Phytochemical analysis of dodonaea viscosa var angustifolia and their beneficial effects against streptococcus mutans

Degree of Master of Science in Medicine by research only Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Medicine Johannesburg 2016Introduction: The link between Streptococcus mutans and dental caries is well documented. The use of natural plant products in the treatment of oral diseases is gaining popularity. One plant that has gained recognition as a source of traditional medicine is Dodonaea viscosa var. angustifolia. The aim of this study was to analyse the phytochemical constituents of D. viscosa var. angustifolia (DVA) and establish their beneficial effects against S. mutans. Materials and methods Cultures of S. mutans ATCC 10923 and SM1 were obtained from the Oral Microbiology laboratory and the DVA was collected from the Pypeklipberg, Mkhunyane Eco Reserve, South Africa. Dry DVA leaves were extracted with methanol. The crude extract was fractionated into six fractions (F1-F6) using silica gel column chromatography and thin layer chromatography. The Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations (MIC) and Minimum Bactericidal Concentration (MBC) of the crude extract and six fractions were determined using microtitre plate dilution technique. The effect of the crude extract and fractions on biofilm formation and acid production were investigated using standard techniques. The bioautography technique was also used to identify fractions with bioactive compounds. The most active fraction (F5) was further fractionated and purified into two subfractions, 5.1 and 5.2. Both subfractions were further screened to identify the most beneficial subfraction (5.1). Subfraction 5.1 was identified and elucidated using GC-MS and NMR. The effect of the purified compound on biofilm formation and acid production on S. mutans was repeated to establish reproducibility of the results. Cytotoxic effect of the crude extract and identified subfraction (5.1) was studied using human embryonic kidney cells (HEK). The results were analyzed using Wilcoxon rank-sum test (Mann-Whitney). Results The MIC and MBC of the six fractions and crude extract ranged from 0.39 to 12.5 mg/ml. On preliminary screening of 6 fractions, F5 showed lowest MBC of 0.39 mg/ml and highest total activity value of 2000. In addition, at 0.2 mg/ml, F5 reduced biofilm formation by 93.3% and reduced acid production in S. mutans. Purification of F5 produced subfraction 5.1 and 5.2. Subfraction 5.1 showed higher antimicrobial activity (MIC-0.05 mg/ml) compared to the crude extract (MIC-0.78 mg/ml) and subfraction 5.2 (MIC-0.78 mg/ml). At a concentration of 0.05 mg/ml, subfraction 5.1 exhibited an inhibitory effect on biofilm formation at both 6 hours (94% reduction) and 24 hours (99% reduction) which was higher compared to the crude extract (87% reduction at 0.78 mg/ml after 6 hours). Subfraction 5.1 also exhibited a higher inhibitory effect on acid production compared to the crude extract. Subfraction 5.1 was identified as, 5,6,8-Trihydroxy-7,4l-dimethoxyflavone. Cytotoxicity analysis of the crude extract and subfraction 5.1 (5,6,8-Trihydroxy-7,4l-dimethoxyflavone) on HEK 293 cells showed IC50 values of 0.09 mg/ml and 0.03 mg/ml respectively. Conclusion Phytochemical analysis of D. viscosa var. angustifolia produced an anticariogenic constituent, 5,6,8-Trihydroxy-7,4l-dimethoxyflavone. The compound showed improved antimicrobial and anticariogenic activity at lower concentrations than the crude extract. At subinhibitory concentrations, the compound significantly inhibited biofilm formation and acid production by S. mutans. Cytotoxicity analysis established the safe use of this newly isolated compound therefore it has potential to be used in the oral cavity to prevent dental caries.MT201

Parents resist sexuality education through digital activism

Abstract   South Africa has high rates of HIV infection among its young population, high rates of unintended pregnancies among youth, and extremely high rates of Gender-Based Violence. These high rates all point to a need for skills-based education to provide accurate and relevant information for young people to manage their sexuality. Through the Life Orientation (LO) curriculum, the Department of Basic Education offers age-appropriate sexuality education as a response to these concerns. However, research in sexuality education shows that there is a lack of guidance and preparedness by educators, which hampers how it is delivered in South African schools. A recent attempt by the Department of Basic Education (DBE), to upscale and strengthen the sexuality education curriculum in South African schools, was met with resistance from parents and other lobby groups. This resistance was driven across multiple media platforms, and particularly through an online hashtag #LeaveOurKidsAlone, largely on Facebook and Twitter. Through this resistance, we are introduced to parents/adult responses to the teaching and learning of CSE in South African schools, a voice that has largely been missing in this debate. Working within a broad qualitative framework, this paper utilizes  critical discourse analysis to map out some of the key discourses emerging from the #LeaveOurKidsAlone resistance, in an attempt to understand how parents/adults, use social media to resist Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) in South Africa. This paper is critical in foregrounding adult voices and their implications to the teaching and learning of CSE in South African schools

Policy commitments vs. lived realities of young pregnant women and mothers in school, Western Cape, South Africa

Reproductive rights in South Africa continue to be undermined for young women who fall pregnant and become mothers while still at school. Before 1994, exclusionary practices were common and the majority of those who fell pregnant failed to resume their education. With the adoption of new policies in 2007, young pregnant women and mothers are supposed to be supported to complete school successfully. Notwithstanding these new policies, there are incongruities between policy implementation and young women's lived experience in school. This paper explores the experiences of pregnancy and parenting among a group of 15 young women who fell pregnant and became mothers while attending three high schools in Khayelitsha township, a working-class community in the Western Cape of South Africa. Qualitative, in-depth interviews, conducted between 2007 and 2008, highlighted two key areas of concern: continuing exclusionary practices on the part of schools, based on conservative interpretations of policy, and negative and moralistic responses from teachers and peers. Such practices resulted in secrecy and shame about being pregnant, affecting the young women's emotional and physical well-being and their decisions whether to remain in school during pregnancy and return after having the baby. Further attention is required to ensure appropriate implementation of policies aimed at supporting pregnant and parenting young women to complete their education successfully.IBS

Parents resist sexuality education through digital activism

South Africa has high rates of HIV infection among its young population, high rates of unintended pregnancy among the youth, and extremely high rates of gender-based violence. Given all this, it is essential that young people be taught skills that will enable them to manage their sexuality. Schools have been shown to be best placed to provide accurate and relevant information on young people’s sexualities. Through the Life Orientation (LO) curriculum, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) offers age-appropriate sexuality education as a response to these concerns. However, research in sexuality education shows that there is a lack of guidance and preparedness by educators, and this hampers how sexuality education is delivered in South African schools. A recent attempt by the DBE to upscale and strengthen the sexuality education curriculum in South African schools was met with resistance from parents and other lobby groups. This resistance was driven across many different media platforms, and particularly through an online hashtag #LeaveOurKidsAlone, largely on Facebook and Twitter. Through this resistance, we are introduced to parents/adult response to the teaching and learning of comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) in South African schools, a voice that has been missing to a great extent in this debate

An exploratory study of experiences of parenting among a group of school-going adolescent mothers in a South African township

Philosophiae Doctor - PhDThis study explored adolescent girls' subjective experiences of being young mothers in school, focusing on their personal and interpersonal relationships within their social contexts. Participants included 15 young black mothers aged between 16 and 19 years from three high schools in Khayelitsha, Cape Town. Conducted within a feminist social constructionist framework, the study adopted an exploratory qualitative structure. Data were collected through life histories that were analysed within a thematic narrative framework. The narratives revealed that the young mothers found motherhood challenging and overly disruptive of school. Although contexts of childcare emerged as pivotal in how young mothers balanced motherhood and schoolwork, these were also presented as characterised by notions of power and control. Because of the gendered nature of care work, the women who supported the young mothers with childcare dominated the mothering spheres. The schools were also experienced as controlled and regulated by authorities in ways that constrained the young mothers balancing of school and parenting. Equally constraining to a number of adolescent mothers were structural challenges, for example, parenting in spaces that lacked resources. These challenges were compounded by the immense stigma attached to adolescent motherhood. The study recommended that the Department of Education work closely with all the parties concerned in ensuring that pregnant learners benefit from the policy. It is necessary that educators are encouraged to shift attitudes so that communication with adolescent mothers is improved.South Afric

Contestations of the meanings of love and gender in a university students' discussion

Love is a fluid and complex concept that is difficult to define comprehensively. Its expressions, however, show that love is not only gendered but also influenced by one's social and economic positioning. Family upbringing, friends, race, culture and religion shape and constrain experiences of love. Third year students in a women's and gender studies class carried out a qualitative feminist study to explore how university students understood rights and responsibilities in romantic love. In a class of 127 students, each student conducted two semi-structured interviews with two university students of either sex. The findings were discussed in class through a panel discussion steered by five students. The students' findings revealed that contextualised relational power issues, economic factors and the role of sex had importance in the way romantic relationships were understood. This Briefing presents the discussion in which multiple issues are raised on the dynamics of love among some university students, as they strive to find the meaning of romantic love

‘And I have been told that there is nothing fun about having sex while you are still in high school’: Dominant discourses on women’s sexual practices and desires in Life Orientation programmes at school

Young women’s sexuality is a contested terrain in multiple ways in contemporary South Africa. A growing body of work in the context of HIV and gender-based violence illustrates how young women find it challenging to negotiate safe and equitable sexual relationships with men, and are often the victims of coercive sex, unwanted early pregnancies and HIV. On the other hand, young women’s sexuality is also stigmatised and responded to in punitive terms in school or community contexts, as is evident in research on teenage pregnancy and parenting in schools. Within both these bodies of work, women’s own narratives are missing, as well as their agency and a positive discourse on female sexuality. Female desires are absent in heteronormative practices and ideologies, as pointed out by feminist researchers internationally. A body of work on young women who parent at school has shown that a key component of the moralistic response to women’s sexuality hinges on the way in which childhood, adolescence and adulthood are popularly understood, together with dominant notions of masculinity and femininity within heteronormative and middle-class notions of family. Such discourses are also salient in the responses and understandings of sexuality education in Life Orientation, particularly the way in which young women are represented. This paper draws from qualitative research conducted with teachers, school authorities and young people on sexuality education in the Life Orientation programme at schools in the Western and Eastern Cape. Key findings reiterate disciplinary responses to young women’s sexuality, often framed within ‘danger’ and ‘damage’ discourses that foreground the denial of youngwomen’s sexual desire and practices within a framework of protection, regulation and discipline in order to avoid promised punishments of being sexually active

'And I have been told that there is nothing fun about having sex while you are still in high school': Dominant discourses on women's sexual practices and desires in Life Orientation programmes at school

Young women's sexuality is a contested terrain in multiple ways in contemporary South Africa. A growing body of work in the context of HIV and gender-based violence illustrates how young women find it challenging to negotiate safe and equitable sexual relationships with men, and are often the victims of coercive sex, unwanted early pregnancies and HIV. On the other hand, young women's sexuality is also stigmatised and responded to in punitive terms in school or community contexts, as is evident in research on teenage pregnancy and parenting in schools. Within both these bodies of work, women's own narratives are missing, as well as their agency and a positive discourse on female sexuality. Female desires are absent in heteronormative practices and ideologies, as pointed out by feminist researchers internationally. A body of work on young women who parent at school has shown that a key component of the moralistic response to women's sexuality hinges on the way in which childhood, adolescence and adulthood are popularly understood, together with dominant notions of masculinity and femininity within heteronormative and middle-class notions of family. Such discourses are also salient in the responses and understandings of sexuality education in Life Orientation, particularly the way in which young women are represented. This paper draws from qualitative research conducted with teachers, school authorities and young people on sexuality education in the Life Orientation programme at schools in the Western and Eastern Cape. Key findings reiterate disciplinary responses to young women's sexuality, often framed within 'danger' and 'damage' discourses that foreground the denial of young women's sexual desire and practices within a framework of protection, regulation and discipline in order to avoid promised punishments of being sexually active.DHE

Participating unequally: Student experiences at UWC

This paper uses Nancy Fraser’s concept of participatory parity to reflect on data gathered by and from third year students in a final year research module in the Women’s and Gender Studies Department at the University of the Western Cape in 2015. During the course students developed a research proposal, collected and shared data with other students, and then used this data to write a final (externally examinable) research report. Employing a participatory photovoice methodology, the students’ research focused on ways in which social and group identities had shaped their experiences of feeling empowered and disempowered on campus. Each student took two photos representing experiences of feeling empowered and two of feeling disempowered on campus and wrote narratives of about 300 words explaining and describing the experience foregrounded by each image. Students shared these narratives and accompanying images with each other, their teachers and the wider university community through a public exhibition in the library. In the paper we draw on Fraser’s concepts of maldistribution, misrecognition and misrepresentation to highlight constraints to equal participation identified by students

“We don't really see a problem in music because that s**t makes you want to dance”: Reflections on possibilities and challenges of teaching gender through hip-hop

Hip-hop culture has been criticised as sexist and misogynist. It is also condemned for being exploitative of black women’s identity and for perpetuating gendered and sexualised assumptions about female musicians. This perspective explores pedagogical possibilities and challenges of using popular culture, such as hip-hop music performances, in a gender studies course. We critically reflect on our experiences of working with second-year students exploring gender performances in music. We encouraged students to analyse music of their own choice within the hip-hop genre, interrogating gender performances beyond simplistic good/bad or right/wrong body and sexual conduct. Data collected in online chat rooms on the teaching and learning platforms show students’ enthusiasm in engaging with hip-hop as subject matter. However, in their analysis quite often students struggled to move away from the dominant narrative of hip-hop as sexist and misogynist, their critique focusing on the exaggerated femininity and hypersexuality of female hip-hop artists. Students struggled to critically explore other counter-narratives and counter-representations of the performances. We reflect on the possibilities and challenges of using hip-hop as subject matter in feminist pedagogy