A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Health in partial compliance with the requirements for a Master's Degree in Technology: Chiropractic,Technikon Natal, 2001. / The purpose of this study was to evaluate Piroxicam versus Protease administration, in terms of subjective and objective clinical findings, in order to determine the effectiveness of each approach in the treatment of grade 1 and 2 acute ankle inversion sprains. The study was a prospective, randomized, double blinded, controlled study. The study involved 30 subjects, 15 in each group which were selected from the general population. One group received Protease and strapping while the other group two received Piroxicam and strapping. Patients received 3 treatments over a period of one week. Patients in the Protease group received 1200mg (3 x 400mg) of Protease daily before meals for seven days. Patients in the Piroxicam group received 40mg (2 x 20mg) of Piroxicam for the first two days, and then 20mg (1 x 20mg) for the following five days, administered with meals. All patients were taught how to apply an elastic crepe bandage to the ankle, which was to be used at all times, except during bathing for the duration of the study / M

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The benefits of fish oil supplementation for inflammation based disorders has been well-documented,[1] prompting investigations into the pathways through which these benefits are achieved. This led Serhan et al. to the discovery of a new class of pro-resolution lipid mediators, termed resolvins .[2][3] There has subsequently been much research into their being a potential treatment for chronic inflammatory diseases such as asthma,[4] diabetes,[5] and arthritis.[6] The aim of this research was to study the bioactivity of resolvin E1 (RvE1) and its analogues; to do this a flexible and versatile route towards the chemical synthesis of RvE1 had to be developed, which would allow for easy modification of the stereochemistry of the C-C double bonds and hydroxyl groups, as well as producing fragments containing key functional groups. The first proposed route synthesised RvE1 from two key fragments termed the lactone and epoxide fragments. RvE1 contains three stereogenic hydroxyl groups, one with S configuration and two with R configuration. The epoxide fragment was to be converted into two adjacent sections of the RvE1 chain. The S-stereocentre was introduced via hydrolytic kinetic resolution using a Jacobsen s catalyst.[7] The two R-stereocentres were introduced via the chiral pool originating from 1,2:5,6-di-O-isopropylidene-D-mannitol. Unfortunately, problems were encountered late on in the synthesis of both fragments and therefore a new synthetic route had to be devised. The second proposed route synthesised RvE1 from two key fragments termed the alkyne and halide fragments. The S-stereocentre and one R-stereocentre were proposed to be introduced via asymmetric reduction of a ketone group. The other R-stereocentre was proposed to be synthesised with the use of chiral additives during an indium-mediated coupling reaction.[8] As work progressed on the halide fragment, the Lewis acid catalysed thermodynamic conversion of a branched chain homoallylic alcohol to its linear counterpart was trialled in order to obtain one of the conjugated diene system in RvE1. Using literature conditions for a similar system[9] this reaction was unsuccessful. The reaction mechanism was studied and a hypothesis was put forward that adding a catalytic amount of the aldehyde that the branched chain homoallylic alcohol was synthesised from to the reaction mixture would promote the thermodynamic conversion to the linear chain. These conditions were trialled on a number of different starting materials, leading to either an improvement in yield for the thermodynamic conversion, or the success of a previously unsuccessful conversion.

This master thesis investigates and evaluates how a temporal component can help anti-aliasing with reduction of general spatial aliasing, preservation of thin geometry and how to get temporal stability in dynamic computer generated worlds. Of spatial aliasing, geometric aliasing is in focus but shading aliasing will also be discussed. Two temporal approaches are proposed. One of the methods utilizes the previous frame while the other method uses four previous frames. In order to do this an efficient way of re-projecting pixels are needed so this thesis deals with that problem and its consequences as well. Further, the results show that the way of taking and accumulating samples in these proposed methods show improvements that would not have been affordable without the temporal component for real-time applications. Thin geometry is preserved up to a degree but the proposed methods do not solve this problem for the general case. The temporal methods' image quality are evaluated against conventional anti-aliasing methods subjectively, by a survey, and objectively, by a numerical method not found elsewhere in anti-aliasing reports. Performance and memory consumption are also evaluated. The evaluation suggests that a temporal component for anti-aliasing can play an important role in increasing image quality and temporal stability without having a substantial negative impact of the performance with less memory consumed.

Diese Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit Zusammenhängen kognitiver Fähigkeiten und der Befindlichkeit bei Patientinnen mit Hepatitis C aus der sogenannten „Anti-D-Kohorte“. Die Frauen (n=2867) dieser spezifischen Gruppe wurden 1978/79 im Rahmen einer Anti-D-Immunprophylaxe mit dem Hepatitis C (1b) Virus infiziert. Häufig werden von Patienten, welche mit Hepatitis C infiziert sind, Beschwer-den wie Abgeschlagenheit, Ermüdung und Depressivität beklagt. In Studien wurden zudem Einschränkungen in der Kognition, insbesondere der Aufmerk-samkeit und des Gedächtnis festgestellt. Dazu wurden im Rahmen eines größeren Forschungsprojektes (Herzig et al in prep) 58 Hepatitis C Patientinnen und 25 gesunde Kontrollprobandinnen aus-gewählt. In dieser Arbeit werden die Ergebnisse der psychometrischen Testun-gen von Kognition und der Befindlichkeit vorgestellt und diskutiert. In den Komponenten Aufmerksamkeit und kognitive Flexibilität sowie in der Befindlichkeit konnten signifikante Unterschiede zur Kontrollgruppe nachgewiesen werden. Zudem fiel ein tendenzieller Vorteil antiviral therapierter Patientinnen und Patientinnen ohne nachweisbare Viruslast auf, sodass selbst HCV negative Frauen nicht als „gesund“ angesehen werden können und die Empfehlung zur medikamentösen Therapie aller viruspositiven Patientinnen besteht.

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University / Vaccines have been one of the greatest modern achievements within the fields of medicine and public health. Since their development they have prevented millions. from becoming infected and saved countless lives. Over the years though there have been various instances of anti-vaccinationist movements, which will raise concerns about vaccine safety but then eventually fade away once the virtues of the vaccine are proven greater than the possible opposed reaction or side effect. These movements have create significant drops in vaccination rates regionally and have put many at unnecessary risk of infection. However, over the last decade there has been a general increasing public distrust of vaccinations, which has continued to propagate even after the initial concerns were addressed. This paper aims to evaluate if there is significant justification for the current anti-vaccinationist movement within modernized societies by examining the proposed and eventually discredited link between autism and the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine that was initially suggested in the 1998 Wakefield et al. paper in The Lancet. This study will also evaluate opposing studies on the same to determine if any remaining concerns of a link between autism and the vaccine are justified while also evaluating the anti-vaccinationist rationale even though researchers have presented an overwhelming amount of scientific evidence showing the safety and efficiency of the vaccinations. Finally this study will look into how public health organizations can attempt to better efficiently deal with such movements in the future. The research for this paper is based on the analyzation of multiple recent research articles, as well as the evaluating trends obtained from public health records. [TRUNCATED]

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Medicine ( Pharmaceutical Affairs ) / The Retuceae is an aromatic family of plants confined to the Fynbos biome in South Africa. This family is represented by a number of genera e.g. Agasthosma, Adenandra, Coleonema, Vepris etc. all containing a number of species which have been used for centuries in traditional healing. Although many of these species have been used for centuries in local healing rites the biological activity and phytochemistry are poorly recorded. / IT2018

A research report submitted to the faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Medicine ( Pharmaceutical Affairs ) / This project was conducted to investigate properties and to record the essential oil profiles of a selection of species belonging to the genus agasthosma. Plants have been used for many years by the local South African to treat various infections and illnesses. This knowledge has largely been untapped. Buchu is one of the plant species that are used extensively by the San and Khoi people. It is remarkable that of the ca. 150 agathosma species indigenous to South Africa only two species ( Agasthosma crenulata and agathosma betulina ) have been investigated for biological activity. The genus Agasthosma is traditionally used for the following conditions ; stomach ailments, fever, coughs, cold, flu, urinary tract, and kidney infections, haematuria, prostatitis, rheumatism, gout, bruises and for antiseptic purposes. / IT2018

Faculty of Humanities School of Social Sciences 9304636m kalombo@hse.pg.wits.ac.za / The objective of this study was to unveil the effectiveness of current strategies put in place to thwart the root causes of corruption and its damaging effects on economic growth and political development in the Gauteng Provincial Government. To achieve this purpose, this thesis looked at the incidence of political corruption in South Africa in general and Gauteng in particular, in an attempt to ascertain the implication of the political and historical legacy of corruption on democratic governance. This work is an attempt to raise awareness and understanding of the problem of corruption, more a step toward transparency and accountability. The research project is positioned within the qualitative paradigm at the preliminary stage to establish a historical background of political corruption. And within the quantitative research at the second stage that required establishing from the preliminary research a sizeable sample of (approximately 100) key individuals and people in the field of corruption to which detailed questionnaires were distributed. The main findings as shown from the Gauteng experience were that in Gauteng, cases of corruption were widespread in almost all departments where public servants exploited state structures and used them to extract benefits for their own gains. However, the departments the most vulnerable to corrupt practices were those of Housing, Safety and Security, Transport and Public Works, Education, Welfare, Local Government and Health. As discovered, areas such as affirmative action, tendering or the expanded provision of benefits (e.g. in Housing, Welfare or Education) are areas that are vulnerable to corruption and are all associated with transformation/democratization projects. However, the incidence of corruption in the province can be explained by Gauteng’s lack of a “traditional” culture base that may make leaders especially susceptible to acquisitive and individualistic forms of behaviour. As a result corruption impacts negatively on the political process by undermining the legitimacy of the state and economically by impeding developmental strategies, as “corruption leads to loss of much needed revenue and human talent for development, distorts priorities for public policy, and shifts scarce resources away from the public interest … Political instability, corruption, and underdevelopment are mutually reinforcing” (Elliot: 2001:926). vi In terms of anti-corruption measures, the study has found that Gauteng is on the right path, as anti-corruption measures applied in the province suit those applied at the national level, that in turn are in the same line with international practices. The study argues that while Gauteng anti-corruption measures have succeeded in reducing corruption levels, they have not stopped it, as new cases surface almost every week in the local press. Thus there is still room for improvement if the Gauteng government aims to succeed. The researcher has recommended that there is a need for common guidelines and coordination strategies amongst internal departmental anti-corruption units that have been established and the initiation in each department of its own monitoring and evaluation capacity. This means the build-up and the improvement of internal audits and controls by higher authority applicable to both officialdom and the business sector. Finally the study assumes that many other examples of strategies to fight corruption could be provided, however, the ones provided are sufficient to argue the point that in many cases the fight against corruption cannot proceed independently from the reform of the state. In many ways it is the same fight. The study’s major conclusions concern those general assumptions about the relationship between democracy and good governance, which characterize certain theories concerning the causation of corruption, need to be revised. Even the most authoritarian systems, as was apartheid, were able to control the levels of corruption and keep it at an economically viable level. To this end, other mechanisms such as accounting standards and audits and direct accountability of leadership in government need to be strengthened alongside with the protection of whistleblowers. But the end result is that several factors associated with these mechanisms have highlighted the fact that transparency and the resulting exposure have increased opportunities for graft. In more democratic and open societies, besides greater civic engagement, the chance of closer monitoring and exposure of corrupt officials and politicians is higher than in no democratic society. Freedom of the press and of association leads public interest groups to expose abuses of power. While democracy seems to decrease corruption, both variables interact strongly with the level of transition. Hence the needs for more research on the actual effect of democratization in government departments that will serve the cause of anti-corruption campaign better.