Several critical exposés of volkekunde at Stellenbosch University have focused on dominant figures up to the 1960s but have not sufficiently considered how they engaged with Afrikaner nationalism. ...This article introduces questions around solidarity, discontinuity and dissent amongst volkekundiges up to the closure of their department. The article uses a network approach to unravel how volkekundiges at the university were entangled with Afrikaner organisations and how their work reflected Afrikaner nationalism. Given tightly knit networks at Afrikaans universities and the appearance of monolithic unity, the limited scope for dissent is of interest. The article follows the development of volkekunde at Stellenbosch in tandem with major changes in the apartheid project for which volkekundiges provided theoretical confirmation of the social categories required to divide and rule black people. Three periods (policy development, implementation, and implosion of apartheid) organise the material, illustrating trends towards solidarity of networks but also (minor) disruptions showing differentiation and dissent. Close connections between academic work and ideological support for nationalist politics characterised the rise of volkekunde at Stellenbosch. This trend also led to the abandonment of volkekunde (then "anthropology"), despite last-attempt retooling of an unsustainable tradition during South Africa's democratic transition.
Despite improvements in the last two decades, rural communal areas in South Africa remain dumping grounds, requiring multiple livelihood strategies and social adaptations. Local experience of ...dispossession forms the backdrop to individual and collective responses to changes in the role of land, labour and reproduction. The ethnographic research focused on a rural settlement in the former Gazankulu Bantustan in the period 1986-2013. Shifts in the mix of livelihoods were related to changing gender and generational relationships. Individual livelihood strategies aimed at diversifying sources of income and collective actions were directed at getting rid of criminals and accessing state resources.
Objective: To determine the preferred mode of delivery (vacuum, forceps or cesarean delivery) for second-stage dystocia.
Methods: Retrospective cohort study of women delivered by forceps, vacuum or ...cesarean delivery due to abnormalities of the second stage of labor. Primary outcome included neonatal and maternal composite adverse effects.
Results: A total of 547 women were included: 150 (27.4%) had forceps delivery, 200 (36.5%) had vacuum extraction, and 197 (36.1%) had cesarean section. The rate of neonatal composite outcome was significantly increased in vacuum extraction (27%) compared to forceps delivery (14.7%) or cesarean section (9.7%) (p < 0.001). There was no difference in the rate of maternal composite outcome among the groups. Both operative vaginal delivery modes were associated with significantly lower rate of postpartum infection compared to cesarean delivery (0% versus 3%, p = 0.004).
Conclusion: Operative vaginal delivery was associated with reduced postpartum infection compared to cesarean section. Forceps delivery was associated with reduced risk for adverse neonatal outcome compared to vacuum extraction, with no increase in the risk of composite maternal complications.
DNA barcoding of Dutch birds Aliabadian, Mansour; Beentjes, Kevin K; Roselaar, C S Kees ...
ZooKeys,
12/2013, Volume:
365, Issue:
365
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) can serve as a fast and accurate marker for the identification of animal species, and has been applied in a number of studies on birds. We here ...sequenced the COI gene for 387 individuals of 147 species of birds from the Netherlands, with 83 species being represented by > 2 sequences. The Netherlands occupies a small geographic area and 95% of all samples were collected within a 50 km radius from one another. The intraspecific divergences averaged 0.29% among this assemblage, but most values were lower; the interspecific divergences averaged 9.54%. In all, 95% of species were represented by a unique barcode, with 6 species of gulls and skua (Larus and Stercorarius) having at least one shared barcode. This is best explained by these species representing recent radiations with ongoing hybridization. In contrast, one species, the Lesser Whitethroat Sylvia curruca showed deep divergences, averaging 5.76% and up to 8.68% between individuals. These possibly represent two distinct taxa, S. curruca and S. blythi, both clearly separated in a haplotype network analysis. Our study adds to a growing body of DNA barcodes that have become available for birds, and shows that a DNA barcoding approach enables to identify known Dutch bird species with a very high resolution. In addition some species were flagged up for further detailed taxonomic investigation, illustrating that even in ornithologically well-known areas such as the Netherlands, more is to be learned about the birds that are present.
Brachial plexus birth palsy is frequently associated with internal rotation contractures of the shoulder as a result of muscle imbalance. The purpose of this study is to assess the effect of ...botulinum toxin A (BTX-A) injection in the subscapular (SC) muscle on external rotation and the need for tendon transfer for external rotation of the shoulder.
A prospective comparative study was performed including 15 consecutive patients treated with BTX-A and a historic control group of 67 patients with mean age 30 months (SD 10). The BTX-A injection (2 IU/kg body weight) was performed immediately following MRI under general anesthesia in the SC muscle. Passive external rotation, the need for tendon transfer surgery, glenohumeral deformity, and muscle degeneration were evaluated. The hazard ratio for no relapse of internal rotation contracture after BTX-A injection compared with no BTX-A injection was calculated.
In the BTX-A group, the passive external rotation in adduction increased from -1 degree (95% CI, -10 to 8) to 32 degrees (95% CI, 17-46) at 3 months and 6 patients were indicated for surgery compared with a decline from -2 degrees (95% CI, -7 to 3) to -11 degrees (95% CI, -17 to -6) in the control group with 66 indications for surgery. At 5 years of follow-up, 10 patients in the BTX-A group were indicated for surgery with a hazard ratio of 4.0 (95% CI, 1.9 to 8.4).
BTX-A injection in the SC muscle of brachial plexus birth palsy patients can reduce internal rotation contractures and subsequently the need for tendon transfer surgery. At 5 years of follow-up a relapse was seen in 67% of the patients treated with BTX-A. Because at MRI less SC degeneration was found in the good responders on BTX-A treatment, this group seems to be the best target group. Further research is needed on patient selection for BTX-A injection including glenohumeral deformity, SC degeneration, as well as doses of BTX-A to be used.
Level II-prospective comparative study.
Question: In the past decades, the tall native invasive grass, Elytrigia atherica, has been increasing in frequency and dominance on salt marshes along the Wadden Sea coast. Is this rapid expansion ...an outcome of natural succession or is it driven by anthropogenic eutrophication resulting from atmospheric deposition? Location: Salt marshes on four back-barrier islands, Wadden Sea on the coast of the Netherlands and Germany. Methods: We used a combination of time series of vegetation maps and chronosequence data of four naturally developed salt marshes to address our questions. These salt marshes have not been grazed by livestock or subject to other management regimes. By comparing development within and between four different salt marshes, we were able to study the spatial and temporal dynamics of the community dominated by E. atherica on natural salt marshes. Results: The expansion rate of the E. atherica community was highest on young salt marshes (up to 30 yr old) with vertical accretion rates of 0.35 cm·yr-1. The rate of expansion decreased on older marshes and the direction reversed, becoming negative, on the oldest marshes (around 90 yr old), which have no vertical accretion and are under waterlogged conditions. Conclusions: The expansion of E. atherica on natural, back-barrier islands along the Wadden Sea coast is more influenced by the age of the salt marsh and patterns in vertical accretion of soil than by uniformly spread atmospheric deposition.
The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the restoration of shoulder function by means of suprascapular nerve neurotization in adult patients with proximal C-5 and C-6 lesions due to a ...severe brachial plexus traction injury. The primary goal of brachial plexus reconstructive surgery was to restore biceps muscle function and, secondarily, to reanimate shoulder function.
Suprascapular nerve neurotization was performed by grafting the C-5 nerve in 24 patients and by accessory or hypoglossal nerve transfer in 29 patients. Additional neurotization involving the axillary nerve was performed in 18 patients. Postoperative needle electromyography studies of the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, and deltoid muscles showed signs of reinnervation in most patients; however, active glenohumeral shoulder function recovery was poor. In nine (17%) of 53 patients supraspinatus muscle strength was Medical Research Council (MRC) Grade 3 or 4 and in four patients (8%) infraspinatus muscle power was MRC Grade 3 or 4. In 18 patients in whom deltoid muscle reinnervation was attempted, MRC Grade 3 or 4 function was demonstrated in two (11%). In the overall group, eight patients (15%) exhibited glenohumeral abduction with a mean of 44 +/- 17 degrees (standard deviation SD; median 45 degrees) and four patients (8%) exhibited glenohumeral exorotation with a mean of 48 +/- 24 degrees (SD; median 53 degrees). In only three patients (6%) were both functions regained.
The reanimation of shoulder function in patients with proximal C-5 and C-6 brachial plexus traction injuries following suprascapular nerve neurotization is disappointingly low.
An Afrikaans popular song about a general of the Anglo-Boer War, 'De la Rey' was received with great enthusiasm among white Afrikaans-speakers in 2007, but also generated much controversy about the ...possible implications of re-ethnicisation among Afrikaners. What did this manifestation of popular culture say about the resilience of Afrikaner identity and the impact of the New South Africa? This article examines the ways in which this song entered into the post-apartheid public sphere, and investigates how De la Rey revivalism can be related to Afrikaners' experience of post-apartheid transformation. The 'De la Rey song' was created for a market that was ripe for a nostalgic celebration of a revamped but less party-political Afrikaans ethnic identity. The song soon became a rallying point for Afrikaners who perceived themselves to be under threat from the ANC government. The heroic figure of De la Rey was invoked as a saviour who would be able to lead the threatened Afrikaners symbolically to a safe place. The song tapped into the profoundly unsettled identity politics of many white Afrikaans-speakers whose continued commitment to a racially exclusivist identity was no longer politically acceptable. The song succeeded because it was a muted affirmation of white Afrikaner identity and helped to reassert the imagined boundaries of white Afrikanerdom while speaking the legitimate language of history and cultural heritage.
To evaluate different sonographic methods for the prediction of the difficulty and the success of operative vaginal delivery (OPD).
A prospective study was performed on 45 term singleton ...uncomplicated pregnancies with prolonged 2nd stage of delivery with cephalic presentation. Measurements of the fetal head, relations between the fetal head and maternal pelvic parameters during rest and during maternal pushing were taken using translabial ultrasound.
29 cases of OPD were successful and 4 cases failed ending in cesarean section. The passage of the biparietal diameter (BPD) of the infrapubic line (IPL) was statistically correlated with the success of OPD. Head station, passage of the BPD of the IPL, percentage of head after the IPL, circumference of head after IPL were all correlated with the difficulty of OPD. When the distance between the widest diameter of the head and the IPL is < 1.2 cm, there is a 90 % probability of success of OPD. When that distance is > 3.3 cm, there is 90 % probability of cesarean section. When the percentage of head beyond the IPL was > 54 %, there was 90 % probability of successful OPD.
Translabial ultrasound is useful in the prediction of the difficulty and the success of OPD. The higher the extent of head that passed the IPL, the less difficult the OPD and the greater the success rate of the OPD.
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