The Radiography Department at Tygerberg Hospital is breaking new grounds in the field of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).
The department is the first in South Africa to offer a structured one-year post-graduate course in MRI. The Health Professions council of South Africa (HPCSA) has approved the course as an additional qualification. Six radiographers successfully completed the course last year.

MRI has become the imaging modality of choice in the management of patients who present with various medical histories. This is because MRI can image virtually every part of the body.

Ms Valdiela Daries, a lecturer in the department and the MRI course co-ordinator, said traditionally radiographers have received “on-the-job” training to operate the very expensive, sophisticated imaging equipment with no significant background of MRI physics, principles and techniques.

“The MRI course was developed, not only for the need for radiographers to develop professionally, but new technological advances in MRI are introduced regularly. It has become essential for radiographers to be informed of the latest international developments,” said Ms Daries.

The radiographers attend block periods for lectures. Various radiologists, engineers, technicians, application specialists and radiographers lecture during the course. Experts in the field act as examiners, moderators, presenters and demonstrators. The students are required to do 700 hours of practical training in their workplace.

“As the Council on Higher Education (CHE) requires proof of acceptance from the radiography professional body before they consider our application, we will shortly forward our application to the CHE for institutional accreditation,” said Ms Daries.

CAPTION:

First graduates of the Postgraduate certificate in Magnetic Resonance Imaging. At the back: Mr Carlo Wagner (Symington & Partners: N1 City), Ms Monique van Niekerk (Schnetler & Partners: Panorama), Ms Patricia Heidmann (Morton & Partners: Claremont), Ms Bronwen Mackrill (Morton & Partners: Claremont), Ms Natalie Bennie (Tuft & Partners, Constantiaberg). In front: Ms Estelle Arendse (Tygerberg Academic Hospital), Ms Valdiela Daries (CPUT lecturer and course co-ordinator), Ms Naomi Fenton (HOD: Symington & Partners and course co-ordinator).

Written by CPUT News
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Results from a clinical trial led by Dr Jeanine Marnewick of CPUT’s Oxidative Stress Research Centre show that Rooibos significantly reduces the risk of heart disease.

This conclusive evidence of the health-promoting properties of Rooibos in humans was presented to 150 members of the media, health sector and Rooibos industry at a Rooibos Science Café at the MTN ScienCentre on 26 November 2008.

Researchers traced the protective effect of Rooibos by looking at two important markers in the blood, as well as the oxidative status of the 40 adults who participated in the study. They found a significant decrease in conjugated dienes and malondialdehydes of 35% and 50% respectively – two blood markers that indicate oxidative damage – in the group that drank six cups of Rooibos per day for six weeks.

“This means that Rooibos may help to slow down atherosclerosis, or the hardening of arteries,"" explained Dr Marnewick.

On top of this, Rooibos also increased the levels of the body’s own “super anti-oxidant” called glutathione and helped to reduce the levels of “bad” LDL -cholesterol significantly.

“This is incredible news for Rooibos and the public,” said Mientjie Mouton, a director of the South African Rooibos Council. “We need scientific evidence to substantiate what we have always known – that Rooibos is good for you!”

Dr Marnewick also explained that they asked study participants for feedback on how they felt during the clinical trial. “Many of them reported feeling irritated during the washout period when they could not drink Rooibos, and much calmer once they were enjoying their six cups of Rooibos per day. That is why she will continue the clinical trial to look at the effect of Rooibos and stress.”

At the same Science Café Dr Carl Albrecht, head of Research at the Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA) gave an overview of nearly a decade of research at South Africa ’s Medical Research Council into the ability of Rooibos to prevent or slow down cancer. He also emphasised the importance of the ability of Rooibos to reduce oxidative stress in the body, as shown by the results of a study on rats, published in 2003.

“I am elated that Dr Marnewick and her team were now able to prove that Rooibos also has this effect in the human body,” he added. Oxidative stress plays a role in the development of a whole range of diseases, including cancer, stroke, heart and liver disease, diabetes and Alzheimer’s.

Another important milestone was the discovery, published in 2004, that Rooibos can prevent and slow down skin cancer in mice.

“The next challenge is to prove that Rooibos can also prevent cancer in people, and I believe that there is a good chance that we’ll be able to prove this,” Dr Albrecht said.

This Rooibos Science Café was organised by the South African Rooibos Council who invests in Rooibos research, along with funding partners such as South Africa ’s National Research Foundation as well as the Medical Research Council and CANSA.

Photograph: (left) Harvested Rooibos leaves (right) Dr Jeanine Marnewick of the CPUT Oxidative Stress Research Centre, Dr Carl Albrecht of the Cancer Association of South Africa

Information courtesy of Southern Science, South Africa Images courtesy of the South African Rooibos Council

Written by CPUT News

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CPUT and the Western Cape Government Department of Health have signed an important agreement pertaining to teaching, training and research opportunities for students in the health sciences.

Vice-Chancellor, Prof Chris Nhlapo, and the Head of Health in the Western Cape, Dr Keith Cloete. signed the Bilateral Agreement (BLA) on 19 November.

Prof Penelope Engel-Hills, Dean of the Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences, said the agreement is essential “to ensure the ongoing education of students in our programmes that need access to the provincial clinical platform for the workplace learning component of the programme”.

She said the signing of the BLA follows a Multi-Lateral Agreement (MLA) signed between five parties: Western Cape Government Health, CPUT, Stellenbosch University, University of Cape Town and the University of the Western Cape, a few years ago.

“The MLA is an agreement to establish the rules of engagement for the education of healthcare professionals at the four higher education institutions, in cooperation with the Department of Health in the province, so as to ensure equitable access to the clinical platform.”

Following the signing of the MLA there was a lengthy process of engagement until each institution signed a BLA with the Western Cape Government: Health.

“The BLAs at the four higher education institutions are premised on the 12 principles agreed to between the parties and move us in the direction of a strong partnership with a more equitable approach to funding, student placements, joint appointments, etc.”

The departments within the Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences that are directly involved are Medical Imaging and Therapeutic Sciences and Emergency Medical Sciences while Nursing will also be an important stakeholder in the agreement. Engel-Hills said Dental Sciences has peripheral involvement and Ophthalmic Sciences may become part of the agreement with the offering of new programmes.

In a post on the Western Cape Government Health Facebook page, Dr Saadiq Kariem, Western Cape Government Health Chief of Operations, described the signing as a historic moment and stated: “This agreement will establish governance structures between CPUT and Western Cape Government Health. We have an existing platform, but now we have a formal agreement on what our students will do in our facilities, a code of training, the types of training they will receive and from whom they can expect training”.

Written by Ilse Fredericks
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All healthcare practitioners are invited to attend a one-day management workshop aimed specifically at their profession.

The short course in Management for Health Care Professionals will be hosted by CPUT’s Dr Anna Marie Bruwer and will focus on all aspects of establishing a quality management office.

While Quality Management is still a foreign notion to many South African professionals, the framework is gaining popularity as a mechanism for maintaining excellent standards and striving for improvement.

Dr Bruwer is a leader in the field, she has pioneered Quality Management work done in the country and was part of the committee established to develop national nursing standards.

Head of CPUT Postgraduate nursing department Dr Petro Basson says the course is vital for brushing up your own skills and keeping up to date with industry changes.

“I would suggest this course to nurses and anyone else working in the healthcare profession who is serious about their vocation,” she says.

The workshop takes place on July 25 from 9am to 4pm in Durbanville and costs R500 per person including lunch and all handouts.

Contact Raquel Rayners at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 021 953 8644 or Carlin Samaai at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 021 953 8426 for more information.

By LAUREN KANSLEY

Written by CPUT News
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The Minister of Health, Dr Zweli Mkhize has appointed Izanne Human, an Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental & Occupational Studies, to serve as a member of the Professional Board for Environmental Health Practitioners of the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA).

Human will serve as a member of this Board from 2020 to 2025.  The committees which she will serve on include: HPCSA Board member: Environmental Health Practitioners to represent the Universities South Africa (USAF) at the Education, Training and Registration Committee.  She will also serve as a committee member of the Education, Training and Quality Assurance Committee.

Amongst Human’s new roles is to promote liaison and uphold the standards of education and training between South African universities. She will also exercise authority in respect of all matters affecting the education and training of Environmental Health Practitioners (EHPs) whose mandate is to assist in the promotion of preventative health in the population. She says this includes upholding the maintenance of professional competence and ethics - especially with SA's quadruple burden of disease (i.e. child death, HIV/Aids, TB, non-communicable diseases, violence and injury) as well as the new emerging diseases caused by the Coronavirus.

“I am humbled by the support from my colleagues, HOD, Dean and Vice-Chancellor [Prof Chris Nhlapo] at CPUT and will give my best to promote the Environmental Health profession which is fundamental in disease prevention and control,” says Human who started her career as an EHP in 1996 at Matjhabeng Municipality, Free State, where she worked for eight years.

She was appointed as Assistant Director: Water Services and then Acting Deputy Director: Water Services (Bellville Office) at the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry in 2004, after she relocated to Cape Town.  After she completed her PhD in Environmental Health at the Central University of Technology, she was appointed as a lecturer in Environmental Health in the Department of Environmental & Occupational studies at CPUT in 2006.

Her blossoming career continued to flourish as she was promoted to senior lecturer in 2008, as an Associate Professor in 2012 and was Head of Programme: Environmental Health from 2013 to 2018. Human is registered with the HPCSA as an EHP and actively supervises post-graduate students, conducts peer reviews for internationally accredited journals and acts as a reviewer and moderator for the National Research Foundation.  She also collaborates with other universities, nationally and in Africa, where she is involved in postgraduate co-supervision, external examinations of Master’s and PhDs, auditing of Environmental Health- and related programmes, and moderation.

Her subjects of interest include: Food Hygiene and Safety, Epidemiology, Water Quality Management and Disaster Management.  Throughout her career, Human has received several awards, and most recently she was the recipient of the prestigious Presidential Award from the South African Institute of Environmental Health in February 2017.

Reflecting on her recent appointment, Human says: “I am honoured to have the opportunity to serve in this position, supported by the Universities of South Africa and appointed by the Minister of Health… I am humbled by this appointment.”

Dr Ntokozo Malaza, Head of the Environmental and Occupational Department describes Human as a dedicated lecturer. “Her love and passion for lecturing in the field of Environmental Health, includes a commitment to students’ success.”

Malaza says Human is able to engage and motivate students to learn and succeed. “She is patient, caring, and has a kind personality to both staff and students. As a department in the Faculty of Applied Sciences, we are grateful for her milestone and would like to wish her all the best and represent the department, faculty and the University at large.”

Written by Aphiwe Boyce
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Through Our Stories, Our Healing – a series of narratives in isiXhosa, English and Afrikaans – the Language Working Group (LWG) is shining a light on the struggles and resilience associated with mental health.

In South Africa, October is designated as Mental Health Awareness Month and internationally as Global Diversity Awareness Month.

“With celebrations of our South African Heritage only recently past, October is the perfect time for combining our heritage of storytelling and diverse languages to promote healing,” the LWG states.

“As humans, we are neurobiologically hardwired to tell ourselves stories all day long. When we think about buying groceries, preparing for work or studies or what will be for dinner, we make up short stories in our head about these activities.”

According to the Language Working Group, Jeremy Hsu found that “personal stories and gossip make up 65% of our conversations.”

“When stress and trauma touch our lives, these bad experiences impact not only our bodies but also our brains: The stories we tell ourselves about ourselves cast us as conquered, overwhelmed individuals. These stories then also affect how we treat ourselves and others,” the LWG states.

A programme run by the United Nations Refugee Agency, #MeWe, has found that these types of stories – arrested narratives – can lead to arrested development marked by:

A persistent disconnection of mind, heart, and breath.

Higher levels of stress and anxiety, and disassociation from the present.

Challenges in being empathetic, communicating needs, collaborating with others.

Limited capacities for being aware of one’s senses and inner resiliency assets.

In talking of her ambition to promote mental health awareness, the newly crowned Miss South Africa, Shudufadzo Musida, highlights the importance of not having a “conquered” mind: “For any change to come about in our society, we need to tackle the mind, the powerhouse. If the mind is conquered, we will go nowhere”.

“Stories can help us take back our minds and help us heal. In fact, a research by psychologist David Yeager has shown how stressed students’ cortisol levels and heart activity can be lowered once they read and learned to write stories about the possibility of change – change in their lives and the lives of others,” states the LWG.

Our Stories, Our Healing presents a collection of readings from: To My Children’s Children, a biographical book by award-winning author and scholar, Dr Sindiwe Magona. Besides being a prolific writer of children’s books, novels, stage plays and screenplays, Magona is a writer-in-residence at the University of the Western Cape, still works as an actor, motivational speaker and isiXhosa translator. However, she is quick to acknowledge that her most rewarding role was as a teacher because she considered working with students a sacred experience.

“We hope that Dr Magona’s narrations to her children’s children at CPUT will soothe your soul, but more than that, we hope that they might inspire action. You might need to tell your story for the first time or re-write it completely. Or it might be time to seek professional help,” adds the LWG.

Call the 24hr Higher Health helpline for counselling support 0800 36 36 36, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for staff) or contact the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it." or calling their 24hr helpline 0800 456 789.

Our Stories, Our Healing, Ons Stories, Ons Genesing / Amabali Wethu, Ukuphila Kwethu is a series of videos centred around the readings of Dr Sindiwe Magona or Nomabali, as she prefers to be called. Here she chats to three CPUT students Emmerencia Karools, Ayapha Tshapa and Nosiphe Xego about our South African heritage, our collective mental health and dealing with the pandemic. The students described this encounter as “funny”, “inspirational” and a powerful reminder to take care of ourselves. Watch the discussion below

https://youtu.be/38mqVhVKuIo

In the video below, accompanied by audio translations in isiXhosa and Afrikaans, Sindiwe Magona recounts how something bad can be made better by something even worse. This reading from To My Children’s Children considers how privilege comes with responsibility and how mishaps are the shadow of every good fortune. To listen to the translations click on this link - https://soundcloud.com/user-16148631-671233361/sets/our-stories-our-healing-ons-stories-ons-genesing-amabali-wethu-ukuphila-kwethu/s-f6q0HIJGnvP

https://youtu.be/XBWUi8fz3i8

In the video below, accompanied by audio translations in isiXhosa and Afrikaans, Sindiwe Magona reads from To My Children’s Children, reflecting on the vast differences between her traditional upbringing and the modern world, how different races were treated in the Apartheid era, and between girlhood and boyhood. The translations can be listened to at the following link - https://soundcloud.com/user-16148631-671233361/sets/video-4-translations/s-e99rwaAQQj9

https://youtu.be/u7l2RqVWQdk

Written by Ilse Fredericks
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Faculty and support unit coordinators are hard at work ensuring that it’s all systems go for the much anticipated virtual site visit by the national review for doctoral qualifications panel.

The panel, under the authority of the Council on Higher Education (CHE), aims to measure the extent to which institutional strategies, policies, protocols, and procedures for postgraduate study meet the Doctoral Qualification Standard for both public and private higher education institutions.

The virtual site visit is scheduled for 19 to 22 October.

The National Review of Doctoral Qualifications Institutional Coordinator at CPUT, Dr Siyanda Makaula, says a national review is a quality enhancement exercise, which provides the University with an opportunity to be evaluated by external doctoral education experts in order to ascertain the extent to which the institution meets or exceeds the minimum requirements of the CHE's national doctoral qualification standard.

“This exercise will help us improve in areas that would have been identified by the review panel to be in need of improvement while providing us with an opportunity to demonstrate significant improvements that took place in our doctoral education environment in the past few years,” Makaula explains.

The preparations include electronic evidence files and video clips on a virtual tour of facilities for doctoral students. All participants (including doctoral students, supervisors, examiners, alumni, and many more) have been invited and informed about the doctoral review site visit.  Makaula says the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Chris Nhlapo, and executive management have given them tremendous support.

“All hands are on deck and we are ready to take off. We welcome the national review; we welcome the CHE review panel to CPUT. We are looking forward to a review panel report that will give a critical impression of CPUT's quality of doctoral provision,” he remarks.

During the launch of the institutional CHE review of doctoral qualifications last year, Nhlapo said the University was proud of the research and postgraduate brand “we have created what CPUT has achieved in this short time”.  He said the institution has seven focus areas for applied research: climate change and environment, space science and technology, economic growth and international competitiveness, design for sustainability, human and social dynamics, energy, bio-economy, and biotechnology.

“To date, we have the proud achievement of launching two satellites and setting up our own company, Amaya Space, the first black-owned space technology company,” he said.

Furthermore, in April this year, CPUT submitted the institutional Self Evaluation Report (SER) to CHE based on the Faculty Self Evaluation reports that were all consolidated to one institutional SER. The report reflected the status of doctoral qualification in the institution that pointed out some acceptable practices and facilities available to support students in achieving their qualification.

With this, it is required by CHE to provide all evidence of acceptable practices and resources available to support students. Faculty coordinators have been approached to make evidence readily available during the time of the review.

Written by Aphiwe Boyce
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Postdoctoral fellow Dr Naeem Sheik Abdul recently won first place in the science poster awards of the virtual Summer School on Innovative Approaches in Science.

The event focused on cutting-edge methods to reduce and replace animal tests in toxicology and biomedical research.

Sheik Abdul is a post-doctoral fellow at the Applied Microbial and Health Biotechnology Institute (AMHBI) under the supervision of Prof Jeanine Marnewick.

His winning e-poster was titled Fumonisin B1-Induced Mitochondrial Stress and Intervention by Rooibos: Old Foe New Hero.

“Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the most food insecure regions where the majority of the population relies on maize as part of a staple diet. These commodities are often contaminated by fungal toxins such as Fumonisin B1 (FB1), which has been linked to cancer and other acute toxicities. Our study aims to assess the protective role of Rooibos extracts against FB1-induced toxicity in vitro using a liver derived cell line,” he said.

“Rooibos possesses a unique composite of phytochemicals known to encompass antioxidant and bio-active properties. The combination of metabolic activators and antioxidants found in Rooibos may be more effective in preventing and repairing cellular damage caused by toxins. The understanding of how molecular pathways are activated by Rooibos can contribute to the prevention of FB1 toxicity and can lead to the identification of a novel and economically viable approach to protecting vulnerable human populations against FB1 toxicity.”

Sheik Abdul said he did not expect the award but was extremely happy and felt a sense of pride knowing that research conducted at CPUT had been recognised on an international platform. 

The event was jointly hosted by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Johns Hopkins University Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing and the European Commission Joint Research Centre.

“Our study design fitted in well with the objectives of the summer school as it presented an excellent option to determine mitochondrial dysfunction without the use of animals while still maintaining its applicability to metabolic toxicity assessment and intervention approaches,” said Sheik Abdul.

Written by Ilse Fredericks
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