Browsing by Author "Smith, T."

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    Anti-inflammatory cellular targets on neutrophils elucidated using a novel cell migration model and confocal microscopy : a clinical supplementation study
    (BioMed Central, 2018-01-05) Smith, T.; Engelbrecht, L.; Smith, C.
    Background In vivo studies have shown grape seed-derived polyphenols (GSP) to benefit in recovery from muscle injury by modulation of neutrophil infiltration into damaged tissue, thereby reducing secondary damage, as well as by facilitating an early anti-inflammatory macrophage phenotype shift. The current study aimed to provide data in this context from human models and to elucidate specific molecular targets of GSP. Using a placebo-controlled, double-blind study design, eighteen normally healthy volunteers between the ages of 18–35 years old (13 female and 5 male) were orally supplemented with 140 mg/day of GSP for 2 weeks. Blood samples (days 0 and 14) were comprehensively analysed for in vitro neutrophil chemokinetic capacity towards a chemotaxin (fMLP) using a novel neutrophil migration assay, in combination with live cell tracking, as well as immunostaining for neutrophil polarisation factors (ROCK, PI3K) at migration endpoint. Macrophage phenotype marker expression was assessed using flow cytometry. Results fMLP induced significant chemokinesis (P < 0.01), validating our model. GSP did not exert a significant effect on neutrophil chemokinesis in this non-compromised population, but tended to decrease overall ROCK expression in fMLP-stimulated neutrophils (P = 0.06). Macrophage phenotype markers CD274 and MPO – indicators of a pro-inflammatory M1 phenotype – seemed to be normalised relative to baseline expression levels after GSP treatment. Conclusions Current data suggest that GSP may have a modulatory effect on the ROCK-PI3K-PTEN system, but results in this normal population is not conclusive and should be confirmed in a larger, more inflamed population. Potential modulation of macrophage phenotype by GSP should be investigated further.
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    Are consumers’ quality perceptions influenced by brand familiarity, brand exposure and brand knowledge? results from a wine tasting experiment
    (AOSIS, 2017) Priilaid, D.; Human, G.; Pitcher, K.; Smith, T.; Varkel, C.
    Theory posits that, over time, placebo-type brand-equity effects may develop through the process of wine purchase and consumption. This being so, the extent to which factors like brand familiarity, brand exposure and brand knowledge combine to inform and reinforce such brand-equity effects remains still largely unexplored. With the aim of modelling this potentially mediating dynamic, we present a two-stage wine tasting experiment employing the combined reportage of fourteen experimental groups, each consecutively tasting seven Sauvignon Blanc wines first blind, and then, afterwards, sighted. Results demonstrate how brand familiarity mediates the effect of brand exposure on the sighted assessment of wine both directly, and via its relation to brand knowledge. This novel finding extends the literature on the consumer response to brand information, suggesting that conventional mass media marketing strategies aimed merely at imparting brand knowledge may prove insufficient unless they also create a degree of brand familiarity in the minds of their customers.
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    Prophylactic human papillomavirus vaccination against cervical cancer : a summarised resource for clinicians
    (South African Society of Gynaecologic Oncology, 2011) Lindeque, B. G.; Dreyer, G.; Botha, M. H.; Moodley, T.; Soeters, R.; Smith, T.; Cooreman, B.; Guidozzi, F.; Hoosen, A.; Mouton, A.; Turner, A.; Koller, T.; Moodley, J.; Whittaker, R. J.; Williamson, A.; Rogers, L.; South African Human Papillomavirus Advisory Board
    Carcinoma of the cervix remains the most frequent cancer affecting women in South Africa. Twenty-three per cent of all reported cancers in women are of the uterine cervix. Cancer of the cervix resulted in an estimated 3 700 deaths in South Africa during 2002. The human papillomavirus (HPV) has been proven a potent carcinogen. The aetiological role of HPV infection in the development of preinvasive and invasive lesions of the cervix, vagina and the anogenital region has been conclusively established. Vaccination against infection with specific high-risk HPV is commercially available, and is likely to change the future of the disease.