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25-Hydroxycholecalciferol serum level shows an inverse relationship with high-grade uterine cervical dysplasia in HIV-uninfected Black women in South Africa
(MDPI, 2025-05) Punchoo, Rivak; Dreyer, Greta; Pillay, Tahir S.; tahir.pillay@up.ac.za
BACKGROUND : Cervical dysplasia is a pre-malignant condition of the uterine cervix and is highly prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa; especially affecting HIV-infected Black women. The anti-dysplastic effect of vitamin D hormones in cervical dysplasia is poorly understood. Therefore, we conducted a cross-sectional case-control observational study to assess the relationship between serum 25-hydroxycholecalciferol (25(OH)D) and cervical dysplasia, amongst Black women with and without HIV infection.
METHODS : The study participants attended a gynaecologic oncology clinic at an academic hospital in Pretoria, South Africa (n = 109). Patient clinical data were obtained during consultation. Cervical dysplasia was identified by cytology (PAP smear) which classified the case group as high-grade squamous epithelial lesions (HSILs), and the control group as
The outcomes of a multifaceted educational intervention to reduce moral distress among critical care nurses
(Wiley, 2025-11) Aljabery, Mohannad; Coetzee-Prinsloo, Isabel M.; Van der Wath, Anna Elizabeth; Al-Awabdeh, Eman; Masenge, Andries
AIM : To measure the outcome of the implementation of a multifaceted educational intervention on the impact of moral distress among critical care nurses.
BACKGROUND : The complex nature of critical care settings exaggerates different morally distressing situations that require ongoing development of interventions to mitigate the impact of moral distress. Despite the availability of research that has addressed moral distress among nurses in the literature, there is a debate about the effectiveness of the applied interventions in reducing moral distress.
DESIGN : A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control group study design.
METHODS : Critical care nurses in two public hospitals in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, UAE enrolled in a study that extended over 6 months. Hospital A was assigned as an experimental group (n = 76) and received four educational sessions and three booster sessions. Hospital B was assigned as a control group (n = 82) and didn't receive any moral distress-related education. The Measure of Moral Distress for Health Care Professionals questionnaire and the Moral Distress Thermometer were utilised to measure the participants' moral distress frequency, intensity, and composite scores pre- and post-intervention and identify the outcomes.
RESULTS : The multifaceted educational intervention exhibited statistically significant reductions in the experimental group frequency, intensity, and composite moral distress scores post-test. Conversely, moral distress scores were increased among the control group. Moreover, the intervention significantly reduced the number of nurses who intended to leave their positions from 58 nurses to 47 nurses in the experimental group.
CONCLUSION : The multifaceted educational intervention exerts positive outcomes in reducing moral distress across all the dimensions and improving the nurses' retention.
RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE : The intervention provides materials that could enhance the nurses' moral knowledge and skills. It provides different tools, techniques, and strategies to help the nurses address and manage their moral distress.
SUMMARY
What does this paper contribute to the wider global clinical community?
○ The effectiveness of the multifaceted educational intervention in mitigating the moral distress of critical care nurses in a diverse setting like the United Arab Emirates makes it suitable to be adopted and implemented in other countries with diverse healthcare settings.
○ The developed intervention could be adopted by hospitals to be a part of their continuous education to enhance the moral knowledge and skills among nurses in other disciplines.
○ The developed moral distress self-reflection form provides an alternative method to act against a morally distressing situation. The form can be adopted by healthcare institutions and added to their portal to facilitate anonymous reporting and solving of morally distressing situations.
○ The developed self-screening Moral Distress Pathway guides the nurses in the field step-by-step to promptly recognise their moral distress, take proactive measures to seek proper support, and determine the appropriate action to take.
Thermos-aerodynamic performance and heat transfer analysis in a rectangular channel using various angle groove geometry
(Elsevier, 2025-09) Aasa, Samson Abiodun; Mahmood, Gazi I.; aasa.aasa@tuks.co.za
Please read abstract in the article.
A wideband circularly polarised magneto-electric dipole antenna array with a series sequential phase feed network
(Wiley, 2025-01) Coetzer, Elmien; Joubert, Johan; Odendaal, Johann Wilhelm; jjoubert@up.ac.za
A printed circularly polarised antenna array is presented that utilizes the inherent good bandwidth and stable gain of magneto-electric dipoles in combination with the wideband benefits of a sequential rotation feed technique. The proposed antenna has a simple geometry using two substrates and does not require any additional cavity or parasitic elements. The designed and simulated antenna has an impedance bandwidth of more than 75%, a 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth of 67% and a peak gain of 12.4 dBic, with less than 3 dB gain variation across the entire axial ratio bandwidth. The antenna provides a good combination of simple and compact geometry, wide bandwidth, good gain and stable radiation patterns when compared to previously published research. Simulated as well as measured results are presented for a protype antenna array.
Moving memories : shifting the locus of enunciation in choreographic composition
(Routledge, 2025) Haskins, Nicola; Coetzee, Marie-Heleen; Munro, Marth
This article proposes a decolonial choreographic process rupturing the historical locus of enunciation in a dance program at a tertiary institution in South Africa. This locus in choreographic composition curricula in such universities reflects Western modernity, resulting in epistemological hegemony that creates epistemic othering that, we argue, affects students’ ontological positioning. We view decoloniality as centered on rupturing the historical locus of enunciation through epistemic disobedience and delinking from coloniality/modernity. We argue that one pedagogical approach in a choreographic composition curriculum is through using embodied, autobiographical memories toward decolonial storying. We discuss the ways this decolonial option shaped the choreographic process toward the performance of Memoryscapes (2022). We conclude by demonstrating how this option surfaced the participants as the loci of enunciation(s), by drawing from their identities, subjective lived experiences, and autobiographical memories in the process of embodied decolonial storying.