The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on youth experiencing homelessness: A qualitative study

The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted youth experiencing homelessness (YEH). During the coronavirus outbreak, millions of people’s health worldwide was negatively affected. In addition to poor physical health, society’s mental health was affected by political discourse, viral mitigation factors, social distancing, and distrust of both the media and government. Decades of research with those experiencing homelessness suggest that the housing insecure suffer from a litany of poor outcomes. Their physical and mental health are negatively affected by traumas and illnesses suffered prior to, and during, their transience. This study takes a phenomenological approach to examining how the COVID-19 pandemic affected YEH. Participants were screened to fit the study criteria and then they engaged in semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis coding was used to analyze and identify themes and subthemes that developed from the interviews. Ten themes and eighteen subthemes emerged from these interviews. These themes and their respective sub themes are: Isolation (forced isolation and self isolation), Family Strife (Became homeless during COVID-19 pandemic and experienced homelessness prior to COVID-19 pandemic), Education (self educational apathy and perceived educator apathy), Loss (lost opportunities and loss of resources), mental health (suicidal ideation), catching COVID-19 (worried about contracting coronavirus and not worried about catching coronavirus), systemic failures (legal system, university, government), friendships (fading friendships and strengthened bonds), resiliency, financial insecurity (inability to obtain or sustain employment and no access to money)

The peripartum management of a 32-year-old patient presenting at 34 weeks’ gestation with unrepaired cyanotic heart disease

CITATION: Rossouw, J. N., et al. 2018. The peripartum management of a 32-year-old patient presenting at 34 weeks’ gestation with unrepaired cyanotic heart disease. South African Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 24(2):36-39, doi:10.7196/sajog.1265.The original publication is available at http://www.sajog.org.zaENGLISH ABSTRACT: Unrepaired cyanotic heart disease is considered a high-risk lesion owing to the consequent increase in maternal and fetal complications. In the presence of pulmonary hypertension, maternal mortality approaching 50% has been reported, and pregnancy is therefore considered contraindicated. We present a case of a 32-year-old woman presenting at 34 weeks’ gestation in heart failure due to newly diagnosed cyanotic complex cardiac disease. The diagnosis of left atrial isomerism with a common atrium, single atrioventricular valve, and a restrictive ventricular septum defect was made. Cyanosis was due to mixing at atrial level, without features of Eisenmenger’s syndrome. Her intrapartum multidisciplinary management is described in detail. The patient was discharged home in a condition similar to her baseline, together with her healthy neonate.http://www.sajog.org.za/index.php/SAJOG/article/view/1265Publisher's versio

New iron(II) and manganese(II) complexes of two ultra-rigid, cross-bridged tetraazamacrocycles for catalysis and biomimicry

The high-spin dichloro Mn2+ and Fe2+ complexes of 4,11 dimethyl-1,4,8,11-tetraazabicyclo[6.6.2]-hexadecane (1) and 4.10-dimethyl-1,4,7,10-tetraazabicyclo[5.5.2]tetradecane (2) provide durable new compounds of these elements for important fundamental studies and applications. The compounds are especially noteable for their exceptional kinetic stabilities and redox activity. The X-ray crystal structures of all four complexes demonstrate that the ligands enforce a distorted octahedral geometry on the metals with two cis sites occupied by labile chloride ligands. Magnetic measurements reveal that all are high spin with typical magnetic moments. Cyclic voltammetry of the complexes shows reversible redox processes at +0.110 and +0.038 V (versus SHE) for the Fe3+/Fe2+ couples of Fe(1)Cl2 and Fe(2)Cl2, respectively, while the Mn3+/Mn2+ and Mn4+/Mn2+ couples were observed at +0.585 and +1.343 V, and +0.466 and +1.232 V for the complexes Mn(1)Cl2 and Mn(2)Cl2, respectively. Mn2+(1) was found to react with H2O2 and other oxidizing agents to produce the Mn4+(1) complex. The catalytic efficacy of Mn4+(1) in aqueous solution has been assessed in the epoxidation reaction of carbamazepine and hydrogen abstraction reaction with 1,4-cyclohexadiene The complex has been found to be a selective catalyst, exhibiting moderate catalytic activity in oxygen transfer, but significantly more effective catalytic activity in hydrogen abstraction reactions