University of Cape Town

Simulation-based inference for AGN jet population modelling: Towards more robust comparisons of black hole jet speeds

Abstract We present the most complete modelling of the MOJAVE 1.5 Jansky Quarter Century active galactic nuclei (AGN) jet population, using likelihood-free simulation-based inference. Due to the complex impact of a flux-limit on observed AGN data sets, careful modelling of the pa...

Building a genomics-capable cancer workforce: a competency-based framework for education and training in precision oncology

Background The Lancet Oncology Commission on cancer genomics and precision oncology identified workforce capability, education, and training as major constraints to equitable implementation. As genomic and multi-omic technologies become integrated into cancer care, structured app...

Diagnostic performance of a centrifugation-free stool processing kit in conjunction with Xpert®MTB/RIF Ultra for paediatric tuberculosis: a multicentre prospective study in five low and middle-income countries

Diagnosing paediatric tuberculosis (TB) remains challenging. Currently available diagnostic tests have limited accuracy, and most sampling methods are invasive. In 2021, the World Health Organisation (WHO) endorsed the use of molecular WHO-recommended rapid diagnostic tests (mWRD...

The Implied Student

This study argues that life skills, as conceptualized in South African vocational education, are disconnected from the lived realities of mature women students. A hermeneutic curriculum analysis of official guides and textbooks used in life skills education (LSE) in a South Afric...

The World Psychiatric Association (WPA) Guideline on Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders Management for Low- and Middle-Income Countries

There is a pressing need to address the unique challenges of managing Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders (SSD) in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), where mental health resources are scarce and unevenly distributed. To develop this evidence-based guideline, we conducted a sy...

Bridging theAIDivide in Drug Discovery: PracticalLessons from Capacity Strengthening in Africa

Abstract Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become an integral part of drug discovery in high-income countries. However, these advances have yet to be broadly adopted by research ecosystems in many low- and middle-income countries in Africa, where understudied infectious diseases,...

Effectiveness of tuberculosis treatment in individuals exposed to silica or with silicosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Tuberculosis (TB) is a global problem affecting large numbers of workers exposed to respirable crystalline silica. Both silicosis and exposure to silica without silicosis increase the risk of active TB. While some studies have suggested that silicotuberculosis (silicosis plus TB)...

When Should Demographics Enter the Prior? Conditional Exchangeability in Bayesian Estimation of Risk Preferences

Hierarchical Bayesian models for the estimation of individual risk preferences typically assume that subjects are unconditionally exchangeable: prior to seeing any data, every subject is treated as a draw from a common population distribution. We examine the consequences of relax...

eRASSU J043115.8-711730 The first pulsating symbiotic super-soft X-ray source in the Magellanic Bridge

Abstract The Magellanic Bridge stellar population is a relic of the tidal interaction between the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. A comprehensive view of the evolution of the Bridge stellar population requires probing the compact remnants of stellar evolution, otherwise hidden...

A Description and Critique of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey Public Earnings Data: 2010–2023

ABSTRACT In this paper, I summarise research noting concerns with the quality of the QLFS earnings imputations, provide a description of the publicly available QLFS earnings data between 2010 and 2023 and describe how the structure of the earnings data that has been released publ...

Baseline characterization of inshore reef soundscapes and noise dynamics along the southeast coast of South Africa

Underwater noise has risen in certain parts of the world, driven by continued growth of maritime economic activity. In South Africa, increasing economic development threatens to elevate underwater noise levels in marine habitats, yet knowledge of marine soundscapes remains very l...

Cannabidiol selectively downregulates FAM111B expression and induces apoptosis in fibrosarcoma cells: an in vitro study

Abstract Background Fibrosarcoma is a rare and aggressive soft tissue sarcoma with limited therapeutic options and poor outcomes in advanced disease. Family with sequence similarity 111 member B (FAM111B) has emerged as a pro-tumorigenic factor associated with dysregulated cell s...

Accumulation of Metals and Metalloids in Marine Invertebrates and Macroalgae in False Bay (Cape Town, South Africa)

The concentrations of 18 metal(loid)s were measured in five marine invertebrate species (Oxystele tigrine and sinensis, Marthasterias glacialis, Cymbula oculus and granatina, Parechinus angulosus, and Mytilus galloprovincialis) and five macroalgae/seaweed species (Aeodes orbitosa...

Drug stock-outs in HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria programs: a systematic review

Background Stock-outs of antiretroviral, anti-tuberculosis, and anti-malarial medicines remain a major challenge in low- and middle-income countries, affecting both health systems and patient outcomes. This systematic review aimed to synthesize evidence on the causes, consequence...