135 research outputs found

    Die valensie van bewegingswerkwoorde in Afrikaans

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    Text in AfrikaansTwee sentrale probleme word hier ondersoek, naamlik die daarstelling van 'n teoreties adekwate model om leksikale valensie te verreken en die problematiek rondom die beskrywing van Afrikaanse bewegingswerkwoorde. Die vertrekpunt is dat 'n teorie van UG lesikale valensie slegs ten dele verreken. So 'n teorie is gemoeid met die vorm van 'n konstruksie wat op LF-vlak leesbaar is. Gevolglik beskryf 'n teorie van UG valensie net in universele sintakties-kategoriale terme. In hierdie studie word die semantiese en pragmatiese komponente van 'n valensieteorie derhalwe uitgebou sodat daar 'n duideliker begrip verkry kan word van die wisselwerking tussen alle veranderlikes van valensie op 'n taalspesifieke LF-vlak. 'n Valensieteorie word op eklektiese wyse saamgestel uit verskeie ander teoriee. Die apparaat om die sintaktiese komponent van 'n valensieteorie te beskryf, word aan TGGmodelle ontleen. Die semantiese komponent van die teorie word aangevul vanuit die Konseptuele Semantiek en die pragmatiese komponent daarvan vanui t kogni ti ewe grammatikamodelle. Die interaksie tussen hierdie komponente word verreken deur teoriee van leksikalisasie, korrespondensiereels en die passing tussen konstruksies en leksikale items. Die ontleding van Afrikaanse bewegingswerkwoorde spesif iseer die omvattender anali tiese apparaat wat nodig is vir die verrekening van valensie verby die punt waarvoor 'n teorie van UG voorsiening maak. Dit blyk uit hierdie analise dat die valensie van die kategorie in 'n aantal valensieraambeskrywings vir die aparte subklasse saamgevat kan word. 'n Duidelike beeld van die universele en taalspesifiekidiosinkratiese aspekte van hierdie kategorie kan in terme van hierdie valensierame aangetoon word. 'n Verdere hipotese (die onakkusatiwiteithipotese) is dat die sintaktiese verspreiding van werkwoorde ui t hulle semantiek voorspel kan word. Hierdie hipotese word getoets aan die empiriese data van Afrikaanse bewegingswerkwoorde. Hierdie bewegingswerkwoorde word in groepe geklassifiseer na gelang van ooreenstemmende semanties-pragmatiese kenmerke. Daar word getoon dat bewegingswerkwoorde met dieself de semantiespragmatiese kenmerke dieselfde valensierame het. Valensierame is daarom op sistematiese wyse uit semanties-pragmatiese kenmerke afleibaar. Sekere fasette van valensierame word egter ook bepaal deur konvensies soos profilering, en deur bereelde interaksie met 'n basiese konstruksie se argumentstruktuur.This thesis focuses on the development of a theoretically adequate model to account for lexical valence and to provide the detail for such a model by means of an analysis of Afrikaans verbs of motion. The thesis is a response to a theory of UG which inadequately accounts for lexical valence. A theory of UG is concerned with the universal syntactic form of a construction that is legible on LF level. It therefore describes valence in universal syntactic-categorial terms only. This thesis develops the semantic and pragmatic components of a theory of valence in order that a clearer understanding may be gained of the interaction between all the variables of valence on a language specific LF level. A theory of valence is construed eclectically from several other theories. TGG models provide the methods used to describe the syntactic component of a theory of valence. Conceptual Semantics contributes to the development of the semantic component, and models of cognitive grammar to the pragmatic component. The interaction between these components is explained by theories of lexicalisation, rules of correspondence and the fusion of constructions and lexical items. The analysis of Afrikaans verbs of motion provides the comprehensive set of analytical devices required to account for valence beyond the point of LF. From this analysis it emerges that the valence of this category can be summarized in a finite number of frames of valence for distinct classes within the category. 'n Clear understanding of the universal and language specific aspects of this category is achieved by means of these frames of valence. A further hypothesis (the unaccusativity hypothesis) posits that the syntactic distribution of verbs can be predicted from their semantics. This hypothesis is tested by means of empirical data of Afrikaans verbs of motion. These verbs are classified according to similar semantic-pragmatic features. It is shown that verbs of motion with the same semanticpragmatic features share frames of valence. These frames thus are deducible systematically from semantic-pragmatic features. Certain aspects of frames of valence, however, are determined by conventions such as profiling and the regulated interaction between verbs and constructions.AfrikaansD.Litt. et Phil. (Afrikaans

    THE STRESS OF CARING: THE MANIFESTATION OF STRESS IN THE NURSE-PATIENT RELATIONSHIP

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    Following global trends in health reforms, South Africa has followed a primary health care approach since the eighties (Petersen & Swartz, 2002; Van der Walt, 1998). The implementation of this approach at first was regarded as selective and piecemeal (Van der Walt, 1998), but with the emergence of a democratically elected government in 1994 a series of health reforms focused on equalising the coverage of service (Van Wyk, 2005). The South African health system can thus best be described as one that has been characterised by time-consuming restructuring processes aimed at the implementation of a comprehensive primary health care service. Within this system all health-care professionals have been exposed to stressful working conditions. However, mental health professionals (psychologists and social workers) agree that the impact of these conditions on nurses is specifically important as they form “…the largest cadre of frontline health providers in South Africa” (Van der Walt & Swartz, 2002:1002)

    Glucose transport by epithelia prepared from harvested enterocytes

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    Transformed and cultured cell lines have significant shortcomings for investigating the characteristics and responses of native villus enterocytes in situ. Interpretations of results from intact tissues are complicated by the presence of underlying tissues and the crypt compartment. We describe a simple, novel, and reproducible method for preparing functional epithelia using differentiated enterocytes harvested from the small intestine upper villus of adult mice and preterm pigs with and without necrotizing enterocolitis. Concentrative, rheogenic glucose uptake was used as an indicator of epithelial function and was demonstrated by cellular accumulation of tracer 14C d-glucose and Ussing chamber based short-circuit currents. Assessment of the epithelia by light and immunofluorescent microscopy revealed the harvested enterocytes remain differentiated and establish cell–cell connections to form polarized epithelia with distinct apical and basolateral domains. As with intact tissues, the epithelia exhibit glucose induced short-circuit currents that are increased by exposure to adenosine and adenosine 5′-monophosphate (AMP) and decreased by phloridzin to inhibit the apical glucose transporter SGLT-1. Similarly, accumulation of 14C d-glucose by the epithelia was inhibited by phloridzin, but not phloretin, and was stimulated by pre-exposure to AMP and adenosine, apparently by a microtubule-based mechanism that is disrupted by nocodazole, with the magnitudes of responses to adenosine, forskolin, and health status exceeding those we have measured using intact tissues. Our findings indicate that epithelia prepared from harvested enterocytes provide an alternative approach for comparative studies of the characteristics of nutrient transport by the upper villus epithelium and the responses to different conditions and stimuli

    The start of sexual health curriculum development and evaluation at Stellenbosch University

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    Background: Stellenbosch University’s (SU) Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS), developed a sexual health course to be integrated throughout the revised medical curriculum. Aim: To use the Sexual Health Education for Professionals Scale (SHEPS) to gather baseline and future follow-up data to inform curriculum development and evaluation. Setting: The first-year medical students (N = 289) of the FMHS SU. Methods: The SHEPS was answered before the start of the sexual health course. The knowledge, communication and attitude sections were answered with a Likert-type scale. Students had to describe their perceived confidence in their knowledge and communication skills to care for patients within specific sexuality-related clinical scenarios. The attitude section measured the students’ level of agreement or disagreement on sexuality-related opinion statements. Results: The response rate was 97%. Most students were female, and 55% of the class were first taught about sexuality in the age group 13–18 years. The students had more confidence in their communication skills than knowledge before any tertiary training. The attitude section revealed a binomial distribution, ranging from acceptance to a more restrictive attitude towards sexual behaviour. Conclusion: It is the first time the SHEPS has been used in a South African context. The results provide novel information about the range of perceived sexual health knowledge, skills and attitudes of first-year medical students before they start tertiary training. Contribution: Findings from this study will guide content development and evaluation of the sexual health course at the institution where the study was conducted, as well as allow for culture sensitive education

    Comparison of Moral Distress and Burnout Experienced by Mental Health Nurses in Japan and England : A Cross-sectional Questionnaire Survey

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    Aims: To compare moral distress and burnout experienced by mental health nurses in hospitals both in Japan and England. Methods: This is a cross-national study, and a cross-sectional design was adopted. An anonymous questionnaire containing 43 moral distress items, a 16 item burnout scale, and demographic data was administered to convenient samples; 391 nurses in Japan, and 460 nurses in England. Among the participants, 289 nurses (73.9%) in Japan, and 36 nurses (7.8%) in England responded. Results: The moral distress items which were commonly felt by nurses in both countries dealt with a lack of staff. Several differences, however, existed between the two, which reflected poor conditions such as long term social hospitalization in Japan. The nurses in England felt moral distress in a wider variety of situations, though they confront them less frequently than the nurses in Japan. Only in England was it found that the older nurses became, and the more experience they had accumulated, the less intensely they felt moral distress. The nurses in both countries felt the same levels of exhaustion, and cynicism, but as far as professional efficacy, the scores of the nurses in England were much higher than those of the nurses in Japan. Conclusions: If nurses feel no moral distress, there will be no improvements of care. Nurses should have moral sense, and do their best to improve the situations without being burned out

    Isolated Rearing at Lactation Increases Gut Microbial Diversity and Post-weaning Performance in Pigs

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    Environment and diet are two major factors affecting the human gut microbiome. In this study, we used a pig model to determine the impact of these two factors during lactation on the gut microbiome, immune system, and growth performance. We assigned 80 4-day-old pigs from 20 sows to two rearing strategies at lactation: conventional rearing on sow’s milk (SR) or isolated rearing on milk replacer supplemented with solid feed starting on day 10 (IR). At weaning (day 21), SR and IR piglets were co-mingled (10 pens of 4 piglets/pen) and fed the same corn-soybean meal-dried distiller grain with solubles- and antibiotic-free diets for eight feeding phase regimes. Fecal samples were collected on day 21, 62, and 78 for next-generation sequencing of the V4 hypervariable region of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene. Results indicate that IR significantly increased swine microbial diversity and changed the microbiome structure at day 21. Such changes diminished after the two piglet groups were co-mingled and fed the same diet. Post-weaning growth performance also improved in IR piglets. Toward the end of the nursery period (NP), IR piglets had greater average daily gain (0.49 vs. 0.41 kg/d; P < 0.01) and average daily feed intake (0.61 vs. 0.59 kg/d; P < 0.01) but lower feed efficiency (0.64 vs. 0.68; P = 0.05). Consequently, IR piglets were heavier by 2.9 kg (P < 0.01) at the end of NP, and by 4.1 kg (P = 0.08) at market age compared to SR piglets. Interestingly, pigs from the two groups had similar lean tissue percentage. Random forest analysis showed that members of Leuconostoc and Lactococcus best differentiated the IR and SR piglets at weaning (day 21), were negatively correlated with levels of Foxp3 regulatory T cell populations on day 20, and positively correlated with post-weaning growth performance. Our results suggest that rearing strategies may be managed so as to accelerate early-life establishment of the swine gut microbiome to enhance growth performance in piglets

    Myelin-associated Glycoprotein Interacts with Neurons via a Sialic Acid Binding Site at ARG118 and a Distinct Neurite Inhibition Site

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    Inhibitory components in myelin are largely responsible for the lack of regeneration in the mammalian CNS. Myelin-associated glycoprotein (MAG), a sialic acid binding protein and a component of myelin, is a potent inhibitor of neurite outgrowth from a variety of neurons both in vitro and in vivo. Here, we show that MAG's sialic acid binding site is distinct from its neurite inhibitory activity. Alone, sialic acid–dependent binding of MAG to neurons is insufficient to effect inhibition of axonal growth. Thus, while soluble MAG-Fc (MAG extracellular domain fused to Fc), a truncated form of MAG-Fc missing Ig-domains 4 and 5, MAG(d1-3)-Fc, and another sialic acid binding protein, sialoadhesin, each bind to neurons in a sialic acid– dependent manner, only full-length MAG-Fc inhibits neurite outgrowth. These results suggest that a second site must exist on MAG which elicits this response. Consistent with this model, mutation of arginine 118 (R118) in MAG to either alanine or aspartate abolishes its sialic acid–dependent binding. However, when expressed at the surface of either CHO or Schwann cells, R118-mutated MAG retains the ability to inhibit axonal outgrowth. Hence, MAG has two recognition sites for neurons, the sialic acid binding site at R118 and a distinct inhibition site which is absent from the first three Ig domains

    ENIGMA and global neuroscience: A decade of large-scale studies of the brain in health and disease across more than 40 countries

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    This review summarizes the last decade of work by the ENIGMA (Enhancing NeuroImaging Genetics through Meta Analysis) Consortium, a global alliance of over 1400 scientists across 43 countries, studying the human brain in health and disease. Building on large-scale genetic studies that discovered the first robustly replicated genetic loci associated with brain metrics, ENIGMA has diversified into over 50 working groups (WGs), pooling worldwide data and expertise to answer fundamental questions in neuroscience, psychiatry, neurology, and genetics. Most ENIGMA WGs focus on specific psychiatric and neurological conditions, other WGs study normal variation due to sex and gender differences, or development and aging; still other WGs develop methodological pipelines and tools to facilitate harmonized analyses of "big data" (i.e., genetic and epigenetic data, multimodal MRI, and electroencephalography data). These international efforts have yielded the largest neuroimaging studies to date in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance use disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorders, epilepsy, and 22q11.2 deletion syndrome. More recent ENIGMA WGs have formed to study anxiety disorders, suicidal thoughts and behavior, sleep and insomnia, eating disorders, irritability, brain injury, antisocial personality and conduct disorder, and dissociative identity disorder. Here, we summarize the first decade of ENIGMA's activities and ongoing projects, and describe the successes and challenges encountered along the way. We highlight the advantages of collaborative large-scale coordinated data analyses for testing reproducibility and robustness of findings, offering the opportunity to identify brain systems involved in clinical syndromes across diverse samples and associated genetic, environmental, demographic, cognitive, and psychosocial factors
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