Genetic detection of some tick-borne bacterial and protozoan pathogens in ticks collected in Raymond Mhlaba local municipality, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa
- Authors: Nqoro, Ayabulela
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Tick-borne diseases Ticks
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/17084 , vital:40846
- Description: Ticks and tick-borne diseases are becoming a major life threatening concern to wildlife, domesticated animals and human health. Besides causing skin damage, ticks infestations have become a growing burden in food security, economic losses and transmitting multides of pathogens. Little data and knowledge is available regarding the occurrence of etiologic agents of tick-borne diseases in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, hence the study was conducted and aimed at screening for genetic material of Anaplasma, Rickettisia, Ehrlichia, Borrelia, Babesia and Theileria species in ticks collected in Raymond Mhlaba District at Eastern Cape, South Africa. Ticks were collected from domesticated animals in Raymond Mhlaba Municipality, and were morphologically identified and processed for DNA extraction. Ticks were chopped into bits and DNA was extracted from the samples with commercial DNA extraction kit. The extracted DNA samples was used to molecularly identify the tick as well as assess the presence of tickborne pathogens belonging to Rickettsia, Babesia, Borrelia, Anaplasma and Erhlichia, and Theileria spp. by PCR using specific primer pairs published in literature. Positive amplicons were sequenced in a commercial sequencing facility. The obtained chromatograms were edited with Geneious bioinformatics software and were subjected to BLASTn and phylogenetic analyses using MEGA7 version for evolutionary relationships with curated reference sequences in GenBank. Nine hundred and sixty two tick samples were collected from domestic animals. Collected tick samples belonged to three genera, which were the Amblyomma, Rhipicephalus and Haemophalis in decreasing order of their abundance. Screening of tick DNA samples by PCR did not show presence of Babesia, Borrelia, Anaplasma and Erhlichia. 13 Positive PCR products were observed for Rickettsia and Theileria spp.. The positive amplicons were purified, sequenced and analysed for speciation of Theileria and Rickettsia. The presence of Rickettsia was detected in 60/994 (6%) from the three genera of ticks. Phylogenetic analyses shows that the sequences obtained are phylogenetically related to members of Spotted fever group Rickettsiae. Genetic material of Theileria spp. was detected from 10/994 ticks with an overall infection of 1% obtained in Rhipicephalus genera. Analyses shows that the sequences obtained are phylogenetically related to T. orientalis complex. The finding from this study therefore expands the knowledge on recent emergence of Theileria and Rickettsia spp. in Raymond Mhlaba Municipality in Eastern Cape, South Africa
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- Date Issued: 2019
Substance abuse effects on academic performance and professional behaviour of public nursing college students in the Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Madikizela, Zoleka
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Substance abuse -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape Nursing students -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , M Cur
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/11407 , vital:39069
- Description: The purpose of the study was to explore the effects of substance abuse on the academic performance and professional behaviour of students at a public nursing college in order to develop guidelines for the prevention of substance abuse. The design that was chosen as most suitable for this study was the qualitative research design. The researcher chose this method as she sought to explore the effects of substance abuse on the participants in this study. A purposive sampling method was used to select participants on the basis of their knowledge of the phenomenon.The participants who were utilised were 3rd and 4th year level students in the four year diploma in nursing. A pilot study was conducted and participants with similar characteristicsto the study population were utilised. Individual interviews were used as the means to collect data during which participants were given an opportunity to discuss issues with the intention of eliciting their views and opinions. One broad, open ended question was used to gather information from the participants and subsequent questions were used to probe further for clarity. Data were collected until saturation pointwas reached. Transcriptions were done within two days of the interview. The researcher repeatedly listened to audio recordings of the data until completely satisfied with verbatim interpretation of data. Data analysis was done manually. The researcher used the process of bracketing during data analysis and remained neutral, setting aside previous knowledge and beliefs about the phenomenon under study. The participants were allowed freedom to conduct their lives as autonomous agents, without control, coercion or exploitation. The findings revealed that: firstly, substance abuse has a negative impact of on both the academic performance and professional behaviour of the public nursing college students; secondly, that guidelines are needed for the prevention of substance abuse amongst students so as to focus on a ‘substance abuse free college environment’. vi The academic performance is negatively affected as substance abuse results in cognitive impairment, failure to meet the 85% lecture attendance requirement resulting in them repeating a year of study or being excluded from the course, and resulting in a missed opportunity to acquire scientific knowledge in nursing. The students’ academic aspirations get derailed. Students also experience strained relationships with lecturers due to drunkenness and bunking classes. Studentlecturer strained relationships are incompatible with academic achievement. Students whose professional behaviour is negatively affected by substance abuse demonstrate unethical conduct and professional misconduct in the clinical setting for experiential learning. The students fail to inculcate the values of the nursing profession and thus tarnish the image of the profession. Such students behave unprofessionally as they either absent themselves from duty, come on duty drunk or continue taking substances while on duty. They are also rude and swear at colleagues, supervisors, other staff members and patients. The students steal from colleagues and display insubordination. Their dress code is unprofessional and they are incompetent with poor standards of care towards the patients. The purpose of this study was to develop guidelines to prevent substance abuse at the college and this has been achieved. The results show that the college environment should be made substance abuse free by: firstly, identifying and mitigating the predisposing factors or reasons for substance abuse, for example: establish a proper and aesthetic infrastructure conducive to learning and teaching at the students’ residences and classrooms, set up mentorship programmes and introduce the house-mother model at residences; secondly, developing a policy on prevention of substance abuse within college premises including disciplinary measures; thirdly, developing stress management programmes for students to prevent abuse of substances as a coping mechanism, e.g. decongest the curriculum, curriculum review to be consultative, develop support groups, grant mid-year breaks and provide recreational and sporting facilities; fourthly, engage the services of a vii professional therapist for students who are already abusing substances or referral to the therapist; fifthly, clinical accompaniment should be strengthened for effective correlation of theory and practice; and, lastly, engage the services of a financial advisor to give guidance on income and expenditure with regard to student stipend instead of spending it on substances.
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- Date Issued: 2019
The Impact of capital structure on performance of banks in South Africa
- Authors: Jiza, Andiswa Abongile
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Banks and banking Capital management and capital structure
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MCom (Economics)
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/16895 , vital:40783
- Description: The study examined the relationship between capital structure and bank performance in South Africa using five small banks and the two big banks from 2002-2017. Fixed effects model, Pooled and the random effects model were utilised to test the relationship between capital structure and bank performance. Return on assets and the earnings per share were used as a measure for financial performance while the debt to equity ratio and the debt to assets ratio were used as proxies for capital structure. The results show that there is a negative significant relationship between return on assets and the two capital structure measures meaning that higher leverage ratios lead to lower profits measured by return on assets. while there is a negative significant relationship between earnings per share and the capital structure meaning that higher leverage ratios lead to lower profits. The study recommends that financial managers of banks should maintain lower debt than equity in their mix of capital structure as more debts is not good for the performance of banks.
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- Date Issued: 2019