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Long COVID or post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC) is a clinical syndrome featuring diverse symptoms that can persist for months following acute SARS-CoV-2 infection. The aetiologies may include persistent inflammation, unresolved tissue damage or delayed clearance of viral protein or RNA, but the biological differences they represent are not fully understood. Here we evaluate the serum proteome in samples, longitudinally collected from 55 PASC individuals with symptoms lasting ≥60 days after onset of acute infection, in comparison to samples from symptomatically recovered SARS-CoV-2 infected and uninfected individuals. Our analysis indicates heterogeneity in PASC and identified subsets with distinct signatures of persistent inflammation. Type II interferon signaling and canonical NF-κB signaling (particularly associated with TNF), appear to be the most differentially enriched signaling pathways, distinguishing a group of patients characterized also by a persistent neutrophil activation signature. These findings help to clarify biological diversity within PASC, identify participants with molecular evidence of persistent inflammation, and highlight dominant pathways that may have diagnostic or therapeutic relevance, including a protein panel that we propose as having diagnostic utility for differentiating inflammatory and non-inflammatory PASC. Long COVID or post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 is defined by persisting chronic symptoms following acute SARS-CoV-2 infection but represent an aetiologically diverse group of disorders. Here authors identify molecularly distinct subtypes, including a form with persistent inflammation, via longitudinal analysis of serum proteome.

This work represents the definitive account of the Jewish community in central Africa. It tells the story of the coming of the first Jews to the area in the late 19th century, the heyday of the Jewish community in the mid-20th century, and its decline since Zambian independence. Dealing primarily with the Jewish traders in Zambia who flourished in the face of both anti-semitism and their own acute social dislocation, Macmillan explores a number of interrelated topics: the colonial office discussions about Jewish immigration in the 1930s, the attempts to settle refugees in Africa by both pro- and anti-semites, Jewish religious life in the region, and the remarkable cultural and professional role played by the Jewish settlers.

The apparent camaraderie displayed by Presidents Jacob Zuma and Robert Mugabe, and President Thabo Mbeki's 'tilt' towards Mugabe in electoral controversies in Zimbabwe, have created the impression among many in South Africa that the African National Congress (ANC) and Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) were allies in the struggle against apartheid. The history of the ANC/Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) alliance has been neglected. This article focuses on the almost unknown second phase of the alliance in 1978-80 and its consequences. The history of ZAPU, which lost the struggle for power in Zimbabwe in 1980, has been largely erased, while the ANC has no reason to celebrate an alliance which bedevilled its relationship with independent Zimbabwe for many years. This article reconstructs the story of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) participation with the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) in Zimbabwe in the year or so before the Lancaster House talks in 1979. It then examines the consequences of the alliance for the relationship with ZANU during the 1980s. The second half of the article looks, largely from an ANC perspective, at what was seen by participants as the negative influence of ZIPRA training methods, as transmitted to MK members in ZIPRA camps in Zambia, and by MK veterans of the Zimbabwe war in the Angolan camps, on the political culture of MK. It discusses the allegedly apolitical and anti-intellectual impact of the toyi-toyi, and of songs or chants, such as 'kill the Boer, kill the farmer', which were seen as in conflict with the non-racial ethos of the ANC. The article looks finally at the continuing relevance of this anti-intellectual culture, and of Zimbabwean models, in South Africa today.

This article examines the history of South African mining over the last 30 years. It notes the declining contribution of mining to the economy, and a drop in employment levels and labour migration. It considers political, legislative and macro-economic changes, as well as mine ownership and control. It addresses the question why a democratically elected government, progressive labour legislation, trade-unionisation and Black Economic Empowerment have made remarkably little difference to working conditions. After examining the trajectories of individual commodities, such as gold, platinum, coal and diamonds, it concludes there has been no fundamental change in the relationship between state and capital.

Landeg White, who died after a short illness at his home in Portugal on 3 December 2017, was one of the most versatile and productive of a generation of Africanists who began their academic careers in the 1960s. His impressive body of work encompassed scholarship and poetry in Malawi, Mozambique and elsewhere within and beyond the region. He sewed on the editorial board of JSAS from 1980 to 1992.

Doc number: 28 Abstract Background: Existing quantitative models of mouse cerebral cortical development are not fully constrained by experimental data. Results: Here, we use simple difference equations to model neural progenitor cell fate decisions, incorporating intermediate progenitor cells and initially low rates of neural progenitor cell death. Also, we conduct a sensitivity analysis to investigate possible uncertainty in the fraction of cells that divide, differentiate, and die at each cell cycle. Conclusion: We demonstrate that uniformly low-level neural progenitor cell death, as concluded in previous models, is incompatible with normal mouse cortical development. Levels of neural progenitor cell death up to and exceeding 50% are compatible with normal cortical development and may operate to prevent forebrain overgrowth as observed following cell death attenuation, as occurs in caspase 3-null mutant mice.

This article examines the role of the University of Zambia (UNZA) in relation to the liberation of southern Africa, and seeks to cast light on Zambia's often ambivalent role. A contradiction emerged between the Zambian government's support for liberation abroad and its intolerance of criticism at home. The university came to be seen as a centre of opposition and was often a place of conflict. I seek to answer a number of questions. What was the role of exiled academics and intellectuals, such as Jack Simons, Ben Magubane, Ezekiel Mphahlele, Lewis Nkosi and Fay Chung, at the university in the first two decades of its existence? Why did issues relating to the liberation struggle become points of conflict in the major crises of 1971 and 1976? What was the role of the founders of the Chikwakwa Theatre - and the exponents of 'theatre for development', John Reed, Michael Etherton and Fay Chung - in the radicalisation of the student body? What role did UNZA staff such as Simons, Magubane and Chung play in the life of the liberation movements to which they belonged? What was the role of UNZA in the training of students who went on to play important roles in liberation movements and in government on their return to their home countries? What were the links, from an UNZA perspective, between the liberation struggles waged by exile groups based in Zambia and the demand for democracy in Zambia itself?

A robust infrastructure for solving time-dependent diffusion using the finite element package FEtk has been developed to simulate synaptic transmission in a neuromuscular junction with realistic postsynaptic folds. Simplified rectilinear synapse models serve as benchmarks in initial numerical studies of how variations in geometry and kinetics relate to endplate currents associated with fast-twitch, slow-twitch, and dystrophic muscles. The flexibility and scalability of FEtk affords increasingly realistic and complex models that can be formed in concert with expanding experimental understanding from electron microscopy. Ultimately, such models may provide useful insight on the functional implications of controlled changes in processes, suggesting therapies for neuromuscular diseases.