Abstracts from the XXVI Biennial Congress of the International Society of University Colon & Rectal Surgeons, Cape Town, South Africa, September 4-7 2014

South Africa’s COVID-19 Alcohol Sales Ban: The Potential for Better Policy-Making

Current Knowledge and Future Research Directions on Fecal Bacterial Patterns and Their Association with Asthma

1 Division of Medical Microbiology, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa, 2 Centre for Evidence-based Health Care, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa, 3 Cochrane South Africa, South African Medical Research Council, Cape Town, South Africa, 4 Vaccines for Africa Initiative, In...

An Evaluation of the Role of an Intermediate Care Facility in the Continuum of Care in Western Cape, South Africa

Background A comprehensive primary healthcare (PHC) approach requires clear referral and continuity of care pathways. South Africa is a lower-middle income country (LMIC) that lacks data on the role of intermediate care (IC) services in the health system. This study described the model of service provision at one facility in Cape Town, including reason for admission, the mix of services and ski...

Exploring the Functioning of Decision Space: A Review of the Available Health Systems Literature

Background The concept of decision space holds appeal as an approach to disaggregating the elements that may influence decision-making in decentralized systems. This narrative review aims to explore the functioning of decision space and the factors that influence decision space.   Methods A narrative review of the literature was conducted with searches of online databases and academic journals ...

Viral apoptosis evasion via the MAPK pathway by use of a host long noncoding RNA

1​ Gene Expression & Biophysics Group, CSIR Synthetic Biology ERA, Pretoria, 0001, South Africa. 2​ Institute of Infectious Diseases & Molecular Medicine (IDM), Division of Chemical Systems & Synthetic Biology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, 7925, South Africa. 3​ KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for TB-HIV (K-RITH), Durban, 4001, South Africa. 4​ University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 404...