Facing homelessness

In facing homelessness we face the other, and in facing the other, we face ourselves. This book contributes to an emerging body of knowledge on street homelessness in the South African context. It is meant for researchers and scholars who are committed to finding solutions for street homelessness. It offers conceptual frameworks and practical guidelines for a liberative and transformative response to homelessness. It brings together authors from a wide range of disciplines, fusing the rigour of researchers, the vision of activists and the lived experience of practitioners. In this volume, the causes of street homelessness in South Africa today, and its different faces, are traced. It critiques singular solutions, and interrogates the political, institutional and moral failures that contribute to the systemic exclusion of homeless persons and other vulnerable populations from society. It proposes rights-based interventions as part of a radical re-imagination of how street homelessness can be ended, one person and one neighbourhood at a time. The analysis by the authors steer in the direction of new ways of doing and being that could demonstrate concrete, viable and sustainable alternatives to the exclusionary realities faced by homeless persons. It argues for solution-based approaches, aimed at radical forms of social inclusion and achieved through broad-based and creative collaborations by all spheres of society. In the face and presence of street homelessness – as one expression of urban vulnerability and deep socio-economic inequality – society is confronted with a clear political, institutional, moral and personal obligation. This volume calls for a reclamation of community in its most inclusionary, life-affirming and interdependent sense, asserting that we truly are well because of others, and we are unwell if others are. It is a call to reclaim our common humanity in the context of inclusive communities where all are equally welcome and bestowed with dignity and honour

Facing homelessness

In facing homelessness we face the other, and in facing the other, we face ourselves. This book contributes to an emerging body of knowledge on street homelessness in the South African context. It is meant for researchers and scholars who are committed to finding solutions for street homelessness. It offers conceptual frameworks and practical guidelines for a liberative and transformative response to homelessness. It brings together authors from a wide range of disciplines, fusing the rigour of researchers, the vision of activists and the lived experience of practitioners. In this volume, the causes of street homelessness in South Africa today, and its different faces, are traced. It critiques singular solutions, and interrogates the political, institutional and moral failures that contribute to the systemic exclusion of homeless persons and other vulnerable populations from society. It proposes rights-based interventions as part of a radical re-imagination of how street homelessness can be ended, one person and one neighbourhood at a time. The analysis by the authors steer in the direction of new ways of doing and being that could demonstrate concrete, viable and sustainable alternatives to the exclusionary realities faced by homeless persons. It argues for solution-based approaches, aimed at radical forms of social inclusion and achieved through broad-based and creative collaborations by all spheres of society. In the face and presence of street homelessness – as one expression of urban vulnerability and deep socio-economic inequality – society is confronted with a clear political, institutional, moral and personal obligation. This volume calls for a reclamation of community in its most inclusionary, life-affirming and interdependent sense, asserting that we truly are well because of others, and we are unwell if others are. It is a call to reclaim our common humanity in the context of inclusive communities where all are equally welcome and bestowed with dignity and honour

The Arabidopsis protein phosphatase PP2C38 negatively regulates the central immune kinase BIK1

Plants recognize pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) via cell surface-localized pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), leading to PRR-triggered immunity (PTI). The Arabidopsis cytoplasmic kinase BIK1 is a downstream substrate of several PRR complexes. How plant PTI is negatively regulated is not fully understood. Here, we identify the protein phosphatase PP2C38 as a negative regulator of BIK1 activity and BIK1-mediated immunity. PP2C38 dynamically associates with BIK1, as well as with the PRRs FLS2 and EFR, but not with the co-receptor BAK1. PP2C38 regulates PAMP-induced BIK1 phosphorylation and impairs the phosphorylation of the NADPH oxidase RBOHD by BIK1, leading to reduced oxidative burst and stomatal immunity. Upon PAMP perception, PP2C38 is phosphorylated on serine 77 and dissociates from the FLS2/EFR-BIK1 complexes, enabling full BIK1 activation. Together with our recent work on the control of BIK1 turnover, this study reveals another important regulatory mechanism of this central immune component

Harm reduction in an emergency response to homelessness during South Africa’s COVID-19 lockdown

BACKGROUND : Caledonian Stadium, the main mass temporary shelter for homeless people in the City of Tshwane, was created as a local response to the imperatives of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) National State of Disaster lockdown in South Africa. This is a case study of the coordinated emergency healthcare response provided by the University of Pretoria’s Department of Family Medicine between 24 March and 6 April 2020. METHODS : This study uses a narrative approach to restory situated, transient, partial and provisional knowledge. Analysis is based on documented data and iteratively triangulated interviews on the operational experiences of selected healthcare first responders directly involved in the shelter. RESULTS : The impending lockdown generated intense interactions by UP-DFM to prepare for the provision of COVID-19 and essential generalist primary with partners involved in the Community Oriented Substance Use Programme (COSUP). With approximately 2000 people at the shelter at its peak, the numbers exceeded expectations. Throughout, while government officials tried to secure bedding, food and toilets, the shelter was poorly equipped and without onsite management. The COSUP clinical team prioritised opioid substitution therapy using methadone and COVID-19 screening over generalist healthcare to manage withdrawal and contain tension and anxiety. COSUP and its partners helped the city plan and implement the safe re-sheltering of all Caledonian residents. CONCLUSION : The Caledonian shelter is an account of organisational resilience in the face of homelessness and substance use emergencies triggered by lockdown. Through community-oriented, bottom-up self-organisation, a clinically led team navigated a response to the immediate needs of people who are homeless and/or use drugs that evolved into a more sustainable intervention. Key lessons learnt were the importance of communicating with people directly affected by emergencies, the value of using methadone to reduce harms during emergencies and the imperative of including OST in essential primary healthcare.Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, Republic of South Africahttp://www.harmreductionjournal.comam2020Family Medicin

The three-stage assessment to support hospital-home care coordination in Tshwane- South Africa

BACKGROUND: In complex health settings, care coordination is required to link patients to appropriate and effective care. Although articulated as system and professional values, coordination and cooperation are often absent within and across levels of service, between facilities and across sectors, with negative consequences for clinical outcomes as well as serviceload.Aim: This article presents the results of an applied research initiative to facilitate the coordination of patient care. SETTING: The study took place at three hospitals in the sub-district 3 public health complex (Tshwane district). METHOD: Using a novel capability approach to learning, interdisciplinary, clinician-led teams made weekly coordination-of-care ward rounds to develop patient-centred plans and facilitate care pathways for patients identified as being stuck in the system. Notes taken during three-stage assessments were analysed thematically to gain insight into down referral and discharge. RESULTS: The coordination-of-care team assessed 94 patients over a period of six months. Clinical assessments yielded essential details about patients’ varied and multimorbid conditions, while personal and contextual assessments highlighted issues that put patients’ care needs and possibilities into perspective. The team used the combined assessments to make patient-tailored action plans and apply them by facilitating cooperation through interprofessional and intersectoral networks. CONCLUSION: Effective patient care-coordination involves a set of referral practices and processes that are intentionally organised by clinically led, interprofessional teams. Empowered by richly informed plans, the teams foster cooperation among people, organisations and institutions in networks that extend from and to patients. In so doing, they embed care coordination into the discharge process and make referral to a link-to-care service.Department of Family Medicine, University of Pretoriahttp://www.phcfm.orgpm2020Family Medicin

Optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier producing ultrashort 10.5 mJ pulses at 1.55 µm

We present an optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier (OPCPA) delivering 10.5 mJ pulses with durations down to 220 fs, at 100 Hz repetition rate, centered at 1550 nm. The system is pumped by a picosecond Nd:YAG amplifier at 1064 nm based on quasi-continuous-wave diode pumping and seeded by a femtosecond mode-locked Er fiber laser at 1550 nm. This choice of wavelengths enables the use of well-established technology and optical components for both pump and signal beams, resulting in a straightforward and robust system design and the ability for further power scaling to be used in high-energy laser-produced plasma experiments