Ectoparasites of the bush squirrel, Paraxerus cepapi Cepapi, in the Transvaal (Rodentia: Sciuridae)

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Comparative thermoregulatory adaptations of southern African tree squirrels from four different habitats

Energy metabolism was investigated for Funisciurus congicus from arid savanna in north-western Namibia, Paraxerus cepapi cepapi from woodland savanna in central southern Africa, P. palliatus tongensis from mesic eastern coastal forest and P. p. omatus from evergreen subtropical forest. They are all adapted to hot regions and oxygen consumption was lower than the expected Brody-Proctor prediction. F. congicus had the highest thermal conductance. The two forest squirrel species showed heat stress at Ta 34°C contrary to the two savanna species. RMR for F. congicus was 0,85 ml O2lg h, the same as for P. p. tongensis which is twice its mass, and it was 0,65 ml 02lg h and 0,71 ml O2lg h for P. c. cepapi and P. p. omatus respectively. All four species maintained Tb ≤ 39°C at Ta from 12-32°C

Feeding habits of the bush squirrel Paraxerus cepapi Cepapi (Rodentia : Sciuridae)

Information on feeding habits and ecology of the bush squirrel, Paraxerus cepapi cepapi. in the Transvaal was obtained both from analyses of 82 alimentary tracts and by direct observation of animals. Bush squirrels were found to be insectivorous as well as herbivorous, feeding on seeds, leaves, berries and flowers. They preferred ground cover which was not too dense and fed both on the ground and in trees depending on food availability

Integrative genomic analyses of bacterially-associated colorectal cancer

Sporadic colorectal cancer (CRC) has been linked to various lifestyle factors, including the consumption of alcohol and red meat, smoking, and obesity. CRC is one of most extensively characterised cancers, both at a molecular and 'omic' level; nevertheless, the precise mechanism driving CRC initiation remains unknown. To date, numerous studies have identified changes in the microbial profiles of CRCs compared to adjacent normal mucosa and compared to healthy controls; however, CRC-associated bacteria have not been concurrently quantified across a single cohort; nor have the relationships between CRC-associated bacteria, clinicopathological features of CRC and genomic subtypes of CRC been investigated. The main aim of this thesis was therefore to gain insight into the potential contribution of CRC-associated bacteria in the aetiopathogenesis of CRC by leveraging both host genomic and clinicopathological data as well as to investigate patterns of tissue colonisation between different CRC-associated bacteria. The objectives were 1) to quantify, using quantitative-PCR, CRC-associated bacteria in a cohort of 55 paired tumour and adjacent histologically normal samples collected during surgical resection as well as in an additional 18 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples; 2) to determine their relationships to patient age, gender, ethnicity, stage of disease, site of disease and MSI status (Chapter 4); 3) to evaluate the relationship between each bacterium and host gene expression (Chapter 8) and methylation changes (Chapter 6); and 4) to determine genomic subtypes of CRC using unsupervised clustering of gene expression data in the context of patient clinicopathological features and bacterial quantitation data; and 5) to gain a deeper biological understanding of the results from the objectives 1–4 using pathway analyses of the genomic subtypes obtained (Chapter 7). The main finding of this thesis is that a transcriptomic subtype of colorectal cancer, characterised by an increase in CpG island methylation, displays an increased frequency of colonisation by Enterococcus faecalis and by high levels of Fusobacterium. At the pathway-level, this subtype is enriched for pathways related to damage response, infection, inflammation and cellular proliferation; notably, these findings were confirmed in a well-defined publically available CRC gene expression dataset of colorectal adenocarcinomas (N=155). These findings suggest that specific bacterial colonisation underlie s a distinct genomic subtype of colorectal cancer that is characterise d by inflammatory-related gene expression changes ; these findings however require validation in a larger cohort. In addition, novel associations between colonisation by specific bacteria and host clinicopathological, transcriptomic and DNA methylation features were identified

Petrology of the Sutherland Commonage melilitite intrusives

The petrology of the Sutherland Commonage olivine melilitite intrusives have been investigated using petrographic and chemical methods. The occurrence consists of a ring dyke which surrounds a centrally located sill complex. The rock of the ring dyke is a typical melilitite which consists of olivine in a groundmass of melilite, clinopyroxene, opaque spinel, nepheline and perovskite. The sill complex is a multiple intrusion and is comprised of a lower green melilitite and an overlying (and younger) grey melilitite. The green melilitite is deuterically altered and the original mineralogy is destroyed to a large extent. The grey melilitite contains autoliths of the green and is a fairly typical monticellitic melilitite in which phenocrysts of olivine are set in a groundmass of melilite, monticellite, opaque spine!, nepheline and perovskite. Microprobe analyses of clinopyroxenes indicate that they are aluminous titanian diopsides and salites which exhibit complex zonation patterns. They record magmatic conditions ranging from the intrusive stage to a final phase of magmatic evolution during which a vapour phase evolved after the majority of the groundmass minerals had crystallised. The chemistry of olivine phenocrysts suggests that the parent magma to the Commonage intrusives accumulated in a temperature-zoned reservoir at the base of the lithosphere. Large, unzoned olivine phenocrysts crystallised in this chamber. Subsequent rupture of the chamber and ascent of magma led to supercooling and the crystallisation of abundant, strongly zoned phenocrysts of smaller size. Olivine crystallisation continued until the magma reached crustal levels. It is inferred from the chemistry of chromites and magnetites that the magma in the ring dyke was more evolved than those in the sill complex and that very oxidising conditions prevailed in the grey melilitite during the crystallisation of magnetite in this intrusive type. The high fO₂ may have resulted from the degassing of CO₂ after intrusion. Major and trace elements have been analysed for in eleven whole rock samples and the ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio was determined for seven of the same samples. The results of the geochemical study suggest that the Commonage melilitites were derived by the melting of a recently metasomatised region of the asthenosphere, probably under the influence of an ocean-island-type hotspot situated in the lower mantle

Safety and efficacy of laropiprant and extended-release niacin combination in the management of mixed dyslipidemias and primary hypercholesterolemia

Statins form the cornerstone of pharmaceutical cardiovascular disease prevention. However, despite very effective statin intervention, the majority of events remain unpreventable. In some cases statin therapy alone is insufficient to achieve adequate lipid levels whereas other patients are unable to tolerate statins. This calls for additional treatment options. Niacin has a long history of success in reducing low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides, and increasing high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. It was the first lipid-lowering drug to demonstrate a reduction in cardiovascular events, and remains the only one that has consistently shown benefits on surrogate outcomes when added to background therapies of other lipid-lowering drugs, including statins. Niacin’s uptake in clinical practice has been less successful due to its side-effect profile, most notable being flushing. The uncovering of the mechanism by which flushing is induced, together with the development of a prostaglandin D2 receptor inhibitor (laropiprant) which reduces this downstream flushing effect of niacin, has sparked new promise in therapeutic lipid management. It provides an additional treatment option into managing lipid abnormalities. The uptake in clinical practice of the niacin–laropiprant combination will depend on the relative improvements experienced by the patient in the side-effect profile compared to other treatment options, as well as on the the keenly-awaited outcome studies currently underway. Until these data become available guidelines and recommendations are unlikely to change and niacin’s position in therapeutic cardiovascular risk prevention will be determined by clinician opinion and experience, and patient preferences

Die stelsel van bedryfsvryheid

Daar is in die modeme ekonomieë twee fundamentele verskillende maniere waar op die ekonomiese prosesse gekoordineer kan word: deur die staatsadministrasie en deur die markmeganisme. Die sentraal geadministreerde of geleide ekonomie steun oor die hele linie op owerheidsvoorskrifte en owerheidsbeplanning, vir die koordinasie van die ekonomiese bedrywigheid. Ekonomies word alle bedrywighede voorgeskryf, gelei en beheer. Wat die beheer betref, is die burokrasie gesentraliseerd: inligting stroom na bo, beslissings na benede. Polities is die kader van die sisteem monolities: die staat stel in beginsel belang in alle aktiwiteite van sy onderdane en kan geen enkele eienskap daarvan duld wat nie strook met sy eie aard nie. Hierdie toestand van sake word kragtig gesteun deur ’n geskikte ideologie

Understanding the role that Quality of Work Life of food and beverage employees plays in perceived service delivery and productivity

3The purpose of this article is to determine the role that Quality ofWork Life plays in the perceived service delivery and productivityof food and beverage employees in Potchefstroom, South Africa.The questionnaires were distributed at selected food and beverageestablishments, and a total of 224 questionnaires were included in thestatistical analysis. The data analysis consisted of a demographic profile,a factor analysis and a structural equation model. The results indicatedthat job, creativity and aesthetics, actualisation, organisational supportand employee commitment attributes each exert an influence on theperceived service delivery and productivity of employees. This impliesthat food and beverage managers should try to improve the workingconditions of employees as well as provide an appropriate level ofrecognition to hardworking employees. Management should considerthe recommendations that are made in terms of the job satisfactionlevels of food and beverage service employees, as they are able topositively influence organisational performance and success.Key words: employee management, food and beverage sector, structural equation model,Quality of Work Lif

Ouerbegeleidingsbehoeftes ten aansien van die fisiek-gestremde voorskoolse kind as voorbereiding vir 'n insluitende onderwysomgewing

This article focuses on parents' educational needs concerning their physically disabled pre-school child with the view to placement in an inclusive learning environment. Support services include, among other things, preparation of these children to enter an inclusive learning environment, and parent education to reach this goal. Therefore parent education with a view to promoting the success of inclusion is of utmost importance, by focusing on those skills needed by physcially disabled children to perform sucessfully in the inclusive classroom milieu. The goal of parent education is to mediate those skills necessary to become an integral part of regular classroom activities and be accepted within the inclusive learning environment ; to facilitate a functional family life and educational atmosphere as basis for further growth ; to promote the least restrictive educational environment at home ; to facilitate modeling of socially acceptable behaviour patterns ; to promote a cognitively, emotionally, and socially stimulating learning environment at home ; to provide interpersonal interaction with nonhandicapped siblings and peers; and to remove stereotypes and stigmata attached to physically disabled children and to facilitate successful adjustment within the inclusive learning environment and the broader community during adulthood. (South African Journal of Education: 2002 22(4): 338-344

The prevalence of side-effects: ciprofloxacin 500 mg single dose prophylaxis against Neisseria meningitidis outbreak in Potchefstroom during July 2003: research

Potchefstroom experienced an outbreak of Neisseria meningitidis (N. meningitidis) during May-July 2003. An opportunity for obtaining valuable data arose when mass prophylactic treatment to approximately 28% of the Potchefstroom community was provided by the Department of Health, North-West Province. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of side-effects experienced by staff and students of the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education (PU for CHE) who received a single prophylactic dose of oral ciprofloxacin 500 mg between 23 and 29 July 2003. Information gained from the Potchefstroom outbreak may be valuable for the future management of similar outbreaks in other communities. Various stakeholders have published related reports, protocols, recommendations and guidelines, which mostly focused on the prevention, management and control of meningococcal disease. Very little has been reported about the side-effects experienced, especially in cases where ciprofloxacin 500 mg single dose had been dispensed. One or more side-effects were reported by 24.2% of the participants, while 5.4% had to consult with a health care worker due to the severity of side-effects resulting from a single dose. Practical significance could not be demonstrated for any of the side-effects reported after single versus multiple doses nor when the effects of gender or requirement for medical consultation were tested. Key Words: Neisseria meningitidis; Ciprofloxacin; Single dose; Side effects; Prophylactic OPSOMMING ‘n Uitbraak van Neisseria meningitidis (N. meningitidis) gedurende Mei-Julie 2003 en die daaropvolgende verskaffing van massa-profilakse deur die Departement van Gesondheid, Noordwesprovinsie aan ongeveer 28% van die plaaslike gemeenskap het ‘n geleentheid geskep om waardevolle inligting in te win. Die doel van die studie was om die voorkoms van newe-effekte te ondersoek wat deur die personeel en studente van die Potchefstroomse Universiteit vir Christelike Hoër Onderwys ervaar is na toediening van ‘n enkel profilaktiese dosis van siprofloksasien 500 mg tussen 23-29 Julie 2003. Inligting wat hieruit voortspruit mag waardevol wees tydens toekomstige bestuur van uitbrake in ander gemeenskappe. Verskillende belanghebbendes het verslae, protokolle, aanbevelings en riglyne gepubliseer, wat meestal op die voorkoming, bestuur en beheer van meningokokkale siekte gefokus het. Daar is egter min gerapporteer oor die newe-effekte wat ondervind is veral waar siprofloksasien 500mg enkeldosis toegedien is. Een of meer newe-effekte is deur 24.2% van die deelnemers ervaar en 5.4% het dit nodig geag om ‘n gesondheidswerker te konsulteer in verband met die newe-effekte wat ervaar is. Geen prakties betekenisvolle verskille is aangedui indien die effeksgrootte bereken is vir die newe-effekte getoets tussen die enkeldosis versus die meervoudige dosis nie, selfs ook nie nadat die effek van geslag of konsultasie getoets is nie. Health SA Gesondheid Vol.9(3) 2004: 42-5