The Steady State Great Ape? Long Term Isotopic Records Reveal the Effects of Season, Social Rank and Reproductive Status on Bonobo Feeding Behavior

Dietary ecology of extant great apes is known to respond to environmental conditions such as climate and food availability, but also to vary depending on social status and life history characteristics. Bonobos (Pan paniscus) live under comparatively steady ecological conditions in the evergreen rainforests of the Congo Basin. Bonobos are an ideal species for investigating influences of sociodemographic and physiological factors, such as female reproductive status, on diet. We investigate the long term dietary pattern in wild but fully habituated bonobos by stable isotope analysis in hair and integrating a variety of long-term sociodemographic information obtained through observations. We analyzed carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes in 432 hair sections obtained from 101 non-invasively collected hair samples. These samples represented the dietary behavior of 23 adult bonobos from 2008 through 2010. By including isotope and crude protein data from plants we could establish an isotope baseline and interpret the results of several general linear mixed models using the predictors climate, sex, social rank, reproductive state of females, adult age and age of infants. We found that low canopy foliage is a useful isotopic tracer for tropical rainforest settings, and consumption of terrestrial herbs best explains the temporal isotope patterns we found in carbon isotope values of bonobo hair. Only the diet of male bonobos was affected by social rank, with lower nitrogen isotope values in low-ranking young males. Female isotope values mainly differed between different stages of reproduction (cycling, pregnancy, lactation). These isotopic differences appear to be related to changes in dietary preference during pregnancy (high protein diet) and lactation (high energy diet), which allow to compensate for different nutritional needs during maternal investment

Global patient outcomes after elective surgery: prospective cohort study in 27 low-, middle- and high-income countries.

BACKGROUND: As global initiatives increase patient access to surgical treatments, there remains a need to understand the adverse effects of surgery and define appropriate levels of perioperative care. METHODS: We designed a prospective international 7-day cohort study of outcomes following elective adult inpatient surgery in 27 countries. The primary outcome was in-hospital complications. Secondary outcomes were death following a complication (failure to rescue) and death in hospital. Process measures were admission to critical care immediately after surgery or to treat a complication and duration of hospital stay. A single definition of critical care was used for all countries. RESULTS: A total of 474 hospitals in 19 high-, 7 middle- and 1 low-income country were included in the primary analysis. Data included 44 814 patients with a median hospital stay of 4 (range 2-7) days. A total of 7508 patients (16.8%) developed one or more postoperative complication and 207 died (0.5%). The overall mortality among patients who developed complications was 2.8%. Mortality following complications ranged from 2.4% for pulmonary embolism to 43.9% for cardiac arrest. A total of 4360 (9.7%) patients were admitted to a critical care unit as routine immediately after surgery, of whom 2198 (50.4%) developed a complication, with 105 (2.4%) deaths. A total of 1233 patients (16.4%) were admitted to a critical care unit to treat complications, with 119 (9.7%) deaths. Despite lower baseline risk, outcomes were similar in low- and middle-income compared with high-income countries. CONCLUSIONS: Poor patient outcomes are common after inpatient surgery. Global initiatives to increase access to surgical treatments should also address the need for safe perioperative care. STUDY REGISTRATION: ISRCTN5181700

Geroep om te dien: Suider-Afrika en al sy mense - 'n perspektief op die implementering van die NG Kerk se Verklaring (2002).

TeologiePraktiese Teologie En MissiologiePlease help us populate SUNScholar with the post print version of this article. It can be e-mailed to: [email protected]

Burn injuries caused by paraffin stoves

GesondheidswetenskappeChirurgiePlease help us populate SUNScholar with the post print version of this article. It can be e-mailed to: [email protected]

Driving a channel through a levee when the levee is high: An outcrop example of submarine down-dip entrenchment

Studies of modern submarine slope to basin floor systems suggest a smooth concave upward long profile is normal for channel systems where down-dip development is unhindered by bathymetric irregularities. Deviation from this ideal may occur where channel systems encounter positive or negative relief that drives down-dip incision and creation of a knick point. The Unit D system, exposed in the Karoo Basin, South Africa, provides a rare opportunity to examine the long profile of a submarine channel where the effects of bathymetry on geometry are evident over a down-dip distance of over 30 km. The Geelbek area, the focus of this paper, is located at the distal end of the study area. Four phases of stratigraphic development are recognised; D1, a distributary lobe complex incised by a younger genetically related high aspect ratio channel; D2, an accumulation of external levee deposits sourced from a channel unrelated to D3, which is a late-stage entrenched low aspect ratio channel, which incised from near the top of the D2 levee, through older Unit D deposits and into the underlying mudstones, before being partially removed by a late-stage slide (D4). Both D1 and D3 channel systems are oriented at a high angle to the regional palaeoslope of the Laingsburg depocentre. The accumulation of earliest Unit D deposits is thought to have influenced the orientation of the D1 channel and lobe, whereas the direction of the D3 channel is consistent with the maximum depositional gradient of the D2 levee. The depth of incision of the D3 channel at Geelbek suggests that connection to a bathymetrically deeper part of the basin was established late in D time, which locally steepened the channel gradient generating a knick point

Basin floor-slope-shelf edge stratigraphy and architecture, Laingsburg Karoo basin, South Africa.

The Laingsburg depocentre of the SW Karoo basin, South Africa, preserves a well-exposed 1.3 km thick succession of late Permian siliciclastic deposits that record the early filling of a high latitude back arc to proto-foreland basin during an icehouse climate. Uniformly fine-grained sandstones were derived from far-field granitic sources, possibly Patagonia. The coeval staging and delivery systems (fluvial and shelf) are not preserved. The deepwater systems are overlain by mixed influence shelf edge deltas. Initial mud-prone basin floor turbidites of the Vischkuil Formation contain three regionally developed zones of soft sediment deformation related to emplacement of major debris-flows that mark the initiation of a major sand delivery system. The overlying 300 m thick sandy basin floor fan system (Fan A) and 150 m thick base-of-slope channel/ levee system (Unit B) are divisible into four composite sequences that show long term forward stepping, aggradation and backstepping stacking patterns, followed by basinwide pelagic mud deposition. The superjacent 800 m thick mud-dominated submarine slope succession is characterized by 60 – 120 m thick sand-prone to heterolithic packages that show abrupt lateral and down-dip changes in thickness and facies, which are separated by extensive 30 – 70 m thick mudstone packages. On the largest scale the slope stratigraphy is defined by two major cycles, each comprising three composite sequences of repeating architectural style. Each composite sequence comprises three sequences. The lower cycle comprises lithostratigraphic Units B/C, C and D while the upper cycle includes Units E/F, E and F. In each case a sandy basal sequence is dominated by intraslope lobe deposits (Units B/C and E/F). The second composite sequence in each cycle (Unit C and Unit E) is characterized by slope channel-levee complexes that feed lobes down dip. The uppermost composite sequence in each cycle (Units D and F) comprises deeply entrenched slope valley/canyon systems. Architectural style is similar at individual sequence scale in comparable positions in each major cycle, but along-strike changes in sequence expression as a function of shelf edge delivery system and variable substrate compaction complicate the resultant stratigraphy. Although complicated in detail, the deepwater succession shows a consistent hierarchical order, enabling prediction of temporal changes in architectural style within each composite sequence. This stratigraphic organisation is interpreted as due to high magnitude/high frequency glacial-eustatic sea level changes during a tectonically quiescent pre-foreland basin period

The Marine Mammal Programme at the Prince Edward Islands: 38 years of research

The Marine Mammal Programme (MMP) conducts research on pinnipeds and killer whales Orcinus orca at Marion Island, Prince Edward Islands, under the auspices of the Mammal Research Institute, Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria. The history of the MMP, which has benefited from collaboration with leading national and international researchers, is described from its start through to current research. The setting up of long-term studies such as the mark-resighting of southern elephant seals Mirounga leonina commenced in 1983. The elephant seal population declined by 87% between an initial census in 1951 and 2004. This was followed by a stabilisation period and a current increase. The recovery, and subsequent increase of sympatric populations of Subantarctic fur seals Arctocephalus tropicalis and Antarctic fur seals A. gazella (following cessation of commercial sealing), are  documented. Insights into many aspects of elephant seal and fur seal biology, including life history, demography, diet, growth, foraging and ranging behaviour are described. Ancillary work on morphology, genetics, anthropogenic influences and rare events are mentioned, as well as the extent of current research that addresses population dynamics in an ecosystem context. Opportunistic photographic identification of killer whales and recent dedicated observations at Marion Island are used to determine population size, seasonal abundance and sociality of this population, and to further understanding of its potential impact on resident pinniped populations.Keywords: Antarctic fur seal, foraging ecology, killer whale, population dynamics, southern elephant seal, Subantarctic fur sealAfrican Journal of Marine Science 2011, 33(3): 511–52

Depositional architecture and sequence stratigraphy of the Karoo basin floor to shelf edge succession, Laingsburg depocentre, South Africa

The Laingsburg depocentre of the SW Karoo Basin, South Africa preserves a well-exposed 1200 m thick succession of upper Permian strata that record the early filling of a basin during an icehouse climate. Uniformly fine-grained sandstones were derived from far-field granitic sources, possibly in Patagonia, although the coeval staging and delivery systems are not preserved. Early condensed shallow marine deposits are overlain by distal basin plain siltstone-prone turbidites and volcanic ashes. An order of magnitude increase in siliciclastic input to the basin plain is represented by up to 270 m of siltstone with thin sandstone turbidites (Vischkuil Formation). The upper Vischkuil Formation comprises three depositional sequences, each bounded by a regionally developed zone of soft sediment deformation and associated 20-45 m thick debrite that represent the initiation of a major sand delivery system. The overlying 300 m thick sandy basin-floor fan system (Unit A) is divisible into three composite sequences arranged in a progradational-aggradational-retrogradational stacking pattern, followed by up to 40 m of basin-wide hemipelagic claystone. This claystone contains Interfan A/B, a distributive lobe system that lies 10 m beneath Unit B, a sandstone-dominated succession that averages 150 m thickness and is interpreted to represent a toe of slope channelized lobe system. Unit B and the A/B interfan together comprise 4 depositional sequences in a composite sequence with an overall basinward-stepping stacking pattern, overlain by 30 m of hemipelagic claystone. The overlying 400 m thick submarine slope succession (Fort Brown Formation) is characterized by 10-120 m thick sand-prone to heterolithic packages separated by 30-70 m thick claystone units. On the largest scale the slope stratigraphy is defined by two major cycles interpreted as composite sequence sets. The lower cycle comprises lithostratigraphic Units B/C, C and D while the upper cycle includes lithostratigraphic Units D/E, E and F. In each case a sandy basal composite sequence is represented by an intraslope lobe (Units B/C and D/E respectively). The second composite sequence in each cycle (Units C and E respectively) is characterized by slope channel-levee systems with distributive lobes 20-30 km down dip. The uppermost composite sequence in each cycle (Units D and F respectively) are characterised by deeply entrenched slope valley systems. Most composite sequences comprise three sequences separated by thin (<5 m thick) claystones. Architectural style is similar at individual sequence scale for comparable positions within each composite sequence set and each composite sequence. The main control on stratigraphic development is interpreted as late icehouse glacio-eustasy but along-strike changes associated with changing shelf edge delivery systems and variable bathymetry due to differential substrate compaction complicate the resultant stratigraphy

Renal tumourigenesis in male rats in response to chronic dietary ochratoxin A

The potency of ochratoxin A (OTA) as a renal carcinogen in the rat in response to lifetime administration by oral gavage is a basis of current concern about possible human risk from dietary exposure to the mycotoxin. In this study, dietary delivery of OTA was chosen as the mode of administration, since this mimics human intake of OTA-contaminated food more accurately than gastric intubation. Young male Fischer rats were given approximately 300 microg OTA/kg body weight (bwt) daily until they reached 333 g; thereafter their daily intake was held at about 100 microg. Renal tumours, mostly unilateral carcinomas, were first discovered at week 75 and total incidence reached 25%. Statistical comparison of total carcinoma incidence (20%) in this study with that of the classic US NTP study suggested that OTA was significantly less carcinogenic when administered in feed than when given by oral gavage. The finding may moderate perceptions of a putative risk of trace amounts of OTA in some foodstuffs to human health