HIV protective strategies among college students in Durban, South Africa

There is growing concern about the high level of HIV infection among young people in South Africa. The aim of the study is to examine the HIV protective strategies used by college students with specific emphasis on variations by race group. The data for the study come from a self-administrated survey that was conducted with 3 000 college students in Durban in order to understand the strategies they use to protect themselves against the risk of HIV infection. Overall, students perceived a far greater risk of pregnancy than HIV infection. The results show that abstinence is the most common protective factor among Indian and White students. Among African students, there is great concern about HIV but abstinence is less common. Among sexually active men and women, the majority report having more than one sexual partner (with the exception of Indian females). Female students among all groups were more likely than male students to report that they were faithful to their partners. In Africans the contrast is stark: 25% for women versus 6% for men. Condoms are the most commonly used method by students but are not used in every sexual encounter. Consistent condom use was highest among Indian males (46%) and lowest among White females (13.7%). More effort needs to be directed at promoting correct and consistent condom use in order to avoid the negative consequences associated with unprotected sexual intercourse including unwanted pregnancy and HIV/AIDS

Psoriatic arthritis: An assessment of clinical, biochemical and radiological features in a single-centre South African cohort

Background. Although psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a well-documented clinical entity, epidemiological, clinical and radiological studies of South African (SA) patients are scarce.Objectives. To assess clinical, biochemical and radiological features in a single-centre SA cohort.Methods. We conducted a prospective assessment of the clinical, biochemical and radiological features of 384 consecutive patients with PsA seen at the rheumatology clinic at Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital, Durban, SA, between January 2007 and December 2013. Patients were assessed at enrolment and 6 months after enrolment. They were classified into five groups as described by Moll and Wright, being entered into the group that best described the clinical manifestations. Clinicopathological characteristics recorded at enrolment were age at the time of examination, racial background, personal and family medical history, age and symptoms at the onset of PsA, pattern of joint involvement, joint pain, and the relationship between joint pain and the onset of PsA.Results. Of the patients, 59.1% had a polyarticular presentation indistinguishable from rheumatoid arthritis, 19.0% had distal interphalangeal involvement, 9.1% had spondyloarthropathy, 11.9% had oligoarthritis and 0.9% had arthritis mutilans. The epidemiological trends (male/female ratio 1.45:1, mean age at onset of arthritis 50.2 (standard deviation 11.8) years, female preponderance in the polyarticular group and male preponderance in the spondyloarthropathy and oligoarticular groups) were similar to trends published elsewhere. A notable characteristic of our cohort was the complete absence of black South Africans with PsA.Conclusions. The complete absence of black South Africans with PsA is interesting. We anticipate that our findings will prompt genetic studies to isolate both protective and susceptibility genes for further elucidating PsA

Compact anisotropic spheres with prescribed energy density

New exact interior solutions to the Einstein field equations for anisotropic spheres are found. We utilise a procedure that necessitates a choice for the energy density and the radial pressure. This class contains the constant density model of Maharaj and Maartens (Gen. Rel. Grav., Vol 21, 899-905, 1989) and the variable density model of Gokhroo and Mehra (Gen. Rel. Grav., Vol 26, 75-84, 1994) as special cases. These anisotropic spheres match smoothly to the Schwarzschild exterior and gravitational potentials are well behaved in the interior. A graphical analysis of the matter variables is performed which points to a physically reasonable matter distribution.Comment: 22 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Gen. Rel. Gra

Gynaecological surveillance in high risk women

Increasing availability of genetic testing and falling costs of the tests suggests that growing numbers of unaffected women will be identified worldwide who are at increased risk of gynaecological malignancies. The challenge in those identified is to prevent and detect the disease early without causing significant harm. Currently surgery remains the cornerstone of management. Most women undergoing surgery do not report a significant deterioration of their physical and mental health-related quality of life (1). However the resulting premature menopause is associated with decrease in sexual functioning and vasomotor symptoms even in women on hormone replacement therapy (HRT)(2)(3). As a result there is a continued effort to develop effective screening strategies for high risk women

Prehospital cooling of severe burns: Experience of the Emergency Department at Edendale Hospital, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Background. Early cooling with 10 - 20 minutes of cool running water up to 3 hours after a burn has a direct impact on the depth of the burn and therefore on the clinical outcome of the injury. An assessment of the early cooling of burns is essential to improve this aspect of burns management.Objectives. To assess the rates and adequacy of prehospital cooling received by patients with severe burns before presentation to the Emergency Department (ED) at Edendale Hospital, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Patients with inadequate prehospital cooling who presented to the ED within 3 hours were also identified.Methods. A retrospective review of the burns database for all the patients with severe burns admitted from the ED at Edendale Hospital from September 2012 to August 2013 was undertaken. Demographic details, characteristics and timing of the burns, and presentation were correlated with burn cooling.Results. Ninety patients were admitted with severe burns. None received sufficient cooling of their burns, 25.6% received cooling of inadequate duration, and 32.3% arrived at the ED within 3 hours after the burn with either inadequate or no cooling. The median time to presentation to the ED after the burn was 260 minutes.Conclusion. Appropriate cooling of severe burns presenting to Edendale Hospital is inadequate. Education of the community and prehospital healthcare workers about the importance of early appropriate cooling of severe burns is required. Many patients would benefit from cooling of their burns in the ED, and facilities should be provided for this vital function