The use of disinfection tunnels or disinfectant spraying of humans as a measure to reduce the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus

In endeavouring to mitigate the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, a concerning practice of spraying individuals with disinfectant via so-called ‘disinfection tunnels’ has come to light. The Allergy Society of South Africa supports the World Health Organization in strongly condemning all human spraying, owing to lack of efficacy and potential dangers, especially to patients with coexisting allergic conditions

Semi-automated segment generation for geographic novelty detection using edge and area metrics

An approach to generating accurate image segments for land-cover mapping applications is to model the process as an optimisation problem. Area-based empirical discrepancy metrics are used to evaluate instances of generated segments in the search process. An edge metric, called the pixel correspondence metric (PCM), is evaluated in this approach as a fitness function for segmentation algorithm free-parameter tuning. The edge metric is able to converge to user-provided reference segments in an earth observation mapping problem when adequate training data are available. Two common metaheuristic search functions were tested, namely particle swarm optimisation (PSO) and differential evolution (DE). The edge metric is compared with an area-based metric, regarding classification results of the land-cover elements of interests for an arbitrary problem. The results show the potential of using edge metrics, as opposed to area metrics, for evaluating segments in an optimisation-based segmentation algorithm parameter-tuning approach

Measuring Small Business Owners Differences In Moral Thought: Idealism Versus Relativism

The failure of internationally renowned organisations together with the global financial catastrophe in 2008, which emerged as a result of the collapse in corporate governance, in general, and business ethics, in particular, has led to an amplified focus on business ethics around the world. This has led to governments, private sector, and even individuals to call for stronger regulation and control of business practices in order to stamp out, or at least to reduce, instances of morally and ethically questionable practices.The main purpose of this study was to measure small business owners differences in moral thought based on idealism and relativism. This is measured by determining the ethical ideological classification of individuals based on Forsyths ethical taxonomy. The research followed a quantitative analysis and an online survey questionnaire was used to collect the data from Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) owners in South Africa. The results found that the majority of SME owners fall in the situationist and absolutist category of Forsyths ethical taxonomy

Moral Behaviour And Ethical Misconduct In Nigerian Small Businesses

The small business sector plays a vital role in the economic development, upliftment and job creation of any third world country, and even more so in Africa. Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s) have underperformed over the past years and therefore have not contributed their expected roles in the growth and development of the Nigerian economy. This can and may lead to unethical behaviour and questionable practices which speak of moral decay – something that Africa, in general, and Nigeria, specifically, has been accused of. The performance and ethical behaviour of Nigerian SMEs have been of great concern to numerous individuals, parties and organisations (Onugu, 2005:8). Since managers’ decisions impact organisational goals and behaviours, this research aims to determine whether a sense of moral behaviour will have an influence on the concern for ethical misconduct in the Nigerian business environment by examining the relationship between “Moral Behaviour” and the “Concern for Ethical Dilemmas/Misconduct”. The research followed a quantitative approach. Results indicated that there is a fine line between what is perceived as being morally wrong or unethical and that, in many instances, the focus is rather on future existence of the business and not really on the ethical issues involved. The study confirms that there is a medium to strong relationship correlation between sense of ethical concerns and immoral behaviour in the Nigerian small business environment. The hypothesis (H0: Entrepreneurs who have an acute sense of moral behaviour are concerned about ethical misconduct/dilemmas in the business environment) is therefore accepted

The microbiome in chronic inflammatory airway disease: A threatened species

The human body is exposed to a multitude of microbes and infectious organisms  throughout life. Many of these organisms colonise the skin, gastrointestinal tract (GIT) and airway. We now recognise that this colonisation includes the lower airway,   previously thought to be sterile. These colonising organisms play an important role in disease prevention, including an array of chronic inflammatory conditions that are unrelated to infectious diseases. However, new evidence of immune dysregulation suggests that early colonisation, especially of the GIT and airway, by pathogenic micro-organisms, has deleterious effects that may contribute to the potential to induce  chronic inflammation in young children, which may only express itself in adult life

Epithelial Ovarian Carcinoma Types and the Coexistence of Ovarian Tumor Conditions

Objective. Ovarian carcinomas are presumed to arise within ovarian inclusion cysts or from a coexisting epithelial lesion in the ovary. Insight may be gained by relating different subtypes of ovarian cancer with the presence of coexisting tumor-like conditions. Methods. The Dutch nation-wide pathology database PALGA (Pathologisch Anatomisch Landelijk Geautomatiseerd Archief) identified the various histopathological subtypes of ovarian cancer in 824 patients diagnosed in 1996–2003, and recorded the presence of epithelial tumor conditions around the ovarian tumors. In addition, a PALGA database of all 153 consecutive patients referred to the Nijmegen University Medical Centre in 2007 for histopathological work-up was analyzed. Results. The prevalence of coexisting ovarian tumor conditions was 16.4% (135 out of 824 patients, (95% CI: 8.4%–24.4%)). The coexistence was highest for endometrioid, mucinous, clear cell, and borderline malignancies. The referral group revealed 35% (54 out of 153 patients, (95% CI: 28%–42%)) of coexisting epithelial ovarian tumor conditions. Conclusion. One in six patients with a malignant ovarian tumor has a coexisting epithelial tumor condition in the ovary, which is also rather frequently observed in the diagnostic work-up practice

Demographic and circumstantial accounts of burn mortality in Cape Town, South Africa, 2001-2004: An observational register based study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Burns are a persisting public health problem in low- and middle-income countries; however, epidemiologic data for these settings is scarce. South Africa is no exception although there is an emerging knowledge base, especially for paediatric burns. The current study describes the epidemiology of burn mortality across the lifespan in Cape Town (2.9 million inhabitants in 2001), one of the six South African metropolitan centres.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The distribution of burn mortality across socio-demographic groups and also their circumstances of occurrence were investigated using four year (2001 to 2004) surveillance data from the National Injury Mortality Surveillance System (n = 1024 cases).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Burn mortality occurred at a rate of 7.9 per 100 000 person-years (95% CI: 7.3-8.3). Males sustained fatal rates 2.2 times more than that for females (p < 0.001), with rates significantly higher in the 25 to 38 and 39 to 50 age groups than at other ages (p < 0.001). The greatest difference between male and female deaths was observed in the 25 to 38 year age group, when almost three male deaths occurred for every female one. The vast majority of fatal burns were registered as accidental and occurred in the home, either over the cold and wet months or during recreational periods over weekends and across the year. Alcohol intoxication was reported for the majority of those adults whose alcohol blood levels were tested (i.e. 52.6% of cases aged 16+ years).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Besides paediatric burns, the high prevalence and circumstances of occurrence of burns among middle age men are a source of concern. There are reasons to believe that this over-representation is a reflection of detrimental living conditions, life-style and poor socio-economic status. It is recommended that there be greater prioritisation of prevention activities that involve the control or management of kerosene heat sources, the provision of alternatives to flammable housing materials, and the implementation of strategies to reduce harmful drinking practices.</p

TarO : a target optimisation system for structural biology

This work was funded by the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) Structural Proteomics of Rational Targets (SPoRT) initiative, (Grant BBS/B/14434). Funding to pay the Open Access publication charges for this article was provided by BBSRC.TarO (http://www.compbio.dundee.ac.uk/taro) offers a single point of reference for key bioinformatics analyses relevant to selecting proteins or domains for study by structural biology techniques. The protein sequence is analysed by 17 algorithms and compared to 8 databases. TarO gathers putative homologues, including orthologues, and then obtains predictions of properties for these sequences including crystallisation propensity, protein disorder and post-translational modifications. Analyses are run on a high-performance computing cluster, the results integrated, stored in a database and accessed through a web-based user interface. Output is in tabulated format and in the form of an annotated multiple sequence alignment (MSA) that may be edited interactively in the program Jalview. TarO also simplifies the gathering of additional annotations via the Distributed Annotation System, both from the MSA in Jalview and through links to Dasty2. Routes to other information gateways are included, for example to relevant pages from UniProt, COG and the Conserved Domains Database. Open access to TarO is available from a guest account with private accounts for academic use available on request. Future development of TarO will include further analysis steps and integration with the Protein Information Management System (PIMS), a sister project in the BBSRC Structural Proteomics of Rational Targets initiative.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Interrelationship of Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae and Staphylococcus aureus colonization within and between pneumococcal-vaccine naïve mother-child dyads

Background: A high prevalence of bacterial nasopharyngeal co-infections has been reported in children, however, such data is limited in adults. We examined the interaction of Haemophilus influenzae, Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pneumoniae pharyngeal colonization in mother-child dyads. Methods: Pneumococcal-vaccine naïve children and their mothers had pharyngeal swabs undertaken at 1.6, 2.5, 3.5, 4.5, 7.4, 9.5, 12.5, 16.2 and 24.2 months of child’s age. Swabs were cultured for S. pneumoniae, H. influenzae and S. aureus using standard microbiologic methods. Multivariate generalized estimating equation-models were used to explore the associations of the three bacteria within and between children and their mothers. Results: In children, the observed probability of co-colonization was higher than expected. Well-defined associations in colonization between the bacteria were observed in children but not among mothers. In children, a synergistic association was observed between S. pneumoniae and H. influenzae (Adjusted odds ratio (AOR): 1.75, 95% CI: 1.32-2.32) and a negative association between S. pneumoniae and S. aureus (AOR: 0.51, 95% CI: 0.39-0.67) or H. influenzae and S. aureus (AOR: 0.24, 95% CI: 0.16-0.34) colonization. Additionally, all three bacteria had a higher likelihood of concurrent colonization. There was a strong association in colonization by the bacteria in children and their mothers, including increased likelihood of maternal colonization if the child was colonized by S. pneumoniae (AOR: 1.84, 95% CI: 1.28-2.63) and H. influenzae (AOR: 6.34, 95% CI: 2.24-18.0). Conclusions: The effects of immunization of children with pneumococcal-conjugate-vaccine in settings such as ours needs monitoring with regard to potential changes of pharyngeal bacterial ecology which could occur in vaccinated and –unvaccinated age-groups