3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item Bartonella species in human and animal populations in Gauteng, South Africa, 2007-2008(2010-10-20) Trataris, Anastasia NatashaBartonella is a genus of fastidious bacteria responsible for a wide range of both symptomatic and asymptomatic infections. Bartonellae are often considered obligate pathogens where infection is concurrent with immunological suppression of the host. The objectives of this study were: to determine the prevalence of Bartonella infections in HIV-positive patients presenting for treatment at a Gauteng HIV-clinic, to determine the extent of bartonellae affecting the healthy population, to determine the seroprevalence of Bartonella henselae and Bartonella quintana antibodies in HIV-negative antenatal patient sera taken from various maternity units in Gauteng public hospitals, and to investigate cats, dogs, and rodents in Johannesburg for carriage of bartonellae. A total of 382 HIV-positive patients attending the HIV clinic and 42 clinically healthy volunteers agreed to participate. Three-hundred and forty-two residual sera from the national antenatal survey were selected and tested for IgG and IgM antibodies against Bartonella. There were 179 dogs, 98 cats and 124 rodents enrolled in this study. The seroprevalence for Bartonella in humans was carried out using IgG and IgM commercially available kits. HIV-positive patients were found to have 32% IgG and 14% IgM seroprevalence, whereas the healthy volunteers had a lower IgG (19%) and higher IgM seroprevalence than the HIV-positive counterparts. All blood samples were cultured, but only the cat and rodent specimens yielded isolates. These were sequenced for species identification. The cat isolates were 99 and 100% similar to B. henselae URBHLIE 9 previously isolated from a patient with endocarditis, and the rat isolates were 98 – 99% similar to either RN24BJ (candidus ‘B. thailandensis’) or RN28BJ, previously isolated from rodents in China. The PCR prevalences were: 22.5% in HIV-positive patients; 9.5% in clinically healthy volunteers; 23.5% in cats; 9% in dogs; and 25% in rodents. Findings of this study have important implications for HIV-positive patientsItem Morphological variation in the metatarsal bones of selected recent and pre-pastoral humans from South Africa(2006-03-23) Zipfel, BernhardThe study of the human metatarsals reveals frequent morphological variations from the typical descriptions. Pathologies of these bones in contemporary humans are common, and it has been suggested that some of these may be associated with some of these variants. Within this context, it was not clear to what extent footwear and other environmental factors such as modern substrates have influenced metatarsal morphology. This study essentially consists of three parts. First a preliminary morphometric study of the first, second and fifth metatarsals, to demonstrate the broad patterns of discrimination between selected hominoidea, namely humans, gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans. In addition, the SKX 5017 first metatarsal fossil thought to be of Paranthropus robustus was included. Second, a primary morphometric investigation into the patterns of morphological discrimination in the five metatarsals of selected humans from South Africa, namely Sotho, Zulu, European and pre-pastoral subgroups. The contemporary human subgroups are associated with modern lifestyles and the pre-pastoral individuals represent habitually unshod forager societies from the western and southern Cape, dated 9750 - 2000 B.P. Third, a non-metric investigation into the patterns of variation in epigenetic and pathological variants of the metatarsus of the four human subgroups. A suite of existing metrical data was utilized for the preliminary hominoid study, and a suite of metrical and non-metrical data was collected for the primary human study from appropriate skeletal collections. Univariate analysis of these iv samples revealed important, though simplistic trends in morphology. Subsequent multivariate analyses utilizing principal components and canonical variates analysis were undertaken. Multivariate analysis of the hominoid samples revealed large scale variation between the species. This discrimination was on the basis of genetics, locomotor function and geography. Multivariate analysis of the human metrical data revealed very subtle morphological discrimination within and between the subgroups. Most of this discrimination appears to be genetic, followed by a functional or life-style based discrimination suggesting a broad discrimination between recent humans and the habitually unshod pre-pastoral subgroup. The epigenetic traits reveal considerable variation within groups, with similar trends between them. All subgroups have an appreciable number of identifiable pathological changes, with the recent human subgroups having the most and the prepastoral subgroup the least. In all subgroups, the hallucal metatarsal displays by far the greatest frequency in osseous modification. The main conclusions of this study are: 1.) The general patterns of morphological discrimination between the metatarsals of the human subgroups are very subtle. The non-metric traits are very variable, but do not discriminate between any of the subgroups. 2.) Both recent and ancient human groups present with similar patterns of pathological changes, but the frequency is different, these changes are to a great extent influenced by lifestyle. Regardless of temporal context, no clear correlation between morphological variation and pathological changes could be found.