When orature becomes literature: Somali oral poetry and folktales in Somali novels

The article discusses Somali literature, with particular focus given to the influence of Somali oral poetry and folk tales on modern novels. The difference between the concepts of orature and oral literature is examined, and the history of print and oral literary culture coexisting in Somalia is commented on.Web of Scienc

Zadovoljstvo s stanovanji v naselju Braamfischerville v Sowetu in kakovost življenja v njih: Študija primera iz Južnoafriške republike

Vlada afriškega nacionalnega kongresa (ang. African National Congress ali ANC) se je v okviru programa rekonstrukcije in razvoja odločila za gradnjo, da bi zagotovila stanovanja nekdanjim socialno šibkejšim skupinam in rešila vprašanje velikih zaostankov v stanovanjski gradnji, ki so zadnja leta značilni za Južnoafriško republiko. Kljub dobrim namenom pa so ta stanovanja tarče ostrih kritik zaradi nizkih gradbenih standardov in slabe kakovosti ter tudi pomanjkanja osnovnih storitev in javnih dobrin na območju novogradenj. Raziskava, na podlagi katere je nastal ta članek, je bila opravljena leta 2008, v njej pa so sodelovali prebivalci območja Braamfischerville v Sowetu. S pomočjo vprašalnika smo za vsako gospodinjstvo med drugim zbrali demografske podatke ter podatke o mesečnih dohodkih in stroških. Stopnjo zadovoljstva s posameznimi prvinami stanovanja, kot so okna, vrata in streha, in tudi s samim stanovanjem na splošno, smo določili s pomočjo petstopenjske Likertove lestvice in intervjujev. Pri določanju dejavnikov, ki prispevajo k večjemu zadovoljstvu, smo ugotovili, da je bližina osnovnih storitev in javnih dobrin za stanovalce enako pomembna kot videz stanovanja. V bližini novozgrajenih naselij je zato treba zagotoviti osnovne javne dobrine. Stanovalci so se pritoževali nad kakovostjo stanovanj in dostopom do osnovnih storitev in javnih dobrin; te znižujejo stopnjo zadovoljstva s stanovanji in tako negativno vplivajo na kakovost življenja prebivalcev naselja Braamfisherville

Novel non-invasive markers, imaging and interventions for the diagnosis, characterisation and treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

This DPhil thesis outlines research undertaken in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Chapter 1 contains a literature review summarising current concepts in NAFLD including the burden of disease, clinical management including diagnosis and staging, and emerging therapeutic options to treat NAFLD. The first research chapter (Chapter 2) is an analysis of how patients with NAFLD are currently managed in clinical practice, the effectiveness of health interventions and of clinical outcomes measured by using currently available biomarkers. The outcomes and changes in liver and cardio-metabolic health markers of 165 patients with NAFLD who attended a secondary and tertiary metabolic hepatology (NAFLD) clinic at Oxford University NHS Foundation Trust over a median follow-up period of 13 months are presented. The analysis describes the burden of fatty liver disease in its various stages (steatosis, steatohepatitis (NASH), fibrosis, cirrhosis) across the Oxfordshire region. It outlines the use of non-invasive diagnostic and risk stratification tools including hepatic elastography, and how these change longitudinally at follow-up. Finally, as the quest for novel, specifically licenced therapies for NAFLD continues, this study outlines the interventions and approach used in the clinic including an analysis of changes to medical therapy including weight loss promoting agents such as glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists in patients with NAFLD. The two subsequent research chapters explore two important themes arising from the clinic analysis. Chapter 3 outlines novel research which aims to help meet the need for improved diagnostic and staging tools for NAFLD, and in particular the need for novel non-invasive markers to allow for better risk stratification at diagnosis and for subsequent monitoring of the disease after therapy has been instigated. Drawing on previous work which implicates dysregulated glucocorticoid metabolism as a feature of NAFLD, with specific dysregulation varying across the spectrum of NAFLD, it investigates if the wider steroid metabolome can be used as a novel non-invasive biomarker tool to diagnose and stage NAFLD. This pilot study is conducted in 275 individuals with biopsy proven disease across the spectrum of NAFLD, and explores both specific glucocorticoid metabolic pathways in these individuals as well as use of the ‘global urinary steroid metabolome’ coupled with machine learning techniques to determine NAFLD stage. The results show excellent promise and suggest that if validated, this technique could have future high utility in clinical practice. Following on from Chapter 1 which revealed that around 20 % of patients with type 2 diabetes attending the NAFLD clinic were commenced on GLP-1 therapy, and that the GLP1 agonist Liraglutide has been previously shown in research studies to be useful in patients with NASH, Chapter 4 investigates GLP-1 agonists as a novel therapy for NAFLD. What hitherto remains unclear is whether the benefit of GLP-1 therapy is solely due to its weight loss actions alone or whether there exist any direct GLP-1 effects on the liver. To seek to answer this question of any weight independent effects of Liraglutide in NASH, this chapter presents data from the ‘Lifestyle and Liraglutide in NASH’ (LiLi) clinical trial which contributes to the evidence base that may in due course inform medicines licensing agencies to licence GLP-1 agonist therapy as one the first treatments for NAFLD. 29 subjects with NASH were randomised to either Liraglutide or lifestyle intervention to induce weight loss and were followed for a minimum of 12 weeks. Both groups lost equal amounts of weight of approximately 5 % which allowed direct assessment of weight independent benefits. Data arising from metabolic tracer studies (deuterated water and 13C-glucose to detail lipid and glucose handling within the liver), biochemical and body composition data are presented. Data on liver fat and inflammation measured using magnetic resonance spectroscopy and using novel multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (LiverMultiScanTM, Perspectum Diagnostics) pre and post weight loss intervention are also presented. This study finds that weight loss induced by Liraglutide is of equal efficacy and provides equivalent health benefits to losing weight via dietary lifestyle measures though this is only maintained whilst taking therapy. When considering that clinicians urgently require a range of tools at their disposal to tackle NAFLD and that weight loss and maintenance thereafter is difficult to achieve, this study concludes that GLP-1 agonists could play an important role as a future licenced therapy for NAFLD

Modelling risk exposure of BTEX emissions from a diesel refuelling station in Johannesburg, South Africa

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Johannesburg, August 2015.Petrol and diesel fumes are known to be anthropogenic sources of air pollutants that have a negative impact on both environmental and human health. In developing countries, attendants are still employed to pump fuel for customers. In South Africa gas pump attendants refuel vehicles with various octane unleaded petrol, lead replacement petrol (LRP) and diesel on a daily basis. Attendants are particularly at risk to adverse health effects associated with inhalation of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). Of increasing concern in recent years are the volatile organic compounds (VOCs), with particular reference to the six aromatic hydrocarbons (benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and three isomeric xylenes), namely the BTEX

Mobile Zulu

Funded by Division of African Languages and Literatures, UCT.Mobile Zulu is a resource for South African Medical Professionals - free and right on their cellphones - that will assist them when communicating with Zulu-speaking patients. It is intended to facilitate a basic level of communication with Zulu-speaking patients and should not be seen as a replacement to learning the Zulu language, which would vastly improve communication. This resource is valuable to physicians and other medical practitioners who are not yet fluent in Zulu but would like to be able to transmit basic medical concepts and ask questions in their patients' home language

Her Heart Lies at the Feet of the Mother: Transformations of the Romance Plot in Leila Aboulela’s Minaret

Sudanese-British writer, Leila Aboulela’s novel, Minaret (2005) transforms the plot structure of Western literary and popular romance forms and develops further the plotlines of African-American Muslim romance novels. It does so by foregrounding the dissenting mother as obstruction to the union of the hero and heroine, against the backdrop of the unique status of the mother in Islam. Thus, the ending of the novel is neither happy nor tragic. Instead, the lovers are separated, and closure requires reconciliation on the part of the couple with the concerns of the mother. In addition, because of the significant differ-ence in age, the heroine is in some ways like a mother to the hero. Final contentment of the heroine is undermined by her questionable actions at the end, resulting in psychic and spiritual contraction. The novel is therefore open-ed up to ambiguity and uncertainty in the closure, notwithstanding the faith of the heroine. The specific form which closure takes, is determined by the dissenting mother as obstruction in Islamic romance