Government of South Africa

This study aims to analyze the influence of civil servant qualifications, competence, and performance on the organizational performance of local governments in 27 regencies/cities of West Java Province during the 2019–2023 period. A quantitative method using binary logistic regression to examine the relationships among variables. The results reveal that, simultaneously, the three independent variables have a significant effect on organizational performance. Partially, civil servant competence has a positive and significant influence, while civil servant qualifications show a negative in significant effect. In contrast, individual civil servant performance does not significantly affect organizational performance. These findings highlight the urgent need to reform civil service human resource management, particularly in aligning competencies, qualifications, and performance evaluation systems with key performance indicators and the evolving demands of public service delivery. This study contributes to the development of performance-based civil servant management models at the local government level.

From March 2020 to June 2022, South Africa (SA) confronted successive waves of COVID-19, each linked to emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants. Vaccines played a critical role in preventing severe disease and death, but as new SARS-CoV-2 variants emerged, with increasing breakthrough infections, questions arose about the real-world effectiveness of first-generation vaccines containing the ancestral strain against evolving variants including Delta and Omicron BA.1 and BA.4/5 SARS-CoV-2. To assess the real-world effectiveness of ancestral strain booster doses (either Ad26.COV2.S or BNT162b2) in preventing severe COVID-19 outcomes, including hospitalisation, admission to critical care and death, among essential workers in SA who received a primary dose of Ad26.COV2.S against emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants. A retrospective cohort study was conducted using data from a large private health insurance scheme. Individuals who received a single dose of Ad26.COV2.S as their primary vaccination were included. Time-varying Cox regression models were used to assess the effectiveness of boosting with either Ad26.COV2.S or BNT162b2 v. not boosting against severe COVID-19 outcomes associated with emerging variants, adjusting for various demographic and clinical factors. By August 2021, a total of 407 961 individuals received a first dose of Ad26.COV2.S, of whom 350 688 were eligible for and 332 286 included in the vaccine effectiveness (VE) analysis. Of these, 206 359 (62%) received no further doses, while 113 957 (34%) received a second dose of Ad26.COV2.S and 11 970 (4%) received a second dose of BNT162b2 by August 2022. During the follow-up period (November 2021 - August 2022), 1 125 COVID-19-related hospital admissions, 198 admissions to critical care and 41 COVID-19-related deaths were recorded. Adjusted relative VE against severe outcomes was 34% (95% confidence interval (CI) 19 - 45) for hospital admission, 51% (95% CI 22 - 70) for critical care admission, and 89% (95% CI 13 - 98) for COVID-19- related death. While most participants remained unboosted, administration of either ancestral strain Ad26.COV2.S or BNT162b2 vaccination provided protection against severe COVID-19 outcomes among essential workers in SA during the dominance of the Omicron BA.1 and BA.4/5 variants, demonstrating cross-strain protection.

This study examines the role of optimism bias and anchoring bias in climate change risk perception and decision-making among 120 Pakistani university teachers in environmental science, psychology, and behavioral economics. The data were gathered using a self-report questionnaire with a quantitative research design and analyzed using correlation and regression analysis. The findings indicate that there is a strong negative correlation (r = -0.621, p < 0.001) between optimism bias and climate risk perception, and individuals with higher optimism bias overestimate climate risks. Anchoring bias was also statistically significant (B = 0.487, p < 0.001) in influencing beliefs related to climate and climate policy decisions, confirming that the use of first information influences environmental attitudes. In addition, interventions for mitigation such as risk communication that is targeted and behavioral change interventions had a significant positive impact on environmental decision-making (B = 0.532, p < 0.001). The study highlights the need to implement cognitive bias mitigation strategies in climate education and policy to increase awareness of risk and policy engagement. Long-term biases effects and the role played by misinformation on the internet should be addressed in future research.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb) is a bacterial pathogen that has evolved in humans, and its interactions with the host are complex and best studied in humans. Myriad immune pathways are involved in infection control, granuloma formation, and progression to tuberculosis (TB) disease. Inflammatory cells, such as macrophages, neutrophils, conventional and unconventional T cells, B cells, NK cells, and innate lymphoid cells, interact via cytokines, cell-cell communication, and eicosanoid signaling to contain or eliminate infection but can alternatively mediate pathological changes required for pathogen transmission. Clinical manifestations include pulmonary and extrapulmonary TB, as well as post-TB lung disease. Risk factors for TB progression, in turn, largely relate to immune status and, apart from traditional chemotherapy, interventions primarily target immune mechanisms, highlighting the critical role of immunopathology in TB. Maintaining a balance between effector mechanisms to achieve protective immunity and avoid detrimental inflammation is central to the immunopathogenesis of TB. Many research gaps remain and deserve prioritization to improve our understanding of human TB immunopathogenesis.

Exposure to respirable crystalline silica dust is one of the most common and severe risks due to the associated health outcomes among workers and results in many occupational-related lung diseases, such as silicosis and lung cancer. The study aimed to determine knowledge, attitudes, and practices on occupation health and safety among mine workers exposed to crystalline silica dust in Lesotho. A descriptive retrospective cross-sectional study design was used in the study. A record review guide was used to retrieve secondary data from the Southern Africa Tuberculosis and Health Systems Support (SATBHSS) project, which were thereafter entered into STATA software, version 17 for descriptive and inferential analysis. The study participants were purposively selected. Most participants were between the ages of 31 to 40 years of age and there was a significant difference between the genders with 35 (9%) females and 350 (91%) males. The majority of the participants had a high school level of education (305, 79%). The knowledge was generally positive in the study with a knowledge score mean of 13.43 (standard deviation: 2.99). The miners agreed with most attitude statements except for A1 (25%), A2 (35%), A3 (18%), and A4 (31%). The practice of exposed mine workers in the study was influenced by working in a dolerite mine (p = 0.003), knowledge score (p ˂ 0.001), and having an attitude about health and safety rules at the mine (p ˂ 0.001; 95% CI: 0.92 to 0.79), while age was a protective factor in the study. The findings of this study highlighted positive knowledge, attitudes, and practices toward occupational health and safety among mine workers. However, more educational programs can be implemented to ensure all mine workers understand the importance of good knowledge, positive attitude, and appropriate practices towards occupational health and safety in their environment.

This study investigates the health problems faced by primary school children in selected schools of Cuddalore district, Tamil Nadu. Based on primary data collected from 313 students across eight Panchayat Union Primary Schools using simple random sampling, the findings reveal that common illnesses such as anaemia (25 cases), fever (20), cold (20), stomach pain (20), and skin infections (15) are widely prevalent, particularly in schools like PUPS Thotti and PUPS Thittagudi. The direct costs included medical fees, medicines, and diagnostic tests, while indirect costs involved travel expenses and parental wage losses. The study highlights that poor hygiene, malnutrition, and lack of access to basic healthcare are major contributors to these health issues. It concludes that strengthening school-level health interventions, especially anaemia prevention and regular medical check-ups, can significantly improve child health and reduce the financial burden on families.

Abstract AimQuantify the contribution of environmental factors (water temperature, salinity and depth) and evolutionary history to varied skeletal mineralogy in calcifying marine organisms.LocationGlobal Ocean.Time periodPresent.Major taxa studiedOrder: Cheilostomatida; Phylum: Bryozoa.MethodsWe employed X‐ray diffraction (XRD) to analyse the skeletal mineral composition of 872 individual colonies, representing 437 bryozoan species, in terms of calcite/aragonite ratios. We integrated these data with equivalent published data, thus reaching 981 species, and applied linear models (LMs), generalized linear models (GLMs) and phylogenetic generalized least squares models (PGLSs) to investigate the influences of temperature, salinity, depth and phylogenetic history on the mineralogy of nearly 1000 cheilostome bryozoan species.ResultsCheilostome bryozoans vary considerably in their skeletal mineral composition: in our dataset 65% of the species possess purely calcite skeletons, 15% exclusively employ aragonite and 20% exhibit mixed (i.e. calcite and aragonite) mineralogies. Temperature is the predominant measured environmental factor influencing bryozoan skeletal mineralogy, accounting for 20% of its variability across species, when phylogenetic relatedness is unaccounted for. Bryozoans in lower latitudes, characterized by higher seawater temperatures, have higher aragonite concentrations. By accounting for phylogenetic structure using a subset of 87 species for which we have topological information, 40% of the observed mineralogical variability could be attributed to present‐day temperature. In contrast, depth and salinity played minor roles, explaining less than 1% of the mineralogical variation each.Main conclusionsThis study emphasizes the influence of evolutionary history on the mineralogical variability of calcifying organisms, even when it can be shown that a single environmental factor (temperature) explains a substantial amount of this variability. When confronted with changing temperature, calcifiers such as bryozoans are likely to respond in diverse ways, depending on the species, given their phylogenetic relatedness and the external conditions they meet.