In this article, we examine barriers to HIV testing uptake and participation in prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) services among adolescent mothers aged 15 to 19 years in rural and urban Limpopo Province, South Africa. We used the narrative research method involving key informants constructing typical case studies of adolescent experiences with HIV testing and entry into PMTCT. Case studies formed the basis of a community-based questionnaire and focus group discussions with adolescent mothers. Client-counselor dynamics during pretest counseling were pivotal in determining uptake and participation, and counselor profile strongly influenced the nature of the interaction. Other factors found to influence adherence to PMTCT recommendations included HIV and early premarital pregnancy stigma, fear of a positive test result, and concerns over confidentiality and poor treatment by health care providers. Adolescents described elaborate strategies to avoid HIV disclosure to labor and delivery staff, despite knowing this would mean no antiretroviral therapy for their newborn infants. Theoretical, methodological, and programmatic implications of study findings are also discussed.
Following a reviews of adult models of leadership and of leadership programs for young people that are derived from adult theories of leadership, we report results from a decade-long study in under-served and at-risk communities of young people identified and promoted as leaders within out-of-school youth organizations. This work reveals how emerging youth leadership differs from established measures and leadership theories drawn from adults. Views and enactments of leadership among the young focus on how leadership happens, not all who leaders are as power figures, skillful managers, or individuals bearing specific traits. These perspectives from youth carry strong links to recent work in cognitive psychology and organizational sociology that maintains the key importance of adaptation, engagement with situation, and distribution of knowledge and roles.
This paper examines the ideological construction of Africa through a critical discourse analysis of news on Africa in the British press. Through a comparative analysis of two British papers with opposing ideological positions, it demonstrates that there is a stereotypical, naturalized and dominant discourse on Africa. The analysis illustrates how the features of this discourse combine to produce particular meanings which give rise to a neo-colonial racist representation of Africa and Africans. The role of this discourse in reproducing the racist perceptions of Africa and Africans in Western society and in maintaining Western hegemony is discussed; and the question of this discourse's relationship to other racist discourses in European society is also raised. This paper argues that the entrenched stability of this discourse holds little possibility for challenge or transformation.
Among black urban South Africans in Gauteng province, quotable gestures are a prominent part of everyday communication. Using observations and video recordings of spontaneous communicative interactions, elicitation interviews, and a decoding test, this study presents the repertoire of quotable gestures in current use. Quotable gestures fall within three main gestural types: lexical, holophrastic, and concept, with lexical gestures constituting the highest proportion. Within each gestural type, gestures vary in their range of meanings, functions, and independence from speech. This variation suggests that sharp distinctions between gestural types and between quotable and speech-dependent gestures may obscure continuities in meaning, function, and how gestures originate and develop. The article discusses recent work that suggests alternative organizational criteria for the analysis of gestures. It proposes that analysis of gestures begin at the level of interaction, taking into account how social relationships, cultural notions, and identity shape forms of gestural use and behavior.
The Burkholderia cepacia complex is a group of Gram-negative bacteria that are opportunistic pathogens for humans especially in cystic fibrosis patients. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) molecules are potent virulence factors of Gram-negative bacteria organisms essential for bacterial survival. A complete analysis of the bacterial lipopolysaccharide structure to function relationship is required to understand the chemical basis of the inflammatory process. We have therefore investigated the structures of lipopolysaccharides from clonally identical Burkholderia multivorans strains (genomovar II) isolated pre- and post-lung transplantation through compositional analysis, mass spectrometry, and 2D NMR spectroscopy. We tested the LPS proinflammatory activity as a stimulant of human myelomonocytic U937 cell cytokine induction and assessed TLR4/MD2 signaling. Marked changes between the paired strains were found in the lipid A-inner core region. Such structural variations can contribute to the bacterial survival and persistence of infections despite the loss of a CF milieu following lung transplantation.
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