Determinants of Household Debt in Botswana: 1994-2012

The paper identifies the factors that are influential in determining the growth of household debt in Botswana. Understanding the relationship between household debt and other economic indicators is an important step towards formulating focused and effective policies that control the effects of household debt on the whole economy. Using quarterly data from the first quarter of 1994 to the second quarter of 2012, the paper employs the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) to analyse the influence of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, interest rates, inflation, household consumption and money supply on household debt. The findings indicate that GDP per capita, interest rates and money supply determine changes in household debt in the long-run. Further analysis shows that lagged household debt, interest rates and money supply influence changes in household debt in the short-run

Isolated tubercular hepatic abscess with diffuse pattern mimicking hepatocellular carcinoma in HIV positive patient: a case report

Isolated hepatic tuberculosis presenting as a mass either with or without fever can be confused with hepatocellular carcinoma. Clinical examination and laboratory investigations are not specific. Radiological investigations such as ultrasound and computed tomography cannot confirm the diagnosis; hence it is vital to always make an effort to demonstrate presence of acid fast bacilli in aspirated pus or necrotic material from a liver mass. We present a case of 50 years old male patient with HIV/AIDS who presented with non-specific symptoms without fever, clinically with hepatomegaly mimicking hepatocellular carcinoma with metastasis. Abdominal ultrasound revealed a mass in the left liver lobe, with diffuse involvement in the right liver lobe. Liver mass histology showed granulomatous pattern with epitheloid cell aggregation. Aspirated blood from fine-needle guided biopsy stained on Ziehl Neelsen for acid fast bacilli turned out positive. Clinical examination did not reveal lymphadenopathy, abdominal ultrasound also ruled out para-aortic lymphadenopathy, and chest x-ray was essentially normal. Evaluation of the patient six months after completing quadruple treatment for tuberculosis showed marked clinical improvement.  The objective of this case report is to highlight the importance of considering hepatic tuberculosis as a differential diagnosis in cases of hepatomegaly and initiate appropriate investigations to rule out a possibility of Tuberculosis which is potentially treatable with early diagnosis

African researchers and the rural school issues in South Africa: a predatory culture

One of the mandates of Comprehensive Rural Development Programme (CRDP) in South Africa is to ensure that all schools and health facilities have access to basic infrastructure such as water and electricity by 2014. Our academic researchers have not researched much about how rural schools that do not have infrastructure have been managing to achieve school education outcomes. When wind-storms occur (sometimes accompanied by rains) learners coming from the same rural regions of our country do not go to school to avoid the risk of having their classroom roofs and walls collapsing on them. Our statistics show an entry of rural mud-walled schools, especially in the Eastern Cape Province in 2011. This paper confronts these challenges of South Africa’s rural schools in 2012 and 12 years (k-12) in the future of our rural schools and their learners.ABET and Youth Developmen

Improved photocatalytic degradation of Orange G using hybrid nanofibers

Functionalised electrospun polyamide-6 (PA-6) nanofibres incorporating gadolinium oxide nanoparticles conjugated to zinc tetracarboxyphenoxy phthalocyanine (ZnTCPPc) as the sensitizer were prepared for the photocatalytic degradation of Orange G. Fibres incorporating the phthalocyanine alone or a mixture of the nanoparticles and phthalocyanine were also generated. The singlet oxygen-generating ability of the sensitizer was shown to be maintained within the fibre mat, with the singlet oxygen quantum yields increasing upon incorporation of the magnetic nanoparticles. Consequently, the rate of the photodegradation of Orange G was observed to increase with an increase in singlet oxygen quantum yield. A reduction in the half-lives for the functionalised nanofibres was recorded in the presence of the magnetic nanoparticles, indicating an improvement in the efficiency of the degradation process

Surface modification of silica-coated gadolinium oxide nanoparticles with zinc tetracarboxyphenoxy phthalocyanine for the photodegradation of Orange G

Zinc tetracarboxyphenoxy phthalocyanine was covalently linked to Gd2O3 nanoparticles for the photocatalytic degradation of Orange G. Characterization of the composite was carried out using XRD, TEM, XPS, UV–vis spectroscopy and FT-IR spectroscopy. The composite showed improved photophysical properties over the phthalocyanine alone and the catalyst was found to be reusable. Analyses of the photodegradation rates of the azo dye indicated pseudo first-order kinetics

Capsular polysaccharide conformations in pneumococcal serotypes 19F and 19A

Streptococcus pneumoniae is a significant pathogen in children. Although the PCV7 pneumococcal conjugate vaccine has reduced pneumococcal disease, non-vaccine serotype 19A infection has increased, despite expectations of cross-protection from vaccine serotype 19F. Serotype 19A is included in the new PCV13 vaccine, but not in PCV10. In the solution simulations of 19F and 19A oligosaccharide chains reported here, both polysaccharides form unstructured random coils, with inflexible repeat units linked by mobile phosphodiester linkages. However, there are clear conformational differences. In the 19F repeat unit, the rhamnose residue is nearly orthogonal to the other residues, whereas 19A has residues in similar orientations. This finding is corroborated by key inter-residue distances calculated from NMR NOESY experiments. Further, 19F is predominantly in extended conformations, whereas 19A exhibits a high prevalence of tight hairpin bends. These conformational differences may account for a lack of antibody cross-protection between serotypes 19F and 19A