Children's daily travel to school in Johannesburg-Soweto, South Africa: geography and school choice in the Birth to Twenty cohort study

This paper has two aims: to explore approaches to the measurement of children’s daily travel to school in a context of limited geospatial data availability, and to provide data regarding school choice and distance travelled to school in Soweto-Johannesburg, South Africa. The paper makes use of data from the Birth to Twenty cohort study (n=1428) to explore three different approaches to estimating school choice and travel to school. Firstly, straight-line distance between home and school is calculated. Secondly, census geography is used to determine whether a child's home and school fall in the same area. Thirdly, distance data are used to determine whether a child attends the nearest school. Each of these approaches highlights a different aspect of mobility, and all provide valuable data. Overall, primary school aged children in Soweto-Johannesburg are shown to be travelling substantial distances to school on a daily basis. Over a third travel more than 3km, one-way, to school, 60% attend schools outside of the suburb in which they live, and only 18% attend their nearest school. These data provide evidence for high levels of school choice in Johannesburg-Soweto, and that families and children are making substantial investments in pursuit of high quality educational opportunities. Additionally, these data suggest that two patterns of school choice are evident: one pattern involving travel of substantial distances and requiring a higher level of financial investment, and a second pattern, involving choice between more local schools, requiring less travel and a more limited financial investment

The development of computational biology in South Africa: successes achieved and lessons learnt

Bioinformatics is now a critical skill in many research and commercial environments as biological data are increasing in both size and complexity. South African researchers recognized this need in the mid-1990s and responded by working with the government as well as international bodies to develop initiatives to build bioinformatics capacity in the country. Significant injections of support from these bodies provided a springboard for the establishment of computational biology units at multiple universities throughout the country, which took on teaching, basic research and support roles. Several challenges were encountered, for example with unreliability of funding, lack of skills, and lack of infrastructure. However, the bioinformatics community worked together to overcome these, and South Africa is now arguably the leading country in bioinformatics on the African continent. Here we discuss how the discipline developed in the country, highlighting the challenges, successes, and lessons learnt

DNA methylation and inflammation marker profiles associated with a history of depression

Brain and Behaviour Research Foundation (BBF) through a NARSAD Young Investigator Grant; e National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Exeter Clinical Research Facility

The impact of educational attainment on household poverty in South Africa: A case study of Limpopo province

Poverty is a phenomenon that is multidimensional in nature and its meaning varies from one individual to another (Alkire and Foster 2011; Batana 2013; Bossert, Chakravarty, and D'Ambrosio 2013; Jansen et al. 2015). It can be seen as a failure to attain certain capabilities, absolute or relative,2 or a lack of income to meet a certain standard of living in a given society (Jansen et al. 2015). It can be chronic or temporary3, is often linked with underdevelopment, economic exclusion and vulnerabilities, and sometimes closely correlated with inequality (Mbuli 2008; Van der Berg 2008; Jansen et al. 2015). The definition of poverty employed determines its measurement

The distribution of nematophagous fungi in the maritime Antarctic

Endoparasitic and predatory nematophagous fungi are widely distributed throughout the maritime Antarctic, being recorded along the Antarctic Peninsula as far south as 68° S. Fungi were recorded from 71% of the sites examined with Cephalosporium balanoides and Dactylaria gracilis being the commonest recorded endoparasite and predator, respectively. Endoparasites with adhesive and nematode-attracting conidia were shown to be more abundant and to have a competitive advantage in the Antarctic ecosystem over those parasites requiring their conidia to be ingested before infection could occur. Predators able to form traps spontaneously on germination were shown to be far more abundant than those species with a more saprophytic mode of existence, with constricting rings being the most commonly isolated trapping mechanism. Species capturing nematodes by three-dimensional networks were restricted to bird-associated sites indicating that they are able to grow saprophytically in such organically enriched material. Nematophagous basidiomycetes and phycomycetes were absent except for a single Myzocytium sp. isolated from heated soil