Search

The increasing prevalence of non-communicable diseases and obesity is associated with excessive consumption of sugar. To address this concern the taxation of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), known as the Health Promotion Levy (HPL), was implemented in South Africa in April 2018. A study was undertaken to investigate perspectives of dietitians and key industry role-players (KIRs) on the HPL. This was a cross-sectional, descriptive study. A national study was conducted in South Africa via a virtual platform. The participants were registered dietitians (n = 138) and key industry role-players (KIRs) (n = 39) who had expertise in nutrition, food science and/or sugar taxation legislation. Electronic surveys probed participants' awareness and opinions of the HPL, perceived SSB purchasing of consumers and barriers or facilitators for implementation of the HPL. Dietitians were positive regarding the HPL (75.8%; n = 94/124) but regarded the tax as too little to affect a reduction in obesity (71.8%, n = 89/124). They reported a 19.2% reduction in their perceived clients' daily purchasing of SSBs since implementation of the HPL. The KIRs regarded the HPL as insufficient to influence consumers' purchasing behaviour (64.9%, n = 24/37). Consumers' habitual purchasing was deemed a barrier (83.8%, n = 31/37) and consumer education an enabling factor (76,9%, n = 30/39) to successful implementation. Dietitians have a positive opinion on the HPL. They agree that the HPL alone will not influence the purchasing behaviour of consumers or reduce the prevalence of obesity. KIRs regard the HPL to be insufficient to affect consumers' purchasing behaviour. The HPL should form part of a multi-pronged approach to create a supportive environment to reduce sugar consumption. It is recommended that approaches should include fiscal measures, consumer education and controlled marketing of SSBs. Trained dietitians would be able to enhance the goal of the HPL to combat the obesity pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ALCOHOL-INDUCED PSYCHOTIC DISORDER (AIPD), also known as alcohol hallucinosis, is a rare complication of alcohol misuse that requires clinical differentiation from other psychiatric disorders, particularly alcohol-withdrawal delirium and schizophrenia (Soyka, [...], Objective: Alcohol-induced psychotic disorder (AIPD) is a rare complication of excessive alcohol use for which limited comparative studies are available. The aim of this study was to prospectively investigate demographic and psychopathological characteristics in patients with AIPD, schizophrenia, and uncomplicated alcohol dependence. We postulated that AIPD is a discrete clinical entity that can be differentiated from schizophrenia and uncomplicated alcohol dependence by means of standardized clinical assessments. Method: Twenty-eight patients with AIPD, 21 with schizophrenia and 20 with uncomplicated alcohol dependence were assessed using psychiatric rating scales, including the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. Results: Patients with AIPD had a significantly lower educational level, later onset of psychosis, higher levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms, fewer negative and disorganized symptoms, better insight and judgment, and less functional impairment compared with patients with schizophrenia. Conclusion: The study provides further supportive evidence that AIPD can be clinically distinguished from schizophrenia.

This study uses active share (the measure developed by Cremers and Petajisto, 2009) and tracking error (the traditional measure) to characterise the active management undertaken by 114 general equity unit trust funds in South Africa from 2008 to 2015. None of the strategies described by these measures yields statistically significant risk-adjusted return outperformance. The active expense ratio and active alpha for each of the funds are then estimated (assuming that their passive components can be administered at the cost of the unit trust index fund closest to it in terms of tracking error). On average, the funds do not deliver superior returns to compensate for the extra cost of active management. Individual managers who can produce additional performance for the additional cost would be exceptional, and investors should realise that they themselves would need exceptional skill to be able to identify such managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Globally, fiscal measures are deemed effective in combating the obesity epidemic at population level. A health promotional levy (HPL) on sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) was implemented in April 2018 in South Africa to reduce sugar consumption., Design and Methods: This cross-sectional, descriptive study investigated consumers' understanding and opinion of the HPL, and impact on consumption of SSBs. Data was collected outside 15 grocery stores, within four health sub-districts of the City of Cape Town. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was completed with literate, adult consumers ( N = 696)., Results: Participants (46.0%) were aware of the HPL but regarded it insufficient to change purchasing behaviour (55.4%). The lower income group (56.4%) was most affected by the increased price of SSBs. Those who agreed (46.8%) that the levy would help to reduce the prevalence of obesity was significantly more likely to notice a price increase in SSBs (54.5%) ( p < 0.01) and had a higher education level ( p < 0.01). Overall, self-reported consumption of SSBs decreased by 7.7% since the HPL was enacted. Participants who were aware of the detrimental effect of consuming large amounts of sugar, were more likely to change their behaviour ( p < 0.01)., Conclusions: Participants were receptive for legislative measures to combat the prevalence of obesity but lacked clarity of the goal and implementation of the HPL. A multipronged approach is crucial to lower sugar intake sustainably and an environment which offers healthy alternatives to SSBs. A higher HPL combined with transparency of how revenue is utilised could enhance the impact of the sugar tax strategy., Competing Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article., (© The Author(s) 2022.)

Background: There is increasing evidence that obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a heterogeneous disorder. Different clinical subtypes may be characterized by differing pathophysiological mechanisms and treatment outcomes., Methods: A cluster analysis was performed on 45 items of the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms Checklist (YBOCS-CL) for 261 patients with OCD. Cluster solutions emerging at different linkage distance levels, and the associations of identified clusters with demographic, clinical and relevant genetic variables, were investigated., Results: A 6-cluster solution emerged at a linkage distance level of 1.5, and a 3-cluster solution emerged at a linkage distance level of 2.1. The 3 clusters in the latter solution were labeled I) Contamination / washing, II) Hoarding / symmetry / ordering, and III) Obsessional / checking. Increased Cluster III scores were associated with earlier age of OCD onset and the Met/Met (L/L) genotype of the COMT Val158Met polymorphism., Conclusion: The data here are consistent with previous work delineating the different symptom subtypes of OCD, also with previous work suggesting that the Met/Met (L/L) genotype of the COMT Val158Met polymorphism may be associated with anxiety symptoms, as well as with previous work suggesting that dopaminergic genes may be particularly important in early-onset OCD.