Walter Sisulu University
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Morphometric variation, heavy metal analysis and temperature effects on body weight and stoichiometric ratios (C:N:P) of cerithidea decollata along the Wild Coast, South Africa
Get PDFThe truncated snail, C e rit hid e a d e c olla t a , is one of the major invertebrates in mangrove ecosystems. It’s the rapid ecophysiological response to environmental stress conditions makes C. decollata an ideal species to test the effects of climate change in mangrove ecosystems. Increased temperatures, due to climate change, is one of the major threats faced by aquatic invertebrates as thermal stress may easily lead to death. This study, thus, compared the effects of 1) environmental conditions on the morphology; 2) temperature on body weight and stoichiometry as well as 3) the heavy metal content of C. decollata across three mangrove ecosystems. Morphometry results revealed that sites significantly influenced most of the shell morphological variables (i.e., shell length, shell width, spire height and aperture width). However, sites did not significantly influence the shell depth and aperture length of C. decollata . Temperature effects on body weight revealed that C. decollata individuals gained weight at low temperatures (10 to 20 °C) in all sites. As a result, the mean % weight gain of 6.75 ± 0.11 in Mngazana, 15.82 ± 0.13 in Mbhashe and 11.2 ± 0.13 in Nqabara. Contrary, C. decollata lost weight at temperatures between 25 and 40 °C across all sites leading to a mean % weight loss of 9.51 ± 0.05 in Mngazana; 14.52 ± 0.16 in Mbhashe and 25.74 ± 0.12 in Nqabara. Stoichiometric analysis revealed that soft tissues had higher nitrogen, carbon and phosphorous than the shells. The NP ratio was higher in soft tissues than in shells while CN and CP ratios were higher in shells than in soft tissues. The N, C, P, CN, CP and NP were lowest in Mngazana and highest in Nqabara. Temperature increases resulted in increased nitrogen, phosphorous, carbon and their stoichiometric CN, CP and NP ratios. Heavy metal results showed that Zn, Cu and Cd were highest in the soft tissue than in the shells and sediment. Contrarily, Fe and Pb were higher in the sediment than in shells and soft tissues. The Cu+Zn was highest in the shells than in the soft tissues and sediment. However, arsenic concentrations were below detection levels across all sites. Overall, no significant site differences were detected for heavy metals. It was, therefore, concluded that sites influenced some of C. decollata morphological features while temperature affected the body weight and stoichiometry of C. decollata .Thesis (Masters) -- Faculty of Natural Sciences, 202
A Global Call for More Investment in Data-Driven Perioperative Care Delivery Models in Humanitarian Settings
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A Cross-Sectional Study of Professional Nurses’ Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Regarding Organ Donation in Critical Care Units of Public and Private Hospitals in the Eastern Cape, South Africa
Get PDFBackground: Globally, there is an overwhelming increase in the number of patients waiting for donated organs for transplantation, with a gross shortage of available organs. Lack of clear practice guidelines and the knowledge and attitudes of health care providers were hypothesized as possible reasons. We aimed to determine the attitudes, level of knowledge, and practices of professional nurses working in critical care units in public and private hospitals in Eastern Cape Province regarding organ donation. Method: The study used a quantitative, non-experimental, descriptive design to investigate the current knowledge, attitude, and practice of organ donation in critical care among 108 professional nurses working in public and private critical care units in Eastern cape. Data were collected between 26 February 2017 until 27 June 2017 using anonymous, self-administered, pretested questionnaires. The means of knowledge, and practice scores were estimated among participants, and their associated categorical explanatory variables were ascertained. Results: A total of 108 nurses participated in the study. Of these, 94 (87.0%) were female, 78 (72.2%) were black, 104 (96.3%) were Christians, 79 (73.2%) worked in an ICU, 79 (73.2%) had a diploma qualification, and 67 (62.0%) worked in a tertiary hospital. About 67% of the respondents had good knowledge, 53% had a positive attitude, and 50.4% had poor practice readiness toward organ donation..
A comparative analysis of patient profiles and health services utilization between patent medicine vendors and community pharmacists in Nigeria
Get PDFBackground: This study examined Nigeria’s socio-demographic profiles and health service utilization patterns of Patent Medicine Vendors (PMVs) and Community Pharmacists (CPs). Method: A cross-sectional study using a structured self-administered questionnaire among 405 retail outlets (322 PMVs and 83 CPs) across 16 Lagos and Kebbi Local Government Areas (LGAs) between June 2020 and December 2020. Results: Results showed that 60.4% were male, 76.3% from Lagos, 58.3% had tertiary education, and 74.1% had medical training. Cough and fever were common symptoms. Significant differences were found in the utilization of STD services (PMVs: 9.2%, CPs: 12.3%, p = 0.03)), services by age < 0.001), and utilization by males (PMVs: 50.8, CPs: 47.1, p = 0.013). The study revealed that men visited PMVs more, while CPs used more STI services and childhood visits. Conclusions: The findings suggest that expanding health services among PMVs could target male-dominant diseases, and capacity building of CPs on syndromic STI management could reduce the STI burden
Testing the Enviroment Kuznets Curve Hypothesis in South Africa Using the ARDL Approach
Get PDFIn recent years, an abundance of research has beenconducted on the purported environmental Kuznets curve(EKC) hypothesis, which progressively proposed an invertedU-shaped relationship between income and emissions. Theprimary objective of this research is to examine the case ofSouth Africa, which stands as a prominent example of ahighly developed industrialized economy within the Africancontinent. This study aims to explore the potential ofSouth Africa in reducing emissions resulting from humanactivities. Therefore, this study utilizes the autoregressivedistributed lag (ARDL) approaches. The study's findingsdemonstrate the existence of both the U-shaped curve andthe inverted U-shaped EKC when considering the parame-ters being examined in both short-term and long-term sce-narios. In the short term, the inflection points of per capitaGDP obtained from two regressions on carbon emissionsvalidate values within the range of US45.72.The relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI)and financial development and their effects on environmen-tal quality have yielded inconclusive and statistically insig-nificant results in both periods. The long-term impact ofrenewable energy usage on environmental quality, specifi-cally in terms of carbon emissions and ecological footprint,is substantial and exhibits a negative correlation
Chemical Composition, Analgesic and Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Pelargonium peltatum Essential Oils from Eastern Cape, South Africa
Get PDFPelargonium species are native to South Africa, and they have a long history in medicinal use. This study aimed to extract essential oils from different parts of P. peltatum, determine the chemical composition of the essential oils, and assess the essential oils’ biological potential as analgesic and anti-inflammatory agents. The essential oils were obtained by hydro-distilling different parts of P. peltatum, and the essential profile was determined by GC-FID and GC-MS. The analgesic activity of the essential oil was determined by using a tail immersion in hot water method in rats, whereas the anti-inflammatory activity of the essential oils was assessed according to right hind paw oedema induced by egg albumin; the three doses selected for each experiment were 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg. According to the GC-FID and GC-MS analysis, camphene (3.6–33.4%), α-terpineol (4.8–19.1%), α-thujone (1.5–15.6%), piperitone (0.9–12.2%), linalool (1.6–11.7%), myrcene (5.2–10.7%), germacrene D (3.7–10.4%), β-caryophyllene (1.2–9.5%), β-cadinene (3.4–6.7%), and β-bourbonene (4.2–6.2%) were some of the major compounds identified in the oil. P. peltatum essential oils demonstrated analgesic activity by increasing pain latency in hot water; furthermore, in an inflammation test, the essential oil reduced the egg-albumin-induced paw oedema in both the first and second phases. Therefore, the current findings suggest that P. peltatum essential oils have analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties
Guiding the Emerging Primary Care Researcher: A Report of Research Capacity-Buliding Workshop
Get PDFThere is an escalating interest in research capacity building across the globe. Research is an integral part of the continuous improvement process, clinical decision making and health system strengthening and should be embedded into the health system. The South African Family Practice Journal editorial team held a workshop on 19 August 2022 at the 24th National Family Practitioners Congress in Cape Town, with the aim of supporting primary care clinicians in their development from early-career researchers to established clinician-scientists. Small group and plenary discussions yielded valuable insights into the lived experiences of early career researchers and highlighted critical action areas to build the landscape of clinician-led research in the South African context
Addressing Potential Conflict Among University Students During Collaborative Tasks
Get PDFThis study addresses potential conflicts during collaborative tasks among university undergraduate students and presents strategies to mitigate such conflicts at a university in South Africa. Drawing on the unique context of South Africa, characterised by its rich cultural diversityand historical challenges, Social Identity Theory (SIT) was used to theorise the study within a transformative paradigm, qualitative approach and participatory research design. Ten under graduatestudents were sampled and interviewed. Thematic analysis was employed to make sense of the data. The study found that a lack of a culture of open dialogue and clear guidelines and expectations leadsto conflict, and the study also found that promoting a culture of open dialogue and establishing clear guidelines and expectations during collaborative projects can help prevent potential conflicts among university undergraduate students during collaborative engagement. The study concludes that promoting a culture of open dialogue and fostering establishing clear guidelines and expectations provide undergraduate students with the tools to manage group conflicts
Coincidence Point of Edelstein Type Mappings in Fuzzy Metric Spaces and Applications to the Stability of Dynamic Markets
Get PDFIn this paper, we prove a coincidence point result for a pair of mappings satisfying Edelstein type contractive condition on fuzzy metric spaces. We describe the equilibrium of a simple demand– supply model of a dynamic market by the coincidence point of demand and supply functions. With the help of the coincidence point theorem in fuzzy metric spaces, it is showed that a dynamic market of a supply-sensitive nature (or demand-sensitive nature) always tends towards its equilibrium
The Effect of Cardiorespiratory Exercise in the Prevention and Treatment of Hypertension among HIV-Infected Individuals on Antiretroviral Therapy in Mthatha, South Africa
Get PDFTuberculosis (TB), a disease of poverty and inequality, is a leading cause of severe illness and death among people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). In South Africa, both TB and HIV epidemics have been closely related and persistent, posing a significant burden for healthcare provision. Studies have observed that TB-HIV integration reduces mortality. The operational implementation of integrated services is still challenging. This study aimed to describe patients’ perceptions on barriers to scaling up of TB-HIV integration services at selected health facilities (study sites) in Oliver Reginald (O.R) Tambo Municipality, Eastern Cape province, South Africa. We purposely recruited twenty-nine (29) patients accessing TB and HIV services at the study sites. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis and presented as emerging themes. Barriers identified included a lack of health education about TB and HIV; an inadequate counselling for HIV and the antiretroviral drugs (ARVs); and poor quality of services provided by the healthcare facilities. These findings suggest that the O.R. Tambo district needs to strengthen its TB-HIV integration immediately