A key focus area at the 6th Annual Conference on Competition Law, Economics and Policy recently hosted by the Competition Commission, the Competition Tribunal, Wits School of Law's Mandela Institute and the University of Johannesburg's Centre for Competition Economics, was the health of the healthcare sector in South Africa.
Background: Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) is indicated for medical evaluation of complex cases of lung disease. There is limited data on the performance of tuberculosis (TB) microbiologic tests on BAL in such patients, particularly in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and TB endemic areas. /
Methods: We evaluated the performance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) culture and up to two simultaneous Xpert MTB/RIF tests on BAL fluid against a consensus clinical diagnosis in 98 medically complex patients undergoing bronchoscopy over a two-year period in Durban, South Africa. /
Results: TB was the most frequently diagnosed lung disease, found in 19 of 98 participants (19%) and was microbiologically proven in 14 of these (74%); 9 (47%) were culture positive and 5 were positive on at least one Xpert MTB/RIF assay. Immunosuppression prevalence was high (26% HIV-infected, 29% on immunosuppressive therapy and 4% on chemotherapy). Xpert MTB/RIF had low sensitivity (45%) and high specificity (99%) when assessed against the consensus clinical diagnosis. Compared to TB culture, a single Xpert MTB/RIF increased the diagnostic yield by 11% and a second Xpert MTB/RIF by a further 16%. /
Conclusion: Although Xpert MTB/RIF had a low sensitivity, sending two tests improved the microbiologically-proven diagnostic yield of bronchoscopy from 47% to 74% compared to culture alone.
Crime has emerged as one of the most prominent challenges facing South Africa. Crime and safety have been at the centre stage of several debates and discussions. The Institute for Security Studies (ISS) (2001:1) states that addressing perceptions of crime, particularly anxiety and fear of crime, is as important as reducing crime levels. Additionally, ISS (2001:1) asserts that fear of crime affects quality of life and has negative economic and political consequences. These aspects are particularly acute in countries in transition such as South Africa, as indicated by the collection of articles edited by Dixon and van der Spuy (2004) that indicate the effects of crime in society, the inadequacies of South Africa's justice systems and resource constraints to effectively tackle this national problem. This article investigates how, within the context of heightened safety and security concerns, residential communities perceive open public spaces by adopting a case study approach. Open spaces in urban areas are critically important in terms of ensuring the continued presence of nature and related natural resources in built environments. However, this article reveals that residents tend to perceive these areas as crime hotspots as well as refuge areas for potential criminals. These perceptions are reflective of increased resistance to open spaces in residential areas.
1 Introduction In the GRP (Glass fibre Reinforced Product) industry Cobalt Octoate is the promoter of choice for cross-linking unsaturated polyester (UPE) and styrene monomer.UPE's are often prepared to contain a concentration of 0.04%-0.05% of Cobalt ions so that faster cross-linking of the resin is achieved and ultimately faster manufacturing of the GRP component is achieved.These products sometimes fail prematurely after being manufactured and dispatched to the end user.The influence of Cobalt Octoat...
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