Teaching and learning considerations during the COVID 19 pandemic: Supporting multimodal student learning preferences

Background. The advent of COVID‑19 and the subsequent national lockdown has catapulted higher education institutions into emergency remote teaching (ERT). A principal challenge in this shift is the ability to stimulate student interest towards engagement with, and retention of, course content. The creation of teaching and learning (T&L) resources and activities using a combination of the visual, aural, read/write and kinaesthetic (VARK) modes is fundamental in ensuring student engagement. Objectives. To determine the learning style profiles of undergraduate students and to explore how student learning profiles may be incorporated in T&L approaches during ERT. Methods. This descriptive study profiles the learning preferences of undergraduate students in a health science faculty using the VARK questionnaire. The study further outlines modifications in T&L implemented to support the varied learning preferences during the COVID‑19 ERT response. Results. Our findings demonstrate that the majority of our students have a multimodal learning preference, with the kinaesthetic modality being the most preferred. Voice-over PowerPoint presentations with transitioning images, and audio files, supported the visual and aural learners through asynchronous engagement. Additionally, online discussion forums and applied projects (such as theme park designs) enhanced asynchronous learning by stimulating the visual, read/write and kinaesthetic preferences, respectively. Microsoft Team sessions with PowerPoint presentations supported visual and aural learning preferences through synchronous engagement. Conclusions. Rethinking traditional T&L approaches towards supporting the diverse student learning preferences is critical in student-centred T&L amidst the many challenges that ERT has precipitated. Academics need to be dynamic in their T&L approaches and intuitive in their awareness of how subject content may be modified/enhanced in the ERT environment

Training requirements for the administration of intravenous contrast media by radiographers: Radiologists’ perspective

Background. The administration of intravenous contrast media (IVCM) is one of the key areas currently under investigation for inclusion in the South African (SA) radiographers’ scope of practice. However, for the radiographers to legally administer IVCM, training guidelines must first be identified, developed and accredited by the Health Professions Council of SA.Objective. To investigate the radiologists’ perspective of the knowledge, skills and medicolegal training required of radiographers for the administration of IVCM to provide input for the development of national training guidelines.Methods. A quantitative, cross-sectional research study using an online survey, administered by SurveyMonkey, was conducted. The target population included all radiologists residing and practising in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, SA.Results. Fifty-nine participants (60.8%) completed the online survey. Twelve were excluded owing to incomplete surveys, resulting in a final response rate of 48.5% (n=47). The study revealed that various theoretical, clinical/practical and medicolegal study units should be included in the training, i.e. the study of the pharmacology of contrast media, practical training on cardiopulmonary resuscitation and basic life support, as well as the rights and responsibilities of a healthcare professional. In addition, both theory and practical/clinical assessments need to be included.Conclusion. Key data have been provided for the development of national training guidelines for radiographers to administer IVCM, based on scientific evidence that is relevant to the SA context. The study may be of value to other related health professions where scopes of practice are expanded through transforming the education and training curricula

Calories and steps! How many days of walking/hiking in the Himalayas does ONE Christmas lunch translate to?

Background. The festive season is a time when people are at risk of overeating and weight gain. An active break during this time can help maintain energy balance. Objectives. To determine steps taken during a walk/hike to Everest Base Camp and back and compare estimated activityrelated energy expenditure to a typical Christmas lunch. Methods. Five adults (39-70 years) completed an 11-day walk/hike. Pedometer-measured steps were recorded at two cadences: ‘aerobic’ (>100 steps/minute for 10 consecutive minutes) or ‘slower’ steps. Activity-related energy expenditure was estimated using generic values for walking uphill/downhill at each cadence. Energy intake of a typical Christmas lunch was estimated. Results. Participants accumulated a total of 143 770 steps, or 13 070 (SD 8 272) steps/day, 20% of which were ‘aerobic’. Total walk-related energy expenditure was estimated at 22 816  kcals, or 1 901 (SD 580) kcals/day. Conclusion. Estimated energy intake in one Christmas lunch equates to 1.7 days of walking/hiking. Keywords. Energy intake, physical activity, energy expenditure, pedomete

An analysis and evaluation of the child survival project in the uThukela district of KwaZulu-Natal.

Thesis (M.P.H.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2005.The uThukela District in the province of Kwazulu-Natal, Republic of South Africa, has been involved in improving Primary Health Care (PHC) in the district through evaluation surveys carried out at regular intervals during the past six years. World Vision's uThukela District Child Survival Project (TDCSP) began in November 16, 1999. This has been made possible by a Child Survival Grants Program from the Unites States Agency for International Development (USAID). In all previous surveys a 30-cluster sampling methodology was used to select individuals from the survey population. This time however, the Lot Quality Assurance Sampling (LQAS) methodology was used. The recent re-organization of the District into municipalities enabled each municipality to function as one Supervision Area (SA) or Lot. Even with a small sample size (in this case 24 per SA), poor health service performance could be identified so that resources are appropriately distributed. Furthermore, people from the community such as Community Health Workers (CHW) were involved in all phases of the study, including the manual analysis of the results, upon being trained appropriate. However, it is questionable as to how accurate and reliable such a manual analysis was. In this dissertation, the manual results of the study were evaluated by doing an electronic analysis. In addition, a more refined analysis of the data has been produced (e.g. population-weighted coverage, graphs and stratified analyses in some cases). From the comparisons made, it was concluded that the manual analysis was very similar to the electronic analysis and that differences obtained were not statistically significant. In addition, due to each municipality varying in population size, it was queried as to whether population-weighted results would produce a marked difference from the un-weighted, manual results. Again, the differences produced were in most cases not statistically significant. This concluded that the manual analysis carried out by the TDCSP team was accurate and that it is appropriate to use such results in determining individual municipality performance and overall District performance so that responsive action can then be taken immediately, without necessarily having to wait for electronic results

P16-20. TB co-infection is associated with increased cytotoxic phenotype marker expression on CD8+ T lymphocytes, but reduced HIV-specific degranulation

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

Laboratory surveillance of Shigella dysenteriae type 1 in Kwazulu-natal

Objective. To collect data on the antimicrobial susceptibility of Shigella dysenteriae type 1 in KwaZulu-Natal, including the testing of newer therapeutic agents, and to evaluate the ability of laboratories to participate in a provincial surveillance programme.Design. Prospective descriptive study.Setting. Hospital laboratories in KwaZulu-Natal, including peripheral laboratories and the medical microbiology laboratory of the University of Natal.Main outcome measures. Antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of surveillance strains and evaluation of the ability of provincial laboratories to isolate Shigella.Results. All 354 strains tested were resistant to ampicillin, chloramphenicol and tetracycline. Co-trimoxazole resistance was found in 99.2% of strains, and 0.8% of strains were resistant to nalidixic acid. All strains were susceptible to ceftriaxone, ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, pivmecillinam, azithromycin, loracarbef and fosfomycin. Of the 29 laboratories surveyed, 18 (62.1%) were able to isolate and identify S, dysenteriae correctly, and 9 (32%) were able to serotype it further to S, dysenteriae type 1. Twenty-seven (93.1%) had appropriate culture media and 26 (89.7%) had antisera for Shigella identification.Conclusions. There is little variation among strains of S. dysenteriae type 1 in KwaZulu-Natal with regard to their antimicrobial susceptibility pattern. Nalidixic acid should remain the antimicrobial of choice for treatment of dysentery in our region as resistance to it is low. The majority of KwaZulu-Natallaboratories.have the expertise and equipment to perform the isolation and identification of Shigella species

Do HIV treatment eligibility expansions crowd out the sickest? Evidence from rural South Africa

OBJECTIVE: The 2015 WHO recommendation to initiate all HIV patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART) at diagnosis could potentially overextend health systems and crowd out sicker patients, mitigating the policy's impact. We evaluate whether South Africa's prior eligibility expansion from CD4 ≤200 to CD4 ≤350 cells/μL reduced ART uptake in the sickest patients. METHODS: Using data on all patients presenting to the Hlabisa HIV Treatment and Care Program in KwaZulu-Natal from April 2010 - June 2012 (n=13,809), we assessed the impact of the August 2011 eligibility expansion on the number of patients seeking care, number initiating ART, and time from HIV diagnosis to ART initiation among patients always eligible (CD4 0-200), newly eligible (CD4 201-350), and not yet eligible by CD4 count (>350). We used interrupted time series methods to control for long-run trends and isolate the effect of the policy. RESULTS: Expanding ART eligibility led to an increased number of patients initiating ART per month [+95.5; 95% CI (-1.3; 192.3)]. Newly eligible patients (CD4 201-350) initiated treatment 47% faster than before (95% CI 19%; 82%), while the sickest patients (CD4 ≤200) saw no decline in the monthly number of patients initiating treatment or the rate of treatment uptake. CONCLUSION: The Hlabisa program successfully extended ART to patients with CD4 ≤350 cells/μL, while ensuring that the sickest patients did not experience delays in ART initiation. Treatment programs must be vigilant to maintain quality of care for the sickest as countries move to treat all patients irrespective of CD4 count. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Splitting fields and general differential Galois theory

An algebraic technique is presented that does not use results of model theory and makes it possible to construct a general Galois theory of arbitrary nonlinear systems of partial differential equations. The algebraic technique is based on the search for prime differential ideals of special form in tensor products of differential rings. The main results demonstrating the work of the technique obtained are the theorem on the constructedness of the differential closure and the general theorem on the Galois correspondence for normal extensions..Comment: 33 pages, this version coincides with the published on

Emergency Bipap Ventilator For Breathing Assistance

Journal ArticleThe paper proposes the concept of a simplified ventilation device that meets the requirements for the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) approval and may be manufactured in large numbers at moderate cost to meet the requirements of the current or future pneumonic type pandemics. The paper further describes the development of such a device and presents descriptions of the final prototype. The philosophy behind the design was to take an engineering view of the problem of safe ventilation, which also meets World Health Organisation (WHO) guideline ‘Technical specifications for invasive and non-invasive ventilators for COVID-19’ (2020), whilst using the human biological responses to control the aspiration boundaries, thereby avoiding the very complex processes which simulate the breathing mechanism. The methodology employed was a conceptual design phase followed by an engineering design phase, prototyping, testing, and further developments. The concept was based on guidelines from WHO, 2020: Technical specifications for invasive and non-invasive ventilators for COVID-19: Interim guidance: paragraphs 2.1.2 and 2.2.2.(2020) and measured against the UK standard of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHPRA) ‘Rapidly manufactured ventilator system’ (2020). Each component of the conceptual design was developed in this way and a final prototype was assembled for independent evaluation and eventual SAHPRA evaluation. The finished prototype meets WHO guidelines for a Bi-level Positive Airway Pressure (BiPAP) system and also meets the guideline requirements for portability. The prototype also meets the initial intent regarding simplicity, functionality and cost. The further developments to mass production will reduce the part count and assembly processes, with some components to be reconfigured as disposable items, not for sterilisation or re-use. The project has shown that specialised equipment may be viewed pragmatically according to the requirement — to treat all breathing difficulties with a full specification ventilator is not possible or necessary; to assist the majority of ostensibly minor cases with a Bi-PAP system is both practical and more affordable. The intent is not to compete with the high technology commercially sourced equipment, or even the rapidly prototyped re-purposed industrial efforts worldwide, but rather to initiate some progress in the Republic of South Africa to quickly produce an abundance of these machines, to cope with the possible deficit of medical ventilators expected in future. The solution lies in a simple but failsafe device that provides assisted breathing with the option of oxygen enrichment. It is intended to be locally manufactured with the minimum of skills and is easily maintained and sterilised