High molecular weight mouse nerve growth factor(H M W-NGF), in addition to its effects on certain neural elements, is also chemotactic for human polymorphonuclear leukocytes. One of the subunits of H M W-NGF is a protease of the serine family and its active site contains a serine residue and a closely-neighboring histidine residue that are both essential for proteolysis. Elimination of enzyme activity by irreversibly blocking the single serine has no effect on leukotaxis, but blocking the histidine abolishes leukotaxis. These results suggest the possibility that part of the proteolytic active site of this enzyme may have evolved to perform more than one, completely different, biologic function - proteolysis as well as nonproteolytically mediated chemotaxis.

Magister Artium - MA / My MA mini-thesis in Creative Writing is a collection of 33 poems titled Learning to Exhale. The poems are centred around a character – a black African woman who is sharing her experiences of mental illness. The poems revolve around memory, forgetting and remembering; going back to the moment when the woman realises that she is ill, understanding it from the present while working to find ways to express what bipolar disorder is and how she experiences it. The collection also highlights her search for words and meaning to describe these experiences that are highly traumatic. This is to create a language of expressing the indescribable. This means that the form and structure is experimental, combining differing styles and form to show different voices, different states of mind that swing from depression, mania to suicidal thoughts.

BACKGROUND: Diabetes is a worldwide epidemic, and the number of those affected is only growing. Diabetes is characterized by hyperglycemia due to the body’s inability to produce or properly use insulin. Hyperglycemia contributes to diabetic complications in several ways, one of which is promoting glycation. Glycation is the non-enzymatic glucosylation of proteins, and because glycation is adventitious, the process most commonly occurs on proteins with long half-lives, such as collagen. Glycation greatly changes collagen’s mechanical and biochemical properties. Glycation leads to the production of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) that have been shown to contribute to the complications seen in diabetes in one of two ways: establishment of crosslinks between molecules in the basement membrane of the extracellular matrix, altering cellular function, or interactions between AGEs and AGE receptors on the cell surface. Diabetes greatly impairs the body’s ability to heal wounds, and it is thought that the AGEs produced by glycation greatly contribute this phenomenon. However, it is not fully understood, what direct role AGEs and glycated collagen plays in the wound healing process. Three-dimensional microtissue models have been developed for the purpose of studying wound healing, and the creation of a three-dimensional microtissue with glycated collagen allows for investigation into the specific role that glycated collagen plays on both the mechanical and biochemical properties of the wound closure and the healing process. METHODS: In order to study the effect of glycated collagen on wound healing, a protocol to make glycated collagen must first be developed. To make glycated collagen, soluble rat-tail type I collagen will be incubated with 250mM ribose at 4°C for a minimum of five days to allow the collagen to become glycated. The glycated collagen will be used to make a collagen gel, and then papain buffer will digest the gel. The extent of glycation will be determined through quantifying the digested glycated collagen gel’s autofluorescence, absorbance, and changes that can be perceived visually. Once it is confirmed that the collagen has been glycated, it will be incorporated into a microtissue model based on a previously published protocol. The microtissue will then be wounded with a micromanipulator and 16-gauge needle, and visualized via time-lapse microscopy. The rate at which the wound closes will be compared in microtissues made with glycated collagen to those made with non-glycated collagen. RESULTS: Glycation of collagen was unable to be confirmed consistently by measuring the autofluorescence of the collagen gel digests. However, the absorbance of the collagen gel digest was used to determine that the collagen was 43.16% glycated and visual changes in the collagen gels made with glycated collagen was also observed. Microtissues were able to successfully form with the glycated collagen, and were able to be used to compare wound healing in normal microtissues against those made with glycated collagen.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Psychology at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2014 / This study involved an evaluation of an energy healing programme using participatory action research. The main research question related to the effectiveness of an energy healing programme in a group of psoriasis sufferers. The other research questions examined the participants‘ lived experiences of the programme; the extent to which awareness and intention to heal, as forms of energy, raised levels of consciousness and finally the extent to which new awareness led to corresponding bodily changes related to psoriasis. The study was based on the experiences of three participants living with psoriasis who participated in a five week energy healing programme. The sample was based on individuals living with psoriasis and with a shared interest in energy healing. Participants ranged between the ages of 24 and 54.Thegroup comprised one male and two females from a Hindu background, living in the greater Durban area. The programme involved the practice of various energy healing modalities that included the different forms of meditation, pranayama and yoga. The programme required weekly attendance at experiential group session with a duration of 90 minutes. An integrated methodological approach was used to capture the essence of energy healing through four ways of being and knowing. These included interior, exterior, individual and collective perspectives. A positivist research approach provided objective findings of heart rhythm coherence and quality of life measures on effectiveness of the energy healing programme. These findings showed a corresponding relationship with subjective data based on personal experiences of energy healing. First person perspectives included themes of self-discovery, self-acceptance, detached observing and improved relationships as it relates to higher states in consciousness. This study should be replicated on a larger scale using more controlled research methods to validate the use of energy healing as an adjunct treatment for people living with psoriasis.

The idea for my thesis stemmed from a braided essay I wrote for a creative writing class. I didn’t initially plan on expanding my class essay into a memoir, but I have discovered that oftentimes the story finds us rather than the other way around. Using the memoir form allowed me to bridge quite naturally the subjects of grief and landscape by giving me space to reflect on a turbulent period in my life and arrive at some sort of conclusion. While I could see the importance of the natural world in my life, I didn’t realize at first how it helped me work through the grief, depression, and anxiety I experienced after my mother passed away. Writing about that period of my life helped me see the direct connections between landscape and healing. Grief itself can feel circular or like a whirlpool with no escape. Healing, on the other hand, transpires more linearly. For that reason, I decided to use geology as a metaphor to demonstrate how I worked through the emotional landscape of grief toward acceptance and healing after tragedy.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Fracture repair is costly and difficult to treat. One of the main causations of nonunion is a lack of essential blood supply. The needed blood is supplied by the growth of new blood vessels, a process known as angiogenesis, that invade the damaged tissue early in the healing process. We proposed using bone tissue engineering as an effective therapy. This therapy uses stem cells to aid in tissue regeneration. Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) were selected due to their ability to form tube-like networks in vitro. EPCs were isolated from murine bone marrow and lung tissue. We tested EPC’s tube forming, proliferative, and wound migration ability in vitro. To test their ability in vivo we created a femoral fracture in young and old mice. EPCs were seeded to the fracture site upon a collagen scaffold. The in vitro studies displayed that the bone marrow and lung-derived endothelial cells presented EPC traits. In the mouse fracture model bone marrow, endothelial cells did not significantly improve the healing process. In the future, we want to improve our cell extraction and purification method, as well as test a new stem cell delivery biomaterial. We also want to select and use a growth factor (GF) that can help to promote bone regeneration in tandem with the EPCs.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D.), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 2009 / In recent years, there has been a growing interest in natural and traditional medicines for the treatment of wounds. Attempts to find agents that promote wound-healing and that are affordable, effective and non-toxic have a long history. In South Africa, hundreds of different indigenous plants are used to treat wounds and burns. The merits of relatively few of these have been scientifically evaluated. Bulbine natalensis and Bulbine frutescens of the Asphodelaceae family are indigenous to southern Africa and are widely used as a skin remedy. This study aimed to investigate the in vitro and in vivo effect of Bulbine natalensis and Bulbine frutescens on cutaneous wound healing. In vitro cell culture study: In vitro studies were carried out on dermal fibroblasts and human keratinocytes cultured under standard conditions using Iscove’s Modified Eagles Medium (MEM) and Dulbecco’s MEM respectively. Confluent cultures of both cell lines were treated with varying concentrations of the leaf extracts of B. frutescens and B. natalensis. These cultures were subjected to the MTT, WST-1 and BrdU assays to determine the cytotoxicity and proliferation effect of the extracts. In addition, migration of cells across a score was analysed over a 48 hour period. In vivo animal study: Excisional and incisional wounds were created on the back of 12 domestic pigs. Mirror imaged wounds were created as control wounds. The excisional wounds were biopsied at days 2, 4, 7, 10 and 16 and the incisional wounds were biopsied at day 16. The rate of closure of the wounds was also recorded. Each excisional wound was analyzed for its biochemical composition by estimating the total amount of protein, DNA, collagen and hexosamine that was present in the wound tissue. The wound healing process was documented histologically (using haematoxylin and eosin and a Mallory’s trichrome stain) and immunohistochemically (using anti- α smooth muscle actin, vascular endothelial growth factor WitsETD and transforming growth factor β receptors I and II). The incisional wounds were used to test tensile strength of the healed wounds using a tensiometer.In the in vitro studies, neither extract caused cytotoxicity to either the fibroblast or keratinocyte cells. Cell proliferation was greater than 100% at 0.1-5 and 100-300 μg/ml for Bulbine natalensis and at 0.1μg/ml for Bulbine frutescens. There was no significant difference in the effects of the two leaf extracts on cell proliferation. The biochemical analysis of the wound tissue showed a significant increase in the collagen, protein and total DNA content of both B frutescens and natalensis treated wounds when compared to the untreated wounds. There was no significant difference in the hexosamine content of both B. frutescens- and B. natalensis-treated and untreated wounds. Analysis of the wound tissue displayed an increase rate of closure of the wound tissue treated with B. frutescens and B. natalensis when compared to the untreated wounds. Full re-epithelialisation of both treated wounds occurred earlier than in the untreated wounds. These findings have important implications for the use of these extracts to treat wound healing.

Bats (Order Chiroptera) are the only mammals capable of power flight. The flight membranes of bats are not only essential for locomotion, but also play vital roles in homeostasis. Although understanding wound healing in the flight membranes of bats is important because injuries in the wild are common, with the recent emergence of white-nose syndrome, understanding wound healing in bat flight membranes has become even more important. In order to conduct my studies on wound healing in the flight membranes of bats, it was necessary to manually restrain bats. In this thesis I present a novel bat restrainer that I designed and that reduces stress experienced by restrained bats during experimentation and data collection. Wound healing is an energy dependent process, as such it is expected that wound healing times will vary during periods of energy constraint (i.e. hibernation) and/or at times of peak demand (i.e. lactation). However, previous studies on wound healing have only looked at healing at times when there are no energy constraints. In thesis I aimed to better understand the effects of seasonality and reproduction on wound healing. Using an 8 mm circular punch, I inflicted biopsy wounds to the chiropatagium of healthy captive big brown bats, Eptesicus fuscus. I compared wound healing times between winter and summer seasons, and between reproductive (i.e. lactating) and non-reproductive females. As expected, wound healing times were longer during the winter months when bats are conserving energy. On the other hand, reproductive status did not have an effect on wound healing times. Although most bats heal, I observed impaired wound healing. This finding is important because it is the first time that impaired wound healing is reported in healthy bats. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

The "healing garden" is an evolving concept that is gaining popularity today. What is a healing garden? Why is one garden called a healing garden and not another? How is a healing garden defined? In what way are gardens healing? This thesis describes the ways in which healing gardens are beneficial in healthcare and residential settings. A set of guidelines for the design of healing gardens is created as a result of research findings as well as three design projects that are illustrated in the document. / Master of Landscape Architecture