Latest Blogs
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Gaps in Research for Paediatric Traumatic Brain Injury
by Kelly Kordom Traumatic brain injury (TBI) refers to injury to the brain via an external force and is one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity in children worldwide. Given that children are a vulnerable group to research it initially seemed appropriate to extrapolate clinical findings from research including adult populations to the…
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What doesn’t kill them, only makes them stronger
by Tapiwa Tarwa For decades, the medical field has waged war against disease-causing bacteria. Armed with the (then) recent discovery of antimicrobials, medical professionals finally believed they had the upper hand. However; these bacteriae have proven to be a worthy opponent as they have quickly retaliated with antimicrobial resistance (AMR)*. This resistance is a weapon…
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Dear South African Government, Decolonise COVID19 Treatment.
by Vuthlarhi Shirindza Yes, I know, yet another COVID19 article. But this time the decolonised treatment version. Coronavirus disease, COVID-19, has caused an international outbreak of acute respiratory illness. Currently, there are no specific therapeutic agents for this disease, due to its broad clinical spectrum. But four researchers knew that herbal medicine has played an important…
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Don’t Mind the Gap: The Truth About Cape Town’s Passion Gap
By Abduraghmaan Fisher The most stereotypical identifying trait of Coloured people has to the ‘Passion Gap’: the absence of the top front teeth (Figure 1). This unusual ‘trend’ often puzzles many non-locals, and people living on the Cape Flats (where the practice take place) know very little about the practice, just that it exists. Some…
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HERBS AS A BASIS FOR TREATING ANDROGENETIC ALOPECIA
by Amahle Mfinwana Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is the most common form of hair loss, and it occurs mostly in genetically predisposed persons more sensitive to the androgen hormone, testosterone. It affects both males and females and occurs in a patterned form of scalp hair loss. AGA is not a fatal disorder, but may impair the…
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Diagnosis of Breast Cancer in Males
by Jastina Modise Breast cancer is a type of cancer that develop in breast cells and can be seen through an x-ray or by a lump forming. Breast cancer is most common in females with approximately 1.7 million new cases and 522 000 deaths recorded every year globally, with only 1% cases recorded every year in…
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What the Immune Response Looks Like in Asymptomatic COVID-19 Cases
By Katelyn Jones The world is currently in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, with over 16 million confirmed cases as at 26 July 2020. One of the reasons this pandemic is so hard-hitting is because people don’t fully understand the risks involved with asymptomatic cases. Researchers in China have conducted a study into these…
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Pregnancy in the time of COVID-19
By Atoosa Amel Just before the country went under lockdown, I was listening to two radio presenters talking about the names parents could give their newborns that fitted in with the pandemic theme. They came up with names like “Pandi”, “Quarantina” and “Corona-Lisa”. One of the presenters said that when the children grow up to…
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The impact of insomnia on physical and mental health
by Yuseung Nam “The night is the hardest time to be alive and 4am knows all my secrets” – Poppy Z.Brite, author of Lost Souls This quote highlights the time of night when the activity of body is at its lowest, melatonin levels being at the highest, body temperature and blood pressure being at their…
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!Kung Hunter-gatherers: Gender roles, diet and…wait, what? Birth control?
by Sivanesan N. Dharmalingam There was a time when all humans lived as hunter-gatherers. Not that I’m about to detail the complex evolution of Homo sapiens, but let’s just say that we all have origins that trace back to a time long before city life. In this time our ancestors would trek across the African plains…