DIE MAPOCH-OORLOG,1882-1883

Gedurende die jare 1882-1883 was Noordoos- Transvaal die toneel van 'n bloedige oorlog tussen die Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek en die Ndzundza- Ndebele, beter bekend as die Mapochstam of die Mapoggers. Die Ndzunda-Ndebele, vandag die bewoners van die nasionale staat KwaNdebele, is wat hul geskiedenis betref een van Suid-Afrika se minder bekende maar tog een van die interessantste stamme. Weens die feit dat die Ndzundza Nguni-sprekend is, word hulle dikwels verkeerdelik met die nasate van Mzilikazi in verband gebring. Die Ndzundza het hul moontlik so vroeg as die vroee sestiende eeu in Transvaal gevestig, waar hulle reeds vir meer as twee eeue was toe Mzilikazi sy plundertog deur die Transvaal onderneem het.2 Oor al die eeue heen het die Ndzundza, ten spyte van kulturele be'invloeding deur die Sotho, hul taal en vernaamste kultuureienskappe beho

Hodgkin's disease in children in Southern Africa: Epidemiological characteristics, morbidity and long-term outcome

We reviewed 39 children < 15 years of age treated for Hodgkin's disease (HD) from 1973 to 1996. There were seven black, 12 white and 20 coloured children (of mixed ethnic origin). The M:F ratio was 2.9:1 and the median ages 147, 124 and 119 months in white, coloured and black children, respectively. Coloured and black children came mainly from a poor socio-economic background. Cervical lymphadenopathy was present in 74% and systemic symptoms in 51% of cases. Five per cent had clinical stage I, 41% stage II, 28% stage III and 26% stage IV disease. Two children underwent a staging splenectomy. The majority of white children presented with stages I and II and the majority of black and coloured children with stages III and IV HD. Nodular sclerosing (59%), mixed cellularity (40%) and lymphocyte-depleted (43%) were the most common histological subtypes in white, coloured and black children, respectively. Epidemiologically, white children fitted the criteria for HD type I and coloured and black children the criteria for HD type III. Nineteen children were treated with ChlVPP (chlorambucil, vinblastine, prednisone, procarbazine) and 20 with MOPP (mustine, Oncovin, procarbazine, prednisone) and/or ABVD (Adriamycin, bleomycin, vinblastine, DTIC) with involved field radiotherapy to bulky mediastinal disease. The projected 10-year survival after ChlVPP or MOPP/ABVD therapy was similar at 52%. In stages I and II, HD projected survival at 5 and 10 years was 85%, and in stages III and IV it was 82% at 5 and 48% at 10 years. The relapse rate was 47% in stage II, 45% in stage III and 44% in stage IV. Tuberculosis was suspected and treated in five children at the time of, and in seven children (three confirmed) subsequent to, the diagnosis of HD. Varicella developed in six and herpes zoster in five children. Five treatment-related deaths were due to septicaemia following splenectomy (two), marrow failure, cor pulmonale and secondary leukaemia.Articl

Simulating tick distributions over sub-Saharan Africa: The use of observed and simulated climate surfaces

Aim: A broad suit of climate data sets is becoming available for use in predictive species modelling. We compare the efficacy of using interpolated climate surfaces [Center for Resource and Environmental Studies (CRES) and Climate Research Unit (CRU)] or high-resolution model-derived climate data [Division of Atmospheric Research limited-area model (DARLAM)] for predictive species modelling, using tick distributions from sub-Saharan Africa. Location: The analysis is restricted to sub-Saharan Africa. The study area was subdivided into 3000 grids cells with a resolution of 60 x 60 km. Methods: Species distributions were predicted using an established multivariate climate envelope modelling approach and three very different climate data sets. The recorded variance in the climate data sets was quantified by employing omnidirectional variograms. To further compare the interpolated tick distributions that flowed from using three climate data sets, we calculated true positive (TP) predictions, false negative (FN) predictions as well as the proportional overlaps between observed and modelled tick distributions. In addition, the effect of tick data set size on the performance of the climate data sets was evaluated by performing random draws of known tick distribution records without replacement. Results: The predicted distributions were consistently wider ranging than the known records when using any of the three climate data sets. However, the proportional overlap between predicted and known distributions varied as follows: for Rhipicephalus appendiculatus Neumann (Acari: Ixodidae), these were 60%, 60% and 70%; for Rhipicephalus longus Neumann (Acari: Ixodidae) 60%, 57% and 75%; for Rhipicephalus zambeziensis Walker, Norval &amp; Corwin (Acari: Ixodidae) 57%, 51% and 62%, and for Rhipicephalus capensis Koch (Acari: Ixodidae) 70%, 60% and 60% using the CRES, CRU and DARLAM climate data sets, respectively. All data sets were sensitive to data size but DARLAM performed better when using smaller species data sets. At a 20% data subsample level, DARLAM was able to capture more than 50% of the known records and captured more than 60% of known records at higher subsample levels. Main conclusions: The use of data derived from high-resolution nested climate models (e.g. DARLAM) provided equal or even better species distribution modelling performance. As the model is dynamic and process based, the output data are available at the modelled resolution, and are not hamstrung by the sampling intensity of observed climate data sets (c. one sample per 30,000 km2 for Africa). In addition, when exploring the biodiversity consequences of climate change, these modelled outputs form a more useful basis for comparison with modelled future climate scenarios.Articl

Simulating tick distributions over sub-Saharan Africa: The use of observed and simulated climate surfaces

Aim: A broad suit of climate data sets is becoming available for use in predictive species modelling. We compare the efficacy of using interpolated climate surfaces [Center for Resource and Environmental Studies (CRES) and Climate Research Unit (CRU)] or high-resolution model-derived climate data [Division of Atmospheric Research limited-area model (DARLAM)] for predictive species modelling, using tick distributions from sub-Saharan Africa. Location: The analysis is restricted to sub-Saharan Africa. The study area was subdivided into 3000 grids cells with a resolution of 60 x 60 km. Methods: Species distributions were predicted using an established multivariate climate envelope modelling approach and three very different climate data sets. The recorded variance in the climate data sets was quantified by employing omnidirectional variograms. To further compare the interpolated tick distributions that flowed from using three climate data sets, we calculated true positive (TP) predictions, false negative (FN) predictions as well as the proportional overlaps between observed and modelled tick distributions. In addition, the effect of tick data set size on the performance of the climate data sets was evaluated by performing random draws of known tick distribution records without replacement. Results: The predicted distributions were consistently wider ranging than the known records when using any of the three climate data sets. However, the proportional overlap between predicted and known distributions varied as follows: for Rhipicephalus appendiculatus Neumann (Acari: Ixodidae), these were 60%, 60% and 70%; for Rhipicephalus longus Neumann (Acari: Ixodidae) 60%, 57% and 75%; for Rhipicephalus zambeziensis Walker, Norval &amp; Corwin (Acari: Ixodidae) 57%, 51% and 62%, and for Rhipicephalus capensis Koch (Acari: Ixodidae) 70%, 60% and 60% using the CRES, CRU and DARLAM climate data sets, respectively. All data sets were sensitive to data size but DARLAM performed better when using smaller species data sets. At a 20% data subsample level, DARLAM was able to capture more than 50% of the known records and captured more than 60% of known records at higher subsample levels. Main conclusions: The use of data derived from high-resolution nested climate models (e.g. DARLAM) provided equal or even better species distribution modelling performance. As the model is dynamic and process based, the output data are available at the modelled resolution, and are not hamstrung by the sampling intensity of observed climate data sets (c. one sample per 30,000 km2 for Africa). In addition, when exploring the biodiversity consequences of climate change, these modelled outputs form a more useful basis for comparison with modelled future climate scenarios.Articl

Debating some past and present research frameworks and methodologies in history on places and their peoples in South Africa

Histories regarding places and their peoples in South Africa can be traced to the early days of History being practised as an academic discipline. However, practising this form of history under (and outside) the flag of regional history was formalised only in the mid seventies, while informalised research practices in the field continued as methods complementing various schools of thought. Narrowly perceived local histories were considered as inclusive of the formalised and informalised regional history practices as knowledge contributing towards a broader understanding of a (geographically defined/ politically demarcated) region. Of interest is not only the historiography in this field (of which a few pointers are shared in this discussion) but some of the frameworks and methods to research and to record regional histories that have been used in the past. Equally of interest are the ways in which these frameworks and methods are still applied and thought of as dynamic and progressive to assist the historian to progress towards producing and packaging research as part of a comprehensive, all inclusive approach in creating knowledge as regional history studies. In South Africa, an extensive debate on how regional history studies should be broadly defined and understood when undertaking research, still falls short. This is due to the variety, diversity and complexity of knowledge contributing to the pool of information that should be packaged as regional history studies. To contibute towards a framework of understanding and packaging knowledge in this field of meaning to regional history studies, the reader is further exposed to an extended structure of perhaps understanding and doing research in this field: a field that has always been regarded as having the potential to be both integrative and multidisciplinary by nature. Yet its integrative analytical abilities also rest on the outcome of narrow-defined histories done on spaces and places before it is possible to embark on bigger research analyses in, for example, the spirit of modern social history applications to regional history studies. This discussion on ways to understand the limited past and present of regional studies (historiographically and methodologically) in South Africa is offered to encourage further debate.10.1080/17532523.2013.857095http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17532523.2013.85709