'n Toepassing van die woonbuurtbegrip in S.A

The grouping of dwellings in units of certain size emerged strongly in the beginning of the 20th century only with the so-called garden scene and later with the new towns in Britain. Accordingly, the residential function is grouped in different neighborhoods, each of which should consist of smaller units. The basic idea behind this was to try to restore the human scale back into the urban environment.*This article is written in Afrikaans

A framework for urban renewal

The re-activation of dilapidated and broken-city districts has become important assessment topics in recent times. In Scotland as well as in the rest of Britain, much attention is paid to the problems of urban decay and globalization in central parts of the city. The Israeli experiment in neighborhood hemuwing and the various organizations involved are also discussed. A further example in this connection is the problems experienced and efforts made by a large local authority such as Amsterdam Municipality. In the last part of the article, the most important aspects of the organization of urbanization are summarized and compared to the South African situation

Moontlike toekomstige patroon van kleurlingverstedeliking in Wes-Kaapland

According to the National Physical Development Plan (1), apart from the existing metropolitan areas of Greater Cape Town and Port Elizabeth -Ultenhage, five other growth points are excluded in the Cape Province. They are the Saldanha Bay complex. George, East London, Kimberley and an imaginary growth point for the North-Western Cape. This choice implies that there is enough development potential in each of these urban settlements to develop a large population (I, p. 18) without large-scale government investment. This development should therefore take place in competition with existing metropolitan centers. At this stage, it would therefore be important to investigate the future pattern of urbanization in Western Cape. Because the Colored urban population in Western Cape grows much faster than the white urban population (3.3% versus 1.8% per annum), it would be appropriate to investigate the future pattern of Colored Cities in the Western Cape.*This article is written in Afrikaans

Strategie vir ruimtelike ontwikkeling in Nederland

The term Randstad Holland is used to describe the agglomeration of cities in the south west of the Netherlands. In this Randstad there is no central city like London or Paris, but three large and several medium-sized cities. The horse shoe pattern of the agglomera­tion encloses an open area, the so­ called Green Heart of Holland which is mainly used for agricultural and re­creational purposes. Keeping this area open by preventing the dispersal of people and urban development into this area has become the basic princi­ple underlying physical planning in the Netherlands. The Third Report on Physical Planning (1976) proposed a number of growth-centres and growth­cities to which future urban develop­ment must be directed to combat the spontaneous settlement in the Green Heart. The implementation of the growth-centres/ cities policy takes place within the normal government framework while special financial sup­port is given by the central Govern­ment. Some similarities between the growth-centre/ cities policy of the Netherlands and the deconcentration points and industrial development points policy of South Africa can be identified.*This article is written in Afrikaans

Intoxication, criminal offences and suicide attempts in a group of South African problem drinkers

Background. Incidence rates of crime and alcohol abuse in South Africa are unacceptably high. Research suggests a relationship between alcohol and both crime and suicide. This study aims to add to the information base on this topic in South Africa.Methods. This is a cross-sectional record study of criminal offences and suicide attempts in 269 admissions to an alcohol rehabilitation unit in the Western Cape. Types of criminal offences and suicide attempts are described. Relationships are sought between crime, violent crime and suicide attempts on the one hand, and demographic and alcohol-related variables on the other.Results. One hundred and four subjects (39%) had criminal convictions, the majority of which were committed while the subjects were intoxicated. The commonest alcoholrelated crimes were driving-related (17% of subjects) and crimes of violence (15%). Male gender, younger age at initiation of drinking, and earlier onset of problem drinking were significantly associated with criminal behaviour. Violent crime was associated with earlier onset of initial, regular and problem drinking, and maternal alcohol abuse. Suicide attempts (24% of subjects) were associated with female gender, white racial group, not being in a marital relationship, younger current age and early age of problem drinking.Conclusions. There was an association between intoxication and both violent crime and suicide attempts. The importance of population studies and the need for intervention programmes aimed at teenagers who are drinking, are emphasised

Temporal-spatial profiling of pedunculopontine galanin-cholinergic neurons in the lactacystin rat model of Parkinson’s disease

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is conventionally seen as resulting from single-system neurodegeneration affecting nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons. However, accumulating evidence indicates a multi-system degeneration and neurotransmitter deficiencies, including cholinergic neurons which degenerate in a brainstem nucleus, the pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN), resulting in motor- and cognitive impairments. The neuropeptide galanin can inhibit cholinergic transmission, whilst being upregulated in degenerating brain regions associated with cognitive decline. Here we determined the temporal-spatial profile of progressive expression of endogenous galanin within degenerating cholinergic neurons, across the rostro-caudal axis of the PPN, by utilising the lactacystin-induced rat model of PD. First, we show progressive neuronal death affecting nigral dopaminergic and PPN cholinergic neurons, reflecting that seen in PD patients, to facilitate use of this model for assessing the therapeutic potential of bioactive peptides. Next, stereological analyses of the lesioned brain hemisphere found that the number of PPN cholinergic neurons expressing galanin increased by 11%, compared to sham-lesioned controls, increasing by a further 5% as the neurodegenerative process evolved. Galanin upregulation within cholinergic PPN neurons was most prevalent closest to the intra-nigral lesion site, suggesting that galanin upregulation in such neurons adapt intrinsically to neurodegeneration, to possibly neuroprotect. This is the first report on the extent and pattern of galanin expression in cholinergic neurons across distinct PPN subregions in both the intact rat CNS and lactacystin lesioned rats. The findings pave the way for future work to target galanin signaling in the PPN, to determine the extent to which upregulated galanin expression could offer a viable treatment strategy for ameliorating PD symptoms associated with cholinergic degeneration

Phylogeny and evolution of life-history strategies in the Sycophaginae non-pollinating fig wasps (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Non-pollinating Sycophaginae (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea) form small communities within <it>Urostigma </it>and <it>Sycomorus </it>fig trees. The species show differences in galling habits and exhibit apterous, winged or dimorphic males. The large gall inducers oviposit early in syconium development and lay few eggs; the small gall inducers lay more eggs soon after pollination; the ostiolar gall-inducers enter the syconium to oviposit and the cleptoparasites oviposit in galls induced by other fig wasps. The systematics of the group remains unclear and only one phylogeny based on limited sampling has been published to date. Here we present an expanded phylogeny for sycophagine fig wasps including about 1.5 times the number of described species. We sequenced mitochondrial and nuclear markers (4.2 kb) on 73 species and 145 individuals and conducted maximum likelihood and Bayesian phylogenetic analyses. We then used this phylogeny to reconstruct the evolution of Sycophaginae life-history strategies and test if the presence of winged males and small brood size may be correlated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The resulting trees are well resolved and strongly supported. With the exception of <it>Apocrytophagus</it>, which is paraphyletic with respect to <it>Sycophaga</it>, all genera are monophyletic. The Sycophaginae are divided into three clades: (i) <it>Eukoebelea</it>; (ii) <it>Pseudidarnes</it>, <it>Anidarnes </it>and <it>Conidarnes </it>and (iii) <it>Apocryptophagus</it>, <it>Sycophaga </it>and <it>Idarnes</it>. The ancestral states for galling habits and male morphology remain ambiguous and our reconstructions show that the two traits are evolutionary labile.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The three main clades could be considered as tribes and we list some morphological characters that define them. The same biologies re-evolved several times independently, which make Sycophaginae an interesting model to test predictions on what factors will canalize the evolution of a particular biology. The ostiolar gall-inducers are the only monophyletic group. In 15 Myr, they evolved several morphological adaptations to enter the syconia that make them strongly divergent from their sister taxa. Sycophaginae appears to be another example where sexual selection on male mating opportunities favored winged males in species with small broods and wingless males in species with large broods. However, some species are exceptional in that they lay few eggs but exhibit apterous males, which we hypothesize could be due to other selective pressures selecting against the re-appearance of winged morphs.</p

Addiction: philosophy and ethics

Geneeskunde en GesondheidswetenskappePsigiatriePlease help us populate SUNScholar with the post print version of this article. It can be e-mailed to: [email protected]

Informed consent in psychiatric research - overrated and exclusionary

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Ethics: Informed consent and competency in the elderly

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