South

摘要： The South China Sea(SCS)connects the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean,and acts as an important part in regional and global climate systems(e.g.,Qu et al.,2009;Wang et al.,2009).Multi-scale dynamic and biogeochemical processes in the SCS,comprising a hot spot in marginal sea studies,have attracted great attentions from researchers(e.g.,Chen et al.,2020;Hu et al.,2020).The South China Sea Annual Meeting(SCSAM)2021,recently held on October 22–24 in Zhanjiang,China,focused on academic exchanges of the newly research results and progresses in the interdisciplinary multi-scale processes in the SCS.The SCSAM 2021 is the eighth international workshop of the series,which started in April 2013(Zhu,2013)and renamed as SCSAM in 2018.There were 90 oral presentations and 57 posters in the meeting this year,which attracted attentions of more than 2000 audiences both on line and on site.This short article summaries the cutting-edge advances in interscale and interdisciplinary approaches to the SCS from the meeting presentations and the associated research.

摘要： The third China and South Asia Standardization Cooperation Meeting was held on September 25,2020 in virtual form,welcoming representatives from national standardization bodies in countries such as Afghanistan,Bangladesh,Nepal,Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

摘要： Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa Steve Woodhall Bloomsbury WildlifeThis spectacular new edition of Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa is the only guide to cover all 671 butterfly species that occur in South Africa.

摘要： The rates of overweight and obesity are rising to epidemic proportions globally, especially among women. Obesity is increasingly common in the obstetric population as well. Sri Lanka is not an exception to this regard. There is limited published data on maternal perceptions on obesity in pregnancy, gestational weight gain and its complications. The current study aimed to describe the maternal perception on obesity, their knowledge on complications of obesity in pregnancy and gestational weight gain in pregnant mothers. Hospital based descriptive cross sectional study was conducted among a systematic sample of 416 pregnant women registered for antenatal clinic care at De Soyza Maternity Hospital. Pre-tested interviewer administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Maternal BMI at booking visit was taken from the pregnancy record to assess the overweight/obesity prevalence among the study population. Nearly one third (32.2%) of the study population were overweight and 11.8% were obese. Fifty three percent (53%) of overweight women identified themselves as such, but 45% of them considered themselves to be normal weight. Most of the pregnant women in the study sample (59.6%) were unable to estimate the recommended weight gain in pregnancy. Women’s knowledge on the specific risks associated with maternal obesity was poor. Pregnant mother’s knowledge on obesity, gestational weight gain and its consequences were unsatisfactory. Bridging this knowledge gap is an important step towards improving perinatal outcomes for all pregnant mothers in the current obesity epidemic.

摘要： Source apportionment studies are useful in understanding sources of pollution and can be used in health risk assessments to evaluate the human health impacts from air pollutants. This study reviewed and analysed available source apportionment studies of air particulate in South Africa in October 2016. Searches were performed using different databases for peer reviewed articles including Google scholar, Scopus, EbscoHost, Science Direct and National Research Foundation database. Source categories were identified and these varied depending on the sites where the research was conducted (rural, urban or remote) but biomass burning dominated. A total of 35 source apportionment records were found with the majority of studies in urban areas (60%) while industrial sites had the least number of records (17.1%). The period 2011-2016 had the highest number of records while 1990-1995 had only three publicly available studies. There is limited research on source apportionment studies of air particulate in South Africa, calling for more research in this area.

摘要： Background: Conflict and displacement substantially affect maternal reproductive health by increasing the risks formorbidity and mortality. However, most literature on pregnancy outcomes is from cross-border refugees and migrants. To date, scanty literature is available on pregnancy outcomes of internally displaced women. South Sudan, with 16 women dying daily is badly affected by internal conflicts of which by the end of December 2013 about 2.2 million people were internally displaced. The aim of this study was to determine pregnancy outcomes of women living in the United Nations House Internally Displaced People (UN IDP) camp and factors associated with poor outcomes. The study was ethically cleared by MUHAS and the Ministry of Health in South Sudan. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in UN House IDP Camp in Juba among internally displaced women who attended antenatal services in the camp, from September to November 2016. Among them, women who became pregnant in last 3 years, excluding the index, were interviewed about their immediate past pregnancy experiences. Additionally, the women were interviewed on reproductive health and gender violence matters. Interviews were guided by a structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 20. Descriptive and multivariate logistic regression analyses were computed for associations with poor pregnancy outcome. Results: A total of 300 internally displaced women participated in the study. Data for 289 participants were analyzed for poor pregnancy outcome. More than half of the women, 157 (54.3%), had poor pregnancy outcome. Poor Maternal outcome was established in 47% of the women and poor fetal outcome in 27.7%. Delivery in IDP camp compared with outside the camp, was independently associated with a 3-fold increase in risk for poor pregnancy outcome, OR = 2.9 (95% CI: 1.47 - 5.56). Conclusion: The prevalence of poor pregnancy outcome is unacceptably high among internally displaced women seeking antenatal services in the IDP camp in Juba and delivery in the camp seems to increase the risk.

摘要： Introduction: Antisynthetase syndrome is an original entity and rare autoimmune myositis and systemic disease, characterized clinically by a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations and the presence of autoantibodies directed against aminoacyl RNAt synthetases. We describe this disease in 03 Senegalese patients. Observations: The first patient was a 49-years-old black woman who was referred in our department after 06-months of follow-up for a misdiagnosis of tuberculosis. The clinical examination revealed polyarthritis, muscle weakness, chronic cough with crackling rales at the pulmonary bases, Raynaud phenomenon and dry syndrome. The second patient, a 21-years-old black woman, had polyarthritis and a progressive muscle weakness. The clinical examination showed also cutaneous signs including an erythema on the dorsal part of the fingers and the presence of the heliotrope erythema on the eyes. The last patient was a 52 years-old black woman. His clinical examination showed polyarthritis, muscle weakness and an appearance of mechanics’ hands. The creatinine phosphokinase was at 6.26 × N, 40.3 × N and 33.64 × N respectively in our patients. The chest computer tomography revealed an interstitial lung disease with a pattern of non-specific interstitial pneumonia in all three patients. The autoantibodies anti-Jo1 was also positive in all patients. The diagnosis of antisynthetase syndrome was retained with an overlap of antisynthetase and Sj?gren’s syndrome in the first observation. The evolution was favourable in our 03 observations with a therapeutic combination including Prednisone-Azathioprine and Kinesitherapy. Conclusion: Antisynthetase syndrome has been exceptionally reported in sub-Saharan Africa. It must be particularly mentioned in front of the triad: myositis, arthritis and interstitial lung disease. The identification of an auto-antibody directed against RNA t synthetases, particularly anti-Jo1, is essential for its diagnosis. Prognosis is related to interstitial lung involvement. The evolution has been favourable in our patients receiving Glucorticoid-Azathioprine combination therapy.

摘要： Many energy consuming countries have carried out research, development, demonstration, planning and deployment of coal-to-liquids (CTL) because of its ability to replace oil imports by converting coal resources into fuel. Among them, China and South Africa successfully had their CTL technology industrialized, while the United States did not. To understand the differences in the industrial development level, a comparative study is necessary. This paper compares the history, driver and policy of CTL industry in China, South Africa and United States, collates and discloses numbers of industry details for the first time. We figure out that the motivation, top level planning and policy consistency are the key indicators of the difference on the industrial development level. Among them, the key to the success of CTL industrialization in China and South Africa is the government’s strong and stable determination to improve energy security, which provides a stable top-level planning and robust policy support. The failure of CTL in United States is caused by the shift of policy attention after its energy security situation improved.

摘要： Semen processing and manipulation generally result in loss of sperm motility and sperm velocity due in part to oxidative stress. In this study we investigated the vulnerability of South African indigenous unimproved buck semen to oxidative stress induced by an oxidative stress inducing agent, namely, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Semen ejaculates were collected from four superior South African indigenous unimproved bucks in a total of ten collections and then each duplicate was treated with different concentrations of H2O2 in presence or absence of Dithiothreitol (DTT). Sperm motility and velocities were determined using the computer aided sperm class analyser (CASA). SYBR-14 and propidium iodide (PI) Live/Dead assay kit was used to determine cell viability and Yo-Pro-1 plus PI Apoptosis kit was used to determine apoptosis. Statistical analysis was performed on the data using SPSS version 17.0 for Windows (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL). South African indigenous unimproved buck raw semen motility was between 97% with 98% viability and 0% apoptotic cells. Comparisons of the untreated controls at 0 and 3 hrs incubations revealed that after 3 hrs there was overall a decrease in the number viable cells with the majority of remaining cells exhibiting circular movements accompanied by high progressive (PM) and rapid (RAP) motilities. In treated South African indigenous unimproved buck semen, H2O2 marginally increased total motility (TM) with few apoptotic sperm cells while retaining high viability. Also, H2O2 increased straight line distances travelled of more than 4 fold as compared to untreated controls with no circularly moving cells. Moreover, inclusion of DTT, an antioxidant, had minimal effects on TM, RAP, curvilinear velocity (VCL), straight line velocity (VSL), linearity (LIN) and wobble (WOB) but positively affected PM, average path velocities (VAP), apoptosis and viability. Our Pearson’s correlation data revealed that only straightness (STR) was highly positively affected by H2O2. Overall, the South African indigenous unimproved buck semen resisted deterioration in TM, RAP, VCL, VAP, VSL, LIN, WOB, viability and apoptosis under oxidative stress conditions. These data suggest that the South African indigenous unimproved buck semen does not easily succumb to oxidative stress.

摘要： Tropical cyclones (TCs) can affect the thermal structure in the upper ocean by mixing. In turn, upper-ocean thermal structure also affects the evolution of TCs. Here based on satellite data, in situ temperature and salinity observations and the best-track data of the U.S. Joint Typhoon Warning Center, combined with an ocean mixed layer model, the role of the pre-existing summer upwelling of the northern South China Sea (NSCS) in TCs self-induced sea surface cooling was explored. The modeling results showed that for a given atmospheric thermodynamic condition, TCs self-induced sea surface cooling is quite different when they pass over the regions with pre-existing upwelling and without upwelling. The amplitude of TCs self-induced cooling is larger by more than 50% in the region with pre-existing upwelling than that without. For example, for a slow-moving typhoon with translation speed of 4 m/s and wind speed of 45 m/s, TC self-induced surface cooling is 2.5°C when they pass over the upwelling region, but only 1.5°C when they pass over the region without upwelling. The results suggest that upwelling of the NSCS could amplify TCs self-induced cooling and play a negative role in TCs intensification before they made landfall in Southern China.