Comparison of mechanical disturbance in soft sediments due to tickler-chain SumWing trawl versus electro-fitted PulseWing trawl

This study was part-funded by the EU FP 7 project BENTHIS (grant no. 312088). It does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission and does not anticipate the Commission’s future policy in this area. We are grateful for the logistic support of VLIZ, the fishermen of TX43 and TX29 and crew members of RV ISIS and RV Simon Stevin during the sea trials and NIOZ for the use of their box corer. ADR and LRT were partly supported by the project “Impact assessment pulsvisserij”. We are indebted to the skippers and Eddy Buyvoets for drawing the net plans of the trawls. We thank John Aldridge for his insights in sediment transport in relation to natural dynamics; Bavo De Witte for conducting the particle size analysis; Daniel Benden for assisting SPI analyses; Miriam Levenson for English-language editing and Julie Bremner and Stefan Bolam for their critical review. We also wish to thank 3 anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript.Peer reviewedPostprin

Guidelines for the treatment of diabetic ulcers

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72913/1/j.1524-475X.2006.00176.x.pd

Guidelines for the prevention of diabetic ulcers

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72321/1/j.1524-475X.2008.00357.x.pd

Acute mountain sickness.

Acute mountain sickness (AMS) is a clinical syndrome occurring in otherwise healthy normal individuals who ascend rapidly to high altitude. Symptoms develop over a period ofa few hours or days. The usual symptoms include headache, anorexia, nausea, vomiting, lethargy, unsteadiness of gait, undue dyspnoea on moderate exertion and interrupted sleep. AMS is unrelated to physical fitness, sex or age except that young children over two years of age are unduly susceptible. One of the striking features ofAMS is the wide variation in individual susceptibility which is to some extent consistent. Some subjects never experience symptoms at any altitude while others have repeated attacks on ascending to quite modest altitudes. Rapid ascent to altitudes of 2500 to 3000m will produce symptoms in some subjects while after ascent over 23 days to 5000m most subjects will be affected, some to a marked degree. In general, the more rapid the ascent, the higher the altitude reached and the greater the physical exertion involved, the more severe AMS will be. Ifthe subjects stay at the altitude reached there is a tendency for acclimatization to occur and symptoms to remit over 1-7 days

Risk factors for Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) death in a population cohort study from the Western Cape province, South Africa

Risk factors for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) death in sub-Saharan Africa and the effects of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and tuberculosis on COVID-19 outcomes are unknown. We conducted a population cohort study using linked data from adults attending public-sector health facilities in the Western Cape, South Africa. We used Cox proportional hazards models, adjusted for age, sex, location, and comorbidities, to examine the associations between HIV, tuberculosis, and COVID-19 death from 1 March to 9 June 2020 among (1) public-sector “active patients” (≥1 visit in the 3 years before March 2020); (2) laboratory-diagnosed COVID-19 cases; and (3) hospitalized COVID-19 cases. We calculated the standardized mortality ratio (SMR) for COVID-19, comparing adults living with and without HIV using modeled population estimates.Among 3 460 932 patients (16% living with HIV), 22 308 were diagnosed with COVID-19, of whom 625 died. COVID19 death was associated with male sex, increasing age, diabetes, hypertension, and chronic kidney disease. HIV was associated with COVID-19 mortality (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 2.14; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.70–2.70), with similar risks across strata of viral loads and immunosuppression. Current and previous diagnoses of tuberculosis were associated with COVID-19 death (aHR, 2.70 [95% CI, 1.81–4.04] and 1.51 [95% CI, 1.18–1.93], respectively). The SMR for COVID-19 death associated with HIV was 2.39 (95% CI, 1.96–2.86); population attributable fraction 8.5% (95% CI, 6.1–11.1)

Clinical evolution, management and outcomes of patients with COVID-19 admitted at Tygerberg Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa : a research protocol

CITATION: Allwood, B. W. et al. 2020. Clinical evolution, management and outcomes of patients with COVID-19 admitted at Tygerberg Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa : a research protocol. BMJ Open, 10:e039455, doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2020-039455.The original publication is available at https://bmjopen.bmj.comIntroduction The outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 virus causing COVID-19, declared a global pandemic by the WHO, is a novel infection with a high rate of morbidity and mortality. In South Africa, 55 421 cases have been confirmed as of 10 June 2020, with most cases in the Western Cape Province. Coronavirus leaves us in a position of uncertainty regarding the best clinical approach to successfully manage the expected high number of severely ill patients with COVID-19. This presents a unique opportunity to gather data to inform best practices in clinical approach and public health interventions to control COVID-19 locally. Furthermore, this pandemic challenges our resolve due to the high burden of HIV and tuberculosis (TB) in our country as data are scarce. This study endeavours to determine the clinical presentation, severity and prognosis of patients with COVID-19 admitted to our hospital. Methods and analysis The study will use multiple approaches taking into account the evolving nature of the COVID-19 pandemic. Prospective observational design to describe specific patterns of risk predictors of poor outcomes among patients with severe COVID-19 admitted to Tygerberg Hospital. Data will be collected from medical records of patients with severe COVID-19 admitted at Tygerberg Hospital. Using the Cox proportional hazards model, we will investigate the association between the survival time of patients with COVID-19 in relation to one or more of the predictor variables including HIV and TB. Ethics and dissemination The research team obtained ethical approval from the Health Research Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University and Research Committee of the Tygerberg Hospital. All procedures for the ethical conduct of scientific investigation will be adhered to by the research team. The findings will be disseminated in clinical seminars, scientific forums and conferences targeting clinical care providers and policy-makers.Publisher's versio