Skin Lightening Treatments: A Review on the Effect of Intravenous Glutathione in the Disease States of Women

The skin bleaching industry is a global business with a vast array of anti-melanogenic choices including glutathione. Glutathione is synthesized in vivo but has been used as a bodily supplement by medical personnel to aid in preventative medicine. Known for its antioxidant properties, glutathione has been used for its anti-melanogenic effects. Intravenous glutathione requires more investigation to determine its safety for usage. It continues to be distributed to the cosmetic industry despite antagonism from the Philippine FDA. This study will research the potential effects of intravenous glutathione on women and it will propose the biochemical mechanisms of glutathione in induced disease states in women. The aim is to educate people about safer methods for skin lightening

Church as Hostile, Host or Home: Perspectives on the Experiences of African Migrants in South Africa

Human migration has been on the rise globally and it has fuelled xenophobia and growing intolerance towards migrants in the receiving communities. This article draws from data collected for a PhD thesis and highlights the experiences of African migrants in religious spaces and congregations in Johannesburg, South Africa. The PhD project this article draws from identified Christian religious identities as a form of belonging and explored models for providing care to migrants and refugees by appreciating their agency and ensuring that cross cultural and socio-religious encounters enrich the developmental agenda within host communities. I argue that instead of being hostile to African migrants, host congregations and communities should engage in mutually transformative mission with migrants and appreciate how migration encounters enrich human relations. They give birth to hybrid contextual theologies through the construction, or de-construction, of congregations by missio-ecclesiological and intercultural forces of migration that challenge their vocation and witness

The Neural and Psychological Constituents of Placebo and Distraction

Both placebo and distraction have long been used clinically to relieve pain. The present series of experiments examined the neural and cognitive processes that constitute these two psychological forms of analgesia. Study 1 provides evidence that overlapping cognitive resources are involved in both pain and executive attention and working memory. Study 2 provides evidence that these same executive attention and working memory resources are not involved in placebo analgesia, and that placebo analgesia and distraction provide separate routes to pain relief. Study 3 suggests that while distraction-based analgesia reduces the neural signature of pain, expectancy-driven placebo analgesia may not

Economic Inclusion: A paradigm Shift from the Radical Economic Transformation (RET) in the Context of Growing Xenophobia in South Africa

This article analyses the experience of migration in the light of Radical Economic Transformation (RET) program of the SA government and argues that the program has been high jacked by nationalists who are now using transformation to side-line non South Africans in the socio-economic development programmes. Article contends that migrants contribute to regional, national, and global development through networks and (like anywhere in the world) are an integral part of the South African society, playing a “multifaceted role” in various capacities such as workers, business owners, community members/organisers and leaders of social justice and faith based movements. Given the volatility of the South African society, it suggested that use of a term such as “Economic Inclusion” could be less controversial than Radical Economic Transformation which breeds violence. In addition, it is suggested that while acknowledging that the extremes between poverty and wealth require a radical economic paradigm, political and public discourse should be sensitive to the volatility of the South African context and promote the inclusion of migrants in socio-economic development programs

A formative evaluation of the poverty hearings programme in South Africa, 2008 (PHPSA)

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-84)

Exploring health and variation of work place informality of women working within the informal sector in central Durban.

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.The informal sector serves as a poverty reduction platform that provides paid employment for those who do not have adequate education and skills to obtain or sustain a “formal” employment or livelihood. Women are more likely to be found in vulnerable formsof work, and within the informal sector there are more women employed compared to men.Research has typically focused on how different forms of employment within the formal economy impact on the health of individuals, showing a relationship between employment conditions and health outcomes. This study aimsto explore how variations in employment in the informal sector may impact on the health of women.A qualitative study was conducted among women working in the informal sector in Durban. Initially, a snowball sampling approach was adopted,and a criterion sampling approach was used. A total of 18 in-depth interviews were conducted with waitresses, domestic workers, and street vendors, characterising increasing levels of informality. Thematic analysiswas used to analysethe qualitative research. The themes were divided,based on employment category i.e. domestic workers, street vendors and waitresses. The themes that emerged looked at employment, health, children’s health, health protection and informality. None of the women interviewed had medical health insurance asameans of protection, and were largely reliant on the public health sector. In addition to a lack of medical aid, most of the women were confronted with not being able to collect any form of paid leave,or did not have an additional income that could take care of them when they did not go in to work.Challenges in public healthcare facilities such as long waiting hours as a result of short staffing exacerbated the loss of income through hours spent away from their stalls in the case of street vendors, when they neededto seek health care. The study found that based on informality, government orientated funds like the Unemployment Insurance Fund only paid out to domestic workers and waitresses, yet at the same time not all of the women within these two categories were able to receive these funds. For street vendors the receiving of any form of reimbursement relating to health care was not feasible. ivWomen in the informal working sector faceddifferent challenges as compared to women in the “formalised/informal” working sector. Street vendors in the study were shown to be the most vulnerable participants,as they were faced with a lot of challenging factors like transportation, irregular working hours, not enough time to seek health care, no paid leave and no protection programmes to cover their health needs. There is a need to distribute adequate resources to public health care facilities,regardless of social status, as this provides quality health care for all persons

Understanding school-based support processes for learners experiencing ADHD as a barrier to learning

Abstract: Managing the challenging behaviour that is reflective of ADHD symptoms is a problem faced by teachers all over the world. This study intends to explore and describe the school-based support team's ability to identify and support challenging behaviour that is reflective of the symptoms of ADHD at schools in under-resourced communities. The display of challenging which behaviour serves as a barrier to effective teaching and learning, is often as a result of undiagnosed and unsupported neurodevelopmental disorders. Unfortunately, not many educators and School Based Support Team (SBST) members have an awareness of challenging behaviour as a barrier to learning. They therefore may not know how to effectively respond to it, resulting in the implementation of harsh, punitive and oftentimes ineffective methods in response to the behaviour Since the introduction of Education White Paper 6 in South Africa, it is a strongly debated issue whether learners with challenging behaviours could be supported in a mainstream school or if placement into specialised schools should be prioritised. Against this background, the SBST members at a full-service school were interviewed to determine their understanding of ADHD in relation to learner behaviour that they found to be challenging and the processes that they implemented to support learners whose display of challenging behaviour served as a barrier to their learning. The qualitative research design of the study is located in an interpretive paradigm. Data was collected by conducting interviews, observations and analysing inclusive education policy documents. Data was analysed through open coding and three themes emerged. These themes demonstrated the SBST’s ability to identify learning barriers and behaviours that are reflective of ADHD symptoms, highlighted the multifaceted conditions that influenced the SBST’s ability to provide effective support to learners whose challenging behaviour serves as a barrier to their learning as well as identifying the support processes currently implemented for learners exhibiting challenging behaviour that is reflective of ADHD symptoms. The results indicated that the SBST fulfils a pivotal role in the alleviation of learning barriers reflecting ADHD symptoms, by applying the mandated principles of inclusive education within the school. However, the findings of the study also indicate that the teacher participants feel inadequate, inexperienced and under-resourced to support learners’ diverse needs. This perception of their abilities is a contributing factor to what they understand as acceptable procedures when supporting learners – highlighting the interrelated nature of teacher competencies and the procedures and processes implemented by the SBST to support learners’ needs. The urgent need for comprehensive in-service training and resource allocation is highlighted by the findings of this study, which informs the important recommendations for the v developmental needs of the SBST to enable them to support learners in fulfilling their potential in accordance with principles of the Inclusive Education policy and thereby uphold the constitutional human rights of all learners to quality education.M.Ed. (Educational Psychology

Transversal modes of being a missional church in the digital context of COVID-19

The disruptions of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the year 2020 reshaped all aspects of life, including religious practices and rituals. As more religious activities shifted to digital space during the lockdown periods, there was a growing need to examine the link between religion and digital media. Using the model of the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa (UPCSA), this article draws on the notion of transversal rationality and concepts of rationality, cognitive, evaluative and pragmatic to posit that COVID-19 has configured traditional missional and liturgical spaces in ways that locate the agency of the marginalised at the centre. The article highlights how COVID-19 configured Christian mission as it disrupted power dynamics through religious digital spaces, which emerged as a new way of reimaging a missional church. These new digital spaces mediate between interaction and ‘telepresence’, embodied in the representations of the sacred available through online religious systems in practices where users are no longer ordinary believers – but religious participants who have power and freedom to choose. Although this is not a new phenomenon, the article concludes that such spaces created by COVID-19 shifts in power dynamics present opportunities for ordinary members to reinvent new meanings on what it means to be present or absent, to name, narrate and reinterpret the divine and forge new meanings towards participating in the mission of God. Contribution: Although this is not a new phenomenon, this article represents a systematic and practical reflection within a paradigm in which the intersection of philosophy, religious studies, social sciences, humanities and natural sciences generate an interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary contested discourse

Collaboration through partnership at UNISA Library: extending library services to students wherever they are..

UNISA Library service is a network of libraries that spreads across all provinces of South Africa, and a campus in Akaki, Ethiopia. The vision of UNISA “Towards the Africa UNISA the African University in service to humanity” inspires the UNISA Library services to go beyond the network of UNISA libraries, reaching students wherever they are. In line with UNISA motto “learn wherever you are”, UNISA library services responded by extending its services to students so that they can learn wherever they were with both digital and print content. The library has set up tears of collaboration that extends the reach of branch libraries services via mobile libraries, to public libraries and to multipurpose/tele-centers, thus extending services to reach students who often would not have their own technology to access UNISA’s vast digital and print content. The paper discusses the impact of the multi-tiered partnerships of UNISA Library on the learning outcomes. The model utilised at UNISA Library demonstrates the enabling power of institutional vision and an implementation plan that seeks to ensure effective support of students, breaking isolation, and supporting student success. The paper will discuss that in a developing country context, it is not sufficient to avail learning content digitally but that learners often need assistance to get equipment to access digital content, as well providing some content in print