Isolation of the Toxic Principle of \u3cem\u3eMoraea pallida\u3c/em\u3e by Means of the Sensory Receptors of Sheep

Chemical fractions of Moraea pallida were offered to a sheep in which aversion to the plant had previously been established. Fractions refused due to the presence of the aversive substance sensed by the sheep were further purified until a single substance had been isolated. The purified substance was characterized as epoxyscillirosidin, the toxic principle of M. pallida

Soil Seed Bank Study on Abandoned Fields and Semi-Arid Grassland, South Africa

Up to the 1980’s marginal soils in the central grasslands of South Africa were successfully ploughed for crop production, but unfortunately those soils soon proved to be uneconomical. Due to high input costs, low maize prices, and unreliable rainfall, the Department of Agriculture soon implemented the “soil conversion scheme” to promote the conversion of those ploughed marginal soils to permanent pastures. Regardless of the implementation the soil conversion scheme, many farmers unfortunately just abandoned some of these marginal fields, not establishing permanent pastures. This led to many hectares of unproductive previously cultivated fields, referred to as abandoned fields. It was noted that such abandoned fields do not recover to the same potential as the natural grassland of those areas. Therefore, it was decided to investigate a few such fields at a single location in a semi-arid climate of the Free State province, South Africa. The aim was to gain some knowledge on the dynamics of such disturbed ecosystems and identify the restoration potential of such situations. Amongst others, the soil seed bank was investigated to quantify the soil seed bank potential of abandoned fields, and why climax grass species do not establish voluntarily on these disturbed areas. The main aim was to quantify the differences in the soil seed bank between abandoned fields and natural grasslands, by investigating the research question: are there any climax grass species in the soil seed bank of abandoned fields available for grassland restoration

Oral medicine case book 68: Oral ulceration caused by rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis

A 53-year old female was referred by her local general medical practitioner to an oral medicine specialist for the management of a persistent ulcer on the left side of her tongue. The lesion had been present for at least three months and was not responding to treatment by topical antiseptic agents. The earlier removal of a molar in close proximity to the lesion, in an attempt to exclude the possibility of traumatic ulceration, had also yielded no beneficial effects. Upon examination, the patient appeared clinically healthy but presented with a history of emphysema due to chronic cigarette smoking. The emphysema was currently being managed by oral inhalation steroids. Even though smoking cessation had previously been advised, she failed to comply and was currently still smoking more than 10 cigarettes per day.DHE

Transverse vaginal septum in a young adolescent : a case report describing a novel approach in the initial surgical management

Transverse vaginal septum is a rare congenital anomaly. It is one of the variants of müllerian duct anomalies which results from defective fusion or recanalization of the vaginal and müllerian organs. It can present with primary amenorrhea with cyclical abdominal pain at early age or with infertility and dyspareunia later in life.https://www.obstetricsandgynaecologyforum.comam2023Obstetrics and Gynaecolog

A randomised trial comparing laparoscopy with laparotomy in the management of women with ruptured ectopic pregnancy

Background. Ruptured ectopic pregnancy (REP) is a common gynaecological emergency in resource-poor settings, where laparotomy is the standard treatment despite laparoscopic surgery being regarded as the optimal treatment. There is a lack of prospective randomised data comparing laparoscopic surgery with laparotomy in the surgical management of women with REP.Objective. To compare operative laparoscopy with laparotomy in women with REP.Methods. This was a randomised parallel study. One hundred and forty women with suspected REP were randomised to undergo operative laparoscopy or laparotomy. The outcome measures were operating time, hospital stay, pain scores and analgesic requirements, blood transfusion, time to return to work, and time to full recovery.Results. Operating time was significantly longer in the laparoscopy group (67.3 v. 30.5 minutes, p<0.001). Duration of hospital stay, pain scores and need for analgesia were significantly less in the laparoscopy group. Women in this group returned to work 8 days earlier and their time to full recovery was significantly shorter compared with those in the laparotomy group. Significantly more women undergoing laparotomy required blood transfusion than women in the laparoscopy group. In the latter group, 14.5% of women required blood transfusion compared with 26.5% in the laparotomy group (p=0.01).Conclusion. Operative laparoscopy in women treated for REP is feasible in a resource-poor setting and is associated with significantly less morbidity and a quicker return to economic activity

A randomised trial comparing laparoscopy with laparotomy in the management of women with ruptured ectopic pregnancy

BACKGROUND. Ruptured ectopic pregnancy (REP) is a common gynaecological emergency in resource-poor settings, where laparotomy is the standard treatment despite laparoscopic surgery being regarded as the optimal treatment. There is a lack of prospective randomised data comparing laparoscopic surgery with laparotomy in the surgical management of women with REP. OBJECTIVE. To compare operative laparoscopy with laparotomy in women with REP. METHODS. This was a randomised parallel study. One hundred and forty women with suspected REP were randomised to undergo operative laparoscopy or laparotomy. The outcome measures were operating time, hospital stay, pain scores and analgesic requirements, blood transfusion, time to return to work, and time to full recovery. RESULTS. Operating time was significantly longer in the laparoscopy group (67.3 v. 30.5 minutes, p<0.001). Duration of hospital stay, pain scores and need for analgesia were significantly less in the laparoscopy group. Women in this group returned to work 8 days earlier and their time to full recovery was significantly shorter compared with those in the laparotomy group. Significantly more women undergoing laparotomy required blood transfusion than women in the laparoscopy group. In the latter group, 14.5% of women required blood transfusion compared with 26.5% in the laparotomy group (p=0.01). CONCLUSION. Operative laparoscopy in women treated for REP is feasible in a resource-poor setting and is associated with significantly less morbidity and a quicker return to economic activity.http://www.samj.org.zaam2017Obstetrics and Gynaecolog

A randomised controlled trial comparing laparoscopy with laparotomy in the management of women with ruptured ectopic pregnancy

Letter by Odejinmi and Oliver on article by Snyman et al. (Snyman LC, Makulana T, Makin JD. A randomised trial comparing laparoscopy with laparotomy in the management of women with ruptured ectopic pregnancy. S Afr Med J 2017;107(3):258-263. https://doi.org/10.7196/SAMJ.2017.v107i3.11447); and response by Snyman et al

Continuous exposure to an aversive mixture as a means of maintaining aversion to vermeerbos (Geigeria ornativa O. Hoffm.) in the presence of non-averted sheep

Continuous exposure to an aversive mixture was investigated as a means of maintaining aversion to vermeerbos in sheep subjected to the social influence of non-averted sheep. The use of an aversive mixture was based on a hypothesis that continuous exposure to an acceptable aversive mixture (containing both the aversive substance and the identification factors of vermeerbos mixed with maize meal) would tempt sheep to consume small quantities of the aversive mixture each day and that this would keep them averted to vermeerbos, despite the social influence of non-averted sheep. Persistent aversion to a vermeerbos-maize meal mixture (1:99 by mass) by sheep continuously exposed to such an aversive mixture, after an initial aversion conditioning with lithium chloride (LiCl, 160 mg/kg BM), was demonstrated. Aversion in adjacent controls not exposed to the aversive mixture only lasted for some time. A similar result was obtained when sheep were challenged for intake of a pure stand of established vermeerbos. Three sheep continuously exposed to an aversive mixture after an initial aversion conditioning totally refused grazing the vermeerbos during a 42-day trial, despite the social influence of three non-averted control sheep grazing vermeerbos on an adjacent site. These results were confirmed by a second replication the following year. Joint grazing for an hour a day by averted and non-averted sheep during the last seven days of this replication also resulted in total avoidance of vermeerbos by the averted animals, despite continued intake of vermeerbos by the control sheep.The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 600dpi. Adobe Acrobat v.9 was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format.mn201