Failing the vulnerable: Three new consent norms that will undermine health research with children

The South African National Health Act (No. 61 of 2003) provides a legal framework for the regulation of the health system across the country. Within the Act, section 71 introduces a number of legal norms relating to research or experimentation with human subjects, including research on HIV prevention and treatment. These norms have been criticised for the negative impact they will have on research involving children. This article describes three of the new consent requirements in section 71 of the Act. It shows, using a range of case studies, how important HIV-related research will be halted or undermined if the current provisions are implemented. The article argues that the new consent requirements are out of step with other statutory provisions and ethical guidelines, and as a result they will exclude a large population group – children in diverse settings – from  much-needed  evidence-based healthcare interventions. The article concludes with a clarion call for support of advocacy on this issue with the Minister of Health and the Health Portfolio Committee

Balloon-borne radiometer measurement of Northern Hemisphere mid-latitude stratospheric HNO3 profiles spanning 12 years

Low-resolution atmospheric thermal emission spectra collected by balloon-borne radiometers over the time span of 1990–2002 are used to retrieve vertical profiles of HNO3, CFC-11 and CFC-12 volume mixing ratios between approximately 10 and 35 km altitude. All of the data analyzed have been collected from launches from a Northern Hemisphere mid-latitude site, during late summer, when stratospheric dynamic variability is at a minimum. The retrieval technique incorporates detailed forward modeling of the instrument and the radiative properties of the atmosphere, and obtains a best fit between modeled and measured spectra through a combination of onion-peeling and global optimization steps. The retrieved HNO3 profiles are consistent over the 12-year period, and are consistent with recent measurements by the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment-Fourier transform spectrometer satellite instrument. This suggests that, to within the errors of the 1990 measurements, there has been no significant change in the HNO3 summer mid-latitude profile

Addressing legal and policy barriers to male circumcision for adolescent boys in South Africa

With millions of adolescents becoming infected with HIV globally, it is essential that barriers to much-needed interventions are reduced for at-risk adolescents. In this article we review the legal and policy framework in South Africa for adolescent access to male circumcision. We are of the view that the framework does confer protection for adolescent boys while enabling access to male circumcision; however, we identify ambiguities and tensions that exist between the Children’s Act, regulations and national guidelines. We recommend reform to further enable access by this vulnerable group to this prevention modality

Stratosphere troposphere coupling: the influence of volcanic eruptions

Stratospheric sulfate aerosols produced by major volcanic eruptions modify the radiative and dynamical properties of the troposphere and stratosphere through their reflection of solar radiation and absorption of infrared radiation. At the Earth's surface, the primary consequence of a large eruption is cooling, however, it has long been known that major tropical eruptions tend to be followed by warmer than usual winters over the Northern Hemisphere (NH) continents. This volcanic "winter-warming" effect in the NH is understood to be the result of changes in atmospheric circulation patterns resulting from heating in the stratosphere, and is often described as positive anomalies of the Northern Annular Mode (NAM) that propagate downward from the stratosphere to the troposphere. In the southern hemisphere, climate models tend to also predict a positive Southern Annular Mode (SAM) response to volcanic eruptions, but this is generally inconsistent with post-eruption observations during the 20th century. We review present understanding of the influence of volcanic eruptions on the large scale modes of atmospheric variability in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Using models of varying complexity, including an aerosol-climate model, an Earth system model, and CMIP5 simulations, we assess the ability of climate models to reproduce the observed post-eruption climatic and dynamical anomalies. We will also address the parametrization of volcanic eruptions in simulations of the past climate, and identify possibilities for improvemen

When ‘Places’ Include Pets: Broadening the Scope of Relational Approaches to Promoting Aging-in-Place

Aging-in-place is a well-established concept, but discussions rarely consider that many older adults live with pets. In a ‘pet-friendly’ city, we conducted semi-structured interviews to explore perspectives of community-based social support agencies that promote aging-in-place, and those of animal welfare agencies. Applying a relational ecology theoretical framework, we found that pets may contribute to feeling socially- situated, yet may also exacerbate constraints on autonomy experienced by some older adults. Pet-related considerations at times led to discretionary acts of more-than-human solidarity, but also created paradoxical situations for service-providers, impacting their efforts to assist older adults. A shortage of pet-friendly affordable housing emerged as an overarching challenge. Coordination among social support and animal welfare agencies, alongside pet-supportive housing policies, will strengthen efforts to promote aging-in-place in ways that are equitable and inclusive

The Research Unit VolImpact: Revisiting the volcanic impact on atmosphere and climate – preparations for the next big volcanic eruption

This paper provides an overview of the scientific background and the research objectives of the Research Unit “VolImpact” (Revisiting the volcanic impact on atmosphere and climate – preparations for the next big volcanic eruption, FOR 2820). VolImpact was recently funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and started in spring 2019. The main goal of the research unit is to improve our understanding of how the climate system responds to volcanic eruptions. Such an ambitious program is well beyond the capabilities of a single research group, as it requires expertise from complementary disciplines including aerosol microphysical modelling, cloud physics, climate modelling, global observations of trace gas species, clouds and stratospheric aerosols. The research goals will be achieved by building on important recent advances in modelling and measurement capabilities. Examples of the advances in the observations include the now daily near-global observations of multi-spectral aerosol extinction from the limb-scatter instruments OSIRIS, SCIAMACHY and OMPS-LP. In addition, the recently launched SAGE III/ISS and upcoming satellite missions EarthCARE and ALTIUS will provide high resolution observations of aerosols and clouds. Recent improvements in modeling capabilities within the framework of the ICON model family now enable simulations at spatial resolutions fine enough to investigate details of the evolution and dynamics of the volcanic eruptive plume using the large-eddy resolving version, up to volcanic impacts on larger-scale circulation systems in the general circulation model version. When combined with state-of-the-art aerosol and cloud microphysical models, these approaches offer the opportunity to link eruptions directly to their climate forcing. These advances will be exploited in VolImpact to study the effects of volcanic eruptions consistently over the full range of spatial and temporal scales involved, addressing the initial development of explosive eruption plumes (project VolPlume), the variation of stratospheric aerosol particle size and radiative forcing caused by volcanic eruptions (VolARC), the response of clouds (VolCloud), the effects of volcanic eruptions on atmospheric dynamics (VolDyn), as well as their climate impact (VolClim)

Lean meat yield estimation using a prototype 3D imaging approach.

Lean Meat Yield (LMY, %) of carcass is an important industry trait, which currently is not routinely measured in Australian beef abattoirs. Objective on-line technology to determine LMY is key for wider adoption. This paper presents a proof-of-concept approach for estimating the LMY of beef carcasses from the 3D information provided by RGB-D cameras. Moreover, a specifically designed on-line data acquisition system for abattoir applications is presented, consisting of three cameras moving on a scanning rig to generate 3D carcass side reconstructions. The hindquarter is then segmented consistently across all the 3D models to extract curvature information and LMY estimated via non-linear regression based on Gaussian Process models. Sides from 119 carcasses at two different commercial abattoirs were used to evaluate this approach. Results from this preliminary study (RMSE = 3.91%, R2 = 0.69) using curvature, P8 fat and HSCW indicate that 3D imaging of beef carcasses is a viable and relatively accurate technology to estimate LMY

Ozone loss derived from balloon-borne tracer measurements in the 1999/2000 Arctic winter

Balloon-borne measurements of CFC11 (from the DIRAC in situ gas chromatograph and the DESCARTES grab sampler), ClO and O3 were made during the 1999/2000 Arctic winter as part of the SOLVE-THESEO 2000 campaign, based in Kiruna (Sweden). Here we present the CFC11 data from nine flights and compare them first with data from other instruments which flew during the campaign and then with the vertical distributions calculated by the SLIMCAT 3D CTM. We calculate ozone loss inside the Arctic vortex between late January and early March using the relation between CFC11 and O3 measured on the flights. The peak ozone loss (~1200ppbv) occurs in the 440-470K region in early March in reasonable agreement with other published empirical estimates. There is also a good agreement between ozone losses derived from three balloon tracer data sets used here. The magnitude and vertical distribution of the loss derived from the measurements is in good agreement with the loss calculated from SLIMCAT over Kiruna for the same days

Addressing legal and policy barriers to male circumcision for adolescent boys in South Africa

With millions of adolescents becoming infected with HIV globally, it is essential that barriers to much-needed interventions are reduced for at-risk adolescents. In this article we review the legal and policy framework in South Africa for adolescent access to male circumcision. We are of the view that the framework does confer protection for adolescent boys while enabling access to male circumcision; however, we identify ambiguities and tensions that exist between the Children’s Act, regulations and national guidelines. We recommend reform to further enable access by this vulnerable group to this prevention modality

Fluctuations and differential contraction during regeneration of Hydra vulgaris tissue toroids

We studied regenerating bilayered tissue toroids dissected from Hydra vulgaris polyps and relate our macroscopic observations to the dynamics of force-generating mesoscopic cytoskeletal structures. Tissue fragments undergo a specific toroid-spheroid folding process leading to complete regeneration towards a new organism. The time scale of folding is too fast for biochemical signalling or morphogenetic gradients which forced us to assume purely mechanical self-organization. The initial pattern selection dynamics was studied by embedding toroids into hydro-gels allowing us to observe the deformation modes over longer periods of time. We found increasing mechanical fluctuations which break the toroidal symmetry and discuss the evolution of their power spectra for various gel stiffnesses. Our observations are related to single cell studies which explain the mechanical feasibility of the folding process. In addition, we observed switching of cells from a tissue bound to a migrating state after folding failure as well as in tissue injury. We found a supra-cellular actin ring assembled along the toroid's inner edge. Its contraction can lead to the observed folding dynamics as we could confirm by finite element simulations. This actin ring in the inner cell layer is assembled by myosin- driven length fluctuations of supra-cellular {\alpha}-actin structures (myonemes) in the outer cell-layer.Comment: 19 pages and 8 figures, submitted to New Journal of Physic