Dietary fat knowledge and intake of mid-adolescents attending public schools in the Bellville/Durbanville area of the city of Cape Town

Objectives: This survey primarily investigated the dietary fat knowledge and intake of 17-year-olds.Design: Cross-sectional descriptive survey.Setting and subjects: A random sample of 168 learners (89% response rate) attending public schools in the Bellville/Durbanville area participated with parental consent after the area manager of the Department of Education and the school headmasters granted approval to conduct the survey.Outcome measures: Both the test and the food frequency screener selected to assess learner dietary fat knowledge and intake respectivelywas pilot tested.Results: The learners mostly obtained average (46%) as well as below average (52%) dietary fat knowledge scores and mostly (61%) followed diets that were categorised as typically Western, quite high in fat. The learners’ interest in nutrition and their source of nutritional information, which was a subject presented at school, were positively associated with their dietary fat knowledge (p < 0.05) and intake (p < 0.05) and their dietary fat knowledge was positively associated with their fat intake (p < 0.05).Conclusions: These mid-adolescents lack knowledge of dietary fat and are not consuming fats sparingly. However, their interest in nutrition, reliable nutritional information and dietary fat knowledge positively affected their fat intake. Interest in nutrition through nutrition and health education intervention initiatives should be cultivated among adolescents as it was identified as positively affecting both the dietary fat knowledge and intake of these adolescents.Keywords: knowledge of dietary fat; dietary fat intake; adolescent nutrition; interest in nutrition; nutrition informatio

Landscape suitability in Botswana for the conservation of its six large African carnivores

Wide-ranging large carnivores often range beyond the boundaries of protected areas into human-dominated areas. Mapping out potentially suitable habitats on a country-wide scale and identifying areas with potentially high levels of threats to large carnivore survival is necessary to develop national conservation action plans. We used a novel approach to map and identify these areas in Botswana for its large carnivore guild consisting of lion (Panthera leo), leopard (Panthera pardus), spotted hyaena (Crocuta crocuta), brown hyaena (Hyaena brunnea), cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) and African wild dog (Lycaon pictus). The habitat suitability for large carnivores depends primarily on prey availability, interspecific competition, and conflict with humans. Prey availability is most likely the strongest natural determinant. We used the distribution of biomass of typical wild ungulate species occurring in Botswana which is preyed upon by the six large carnivores to evaluate the potential suitability of the different management zones in the country to sustain large carnivore populations. In areas where a high biomass of large prey species occurred, we assumed interspecific competition between dominant and subordinated competitors to be high. This reduced the suitability of these areas for conservation of subordinate competitors, and vice versa. We used the percentage of prey biomass of the total prey and livestock biomass to identify areas with potentially high levels of conflict in agricultural areas. High to medium biomass of large prey was mostly confined to conservation zones, while small prey biomass was more evenly spread across large parts of the country. This necessitates different conservation strategies for carnivores with a preference for large prey, and those that can persist in the agricultural areas. To ensure connectivity between populations inside Botswana and also with its neighbours, a number of critical areas for priority management actions exist in the agricultural zones.Botswana Wildlife Management Association and Tau Consultants.http://www.plosone.orgam201

Genomic Organization, Sequence Divergence, and Recombination of Feline Immunodeficiency Virus from Lions in the Wild

Background Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) naturally infects multiple species of cat and is related to human immunodeficiency virus in humans. FIV infection causes AIDS-like disease and mortality in the domestic cat (Felis catus) and serves as a natural model for HIV infection in humans. In African lions (Panthera leo) and other exotic felid species, disease etiology introduced by FIV infection are less clear, but recent studies indicate that FIV causes moderate to severe CD4 depletion. Results In this study, comparative genomic methods are used to evaluate the full proviral genome of two geographically distinct FIV subtypes isolated from free-ranging lions. Genome organization of FIVPle subtype B (9891 bp) from lions in the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania and FIVPle subtype E (9899 bp) isolated from lions in the Okavango Delta in Botswana, both resemble FIV genome sequence from puma, Pallas cat and domestic cat across 5\u27 LTR, gag, pol, vif, orfA, env, rev and 3\u27LTR regions. Comparative analyses of available full-length FIV consisting of subtypes A, B and C from FIVFca , Pallas cat FIVOma and two puma FIVPco subtypes A and B recapitulate the species-specific monophyly of FIV marked by high levels of genetic diversity both within and between species. Across all FIVPle gene regions except env, lion subtypes B and E are monophyletic, and marginally more similar to Pallas cat FIVOma than to other FIV. Sequence analyses indicate the SU and TM regions of env vary substantially between subtypes, with FIV Ple subtype E more related to domestic cat FIVFca than to FIVPle subtype B and FIVOma likely reflecting recombination between strains in the wild. Conclusion This study demonstrates the necessity of whole-genome analysis to complement population/gene-based studies, which are of limited utility in uncovering complex events such as recombination that may lead to functional differences in virulence and pathogenicity. These full-length lion lentiviruses are integral to the advancement of comparative genomics of human pathogens, as well as emerging disease in wild populations of endangered species

Key factors and related principles in the conservation of large African carnivores

1. Large carnivores are a critical component of Africa’s biodiversity, and their conservation requires a clear understanding of interactions between large carnivores and people. 2. By reviewing existing literature, we identify 14 key factors that influence large African carnivore conservation, including ecological (biodiversity conservation, interspecific competition, ranging behaviour, ecological resilience, prey availability, livestock predation, disease and population viability), socio-economic (people’s attitudes and behaviours and human costs and benefits of coexistence with large carnivores) and political (conservation policy development and implementation, conservation strategies and land use zoning) factors. 3. We present these key factors in a model illustrating the levels of impact on large African carnivore conservation. 4. We identify the key principle that underpins each factor and its implications for both large carnivore conservation and human–carnivore conflict. 5. We provide a synthesis of the key factors and related principles in large African carnivore conservation and highlight the importance of the site-specific and species-specific context in conservation policy and implementation, formulated through an interdisciplinary and adaptive approach.This manuscript was partly funded by the Botswana Wildlife Management Association, Maun, Botswana, and made possible by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks, Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism, Gaborone, Botswana.http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1365-2907hb2016Centre for Wildlife Managemen

Habitat utilisation, activity patterns and management of Cape buffalo in the Willem Pretorius game reserve

The range use behaviour and activity patterns of a single herd of disease-free Cape buffalo Syncerus caffer in the Willem Pretorius Game Reserve, Free State, was investigated. This reserve falls outside the historical distribution of these buffalo. It has sub-optimal habitat for buffalo, a long history of severe overgrazing and no large predators. The veld condition and grazing capacity of six management units identified in the reserve were investigated, and a long-term grazing capacity of 750 L.S.U. calculated. A maximum long-term buffalo stocking rate of 82,2 L.S.u. was determined from their range use. The main factors, which appear to regulate habitat selection by the buffalo, are seasonal changes in the food supply, the availability of cover for daytime resting, and protection against low night temperatures. Effective management of the buffalo depends on protecting the woody riverbank and vlei grasslands, which are the most crucial vegetation types for the buffalo.Dissertation (MSc (Wildlife Management))--University of Pretoria, 1999.Centre for Wildlife Managementunrestricte

Incidence of heat-labile enterotoxin-producing Escherichia coli detected by means of polymerase chain reaction amplification

CITATION: Winterbach, R. et al. 1994. Incidence of heat-labile enterotoxin-producing Escherichia coli detected by means of polymerase chain reaction amplification. South African Medical Journal, 84:85-87.The original publication is available at http://www.samj.org.zaDiarrhoea can be caused by many different organisms, some of which are notoriously difficult to identify. One of these is enterotoxin-producing Escherichia coli. Recently a new diagnostic technique that uses polymerase chain reaction DNA amplification was developed for detection of the 'A' subunit of the labile enterotoxin-producing E. coli gene. This technique was used to evaluate the incidence of heat-labile (LT+) enterotoxin-producing E. coli in the causation of diarrhoea. The results from this study showed that LT+ E. coli is a cause of diarrhoea in the western Cape and that 5,3% of non-diagnosed diarrhoea patients in Tygerberg Hospital were infected with this pathogen. This represented less than 1% of the total number of cases of diarrhoea investigated in this hospital. The peak coincides with the wetter months in this locality and the infection rate is lower than that reported in most other countries. Given the low incidence of occurrence of this organism we do not recommend routine implementation of the diagnostic procedure. However, this test may be useful at times, e.g. to ascertain the source of a diarrhoea epidemic.Publisher’s versio

A gas-chromatographic headspace method for the determination of acetone in bovine milk, blood and urine

An automated headspace gas-chromatographic method has been developed for the determination of acetone in the milk, blood and urine of dairy cows. Five ml samples were saturated with 2g of sodium chloride and equilibrated for 30 min at 90°C in a Hewlett-Packard HP 19395A automatic headspace sampler. The headspace volatiles were transferred without splitting to a 25m x 0,3mm x 0,4µm Carbowax column in a Shimadzu GC 9A gas chromatograph, operating isothermally at 50°C. The coefficients of variation for the determination of acetone were 1,5-4,4% for urine, 10,0-24,9% for milk and 2,0-19,6% for blood. The detection limits were 0,0055mg/100ml for milk, 0,0072mg/100ml for blood and 0,0080mg/100ml for urine. The analysis time of 5min per sample provided an adequate rate of throughput for routine monitoring.The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 600dpi. Adobe Acrobat XI Pro was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format.mn201

Wildlife abundance and diversity as indicators of tourism potential in Northern Botswana

Wildlife tourism can provide economic incentives for conservation. Due to the abundance of wildlife and the presence of charismatic species some areas are better suited to wildlife tourism. Our first objective was to develop criteria based on wildlife abundance and diversity to evaluate tourism potential in the Northern Conservation Zone of Botswana. Secondly we wanted to quantify and compare tourism experiences in areas with high and low tourism potential. We used aerial survey data to estimate wildlife biomass and diversity to determine tourism potential, while data from ground surveys quantified the tourist experience. Areas used for High Paying Low Volume tourism had significantly higher mean wildlife biomass and wildlife diversity than the areas avoided for this type of tourism. Only 22% of the Northern Conservation Zone has intermediate to high tourism potential. The areas with high tourism potential, as determined from the aerial survey data, provided tourists with significantly better wildlife sightings (ground surveys) than the low tourism potential areas. Even Low Paying tourism may not be economically viable in concessions that lack areas with intermediate to high tourism potential. The largest part of the Northern Conservation Zone has low tourism potential, but low tourism potential is not equal to low conservation value. Alternative conservation strategies should be developed to complement the economic incentive provided by wildlife-based tourism in Botswana.S1 File. Data_hplvtourismareas_northern_Botswana.xlsx.http://www.plosone.orgam201

Cyclic fluctuations in acetone concentrations in the blood and milk of clinically healthy dairy cows

Milk samples were taken daily or twice weekly, and blood samples twice weekly, from six clinically healthy dairy cows. Acetone concentration was determined by a new headspace gas-chromatographic method that proved to be suitable in terms of practicality, sensitivity and precision. The concentration of acetone in milk was closely correlated with that in blood (r² = 0,967). There was no relationship between lacteal acetone concentration and either somatic cell count or bacterial infection. In both blood and milk there were fluctuations in acetone concentration that were synchronous between the six cows. The fluctuations were apparently cyclic, with a period of approximately 10 d. Such fluctuations have not previously been reported.The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 600dpi. Adobe Acrobat XI Pro was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format.mn201