A group of adolescent girls' perceptions of HIV/AIDS and the impact of these perceptions on their sexual practices and development

HIV/AIDS is prevalent among adolescent youth in South Africa particularly among adolescent girls. Numerous efforts have been made to contain the pandemic through HIV prevention information in schools and through community and mass media campaigns, but all these efforts seem not to have an impact on the sexual behaviour of the youth. Reports from various studies concluded that although these programmes increase adolescents’ knowledge they have a minimal impact on their sexual behaviour. The current study explores perceptions of HIV/AIDS among a group of adolescent girls (between 14 and 19 years old) as well as the impact of these perceptions on their sexual practices and development. The results revealed that perceptions of HIV/AIDS appear to have an impact on adolescent girls’ sexual practices

Improving Experiences of the Menopause for Women in Zimbabwe and South Africa:Co-Producing an Information Resource

Women in sub-Saharan Africa report multiple impacts of menopause on daily life and have requested further information to support themselves. This study co-produced contextually relevant resources—booklets and poster—about menopause with women in Zimbabwe and South Africa. The study was conducted in four stages: interviews with women about the menopause; the development of prototype information resources; workshops with women to discuss country-specific resources; and the refinement of resources. During the interviews, women explained that they had not received or accessed much information about the menopause and thought the physical and psychological issues associated with the menopause had to be “endured”. Prototype information resources comprised booklets and a poster with contextually relevant images and information. Workshop participants suggested several changes, including the addition of more diverse images and further information about treatments. The resources were refined, translated into several African languages, and endorsed by the Ministry of Health in Zimbabwe and the South African Menopause Society in South Africa. Women will be able to access resources through healthcare clinics, community groups and churches. Working with women and other stakeholders enabled a development that was cognisant of experiences and needs. Work is now needed to improve access to treatments and support for menopause to reduce health inequities

Incidence of hypoglycaemia among insulin-treated patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes mellitus: South African cohort of International Operations Hypoglycaemia Assessment Tool (IO HAT) study

Objectives: To assess the incidence and rates of hypoglycaemia in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) or type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in the South African cohort of the International Operations Hypoglycaemia  Assessment Tool (IO HAT) study.Methods: Patients diagnosed with either T1DM or T2DM, aged ≥ 18 years and treated with insulin for > 12 months, completed selfassessmentquestionnaires to record demography, treatment information and  hypoglycaemia during a 6-month retrospective and 4-week prospective periods (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02306681).Results: In T1DM 76.2% (95% confidence interval [CI] 69.1%, 82.3%) of patients reported hypoglycaemia in the retrospective period and 98.2% (95% CI 94.7%, 99.6%) in the prospective period. The corresponding figures for patients with T2DM were 52.2% (95% CI 48.6%, 55.9%) and 90.1% (95% CI 87.7%, 92.3%), respectively. Rates of any and severe hypoglycaemia, respectively were T1DM 90.7 events per patient year (PPY) (95% CI 85.5, 96.1) and 8.8 events PPY (95% CI 7.2, 10.6) and T2DM 45.7 events PPY (95% CI 43.9, 47.5) and 8.9 events PPY (95% CI 8.1, 9.8) during the prospective period. The rates of hypoglycaemia were  independent of glycated haemoglobin levels.Conclusions: This is the first patient dataset of self-reported hypoglycaemia in South Africa; results showed that hypoglycaemia is under-reported.Keywords: diabetes, hypoglycaemia, hypoglycaemic, insulin, South Afric

Predictors of brand trust and brand equality for energy drinks in Gauteng township

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in the field of Strategic Marketing Johannesburg, 2017A massive growth area in the consumption of FMCG products in South Africa still largely lies within the Township areas. A significant amount of research has been conducted around building brand equity within the FMCG space, however very few if any studies in South Africa have investigated the predictors of brand trust and brand equity within the Energy Drinks Category. The research intends toexploredrelationship between store image, distribution intensity and price deals, paying particular interest to the mediating role of brand trust in building brand equity amongst township energy drinks consumers. Using a data set of 288 respondents, between the ages of 18-35, from the townships of Gauteng province in South Africa, the study examined the aforementioned respective relationships. A structural equation modelling approach using AMOS24 statistcal software was used to empirically test the proposed 4 hypothesis using the collected data set. The results indicate that store image, price deals and distribution intensity are predictors of brand trust and, brand trust is positively related to brand equity. However, what is evident is that distribution intensity results in a much stronger and important effect on brand trust. The research paper further discusses implications for both academic and marketing practitioners and lastly, future research directions are suggested.E.R. 201

For out of the darkness, comes the moment of exposure: discovering androgynous performance through alchemy

Thesis (M.A.)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities, Dramatic Arts, 2013This research report aims to reflect on a practice based period of inquiry in the area of performance studies. It will reflect my analyses, interrogations and experimentations informed by questions around the possibility of creating a performance event that does not take gendered practice of role/behaviour/sexuality as given or essentialised embodiment (Smith 1993:3) but which challenges, problematises and attempts to re-construct the frames that exist in role expectation in an effort to create androgynous performance. The study looks for the possible answers to this question through the lens of performance studies, using the metaphor of alchemy to explain the process of performance, or the process towards creating a performance event itself. The research is informed by the researcher’s personal lived experience, agitations and recollections of events in the past and recent. The paper will function on various levels. The first being to frame the concept of alchemy for the purposes of arguing in favour of it as a practical and reflexive approach to creative processes. I will discuss performance as a malleable phenomenon, doing so by drawing on creative processes that have already been carried out. These experiments include an improvisation which I recognise as and have named: moment of exposure, a performance titled: invitation to correct and another experiment which I have called: the garage process. These processes fall into the domain of performance via different but connected modes of inquiry. The study embraces an auto-ethnographic research methodology of ‘discovery through alchemy’. Autoethnography as explained by Tony E. Adams and Stacey Holman Jones (2011) is a research method which tries to disrupt traditional and dominant ideas about research, particularly what research is and how research should be done. The Autoethnographer, they say, treats identities and experiences as uncertain, fluid, open to interpretation and revisable. The researcher might respond to subject matter using various media to represent ‘findings’. Such responses may value embodiment, performance and alternative ways of knowing. An example of other ways of knowing may be evidenced in the researcher embracing: through analysis and interrogation, the cultural standpoints they inhabit for example. The autoethnographic research method uses personal experience with culture or a cultural identity to make unfamiliar characteristics of the culture evident or identify what is familiar for insiders and outsiders. The ‘autoethnographic’ refers to a sharing of politicized, practical, and cultural stories that resonate with others who are then motivated to share theirs, effectively bearing witness, together, to possibilities shaped in different kinds of telling

Earn 3 CPD Points onlinE premix insulin and dpp-4 inhibitors new Sit2Mix trial provides first global evidence An important trial using a premix insulin (BIAsp 30) as the initial insulin in type 2 diabetes patients uncontrolled on oral agents provides evid

• In selected type 2 diabetes patients, biphasic insulin aspart 30 (BIAsp 30) can be safely combined with DPP-4 inhibitors and metformin to lower blood glucose levels • This combination offers benefits for patients who can accommodate a daily routine of at least two main meals and are willing to administer injections subcutaneously • Using either once-or twice-daily BIAsp 30 with a DPP-4 inhibitor and metformin allows more patients to reach target HbA 1c levels (<7%) without hypoglycaemic events • These findings are relevant and important for type 2 diabetes patients for whom pre-mix insulin has been selected by the clinician as the starting insulin of choice • The addition of these evidence-supported regimens as intensification therapy adds to the clinician's armamentarium when considering different approaches for individual patients. The three regimens (BIAsp 30 BID + sitagliptin, BIAsp 30 QD + sitagliptin, BIAsp 30 BID replacing sitagliptin) are not burdensome; neither are compliance and convenience compromised • This trial provides, for the first time, clear evidence that the combination of BIAsp 30 + sitagliptin is efficacious and well tolerated

Earn 3 CPD Points onlinE premix insulin and dpp-4 inhibitors new Sit2Mix trial provides first global evidence An important trial using a premix insulin (BIAsp 30) as the initial insulin in type 2 diabetes patients uncontrolled on oral agents provides evid

• In selected type 2 diabetes patients, biphasic insulin aspart 30 (BIAsp 30) can be safely combined with DPP-4 inhibitors and metformin to lower blood glucose levels • This combination offers benefits for patients who can accommodate a daily routine of at least two main meals and are willing to administer injections subcutaneously • Using either once-or twice-daily BIAsp 30 with a DPP-4 inhibitor and metformin allows more patients to reach target HbA 1c levels (<7%) without hypoglycaemic events • These findings are relevant and important for type 2 diabetes patients for whom pre-mix insulin has been selected by the clinician as the starting insulin of choice • The addition of these evidence-supported regimens as intensification therapy adds to the clinician's armamentarium when considering different approaches for individual patients. The three regimens (BIAsp 30 BID + sitagliptin, BIAsp 30 QD + sitagliptin, BIAsp 30 BID replacing sitagliptin) are not burdensome; neither are compliance and convenience compromised • This trial provides, for the first time, clear evidence that the combination of BIAsp 30 + sitagliptin is efficacious and well tolerated