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Bakgrund: Depression är en vanligt förekommande sjukdom. Depressionen kan innebära stora påfrestningar, både för den som är drabbad och för samhället. Det finns olika behandlingsalternativ mot depression. De vanligaste alternativen är psykoterapi och antidepressiva läkemedel. Att utforska andra, icke-farmakologiska behandlingar, kan vara en viktig del i sjuksköterskans framtida arbete. Syfte: Syftet med litteraturstudien var att utforska effekterna av fysisk aktivitet som omvårdnadsåtgärd vid depression. Metod: För att besvara syftet har åtta kvantitativa studier använts i litteraturstudien. En omfattande sökning har genomförts och en utförlig analys har tillämpats i syfte att sammanställa det aktuella kunskapsläget. Resultat: Det sammanställda resultatet visar att fysisk aktivitet som omvårdnadsåtgärd vid depression är en effektiv tilläggsbehandling för att minska depressiva symtom. Konklusion: Det framgår av studierna att fysisk aktivitet har en gynnsam effekt vid olika svårighetsgrad av depression. Författarna till förevarande litteraturstudie anser att fysisk aktivitet som omvårdnadsåtgärd vid depression bör användas i större utsträckning än vad som sker idag. Denna slutsats är en viktig kunskap när det kommer till sjuksköterskans förebyggande och lindrande omvårdnadsarbete. / Background: Depression is a common disease. Depression can be very stressful, both for the person affected and for society. There are various treatment options for depression. The most common options are psychotherapy and antidepressant drugs. Exploring other, non-pharmacological treatments may be an important part of the nurse’s future work. Aim: The aim of this literature study was to explore the effects of physical activity as a nursing measure in depression. Methods: To answer the aim, eight quantitative studies have been used in this literature study. An extensive search and a detailed analysis were applied in order to compile the current state of knowledge. Results: The compiled results show that physical activity as a nursing measure in depression is an effective adjunctive treatment to reduce depressive symptoms. Conclusion: The studies show that physical activity has a beneficial effect on different degrees of depression. The authors of the present literature study believe that physical activity as a nursing measure in depression should be used to a greater extent than it is used today. This conclusion is an important knowledge when it comes to the nurse´s preventive and curative work.

Backgroud: Current research suggests that psychedelics might have a significant therapeutic potential for the treatment of addictions, as well as the treatment of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental illnesses. The current renaissance of psychedelic research, as well as changes in the approach towards these substances we see in some countries, suggest that it is only a matter of time until psychedelics are officially used as a therapeutic tool in treatment. The progressive field of addictology in the Czech Republic could be one of the pioneers of psychedelic research in the treatment of addictions. Aim: The theoretical part of this work provides insights into the current events in the field of psychedelic research in the Czech Republic and in the world. The research part maps the perspectives and attitudes of Czech experts and representatives of leading institutions (areas of addictology, research on psychedelics and mental health and state administration) on the use of psychedelics in the treatment of addictions. The aim of this work was to find out how these experts approach this issue and what possibilities and limits of implementation of research on psychedelics in the treatment of addictions they perceive. Methods: Twelve respondents took part in a qualitative...

Thesis (M. Pharm. (Pharmacology)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / Introduction: Zebediela Hospital in Limpopo Province is running an outreach programme as part of its chronic care initiative. In the programme, pharmacy personnel visit the feeder clinics attached to the hospital to dispense chronic medicines to patients. This study aimed at evaluating how this pharmacy chronic care outreach programme is performing, by looking at pharmacy personnel, nursing personnel and patients’ perceptions. Method: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted at the six feeder clinics attached to Zebediela Hospital in the Lepelle-Nkumpi municipality of the Capricorn district in Limpopo Province using a quantitative research method. This quantitative research was administered in the form of a survey. Questionnaires were used to collect data from patients, nursing personnel and pharmacy personnel. A total of 399 participants (n=399) took part in the study. The participants included 337 patients from six different clinics, 18 pharmacy personnel and 44 nursing personnel. Data was analysed using the SPSS version 25.0. Results: The pharmacy personnel showed that an allocation of more than three personnel per duty roster sufficed. Regarding transport used by pharmacy personnel when embarking on the Pharmacy Chronic Care Outreach Programme, 71.4% of pharmacy personnel indicated that they always used hospital transport in 83.3% of the cases. The study findings showed that, 71% of patients agreed they were satisfied with the pharmacy times for collecting medicines apart from the fact that 65.6% of patients travelled for more than two hours from their respective homes to their nearest clinic. Sixty eight percent of pharmacy personnel perceived the PCCOP model to be reducing patient waiting time at the clinics. Both the patients and nursing personnel were however not satisfied with the pharmacy personnel’s arrival time at the clinic. The other negative aspect reported was the space problem at the clinics where, 77.8% of pharmacy personnel and 54.5% of nursing personnel reported this as not user-friendly. The patients’ satisfaction levels regarding the PCCOP model for “very satisfied” stood at 64.2% and 0.6% for “very dissatisfied”. Both pharmacy and nursing personnel recommended that the PCCOP model be continued with recommendations towards improving human resources and infrastructure. Conclusion: In conclusion, both pharmacy personnel and nursing personnel showed that the outreach programme was a good initiative in the health system and it benefitted patients. However, the concerns mentioned by patients included long waiting times at the clinic and medicine stock outs. As the results show, the pharmacy chronic care outreach programme should be continued, as long as patients’ complaints can be attended to. Key words: Evaluation, Pharmacy Chronic care Outreach Programme, Zebediela

Thesis (M. A. (Communication Studies)) -- University if Limpopo, 2021 / This study was prompted by the number of people who die daily from tuberculosis (TB) in the study area. The study investigated the perceptions of Mokopane residents, and their level of understanding and knowledge of the disease, tuberculosis (TB). The aim of the study was to profile people’s perceptions of health beliefs, the causes of the increase and spread of TB and its prevention and their knowledge about TB awareness campaigns in the Mokopane area. Data was collected by means of both qualitative and quantitative methods. Ten (10) medical doctors who operate private practices in the Mokopane area were interviewed. Data was collected from four hundred and one (401) participants from both Sandsloot and Tshamahansi villages outside Mokopane. The major findings of this study showed that firstly residents have a firm belief that traditional methods cure TB; secondly, they are largely ignorant of TB, its prevention, and consequences; and lastly that there is a lack of TB related education.

Thesis (M. A. (Nursing Science)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / Background: Mastectomy is one of the treatments for breast cancer. It causes a change in the appearance of the breast thus causing a major effect on women’s self‑image and a decreased sense of femininity that can lead to anxiety and depression to such an extent that they avoid visiting public places. The study explored and described experiences of women who had undergone mastectomy at Mankweng Hospital, Limpopo Province, South Africa. Study design: This study used a phenomenological approach to perform a qualitative, exploratory, descriptive, and contextual research. Using a non-probability purposive sample of about 15 women who had undergone mastectomy in Mankweng hospital. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews. The semi-structured interviews' audio recordings were transcribed verbatim. Seven steps procedure for data analysis using Colaizzi method was used to interpret the data. Results: The most challenging experience by women who had undergone mastectomy defined as a feeling of being disabled, anxious, relieved, acceptance, and financial constraints. Conclusion: Strategies to address the challenges faced by women who had undergone mastectomy has been developed to assist them with coping mechanism post mastectomy and living a normal life. Key concepts: Breast Cancer, Mastectomy, Women

Thesis ((M. Pharm. (Pharmaceutics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2019 / Epilepsy is the fourth most common neurological disorder after migraine, stroke and Alzheimer’s disease and it affects about fifty million people worldwide. Careful consideration should be taken when deciding to initiate treatment in epilepsy as it should consider the balance between the possibility of further seizures and their associated risks, including the possible risk of sudden expected death, inconvenience and the risks of taking regular medication for each individual. In the early 1980’s, the first-line treatment for epilepsy was polytherapy. This was due to findings that smaller doses of two drugs rather than larger doses of one drug can achieve synergistic effects or less drug toxicity. However, following more trials on the treatment of epilepsy, this was later changed to monotherapy as first-line treatment. Despite the change, patients remain uncontrolled on a single anti-epileptic drug, thus they are initiated on polytherapy, one such combination being carbamazepine in combination with sodium valproate. The use of these in combination has pharmacological threats such as compliance, the control of side effects and the achievement of synergistic effects. The development of a Fixed Dose Combination (FDC) has often been used to resolve pharmacological threats, and this study aims to develop a fixed dose combination tablet of carbamazepine and sodium valproate to resolve the pharmacological threats in epilepsy. Samples of carbamazepine and sodium valproate and a physical mixture (1:1 w/w) of both drugs and excipients were prepared for compatibility with thermal analysis and spectroscopy techniques. Data was analysed by comparing the DSC curves, FTIR spectra, XRPD peaks and TAM analysis of carbamazepine and sodium valproate alone and in their physical mixture (1:1 w/w) and with excipients. Both carbamazepine and sodium valproate were evaluated for flowability using angle of repose, tapped and bulk density, compressibility index and particle size distribution. To formulate the proposed FDC tablet of carbamazepine and sodium valproate, direct compression and wet granulation methods were employed. The tablets were then evaluated for official and non-official post formulation parameters (weight variation, crushing strength, friability, diameter and thickness, and disintegration) according to BP and USP standards. A standardised HPLC method was developed and validated for analytical procedures. Dissolution studies were conducted xiii according to USP methods to verify and quantify the release of the APIs from the FDC tablet. Carbamazepine and sodium valproate were tested for compatibility with excipients using DSC, FTIR, XRPD and TAM analysis. The overall results confirmed that carbamazepine and sodium valproate are compatible, with each other and the excipients used in the study. Powder flow of carbamazepine and sodium valproate was poor, hence they were subjected to granulation prior to compression to improve flowability. The specifications of the fixed-dose combination were developed in accordance with the FDA’s quality by design concept and WHO recommendations. The tablets were subjected to non-official and official pharmacopoeial tests, and passed all the tests. Dissolution studies according to a USP method were conducted to verify and quantify the release of the APIs in the fixed-dose combination. The initial dissolution rate (DRi) of carbamazepine and sodium valproate in the SLS dissolution medium was rapid as required for an immediate release formulation. The study aimed at developing a fixed dose combination of carbamazepine and sodium valproate to try to reduce the burden of taking more than one tablet for epilepsy. Based on the results obtained from preformulation studies to assay of the final product, the study was successful. / Chieta bursary and HWseta

Complex social connections are essential for health and survival, and memory-impacting disorders like schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease can be debilitating for the relationships between patients and loved ones. To form and sustain relationships requires the ability to, first, identify strangers versus familiar individuals (identification) and, second, revise one’s representations of them based on past experience (learning). This ability is called social memory. A range of evidence confirms that the CA2 subregion of the hippocampus is crucial for social memory, and CA2-specific abnormalities are linked to social memory deficits in disease mouse models. However, the specific social cues that CA2 processes to inform social memory—as well as how CA2 adapts its responses to representations of other individuals through learning and experience—remains unclear.Since mice rely most heavily on olfaction to investigate conspecifics, odor sensory cues likely inform the basis of social identification processes in the murine brain. Furthermore, the hippocampus receives information from the olfactory bulb through the entorhinal cortex, suggesting that CA2 may be capable of processing odor sensory information for memory storage. It is already known the neighboring hippocampal subregion CA1 processes nonsocial odor cues and encodes the relationship between nonsocial odors and positive valence through learned experience. Therefore, since CA2 is necessary for social recognition overall, and since it is possible CA2 receives odor information through the same circuits as CA1, I hypothesized that CA2 processes social odor cues for social identification and combines this information with contextual information to develop and maintain social memory. In my thesis, I used two-photon calcium imaging to confirm that CA2 indeed encodes and distinguishes social odors belonging to unique individuals, as well as nonsocial odors. I also found that CA2 neurons adapt their responses to odor stimuli when a reward contingency is introduced—pairing some odors and not others with an artificial reward. Intensive decoding analyses further revealed that CA2 is capable of forming a generalized or abstract representation of social versus nonsocial and rewarded versus unrewarded social odor stimuli. Finally, with archaerhodopsin-mediated CA2 silencing, I confirmed that CA2 is necessary for social—but not nonsocial—odor-reward associative learning, further promoting the specificity of this brain region in the encoding of socially-relevant episodic memory. A link exists between CA2-specific dysfunction (namely, poor CA2 neuronal excitability) and social recognition deficits in the Df(16)A+/- microdeletion mouse model of the human 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome—in which nearly a third of patients develop schizophrenia. I next hypothesized that CA2 in this model has a deficit in processing social sensory cues and forming the appropriate association between those cues and learned valence. Indeed, I discovered behavioral deficits in both social and nonsocial odor-reward associative learning in the Df(16)A+/- model. I further showed that CA2 is important in this impairment because selective expression of a dominant negative TREK-1 potassium channel subunit, which has been shown to improve CA2 function in these mice, rescued the deficits in social and nonsocial odor-reward learning. With two-photon imaging, I found that CA2 neurons in Df(16)A+/- mice were able to discriminate between social and nonsocial odors with an accuracy that was similar to that seen in wild-type mice, which was surprising given the CA2-dependent deficit in odor-reward learning in the Df(16)A+/- mice. However, the Df(16)A+/- mice did show a reduced fraction of neurons that were selectively activated by the rewarded odor compared to the wild-type mice. Perhaps the most salient finding is that CA2 representations in Df(16)A+/- mice showed a reduced generalized or abstract coding of odor-reward across the social and nonsocial odor categories. This suggests that the Df(16)A+/- mice failed to generalize the task variable of reward, but rather learned separate rules for social and nonsocial odor-reward association. This is reminiscent of a reduction in abstract thought in individuals with schizophrenia. Overall, my thesis provides evidence for the first time that CA2 encodes social odors and odor-reward learned experiences, that these identification and learning-related adaptation mechanisms are impaired in a disease model harboring social memory deficits, and that specific manipulations to restore CA2 function can rescue abnormal learning in this model. These results reinforce the notion that CA2 may provide a novel target for therapeutic intervention in restoring cognitive function associated with neuropsychiatric disease.

Submitted in complete fulfillment for the Degree of Master of Technology: Biotechnology, Durban University of Technology, 2012. / Recently our understanding of cancer has advanced in the realization that apoptosis and the genes that control it have a profound effect on the malignant phenotype. It is now clear that some oncogenic mutations disrupt apoptosis, leading to tumor initiation, progression or metastasis. Conversely, compelling evidence indicates that other oncogenic changes promote apoptosis, thereby producing selective pressure to override apoptosis during multistage carcinogenesis. Finally, it is now well documented that most cytotoxic anti-cancer agents induce apoptosis, raising the intriguing possibility that defects in apoptotic programs contribute to treatment failure. Because the same mutations that suppress apoptosis during tumor development also reduce treatment sensitivity, apoptosis provides a conceptual framework to link cancer genetics with cancer therapy. An intense research effort is uncovering the underlying mechanisms of apoptosis, such that, in the next decade, one envisions that this information will produce new strategies to exploit apoptosis for therapeutic benefit. Plants have a long history in cancer treatment. More than 3000 species have been known for their anti-cancer potential. Over 60% of currently used anti-cancer agents are derived in one way or another from higher plants. Indeed, compounds derived from natural sources, including plants, have played, and continue to play, a dominant role in the discovery of leads for the development of conventional drugs for the treatment of most human diseases especially cancer. Thus the aim of this study was to investigate if Centella asiatica and Elytropappus rhinocerotis possess anti-cancer potential and determine the effect on the modulation of apoptosis. In South Africa C. asiatica is known anecdotally to treat various forms of cancers and E. rhinocerotis is known to treat colic and diarrhoea. The anti-cancer activity of C. asiatica has been studied in some parts India but E. rhinocerotis has not been investigated. This study was conducted using polarity guided fractionation (aqueous, ethanolic, methanolic and hexane), thereafter these extracts were tested for their toxicity on a colon cancer cell line (CaCO-2) and on normal cells vi (PBMC). Subsequently, the most active extract was used to isolate the active fraction. The fraction that displayed toxicity on the CaCO-2 cells were further investigated for their ability to induce apoptosis by observing the morphological effects and DNA changes using acridine orange-ethidium bromide staining. Apoptosis was confirmed using Annexin V- PI staining. Nuclear effects were studied by DNA fragmentation and by agarose gel electrophoresis. Nuclear fragmentation was studied by flow cytometry using bromodeoxyuridine (BrDU). Pro-apoptotic changes were determined with Caspase III enzyme levels using flow cytometry. The results were compared to the effect of a known anti-carinogen - Taxol. The anti-oxidant activity was also evaluated for the different extracts. The ethanolic extracts of both C. asiatica and E. rhinocerotis showed more than 100% radical scavenging activity. The methanolic extract (125 μg/ml -500 μg/ml) showed cytotoxicity on the CaCO-2 cells and a proliferative effect on the PBMC. Apoptosis was confirmed in the methanolic extract for both plants and was therefore used to carry forth this study. This included early apoptotic changes observed by the morphological study i.e., membrane blebbing, nuclear condensation and the presence of apoptotic bodies, in both C. asiatica and E. rhinocerotis fractions demonstrated more non-viable apoptotic cells than the methanolic extracts. Late changes of apoptosis were also found as indicated by DNA laddering and a positive outcome with BrDU. Both the active fractions from C. asiatica and E. rhinocerotis showed more DNA laddering and active caspase III than the methanolic extract. These features indicate that C. asiatica and E. rhinocerotis cause apoptotic death of colon cancer cells CaC0-2. In conclusion, there was a significant increase in apoptosis of CaCO-2 cells with little alteration of PBMC in the presence of the methanolic extract of C. asiatica and E. rhinocerotis. The semipure fractions resulted in changes related to late apoptosis. The results suggest that C. asiatica and E. rhinocerotis induces apoptosis in CaCO-2 cells which is an important step in elucidating the underlying molecular mechanism for anti-tumour activity.