Recovery room nurses' knowledge regarding postoperative airway emergencies in adults in private hospitals in Northern Gauteng, South Africa: research

Background: Recovery room nurses should have the knowledge and skill to identify and manage postoperative airway emergencies in adult patients. Aim: To determine the knowledge of recovery room nurses regarding postoperative airway emergencies in adult patients in private hospitals in Northern Gauteng. Methods: A quantitative, descriptive, contextual research design was adopted, using a survey as research method. The research instrument was a questionnaire in the form of a measurement test. The sample consisted of all registered nurses on duty at a given time that volunteered to complete the questionnaire. Convenience sampling was thus applied. A thorough literature review, evaluation of the questionnaire by experts and a pilot study enhanced validity and reliability of the research. Results: The researcher analyzed the data, using descriptive statistics. The average score of respondents was forty-three per cent (43%), which was twenty-seven per cent (27%) below the set competency indicator of seventy per cent (70%). Only one respondent achieved a score above seventy per cent (70%). Conclusion: It was found that respondents lacked knowledge regarding six specific airway emergencies in postoperative adult patients. As the study was contextual, findings could not be generalized to other populations. Key Words: Recovery room, Postanaesthesia nursing, Postoperative complications Southern African Journal of Anaesthesia & Analgesia Vol.10(4) 2004:9-1

Die benutting van vraelyste met die oog op meer effektiewe toerusting tydens huweliksvoorbereiding

The utilization of questionnaires with the intent to make marriage preparation more effectiveThis study aims to promote the idea that questionnaires used as part of marriage preparation, could be a valuable tool. The article also attempts to identify some themes that should form part of the discussion between the pastor and a couple to prepare them for their marriage. Furthermore, the aim is to assist pastors, especially those in the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika, utilizing questionnaires during marriage preparation

Impact of Recent Evidence on Use of Hormone Therapy in the South African Private Sector (2001-2005)

Background: The release of the results of the oestrogen plus progesterone therapy (EPT) arm of the Women\'s Health Initiative (WHI) in July 2002 started a worldwide process of reconsideration of the rationale behind hormone therapy (HT). This process was accelerated after the release of the results from the oestrogen-only (ET) arm of the same study. The results of the WHI reinforced the indications of HT to alleviate vasomotor symptoms and to prevent bone loss associated with early menopause, but refuted the possibility of cardioprotective effects and raised uncertainty around the risk of breast cancer for long-term users. In response, new guidelines and position statements were developed to aid healthcare practitioners and patients in various countries, including South Africa. The dissemination and penetration of all this information has been assessed in a number of countries, but the extent of its effect on the South African market is as yet unknown. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to assess the use of HT in the South African private sector from 2001 to 2005. Methods: Monthly HT sales data for January 2001 to October 2005 were obtained from IMS Health (SA). Three successive periods were compared: (1) January 2001 to June 2002 (discontinuation of the WHI oestrogen plus progestogen arm), (2) July 2002 to February 2004 (termination of the WHI oestrogen only arm) and (3) March 2004 to October 2005. Results: Overall, sales of HT fell 6.9% between periods 1 and 2 and 14.6% between periods 2 and 3. The total sales of ET predominated; they were more than double those of EPT. For ET, the sale of conjugated equine oestrogen (CEE) preparations exceeded those of non-CEE ET preparations, while for EPT preparations the reverse was true. The decline in ET sales was mostly accounted for by the fall in sales of CEE, by 9.8% and 20.6% for the two periods respectively. There was an increase in sales of both low-dose CEE and non-CEE, although the magnitude of increase in the case of the latter was much greater. Throughout the entire study period, CEE 0.625 mg tablets were found to account for the greatest sales volumes. Private sector sales represented 74.4% of total national HT sales over this period. Conclusion: The release of the WHI findings resulted in a modest decrease in HT sales in South Africa, although it was less dramatic than sales reported elsewhere. The change in prescribing cannot be attributed to any single factor. Factors such as publicity, adherence to new guidelines, and pharmaceutical marketing may all have contributed. Guidelines need to be updated as the results of new research continue to be published. There is also a need to periodically review prescribing trends, and to assess compliance with evidence-based guidelines, in order to improve the quality of medicines use. The majority of prescriptions for HT in South Africa are written by general practitioners, rather than by specialists. It is thus imperative that guidelines be appropriately framed for this market, as well as interpreted and applied. Keywords: hormone therapy (HT), South Africa, Women's Health Initiative South African Family Practice Vol. 50 (6) 2008: pp. 42-42

Engaging the student voices to improve referencing skills and practices in higher education: A South African case study

Acknowledging that plagiarism includes many different behaviours, this study focusses on one specific plagiarism challenge, namely, acts of incorrect referencing and citation (sometimes called technical plagiarism). Notwithstanding anti-plagiarism policies being in place with penalties for a breach of the rules, Referencing Guides shared with students, additional workshops and tutorial sessions to facilitate the students' understanding of the Institution's referencing rules and standards, higher education institutions continue to experience an ongoing increase in the number of (technical) plagiarism cases, including repeat offenders. While the importance of proper referencing skills and techniques is fundamental to sound scholarship, a further concern is the impact of the accruing penalties on student success, retention, and graduateness. This study actively engaged the students, requiring them to reflect on their prior experiences with various sources of information, as well as their understanding and appreciation of how, why, what, and when to reference the resources used in their studies. The study discovered that students often describe the Institution's approach to teaching the skills of referencing as “alienating” and “punitive” and antithetical to learning. Based on the research data, and comparing the outcomes from other similar research studies, the paper propose leading practices that will support higher education institutions better prepare students, especially students of the Alpha Generation, for improved understanding and application of institutional norms for academic referencing and citation practices

Back injuries in young fast bowlers - a radiological investigation of the healing of spondylolysis and pedicle sclerosis

Objective. To demonstrate the efficacy of various radiological diagnostic modalities in assessing lower back pain in young fast bowlers.Methods. Ten cricketers who presented to either a physiotherapist or a doctor with suspected spondylolysis underwent an X-ray, a single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) bone scan and a computed tomography (CT) scan to assess the severity of the injury. Three and 12 months after the initial CT scan, second and third CT scans were performed in order to assess whether healing had taken place. After the initial radiological investigation the subjects diagnosed with spondylolysis or pedicle sclerosis underwent prescribed intervention and rehabilitation which included physiotherapy modalities, postural correction, and specific individually graded flexibility, stabilisation, strengthening and cardiovascular programmes.Results. Radiographs were normal in 8 subjects, while 2 had evidence of sclerosis. The isotope scan showed increased uptake in all of the subjects. The CT scans showed no fracture (N = 3), partial fractures (N = 3), complete fractures (N = 2) and old fractures bilaterally (N = 2). When the follow-up CT scan was carried out at 3 months, 1 of the subjects had developed a partial fracture of the left pars interarticularis on the inferior border, which showed complete union when CT scanned at 12 months. At 3 months the partial and complete fractures showed progressive healing in 2 subjects, with complete healing in all the other cases. Complete healing was achieved in all subjects at 12 months, with the exception of 1 subject who showed near-complete union, with a small area of fibrous union on the inferior border and 2 old bilateral fractures that remained un-united.Results. From the results it is evident that when a young fast bowler presents with backache after bowling, it would be appropriate to do an X-ray, a bone scan and a CT scan to make the diagnosis. Discontinuing the fast bowling and following an active rehabilitation programme should result in spontaneous resolution and healing of the fracture. If it is not detected early a fibrous or non-union fracture could result

Observational signatures of the coronal kink instability with thermal conduction

It is known from numerical simulations that thermal conduction along magnetic field lines plays an important role in the evolution of the kink instability in coronal loops. This study presents the observational signatures of the kink instability in long coronal loops when parallel thermal conduction is included. The 3D nonlinear magnetohydrodynamic equations are solved numerically to simulate the evolution of a coronal loop that is initially in an unstable equilibrium. The loop has length 80 Mm, width 8 Mm and an initial maximum twist of Phi = 11.5 pi, where Phi is a function of the radius. The initial loop parameters are obtained from a highly twisted loop observed in the TRACE 171 A waveband. Synthetic observables are generated from the data. These observables include spatial and temporal averaging to account for the resolution and exposure times of TRACE images. Parallel thermal conduction reduces the maximum local temperature by up to an order of magnitude. This means that different spectral lines are formed and different internal loop structures are visible with or without the inclusion of thermal conduction. However, the response functions sample a broad range of temperatures. The result is that the inclusion of parallel thermal conductivity does not have as large an impact on observational signatures as the order of magnitude reduction in the maximum temperature would suggest; the net effect is a blurring of internal features of the loop structure.Comment: To be published in Astrophysical Journal, 14 pages, 9 figure

Investigating the effect of location, specifically shopping centres, on franchisees’ entrepreneurial orientation: A cluster analysis

Franchisees play an important role in franchise systems, as they are responsible for managing their business and ensuring its overall performance. Since earlier research confirmed the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and performance, this study explores the effect of location on the five dimensions of EO for franchisees. This study assessed franchisees, their risk taking, innovation, pro-activeness, competitive aggression and autonomy, and investigated location clusters related to this. Location was investigated from a geographical and operational stance. A face-to-face survey was conducted among 104 franchisees operating in four major cities in the retail sector in South Africa. Two clusters were identified: ‘operating inside of shopping centres’ (50%) and ‘operating outside of shopping centres’ (50%). Contradictory to what was found in the literature, the results indicate that a franchisee is likely to be more entrepreneurially orientated when operating outside of a shopping mall in the Johannesburg region. The strongest and weakest EO dimensions in terms of cluster construction were identified. Furthermore we found that, since the EO dimensions are highly correlated, it is likely that a franchisee will experience high levels of all of the dimensions simultaneously and therefore share in the positively associated benefits of EO, such as growth and performance

Assessment of the genetic diversity of geographical unrelated Microcystis aeruginosa strains using amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs)

Molecular marker analysis is becoming increasingly capable of identifying informative genetic variation. Amplified fragment length polymorphism markers (AFLPs) are among the recent innovations in genetic marker technologies, and provide a greater capacity for genome coverage and more reproducible results than previous technologies. We have investigated the usefulness of AFLP, which is based on the selective amplification of genomic restriction fragments by PCR, to differentiate between geographical unrelated Microcystis strains. In total 23 strains were subjected to the AFLP fingerprinting. After analysis of the data on the basis of the average linkage method, known as the Unweighted Pair Group Method using Arithmetic averages (UPGMA), a dendrogram with four clusters was obtained. Cluster 1 consisted mainly of the NIES strains that originated from Japan, while in cluster 2 the European strains grouped together. The South African strains that originated from the northern part of the country group together in cluster 3, while the strains collected from the central and southern regions group together with the US strains in cluster 4. The study had reveals extensive evidence for the applicability of AFLP in cyanobacterial taxonomy, and furthermore clearly demonstrates the superior discriminative power of AFLP towards the differentiation of geographical unrelated Microcystis aeruginosa strains that belong to the same species, as well as highlighting the potential of this fingerprinting method in evolutionary studies.African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 4 (5), pp. 389-399, 200

Late life revision surgery for dilated colonic conduit in long gap oesophageal atresia

Long gap oesophageal atresia presents a surgical challenge as there is insufficient length of the oesophagus to restore continuity. Oesophageal replacement is generally achieved using a conduit, taken from the stomach, jejunum or colon. Preferences of approach vary between and within surgical centres. Specific to colonic interposition, the continued growth and dilation of the interposed segment may lead to redundancy. Revision surgery in these cases is challenging and has been sparsely described in adult patients. We present two patients who had colonic interposition for long gap oesophageal atresia in infancy and who then underwent successful revision surgery in their fifth decade