3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item Effects of Methanolic Extract of Moringa oleifera leaves on Fructose-Induced Metabolic dysfunction in growing Sprague Dawley Rats(2017) Muhammad, NasiruExcess dietary fructose intake has been associated with an increase in metabolic disorders. Traditionally, these disorders are managed by physical exercise, lifestyle modification, and by conventional drug therapy. A significant proportion of the population also depends on the therapeutic/prophylactic properties of natural plants for their medical problems. The tree Moringa oleifera is well recognized for its medicinal and nutritional properties. The plant is said to possess antiobesity, antilipidaemic, antidiabetic and hypotensive effects amongst other medicinal properties. Most previous studies that explored the effects of Moringa oleifera on metabolism used adult male experimental animal models without considering adult female and young growing animal models, despite the increasing prevalence of metabolic syndrome in females and growing children. This study thus investigated the impact of a methanolic extract of Moringa oleifera leaves on fructose-induced metabolic dysfunction in growing Sprague Dawley rats of both sexes. One hundred and two (102), 21 day old, weaned male and female pups were randomly allocated to six groups that were sex matched. All groups received standard commercially sourced rat chow ad libitum throughout the study. In addition, Group I (negative control) received tap water for drinking and plain gelatine cubes. Group II received 20% fructose solution as drinking fluid and plain gelatine cubes. Group III received 20% fructose solution as their drinking fluid and 400 mg.kg-1 body weight of methanolic extract of Moringa oleifera leaves suspended in gelatine cubes. Group IV received 20% fructose solution as their drinking fluid and 100 mg.kg-1 body weight of fenofibrate (positive control) suspended in gelatine cubes. Group V received 400 mg.kg-1 body weight of the methanolic leaf extracts of Moringa oleifera in gelatine cubes and had plain drinking water. Group VI received 100 mg.kg-1 body weight of fenofibrate in gelatine cubes and had access to plain drinking water. After 10 weeks of the interventions, the rats were euthanased by anaesthetic overdose following an overnight fast; and samples of blood and tissue were collected. The outcomes of the interventions on growth performance, morphometry of the gastro-intestinal tract organs, circulating metabolites, adiposity, liver lipid accumulation and general health markers were assessed. Data were expressed as mean ± standard deviation and analyzed by one-way or two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) depending on the variables. The statistical significance of analyzed values was set at ≤ 5%. Administration of 20% fructose solution significantly elevated hepatic lipid content in both sexes (P<0.0001) and the concentration of circulating triglycerides in female rats (P<0.0001) compared with negative controls. These lipid elevations were prevented by the administration of 400 mg.kg-1 body weight of methanolic extract of Moringa oleifera leaves and by 100 mg.kg-1 body weight of fenofibrate (P≤0.05). The effect of fenofibrate was more pronounced than that of Moringa. Fenofibrate treated groups (both sexes) had hepatomegaly (P<0.0001), higher fasting blood glucose (FBG) (P<0.0001), higher alkaline phosphatase activity in plasma (P<0.05) and lower (P<0.05) epididymal fat relative to tibial length (males) compared with the other treatment groups. The plasma triglycerides and cholesterol levels were higher in females than in males (P<0.05). The absolute and relative visceral fat pad masses were also higher in females (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in the hepatic lipid content and creatinine levels between the two sexes (P>0.05). However, male rats had significantly higher levels of FBG, liver enzymes (ALT and ALKP), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), urea to creatinine ratio and higher organ morphometry than their corresponding females (P<0.0001). No adverse effects were observed with fructose or Moringa on growth, organ morphometry, determinants of metabolic dysfunction and surrogate markers of general health. However, hepatomegaly was observed in fenofibrate treated groups (P<0.0001). In the present study, sex differences were observed in the metabolic responses of growing Sprague Dawley rats to a high-fructose diet. In addition, the methanolic extract of Moringa oleifera leaves was beneficial in preventing the hypertriglyceridaemia and abnormal deposition of hepatic lipids in high-fructose fed animals. However, the extract was not effective in preventing fructose-induced visceral obesity in male animals. The use of methanolic leaf extracts of Moringa oleifeira should be further explored as a possible candidate prophylactic intervention in the fight against the global epidemic of diet induced metabolic dysfunction.Item The association of nutrition on body composition and metabolic disease risk in rural South Africa children and adolescents(2017) Pedro, Titilola MinsturatBackground: The persistent burden of undernutrition, with increasing prevalence of obesity and metabolic disease risk among children and adolescents, has become a global public health problem. Research has shown that risk factors established in childhood and adolescence may contribute to the development of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in adulthood. This is of particular concern in South Africa, given its rapid socio-economic, political and epidemiological transitions. Research into the trends of nutrition transition in rural children and adolescents, whose particular health needs have been under-served and poorly delineated in the past, provides a unique opportunity to study the e ects of rapid health transitions on development. Aim: To determine the association of nutrition, body composition and metabolic disease risk in rural South African children and adolescents. Study design: Three cross-sectional studies were undertaken to address the overall aim of this research. The speci c objectives of each study were: (1) to determine the association of nutrition on body composition and metabolic disease risk in children and adolescents; (2) to examine the associations between body mass index (BMI), disordered eating attitude and body dissatisfaction in female adolescents, and descriptive attributes assigned to silhouettes of di ering body habitus in male and female adolescents; and (3) to investigate associations between diet and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in adolescents. Method: One cross-sectional study, 3 analyses were nested within the Agincourt Health and Socio-demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) site, in the Bushbuckridge subdistrict, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. In 2009, a random sample of 600 children and adolescents, from age groups 7 to 8 years, 11 to 12 years and 14 to 15 years, were selected from 3489 children who had participated in a 2007 growth survey. These children and adolescents had to have lived in Agincourt at least 80% of the time since birth or since 1992, when enrolment into the Agincourt Health and Socio-Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) began. Height and weight were measured to determine BMI. Age and sex-speci c cut-o s for underweight and overweight/obesity were determined using those of the International Obesity Task Force. Body image satisfaction using Feel-Ideal Discrepancy (FID) scores, Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26), perceptual female silhouettes and pubertal assessment were collected through self-administered questionnaires. Blood pressure (systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP)) was measured, fasting blood samv ples were collected for the determination of glucose and lipids. Waist to hip ratio cut-o s of (WHR) >0.85 for females, >0.90 for males, waist to height ratio (WHtR) of >0.5 for both sexes, and waist circumference (WC) of >80 cm for females and >94 cm for males were used to determine the risk of adiposity. For abnormal lipids: high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) cut-o s of >1.03 mmol/l, low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) of >2.59 mmol/l, triglycerides (TGs) of >1.7 mmol/l and total cholesterol (TC) of >5.17 mmol/l were used. Pre-hypertension prevalence was computed using the average of 2 readings of SBP or DBP, being >90th but <95th percentile for age, sex and height. Dietary intake was assessed using semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. T-test and ANOVAs for normally distributed data and Wilcoxon-Mann- Whitney test was used to determine signi cant di erences by sex and by pubertal stages for EAT-26 and EAT-26 sub-scores. Chi square tests were done to determine signi cant associations between the categorical variables. Bivariate linear regression was employed to test associations and signi cant tests were set at the p<0.05 level. Results: Study component (1): Stunting levels were higher in the boys than in the girls in mid to late childhood and combined overweight and obesity prevalence was higher in girls than in boys. The girls' BMI was signi cantly greater at ages 11 and 12 years than that of the boys [girls: 18 3.4, 95% con dence interval (CI): 17.33- 18.69; boys: 17 2, 95% CI: 16.46-17.25; p-value 0.004] and at ages 14-15 years (girls: 22 4.1, 95% CI: 20.82-22.47; boys: 19 2.4, 95% CI: 18.39-19.38; p-value < 0.001). Prehypertension (de ned as < 90th centile for age, sex and height) was higher in girls (15%) than boys (10%). Further, impaired fasting glucose was detected in 5.3% of girls and 5% of boys. High-density lipoprotein cholesterol (>1.03 mmol/l) concentrations were observed in 12% of the girls and 0.7% of the boys, which is indicative of cardiometabolic risk. Study component (2): The prevalence of overweight and obesity was higher in girls than boys in early and mid to post pubertal stages. The majority (83.5%) of the girls reported body image dissatisfaction (a desire to be thinner or fatter). The girls who wanted to be fatter had a signi cantly higher BMI than the girls who wanted to be thinner (p=0.001). There were no di erences in EAT-26 score between pubertal groups, or between boys and girls within the two pubertal groups. The majority of the boys and the girls in both pubertal groups perceived the underweight silhouettes to be \unhappy" and \weak" and the majority of girls in both pubertal groups perceived the normal silhouettes to be the \best". Study component (3): Added sugar and sweets contributed 10% and maize meal and vi bread contributed 7.2% to the total number of food items consumed respectively. Girls had higher intakes of total fat, saturated fat and cholesterol after adjusting for dietary energy intake and age (all p<0.001). The prevalence of combined overweight and obesity was 13.8% in girls and 3.1% in boys (p<0.001). In addition, indicators of adiposity were higher in females, abnormal waist circumference (WC) (6.7%), waist to hip ratio (WHR) (22.0%) and waist to height ratio (WHtR) (18.0%), compared to males, (0%), (3.1%) and (6.2%) respectively (all p<0.001). Girls had higher low-density lipoprotein (LDL) (12(9.3%) vs. 3(2.3%), p=0.01), total cholesterol (17(12.7%) vs. 5(3.5%), p<0.001) and were more pre-hypertensive (28(15.3%) vs.15(8.4%), p=0.04) than the boys. Furthermore, the bivariate associations between dietary intakes (total energy, total carbohydrate (CHO), total dietary fat and saturated fat) and anthropometric indices (BMI and WC) showed that body mass index (BMI) was associated with total energy (p=0.05) and BMI and WC were associated with total fat (p=0.01, p=0.03) and saturated fat (p<0.001, p=0.02) in females respectively. Conclusions: In conclusion, this thesis highlights that girls in rural South Africa had a higher prevalence of combined overweight and obesity than did boys, stunting was more prevalent amongst boys than girls in mid to late childhood and metabolic risk factors that were associated with adiposity, and linked to diet, were higher in girls than in boys. This study has provided useful information for targeting critical health promotion intervention programmes to optimise child nutrition as part of a noncommunicable disease preventative strategy, especially, in remote areas in rapidly transitioning South Africa.Item Describe cardio-metabolic diseases and the associated cost in a district hospital in the North West Province(2014-10) Moalosi, Derrick MeritingBACKGROUND: Gelukspan District Hospital is situated in the Ngaka Modiri Molema District in the North West Province. The majority of patients admitted in the adult medical wards of this Hospital are due to two conditions namely (a) HIV/ AIDS and (b) Cardio-metabolic diseases. The Hospital regularly analyse data related to the HIV/ AIDS patients for HIV/ AIDS conditional grant. The information related to cardio-metabolic diseases are seldom analysed by the Hospital management, although there is a belief within the Hospital that more than one thirds of the patients admitted in these two wards are due to cardio–metabolic diseases. This study was planned against this background to systematically analyse the routinely collected data from the Hospital information system. The results of the study would hopefully provide the estimation of the prevalence of these diseases at a health facility level and the cost for managing these conditions. AIM: To describe the profiles of patients admitted of cardio–metabolic diseases in the Gelukspan District Hospital in the North West Province during one year study period (from 01 April 2010 to 31 March 2011). METHODOLOGY: This was a cross-sectional study based on retrospective review of routinely collected data from the Adult Medical Wards of the Gelukspan District Hospital during the one year study period (1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011). No primary data was collected for this study. The study variables included: the number of subjects with cardio-metabolic diseases among the subjects who were admitted in the Medical wards of the Hospital during one year study period; their profiles and the type and cost of laboratory tests performed for these patients at the time of admission. Permission to conduct the research at the Hospital was obtained from the North West Department of the Health and the University of the Witwatersrand ‘Human Research Ethics Committee (Medical) before commencement of the study. RESULTS: Number of admissions in male and female medical wards for noncommunicable diseases was 558. There were almost same number of female (n= 287) and male (271) admissions. The result showed that both males and females suffer equally from cardio-metabolic diseases. The age – group 8805634J DM Moalosi vi analysis showed almost a third of the subjects were below 50 years age and another third was above 65 years of age. More than 20% of the population were pensioners representing the age distribution of the study cohort. The majority of the subjects were black (97.8%) and unemployed (98%) representing the demographics of the catchment population. The majority of the women were single (55.4%). There was no significant difference between male and female patients in terms of primary clinical diagnoses. Thirty-nine percent of the males (n=108) and 56% (163) females stayed more than 3 days (the norms of average length of stay for District hospitals. The case fatality rate was 19.5% probably high in a district hospital setting, this implies that probably these patients were not managed properly at the PHC level and or at this The laboratory tests done at the time of admission included random and fasting blood glucose, and creatinine. No HbA1C, lipogram and other renal function tests were done at the time of admission contrary to the norms and guidelines for management of cardio-metabolic diseases. The laboratory test result showed the possibility of significant comorbidity among the patients. Fourteen percent of the subject probably had nephropathy. CONCLUSION: This was the first study conducted in this Hospital to systematically evaluate management of a particular group of patients. Hopefully, this study would assist the Hospital management to improve the management of patients admitted in this Hospital.Item Metabolic studies in chronic pancreatitis(2012-06-06) Joffe, Barry IsaacItem Cardio-metabolic disease and associated risk factors in the Johannesburg Health District(2012-01-17) Moodley, NishilaIntroduction: The global burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) has long been neglected, with the omission of NCDs from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) bearing testament to this. The growing prevalence of chronic cardio-metabolic diseases in South Africa places huge demands on the health system. This study sought to determine the community prevalence of these cardio-metabolic diseases and associated risk factors in Chiawelo, Soweto – a township undergoing rapid urbanization in the Johannesburg Health District. Methods: The study comprised 337 participants: 124 male and 213 female. This was a community based cross sectional survey using questionnaires, anthropometric and biochemical measurement of HbA1c. Cluster sampling techniques identified eligible adult participants. Regression models were performed to identify factors associated with disease. Ethical approval to conduct the study was obtained from the University of the Witwatersrand and written informed consent was obtained from the participants. Results: The study population was black with middle to higher socio-economic status and education levels below Grade 12 mostly. The prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) in this study population was 14%, with many undiagnosed and those with disease poorly controlled. More than half the study population had hypertension (HPT) (58%) and most were poorly controlled. This was a markedly obese population (39%) with 54% of women having a body mass index (BMI) categorised as obese (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2). Conclusions: The burden of chronic cardio-metabolic diseases in the Johannesburg Health District has been grossly underestimated. The prevalence of HPT and DM was high and both diseases were poorly controlled with obesity reaching epidemic proportions. Countering the burden of disease involves targeting females as a high risk priority group, engaging the community in health promotion and developing a NCD surveillance system. Clinically, it is the findings of this study to support the screening of cardio-metabolic diseases from as early as 30 years of age in males and 40 years of age in females.