Antigenicity and Immunogenicity Analysis of the E. coli Expressed FMDV Structural Proteins; VP1, VP0, VP3 of the South African Territories Type 2 Virus

Guoxiu Li; Ashenafi Kiros Wubshet; Yaozhong Ding; Qian Li; Junfei Dai; Yang Wang; Qian Hou; Jiao Chen; Bing Ma; Anna Szczotka-Bochniarz; Susan Szathmary; Yongguang Zhang; Jie Zhang

doi:10.3390/v13061005

Antigenicity and Immunogenicity Analysis of the E. coli Expressed FMDV Structural Proteins; VP1, VP0, VP3 of the South African Territories Type 2 Virus

Viruses ◽

10.3390/v13061005 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (6) ◽

pp. 1005

Author(s):

Guoxiu Li ◽

Ashenafi Kiros Wubshet ◽

Yaozhong Ding ◽

Qian Li ◽

Junfei Dai ◽

...

Keyword(s):

South African ◽

Recombinant Proteins ◽

Fusion Proteins ◽

Serum Antibody ◽

Vaccine Design ◽

Structural Proteins ◽

The South ◽

Study Results ◽

Mouth Disease Virus

An alternative vaccine design approach and diagnostic kits are highly required against the anticipated pandemicity caused by the South African Territories type 2 (SAT2) Foot and Mouth Disease Virus (FMDV). However, the distinct antigenicity and immunogenicity of VP1, VP0, and VP3 of FMDV serotype SAT2 are poorly understood. Similarly, the particular roles of the three structural proteins in novel vaccine design and development remain unexplained. We therefore constructed VP1, VP0, and VP3 encoding gene (SAT2:JX014256 strain) separately fused with His-SUMO (histidine-small ubiquitin-related modifier) inserted into pET-32a cassette to express the three recombinant proteins and separately evaluated their antigenicity and immunogenicity in mice. The fusion protein was successfully expressed and purified by the Ni-NTA resin chromatography. The level of serum antibody, spleen lymphocyte proliferation, and cytokines against the three distinct recombinant proteins were analyzed. Results showed that the anti-FMDV humoral response was triggered by these proteins, and the fusion proteins did enhance the splenocyte immune response in the separately immunized mice. We observed low variations among the three fusion proteins in terms of the antibody and cytokine production in mice. Hence, in this study, results demonstrated that the structural proteins of SAT2 FMDV could be used for the development of immunodiagnostic kits and subunit vaccine designs.

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Do Managers Of Global Equity Funds Outperform Their Respective Style Benchmarks? Evidence From South Africa

International Business & Economics Research Journal (IBER) ◽

10.19030/iber.v11i3.7157 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

pp. 269

Author(s):

Heng-Hsing Hsieh ◽

Kathleen Hodnett ◽

Paul Van Rensburg

Keyword(s):

South African ◽

Economic Benefits ◽

Exchange Traded Funds ◽

The South ◽

Fund Managers ◽

Study Results ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Equity Funds ◽

Investment Styles ◽

Stock Picking

The results of our prior research on internationally-domiciled global equity funds suggest that active managers do not provide economic benefits, in addition to their underlying investment style benchmarks. This finding implies that the performances of global equity funds are derived mainly from the broad investment styles followed by the active managers rather than the stock-picking activities of the managers. We replicate our earlier research to investigate the performances of the six well-established global equity funds in the South African unit trust industry. Our results indicate that four out of the six South African fund managers under examination substantially underperform their passively-replicated style benchmarks. Our prior study results indicate that there is no significant difference between the performances of the internationally-domiciled global equity funds and their respective style benchmarks. By contrast, the stock-picking decisions of the South African fund managers are found to destroy value created by their respective style benchmarks in this study. Our findings suggest that investors who wish to follow particular investment styles would be better off by investing in exchange traded funds (ETF) that passively track the performances of their mandated investment styles in the global equity market with minimal costs.

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Applying a private sector capitation model to the management of type 2 diabetes in the South African public sector: a cost-effectiveness analysis

BMC Health Services Research ◽

10.1186/1472-6963-14-444 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Heinrich C Volmink ◽

Melanie Y Bertram ◽

Ruxana Jina ◽

Alisha N Wade ◽

Karen J Hofman

Keyword(s):

Type 2 Diabetes ◽

Cost Effectiveness ◽

Public Sector ◽

Private Sector ◽

South African ◽

Cost Effectiveness Analysis ◽

The South ◽

Effectiveness Analysis

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Managing type 2 diabetes in Soweto—The South African Chronic Disease Outreach Program experience

Primary Care Diabetes ◽

10.1016/j.pcd.2009.06.007 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 3 (3) ◽

pp. 157-164 ◽

Cited By ~ 32

Author(s):

Ivor Katz ◽

Helen Schneider ◽

Zodwa Shezi ◽

Golebemang Mdleleni ◽

Trevor Gerntholtz ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Type 2 Diabetes ◽

Chronic Disease ◽

South African ◽

Outreach Program ◽

The South

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Willingness of people with Type 2 diabetes to start insulin therapy: Evidence from the South African Tshwane Insulin Project (TIP)

Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice ◽

10.1016/j.diabres.2020.108366 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 168 ◽

pp. 108366

Author(s):

Patrick Ngassa Piotie ◽

Paola Wood ◽

Elizabeth M. Webb ◽

Tessa S. Marcus ◽

Paul Rheeder

Keyword(s):

Type 2 Diabetes ◽

Insulin Therapy ◽

South African ◽

The South

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Studies of genetically defined chimeras of a European type A virus and a South African Territories type 2 virus reveal growth determinants for foot-and-mouth disease virus

Journal of General Virology ◽

10.1099/vir.0.19509-0 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 85 (1) ◽

pp. 61-68 ◽

Cited By ~ 36

Author(s):

H. G. van Rensburg ◽

T. M. Henry ◽

P. W. Mason

Keyword(s):

South African ◽

Disease Virus ◽

Foot And Mouth Disease ◽

Type A ◽

Mouth Disease ◽

Mouth Disease Virus ◽

Foot And Mouth

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The Clinical and Economic Effectiveness of MyDiaCare, Digital Tools combined with Diabetes Nurse Educator Support, for managing Diabetes in South Africa (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.35790 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Hemant Makan ◽

Lindie Strauss ◽

Jacqueline Lubbe ◽

Sarah Alami ◽

Guila Lancman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

South African ◽

Diabetes Management ◽

Density Lipoprotein ◽

Standard Of Care ◽

Healthcare Sector ◽

The South ◽

Private Healthcare ◽

Hba1c Levels

BACKGROUND In South Africa, diabetes prevalence is expected to reach 5.4 million by 2030. Moreover, a large proportion of adults remain undiagnosed. In South Africa, diabetes-related complications not only severely impact patient health and quality of life, but also the economy. OBJECTIVE The Diabetes Nurse Educator (DNE) study assessed the benefit of adding the MyDiaCare program to standard of care for managing type 1 and 2 diabetes patients in South Africa. An economic study was also performed to assess the benefit of adding MyDiaCare to standard of care in type 2 diabetes patients, older than 19 years, treated in the South African private healthcare sector. METHODS The real-world DNE study was designed as an observational, retrospective, multicenter, single group study. Eligible patients were older than 18 years and with at least 6 months of participation in the MyDiaCare program. The MyDiaCare program combines patient mobile application and a healthcare professional platform with face-to face visits with a DNE. The benefit of MyDiaCare was assessed by the changes in HbA1c levels, the proportion of patient achieving clinical and biological targets, adherence to care plans, and satisfaction after 6 months of participating in the MyDiaCare program. A budget impact model was performed using data from the DNE study and another South African cohort to estimate the economic benefit of MyDiaCare. RESULTS Between 25 November 2019 and 30 June 2020, 117 patients (8 with type 1 diabetes and 109 with type 2) were enrolled in two centers. After 6 months of MyDiaCare, a clinically relevant decrease in mean glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels by 0.6% from 7.8% to 7.2% was observed. Furthermore, 54% of patients reached or maintained their HbA1c targets at 6 months. Most patients achieved their targets for blood pressure (67% for systolic and 89% for diastolic blood pressure) and lipid parameters (69% for low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, 58% for high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, and 83% for total cholesterol, but fewer patients for triglycerides (46%), waist circumference (18%), and body weight (17%). The mean overall adherence to the MyDiaCare care plan was 93%. Most patients (74%) were satisfied with the MyDiaCare program. The economic study estimated that after 1 year of using the MyDiaCare program, the cost of type 2 diabetes management in the South African private healthcare sector would be reduced by 26 billion rands: from 117 billion rands with standard of care to 91 billion rands by adding MyDiaCare. CONCLUSIONS The MyDiaCare program, that combines digital tools for patients and healthcare professionals with DNE support, is a practical, clinically effective (lowering HbA1c levels and other cardiovascular risk factors), and cost-saving solution for diabetes management in the South African private healthcare sector. CLINICALTRIAL Not applicable.

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Physiotherapy postgraduate studies in South Africa: Facilitators and barriers

South African Journal of Physiotherapy ◽

10.4102/sajp.v73i1.335 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 73 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Saul Cobbing ◽

Stacy Maddocks ◽

Simoene Govender ◽

Shuaib Khan ◽

Mpilonhle Mbhele ◽

...

Keyword(s):

South African ◽

White Women ◽

Doctoral Degree ◽

The South ◽

South African Society ◽

Postgraduate Study ◽

Study Results ◽

Postgraduate Studies ◽

Facilitators And Barriers ◽

Study Participants

Aim: To investigate the facilitators and barriers to attaining a postgraduate physiotherapy degree in South Africa.Methods: A quantitative, cross-sectional design using an internet-based survey was employed. The population of the study included all qualified physiotherapists who had completed community service and who were on the South African Society of Physiotherapy e-mailing list at the time of the study. Results: In all, 425 valid responses were received. The study participants were predominantly white women with a mean age of 36.9 and the majority were working in private practice. A total of 20.5% of respondents had completed a master’s or doctoral degree in physiotherapy, while a further 13% of respondents were registered for a postgraduate degree in physiotherapy at the time of the study. Study participants who had obtained a postgraduate degree identified the same main barriers (namely cost/lack of financial support, family commitments and lack of time) and the same main facilitators (namely gaining of expertise, fulfilment of a personal goal and improvement of patient care) as participants who had not obtained a postgraduate degree. Participants who had not obtained a postgraduate degree were significantly more likely (p < 0.05) to report concerns regarding their own ability and a lack of motivation as barriers to further study.Conclusion: South African physiotherapists with and without a postgraduate degree reported common facilitators and barriers to pursuing postgraduate studies. In order to ensure that a greater number and diversity of physiotherapists see postgraduate studies as a worthwhile career option, stakeholders in health and education in both the South African public and private sectors need to be engaged to limit the barriers to postgraduate study and seek novel methods of making postgraduate study a more attractive option from a personal development and career perspective.

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