An investigation into the causes of absconding among black African breast cancer patients

OBJECTIVE: To discuss the complexities facing the researcher in attempting to determine reasons for the high rate of absconding from biomedical treatments by black African women diagnosed with breast cancer. DESIGN: Qualitative study based on in-depth interviews and participant observations of the informants, to ascertain attitudes, beliefs and practices of black African breast cancer patients with regard to the choice of healer. PARTICIPANTS: 10 black breast cancer patients, 4 African indigenous healers, 4 black lay persons, and 8 Groote Schuur Hospital members. SETTING: Radiation Oncology Department, Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town. RESULTS: The study revealed that various determinants affect black women's decision to abscond from biomedical breast cancer treatments. These determinants were based on social and cultural peculiarities. However, these findings did not explain the difference in absconding rates between black cervical (30%) and breast cancer (80%) patients. Although the two patient groups shared social, economic, and cultural backgrounds, their decisions with regard to biomedical treatments of cancer were remarkably different. CONCLUSIONS: The methods chosen for the research project provided a framework for a qualitative study of one ethnic group of breast cancer patients. However, the research framework failed to allow comparisons between breast and cervical cancer patients from the same ethnic backgrounds. Therefore, although the research findings revealed determinants affecting black breast cancer treatments, they do not explain the discrepancy between absconding rates of black cervical and breast cancer patients.     

Immunohistochemical localization of netrin-1 in the embryonic chick nervous system

Netrin-1 has profound in vitro effects on the growth properties of vertebrate embryonic axons. In addition, netrin-1 mRNA is found in the floor plate of the embryonic nervous system, an intermediate target of many axons, including commissural axons that are affected by netrin-1 in vitro. Moreover, genetic studies of netrin-1 homologs in Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila implicate these proteins in commissure formation. We raised polyclonal antisera that recognize chick netrin-1 in fixed tissue sections. The antisera were used to immunohistochemically map netrin-1 in the embryonic spinal cord, brain, and retina. The relationship between netrin-1 localization and the growth of pioneering axons suggests roles for netrin-1 in the regulation of circumferential, commissural, and longitudinal axon growth in the spinal cord and brain. The data also suggest that the primary or sole effect of netrin-1 on pioneering spinal cord commissural axons is haptotactic. Furthermore, the pattern of netrin-1 localization raises the possibility that this protein helps mediate neuronal migration in the spinal cord, brain, and retina.     

The chemical stability of enkephalin-like tetrapeptides in a cannula implanted in the rat neostriatum for multiple microinjections

A method for identification of Listeria in food samples was developed. It consisted of cultivating of suspected specimen on standard agar medium, direct absorption of grown colonies onto nitrocellulose membrane and processing of the latter with rabbit serum raised against purified cell wall protein Lm79/39 of L. monocytogenes. Analysis using anti-rabbit peroxidase conjugate and 4-chloro-1-naphthol and H2O2 solutions allowed direct detection of Listeria colonies which remained readily available for subsequent isolation.