Publications by authors named "D E Acker"
Article Synopsis
- * Results indicate that adults with FASD experience poorer relationship and educational outcomes, and a higher likelihood of exposure to violence; however, none completed secondary school successfully.
- * Despite some significant differences, overall discrepancies between individuals with FASD and those without may be less pronounced due to the limited resources and opportunities in rural areas, affecting the visibility of unique challenges for individuals with disabilities.
Climate change necessitates exploring innovative geoengineering solutions to mitigate its effects-one such solution is deploying planetary sunshade satellites at Sun-Earth Lagrange point 1 to regulate solar radiation on Earth directly. However, such long-span space structures present unique technical challenges, particularly structural scalability, on-orbit manufacturing, and in-situ resource utilization. This paper proposes a structural concept for the sunshade's foil support system and derives from that a component-level modular system for long-span fiber composite lightweight trusses using coreless filament winding.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA multi-year, multi-site study of the prevalence of fetal alcohol syndrome in South Africa.
Alcohol Clin Exp Res (Hoboken)
May 2024
Background: South Africa has the highest reported prevalence of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) globally. The most recent study reported a weighted, estimated FASD prevalence of 310 per 1000 in a community in the Western Cape Province. Because there is as yet no reliable estimate of the national burden of FASD in South Africa, further epidemiological studies are needed in diverse settings.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFParkinson's disease (PD) incidence is increasing in sub-Saharan Africa. We recruited 687 individuals with PD from different ancestral groups across South Africa. More Afrikaner Europeans had early-onset PD than other ancestral groups.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Parkinson's disease (PD) and metabolic syndrome (MetS) share certain pathophysiological pathways, including hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis dysfunction. Hair glucocorticoid (GC) levels reflect longer-term HPA-axis function and can provide additional insights into the role of a dysregulated HPA-axis in PD and co-occurring cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk.
Objectives: In a case-control study we examined the association of PD diagnosis, clinical features and PD-CVD risk (as defined by the MetS) co-occurrence with hair GC (cortisol and cortisone) levels.