food chain system with a predator, a prey, and a resource species. The new model considers that a given fraction sigma of predators cooperates in prey's hunting, while the rest of the population 1-sigma hunts without cooperation. We use the theory of symbolic dynamics to study the topological entropy and the parameter space ordering of the kneading sequences associated with one-dimensional maps that reproduce significant aspects of the dynamics of the species under several degrees of cooperative hunting. Our model also allows us to investigate the so-called deterministic extinction via chaotic crisis and transient chaos in the framework of cooperative hunting. The symbolic sequences allow us to identify a critical boundary in the parameter spaces (K, C-0) and (K, sigma) which separates two scenarios: (i) all-species coexistence and (ii) predator's extinction via chaotic crisis. We show that the crisis value of the carrying capacity K-c decreases at increasing sigma, indicating that predator's populations with high degree of cooperative hunting are more sensitive to the chaotic crises. We also show that the control method of Dhamala and Lai [Phys. Rev. E 59, 1646 (1999)] can sustain the chaotic behavior after the crisis for systems with cooperative hunting. We finally analyze and quantify the inner structure of the target regions obtained with this control method for wider parameter values beyond the crisis, showing a power law dependence of the extinction transients on such critical parameters

Comparing PUSH data of rugby players during the off, pre and in season

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mEHrFVWeWSQeHA_qj5rvaOvAYNSOxxof/view?usp=sharinghttps://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ApTi9r-z7oje7YFvg_W_hXYml5Hbr6Ei?usp=sharinghttps://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vOu2PGqpFdKsLUQ7tt1-wEWTX5U5JNTn?usp=sharin