Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences
The vision of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences is to be a dynamic, people-centred and inclusive environment, internationally recognised for its excellence in research, education and clinical training in medicine and health sciences, and for the contribution it makes to improving health and health care in South Africa, the African continent and beyond.
This faculty was known as the Faculty of Health Sciences until 30 April 2012.
Sub-communities within this community
Recent Submissions
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Patient-reported barriers to adherence to antiretroviral therapy : a systematic review and meta-analysis
(Public Library of Science, 2016)ENGLISH SUMMARY : Background: Maintaining high levels of adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) is a challenge across settings and populations. Understanding the relative importance of different barriers to adherence ...
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Epistatic gene-based interaction analyses for glaucoma in eMERGE and NEIGHBOR Consortium
(Public Library of Science, 2016)Primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) is a complex disease and is one of the major leading causes of blindness worldwide. Genome-wide association studies have successfully identified several common variants associated with ...
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Translational research for tuberculosis elimination : priorities, challenges, and actions
(Public Library of Science, 2016)Summary Points: • The WHO End TB Strategy, endorsed by the World Health Assembly in May 2014, has the ambitious goal of ending the global tuberculosis (TB) epidemic by 2035, with targets of a 95% decline in deaths due ...
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Acceptability and feasibility of mHealth and community-based directly observed antiretroviral therapy to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission in South African pregnant women under Option B+ : an exploratory study
(Dove Medical Press, 2016)ENGLISH SUMMARY : Objective: To examine the acceptability and feasibility of mobile health (mHealth)/short message service (SMS) and community-based directly observed antiretroviral therapy (cDOT) as interventions to improve ...
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Altered mitochondrial respiration and other features of mitochondrial function in parkin-mutant fibroblasts from parkinson’s disease patients
(Hindawi Publishing Corporation, 2016)Mutations in the parkin gene are the most common cause of early-onset Parkinson’s disease (PD). Parkin, an E3 ubiquitin ligase, is involved in respiratory chain function, mitophagy, and mitochondrial dynamics. Human cellular ...
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African civil society initiatives to drive a biobanking, biosecurity and infrastructure development agenda in the wake of the West African Ebola outbreak
(African Field Epidemiology Network, 2016)This paper describes the formation of a civil society consortium, spurred to action by frustration over the Ebola crises, to facilitate the development of infrastructure and frameworks including policy development to support ...
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Defining the diagnostic divide : an analysis of registered radiological equipment resources in a low-income African country
(African Field Epidemiology Network, 2016)ENGLISH SUMMARY : Introduction: Diagnostic radiology is recog nised as a key component of modern healthcare. However there is marked inequality in global access to imaging. Rural populations of low - and middle - income ...
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Advocating for efforts to protect African children, families, and communities from the threat of infectious diseases : report of the First International African Vaccinology Conference
(African Field Epidemiology Network, 2016)One means of improving healthcare workers' knowledg e of and attitudes to vaccines is through running v accine conferences which are accessible, affordable, and relevant to their everyday work. Va rious vaccinology ...
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Cost-effectiveness of Xpert MTB/RIF and investing in health care in Africa
(Elsevier, 2014-10)The Xpert MTB/RIF assay is an accurate test for the diagnosis of tuberculosis when an adequate sputum sample can be obtained; even in smear-negative tuberculosis the sensitivity is about 67%.1, 2 Although the assay turnaround ...
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Cost-effectiveness of different strategies to monitor adults on antiretroviral treatment : a combined analysis of three mathematical models
(Elsevier, 2014-01)Background WHO's 2013 revisions to its Consolidated Guidelines on antiretroviral drugs recommend routine viral load monitoring, rather than clinical or immunological monitoring, as the preferred monitoring approach on the ...
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The association between tuberculosis and the development of insulin resistance in adults with pulmonary tuberculosis in the Western sub-district of the Cape Metropole region, South Africa : a combined cross-sectional, cohort study
(Biomed Central, 2017-08)ENGLISH SUMMARY : Background: The existence of a bi-directional relationship between tuberculosis (TB) and insulin resistance (IR)/ diabetes has been alluded to in literature. Although diabetes has been linked to increased ...
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Primary care clinical practice guidelines in South Africa : qualitative study exploring perspectives of national stakeholders
(Biomed CentralPublisher's version, 2017-08)Background Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are common tools in policy and clinical practice informing clinical decisions at the bedside, governance of health facilities, health insurer and government spending, and ...
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The impact of drug resistance on the risk of tuberculosis infection and disease in child household contacts : a cross sectional study
(Biomed Central, 2017-08-29)ENGLISH SUMMARY : Background: The relative fitness of organisms causing drug-susceptible (DS) and multidrug-resistant (MDR) tuberculosis (TB) is unclear. We compared the risk of TB infection and TB disease in young child ...
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Placebo controls in clinical trials : concerns about use in relapse prevention studies in schizophrenia
(BMJ Publishing Group, 2016)ENGLISH SUMMARY : The use of placebos in clinical trials has major policy implications for ethical conduct across all of medicine and is relevant to clinicians, patients, drug development, and regulatory agencies. This ...
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Multiple and mixed methods in formative evaluation : is more better? reflections from a South African study
(BioMed Central, 2016)ENGLISH SUMMARY : Background: Formative programme evaluations assess intervention implementation processes, and are seen widely as a way of unlocking the 'black box' of any programme in order to explore and understand ...
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Are HIV and reproductive health services adapted to the needs of female sex workers? results of a policy and situational analysis in Tete, Mozambique
(BioMed Central, 2016)Background In the context of an implementation research project aiming at improving use of HIV and sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services for female sex workers (FSWs), a broad situational analysis was conducted ...
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Researching complex interventions in health : the state of the art
(BMC Health Services Research, 2016)ENGLISH SUMMARY : Keynote presentations
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A partial economic evaluation of blended learning in teaching health research methods : a three-university collaboration in South Africa, Sweden, and Uganda
(Taylor & Francis Open, 2016)ENGLISH SUMMARY : Background: Novel research training approaches are needed in global health, particularly in sub-Saharan African universities, to support strengthening of health systems and services. Blended learning (BL), ...
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Optimizing research methods to understand HIV-exposed uninfected infant and child morbidity : report of the second HEU infant and child workshop
(Frontiers Media, 2016)The first HIV Exposed Uninfected (HEU) Infant and Child Workshop was held in Vancouver in July 2015, hosted by the Child and Family Research Institute at the British Columbia Children’s Hospital and University of British ...
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Peritoneal dialysis technique survival at Tygerberg hospital in Cape Town, South Africa
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-03)Background: Peritoneal dialysis (PD) technique failure invariably occurs in patients with end-stage renal disease who are treated with this modality and results in increased morbidity and mortality. Various factors have ...
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Plasmid-mediated mcr-1 colistin resistance in Escherichia coli and Klebsiella spp. clinical isolates from the Western Cape region of South Africa
(BioMed Central, 2017-08-03)Background: Colistin is a last resort antibiotic for the treatment of carbapenem-resistant Gram negative infections. Until recently, mechanisms of colistin resistance were limited to chromosomal mutations which confer a ...
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Objective impairments of gait and balance in adults living with HIV-1 infection : a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies
(BioMed Central, 2017-08-01)Background: Gait and balance deficits are reported in adults with HIV infection and are associated with reduced quality of life. Current research suggests an increased fall-incidence in this population, with fall rates ...
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Centella asiatica modulates cancer cachexia associated inflammatory cytokines and cell death in leukaemic THP-1 cells and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC’s)
(BioMed Central, 2017-08-01)Background: Cancer cachexia is associated with increased pro-inflammatory cytokine levels. Centella asiatica (C. asiatica) possesses antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-tumour potential. We investigated the modulation ...
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Rationale and design of the African group A streptococcal infection registry : the AFROStrep study
(BMJ Publishing Group, 2016)Introduction: Group A β-haemolytic Streptococcus (GAS), a Gram-positive bacterium, also known as Streptococcus pyogenes, causes pyoderma, pharyngitis and invasive disease. Repeated GAS infections may lead to autoimmune ...
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Epidemiology of lower respiratory infection and pneumonia in South Africa (1997 – 2015) : a systematic review protocol
(BMJ Publishing Group, 2016)Introduction: Lower respiratory infections (LRIs) and pneumonia are among the leading causes of death worldwide, especially in children aged under 5 years, and these patterns are reflected in the South African population. ...
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Hepatitis B infection awareness, vaccine perceptions and uptake, and serological profile of a group of health care workers in Yaounde, Cameroon
(BioMed Central, 2016)ENGLISH SUMMARY : Background: Cameroon is one of the countries in Africa with the highest burden of Hepatitis B infection. Health care workers are known to be at risk of occupational exposure to blood and other infectious ...
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Non-operative management for penetrating splenic trauma : how far can we go to save splenic function?
(BioMed Central, 2017-07-25)Background: Selective non-operative management (NOM) for the treatment of blunt splenic trauma is safe. Currently, the feasibility of selective NOM for penetrating splenic injury (PSI) is unclear. Unfortunately, little is ...
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Association between serotonin transporter gene polymorphisms and increased suicidal risk among HIV positive patients in Uganda
(BioMed Central, 2017-07-25)Background: Persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) are at an increased risk of suicide. Increased suicidal risk is a predictor of future attempted and completed suicides and has been associated with poor quality of life and ...
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Assessing variability in results in systematic reviews of diagnostic studies
(BioMed Central, 2016)ENGLISH SUMMARY : Background: To describe approaches used in systematic reviews of diagnostic test accuracy studies for assessing variability in estimates of accuracy between studies and to provide guidance in this ...
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It’s all about trust : reflections of researchers on the complexity and controversy surrounding biobanking in South Africa
(BioMed Central, 2016)ENGLISH SUMMARY : Background: Biobanks are precariously situated at the intersection of science, genetics, genomics, society, ethics, the law and politics. This multi-disciplinarity has given rise to a new discourse in ...
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