Motivation The prevalence of cardiovascular disease is on the increase in sub-Saharan Africa largely owing to lifestyle changes associated with urbanisation. Traditional diets are being replaced with diets high in saturated fat and sugar. In addition to the nutritional transition, urbanisation in developing African countries also contributes to a more sedentary lifestyle. Together these trends contribute to a higher prevalence of obesity and hypertension that are major risk factors for the development of cardiovascular disease. Adipose tissue is now widely recognised as an endocrine organ that secretes numerous inflammatory mediators as well as adipocytokines such as leptin. The primary role of leptin is to induce satiety after a meal and to suppress appetite. However, in recent years the role of leptin in the development of obesity-related cardiovascular disease has gained increasing attention and interest. Furthermore, leptin levels not only differ with regard to gender but also ethnicity. Africans have higher leptin levels than Caucasians due to higher subcutaneous fat in Africans. Furthermore, the prevalence of hypertension and stroke are also greater in the African population. Taken together, it is important to investigate mechanisms by which elevated leptin may contribute to the development of cardiovascular disease, especially in cardiovascular disease-prone Africans. Aim The general aim of this study is to increase our understanding of the role of leptin in cardiovascular disease development by investigating associations of leptin with markers of sympathetic activity, endothelial dysfunction, and cardiovascular reactivity and recovery in Africans and Caucasians. Methodology Data from the SABPA (Sympathetic activity and Ambulatory Blood Pressure in Africans) study was used and presented in the original research articles described in Chapter 2, 3 and 4. This study included 409 African and Caucasian schoolteachers working in the Potchefstroom district in the North West Province of South Africa. Groups were stratified by ethnicity, gender and ethnicity or obesity in order to demonstrate potential differences. We performed cardiovascular measurements and determined levels of leptin, renin, cortisol, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), von Willebrand factor (vWF) and urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (ACR). Independent t-tests were done to compare means between groups and Chi-square tests to compare proportions. Pearson’s correlations were determined to investigate associations as well as partial correlations after minimal adjustment for potential confounders. Multiple regression analyses were performed to investigate independent associations of leptin with cardiovascular and biochemical markers according to the specific focus of each research manuscript. Results and conclusions of the individual manuscripts  Leptin may contribute to obesity-related hypertension through its sympatho-activating effects. In the first research article (Chapter 2), we compared mean leptin levels and markers of autonomic activity between Africans and Caucasians. We also investigated associations between markers of autonomic activity and leptin. Africans had higher leptin, body mass index, blood pressure and heart rate compared to Caucasians. Furthermore, Africans also demonstrated reduced heart rate variability that is indicative of autonomic imbalance. Markers of autonomic activity that collectively reflected sympathetic overactivity associated with leptin in both Africans and Caucasians, independent of significant covariates and confounders including body mass index. These findings suggest that leptin may contribute to the development of hypertension by inducing autonomic dysfunction.  Leptin exerts direct vascular effects and may thereby contribute to increased cardiovascular disease risk in the obese. We therefore investigated associations between circulating markers of endothelial dysfunction (PAI-1, vWF and ACR) and leptin in lean and obese groups, irrespective of ethnicity (Chapter 3). As expected, leptin and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 antigen levels were higher in the obese group. We found no differences for von Willebrand factor antigen and urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio. In the obese group, all markers of endothelial dysfunction were positively associated with leptin in univariate analysis. However, after full adjustment in multiple regression analyses, only the association with plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 remained significant. Higher leptin levels in the obese may possibly induce endothelial dysfunction through mechanisms related to thrombotic vascular disease.  Greater cardiovascular reactivity to stress and prolonged recovery thereafter associates with increased cardiovascular disease risk. In the final research article (Chapter 4), we therefore investigated the relationship between cardiovascular reactivity and recovery to acute stress, induced by the cold pressor test, and leptin in Africans and Caucasians. Africans demonstrated greater cardiovascular reactivity compared to Caucasians. Associations of blood pressure, stroke volume, cardiac output, total peripheral resistance and arterial compliance reactivity with leptin were investigated during the stressor application and 1, 3 and 5 minutes post-stressor. There were no independent associations between cardiovascular reactivity and leptin during the stressor, and a few correlations at 1 and 3 minutes post-stressor. Associations were mostly evident at 5 minutes post-stressor and in Africans. We argue that higher leptin levels relate to impaired post-stress recovery and thereby could contribute to hypertension development in Africans. General conclusion Elevated leptin relates to sympathetic overactivity, vascular damage and delayed post-stress recovery, and thereby could contribute to increased cardiovascular disease risk. / PhD (Physiology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

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Motivation: Abdominal obesity (hereafter referred to as "obesity") is becoming the biggest "global epidemic" of our modern times. It is associated with a range of diseases, including cardiovascular diseases and hypertension. Recent research showed that an increase in sympathetic activity is of central importance in the pathogenesis of obesity-related diseases. Increased leptin levels and impaired baroreflex sensitivity have both been independently associated with abdominal obesity and increased sympathetic activity. A perception of poorer health may also contribute to the physiological characteristics of obesity-related diseases. A lack of data regarding sympathetic activity, leptin levels, baroreflex sensitivity and perception of health in Africans, serves as a motivation for conducting this study. Objective: To investigate the contributions of leptin levels, baroreflex sensitivity and perception of health data to increased sympathetic activity in lean and obese African women from South Africa. Methodology: The manuscript presented in Chapter 2 made use of the data obtained in the POWIRS (Profiles of Obese Women with the Insulin Resistance Syndrome) study. A group of 102 urbanized African women, living in the North-West Province of South Africa, was recruited according to body mass indexes. Only 85 subjects were included for analysis due to incomplete datasets. For this study, subjects were divided into lean and obese groups according to their waist circumferences. Anthropometric measurements were done according to standardized methods. Resting cardiovascular measurements were obtained from Finometer observations. Resting, fasting levels of leptin were calculated after radioimmunoassay analyses. Subjective perception of health was determined by means of the 28-item General Health Questionnaire. Comparisons between the groups were done using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) whilst adjusting for cardiovascular risk factors (age. smoking, alcohol consumption and physical activity). Correlation coefficients were determined to indicate any associations between leptin, baroreflex sensitivity and perception of health with sympathetic activity (represented by heart rate) and other cardiovascular variables. The study was approved by the Ethics committee of the North-West University and all the subjects gave informed consent in writing. The reader is referred to the Methods section in Chapter 2 for a more detailed description of the subjects, study design and analytical procedures used in this dissertation. Results and conclusion: Results from this study indicate that obese African women, compared to lean African women, were older, reported higher physical activity, and exhibited higher diastolic and mean blood pressure, heart rate, cardiac output, arterial compliance, leptin and hypertension prevalence rate values. In lean African women social dysfunction was positively associated with diastolic and mean blood pressure and arterial resistance, and negatively with arterial compliance. In obese African women baroreflex sensitivity was negatively associated with diastolic blood pressure, which could be an indication of impaired baroreflex sensitivity. In this obese group a perception of social dysfunction was associated with decreased heart rate. Although leptin and heart rate were significantly higher in the obese Africans, no significant correlations existed between these variables to reflect leptin's enhancement of sympathetic activity. However, leptin correlated weakly but positively with cardiac output (p = 0.054, r = 0.32). In conclusion, baroreflex sensitivity (although similar between groups) and leptin seem to contribute to blood pressure and thus hypertension in obese African women, possibly through increased sympathetic activity and volume loading. A perception of poorer health, especially a perception of social dysfunction, could possibly contribute to this image. / Thesis (M.Sc. (Physiology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Esta dissertação, de caráter ensaístico e cartográfico, acompanha dimensões da arte contemporânea africana a partir de estudo de cinco criadores do continente africano participantes do Festival de Arte Contemporânea Sesc_Videobrasil, realizado na cidade de São Paulo, entre 2011 e 2018. O repertório composto evidencia desafios e possibilidades para a constituição de poéticas e sensibilidades extraocidentais, reunindo criações que expressam diversas formas de deslocamento e destacam a intensa circulação entre mundos como parte importante da assinatura africana. De modo polifônico, as produções de Dan Halter, Bouchra Khalili, Bianca Baldi, Michael MacGarry e Karo Akpokiere sublinham a complexidade dos universos estéticos de criações africanas, ao mesmo tempo que questionam prescrições sobre diferenças culturais, regimes de fronteiras e narrativas hegemônicas que impulsionam a captura das imaginações. Sinalizam um campo multifacetado, em plena ebulição e construção, que se desdobra na necessidade de pluralização de referenciais, a fim de desconstruir assimetrias de poder, gerando novas experiências políticas e estéticas. / This dissertation, of an essayistic and cartographic character, describes the characteristics of contemporary African art, based on the study of five creators from the African continent who took part in the Sesc_Videobrasil Festival of Contemporary Art, in the city of São Paulo, between 2011 and 2018. The program shows the challenges and possibilities for the formation of non-Western poetics and sensibilities, bringing together creations that express diverse forms of displacement and highlight the intense circulation among worlds as an important African characteristic. The productions of Dan Halter, Bouchra Khalili, Bianca Baldi, Michael MacGarry and Karo Akpokiere polyphonically underline the complexity of Africa\'s aesthetic universes and question prescriptions on cultural differences, boundary regimes, and hegemonic narratives that drive the capture of the imagination. They signal a multifaceted field which is in full construction and unfold in the need to change references so that the asymmetries of power can be deconstructed into new political and aesthetic experiences.

This dissertation examined the social role of royal mothers with an analysis of the issues of rituals and gender within the context of the eMaswati kingship. The Siswati royal rituals have attracted attention from researchers in various fields of the social sciences, focusing on the iNgwenyama (King), the hereditary head of the Emalangeni (Royal family) and ruler of the eMaswati. With the recent shift in many of these fields towards a focus on gender roles, new needs arise from an understanding of the social role of eSwatini royal mothers. Royal mothers fulfilled a role based on sacred rituals which were oriented to the construction of the sociopolitical power of the Bukhosi (Monarchy). The iNdlovukazi (Queen Mother) and eMakhosikati (Queens) are a significant feature of the culture of the eMaswati. When the Umntfwana (Crown Prince) is ready to ascend the throne, the Nabo-Mntfwana (Mother of Crown Prince) is the first to ascend to the throne and becomes the iNdlovukazi (Queen Mother). In the same fashion, the Umntfwana (Crown Prince) at his coronation then becomes the iNgwenyama (King). Moreover, the iNdlovukazi is the biological mother of a reigning iNgwenyama; she is a social, political, and ritual authority, the mother of the Emalangeni (Royal family), and the supreme mother of the eMaswati. Finally, the iNdlovukazi and eMakhosikati are recognized as essential to the family organization, a symbol of Likhaya (motherhood). The Emalangeni (Royal family), the Dlamini clan, formed the nucleus of the eMaswati. Under these circumstances, throughout history, royal mothers have performed and fulfilled duties that other cultures reserved for male-gendered roles. During the reign of an iNgwenyama (King), royal mothers faced severe problems, especially in ensuring continuity. Presenting a historical perspective from the standpoint of the Emalangeni illuminates how the essential sources of the royal family originated with them. The results of the accounts also provide an analysis of who the iNdlovukazi (Queen Mother) is, how or when she becomes one, and under what circumstances. Moreover, the positions of mothers in the royal family, namely the eMakhosikati (Queens), are situated around their role to that of the iNdlovukazi.

Student Number : 9102146D - MA research report - School of Graduate School - Faculty of Humanities / This is a study of local integration of Congolese refugees from The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) living in Johannesburg. The point of departure is from Jacobsen’s assertion that refugees are de facto integrated when they are not in physical danger, are able to sustain livelihoods through access to land or employment, and can support themselves and their families, are socially networked into host communities so that intermarriage is common, ceremonies like weddings and funerals are attended by everyone and there is no distinction between refugees and local communities. The study looks at the amount of interaction between refugees and South Africans, the dynamics involved in social integration and the perception of integration by refugees and service providers. Refugees and service providers in Johannesburg were interviewed and conclusions are drawn from their responses and the literature consulted.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T19:30:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ester Fatima Vargem Rodrigues.pdf: 985819 bytes, checksum: a4e1acceae8cefbbbc13379227c9d78b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-07-21 / The present work on African immigration to Brazil in contemporary presents some aspects of my involvement with insertion in this subject, and brings up the question of the various forms and strategies that some African populations are able to cross the Atlantic, reviving diasporas. Was based on analysis of information from newspaper that made references to African immigrants , found in various forms to enter the ships anchored on the African coast, and thus achieve maximize their life chances . It also establishes dialogues with African immigrants who arrived here, in many different ways and times, with varying personal characteristics about their impressions about meanings that traverse the twenty-first century. Concludes with an overview of the political situation in Africa as well as the relationships that Brazil has established with African countries / O presente trabalho sobre a imigração africana no Brasil na contemporaneidade apresenta alguns aspectos da minha inserção no envolvimento com esta temática, e traz à tona a questão das diversas formas e estratégias que algumas populações africanas encontram para conseguir atravessar o Atlântico, revivendo diásporas. Baseou-se em análise de informações de notícias de jornais que fizessem referencias a imigrantes africanos, nas diversas formas encontradas para adentrar os navios ancorados no litoral africano, e desta forma conseguir potencializar suas possibilidades de vida. Também estabelece diálogos com imigrantes africanos que aqui chegaram, das mais diversas formas e épocas, com características pessoais variadas sobre suas impressões a respeito de significações dessa travessia no século XXI. Finaliza com um apanhado da situação política na África, bem como das relações que o Brasil vem estabelecendo com os países africanos

Magister Artium - MA / International migration has been a growing phenomenon in the West African community from the late 1960s as the colonial period came to an end and most West African countries gained their independence. During this period this migration trend was essentially from West Africa to Europe facilitated by the relationship that existed between West African states and their former colonial master. In the 1990s Western countries started restricting immigration by applying stricter immigration laws. West Africans who could not make it to the West sought alternative destinations like South Africa where the apartheid regime had just come to an end and the first elected democratic government had been installed in 1994. West Africans in South Africa are mostly economic immigrants and as South Africa's immigration policies changed this group of people faced challenges to acquire the documents required to legalize their stay in the country. This study seeks to analyze why West Africans chose to immigrate to South Africa and specifically Cape Town, their struggle for documentation and the extent to which the possession or non-possession of the correct documents affected their lives in Cape Town. It drew on interviews with Nine West Africans to try and understand this.The study found out that the main reason for West African immigration to South Africa after 1994 was because of the fall of the apartheid regime and the coming to power of the ANC government which re-established diplomatic and economic relations with most West African states. Countries in the West African region were faced with crisis in the 1980s as a result of policies that were implemented in the pursuit to address the ills of colonialism. As the economies of most of these countries declined, most West Africans were faced poverty and became desperate. In their quest for a better live West Africans embarked on immigrating to more developed and affluent countries. Initially they were immigrating to the countries of their colonial masters but with time as more people were immigrating, other destinations in Europe and North America became sought after. Restrictive immigration policies in these countries forced West African to look for new destinations to go to. They found that in South Africa after 1994. Apart from the economic crisis in the West African region, poor governance, corruption, political suppression and tribalism served as push factors in contributing to the immigration of West Africans to South Africa. As pull factors, the reliance on kinship played an important part in most West Africans who immigrated to South Africa. Many of them relied on the friends and family who were resided in South Africa for information, directions and support to make the journey and eventually join them were they are based. The picture and information that the mass media projected about South Africa also had a huge impact on the perception people had about the country. These perceptions contributed to the decision of West Africans to immigrate to South Africa. This study explored the range of visas West Africans sought to enter the country. It found that the visa they chose to apply for was not necessarily the real purpose of their visit but was the most convenient. This allowed them entry into the country and once in they sought other visas and permits to legalise their stay. This study found that it was a long hard journey to convert asylum permits to refugee permits Further the struggle over documentation was mainly because of the logistical short comings of the Department of Home Affairs. This study argues that it is the Department of Home Affairs that renders many of them illegal due to delays in processing the permits. .While they waited for documents, the lives of applicants were full of insecurity and there were difficulties in making a living. The informal sector provided one avenue for some. This thesis argues that applicants were desperate for the correct documents but even though they eventually acquired them these did not necessarily open up opportunities.

Magister Theologiae - MTh / A number of biblical scholars have observed that the Bible has been used by dominant groups in certain societies to justify and condone discrimination and oppression. Slavery, colonialism and apartheid are often cited as examples of racial oppression based on particular understandings of the Bible. Some biblical scholars have pointed to the fact that theologians who work in contexts of racially liberated societies, such as South Africa, are slow in recognizing the injustices caused by gender discrimination. Instead, male privilege continues to be upheld particularly through the Biblical justification of male headship. The popularity of the 'Mighty Men' Conference is a case in point as it encourages men to take their supposedly rightful, "God-given" place as prophet, priest and king in marriage and family relationships. The emerging popularity of male-headship theology thwarts whatever gains have been made in the areas of gender justice and equality in various spheres of society, including the church. Headship theology often goes unquestioned because it is supported by particular interpretation/understanding of biblical texts which are quoted out of context to support and justify male dominance. For example, Luke 7: 36-50 is often interpreted in showing the "sinful" woman as one who needs forgiveness.

Magister Commercii - MCom (Economics) / Described by Mohr (2008:1) as "one of the most hotly debated economic issues in South Africa", the inflation rate is underpinned by its impact on the average South African. A rapid increase in the cost of goods and services could have devastating consequences on the both the growth and development of the country, making it an imperative to effectively manage a change in general prices. The SARB applies an Inflation Targeting (IT) framework to manage the inflation rate and the thesis will interrogate the applicability of this framework within a low growth environment. More specifically, the thesis will ask whether it is prudent to increase the interest rate in a low growth environment. The thesis will employ a mixed research method, namely, a qualitative and quantitative method. However, the qualitative method will be the primary research method and the conclusions derived thereof will be tested within a qualitative model. The qualitative method will take the form of historical narrative which is designed to investigate the behaviour of the inflation rate at a micro level. The choice of this qualitative historical narrative derives from the inconclusive nature of the existing empirical quantitative studies and the resulting lack of a consensus on the effectiveness of the IT framework. This lack of consensus necessitated the use of a different approach to interrogate the IT framework hence the application of the qualitative historical narrative. The narrative will be primarily derived from the economic reports and data of the main authority on South Africa's monetary policy, the South Africa Reserve Bank (SARB). The narrative will also utilise the economic reports and data from reputable sources such as Statistics South Africa, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the European Central Bank (ECB), the US Federal Reserve System, and the People's Bank of China (PBC).