Economic values of milk volume (VOL), fat yield (FYLD), protein yield (PYLD), live weight (LWT), longevity (LON), calving interval (CIV) and somatic cell score (SCS) were derived for Holstein and Jersey cattle, based on milk payment systems of four major milk buyers in South Africa. The economic value of somatic cell score was calculated for only two of the payment systems. A bio-economic model...

The present study was conducted to determine whether the infarct sparing effect of short-term exercise is dependent on the operation of the myocardial sarcolemmal ATP-sensitive K(+) (K(ATP)) channel. Adult male and female Sprague-Dawley rats were exercised on a motorized treadmill for 5 days. Twenty-four hours following the training or sedentary period, hearts were isolated and exposed to 1 h o...

Background: Red blood cells and platelet concentrates are frequently used in paediatric oncology. There is little literature on the indications and costs of this adjuvant therapy. Aim: To retrospectively evaluate the indications, amounts and costs of transfusing blood products in 2008 in the Department of Paediatric Oncology at Tygerberg Children’s Hospital, Cape Town. Material and Method: The ...

The effect of endurance training on the resistance of the heart to left ventricular (LV) functional deficit and infarction after a transient regional ischemia and subsequent reperfusion was examined. Female Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to an endurance exercise training (Tr) group or a sedentary (Sed) control group. After 20 wk of training, hearts were excised, perfused, and instru...

OBJECTIVE Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has become the standard of care for inoperable patients with severe aortic stenosis and is an alternative to conventional surgery for high-risk aortic valve replacement (AVR) patients. There is a positive correlation between severity of pre-operative patients and hospital costs. The aim of this study was to compare empirically derived cos...