Body Mass Index in Clinic Attenders: Patient Self-Perception versus Actual Measurements

Objectives. The objectives of the study were to measure actual BMI in patients attending chronic disease clinics in health centres and to relate this to the patients' own perceptions of their body image and the need to lose weight. Study Design. A cross sectional study. Methods. The actual BMIs in patients who attended chronic disease clinics in 14 health centres were measured. All participants were asked to state where they thought they were on a visual body image scale and were also asked if they thought they needed to lose weight. Results. All participants approached agreed to participate (RR 100%). 70% of patients were found to have a raised BMI. Approximately 73% of patients using the visual scale indicated that an overweight or obese BMI was ideal for them. Conclusions. Patients think they are thinner than they actually are, with obvious implications for health and health seeking behaviour. A whole of society approach is needed to change weight status perceptions and improve exercise and dietary behaviour

The robustness of objective fabric pilling evaluation method

Previously, we proposed a new method to identify fabric pilling and objectively measure fabric pilling intensity based on the two-dimensional dual-tree complex wavelet reconstruction and neural network classification. Here we further evaluate the robustness of the method. Our results indicate that the pilling identification method is robust to significant variation in the brightness and contrast of the image, rotation of the image, and 2 i (i is an integer) times dilation of the image. The pilling feature vector developed to characterize the pilling intensity is robust to brightness change but is sensitive to large rotations of the image. As long as all fabric images are adjusted to have the same contrast level and the sample is illuminated from the same direction, the pilling feature vectors are comparable and can be used to classify the pilling intensity.<br /

Investigating the role of nutrient sensing in the gastrointestinal tract in energy and glucose homeostasis

Obesity is a major global health issue. As high-protein and high-fibre diets are associated with increased satiety and weight loss, uncovering the mechanisms by which dietary protein- and fibre-derived metabolites are sensed in the gut and regulate appetite may reveal targets for anti-obesity therapies. The work presented in this thesis sought to further this endeavour with a two-pronged approach, in vitro and in vivo. The in vitro intestinal organoid model recapitulates the major features of the in vivo intestinal epithelium. I cultured intestinal organoids from mouse duodenum, jejunum and ileum, and demonstrated that basal GLP-1 content increased distally along the small intestine, in line with the in vivo L-cell density pattern. Research within our group had identified that the amino acid L-Phenylalanine has anorectic properties and highlighted the calcium-sensing receptor as a potential target through which L-Phenylalanine mediates GLP-1 release. My work built on this by showing that L-Phenylalanine significantly stimulates GLP-1 release in mouse ileal organoids, an effect significantly attenuated by a calcium-sensing receptor antagonist. Investigation of the underlying signalling mechanisms indicated that L-Phenylalanine-induced GLP-1 secretion may not be mediated via a Gi/o-coupled pathway, and that Ca2+ influx through L-type calcium channels may be required. The in vivo dietary intervention study I concurrently ran in healthy humans led to observations that a high-protein, high-fibre test meal stimulated GLP-1 and PYY release that remained above fasting levels for the 6-hour sampling period. Furthermore, acute repeated exposure of the gut to a protein- and fibre-enriched diet may have beneficial effects in terms of sustaining post-prandial plasma PYY responses and modulating glucose homeostasis. Gastrointestinal contents from the terminal ileum and proximal colon were obtained from participants via a specialised nasoenteric sampling tube, and microbial profiling of these together with stool samples revealed region-specific differences within the distal gut, indicating that stool may not be an accurate proxy for either microbial diversity or composition of the terminal ileum or proximal colon. Additionally, acute temporal shifts in microbial composition, perhaps due to dietary intervention, were identified in the gut contents samples. The work in this thesis has contributed to our knowledge of how ingested protein and fibre affect anorectic gut hormone release, glucose homeostasis and appetite, and has shed light on how differences in microbial diversity and composition can exist in different regions of the distal gut. It has also enhanced our understanding of the mechanisms that sense L-Phenylalanine in the gut. Further investigations are required to determine the therapeutic potential of protein- and fibre-derived metabolites as appetite-suppressing agents, with an end-goal of developing novel strategies to prevent and treat obesity.Open Acces

Middle management roles in strategy implementation

Abstract: The successful implementation of business strategy has become a key focus of many leading organisations in the modern business world. However, according to Jha (2011), many organisations experience little success in strategic implementation. This is because the middle management employees in the organisation are not able to translate their strategic plans into operational actions (Jha, 2011, Dlodlo, 2011). The purpose of this study was to establish what role middle management leader’s play in strategy implementation. A qualitative study was conducted at XYZ Limited, a large retail organisation in South Africa. The data was gathered for the study through the methods of a case study, in-depth interviews, focus group discussion and from solicited data from the organisation. The researcher has applied the principles of content analysis to analyse the data and describe the themes that emerged from the in-depth interviews, focus group discussion and solicited data. The researcher also used descriptive statistics in the study to highlight summaries of the key observations made and the data collected. The findings revealed that whilst all of the middle management leaders understood why it is important for organisations to have sound business strategies, they did not clearly understand what the business strategy of XYZ Limited was. One of the reasons for their lack of understanding of the XYZ Limited business strategy was that they were not involved in the design of the business strategy at any stage. This hindered their ability to implement the business strategy in the organisation. Middle management leaders did not acknowledge that they participated in the strategic planning process. There is often not alignment between the strategic goals and the operational goals which hinders the strategic implementation process. This results in the middle management level in the organisation to feel overwhelmed on a daily basis as they are in a constant crisis management mode (Viljoen, 2015). It therefore becomes important to explore the roles of middle management in strategy implementation. It is recommended that middle management leaders are trained on how to manage change in order to get the buy-in of their employees during the strategy implementation...M.Phil

Lie groups and Bäcklund transformations: application to nonlinear physical models

A diversity of physical phenomena is modelled by systems of nonlinear differential equations not, in general, amenable to exact solution. However, in certain cases, exploitation of hidden symmetries in the nonlinear models can lead to solutions and reduction to canonical systems. Invariance under Lie groups and/or Bäcklund transformations are two pivotal methods in this regard. [Continues.