OpenUCT is the open access institutional repository of the University of Cape Town (UCT). It preserves and makes UCT scholarly outputs digitally and freely available, including theses and dissertations, journal articles, book chapters, technical and research reports, as well as open educational resources.
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An assessment of sewage sludge stability with a specific oxygen utilisation rate (sour) test method.
(1999) Samson, Kevin Allan
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Media Framing; Public Perception; Journalism & Mass Media; Media framing of the KwaZulu Natal and Eastern Cape Health Departments
(2025) Hloma, Nomagugu; Ndlovu, Musawenkosi
The media plays an essential role in representing and framing events and institutions. Its role cannot be downplayed, especially in framing health institutions and the public healthcare system. How the media frames an institution may impact its reputation and, to an extent, how the public views it. Therefore, this study investigated how selected daily newspapers in South Africa framed the health departments of KwaZulu Natal and Eastern Cape provinces. This study did not examine how these institutions were framed during the COVID-19 pandemic, as there was a high concentration of news coverage about the pandemic and varying challenges within the newsrooms. However, this investigation was concerned with the media framing of these institutions after the end of the pandemic. Using content analysis, this study examined fifty articles from the Daily Dispatch, The Herald, The Mercury, and Isolezwe newspapers. The content analysis examined the coverage of stories and how these stories were framed. The data revealed that the media covered various issues related to the health departments. These included medico-legal claims, the bankruptcy of the health departments, staffing crises and protests, supplier debt and delayed payment of suppliers, the shortage of resources, corpse negligence and unclaimed bodies, COVID-19, the increase in teenage pregnancy statistics, the increase in TB and HIV infection rates, patient safety incidents, the NHI Bill, and the expansion of services. However, the coverage was tremendously negative, with most news articles focusing on the shortage of resources and the suggested bankruptcy of the health departments due to medico-legal claims. This negative framing may negatively impact the overall trustworthiness of the health departments and the public health system of KwaZulu Natal and Eastern Cape provinces
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Open Access
The synthesis of 13c-bilirubin and its use in the validation of bilirubin kinetic studies in rats
(1994) Sturrock, Edward David; Kirsch, Ralph
The total synthesis of [ 10-13C] bilirubin IXcx., the principal waste product of haem degradation, is described. Site specific labelling was accomplished by the Vilsmeier formylation of one of the dipyrrolic fragments using [1-13C] dimethylformamide. The penultimate dehydrohalogenation reaction was complicated by a competing elimination reaction which yielded a bridged biliverdin derivative. The base catalysed reaction affords a novel [ 10-13C]-8, 12-bis(2-methoxycarbonylethyl)-7, 13, 17-trimethyl-2, l 8-propano-3vinylbilin-1, 19(21H,24H)-dione in which the 2 and 18 positions of the macrocycle are bridged with a propano tether; the structure has been established using single crystal Xray and 1 H nuclear Overhauser effect studies. The labelled biliverdin was reduced to [ 1013C]bilirubin IXcx. and the desired product was thus prepared in an overall yield of 6% from the step where 13C was introduced with quantitative isotope incorporation. [ 14C]bilirubin was prepared, biosynthetically, using [14C]aminolaevulinic acid. Bilirubin kinetics in 4 rats were measured by the analysis of the plasma disappearance of [ 14C]bilirubin in a two-compartment model. The plasma half-life of the first and second exponentials were 1.97 and 32.8 min respectively. The data were used to determine model independant parameters k12, k21 and k20. In the proposed model, plasma unconjugated bilirubin exchanges with a hepatic unconjugated bilirubin pool. Bilirubin is eliminated from the system via the proposed hepatic pool. These studies provide an analysis of the kinetics of unconjugated bilirubin in rats and are intended to serve as a reference point for studies using a stable isotope of bilirubin. The plasma disappearance of [ 10-13C]bilirubin IXa in three rats was studied using mass spectrometry to measure the bilirubin 813C. Validation of the experimental procedure in terms of range and reproducibility of the detection method was carried out. The half lives of the initial and terminal exponentials were 2.27±2.5 and 22.8±12.9 minutes. Despite the large 95% confidence limits calculated for these clearance curves they serve as an important foundation for future bilirubin kinetic studies using nonradioactive isotopes of bile pigments.
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Open Access
Are health workers watching? An evaluation of nurses' use of the 'Road to Health Card' as a tool for monitoring the growth of children who attend the under-five clinics of Engcobo district, Transkei
(1994) Makanga, Olivia; Katzenellebogen, Judy
Available clinics and hospital records indicate that growth faltering is common in the district of Engcobo, Transkei. It has been observed that little emphasis is placed on plotting weights on the growth charts yet this is the basis for early detection of growth falterers for corrective action. A study was therefore, undertaken at Engcobo, to evaluate how well nurses use the 'Road to Health Card' (RTHC) to promote growth. 22 nurses working in 5 under-five clinics were interviewed about their knowledge, attitude and practice of Growth Monitoring. 510 mothers of children randomly selected in the same clinics were also interviewed about their knowledge of growth monitoring. 506 cards belonging to these children were studied and evaluated for compliance with plotting by nurses. 95.3% mothers had seen the card before and of these 90.1 % presented it. 96.3% and 96.7% found it useful for immunisation and illness respectively while only 21.8% found it useful for weighing. Only 36.2% mothers were able to interpret growth curves correctly. Literacy level, education about graphs and being a mother as carer influenced positively and significantly the understanding of growth curves. Nurses on the other hand interpreted graphs fairly well 81.8% and gave the appropriate corrective action 68.2%. However, communication between nurses and mothers was poor. Only 31.8% nurses knew they could health educate mothers using the Road To Health Card and only 18.2% nurses said they gave health education tailored to the individual needs of children. Compliance with plotting was poor with emphasis more on weighing than plotting. Plot/ weighing ratio was 45.3% while weighing/visits ratio was 86.9%. In-service training about growth monitoring was ineffective. It was concluded that nurses' performance with regard to Growth Monitoring was inadequate. Inadequate training for both nurses and mothers was identified as the key factor contributing to this. Ways of improving Growth Monitoring at Engcobo are suggested.
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Open Access
Oncogene Expression in Transformed Cells
(1994) Naudé, Johan Alfred Leonard te Water; Parker, MI
This study investigated the expression of the c-fos gene in two cell lines. The parent cell line is a normal human diploid fibroblast cell line, WI-38. The derived cell line, WI-38 CT-1, is a heteroploid cell line which exhibits many of the characteristics common to transformed cells; it was derived from the parent cell line by y-irradiation. The c-fos gene is an essential component of the mechanisms governing cellular proliferation, and was shown by Northern blotting to be expressed at a very low level in the transformed cell line, when compared to the parent cell line. Defining the nature of this facet of the behaviour of the transformed cell line was the major thrust of this work. It was demonstrated that the low expression of the c-fos mRNA in the WI-38 CT-1 cell line was probably due to there being a decreased transcription of the c-fos gene. This proposition was supported by there being a similar decrease in the expression of the EGRl gene in the transformed cell line. The expression of this gene is known to be regulated in a manner similar to that of the c-fos gene. Further work showed that this occurred in the presence of a vigorous response to serum stimulation in the transformed cell line, as measured by the total rates of RNA synthesis following serum stimulation. The decreased c-fos response to serum stimulation was shown not to be limited by the expression of receptors on the cell surface of the WI-38 CT-1 cell line, by employing agents such as phorbol esters and the calcium ionophore that bypass this route. The use of these agents, which act via discrete regions of the c-fos promoter, also demonstrated that the inability of the transformed cell line to respond to serum stimulation with a vigorous c-f os excursion was a consequence of a global depression of c-fos transcription, as all elements involved in the expression of the c-fos gene were equally influenced. This study has also demonstrated that bradykinin, a vasoactive peptide, which is involved in mediating the response of cells to inflammation, and which has been shown to be mitogenic for fibroblasts, was able to cause induction of c-fos mRNA expression in both cell lines. This is a novel finding. Furthermore, there were no sequence differences in the c-fos promoter in either cell line which might account for the observed difference in c-fos gene expression. The sequence of the c-fos promoter in both cell lines was shown to differ from that originally reported for this region: however, these differences were shown not to involve any of the protein-binding sequences described for this promoter. In vitro analysis of the DNA-protein interactions showed that there was a qualitative similarity in the patterns produced by gel shift analysis in both cell lines using the c-fos promoter as a probe. Higher resolution mapping of these interactions, using the methylation interference assay, showed that the DNA-binding activities involved were similar to those described for the serum response factor (SRF) and the cAMP response element (CRE): these sequences, and their cognate DNA-binding activities, have been previously identified as being major determinants of c-fos gene expression. Transfection of a c-fos promoter-dependent reporter gene into both cell lines showed an equivalent induction. This similarity was sustained for different reporter gene constructs and inducing agents. This dissertation reports a phenomenological study of the expression of the c-fos gene in two related human cell lines. It has defined the comparative behaviour of the c-fos gene in these cell lines, and has suggested that the nuclear atypia present in the transformed cell line might be responsible for the differential expression of the c-fos gene in these two cell lines. It has used the expression of the c-fos gene to illustrate the inherent complexities of cellular transcriptional regulation and the differences implicit in related but behaviourally distinct cell lines. It has suggested that the main thesis of this study might be relevant to some aspects of the behaviour of metastatic cells.