Crystal structure of the 3C protease from South African Territories type 2 foot-and-mouth disease virus

The replication of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) is dependent on the virus-encoded 3C protease (3Cpro). As in other picornaviruses, 3Cpro performs most of the proteolytic processing of the polyprotein expressed from the single open reading frame in the RNA genome of the virus. Previous work revealed that the 3Cpro from serotype A – one of the seven serotypes of FMDV – adopts a trypsin-like fold. Phylogenetically the FMDV serotypes are grouped into two clusters, with O, A, C, and Asia 1 in one, and the three South African Territories serotypes, (SAT-1, SAT-2 and SAT-3) in another. We report here the cloning, expression and purification of 3C proteases from four SAT serotype viruses (SAT2/GHA/8/91, SAT1/NIG/5/81, SAT1/UGA/1/97, and SAT2/ZIM/7/83) and the crystal structure at 3.2 Å resolution of 3Cpro from SAT2/GHA/8/91)

A quest for an integrated management system of children following a drowning incident: A review of the literature

Purpose: Management of children following a drowning incident is based on specific interventions which are used in the prehospital environment, the emergency department (ED) and the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). This paper presents a review of the literature to map and describe the management and interventions used by healthcare professionals when managing a child following a drowning incident. Of specific interest was to map, synthesise and describe the management and interventions according to the different clinical domains or practice areas of healthcare professionals. Design and Methods: A traditional review of the literature was performed to appraise, map and describe information from 32 relevant articles. Four electronic databases were searched using search strings and the Boolean operators AND as well as OR. The included articles were all published in English between 2010 and 2022, as it comprised a timeline including current guidelines and practices necessary to describe management and interventions. Results: Concepts and phrases from the literature were used as headings to form a picture or overview of the interventions used for managing a child following a drowning incident. Information extracted from the literature was mapped under management and interventions for prehospital, the ED and the PICU and a figure was constructed to display the findings. It was evident from the literature that management and interventions are well researched, evidence-informed and discussed, but no clear arguments or examples could be found to link the interventions for integrated management from the scene of drowning through to the PICU. Cooling and/or rewarming techniques and approaches and termination of resuscitation were found to be discussed as interventions, but no evidence of integration from prehospital to the ED and beyond was found. The review also highlighted the absence of parental involvement in the management of children following a drowning incident. Practice Implications: Mapping the literature enables visualisation of management and interventions used for children following a drowning incident. Integration of these interventions can collaboratively be done by involving the healthcare practitioners to form a link or chain for integrated management from the scene of drowning through to the PICU

The Primacy of As-Built Drawings in the Management of Underground Utility Operations: A New Zealand Study

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Life design counselling with a learner from a vocational school setting

This article reports on the usefulness of life design counselling for a learner from a vocational school (learner with intellectual impairment) when making post school decisions. Vocational and/or career research and reporting on people with intellectual disability/impairment, especially in the South African education context, is limited and infrequent. A purposively sampled, single, intervention case study was utilised. Data generation and analysis were approached simultaneously. The intervention uncovered career/vocational themes significant to the participant. These themes highlighted the meaning he attributed to work and his role and purpose in the world of work. The intervention also proved effective in cultivating his self- and career-efficacy and adaptability. Post intervention, the participant more confidently pursued his passion and was able to identify and utilise resources more definitely. Further, longitudinal research with groups of people with different kinds of impairment from vocational school settings is needed to further examine the value of the intervention described here

The experimental modification of a computer software package for graphing algebraic functions

No Abstract Available South African Journal of Education Vol.25(2) 2005: 61-6

Pharmaceutical interventions for emotionalism after stroke [update]

Copyright © 2019 The Cochrane Collaboration. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Background Antidepressants may be useful in the treatment of abnormal crying associated with stroke. This is an update of a Cochrane Review first published in 2004 and last updated in 2010. Objectives To determine whether pharmaceutical treatment reduces the frequency of emotional displays in people with emotionalism after stroke. Search methods We searched the trial register of Cochrane Stroke (last searchedMay 2018). In addition, we searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL; to May 2018), MEDLINE (1966 to 14 May 2018), Embase (1980 to 14 May 2018), CINAHL (1982 to 14 May 2018), PsycINFO (1967 to 14 May 2018), BIOSIS Previews (2002 to 14 May 2018), Web of Science (2002 to 14 May 2018), WHO ICTRP (to 14 May 2018), ClinicalTrials.gov (to 14 May 2018), and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Database (to 14 May 2018). Selection criteria Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and quasi-RCTs comparing psychotropic medication to placebo in people with stroke and emotionalism (also known as emotional lability, pathological crying or laughing, emotional incontinence, involuntary emotional expression disorder, and pseudobulbar affect). Data collection and analysis Two review authors independently selected studies, assessed risk of bias, extracted data from all included studies, and used GRADE to assess the quality of the body of evidence.We calculated mean difference (MD) or standardised mean difference (SMD) for continuous data and risk ratio (RR) for dichotomous data with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). We assessed heterogeneity using the I2 statistic. The primary emotionalism measures were the proportion of participants achieving at least a 50% reduction in abnormal emotional behaviour at the end of treatment, improved score on Center for Neurologic Study-Lability Scale (CNS-LS), Clinician Interview-Based Impression of Change (CIBIC) or diminished tearfulness. Main results We included seven trials with a total of 239 participants. Two trials were of cross-over design, and outcome data were not available from the first phase (precross-over) in an appropriate format for inclusion as a parallel randomised controlled trial (RCT). Thus, the results of the review are based on five trials with 213 participants. Treatment effects were observed on the following primary endpoints of emotionalism: There is very low quality of evidence from one small RCT that antidepressants increased the number of people who had 50% reduction in emotionalism (RR 16.50, 95% CI 1.07 to 253.40; 19 participants) and low quality evidence from one RCT of improved scores on Center for Neurologic Study-Lability Scale (CNS-LS) and Clinician Interview-Based Impression of Change (CIBIC) with antidepressants (RR 1.44, 95% CI 0.95 to 2.19; 28 participants). There was moderate quality evidence from three RCTS that they increased the number of people who had a reduction in tearfulness (RR 2.18, 95% CI 1.29 to 3.71; 164 participants); and low quality evidence from one RCT of improved scores on the Pathological Laughter and Crying Scale (PLCS) (MD 8.40, 95% CI 11.56 to 5.24; 28 participants). Six trials reported adverse events (death) and found no difference between the groups in death (RR 0.59, 95%CI 0.08 to 4.50; 6 RCTs, 172 participants, moderate-quality evidence). Authors' conclusions Antidepressantsmay reduce the frequency and severity of crying or laughing episodes based on very lowquality evidence.Our conclusions must be qualified by several methodological deficiencies in the studies and interpreted with caution despite the effect being very large. The effect does not seem specific to one drug or class of drugs. More reliable data are required before appropriate conclusions can be made about the treatment of post-stroke emotionalism. Future trialists investigating the effect of antidepressants in people with emotionalism after stroke should consider developing and using a standardised method to diagnose emotionalism, determine severity and assess change over time; provide treatment for a sufficient duration and follow-up to better assess rates of relapse or maintenance and include careful assessment and complete reporting of adverse events

Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CECs) and male reproductive health: challenging the future with a double-edged sword

Approximately 9% of couples are infertile, with half of these cases relating to male factors. While many cases of male infertility are associated with genetic and lifestyle factors, approximately 30% of cases are still idiopathic. Contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) denote substances identified in the environment for the first time or detected at low concentrations during water quality analysis. Since CEC production and use have increased in recent decades, CECs are now ubiquitous in surface and groundwater. CECs are increasingly observed in human tissues, and parallel reports indicate that semen quality is continuously declining, supporting the notion that CECs may play a role in infertility. This narrative review focuses on several CECs (including pesticides and pharmaceuticals) detected in the nearshore marine environment of False Bay, Cape Town, South Africa, and deliberates their potential effects on male fertility and the offspring of exposed parents, as well as the use of spermatozoa in toxicological studies. Collective findings report that chronic in vivo exposure to pesticides, including atrazine, simazine, and chlorpyrifos, is likely to be detrimental to the reproduction of many organisms, as well as to sperm performance in vitro. Similarly, exposure to pharmaceuticals such as diclofenac and naproxen impairs sperm motility both in vivo and in vitro. These contaminants are also likely to play a key role in health and disease in offspring sired by parents exposed to CECs. On the other side of the double-edged sword, we propose that due to its sensitivity to environmental conditions, spermatozoa could be used as a bioindicator in eco- and repro-toxicology studies

Recovery of sulphur and calcium carbonate from waste gypsum

Gypsum is produced as a waste product by various industries, e.g. the fertiliser industry, the mining industry and power stations. Gypsum waste disposal sites are responsible for the leaching of saline water into surface and underground water. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate a process for converting waste gypsum into sulphur and calcium carbonate. The process evaluated consisted of the following stages: reduction of gypsum to calcium sulphide; H2S-stripping and sulphur production. Thermal reduction showed that gypsum could be reduced to CaS with activated carbon in a tube furnace operating at 1 100 °C. The CaS yield was 96%. The CaS formed was suspended in water to form a CaS slurry. The reaction of gaseous CO2 with the CaS slurry leads to the stripping off of H2S gas and the precipitation of CaCO3. During batch studies sulphide was stripped from 44 000 mg/ℓ to less than 60 mg/ℓ (as S). The H2S generated in the previous step was then reacted in the PIPco process to form elemental sulphurKeywords: gypsum, CaS, thermal studies, H2S stripping, sulphur, thermal reduction, CaCO3 precipitatio