Project description:The emergence and fast global spread of COVID-19 has presented one of the greatest public health challenges in modern times with no proven cure or vaccine. Africa is still early in this epidemic, therefore the extent of disease severity is not yet clear. We used a mathematical model to fit to the observed cases of COVID-19 in South Africa to estimate the basic reproductive number and critical vaccination coverage to control the disease for different hypothetical vaccine efficacy scenarios. We also estimated the percentage reduction in effective contacts due to the social distancing measures implemented. Early model estimates show that COVID-19 outbreak in South Africa had a basic reproductive number of 2.95 (95% credible interval [CrI] 2.83–3.33). A vaccine with 70% efficacy had the capacity to contain COVID-19 outbreak but at very higher vaccination coverage 94.44% (95% Crl 92.44–99.92%) with a vaccine of 100% efficacy requiring 66.10% (95% Crl 64.72–69.95%) coverage. Social distancing measures put in place have so far reduced the number of social contacts by 80.31% (95% Crl 79.76–80.85%). These findings suggest that a highly efficacious vaccine would have been required to contain COVID-19 in South Africa. Therefore, the current social distancing measures to reduce contacts will remain key in controlling the infection in the absence of vaccines and other therapeutics.
Project description:Lipidomics is a promising tool to determine biomarkers and elucidate mechanisms associated with anthropogenic-induced stress in wildlife. Therefore, we examine the application of lipidomics for in situ studies on Mozambique tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus) in Loskop Dam, South Africa. Mortality events of aquatic life associated with an environmentally-derived inflammatory disease, pansteatitis, have occurred in this area. The lipidome of adipose tissue (n = 31) and plasma (n = 51) from tilapia collected from at Loskop Dam were characterized using state of the art liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry. Lipid profiles reflected pansteatitis severity and were significantly different between diseased and healthy individuals. Over 13 classes of lipids associated with inflammation, cell death, and/or oxidative damage were upregulated in pansteatitis-affected adipose tissue, including ether-lipids, short-chained triglyceride oxidation products, sphingolipids, and acylcarnitines. Ceramides showed a 1000-fold increase in the most affected adipose tissues, illustrating its potential as sensitive and novel indicators of disease severity. In plasma, triglycerides were found to be downregulated in pansteatitis-affected tilapia. As comprehensive coverage of the lipidome aids in the elucidation of possible disease mechanisms, application of lipidomics could be applied to the understanding of other environmentally-derived inflammatory conditions, such as those caused by obesogens.
Project description:Lipidomics is a promising tool to determine biomarkers and elucidate mechanisms associated with anthropogenic-induced stress in wildlife. Therefore, we examine the application of lipidomics for in situ studies on Mozambique tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus) in Loskop Dam, South Africa. Mortality events of aquatic life associated with an environmentally-derived inflammatory disease, pansteatitis, have occurred in this area. The lipidome of adipose tissue (n = 31) and plasma (n = 51) from tilapia collected from at Loskop Dam were characterized using state of the art liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry. Lipid profiles reflected pansteatitis severity and were significantly different between diseased and healthy individuals. Over 13 classes of lipids associated with inflammation, cell death, and/or oxidative damage were upregulated in pansteatitis-affected adipose tissue, including ether-lipids, short-chained triglyceride oxidation products, sphingolipids, and acylcarnitines. Ceramides showed a 1000-fold increase in the most affected adipose tissues, illustrating its potential as sensitive and novel indicators of disease severity. In plasma, triglycerides were found to be downregulated in pansteatitis-affected tilapia. As comprehensive coverage of the lipidome aids in the elucidation of possible disease mechanisms, application of lipidomics could be applied to the understanding of other environmentally-derived inflammatory conditions, such as those caused by obesogens.
Project description:Gray leaf spot (GLS) disease of maize is caused by the fungus Cercospora zeina in African countries, such as South Africa. The plant material was from maize inbred line B73-QTL, which was introgressed with a QTL region for resistance to GLS from the maize inbred line CML444 (Berger et al (2014) BMC Genetics 15 60 www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2156/15/60 ). This QTL was named 10G2_GLS and 10H_GLS from two field trials in KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa in that study. B73-QTL plants were planted in the field, and subjected to natural infection with C. zeina. This was the same field trial as B73 plants that were sampled for RNAseq and the data reported in Swart et al (2017) Mol Plant Microbe Interact 30 710-724 (2017)(GSE94442). Samples were collected from lower leaves with moderate GLS lesions and younger upper leaves of the same B73-QTL plants with very few immature GLS lesions. The first aim of the experiment was to compare the maize transcriptomes during C.zeina challenge between B73 (from GSE94442 data) and B73-QTL plants (this study). The second aim was to identify novel transcripts expressed from the QTL region, which may underlie the quantitative disease resistance to GLS. The third aim was to identify C. zeina genes expressed in planta during infection.
2020-02-14 | GSE137198 | GEO
Project description:Evaluation of the Xpert Carba-R assay on carbapenemase-producing organisms in Johannesburg, South Africa