Department of Medicine

Mobile health technology for enhancing the COVID-19 response in Africa : a potential game changer?

Nachega, Jean B.; Leisegang, Rory; Kallay, Oscar; Mills, Edward J.; Zumla, Alimuddin; Lester, Richard T. (American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 2020)

The WHO Africa Region is experiencing an increase in the number of novel COVID-19 cases. As of May 20, 2020, 63,521 cases with 1,796 deaths (2.8% case fatality) have been reported from 45 countries.1 Although these ...

COVID-19 in Africa : care and protection for frontline healthcare workers

Chersich, Matthew F.; Gray, Glenda; Fairlie, Lee; Eichbaum, Quentin; Mayhew, Susannah; Allwood, Brian W.; English, Rene; Scorgie, Fiona; Luchters, Stanley; Simpson, Greg; Mosalman Haghighi, Marjan; Duc Pham, Minh; Rees, Helen (BioMed Central, 2020)

Medical staff caring for COVID-19 patients face mental stress, physical exhaustion, separation from families, stigma, and the pain of losing patients and colleagues. Many of them have acquired SARS-CoV-2 and some have ...

Current evidence for directed and supportive investigational therapies against COVID-19

Van Rensburg, R.; Pillay-Fuentes Lorente, V.; Decloedt, E. H. (Health & Medical Publishing Group, 2020-04-30)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global health crisis. There is currently a great need for effective and safe therapies directed at the disease, but no drugs are presently registered for use in ...

COVID-19 travel restrictions and the International Health Regulations : call for an open debate on easing of travel restrictions

Petersen, E.; McCloskey, B.; Hui, D. S.; Kock, R. A.; Ntoumi, F.; Memish, Z. A.; Kapata, N.; Azhar, E. I.; Pollack, M.; Madoff, L. C.; Hamer, D. H.; Nachega, Jean B.; Pshenichnaya, N.; Zumla, A. (Elsevier, 2020)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has caused national governments worldwide to mandate several generic infection control measures such as physical distancing, self-isolation, ...

Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine for the prevention or treatment of Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) in Africa : caution for inappropriate off-label use in healthcare settings

Abena, Pascale M.; Decloedt, Eric H.; Bottieau, Emmanuel; Suleman, Fatima; Adejumo, Prisca; Sam-Agudu, Nadia A.; TamFum, Jean-Jacques Muyembe; Seydi, Moussa; Eholie, Serge P.; Mills, Edward J.; Kallay, Oscar; Zumla, Alimuddin; Nachega, Jean B. (American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 2020)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The novel severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 pandemic has spread to Africa, where nearly all countries have reported laboratory-confirmed cases of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). ...

Renal denervation : mechanisms and clinical aspects

Heradien, Marshall J.; Van Der Bijl, Pieter; Brink, Paul A. (African Association of Nephrology, 2020)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Hypertension is a global health issue of paramount importance, which has not spared the African continent where an unacceptably high prevalence of uncontrolled blood pressure prevails among its population. ...

Optimising influenza vaccination during a SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in South Africa could help maintain the integrity of our healthcare system

Preiser, Wolfgang; Mendelson, Marc; Taljaard, Jantjie (Health & Medical Publishing Group, 2020)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The novel infectious disease coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), first reported in late December 2019 in Wuhan, China, seems increasingly unlikely to be contained, resulting in the first pandemic of ...

Benefit v. risk when using chloroquine in patients with severe COVID-19 disease

Decloedt, Eric H.; Allwood, Brian W.; Parker, Arifa; Koegelenberg, Coenraad F. N.; Blockman, Marc; Taljaard, Jantjie; Reuter, Helmuth (Health & Medical Publishing Group, 2020-04-02)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Chloroquine (CQ) is widely advocated as treatment for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), including the president of the USA publicly supporting the use of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) as a ‘game-changer’ ...

Coordinated autophagy modulation overcomes glioblastoma chemoresistance through disruption of mitochondrial bioenergetics

Kriel, Jurgen; Muller-Nedebock, Kristian; Maarman, Gerald; Mbizana, Siyasanga; Ojuka, Edward; Klumperman, Bert; Loos, Ben (Nature Research, 2018-07-09)

Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) is known to be one of the most malignant and aggressive forms of brain cancer due to its resistance to chemotherapy. Recently, GBM was found to not only utilise both oxidative phosphorylation ...

Correlative Light-Electron Microscopy detects lipopolysaccharide and its association with fibrin fibres in Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimer’s Disease and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

De Waal, Greta M.; Engelbrecht, Lize; Davis, Tanja; De Villiers, Willem J. S.; Kell, Douglas B.; Pretorius, Etheresia (Nature Research, 2018-11-14)

Many chronic diseases, including those classified as cardiovascular, neurodegenerative, or autoimmune, are characterized by persistent inflammation. The origin of this inflammation is mostly unclear, but it is typically ...

Evaluation of locally manufactured patient-specific custom made implants for cranial defects using a silicone mould

Vlok, A. J.; Naidoo, S.; Kamat, A. S.; Lamprecht, D. (Health and Medical Publishing Group, 2018)

Background: Cranial vault defects can pose a significant problem for neurosurgeons where autologous bone is no longer available for cranioplasty. Numerous materials exist to create implants which include polymethyl ...

Renal denervation restores autonomic imbalance and prevents atrial fibrillation in patients with hypertensive heart disease : a pilot study

Heradien, Marshall Jacobus (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University., 2020-03)

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, but it is uncertain if catheter-based renal denervation (RD) can reduce AF in patients with ...

B-cell and T-cell activation in South African HIV-1-positive non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma patients

Flepisi, Brian T.; Bouic, Patrick; Sissolak, Gerhard; Rosenkranz, Bernd (Medpharm Publications, 2018)

Background: Altered immune mechanisms play a critical role in the pathogenesis of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL). HIV-1 (HIV) infection is associated with a state of excessive T-cell activation, which can lead to increased ...

Reconceptualising health professions education in South Africa

Volmink, Jimmy (Academy of Science of South Africa, 2018)

No abstract available.

How good are our guidelines? Four years of experience with the SAMJ’s AGREE II review of submitted clinical practice guideline

Kredo, Tamara; Wiseman, Roger; Gray, Andy; Parrish, Andy; Miot, Jacqui; Cohen, Karen; Jamaloodien, Khadija; Blockman, Marc (Health & Medical Publishing Group, 2018)

The South African Medical Journal (SAMJ) is an established source of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) serving the local healthcare community. CPGs link professional societies and clinicians by guiding best practice ...