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In post-apartheid South Africa, the representation of queer identities in Afrikaans-language films have become increasingly prominent. However, many such films focus on past contexts or serve as comedic depictions, failing to confront the complex issues faced by individuals in contemporary Afrikaner communities. Etienne Kallos’s 2018 coming-of-age film Die stropers (The Harvesters) candidly depicts the challenges faced by adoptive brothers Janno and Pieter, who must negotiate desire and gender in a conservative, Afrikaans farming community. Drawing on Judith Butler’s notion of gender performativity and recent reformulations of Raewyn Connell’s notion of hegemonic masculinity, we examine the discursive (re)production of hegemonic Afrikaner masculinity within the boys’ adoptive family and community. We investigate how the protagonists strategically deploy performative masculinities to achieve belonging and acceptance as heirs, even if the ideals they emulate oppress and restrict them. We propose that the protagonists’ strategic deployment of performative masculinities represents their claiming of agency in contexts where gender and desire are aggressively policed. Furthermore, their navigation of hegemony in this white, Afrikaner community through resistance and consent might point to a claiming of space for queer identities and the continued transmutation of hegemonic masculinity.

Critical race theory interrogates how systemic inequities in higher education are reproduced through institutional cultures and everyday practices, which interact with material disparities in broader society. Actors positioned within these institutions can collude with or resist unjust systems, within their means. The discourse analysis that anchors this article explores how contractually-employed teaching assistants (henceforth simply Assistants) contribute to, or resist, injustice while working with students in the context of tutorials that directly topicalise systemic racism. Based on individual interviews with Assistants serving in a Department of English and Cultural Studies at a historically-white South African university where the contemporary student body predominantly identifies as black, I unpack the discursive practices through which Assistants implicate their own institutional embeddedness in students’ learning experiences. I hone this article on Assistants’ openness to vulnerability as they interrogate their own systemic embeddedness, and how they experience themselves as becoming vulnerable to expectations from students.

Mark McCleod-Harrison, Saving the Neanderthals: Sin, Salvation, and Hard Evolution(Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2020), xiv + 155 pp. $95 (hbk), ISBN: 978 1978706545.

BackgroundA third of people may experience persistent symptoms following COVID-19. With over 90% of South Africans having evidence of prior SARS-CoV-2 infection, it is likely that many people could be affected by Post COVID-19 Condition (PCC).MethodsThe was a prospective, longitudinal observational cohort study recruiting hospitalised and non-hospitalised participants, infected during the periods that Beta, Delta and Omicron BA.1 variants dominated in South Africa. Participants aged 18 years or older were randomly selected to undergo telephone assessment at 1, 3 and 6 months after hospital discharge or laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. Participants were assessed using a standardised questionnaire for evaluation of symptoms and health-related quality of life. We used negative binomial regression models to determine factors associated with the presence of ≥1 symptoms at 6 months.FindingsAmong hospitalised and non-hospitalised participants, 46.7% (1,227/2,626) and 18.5% (199/1,074) had ≥1 symptoms at 6 months (p=Risk factors for PCC included older age, female sex, non-black race, the presence of a comorbidity, greater number of acute COVID-19 symptoms, hospitalisation/ COVID-19 severity and wave period (individuals infected during the Omicron-dominated wave had a lower risk of persistent symptoms [adjusted Incident Risk Ratio 0.45; 95% Confidence Interval 0.36 – 0.57] compared to those infected during the Beta-dominated wave). There were no associations between self-reported vaccination status before or after SARS-CoV-2 infection with persistent symptoms.InterpretationThe study revealed a high prevalence of persistent symptoms among South African participants at 6 months although decreased risk for PCC among participants infected during the Omicron BA.1 wave. These findings have serious implications for countries with resource-constrained healthcare systems.FundingBill & Melinda Gates Foundation, UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, and Wellcome.

The increasing concentration of antidepressants in wastewater due to economic hardship and pressures correlated to the global pandemic is an environmental threat. Therefore, new and efficient methods for their removal need to be developed. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are potent adsorbents for wastewater but there are limited reports on the adsorption potentials of an emerging class of dicarboxylate MOFs. Herein, we synthesised two aluminium-based dicarboxylate MOFs containing terephthalic (Al-MIL-53) and biphenyl (Al-Biphen) linkers for the adsorption of nortriptyline antidepressants from contaminated water. The MOFs were characterised by the TGA, SEM, PXRD, BET and FTIR and exhibited desirable surface properties for potent adsorption of nortriptyline. BET surface areas of 1024 m2 g−1 and 624 m2 g−1 were obtained for Al-Biphen and Al-MIL-53, respectively, which resulted in a maximum nortriptyline uptake capacity of 284.9 mg g−1 and 246.3 mg g−1. Optimum adsorption of nortriptyline was obtained at pH of 7.0, adsorbate concentration of 50 mg/L, contact time of 40 min and a temperature of 300 K. The Langmuir model was well correlated with the adsorption onto Al-Biphen, while both the Langmuir and Freundlich models were more suited for Al-MIL-53. The drug adsorption kinetics was well interpreted by the pseudo-second-order, Elovich, and intraparticle diffusion models. For both materials, the adsorption processes are exothermic and spontaneous with decreasing randomness. Moreover, less than 10.9% of the initial efficiency of the MOFs was lost after four cycles of reuse, which showed that the dicarboxylate MOFs are highly efficient, fast, and reusable for nortriptyline adsorption from aqueous phase.

Quantum chemical calculations have for some time predicted that perfluorinated polyhedral organic molecules should exhibit a low-energy LUMO consisting av the overlapping inward-pointing lobes of the C-F * orbitals. Accordingly, they should be able to encapsulate an electron within the interior of their cavities. Inspired by the recent confirmation of this prediction for octafluorocubane, we have sought to identify additional perfluorinated cage molecules capable of this remarkable behavior, which we refer to as the perfluoro cage effect (PCE). Using DFT calculations with multiple well-tested exchange-correlation functionals and large STO-QZ4P basis sets, we have successfully identified several systems including [n]prismanes (n = 3-6), [n]asteranes (n = 3-5), twistane, and two norbornadiene dimer cages that clearly exhibit the PCE. In other words, they exhibit a low-energy LUMO belonging to the total symmetric irrep of the point group in question and adiabatic electron affinities ranging from somewhat under 1 eV to over 2 eV. A pronounced size effect appears to hold, with larger cages exhibiting higher EAs. The largest adiabatic EAs, well over 3 eV, are predicted for perfluorinated dodecahedrane and C60. In contrast, the PCE is barely discernible for perfluorinated tetrahedrane and bicyclo[1.1.1]pentane.

The tripyrrin-1,14-dione biopyrrin, which shares the scaffold of several naturally occurring heme metabolites, is a redox-active platform for metal coordination. We report the synthesis of square planar platinum(II) tripyrrindiones, in which the biopyrrin binds as a tridentate radical and the fourth coordination position is occupied by either aqua or tert-butyl isocyanide ligands. These complexes are stable through chromatographic purification and exposure to air. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) data and density functional theory (DFT) analysis confirm that the spin density is located predominantly on the tripyrrindione ligand. Pancake bonding in solution between the Pt(II) tripyrrindione radicals leads to the formation of diamagnetic p dimers at low temperatures. The identity of the monodentate ligand (i.e., aqua vs isocyanide) affects both the thermodynamic parameters of dimerization and the tripyrrindione-based redox processes in these complexes. Isolation and structural characterization of the oxidized complexes revealed stacking of the diamagnetic tripyrrindiones in the solid state as well as a metallophilic Pt(II)-Pt(II) contact in the case of the aqua complex. Overall, the properties of Pt(II) tripyrrindiones, including redox potentials and intermolecular interactions in solution and in the solid state, are modulated through easily accessible changes in the redox state of the biopyrrin ligand or the nature of the monodentate ligand.

CMIP6 models suggest that extreme fire weather associated with the April 2021 Cape Town wildfire has become 90% more likely in a warmer world.

BackgroundGlobally, there is a rising trend in obesity, known to increase morbidity and mortality. Metabolic surgery and adequate weight loss decrease mortality but may worsen pre-existing nutrient deficiencies. Most data on pre-existing nutritional deficiencies in the population undergoing metabolic surgery is from the developed world, where an extensive micronutrient assessment is achievable. In resource-constrained environments, the cost of a comprehensive micronutrient assessment must be weighed against the prevalence of nutritional deficiencies and the potential harm if one or more nutritional deficiencies are missed.MethodsThis cross-sectional study investigated the prevalence of micronutrient and vitamin deficiencies in participants scheduled to undergo metabolic surgery in Cape Town, South Africa, a low-middle income country. 157 participants were selected and 154 reported on; who underwent a baseline evaluation from 12 July 2017 to 19 July 2020. Laboratory measurements were conducted, including vitamin B12 (Vit B12), 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25(OH)D), folate, parathyroid hormone (PTH), thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), thyroxine (T4), ferritin, glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c), magnesium, phosphate, albumin, iron, and calcium.ResultsParticipants were predominantly female, aged 45 years (37-51), with a preoperative BMI of 50.4 kg/m2 (44.6-56.5). A total of 64 individuals had Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D), with 28 undiagnosed cases at study entry (18% of study population). 25(OH)D deficiency was most prevalent (57%), followed by iron deficiency (44%), and folate deficiency (18%). Other deficiencies (vitamin B12, calcium, magnesium, phosphate) were rarely encountered and affected ≤1% of participants. Folate and 25(OH)D deficiency were related to obesity classification, with a higher prevalence in participants with a BMI ≥40 kg/m2 (p ConclusionA higher prevalence of some micronutrient deficiencies was noted compared with data from similar populations in the developed world. The minimum baseline/preoperative nutrient evaluation in such populations should include 25(OH)D, iron studies, and folate. Additionally, screening for T2D is recommended. Future efforts should seek to collate broader patient data on a national scale and include longitudinal surveillance after surgery. This may provide a more holistic picture of the relationship between obesity, metabolic surgery and micronutrient status inform more appropriate evidence-based care.

Besides technological innovations in energy production and management technologies, the fight against climate change requires fundamental changes in our energy consumption behavior. Behavioral interventions are key to this process, especially when tailored to different energy consumer segments accounting for their socio-demographic profiles, socio- psychological characteristics and energy consumption practices. In this work, we propose a novel approach to energy consumer segmentation that facilitates the choice of (nudging) interventions for each segment. We call it intervention-driven energy consumer profiling since it explicitly considers upfront the set of interventions that can be delivered to energy consumers and defines profiles that can be readily matched with them. The profiles are specified as combinations of socio-psychological factors with implications for energy-saving behavior and are parameterized by thresholds that measure how strongly these factors are represented in each profile. One profile represents ideal energy-savers, whereas each of the remaining five profiles shares one or two distinct features that serve as barriers towards energy-saving behavior and/or prescribe specific type of nudging interventions for strengthening such behavior. We use the responses of users to a European-wide online survey to formulate and solve an optimization problem for these thresholds and then assign the survey respondents to the profiles. Finally, we analyze them also in terms of socio-demographic variables and recommend appropriate nudging interventions for them.

Literature on the use of information and communication technologies(leTs) for developmental purposes at community centres refers to thesecentres in various ways, e.g. as telecentres, telecottages, communityteleservice centres, telecommuting centres, and community technologycentres. This article starts by examining this range of centres, and bydescribing the activities that typically occur at such centres throughoutthe world. An attempt is made to develop a typology of such centres.Of particular interest are community telecentres where leTs are used topromote development in rural areas. This is followed by a list of lessonslearned regarding using leTs effectively for development purposes atrural telecentres. These lessons are illustrated through specific SouthAfrican case studies involving leT usage at rural telecentres.

Mostly satirising top-of-mind brands, user-generated parody accounts are a phenomenon mostlyassociated with Twitter. As an emerging trend in South Africa, parody accounts using cleverlywrittensatire attract a large and loyal following as social media communities enjoy the sharedpleasure of sharing funny content and the intense positive emotions felt when making fun ofbrands that they care about. Of particular concern is when audiences find parody accounts morehonest, entertaining and authentic compared to the official social media brand account. Moreover,user-generated parody accounts often misappropriate brand identities, thereby not only confusingunsuspecting social media communities but also satirising brand meanings. Correspondingly,social media management teams are faced with a reputational risk or paracrisis, since theemotional resonance of brand reputations are being hijacked. Too often, official responses toparody accounts are knee-jerk responses to take back control, such as aggressive threats andlitigation, easily escalating into angry viral social media backlashes. The purpose of the study wasto establish suitable paracrisis response strategies for parodied brands to maintain emotionallyresonant reputations. Using a synergistic approach to mixed methods in a triangulation design,this study collected and analysed data from a purposive and snowball sample of 207 social mediaexperts. Findings suggested that humorous, tongue-in-cheek banter with user-generated parodyaccounts intended for harmless fun optimise emotionally resonant brand reputations in the ageof parody.

The use of social networking sites is becoming increasingly essential to communicate andestablish long-term relationships with stakeholders. In order for universities to retain theirstakeholders, the effective use of media like Facebook is evident. This study investigated theFacebook pages of 24 South African universities by means of a content analysis, to determinehow they have structured and populated their Facebook pages with different types of contentthat could be relevant to their public relations communication strategies. The theoretical basisof the content analysis consisted of the three virtual communication strategies developedby Waters et al. (2009), namely disclosure, information dissemination and involvement. Thisstudy came to the general conclusion that South African universities had not yet capitalised onFacebook to fully integrate the three virtual communication strategies in order to enhance onlinestakeholder relationships.

Accurate measures of productivity growth are an important policy tool but are difficult to obtain in South African circumstances. In this article, we review work on the measurement of farm-level productivity in South Africa since the earliest attempts at multifactor indices in the early 1990s. The focus is on total factor productivity, but single input measures such as labor and land productivity (yields) are also discussed. Measurements using time-series and cross-sectional data are discussed separately, along with measures to explain the effect of climate change. Data deficiencies are also pointed out. The article concludes that international collaboration should be maintained if important issues such as the COVID-19 impact, food security, climate change, and labor market shocks are to be successfully addressed.

BACKGROUND Pediatric household contacts (HHCs) of patients with multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) are at high risk of infection and active disease. Evidence of caregiver willingness to give MDR-TB preventive therapy (TPT) to children is limited.METHODS This was a cross-sectional study of HHCs of patients with MDR-TB to assess caregiver willingness to give TPT to children aged RESULTS Of 743 adult and adolescent HHCs, 299 reported caring for children aged CONCLUSIONS A high percentage of caregivers living with MDR- or rifampicin-resistant TB patients were willing to give children a hypothetical MDR TPT. These results provide important evidence for the potential uptake of effective MDR TPT when implemented.

Presented herein are two fully characterized gold tetrathiocyanocorroles representing a potentially significant new class of NIR-emissive 5d-metallocorroles. The four SCN groups on the bipyrrole unit of the corrole exert a powerful electron-withdrawing effect, upshifting both the oxidation and reduction potentials by roughly half a volt relative to their unsubstituted counterparts. That said, the upshift of the LUMO is somewhat higher than that of the HOMO so these complexes also exhibit a smaller HOMO–LUMO gap, as evinced in both electrochemical measurements and Q band energies (∼595 nm relative to ∼571 nm for their SCN-free counterparts). The new compounds exhibit NIR phosphorescence under ambient conditions with emission maxima around 900 nm (compared with 790 nm for simple Au triarylcorroles), phosphorescence quantum yields around 0.3%, phosphorescence lifetimes around 10 μs, and singlet oxygen sensitization with a quantum yield of around 50 ± 5% in solution, together signifying wide-ranging potential applications as triplet photosensitizers in oxygen sensing and photodynamic therapy.

Post COVID-19 condition (PCC), as defined by WHO, refers to a wide range of new, returning, or ongoing health problems in people who have had COVID-19, and it represents a rapidly emerging public health priority. We aimed to establish how this developing condition has affected patients in South Africa and which population groups are at risk.In this prospective cohort study, we used the DATCOV national hospital surveillance system to identify participants aged 18 years or older who had been hospitalised with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection in South Africa. Participants underwent telephone follow-up assessment at 1 month and 3 months after hospital discharge. Participants were assessed using a standardised questionnaire for the evaluation of symptoms, functional status, health-related quality of life, and occupational status. We used negative binomial regression models to determine factors associated with PCC.Of 241 159 COVID-19 admissions reported to DATCOV between Dec 1, 2020, and Aug 23, 2021, 8309 were randomly selected for enrolment. Of the 3094 patients that we were able to contact, 2410 (77·9%) consented to participate in the study at 1 month after discharge. Of these, 1873 (77·7%) were followed up at 3 months after hospital discharge. Participants had a median age of 52 years (IQR 41-62) and 960 (51·3%) were women. At 3 months of follow-up, 1249 (66·7%) of 1873 participants reported new or persistent COVID-19-related symptoms, compared with 1978 (82·1%) of 2410 at 1 month after hospital discharge. The most common symptoms reported at 3 months were fatigue (50·3%), shortness of breath (23·4%), confusion or lack of concentration (17·5%), headaches (13·8%), and problems seeing or blurred vision (10·1%). On multivariable analysis, the factors associated with persistent symptoms after acute COVID-19 were being female (adjusted incident rate ratio 1·20, 95% CI 1·04-1·38) and admission to an intensive care unit (1·17, 1·01-1·37).Most participants in this cohort of individuals previously hospitalised with COVID-19 reported persistent symptoms 3 months after hospital discharge and a significant impact of PCC on their functional and occupational status. The large burden of PCC symptoms identified in this study emphasises the need for a national health strategy. This should include the development of clinical guidelines and training of health-care workers for identifying, assessing, and caring for patients affected by PCC; establishment of multidisciplinary health services; and provision of information and support to people who have PCC.BillMelinda Gates Foundation, UK Foreign, CommonwealthDevelopment Office, and Wellcome.

The genus Heliobolus comprises four recognized species, all endemic to sub-Saharan Africa. Of these, only Heliobolus lugubris occurs in southern Africa, its distribution extending from Angola in the west to Mozambique in the east and reaching as far south as parts of northern South Africa. Like many of the reptile species that occur in southern Africa, Heliobolus lugubris is poorly studied, and preliminary investigation suggested that it may contain cryptic diversity. The present work focusses on the Angolan population of H. lugubris and uses an integrative taxonomic approach based on morphological, coloration and DNA sequence data. The results indicate that some of the current and historical specimens of H. lugubris from Angola do not correspond to the nominotypical form, and that differences between specimens suggest the presence of two additional species, described here as Heliobolus bivarisp. nov. from the southernmost xeric/desertic regions and plateau of Namibe Province, southwestern Angola and H. crawfordisp. nov. from the Serra da Neve inselberg north through the sub-desert coastal regions of northern Namibe, Benguela, and Kwanza Sul provinces. Nominotypical Heliobolus lugubris is confirmed to occur in Cuando Cubango Province, southeastern Angola.

Interaction of three free-base meso-tris(p-X-phenyl)corroles H3[TpXPC] (X = H, CH3, OCH3) with Re2(CO)10 at 235 C in the presence of K2CO3 in o-dichlorobenzene has led to putative rhenium biscorrole sandwich compounds with the formula ReH[TpXPC]2. DFT calculations and Re L3 EXAFS measurements suggest a seven-coordinate metal center, with the extra hydrogen located on one of the corrole nitrogens. The complexes can be deprotonated by a base such as DBU, resulting in substantial sharpening of UV-visible spectra and split Soret bands, consistent with the generation of C2-symmetric anions. Both the seven-coordinate neutral and the eight-coordinate anionic forms of the complexes represent a new coordination motif in the field of Re-porphyrinoid interactions.

Free-base corroles have long been known to be acidic, readily undergoing deprotonation by mild bases and in polar solvents. The conjugate base, however, has not been structurally characterized until now. Presented here is a first crystal structure of a free-base corrole anion, derived from tris(p-cyanophenyl)corrole, as the tetrabuylammonium salt. The low-temperature (100 K) structure reveals localized hydrogens on a pair of opposite pyrrole nitrogens. DFT calculations identify such a structure as the global minimum but also point to two cis tautomers only 4-7 kcal/mol above the ground state. In terms of free energy, however, the cis tautomers are above or essentially flush with the trans-to-cis barrier so the cis tautomers are unlikely to exist or be observed as true intermediates. Thus, the hydrogen bond within each dipyrrin unit on either side of the molecular pseudo-C2 axis through C10 (i.e., between pyrrole rings A and B, or between C and D) qualifies as or very closely approaches a low-barrier hydrogen bond. Proton migration across the pseudo-C2 axis entails much higher activation energies > 20 kcal/mol, reflecting the relative rigidity of the molecule along the C1-C19 pyrrole-pyrrole linkage.

In recent years, the occurrence of a series devastating wildfire events around the world has raised considerable public concern about how climate change is altering meteorological conditions conducive to such events. The relative scarcity of wildfire attribution studies, coupled with the limited observational record, has added to the difficulty of developing reliable collective conclusions for future forest management strategies. Recent work has discussed the uncertainties and sensitivities associated with the choice of meteorological indicator to represent fire weather and the validation of climate model ensemble in the context of extreme event attribution, but the value of linking the attribution of recent record-breaking wildfire events with future risk assessment has not yet been fully explored.Here, using an established probabilistic framework based on extreme value theory, we present the findings of attribution analysis applied to a series of recent high-impact wildfire. In each case, fire weather extremes, represented by annual maxima of the Canadian Fire Weather Index (FWI), are fitted to an extreme value distribution and scaled to the global mean surface temperature. Probability ratios are used to quantify the influence of rising global temperatures on the changing frequency of FWI extremes for past, present and future climates. We demonstrate the value of the application of a common methodological framework in combining results from different case studies as part of a collective attribution approach for multiple extreme across several world’s fire-prone regions. Further analysis of future risks will provide robust recommendations to reduce and address the hazards posed by wildfires and to improve post-disaster resilience.

Exploratory scalar-relativistic DFT calculations (B3LYP*-D3/ZORA-STO-TZ2P) have been used to examine the stability and bonding of pseudotetrahedral Group 8 (Fe, Ru, Os) and Group 9 (Co, Rh, Ir) terminal carbide complexes with tripodal tris(N-heterocyclic-carbene) supporting ligands. The complexes examined are all charge-neutral, with d4 ground states. The complexes exhibit relatively low adiabatic ionization potentials in the 4.3-5.9 eV range and sizable adiabatic singlet-triplet gaps in the 0.9-1.6 eV range. Furthermore, all the complexes exhibit near-zero or strongly negative electron affinities, indicating high reductive stability. These calculated results suggest that, once successfully synthesized, the majority of the complexes examined should be isolable and moderately stable. As far as bonding in the metal-carbido moiety is concerned, NBO analyses suggest a triple bond, with a 2s-like lone pair on the carbido carbon.

O trickster é uma figura que se filia a um modelo que tem aparecido nas obras ficcionais norte-americanas desde os seus primórdios até a contemporaneidade e guarda notáveis semelhanças com o pícaro espanhol, com o malandro brasileiro, com o arrivista francês, com o espertalhão alemão, dentre outros. Levando-se em consideração a sua importância para o estudo de figuras anti-heroicas, se traduz para o português a seção 2 da dissertação de mestrado de Pieter Conradie, na qual ele define essa figura e tece observações importantes a respeito de sua constituição e sua evolução ao longo de sua existência no âmbito ficcional. Na parte referida, o autor fornece a sua definição e ilustra sua relevância para os nativos norte-americanos e que se estende até os dias de hoje, a partir dos estudos de Radin (1972) e Jung (1969). O trickster é considerado um ente mitológico originário da tribo indígena localizada no Nebrasca, Winnebago, e que acabou por se firmar como uma representação do sujeito esperto, que tudo faz para se dar bem e se safar de situações conflituosas. Inicialmente, ele era uma figura folclórica que acabou adentrando o âmbito literário e aí se mantem como um ser errante, ambicioso, egoísta, que menospreza o trabalho e cujo único intento é a sobrevivência, por meio de burlas e enganos a terceiros, permeadas pelo humor e ressaltando sempre a sua esperteza e agilidade nas ações que vivencia nas ficções do passado e também naquelas da atualidade.

Background: Diabetes self-management education (DSME), a prerequisite for diabetes care, is mostly unstructured and inaccessible in the public health sector in South Africa (SA). Patient education is often delivered by healthcare professionals (HCPs) with limited time and proficiency, resulting in preventable errors with insulin administration. A study was undertaken to assess the knowledge of HCPs on the practical aspects of insulin administration and it was hypothesised that their expertise was insufficient. The unmet needs of DSME often transpire when preventable errors with insulin administration become clinically evident at higher levels of care.Methods: A prospective, descriptive study of HCPs’ knowledge before and after attending a ‘Diabetes 101’ workshop was performed. Four workshops at Tygerberg Hospital (TH) and Worcester Provincial Hospital (WPH) were assessed between 2016 and 2019. A total of 146 participants completed a questionnaire before and after the workshops. Knowledge was scored on the correct responses per question and overall. The mean pre- and post-test scores were compared using two sample t-tests. Chi-square tests were used to analyse differences between pre- and post-training responses.Results: Of 146 participants, the majority were medical doctors (n = 116; 80%), mostly junior (n = 75; 65%) with 21% nursing practitioners. Before training there were significant deficiencies identified with only 3 of the 19 question items answered correctly by more than 50% of HCPs. The greatest knowledge deficits were with regard to insulin re-suspension and the injection technique and priming of the insulin pen. Following training there was a significant improvement between the pre-test mean percentage score of 36.0% (15) and post-test mean percentage score of 68% (16) (p < 0.001).Conclusion: Knowledge on the practical aspects of insulin administration is insufficient amongst HCPs but improved after structured education. Further research is needed to assess the long-term retention of knowledge and the impact of knowledge translation into clinical care.

The Covid-19 pandemic raised immense challenges for universities. Staff and students had to quickly transition to an unfamiliar mode of emergency remote teaching and learning (ERTL) with its associated affordances and losses. The experiences of students and staff and the lessons learned during this time will affect the provision of teaching and learning in the future. During ERTL, a group of academics and teaching and learning support staff from different faculties at a large research-intensive public university in South Africa came together to support each other and share experiences of enhancing teaching and learning in higher education. This led to reflection on the impact of Covid-19 on the higher education landscape through community of practice. The aim of this conceptual paper is to discuss alternative notions of institutional purpose and lecturers’ conception of success that might influence the emerging post-Covid-19 higher education landscape in the global south. We claim that a more nuanced and critical understanding of these concepts is essential to evaluate the gains and losses experienced during Covid-19. Our argument hinges on our reflections of supporting teaching and learning during 2020 and 2021, and our observations of the challenges experienced by lecturers as they transitioned to ERTL. We suggest that it was in the moments of disruption and disequilibrium that lecturers were required to re-think the purpose of their courses and of higher education more broadly. Furthermore, it challenged us as a collective and individually to reflect critically on the measures of success within courses that changed dramatically in response to the prevailing circumstances, as well as more broadly within the sector.

The travesty of the Life Esidimeni project in South Africa, which claimed the lives of 144 mental health users at psychiatric facilities in Gauteng between 2016 and 2017, is multifaceted. One facet involves strategies of blame avoidance designed to escape liability for the deaths that were expressed by the former Member of the Executive Council for Health and other public health officials during the Life Esidimeni Arbitration Hearings. These hearings were broadcast on state television between October 2017 and 2018, and eight samples from the hearings were analysed for specific blame avoidance strategies. Following the principles of qualitative discourse analysis, this paper extends research on blame avoidance behaviour in the public administration and policy domain, exploring three key officials’ micro- and macro-level choices of blame avoidance in the context of the arbitration hearings to develop a more comprehensive account of these strategies. A public hearing is a discourse setting that is reactionary in nature, and our findings on the micro-level, a neglected dimension of research on blame avoidance behaviour, extend our understanding of these behaviours. We propose that at least two continua for blame avoidance are relevant in this setting.

Here we provide the first phylogenetic analysis that include Afrogecko ansorgii and a detailed morphological comparison with other species of leaf-toed geckos. For this purpose, we used two mitochondrial (16S, ND2) and four nuclear (RAG1, RAG2, CMOS, PDC) genes to produce a robust phylogenetic reconstruction. This allowed us to show that A. ansorgii is not related as previously believed to circum-Indian Ocean leaf-toed geckos and is rather more closely related to other Malagasy leaf-toed geckos. Additionally, we explore and compare osteological variation in A. ansorgii skulls through High Resolution X-ray Computed Tomography with previously published material. This allowed us to describe herein a new genus, Bauerius gen. nov., and additionally provide a detailed redescription of the species (including the first description of male material), supplementing the limited original description and type series, which consisted of only two females.

Angola has experienced an incredible increase of the knowledge of its herpetofauna over the past decade. However, accurate biodiversity inventories remain deficient for certain regions of particular conservation interest. We therefore provide an updated checklist of Iona National Park’s herpetofauna, with 75 recorded species, including five amphibians and 70 reptiles, 40 of these recorded for the first time in Iona National Park. These species comprise ~80% of the reptile diversity of Namibe Province. Therefore, this work recognises Iona National Park as the most reptile-diverse protected area in Angola and is potentially one of the richest in southern Africa. Consequently, this work enhances the importance of specific conservation plans in the area and the need for further investigation into the hidden biodiversity of this region.

Summary Background Bedaquiline improves outcomes of patients with rifampicin-resistant and multidrug-resistant (MDR) tuberculosis; however, emerging resistance threatens this success. We did a cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis evaluating the epidemiology, genetic basis, and treatment outcomes associated with bedaquiline resistance, using data from South Africa (2015–19). Methods Patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis starting bedaquiline-based treatment had surveillance samples submitted at baseline, month 2, and month 6, along with demographic information. Culture-positive baseline and post-baseline isolates had phenotypic resistance determined. Eligible patients were aged 12 years or older with a positive culture sample at baseline or, if the sample was invalid or negative, a sample within 30 days of the baseline sample submitted for bedaquiline drug susceptibility testing. For the longitudinal study, the first surveillance sample had to be phenotypically susceptible to bedaquiline for inclusion. Whole-genome sequencing was done on bedaquiline-resistant isolates and a subset of bedaquiline-susceptible isolates. The National Institute for Communicable Diseases tuberculosis reference laboratory, and national tuberculosis surveillance databases were matched to the Electronic Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis Register. We assessed baseline resistance prevalence, mutations, transmission, cumulative resistance incidence, and odds ratios (ORs) associating risk factors for resistance with patient outcomes. Findings Between Jan 1, 2015, and July 31, 2019, 8041 patients had surveillance samples submitted, of whom 2023 were included in the cross-sectional analysis and 695 in the longitudinal analysis. Baseline bedaquiline resistance prevalence was 3·8% (76 of 2023 patients; 95% CI 2·9–4·6), and it was associated with previous exposure to bedaquiline or clofazimine (OR 7·1, 95% CI 2·3–21·9) and with rifampicin-resistant or MDR tuberculosis with additional resistance to either fluoroquinolones or injectable drugs (pre-extensively-drug resistant [XDR] tuberculosis: 4·2, 1·7–10·5) or to both (XDR tuberculosis: 4·8, 2·0–11·7). Rv0678 mutations were the sole genetic basis of phenotypic resistance. Baseline resistance could be attributed to previous bedaquiline or clofazimine exposure in four (5·3%) of 76 patients and to primary transmission in six (7·9%). Odds of successful treatment outcomes were lower in patients with baseline bedaquiline resistance (0·5, 0·3–1). Resistance during treatment developed in 16 (2·3%) of 695 patients, at a median of 90 days (IQR 62–195), with 12 of these 16 having pre-XDR or XDR. Interpretation Bedaquiline resistance was associated with poorer treatment outcomes. Rapid assessment of bedaquiline resistance, especially when patients were previously exposed to bedaquiline or clofazimine, should be prioritised at baseline or if patients remain culture-positive after 2 months of treatment. Preventing resistance by use of novel combination therapies, current treatment optimisation, and patient support is essential. Funding National Institute for Communicable Diseases of South Africa.

Relativistic DFT (OLYP-D3/ZORA-STO-TZ2P) calculations predict low adiabatic ionization potentials for gold(II) porphyrins, from 4.60 eV for Au[TPP] (TPP = tetraphenylporphyrin) to 5.34 eV for Au[TPFPP] [TPFPP = tetrakis(pentafluorophenyl)porphyrin]. These values are over 1 eV lower than those calculated for analogous silver(II) porphyrins, reflecting much greater relativistic destabilization of the Au 5d orbitals relative to Ag 4d orbitals. The calculations reproduced the experimentally observed lateral distortion of the Au porphyrin core, ascribing the phenomenon to dx2-y2-dz2-6s mixing. The calculations also underscored a mild wave deformation as an intrinsic feature of the Au porphyrin core. Although previously noted, the origin of this unusual deformation has remained obscure. The topology of the HOMO and spin density profile appear to provide at least a partial explanation of the wave deformation: the electronegative Au(II) center appears to suck electron density from the porphyrin’s p-HOMO by triggering a wave deformation. The heretofore unsuspected orbital interaction results in significant spin populations on the porphyrin, leaving behind only about 20-25% of the spin density on the gold. In contrast, the analogous silver porphyrins exhibit strictly planar cores with approximate D4h local symmetry at the metal.