Biomedical subjects

E Cloete

Publications and source records attributed to E Cloete.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Using Ecosan sludge for crop production.

This paper presents the microbial risks associated with the reuse of Ecosan sludge in agriculture. Sludge from KwaZulu Natal Province in South Africa with a helminth ova content of 30 HO/g TS, faecal coliforms of 10(6) CFU/g TS, faecal streptococci of 10(6) CFU/g TS and Salmonella spp. of 10(5) CFU/g TS was used for this purpose. Applying different rates of sludge to spinach and carrots resulted in an increase in bacterial and helminth ova counts in crops as the quantity of sludge increased. The helminth ova content in crops was always greater in leaves than in stems, with a content varying from 2 to 15 HO/g TS for spinach with sludge application rates of 0-37.5 ton/ha and from 2-8 HO/g TS for carrot crops with sludge application rates varying from 0-35 ton/ha. Nevertheless, viability in crops was 20-25%, reducing the risk of disease. Consequently, the development of an Ecosan sludge revalorisation standard is considered important. Some recommendations are made taking into account the characteristics of the sludge as well as conditions in rural areas.

Animals↗

PubMed1996

Increased expression of aphidicolin-induced common fragile sites in Tourette syndrome: the key to understand the genetics of comorbid phenotypes?

In a comparison of 80 common aphidicolin-induced fragile sites (FS) between 26 DSM-IV Tourette syndrome (TS) and 24 control individuals, the mean of the summed break frequencies following mild aphidicolin pretreatment was significantly higher in TS individuals than in controls (P < 0.001). Other breakpoints encountered during this study, i.e., random breaks, breaks corresponding to rare FS, and breakpoints recorded by others but not listed as common FS according to the Chromosome Coordinating Meeting [1992] were listed as category II breakpoints. By using the most significantly different mean FS breakage figures between TS and control individuals, further stepwise discriminant analysis allowed identification of TS individuals from only a few sites in both the common FS and category II breakpoint groups. Future research needs to focus on confirmation of altered common fragile site expression in association with behavioral variation, whether expression of certain discriminatory sites concurs with specific comorbid disorder expression; the nature of the molecular alterations at these FS and the implications of a genomic instability phenotype for the mapping of a primary TS gene or genes.

Adult↗

PubMed1995

Increased chromosomal breakage in Tourette syndrome predicts the possibility of variable multiple gene involvement in spectrum phenotypes: preliminary findings and hypothesis.

Increased chromosomal breakage was found in 12 patients with DSM-IV Tourette syndrome (TS) as compared with 10 non-TS control individuals with respect to untreated, modified RPM1-, and BrdU treated lymphocyte cultures (P < 0.001 in each category). A hypothesis is proposed that a major TS gene is probably connected to genetic instability, and associated chromosomal marker sites may be indicative of the localization of secondary genes whose altered expression could be responsible for associated comorbid conditions. This concept implies that genes influencing higher brain functions may be situated at or near highly recombigenic areas allowing enhanced amplification, duplication and recombination following chromosomal strand breakage. Further studies on a larger sample size are required to confirm the findings relating to chromosomal breakage and to analyze the possible implications for a paradigmatic shift in linkage strategy for complex disorders by focusing on areas at or near unstable chromosomal marker sites.

Adult↗