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Distephanus (Asteraceae: Vernonieae): a new combination and a new record for southern Africa.

ANNA AMELIA OBERMEYER-MAUVE (1907-2001)

OTTO HEINRICH VOLK (1903-2000)

Mary Agard Pocock, bom in Rondebosch in 1886, and best known as an algologist, was also a ‘trailblazer' in the biological exploration o f Angola. She, and the ethnologist Dorothea Bleek, undertook a scientific expedition which started at Livingstone, Zambia, and ended at Lobito Bay, Angola, during the dry season, from April to October 1925. During the journey Mary Pocock collected ± 1 000 specimens in the Zambesian region o f endemism (II). as delineated by White (1983) o f which 12 were considered to be species novae. Many o f the specimens were painted by Mary. Some original paintings are housed in the Selmar Schonland Herbarium, Grahamstown (GRA). She also kept detailed diaries o f her route past villages and through the different vegetation types. Collecting locations, with specimen numbers relating to her collection in the Zambesian region, are indicated. An alphabetical list o f all the species collected by Mary Pocock during this exploration has been compiled

Plantaginaceae

No Abstract available

NOTES ON PODOCARPUS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA AND MADAGASCAR

Lecto- or neotypes are designated for Aloe thompsoniae Groenew.. A. micracantha Haw .. A. schmidticma Regel (a synonym of/4, cooperi Baker). A. longistyla Baker. A. aristata Haw., A. longiaristata Schult. & Schult. f„ (a synonym of the preceding name), A. humilis (L.) Mill. var. incurva Haw.. A. glauca Mill., A. niuricata Schult. (a synonym of the preceding name). A. saponaria (Aiton) Haw. var. latifolia Haw. (a new synonym of A. maculata All.) and A. pluridens Haw. The confusing citation of the type of A. thomcroftii Pole Evans is clarified.

FRIEDRICH VON BREITENBACH OMS (1916-1995)

ENCEPHAIARTOS RELICTUS: A NEW SPECIES FROM SOUTHERN AFRICA

Additions and alterations to the inventory of about 26 000 plant taxa in southern Africa are reported for the period from February 1990 to February 1991. In this period a total of 1 080 alterations have been recorded. These changes result from the continual surveying of taxonomic literature received by the library of the National Botanical Institute.

DAVID SPENCER HARDY (1931-1998)

TYPIFICATION OF ALOE SPECIES DESCRIBED BY B.H. GROENEWALD

THE STATUS OF x PLEOPODIUM IN AFRICA

One to two years of chemotherapy after surgery for a brain tumor may slow the progression of the disease in young children and allow them to forego radiation treatment. Children under three years old with a brain tumor have a poor prognosis, and they often experience severe side effects from radiation treatment. Of 198 one- and two-year-old children who were surgically treated for a brain tumor, 57 had a complete resection and 112 had a partial resection. One-year-old children were given chemotherapy for two years and two-year-old children were treated for one year. Thirty-nine of 102 children had a complete or partial response to chemotherapy. Forty-one percent of two-year-olds were free of disease one year later and 39% of one-year-olds were free of disease two years later. Those whose tumors were completely removed at surgery had the highest disease-free survival rates.

THE SYNONYMY OF CERARIA NAMAQUENSIS (SOND.) H.PEARSON & E.L.STEPHENS

ALAN PERCY-LANCASTER (1944-1995)

ALOE BARBERAE TO REPLACE A BAINESII

THE TYPE SPECIMEN OF ALOE SOUTPANSBERGENSIS

Alterations to the inventory of about 24 000 species and infraspecific taxa of bryophytes and vascular plants in southern Africa are reported for the year 1988. The inventory, as currently maintained in the Taxon component of the PRECIS system, contains the accepted name for each taxon, synonyms previously in use as accepted names during the past half-century, and literature references necessary to identify species in each genus and to establish the synonymy. The inventory is updated as new research affecting plant classification in southern Africa is published. During 1988 there were 744 alterations, affecting about 3% of the total number of taxa.

A numerical taxonomic study of three genera of the Ruschiinae (Mesembryanthemaceae) is presented. Seven species are recognized in Astridia. Four species are recognized in Acrodon and two new combinations are made:A. leptophyllus (L. Bol.) Glen and A. duplessiae (L. Bol.) Glen. Five species are recognized in Ebracteola and two new combinations are made: E. wilmaniae (L. Bol.) Glen and E. fulleri (L. Bol.) Glen. This study is largely based on the cited herbarium material, and the characters used are mainly the following: dimensions of plants, leaves and internodes, number and dimensions of parts of flower and fruit, colour of petals, and colour, dimensions and surface structure of seeds.

A register of names and types for southern Africa would make possible a more rapid completion of the Flora of Southern Africa. Registers for Mesembryanthemaceae and Poaceae, families which are similar in number of species and names, but different in distribution and importance, are compared, to give guidelines for an efficient approach to extending the register to include other families.

A METHOD FOR THE NON-DESTRUCTIVE EXAMINATION OF LEAVES OF ALOE SPECIES BY SEM

Objective: Postdural puncture headache (PDPH) is an uncommon sequel of lumbar puncture in children. When conservative treatment with bed rest, hydration, and caffeine are ineffective, epidural blood patches are recommended and are generally effective. The purpose of this report was to highlight that when lumbar epidural blood patches fail to eliminate PDPH, diagnostic evaluation should be performed and alternative treatment sought.Case Report: An unusual case is described of an 11-year-old boy with PDPH, which was successfully managed with a ventral (anterior) epidural blood patch and epidural saline infusion after headache and other symptoms failed to resolve after conservative treatment and conventionally performed blood patches.Conclusions: Ineffectiveness of conservative measures and epidural blood patches performed posteriorly to resolve PDPH should lead the physician both to question the diagnosis of PDPH by pursuing radiographic confirmation of a cerebral spinal fluid leak and, furthermore, identification of its location to best direct further therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A NEW COMBINATION IN LAMPRANTHUS

NOMENCLATURE IN THE GENUS MESTOKLEMA

Fungal urinary tract infections are commonly encountered in the hospitalized neonate. Although these infections most commonly take the form of cystitis, the infection may be complicated by the formation of fungal bezoars, with subsequent urinary tract obstruction. In certain cases, endosurgical debulking or extraction of the fungal bezoar may be necessary. This is particularly challenging in neonates due to their often-compromised physiologic state and small size. We report a case of a premature infant with bilateral obstructing renal fungal bezoars in whom a percutaneous catheter-based thrombectomy system was used successfully to debulk the fungal burden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of patient centricity and keeping the patient at the heart of research design is now well recognised within the healthcare community. The involvement of patient, caregiver and clinician representatives in the study design process may help researchers to achieve this goal and to ensure robust and meaningful data generation. Real-world data collection allows for a more flexible and patient-centred research approach for gaining important insights into the experience of disease and treatments, which is acutely relevant for rare diseases where knowledge about the disease is more likely to be limited. Here, we describe a practical example of a patient-centric, multi-stakeholder approach that led to the co-design of a prospective observational study investigating the lived experience of adolescents with the rare disease, X-linked hypophosphataemia. Specifically, we describe how the knowledge and expertise of a diverse research team, which included expert physicians, research and technology specialists, patients and caregivers, were applied in order to identify the relevant research questions and to ensure the robustness of the study design and its appropriateness to the population of interest within the context of the current clinical landscape. We also demonstrate how a structured patient engagement exercise was key to informing the selection of appropriate outcome measures, data sources, timing of data collection, and to assessing the feasibility and acceptability of the proposed data collection approach., Competing Interests: The authors have read the journal’s policy and have the following competing interests: Vrinda Saraff received an honorarium for lectures and advisory board participation from Kyowa Kirin International and served as Lead Study Advisor for this study. Annemieke M. Boot has received research grants from Ultragenyx and Kyowa Kirin, and payment for lectures and consulting fees from Kyowa Kirin. Agnès Linglart’s academic institution has received a research grant, payment for lectures and consulting fees provided by A. Linglart from Kyowa Kirin. Angela Williams is an employee of Kyowa Kirin (study sponsor). Karen M.A. Bailey is an employee of OPEN Health, who has received payment from Kyowa Kirin to support the activities described in this article and to provide medical writing support for this manuscript. Fiona Glen is an employee of OPEN Health, who has received payment from Kyowa Kirin to support the activities described in this article and to provide medical writing support for this manuscript. Elin Haf Davies is an employee of Aparito, who has received payment from Kyowa Kirin to provide technological services to support an ongoing study sponsored by Kyowa Kirin. Sue Wood is a former employee of Kyowa Kirin (study sponsor). Stephen Greentree is a former employee of Kyowa Kirin (study sponsor). Angela J Rylands is an employee of Kyowa Kirin (study sponsor). The study is sponsored by Kyowa Kirin International. Karen M.A. Bailey and Fiona Glen are employed by OPEN Health and funded by Kyowa Kirin International. Medical writing and editorial support for the preparation of the manuscript was also provided by Afsaneh Khetrapal of ApotheCom, London, UK, and was funded by Kyowa Kirin International, in accordance with Good Publication Practice (GPP3) guidance (Ann Intern Med. 2015;163:461-464). This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products associated with this research to declare.", (Copyright: © 2024 Saraff et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Management of chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) has recently undergone dramatic changes, prompting the European LeukemiaNet (ELN) to issue recommendations in 2013; however, it remains unclear whether real-world CML management is consistent with these goals. We report results of UK TARGET CML, a retrospective observational study of 257 patients with chronic-phase CML who had been prescribed a first-line TKI between 2013 and 2017, most of whom received first-line imatinib (n = 203). Although 44% of patients required ≥1 change of TKI, these real-world data revealed that molecular assessments were frequently missed, 23% of patients with ELN-defined treatment failure did not switch TKI, and kinase domain mutation analysis was performed in only 49% of patients who switched TKI for resistance. Major molecular response (MMR; BCR-ABL1 IS ≤0·1%) and deep molecular response (DMR; BCR-ABL1 IS ≤0·01%) were observed in 50% and 29%, respectively, of patients treated with first-line imatinib, and 63% and 54%, respectively, receiving a second-generation TKI first line. MMR and DMR were also observed in 77% and 44% of evaluable patients with ≥13 months follow-up, receiving a second-generation TKI second line. We found little evidence that cardiovascular risk factors were considered during TKI management. These findings highlight key areas for improvement in providing optimal care to patients with CML., (© 2020 The Authors. British Journal of Haematology published by British Society for Haematology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The Republic of Moldova faces several concurrent health challenges most notably an increase in chronic non-communicable diseases, spiralling health care costs and widening health inequalities. To accelerate progress in their resolution there is a need for new and innovative health promotion and behaviour change communication interventions. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Social Protection in collaboration with the newly created National Agency for Public Health held a conference on the occasion of the Moldovan National Day of Health Promotion on 14th March 2018 in which national and invited international experts exchanged their views on (1) best practice examples of behaviour change interventions, health promotion activities and lessons learned from the UK and elsewhere; and (2) possible ways forward for Moldova to implement cost-effective and evidence-based intersectoral health promotion programmes. The experts provided recommendations on implementing behaviour change interventions to reduce and prevent obesity; on the creation of a favourable tobacco control environment to reduce smoking prevalence; and on how physical activity programme design can benefit from health psychology research. All these strategies could foster health promotion activities and ultimately contribute to improving the health outcomes of the Moldovan population., Competing Interests: Competing interestsThe authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© The Author(s). 2020.)

Results from clinical trials show that vedolizumab is an efficacious treatment for inflammatory bowel disease, namely Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). However, there is limited evidence from real-world clinical practice, especially on early clinical experiences in the UK.To describe real-world early experiences of vedolizumab to treat CD and UC in the UK.A retrospective, chart review study of patients with CD or UC treated with vedolizumab across 5 UK hospitals. All eligible adults (≥18 years at initiation) with a diagnosis of CD and ≥14 weeks of data or UC and ≥10 weeks of data available following vedolizumab initiation were included.Data were analyzed for 112 patients (CD: 66; UC: 46). Patients with CD had a median of 7.4 (interquartile range 5.7-9.4) months follow-up and patients with UC had a median of 7.4 (5.6-10.2) months follow-up post-vedolizumab initiation. Most patients, 80% (53/66) with CD and 89% (41/46) with UC, remained on vedolizumab treatment at the time of data collection. No new safety signals were identified during the study.These results add to the body of evidence supporting vedolizumab as an effective and well-tolerated treatment for CD and UC in real-world clinical practice.

Purpose: The objective of this prospective, observational study was to describe the treatment, severity assessment and healthcare resources required for management of patients with acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections who were unsuitable for beta-lactam antibiotic treatments., Methods: Patients were enrolled across five secondary care National Health Service hospitals. Eligible patients had a diagnosis of acute bacterial skin and skin structure infection and were considered unsuitable for beta-lactam antibiotics (e.g. confirmed/suspected methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus , beta-lactam allergy). Data regarding diagnosis, severity of the infection, antibiotic treatment and patient management were collected., Results: 145 patients with acute bacterial skin and skin structure infection were included; 79% ( n = 115) patients received greater than two antibiotic regimens; median length of the first antibiotic regimen was 2 days (interquartile range of 1-5); median time to switch from intravenous to oral antibiotics was 4 days (interquartile range of 3-8, n = 72/107); 25% ( n = 10/40) patients with Eron class 1 infection had systemic inflammatory response syndrome, suggesting they were misclassified. A higher proportion of patients with systemic inflammatory response syndrome received treatment in an inpatient setting, and their length of stay was prolonged in comparison with patients without systemic inflammatory response syndrome., Conclusion: There exists an urgent need for more focused antimicrobial stewardship strategies and tools for standardised clinical assessment of acute bacterial skin and skin structure infection severity in patients who are unsuitable for beta-lactam antibiotics. This will lead to optimised antimicrobial treatment strategies and ensure effective healthcare resource utilisation., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest statement: The author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article: J.A.T.S. was MSD advisory board member in 2015, A.G.-R. was MSD advisory board member during 2015–2016. R.D., M.A. and A.M. are employees of MSD.