Transition from shacks to formal human settlements – Social cohesion in Mt Moriah in the metropolitan area of Durban, South Africa

The transition from shack to formal human settlements can be very traumatic. It means abandoning old habits, lifestyles, relationships and forming new ones. The extent to which those that have been relocated to new settlements adjust and adapt to new forms of community life would be determined by the nature and extent of social cohesion prevalent in that community. A lack of social cohesion within resettled communities makes it prone to various forms of social disorganisation which manifests itself in a variety of social problems. The study was informed by 150 interviews with respondents selected in the different precincts of the study locality using a non-probability sampling technique. In the case of Mt Moriah, a formal human settlement it was more than a decade that residents from a number of shack settlements in the city have been resettled in this locality. It appears from the study that overtime the residents of Mt Moriah have settled down to community and family life and enjoy a strong sense of social cohesion despite many challenges surrounding service delivery and the emergence of social problems. This study highlights that a significant number of members of the community have a sense of belonging in the locality and are aspiring towards bettering their quality of life. Key words: Shacks, Formal Human Settlements, Social Cohesion, Relocation, ResettlementLa transition de la cabane aux établissements humains formels peut être très traumatisante. Cela signifie abandonner les vieilles habitudes, les modes de vie, les relations et en créer de nouvelles. La nature et l’étendue de la cohésion sociale prévalant dans cette communauté détermineront dans quelle mesure ceux qui ont été réinstallés dans de nouveaux quartiers s’ajusteront et s’adapteront à de nouvelles formes de vie en communauté. Un manque de cohésion sociale au sein des communautés réinstallées la rend vulnérable à diverses formes de désorganisation sociale se traduisant par une variété de problèmes sociaux. L’étude s’est appuyée sur 150 entretiens avec des répondants sélectionnés dans les différentes circonscriptions de la localité de l’étude à l’aide d’une technique d’échantillonnage non probabiliste. Dans le cas de Mt Moriah, un établissement humain officiel, cela fait plus de dix ans que des résidents de plusieurs établissements de cabanes de la ville ont été réinstallés dans cette localité. Il ressort de l’étude que les habitants du mont Moriah ont fait des heures supplémentaires pour s’adapter à la vie communautaire et familiale et jouissent d’un fort sentiment de cohésion sociale, en dépit des nombreux défis liés à la prestation de services et à l’émergence de problèmes sociaux. Cette étude souligne qu’un nombre important de membres de la communauté ont un sentiment d’appartenance à la localité et aspirent à améliorer leur qualité de vie. Mots clés: cabanes, établissements humains formels, cohésion sociale, relocalisation, réinstallation

Is endovascular treatment with multilayer flow modulator stent insertion a safe alternative to open surgery for high-risk patients with thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm?

A best evidence topic in cardiothoracic and vascular surgery was written according to a structured protocol. The question addressed was whether endovascular treatment with multilayer flow modulator stents (MFMS) can be considered a safe alternative to open surgery for high-risk patients with thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm (TAAA). Altogether 27 papers were identified using the reported search, of which 11 represented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The authors, journal, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results, and study limitations are tabulated. The outcomes of interest were all-cause survival, aneurysm-related survival, branch vessel patency and major adverse events. Aneurysm-related survival exceeded 78% in almost all studies, with the exception of one where the MFMS was inserted outside the instructions for use. In that study the aneurysm-related survival was 28.9%. The branch vessel patency was higher than 95% in 10 studies and not reported in one. At 12-month follow-up, several studies showed a low incidence of major adverse events, including stroke, paraplegia and aneurysm rupture. We conclude that MFMS represent a suitable and safe treatment for high-risk patients with TAAA maintaining branch vessel patency when used within their instructions for use. However, a number of limitations must be considered when interpreting this evidence, particularly the complete lack of randomised controlled trials (RCTs), short follow-up in all studies, and heterogeneity of the pathologies among the different populations studied. Further innovative developments are needed to improve MFMS safety, expand their instructions for use, and enhance their efficacy

Cost effectiveness of screening of all newly recruited employees for diabetes at a tertiary care hospital

Diabetes Mellitus is a disease which remains asymptomatic for long duration of time and usually diagnosed either when gets complicated or by routine or opportunistic screening. The practice of universal screening is not recommended, particularly in constraint resources . However, we embarked with a study to assess the yield of recommended screening for Type 2 diabetes in all the newly recruited employees at a tertiary care hospital in Karachi. Methods: All the information required for this study was collected from medical records of all newly recruited employees of nursing services department of a tertiary care hospital of Karachi, Pakistan, over a period of 5 months (August 2004 to December 2004). Out of 360 subjects , 326, whose information was found to be complete, were included for final analysis. Results: Mean age of the study subjects was 25.3 ± 4.7 years and their mean casual plasma glucose level was 99.1 ± 16.3 mg/dl. 315 (96.6%) study subjects had casual plasma glucose level of 139 mg/dl or less. Only 10 (3.1%) study subjects had casual plasma glucose levels between 140 to 199 mg/dl. Just one employee, 41 years old, was found to have casual plasma glucose level of 213 mg/dl. Conclusion: In this study, screening of all individuals for diabetes had a very low yield. Recommendation of universal screening for diabetes does not represent a good use of resources and perhaps not costeffective. However, periodic screening of high risk individuals should be warranted

SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE LINKING TO LEADERSHIP EFFECTIVENESS: INTERCEDING ROLE OF PERSONALITY TRAITS

The purpose of this study was to understand the relationship between spiritual intelligence and leadership effectiveness. It was further in the objective of the current study to explore the personality traits as mediating factors between the relationship of spiritual intelligence and leadership effectiveness. Data were collected from a sample of 260 managers aged between 22 and 60 years working in different organizations in Multan. Managers provided information regarding emotional intelligence, personality traits, and leadership effectiveness. Findings revealed that spiritual intelligence was significantly related to leadership effectiveness and personality traits of extroversion and openness to experience. Result further revealed that personality trait of openness to experience was found positively correlated with leadership effectiveness. Results proposed that personality dimension of openness to experience mediated the relationship between spiritual intelligence and leadership effectiveness among managers. Implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.&nbsp

Targeted Genome Editing for Cotton Improvement

Conventional tools induce mutations randomly throughout the cotton genome—making breeding difficult and challenging. During the last decade, progress has been made to edit the gene of interest in a very precise manner. Targeted genome engineering with engineered nucleases (ENs) specifically zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs), transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) RNA-guided nucleases (e.g., Cas9) has been described as a “game-changing technology” for diverse fields as human genetics and plant biotechnology. In eukaryotic systems, ENs create double-strand breaks (DSBs) at the targeted DNA sequence which are repaired by nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ) or homology-directed recombination (HDR) mechanisms. ENs have been used successfully for targeted mutagenesis, gene knockout, and multisite genome editing (GenEd) in model plants and crop plants such as cotton, rice, and wheat. Recently, cotton genome has also been edited for targeted mutagenesis through CRISPR/Cas for improved lateral root formation. In addition, an efficient and fast method has been developed to evaluate guide RNAs transiently in cotton. The targeted disruption of undesirable genes or metabolic pathway can be achieved to increase quality of cotton. Undesirable metabolites like gossypol in cottonseed can be targeted efficiently using ENs for seed-specific low-gossypol cotton. Moreover, ENs are also helpful in gene stacking for herbicide resistance, insect resistance, and abiotic stress tolerance