Walter Sisulu University
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Feasibility and acceptability of conducting HIV vaccine trials in adolescents in South Africa: : Going beyond willingness to participate towards implementation
Get PDFBackground. HIV/AIDS remains a leading cause of death in adolescents (aged 15 - 25 years), and in sub-Saharan Africa HIV-related deaths continue to rise in this age group despite a decline in both adult and paediatric populations. This is attributable in part to high adolescent infection rates and supports the urgent need for more efficacious prevention strategies. In particular, an even partially effective HIV vaccine, given prior to sexual debut, is predicted to significantly curb adolescent infection rates. While adolescents have indicated willingness to participate in HIV vaccine trials, there are concerns around safety, uptake, adherence, and ethical and logistic issues. Objectives. To initiate a national, multisite project with the aim of identifying obstacles to conducting adolescent HIV vaccine trials in South Africa (SA). Method. A simulated HIV vaccine trial was conducted in adolescents aged 12 - 17 years across five SA research sites, using the already licensed Merck human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil as a proxy for an HIV vaccine. Adolescents were recruited at community venues and, following a vaccine discussion group, invited to participate in the trial. Consent for trial enrolment was obtained from a parent or legal guardian, and participants aged 16 - 17 years were eligible only if sexually active. Typical vaccine trial procedures were applied during the five study visits, including the administration of vaccination injections at study visits 2, 3 and 4. Results. The median age of participants was 14 years (interquartile range 13 - 15), with 81% between the ages of 12 and 15 years at enrolment. Overall, 98% of screened participants opted to receive the vaccine, 588 participants enrolled, and 524 (89%) attended the final visit. Conclusions. This trial showed that adolescents can be recruited, enrolled and retained in clinical prevention trials with parental support. While promising, these results were tempered by the coupling of sexual-risk eligibility criteria and the requirement for parental/guardian consent, which was probably a barrier to the enrolment of high-risk older adolescents. Further debate around appropriate consent approaches for such adolescents in HIV prevention studies is required
Diagnostic performance of several biomarkers for identification of cases of non-communicable diseases among Central Africans
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Barriers to Collaborative Culture of Teaching and Learning in Selected High Schools of Libode in O.R. Tambo Coastal Education District
Get PDFABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to investigate the barriers to collaborative culture of teaching and learning in selected high schools in Libode, O.R Tambo Coastal Education District. The literature review looked into each of the following aspects of teacher collaborative culture of teaching and learning in schools: theoretical framework, significance of changing the culture of teaching and learning and in schools, the nature of teacher resistance in collaborative teaching and learning in schools, the nature of teacher collaborative professional development activities in schools, the existence of collaborative learning culture in schools, leadership in collaborative culture of teaching and learning. This study was qualitative in nature and employed case study as the research design. The convenient sampling strategy was used to select three (3) high schools in Circuit 9 and 10 in Libode, O.R Tambo Coastal Education District. Four (4) teachers and one (1) principal were purposefully selected from each school the 3 schools and this made a total of fifteen (15) participants. Face-to-face individual interviews were conducted to gather data about the view points and opinions of the participants concerning the barriers to collaborative culture of teaching and learning in selected high schools of Libode, O.R Tambo Coastal Education District. Data collected was analyzed using the interpretational analytical strategies. Themes were drawn from the responses of the participants and analyzed. Some of the findings were that: There was inadequacy of positive attitudes towards collaboration with other teachers in the process of teaching and learning, teacher resistances was a barrier to collaboration in schools, there were inadequate collaborative strategies to provide the social, emotional, and intellectual engagement among teachers, knowledge sharing among teachers was limited, there was prevalence of teachers who work in isolation and strongly protect their individualism without professional collaboration and school managers played inadequate role in maintaining a collaborative learning environment among teachers. The researcher made some recommendations towards ensuring effective and efficient teacher collaboration in the high schools of Libode, O.R Tambo Coastal Education District
Macroalgal Cultivation and Growth of Weaning Juvenile South African Farmed Abalone Haliotis Midae
Get PDFABSTRACT Haliotis midae Linnaeus, 1758 is the largest among six abalone species found in South Africa, making it the second largest around the world. This species is highly sought after due to its size and delicacy. However, it’s expensive formulated feed and slow growth rate has prompted increasing research on improving its growth using natural feeds. Inclusion of fresh and dried macroalgae (Ulva lactuca Linnaeus, 1753 and Gracilaria gracilis Irvine & Farnham, 1995) onto artificially formulated feed (Abfeed®) was tested on the growth of juvenile weaning H. midae. Therefore the three treatments were referred to as: Abfeed®, Abfeed® plus fresh seaweed and Abfeed® plus dried macroalgae. The growth of U. lactuca and G. gracilis was also compared using four different liquid fertilizers. Results revealed that inclusion of dried macroalgae was the best feed as it showed better consumption (92±0.48%) and growth (SGR = 2.9±0.04 % g. day-1 , DISL = 12.04±0.48 µm. day-1 and CF= 0.97±0.07 g. mm-1 ) rates. The study exhibited no differences in survival rate and feed conversion ratio in all the treatments used. Enriching with different fertilizers at 10 % concentration revealed that Nutrisol® promoted the best growth for U. lactuca among four different fertilizers used while Kelpak® yielded the best growth for G. gracilis. Increasing concentrations to 20 % resulted in Nitrosol® performing better than other fertilizers in U. lactuca growth while G. gracilis grew best in Nitrosol® and Kelpak®. This study therefore demonstrates the potential to develop abalone feeds with inclusions of dried macroalgae meal. Abfeed® as a diet alone performed poorly against the feeds tested as expected due to many previous studies favoring mixed diet. The study further revealed that macronutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) is the limiting ii factor for macroalgal growth and their level in culture system is very critical as it determines growth rate. Key words: Consumption rate, Feed conversion ratio, Fertilizer, Formulated feed, Survival rat
African Oral Literature and the Humanities: Challenges and Prospects
Get PDFThis paper examines the origin, evolution and emergence of folklore (oral literature) as an academic discipline in Africa and its place in the humanities. It draws attention to the richness of indigenous knowledge contained in oral literature and demonstrates how the ethical and moral gap in the existing educational system can be filled by the moral precepts embedded in oral literature. The paper argues that African oral literature has not received the attention it deserves among other disciplines of the humanities in institutions of higher learning in Africa. It concludes that any discussion on African literature will be incomplete, and indeed irrelevant, if it does not equally give adequate attention to the oral literature of the African people. As a result, a new curriculum and pedagogy must be designed to give pride of place to folklore and oral literature as the best repository of our cultural norms and values especially in African tertiary institutions
Inhibition of NOS- like activity in maize alters the expression of genes involved in H2O2 scavenging and glycine betaine biosynthesis
Get PDFNitric oxide synthase-like activity contributes to the production of nitric oxide in plants, which controls plant responses to stress. This study investigates if changes in ascorbate peroxidase enzymatic activity and glycine betaine content in response to inhibition of nitric oxide synthase-like activity are associated with transcriptional regulation by analyzing transcript levels of genes (betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase) involved in glycine betaine biosynthesis and those encoding antioxidant enzymes (ascorbate peroxidase and catalase) in leaves of maize seedlings treated with an inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase-like activity. In seedlings treated with a nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, transcript levels of betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase were decreased. In plants treated with the nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, the transcript levels of ascorbate peroxidase-encoding genes were down-regulated. We thus conclude that inhibition of nitric oxide synthase-like activity suppresses the expression of ascorbate peroxidase and betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase genes in maize leaves. Furthermore, catalase activity was suppressed in leaves of plants treated with nitric oxide synthase inhibitor; and this corresponded with the suppression of the expression of catalase genes. We further conclude that inhibition of nitric oxide synthase-like activity, which suppresses ascorbate peroxidase and catalase enzymatic activities, results in increased H2O2 content.Background:Context-specific factors influence adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) among pregnant womenliving with HIV. Gaps exist in the understanding of the reasons for the variable outcomes of the prevention ofmother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programme at the health facility level in South Africa. This study examinedadherence levels and reasons for non-adherence during pregnancy in a cohort of parturient women enrolled in thePMTCT programme in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.Methods:This was a mixed-methods study involving 1709 parturient women in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Weconducted a multi-centre retrospective analysis of the mother-infant pair in the PMTCT electronic database in 2016.Semi-structured interviews of purposively selected parturient women with self-reported poor adherence (n= 177)were conducted to gain understanding of the main barriers to adherence. Binary logistic regression was used todetermine the independent predictors of ART non-adherence.Results:A high proportion (69.0%) of women reported perfect adherence. In the logistic regression analysis, afteradjusting for confounding factors, marital status, cigarette smoking, alcohol use and non-disclosure to a family memberwere the independent predictors of non-adherence. Analysis of the qualitative data revealed that drug-related side-effects, being away from home, forgetfulness, non-disclosure, stigma and work-related demand were among the mainreasons for non-adherence to ART.Conclusions:Non-adherence to the antiretroviral therapy among pregnant women in this setting is associated withlifestyle behaviours, HIV-related stigma and ART side-effects. In order to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV,clinicians need to screen for these factors at every antenatal clinic visit.Keywords:Adherence, Non-adherence, HIV, Antiretroviral therapy, Elimination of mother-to-child transmission,Prevention of mother-to-child transmission, Stigma, South Afric
Literary representations of Zimbabwean migrants’ lives in selected texts
Get PDFIt has been nearly two decades since Zimbabwe has been engulfed in both political and economic crises which have had untold hardships to the majority of ordinary people. As the hardships worsened it pushed Zimbabweans to migrate to “greener pastures” as a survival strategy. Due to the sheer numbers of people who left the country, migration became a social phenomenon in the country that even literary writers also explored. It is the purpose of this study to analyse literary reactions to migration in Zimbabwe from the turn of the new millennium to date, with particular reference to selected Zimbabwean fiction in the form of the short story and novel. The dissertation examines how Zimbabwean literature represents life in Zimbabwe in the context of this economic malaise that emerged after the year 2000 and the resultant lives of migrants who left the country as a result of this political and economic crisis. Similar to the majority of African literatures, Zimbabwean literature emerges from specific historical events and this study therefore sought to describe literary representations of people’s responses to the crisis and the life of Zimbabwean migrants in the margins of host communities. This study reveals the intricate relationship between literary responses and the conditions that most migrants found themselves in especially as they fled the country and what obtained in host countries.Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences and Law, 201
Factors Influencing English Reading Competencies Of Grade 4 Learners in the Libode- Mega District of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa
Get PDFReading has become the national and international centre of debate as learners persistently read below the required levels and matriculation results are due to learners’ poor reading competencies. The concerns about poor reading competencies has mounted into inflammatory statements in articles and popular media nationally, continentally and internationally. Without the ability to read learners are deprived access to pertinent information and knowledge that can assist individuals in lifelong learning. Being a language teacher, the researcher in this study strongly believe that every learner can read appropriately and teachers can assist learners to improve their reading competencies. The purpose of the study wasto identify the factors contributing to poor reading competencies of grade 4 learners and to provide recommendations to assist in dealing with poor reading competencies. Qualitative research approach was undertaken to deal with all aspects related to research methodology.The data were collected using research instruments such as observation of six learners from three selected primaryschools. The observation was conducted during readingof textby learners in the presence of English teachers. The questionnaires were distributed to eleven teachers offering English in grade 4 as another means of data collection instrument.Major findings of the study revealed that factors affecting reading competencies are hugely emanated from schools, teachers, family background, departmental policy and learners themselves. Despite reading problems exist in schools, there are always positive solutions to bring hope and success to the learner