Raising awareness and addressing inequities for people with Down syndrome in South Africa.

Globally, individuals with Down syndrome (DS) face profound inequities in social and health care access. These challenges are further compounded by racial disparities as well as a lack of awareness, research, and support, particularly in the Global South. This commentary discusses the multifaceted challenges and disparities encountered by people with DS in South Africa, highlighting the need for targeted interventions.

Phthalates are detected in the follicular fluid of adolescents and oocyte donors with associated changes in the cumulus cell transcriptome.

Objective: To investigate the follicular fluid (FF) phthalate levels in adolescents undergoing fertility preservation compared with oocyte donors and explore its association with ovarian reserve and cumulus cell (CC) gene expression.

Design: Retrospective study and molecular analysis of CCs and FF.

Setting: Not applicable.

The oocyte microenvironment is altered in adolescents compared to oocyte donors.

Study Question: Do the molecular signatures of cumulus cells (CCs) and follicular fluid (FF) of adolescents undergoing fertility preservation differ from that of oocyte donors?

Summary Answer: The microenvironment immediately surrounding the oocyte, including the CCs and FF, is altered in adolescents undergoing fertility preservation compared to oocyte donors.

What Is Known Already: Adolescents experience a period of subfecundity following menarche. Recent evidence suggests that this may be at least partially due to increased oocyte aneuploidy.

Phthalates are detected in the follicular fluid of adolescents and oocyte donors with associated changes in the cumulus cell transcriptome.

Purpose: To investigate follicular fluid (FF) phthalate levels in adolescents undergoing fertility preservation compared to oocyte donors and explore its association with ovarian reserve and cumulus cell gene expression.

Methods: 20 Adolescents (16.7 ± 0.

The oocyte microenvironment is altered in adolescents compared to oocyte donors.

Study Question: Are the molecular signatures of cumulus cells (CCs) and follicular fluid (FF) of adolescents undergoing fertility preservation differ from that of reproductively adult oocyte donors?

Summary Answer: The microenvironment immediately surrounding the oocyte, including the CCs and FF, is altered in adolescents undergoing fertility preservation compared to oocyte donors.

What Is Known Already: Adolescents experience a period of subfecundity following menarche. Recent evidence suggests that this may be at least partially due to increased oocyte aneuploidy.

Knowledge and attitudes of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis among nurses in South Africa.

Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has shown efficacy and effectiveness in populations who practise high-risk sexual activity. Nurses' knowledge and positive attitudes enhance PrEP implementation.

Aim: This study aimed to investigate the knowledge of and attitudes towards PrEP among nurses in primary health care facilities.

Acute Pain Management Protocols in Pediatric Intensive Care Units.

Pediatric pain has historically been difficult to assess and even more difficult to treat. It is encouraging that there is current research regarding pain control in pediatric patients that provide evidence for treating pediatric pain. Patients in a pediatric intensive care setting demonstrate a great deal of patient variability with regard to patient diagnosis, age, developmental level, weight, and amount of pain control needed.

Evaluation of medical decision support systems (DDX generators) using real medical cases of varying complexity and origin.

Background: Medical decision support systems (CDSSs) are increasingly used in medicine, but their utility in daily medical practice is difficult to evaluate. One variant of CDSS is a generator of differential diagnoses (DDx generator). We performed a feasibility study on three different, publicly available data sets of medical cases in order to identify the frequency in which two different DDx generators provide helpful information (either by providing a list of differential diagnosis or recognizing the expert diagnosis if available) for a given case report.

C-reactive protein and procalcitonin after congenital heart surgery utilizing cardiopulmonary bypass: When should we be worried?

Introduction: To assess the efficacy of C-reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin (PCT) at identifying infection in children after congenital heart surgery (CHS) with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB).

Materials And Methods: Systematic review of the literature was conducted to identify studies with data regarding CRP and/or PCT after CHS with CPB. The primary variables identified to be characterized were CRP and PCT at different timepoints.

Experience with telepathology in combination with diagnostic assistance systems in countries with restricted resources.

Introduction: We describe the use of telepathology in countries with restricted resources using two diagnosis assistance systems (Isabel and Memem7) in addition to the diagnoses made by experts in pathology via the iPath-Network.

Methods: A total of 156 cases, largely from Afghanistan, were analysed; 18 cases had to be excluded because of poor image quality.

Results: Of the remaining 138 cases (100%), a responsible physician provided a tentative diagnosis for 61.

Medical diagnosis as a linguistic game.

Background: We present a formalized medical knowledge system using a linguistic approach combined with a semantic net.

Method: Diseases are defined and coded by natural linguistic terms and linked via a complex network of attributes, categories, classes, lists and other semantic conditions.

Results: We have isolated more than 4600 disease entities (termed pathosoms using a made-up word) with more than 100.

Effect of incomplete milking on milk production rate and composition with 2 daily milkings.

The primary aim of this study was to assess the effects of incomplete milking on milk secretion and milk composition at the quarter level. Twelve cows were enrolled beginning at 5 d in milk and remained on study through 47 d in milk. Half of each contralateral udder was incompletely milked (treatment), detaching the teat cup early to leave approximately 30% of the total milk yield behind.

Serendipitous Offline Learning in a Neuromorphic Robot.

We demonstrate a hybrid neuromorphic learning paradigm that learns complex sensorimotor mappings based on a small set of hard-coded reflex behaviors. A mobile robot is first controlled by a basic set of reflexive hand-designed behaviors. All sensor data is provided via a spike-based silicon retina camera (eDVS), and all control is implemented via spiking neurons simulated on neuromorphic hardware (SpiNNaker).

Closed-Loop Neuromorphic Benchmarks.

Evaluating the effectiveness and performance of neuromorphic hardware is difficult. It is even more difficult when the task of interest is a closed-loop task; that is, a task where the output from the neuromorphic hardware affects some environment, which then in turn affects the hardware's future input. However, closed-loop situations are one of the primary potential uses of neuromorphic hardware.

Modeling the shape hierarchy for visually guided grasping.

The monkey anterior intraparietal area (AIP) encodes visual information about three-dimensional object shape that is used to shape the hand for grasping. We modeled shape tuning in visual AIP neurons and its relationship with curvature and gradient information from the caudal intraparietal area (CIP). The main goal was to gain insight into the kinds of shape parameterizations that can account for AIP tuning and that are consistent with both the inputs to AIP and the role of AIP in grasping.

Sequential versus single high-dose chemotherapy in patients with relapsed or refractory germ cell tumors: long-term results of a prospective randomized trial.

Purpose: To evaluate the long-term survival rates in patients with relapsed or refractory germ cell tumors (GCTs) after single or sequential high-dose chemotherapy (HDCT).

Patients And Methods: Between November 1999 and November 2004, 211 patients with relapsed or refractory GCT were randomly assigned to treatment with either one cycle of cisplatin 100 mg/m(2), etoposide 375 mg/m(2), and ifosfamide 6 g/m(2) (VIP) plus three cycles of high-dose carboplatin 1,500 mg/m(2) and etoposide 1,500 mg/m(2) (CE, arm A) or three cycles of VIP plus one cycle of high-dose carboplatin 2,200 mg/m(2), etoposide 1,800 mg/m(2), and cyclophosphamide 6,400 mg/m(2) (CEC, arm B) followed by autologous stem-cell reinfusion. Long-term progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) 6 years after random assignment of the last patient were compared by using the log-rank test.

Reliability of self report questionnaires for epidemiological investigations of adolescent mental health in Cape Town, South Africa.

Objective: This study aimed to assess the reliability of a number of self report questionnaires for epidemiological investigations of adolescents' mental health in Cape Town, South Africa. The scales used were: the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ), Zung Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), Self-esteem Questionnaire (SEQ), Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ) and Multi-Dimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS).

Method: The self-report questionnaire (available in Afrikaans, English and isiXhosa) was administered to 237 grade 8 students (14-15 years) on 2 occasions in metropolitan Cape Town high schools.