Mental health care services in rural South Africa: A human capabilities approach

It is estimated that a significant proportion of people living in South Africa have a mental illness and do not have access to mental health services. This relates to barriers that contribute to help-seeking behavior. Semi-structured interviewers were conducted with a sample of 11 stakeholders and 35 parents. Data were thematically analyzed and results revealed that participants had limited knowledge of what mental health is. Also highlighted was the lack of structural and human mental health care resources, and stigmatization. Addressing the issues related to mental health care services could contribute to ensuring that people have access to good health

A prolonged run-in period of standard subcutaneous microdialysis ameliorates quality of interstitial glucose signal in patients after major cardiac surgery

We evaluated a standard subcutaneous microdialysis technique for glucose monitoring in two critically ill patient populations and tested whether a prolonged run-in period improves the quality of the interstitial glucose signal. 20 surgical patients after major cardiac surgery (APACHE II score: 10.1 ± 3.2) and 10 medical patients with severe sepsis (APACHE II score: 31.1 ± 4.3) were included in this investigation. A microdialysis catheter was inserted in the subcutaneous adipose tissue of the abdominal region. Interstitial fluid and arterial blood were sampled in hourly intervals to analyse glucose concentrations. Subcutaneous adipose tissue glucose was prospectively calibrated to reference arterial blood either at hour 1 or at hour 6. Median absolute relative difference of glucose (MARD), calibrated at hour 6 (6.2 (2.6; 12.4) %) versus hour 1 (9.9 (4.2; 17.9) %) after catheter insertion indicated a significant improvement in signal quality in patients after major cardiac surgery (p < 0.001). Prolonged run-in period revealed no significant improvement in patients with severe sepsis, but the number of extreme deviations from the blood plasma values could be reduced. Improved concurrence of glucose readings via a 6-hour run-in period could only be achieved in patients after major cardiac surgery

Items from Germany-The impact of Rht alleles on cross-pollination efficiency traits with relevance for hybrid breeding in wheat

Hybrid breeding and the ability to exploit heterosis is one of a few high-priority wheat breeding strategies that have the potential to rapidly improve yield and stability. Yield improvements associated with hybrid vigor were demonstrated to be in the order of a 10–25% increase in grain yield as well as improved resistance against biotic/abiotic stresses and grain quality. Faced with these scenarios, the identification of factors affecting the development of hybrid wheats is of fundamental importance in order to accelerate the rate of genetic gain of the crop. Due to the prevalence and usefulness of Rht ‘Green revolution’ dwarfing alleles, it is important to gain a better understanding of how these alleles affect those traits related to the development of hybrid wheat seed production. Up to now, the expected influence of these alleles/ genes on wheat flowering-related traits was evaluated based on mapping populations or genome-wide association studies, without taking into account the actual effect of each Rht allele in particular. In this project, we propose to explore the effect of different Rht alleles using many near-isogenic lines. The experiments were performed at the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK Gatersleben, Germany) and the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Forestry (National University of La Plata, Argentina) during three growing seasons. Four sets of NILs carrying the alleles of Rht genes: Rht1 (Rht-B1b/Rht-D1a), Rht2 (Rht-B1a/Rht-D1b), Rht3 (Rht-B1c/Rht-D1a), Rht 1+2 (Rht-B1b/ Rht-D1b), Rht 2+3 (Rht-B1c/Rht-D1b), and rht (tall; Rht-B1a/Rht-D1a) in the genetic backgrounds of the wheat cultivars April Bearded, Bersee, Maris Huntsman, and Maris Widgeon were evaluated. Traits associated with cross-pollination efficiency (flowering date, plant height, spike length, anther extrusion, anther and filament length, and spikelets/spike) were studied. Preliminary results showed that the extreme dwarf alleles Rht3, Rht1+2, and Rht2+3 presented the greatest effects in all the variables analyzed. Plant height showed reductions from 22–25% (Rht1 and Rht2), 50–57% (Rht3 and Rht1+2), and 66% (Rht2+3) compared to rht (tall). Spike length was increased up to 14% (Rht1+2 vs. rht) and 3–9% for the rest of Rht alleles compared to rht, whereas spikelets/spike were increased up to 6% (Rht2+3 vs. rht). In comparison to rht (tall), the floral organs were negatively influenced by Rht alleles; decreases from 8–13% (Rht 1, Rht2, and Rht3) to 17–25% (Rht1+2 and Rht2+3) in anther length, and reductions from 16–44% in filament length were observed. For their part, anthers extrusion decreased between 15–27% (Rht1, Rht2, and Rht3) to 32–35% for Rht1+2 and Rht2+3 compared with that of rht. No significant differences were detected for flowering time among the alleles evaluated. These preliminary results indicate that Rht alleles combination are involved in multiple traits of interest for hybrid wheat production in breeding programs. Moreover, the magnitude of the negative impact of Rht alleles on floral organs depends on the combination of the alleles involved.Fil: Schierenbeck, Matías. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Leibniz Institute Of Plant Genetics And Crop Plant Research.; AlemaniaFil: Börner, A.. Leibniz Institute Of Plant Genetics And Crop Plant Research.; AlemaniaFil: Aleksandrov, V.. No especifíca;Fil: Alqudah, A. M.. No especifíca;Fil: Chebatareva, M. V.. No especifíca;Fil: Esquisabel, E.. No especifíca;Fil: Golik, S. I.. No especifíca;Fil: Kartseva, T.. No especifíca;Fil: Klykov, A. G.. No especifíca;Fil: Pshenichnikova, M. S.. No especifíca;Fil: Röder, V. P.. No especifíca;Fil: Shamanin, L. V.. No especifíca;Fil: Shchukina, M. R.. No especifíca;Fil: Simón, V. I.. No especifíca;Fil: Yakubovskiy, K.. No especifíca;Fil: Zaynali, Nezhad. No especifíca

The struggle versus the song - the local turn in peacebuilding: an introduction

NoThis introduction presents how views on ‘the local turn’ in peacebuilding has evolved into a significant discourse. Currently, it has ‘its moment’ and is widely used by theorists and practitioners alike, by normative localists as well as by liberal policy-makers, albeit for different reasons and with differing intensions. We suggest that international interventions for the purpose of peacebuilding cannot be justified a priori, but requires resonance at the ‘receiving end’, which the local dimension potentially offers. It is however an elusive and contested concept that requires thorough scrutiny and critical assessment. Here a collection of conceptual and empirical articles is contextualised and introduced, painting a broad state-of-the-art of the pros and cons of the local turn

GENERACIÓN DE BIOMASA Y RENDIMIENTO EN TRIGO FRENTE A INFECCIONES DE PUCCINIA TRITICINA Y PYRENOPHORA TRITICI-REPENTIS

El objetivo del presente trabajo fue evaluar el efecto de un patógeno fúngico biotrófico (Puccinia triticina), causal de la roya de la hoja (RH) y un necrotrófico (Pyrenophora tritici-repentis), causal de la mancha amarilla (MA) sobre los atributos fisiológicos vinculados a la generación de biomasa y rendimiento en trigo. Se condujo un ensayo durante 2012 y 2013 utilizando un diseño experimental en parcela sub-dividida con tres repeticiones. Las parcelas principales fueron las inoculaciones con los patógenos. Las sub-parcelas fueron: 1-Sin inóculo y aplicación de fungicida, 2-baja concentración de inóculo y 3-alta concentración de inóculo. Como sub-sub-parcela se sembraron 10 cultivares de trigo. Los resultados indican que MA afectó más la absorción de radiación a partir de mayores niveles de senescencia foliar, en tanto que RH afectó más la eficiencia en el uso de la radiación, probablemente por la interacción particular que los patógenos biotróficos presentan con las células del hospedante.The present study was designed to determine the effects of inoculations of foliar disease pathogens with different nutritional habits: Pyrenophora tritici-repentis (necrothroph -PTR-) and Puccinia triticina (biotroph -LR-) on the physiological components of biomass generation, like absorbed photosynthetic active radiation (APAR) and radiation use efficiency (RUE), and on the yield production in wheat. Field experiments were carried out in 2012-2013 at FCAyF-UNLP using a split-split-plot design with three replications. The main plots were the pathogen inoculations. Subplots were inoculation treatments: 1- Without inoculation, 2- Low dose of spores concentration inoculation, 3- High dose of spores concentration. Ten cultivars were the sub-subplots. Foliar diseases decreased biomass production mainly explained by reductions in green leaf area, healthy area duration and reductions on APAR, showing higher declines under PTR inoculations. A detrimental effect in the RUE was detected at LR inoculations, which could be associated with the nutritional habit of the pathogen.Fil: Schierenbeck, Matías. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales. Cátedra de Cerealicultura; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Fleitas, María Constanza. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales. Cátedra de Cerealicultura; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Golik, Silvina Ines. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales. Cátedra de Cerealicultura; ArgentinaFil: Simón, María Rosa. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales. Cátedra de Cerealicultura; Argentin