Exploring the impact of COVID-19 pandemic lockdown on informal settlements in Tshwane Gauteng Province,South Africa

ABSTRACT

Informal settlements remain a public health problem as they lack basic infrastructure. Furthermore, it is challenging to enforce public health regulations and protocols to prevent the spread of infection during a pandemic. This paper was set out to explore the impact of lockdown during COVID-19 among people living in informal settlements. An exploratory qualitative design was utilised. Purposive sampling was used to select research participants. In-depth one-to-one interviews were held involving 30 research participants through a WhatsApp online telephone platform. A thematic approach underpinned by the four stages of data analysis in interpretive phenomenological analysis was utilised to analyse the data. The study found that during the the research participants were affected by lack of space to practice social distancing, over-burdened infrastructure, lack of savings, loss of income and shortage of food, hunger and diseases, anxiety and depression and poor access to education. There is a need to prioritise the needs of informal settlers and endeavour to establish permanent homes. Health promotion and communication initiatives and pandemic awareness programmes are needed to mitigate the impact of lockdown during a pandemic in informal settlements.     

Cec and You Shall Find: Cecal Perforation in a Patient with COVID-19

Digestive Diseases and Sciences -     

Outer membrane protein A (OmpA) contributes to serum resistance and pathogenicity of Escherichia coli K-1.

We examined whether outer membrane protein A (OmpA) contributes to gram-negative pathogenesis by determining the effect of mutagenesis of ompA in a virulent Escherichia coli K-1 isolate. An OmpA mutant was generated by insertion of the transposon TnphoA, which was genetically modified to increase the efficiency of its delivery by conjugation. The mutant was less virulent than its parent strain in two models of E. coli K-1 infection. Equal inocula of the OmpA+ and OmpA- strains fed to neonatal rats resulted in a sevenfold-greater incidence of bacteremia at 72 h from the OmpA+ strain. The lethal effect of the OmpA- mutant was significantly less than that of the OmpA+ parent strain when inoculated onto the chorioallantoic membrane of 10-day embryonated chick eggs. There was, however, no difference between strains in growth characteristics under physiologic conditions, either in rat serum or in unembryonated chick eggs. In the presence of a 10-day chick embryo, there was a 10-fold increase in the survival and growth of the OmpA+ strain. Correction of the mutation in ompA with an E. coli K-12 ompA gene restored a level of virulence equivalent to that of the parent strain. The ompA mutant was more sensitive to the bactericidal effect of pooled human serum by the classical pathway of complement activation. These results suggest that OmpA contributes to E. coli K-1 pathogenesis by a mechanism which may involve increased serum resistance.     

Intestino-esophageal reflux following gastrectomy. Mechanism of action and effectiveness of esophago-jejunoplication

The influence of the type of reconstruction after gastrectomy upon the postoperative reflux was analyzed in 30 patients. The refluxed material could be directly gained by the long-term reflux aspiration test and, thus, the quality including bile acids could be evaluated. After esophago-jejunoplication and Roux en Y-derivation 5 out of 7 patients were asymptomatic; only one patient suffered from mild esophagitis. Total bile acid concentration was near to the test systems sensitivity. The result in 11 patients after esophago-jejunostomy without Y-en Roux, but with a preserved lower esophageal sphincter (LES) are similar to the former group, whereas in all cases of 12 patients in whom the LES was resected, severe reflux esophagitis and excessively elevated bile acid concentrations were present. These results confirm that a jejunoplication supports the antireflux effect of preserved parts of the LES. If--for oncologic reasons--the LES has to be resected, free intestinal-esophageal reflux is following. In these cases a Roux en Y-derivation is required.     

Versuche zur Bestimmung hypophysärer Gonadotropine im Urin mittels einer serologischen Methodik

Zusammenfassung Es wird über die Ergebnisse der Bestimmung hypophysärer Gonadotropine im Urin mittels einer eigenen serologischen Methodik berichtet. Im Nativ-Urin oder nach Fällung mit Aceton oder Alkohol wurden keine, im Vergleich zum Tierversuch verwertbaren, Ergebnisse erhalten. Dagegen zeigten Untersuchungen mit, nach dem Albertschen Verfahren gewonnenen, Extrakten erste ermutigende Resultate.     

Immunoblot analysis of c-Met expression in human colorectal cancer: Overexpression is associated with advanced stage cancer

c-Met, the receptor of hepatocyte growth factor is known to be responsible for the motility and mitogenesis of epithelial cells including cancer cells. To investigate the significance of c-Met expression in human colorectal cancer (CRC), total cellular protein, extracted from 130 CRCs were examined by Western blot analysis. The signal was quantitated by ChemiImager™ 4000 Low Light Imaging System. c-Met expression was analyzed as the ratio of tumor to matched normal tissue (T/N) and expressed as fold-increase. The cellular localization of c-Met was assessed by immunohistochemistry. The T/N fold increase of c-Met varied from 0.2 to 10.7 with a mean of 3.41 ± 0.23 (mean ± SE). 69% primary CRC showed overexpression (T/N >2.0) of c-Met. Significantly higher c-Met levels were found in CRC with blood vessel invasion (P = 0.04), and in advanced stage (P = 0.04). No relationship was noted between c-Met expression and age, tumor size, location, differentiation. C-Met immunoreactivity was observed in the membrane and cytoplasm of cancer cells. Positive staining of endothelial cells of blood vessels within normal submucosa and tumor was also evident. C-Met protein is expressed at levels significantly higher than adjacent mucosa in most primary adenocarcinomas of the colon. Our results support an important role for c-Met in human CRC progression and metastasis.