Research at UCT
August 2015
Issue 11
Innovation and impact
Welcome to the latest monthly issue of UCT Research. Feel free to forward it to colleagues and
friends and ask them to subscribe.
Featured in this issue
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How to study the most dangerous animals in Africa
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Evidence that northern hunter-gatherers ate mushrooms
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Somalia’s ICT boom: an untold story
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What it means to be a man on the Cape Flats
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Using mobile phone networks to help beat hypertension
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Why pop culture reproduces inequality in SA and Brazil
•
The facts behind the fiction in Jurassic World
How to study the most dangerous animals in Africa
28 July 2015
Jess Dawson is studying the impact of hippo poo on the St Lucia food web; among other skills, she's
had to learn how to catch a crocodile, and how not to unsettle a hippopotamus.
Hippos may spend their days wallowing in the water (to avoid sunburn), but at night they come onshore to eat.
Dinner for the average hippopotamus ranges between 30 and 40 kilograms of grass. This means that each
hippo deposits up to 25 kilograms of dung into its surroundings a day.
"Hippos are transferring a huge amount of nutrients from the terrestrial to the estuarine environment," says
Jess Dawson, PhD student in the Department of Biological Sciences. The St Lucia estuary, where Dawson's
research is based, contains around 1 000 hippos; this means up to 25 tonnes of hippo dung deposited into the
ecosystem daily.
South Africa boasts about 250 estuaries. Historically, around 200 of those used to be home to hippopotamus
populations; today, the St Lucia estuary in northern KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) is the only estuary that contains a
settled, sustained and protected population. This, says Dawson, offers a valuable opportunity to understand the
impact of hippos on an ecosystem – and more specifically, the impact of hippo dung on the St Lucia food web.
Having grown up visiting game reserves and enjoying days and nights out in the bush, Dawson was well aware
of the dangers of doing research in a system containing two of South Africa's most dangerous animals: hippos
and crocodiles. "Even though my mother wasn't super-keen on the idea – it still makes her nervous – I
accepted the dangers and necessary precautions I would need to take, because it was such an interesting and
poorly studied topic," she says.
Dawson uses two techniques called 'fatty acids' and 'stable isotope analysis' to determine the effects of hippo
dung on the food web. Fatty acids are used to trace the transfer of organic matter (dung, in this case) through
the food web, to see how far up the food chain the dung is present. Stable isotopes can be used to get a
'signature' from the dung and grasses, and then track that signature through the St Lucia food web. This helps
to determine what proportion of a species' diet is made up of hippo dung, and how far up the food chain the
dung travels. The food web samples collected include sediment organic matter, particulate organic matter,
small organisms such as microalgae and zooplankton, larger species such as macrofauna (invertebrates living
on or under the sediment surface), fish, and even a few crocodiles.
Hippopotamus rules
When sampling in this kind of environment, says Dawson, caution is her watchword.
"Hippos are dangerous on land and in water," she explains. "Although they have to come on to land to feed,
they don't feel safe out there. So if you happen to get between a hippo and the water, you're in trouble. They
will probably charge for the water; and because of their size, they can easily kill a person just by running over
them."
And in the water, they are very territorial. So, she says, the research teams stick to a few key rules when out on
the boat. They try not to go within 50 metres of a hippo; and if a hippo starts to look even slightly agitated, the
researchers weigh anchor and move on.
"The real concern," says Dawson, "is that hippos can move surprisingly stealthily. A researcher can unwittingly
come between a hippo mother and her young while walking about on the hippo paths; and that's a very
dangerous place to be." Dawson has no choice but to walk on the hippo paths, as this is where the hippo dung
is. Fortunately, she has managed to complete her sampling with no surprise hippo encounters.
Once Dawson has collected her dung samples, she deposits them into cages – four-walled structures, made of
wooden poles surrounded by shade mesh – which enclose an area of 50cm°, from sediment bottom to water
surface. The cages keep fish and other larger species out, but create uniform areas in which she can change
the conditions and study the effects of those changes.
"Once a week, for six consecutive weeks, I put a measured amount of fresh hippo dung in half the cages, and
no dung in the other half," says Dawson. "This allowed me to compare the effects of the dung on the system
within each cage."
As if hippos – generally regarded as the most dangerous animals in Africa – are not enough, Dawson also has
to contend with crocodiles. The two beasts don't compete for food, and hippos are too big to be feasible prey
for crocodiles; so they can live in relative harmony, and are often found together.
But to put her dung into the cages, Dawson has to walk knee-deep into the water of the estuary. "The water's
completely brown," she says. "When I started my research, the crocodile expert's advice to me – aside from
recommending great caution, and constant vigilance – was: 'Don't go too deep, and carry a stick; if a crocodile
comes, hit it on the head.'" Dawson says she has no idea if her reflexes would be fast enough for her to hit an
attacking crocodile on the head; but she keeps her crocodile stick with her at all times.
Close encounters with crocs
It's all very well avoiding crocodiles while collecting dung; for other parts of her research, Dawson has had to
get up close and personal.
Since crocodiles also occupy the estuary, they are a part of the food web she is studying. This means catching
them in order to sample their tissue. The crocodile-catching expeditions are overseen by crocodile expert
Xander Combrink, employed by KZN Wildlife. He takes the researchers out on a boat at night, when the
crocodiles are out in full force, and shines a light over the water to pick up the reflections in their eyes.
"Once you've identified a crocodile, you turn off the engine so you can cruise closer without startling it,"
Dawson explains. "Then you hold out a long pole with a noose on the end, and slip the noose over its head.
Some nights you're lucky; other nights, you don't even get close."
Once the crocodile feels the noose tighten, it starts to roll and thrash; and this can be pretty startling, says
Dawson. However, with the cautious approach the researchers use, they cannot actually be pulled into the
water. Just in case, the end of the noose rope is securely attached to the boat so that if they do need to release
the rope, the croc won't escape and be left with a noose around its neck. After a bit of a fight, the researcher
slowly pulls the crocodile toward the boat.
"Once it's caught, you want to get its mouth closed up as quickly as possible," says Dawson. So the next step
is to use a pole with a big cable tie on the end; a rope and fish hook through the end of the cable tie allow the
researcher to close the tie from the safety of the boat.
With the crocodile's mouth held closed, they slowly pull it to the shore: "At this point you have to be very careful
to keep the croc's head above water, so as not to drown it inadvertently," Dawson remarks.
On shore, the researchers cover the croc's eyes with a damp cloth, tie up the back legs (with very big crocs,
they tie the front legs too) and put duct tape around the mouth to ensure it's securely closed.
"Once their eyes are covered they become quite docile, and stop fighting," says Dawson. Although, she says,
to ensure the crocodiles don't make a run for the water or move too much, researchers occasionally have to sit
on them too.
What's it like sitting on a crocodile? Dawson laughs. "Really, really uncomfortable!"
The researchers do the full analysis of the bound croc as quickly as they can. This includes measuring it,
identifying the sex, and removing tail scales for tissue analysis. "During the croc-catching week, and for a while
afterwards, I had terrible nightmares about crocodiles," she says. "I was very grateful that by this time I had
completed my other sampling work, and no longer had to stand in the murky water."
Dealing with dung
While she may be chasing and catching crocodiles, the nature of Dawson's work means that other creatures
find themselves quite attracted to her, too. "I used to handle the dung with my bare hands. It doesn't smell bad
– after all, it's really only grass. But the smell does linger," she says.
"One evening I decided to go to the beach to watch the sunset, and noticed a dung beetle seemed to be
hanging around. When I got to the beach and the beetle was still with me, I realised it was me the beetle was
after!" Shortly after that, she began wearing gloves when working with dung.
Despite her close encounters with dung and dangerous animals, Dawson loves the work. "I really enjoy
understanding how a system functions," she says. "My research may not mean I am developing policy for
environmental management, but this baseline knowledge – this understanding of what is happening in a
system and how it works – is crucial for a broader understanding of our environment. It may not have huge
conservation impacts right off the bat, but it contributes to knowledge that could certainly impact conservation
in time."
Story by Natalie Simon. Main image Creative Commons.
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Evidence that northern hunter gatherers ate mushrooms
28 July 2015
Archaeologists working at the El Mirón cave in Cantabria, Spain, have found evidence that our
Paleolithic predecessors, who lived between 10 000 and 15 000 years ago, ate fungi such as boletus
mushrooms. Boletus mushrooms are widespread in Europe and the northern hemisphere.
Boletus Mushrooms
The findings were published in a Journal of Archaeological Science (Vol 60) paper by PhD candidate Robert
Power, a PhD candidate at the Plant Research Group, Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, and
his supervisor, Dr Domingo Salazar-Garcia of UCT's Department of Archaeology.
Salazar-Garcia and Power have been working on Iberian prehistoric material for several years. Dental calculus
remains from El Mirón show that although these people were primarily hunters, they also ate a variety of plant
foods – including mushrooms. Dental calculus is mineralised dental plaque made of minerals, bacteria and
trapped micro food remains that archaeologists use for reconstructions of dietand the associated environment.
Secrets in dental calculus
Examining the dental calculus using several microscopy techniques revealed diverse microremains from
plants, fungi, animals and minerals. Compared to bones, plant foods (especially) leave little trace in the
archaeological record. Even less is known about the early use of fungi.
"We're lucky that in the past, people didn't get rid of their dental calculus – otherwise we wouldn't be able to
study them today!" says Salazar-Garcia.
What archaeologists know about human diet during the Magdalenian phase – the final phase of Western
Europe's Upper Paleolithic period – is based on terrestrial animals, mainly medium and large herbivores, he
says. "These hunter-gatherers relied heavily on reindeer in the north, and red deer, ibex, fish and other small
game in the southern regions."
Other uses for mushrooms
Power has always been interested in how traditional societies take advantage of wild resources such as plants
and mushrooms for food. Although the use of mushrooms is poorly understood in prehistory, ethnographers
have found that more recent hunter-gatherers not only ate fungi, but also used them for flavouring and
medicine.
Mushroom use has been identified from as early as the European Chalcolithic period (roughly 5 300 to 1 700
BC). The Chacolithic Tyrolean Iceman 'Ötzi' (dated to between 5 300 and 5 100 years ago) carried several
types of fungi with him. The finding at El Mirón cave is probably the earliest indication of human mushroom use
or consumption, which had not previously been identified in the Palaeolithic period.
Salazar-Garcia's background is in both medicine and archaeology: "I've always been interested in what
humans are and where we come from. And studying subsistence and diet in the past through microscopic and
biomolecular analysis is an interesting way of combining my areas of interest," he said.
If the presence of mushrooms points to diversifying food choices, the Magdalenian period is also distinctive for
its sophisticated tools.
"This period was important for developments in and increases in decorative and art forms. For example, bone
tools were often decorated with engravings."
The most famous art of the period is cave engraving and polychrome painting. The Magdalenian people also
had language, social order, symbolic thought, and most probably spiritual expressions too.
Cave is mine of information
The El Mirón cave, 20km from the coast of the northern Iberian peninsula, on the western face of Monte
Pando, has been excavated since 1996. It's been a gold mine for archaeologists, revealing rich details of life in
western Europe in the Magdalenian period.
The remains of the famous Red Lady (daubed with red ochre that sparkled with spectacular heamatite, a type
of iron oxide), were recovered from a burial chamber at the back of the cave. These provide interesting
glimpses of the times. The ritual of using red ochre at burials throughout the Upper Palaeolithic and elsewhere
in Europe suggests it was important in burial rites.
Salazar-Garcia and Power have published previously in international journals, both as lead authors and as coauthors. Most of their papers have dealt with prehistoric dietary reconstructions using stable isotopes and the
study of plant microremains.
Compiled by Helen Swingler. Image by Strobilomyces,
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Somalia’s ICT boom: the untold story?
28 July 2015
Somalia is often held up as a textbook example of a 'failed state'. However, there are other stories to
tell – not least about the country's thriving ICT sector and growing economy.
"Somalia and the Somali people have long been misunderstood internationally," says Mohamed Elmi, who is in
the second year of his Commerce PhD programme in Information Systems. "I believe I have a responsibility to
share the nuances of my country and its people." Elmi's research focus is on the potential of Somalia's thriving
information and communication technologies (ICT) sector to spur stability and economic development in the
war-torn African state.
Somalia's recent history is a tragic one: ripped apart by civil war in 1991, the country has had no effective,
functioning state apparatus for over 20 years, creating a void filled by warlords who rule by ideology and
violence. Today Somalia is the textbook case of a 'failed state' – a country equated with militant Islamic group
Al Shabaab, and international piracy. But there is another story Somalia has to tell: a story of a growing
economy and a thriving ICT sector, which according to Elmi, may offer a glimpse of Somalia?s path to future
stability and prosperity.
In the last 15 years, the Somali private sector has built an ICT sector that offers among the most affordable
access on the African continent, according to a report by the Centre for Global Communication Studies at the
University of Pennsylvania. This growth is demonstrated by the fast-rising number of fixed and mobile
telephone services, increased access to and use of computers, and a surge in the number, speed and reach of
internet service providers. According to estimates by the United Nations, access to mobile telephones in
Somalia rose from 1% in 2000 to nearly 50% in 2013.
The most commonly cited explanation for this flourishing industry in such a hostile territory is the lack of
regulation. Most ICT companies operating in Somalia are Somali-owned and operated. "These companies
have invested significantly smaller amounts than those in neighbouring countries, but are reaping profits far
greater than their counterparts elsewhere on the continent," says Elmi. ?This growth has been facilitated by the
advancement of technology that can be easily set up and installed without the need for large investment
infrastructure." 'Cellphone companies in a suitcase' have emerged to fill a need in remote communities at
relatively low cost, because they do not have to pay excessive taxes to the state.
"The regulation and red tape we see around ICT access in so many countries has hampered the adoption of
new technologies," explains Elmi. This connectivity, he adds, is affecting both the economic and the social
development of the country.
The ICT companies recognise the importance of public support. According to the Centre for Global
Communication Studies report, many of these companies are working to ensure goodwill by filling roles
traditionally reserved for government. This includes addressing Somalia?s illiteracy and education challenges
through programmes such as 'ICT4education' in schools in both urban and rural areas. They have also
partnered with the World Health Organisation and United National Children?s Fund to promote vaccination, in
the battle to eradicate polio.
The image portrayed of Somalia may be one of chaos and poverty, but there are remarkable signs of resilience
hidden within the narrative of despair. The ICT sector may be the most obvious, argues Elmi, but another is the
wider Somali economy, which has been growing at an average rate of 2.8% since the year 2000 (albeit off a
very low base).
"I foresee Somalis embracing the power of technology as a way to address economic stagnation," says Elmi.
"ICT could help encourage peace in the fragile capital, as well as offering a cost-effective way to educate youth
and boost an economy that currently cannot absorb the large unemployed population."
In order to carry out his research, Elmi relies on data collected by United Nations agencies, donor countries,
non-governmental organisations and private companies. This is because Somalia has no centralised
government apparatus to collect statistics about the economy, population and other indicators. "Where the data
do not exist," says Elmi, "I will return to Somalia to gather that information."
The objective of Elmi's thesis is to expand our theoretical understanding of the necessary conditions that
enable the adoption of ICT in spaces that usually would not necessarily allow for success.
"The Somali people have embraced these new innovations, adopted new technology, expanded access and
are even breaking new ground in the delivery of social services," says Elmi. "I believe Somalia offers a new
paradigm that has not been closely investigated. I will use technology as an entry point, to explore new
definitions of statehood and understand how communities can thrive in the context of chaos."
Story by Natalie Simon. Photo by Arne Hoel/World Bank.
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What it means to be a man on the Cape Flats
30 July 2015
Men on the Cape Flats are often perceived as violent, addictive and courting risk. However, there is
little research on their own views on what it means to be a man – particularly in a marginalised
community where they have limited access to the symbols required of 'ideal' masculinities. Jacqueline
Mthembu, who grew up among these men, set out to plug this gap.
Mthembu's interest in masculinity studies grew from her own experiences and thoughts regarding 'coloured'*
identity. "I grew up in Athlone in Cape Town, where I had a hard time fitting into the classic 'Cape coloured'
mould, with my lighter skin and coarser hair. Clearly I didn't look like 'them', and was often 'othered', with the
result that I had conflicting feelings about my own 'colouredness'.
Her focus on coloured men, in particular, has to do with trying to understand the grounds on which the
pervasive stereotypes found in both academic literature and social rhetoric have become synonymous with
'being coloured'.
Growing up on the Cape Flats, Mthembu witnessed men's displays of masculinities that were packed with
violence and substance abuse, and noticed that these behaviours seemed to be inter-generational. However,
there is little scientific literature to support this anecdotal evidence. Mthembu was therefore interested in
exploring the negotiation of coloured masculinities and the risk behaviours associated with its performance. It is
critical, she argues, to understand masculinity norms among coloured men from their own perspective, rather
than as society views them.
With Mthembu, in the communities of Delft and Vlottenburg in the Western Cape, groups of men workshopped
issues concerning masculinities in an attempt to help her explore these issues for her doctoral thesis.
"I decided to immerse myself fully in the coloured community in the Cape. I wanted to take it on personally, and
learn more about 'colouredness' (whatever that means), but specifically about the 'colouredness' of men in
these areas.
"I decided to put a spotlight on the caricatured view people have of us. If this idea about being 'coloured' is true
in some aspects, I wanted to know why."
In the communities Mthembu explored, men are faced with – and seek passionately to attain – a form of
masculine ideal that they seem unable to match. Not unlike men in many other sections of society, those who
participated in her research see a real man as someone who can provide for and protect his family.
However, these men are unable to negotiate this role, as they have restricted access to the resources needed
to support their families financially. Because of historical labour politics in the Western Cape, says Mthembu,
coloured women are favoured in the labour markets and can find employment in the canning, textile and
leather industries. Men, on the other hand, have less permanent work – sometimes working as painters and
carpenters, for example.
"This gives the women more leverage and 'power' (if you will) in their households," says Mthembu, "which may
have prevented coloured men from achieving status as heads of their households." Not only did the apartheid
regime influence how coloured men are positioned in their homes now, she says; their environment
marginalises them further, and doesn't permit them to perform an 'ideal' form of masculinity.
"Not being able to provide is a big burden for these men. They encounter a lot of disrespect from their families
and within the communities, because they cannot provide for their women or their children." Yet most of these
men have never been the primary earners in their households – and have never seen another man in this
position. In fact, many in this research (65%) were unemployed at the time it was conducted.
Nevertheless, these men continue to perceive traditional masculinity norms as an ideal.
Their inability to conform to ideal masculine norms may have thwarted their sense of manhood. One outcome
of thwarted masculine identity, Mthembu found, is the use of violence to recoup some sense of masculinity.
Having their marginalised environment as an obstacle to performing this 'idealised' masculinity leads to all sorts
of frustrations – and the performance of dysfunctional behaviours, as the men try to negotiate a sense of
'successful' masculinity.
"Men are thrown off their pedestals in the homes where wives and mothers reign," says Mthembu. "One way
men can protect their families and gain respect is through gang membership. Gangsterism, for some men, may
therefore become a way in which to display masculinity. Symbols of what they think it means to be a man – to
protect, and to provide – can be actualised through unhealthy behaviours such as alcohol abuse, criminal
activity and risky sexual encounters."
This skewed male ideal, she found, encourages dysfunctional behaviour that has dire consequences for
everyone: "This inability to match up to what they perceive to be the ideal male leads to performance-failure
stressors – that is, they think they are going to fail as men, so they don't even try..." It turns out that these men
are confused about what society expects them to be.
The crisis deepens because the men often lack real role models, and do not have fathers to show them how to
be men. Women, in fact, are their primary teachers of masculinity: "While their mothers can tell them what it is
to be a good man, these women can't show them by example."
For some, notorious gangsters become role models of 'successful' masculinities, as they are feared and
respected in the community. "The gangster becomes the ideal," says Mthembu. "Here are men who take care
of themselves, their families and their community, and are respected for it."
Mthembu acknowledges that the men themselves participate in the process of 'becoming': "It is not my
intention to justify the risk behaviours typical among coloured men by problematising or blaming only 'the
system'. The social dilemmas – such as gangsterism, and alcohol abuse – prevalent in coloured communities, I
argue, were fuelled by white supremacists who used the laws of the land to oppress people of colour and
further maintain the intermediary status of the coloured people. Consequently, this has left residues of shame,
complicity, and a sense of 'not-good-enough-ness', even post-apartheid. These feelings may have brought
about a form of 'colouredness' fraught with ambiguity. It is therefore not surprising that scholars may associate
coloured men (in South Africa) with crime, violence and alcoholism."
*The category of 'coloured' was constructed by the apartheid government and encompasses people from a
diverse range of ethnic origins, including those who are mixed race, descendants of the Khoisan, and
descendants of slaves brought from Malaysia. For easier readability, we have refrained from using quotation
marks around every use of the term in this piece.
Story by Vivian Warby. Photo by Henry Trotter
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Using mobile phone networks to help beat hypertension
29 July 2015
Lifestyle-related diseases are on the rise in South Africa, including high blood pressure. An ingenious
partnership involving Oxford University is putting the nation's extensive mobile phone network to work
in beating the disease.
One of the texts sent to hypertension patients by the innovative StAR partnership
Out in the townships of South Africa's Western Cape, unemployment can run at 44 per cent. Entire households
may depend on a single old-age pension for food. Gang violence leaves people wary of being robbed on the
way to a clinic appointment.
With life so chaotic and stressful for many, remembering to take your hypertension medication may seem like a
side issue. But while HIV and TB are epidemic in many communities, there is also a creeping rise in chronic
lifestyle diseases. These include hypertension, now the leading cause of death and disability worldwide.
According to the South African Medical Research Council, 6.2 million people in a population of 52 million have
high blood pressure, and 3.2 million have unacceptably high levels, heightening the risk of heart attacks and
strokes.
Inequity in South Africa's healthcare systems is great. Many people in the areas surrounding towns and cities
can't get to the care that they need. Those patients who do attend clinics or outpatient facilities often have
problems with taking tablets, or forget to take them, or abandon their medication once they start to feel a little
better. Many patients don't like sitting and waiting in clinics, while information leaflets about adherence to a
treatment course often go unread. Some people simply drop out of the care system.
Since 2009, Oxford Professor of General Practice Andrew Farmer, Professor of Endocrinology and Diabetes at
the University of Cape Town and head of the Chronic Disease Initiative for Africa (CDIA) Naomi Levitt, and
epidemiologist and medical doctor Kirsty Bobrow have been working together on innovative solutions to these
challenges.
Early on, the team identified one potential strategy: to make use of mobile phones. South Africa's mobile
network has excellent coverage across the country, and almost 90% of the population – even in more remote
areas – possesses a phone. Farmer says: "It seemed evident that we could use this network in health care,
simply to send text messages, automatically and on a wide scale."
The result has been the SMS-Adherence Support Trial (StAR), a partnership involving Oxford, the CDIA and
UCT, and the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC). Farmer and Bobrow began working with
patients with high blood pressure, and primary care clinic staff, in the Western Cape. Together, they compiled a
library of messages suitable for use as text prompts and reminders. The resulting intervention was then tested
at a large clinic serving the Langa and Bonteheuwel townships.
Bobrow first worked on the project as a postdoctoral research fellow with Farmer in the Nuffield Department of
Primary Care Health Sciences. Now working at UCT, she sums up the issues the team faced: "It's important
that we keep you in care, keep you on medication, and keep your blood pressure controlled. How do you get
people to stay in care? How do you get them to come back, and to keep coming back? You need to remind
them to come back, improve the experience they have at the clinic, and have people think about their clinic as
a caring space."
Says Farmer: "The SMS messages have a wide range. They can be prompts to collect your medicine, or to
take it regularly. Others focus on worries people may have about side-effects. Or we can suggest what to talk
about with their families about illness – many people are reluctant to. Sometimes we just wish them a happy
birthday."
Tone is important, and the team consulted with patients and healthcare providers to make sure the right words
were used in the different languages of the project, including English, Afrikaans and Xhosa. Patients are
reminded with a 'Please would you...' rather than 'You must...'. If someone misses an appointment, they are
told 'We missed you today', rather than being reprimanded. Travelling to the clinic is difficult for many, so
appointment reminders are sent out two days in advance, to give patients time to prepare.
The project was built on a strong technical underpinning. Working with Professor Lionel Tarassenko of the
Oxford Institute of Biomedical Engineering, who brought funding for the project from the Wellcome Trust and
the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, was a team of DPhil students, including Thomas
Brennan and David Springer.
Springer set up a system that could handle data from patients and work out what message to send them and
when, running with very little extra input from the clinic. He says: "I adapted an app for the clinic to collect all
the data. So we had all the information about patients' medical health records accessible by this module, which
is all we needed to send the texts."
More than five years on, the team is nearing the end of a trial involving 1 300 patients. Farmer, himself a GP
back in Oxford, says: "It's clear that people found using the system very helpful. We have stayed in contact with
97 per cent of patients, which in itself demonstrates that people felt this was relevant."
At the same time, the partners have been carrying out a qualitative evaluation of the trial. Bobrow, Dr Natalie
Leon and Ms Jocelyn Muller of the SAMRC, and Dr Rebecca Surender, Associate Professor at the University
of Oxford, designed a qualitative investigation of patients' experience of the trial intervention, and of health
providers' views on its relevance and usefulness.
Leon, a specialist scientist at the SAMRC with a background in clinical psychology, explains: "Among patients,
we found that many people who already had a system for remembering their medicines found the SMS
intervention reinforced their own reminder system. A smaller group acknowledged having a daily struggle with
remembering; and for them, the SMS intervention was experienced as extremely helpful in improving their
adherence and gaining better control of their health.
"Some were really struggling, with chaotic lives and high levels of stress, and were finding it difficult to adhere
to their medication regime. For many of them, the texts regenerated a feeling of self-worth and feeling
connected. A lot of them said they loved getting the 'happy birthday' messages. And many said the messages
started getting into their minds, becoming a natural part of behaviour, and a source of motivation to adhere."
Some of the consequences have been unexpected. Surender says: "It's hard to imagine just how much strain
these clinics are under. People get up at four o'clock in the morning just to get in line before six a.m. to be
seen. If for some reason (such as forgetting the appointment time) they are unable to get to their appointment,
they tell us it's impossible to get through on the phone to reschedule. The texts have revolutionised people's
experience, made them feel much more in control. We weren't expecting that, but it's an extremely valuable
development. People have talked about how this intervention is making them much more responsible for their
own health care generally."
Surender also stresses the importance of the collaborative nature of the research, across disciplines and
across countries. She says: "A real strength of the study was that we had a local team involved who knew the
environment and the patients very well. South Africa has eleven formal languages, so we needed to know the
nuances of what was being said – it's important not just for interpretation, but also for understanding the
meaning behind the words."
One major success of the project has been increasing research capacity in South Africa and strengthening the
research links between Oxford and South African academic institutions. Brennan, Bobrow and Springer are all
Oxford graduates funded through South African Rhodes Scholarships, and all three remain committed to
improving the nation's health care.
South African policymakers are attaching great importance to mobile health, and StAR has been watched with
interest. There are plans to start new trials – in Cape Town and Johannesburg, in South Africa; and in Lilongwe
in Malawi – and also to see if the intervention could work for people with diabetes. All in the team are
encouraged by progress, but warn that there are limits to the intervention's effectiveness in isolation.
Clinical infrastructure must be there, tablets must be available when the texts say they will be, and patients
must feel respected and valued.
Nevertheless, Leon believes the evidence compiled by StAR will help to influence healthcare policy in South
Africa. She says: "It's addressing a real priority clinical issue. It's appealing, as it can operate in low-income
areas. There is a real political will to generate further interventions. This started as quite a small collaboration,
but it's growing into a much larger one."
Story and video courtesy of the University of Oxford. We thank the patients who gave permission to be
included and filmed.
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Why pop culture reproduces inequality in SA and Brazil
29 July 2015
Dr Jan Schenk not only found a cost-effective way to travel to Brazil to pursue his studies in popular
culture – a comparison between South Africa and Brazil – but also has his PhD to thank for his
business, a research company that uses mobile devices to collect data.
Black Coffee performing in Soweto, at the Soulistic Music Night. Dr Jan Schenk found that music and popular
culture do not unite, as is commonly believed, but enforce and reproduce racial difference and inequality.
His seven-year PhD journey started with a note on a noticeboard.
"The notice in the Department of Sociology announced that Professor Jeremy Seekings was looking for
students to conduct research in Belo Horizonte [Brazil]. I had just finished my masters, and wanted to stick
around in academia a little longer. I also speak Portuguese," explained Dr Jan Schenk, recent PhD graduate
and director of ikapadata, a company that specialises in mobile surveys.
Schenk's dissertation examines how music tastes and media consumption among youth in Cape Town and
Belo Horizonte, a city in southern Brazil, link to distinctions of race and class.
When it was agreed that his doctorate would include Belo Horizonte, his first obstacle was getting there. Once
again it was a notice on a board, this time at the Cape Yacht Club, that informed him that passage to Brazil
was being offered on a catamaran making its way to the Caribbean.
"My tip to students who need to get somewhere in the world for free is this: Cape Town is one of the world's
largest producers of catamarans. These have to be delivered to different parts of the world, especially China
and the Caribbean."
The boat trip to Brazil took three weeks. Once there, he received news that his application for research funding
had been approved.
"I was on a shoestring budget. When the grant eventually came through it was double the amount I'd asked for,
which I was very grateful for." He spent a total of nine months in Brazil, with occasional flying visits to Cape
Town.
Schenk's study involved surveys and focus groups at secondary schools in both cities. Subjects ranged in age
from 15 to 19. "I wanted to find out about their taste in music, fashion brands and sports activities. A secondary
interest was in their attitudes to race and racial difference."
Among the Brazilian participants he found a denial of the concept of race; and thus, of discrimination based on
race.
"For a long time, there's been this myth that there's no racial discrimination in Brazil. However, if you look at the
statistics and the breakdown of who's the poorest, who is more likely to end up in prison or go to a private
school, the differences you see in South Africa actually play out in Brazil too.
There's very strong, hidden [racial] discrimination that Brazilians have become increasingly aware of over the
last 20 years."
The great dividers
During a visit to a Cape Town high school, Schenk noticed that students socialised predominantly with other
students of the same race. When he pointed this out to the students, they denied that race was the deciding
factor, and said they preferred the company of people who shared their taste in music and fashion.
He found that contrary to the perception that music and popular culture unite people, in fact they divide people;
and differences in music taste and preferences in popular culture help "to reproduce inequality".
He also noticed evidence of a 'media divide' alongside the digital divide.
"People who don't have money are more likely to listen to the radio. In radio you have different channels, and
people listen to different channels depending on their music taste and language preference. A lot of people
don't have access to DStv; but those who have, hardly watch anything but DStv. American programmes
dominate these channels, and channels with local content are few."
This led to him to the conclusion that the idea that westernisation made everyone the same was incorrect. "It
creates common structures of difference around the world, but it also enforces and reproduces racial and class
difference."
A business built on mobile data collection
Schenk, who first arrived in Cape Town 14 years ago, got the idea for his company, ikapadata, from
his research. He was capturing the data from his Brazilian subjects – an experience he describes as
"highly tedious and boring, and the last thing you'd want to do when in Brazil" – when he started
looking into mobile data collection.
"I didn't use mobile data collection in my own thesis, but because I was so tired of retrieving data
from paper surveys I started playing around with it, and saw how good it was. At the time, five years
ago, I did some research into the uptake of mobile data collection in South Africa, and found that not
many companies were using it. I was also fascinated by the idea of conducting mobile surveys in
townships. I then came up with a business plan, which I rolled out with my business partner Amrik
Cooper, who is also a UCT graduate."
Fieldworkers working for ikapadata go out with mobile phones or tablets that have the questionnaires
loaded onto them. Responses are captured directly onto the device, and are uploaded to a server
once the fieldworker can connect to the internet.
"We built a platform on which you receive the data in real time, with pictures. You get a GPS location
of where the interview took place, as well as the time stamps of when the interview started and when
it ended."
Story by Abigail Calata. Photo of Black Coffee courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
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The fact behind the fiction in Jurassic World
29 July 2015
'Nothing in Jurassic World is natural!' proclaims Henry Wu, the chief scientist in Colin
Trevorrow's Jurassic World. And to complicate matters even further, he explains how even the DNA
used to 'create' the animals is not authentic dinosaur DNA: gaps in the ancient genome have been filled
with the DNA of different living animals. In a movie such as this, the public is often left wondering: what
is fact, and what is fiction? Professor Anusuya Chinsamy-Turan, palaeontologist and head of biology at
UCT, unravels some of this confusion.
The history of life on earth extends to about 3.8 billion years ago. Jurassic World showcases animals that
existed in the Jurassic time period, which began about 208 million years ago (mya) and lasted for roughly 56
million years. However, in reality, some of the animals depicted in the movie are found only in the Cretaceous
time period (between about 152 and 65 mya). Many animals (including non-avian dinosaurs) that thrived in the
Jurassic and the Cretaceous periods died out in the catastrophic mass extinction event that rocked our planet
about 65 mya. Most of what we know about these extinct animals comes from studies of their fossilised bones
and teeth, and from the palaeo-environments in which their remains are found. Under rare fossilisation
circumstances, impressions of soft tissues (such as organs, skin and feathers) of these long-gone animals are
preserved. Studies of the fossilised remains have allowed us a glimpse into the lives of extinct animals, and
have permitted reconstructions of various aspects of their biology.
In Jurassic World, Indominus rex is quite obviously reminiscent of the world's best-loved predatory
dinosaur, Tyrannosaurus rex ... with some enhancements. Dr Wu explains that the T. rex DNA was genetically
supplemented with DNA from other animals such as cuttlefish and tree frogs. These particular genetic additions
make Indominus capable of moderating its body temperature, and camouflage. Its exceptional strategic
abilities, including the plotting and scheming, are all clearly in the realm of fiction.
Unlike Indominus, T. rex was a real dinosaur. It lived in the Cretaceous and is well represented in the fossil
record by a number of individuals, including juveniles and several adults. Research into the microscopic
structure of T. rex bones shows that it took about 18 years for the dinosaur to grow to about 14 metres in
(adult) size.
In the movie, the raptors are based on real dinosaurs called Velociraptors that were only about half the size of
those depicted in the movie. The fossil evidence shows that 'raptors' were pack hunters, and although we know
that Velociraptors were not dim-witted, exactly how they hunted and whether they could have been 'trained', as
Chris Pratt attempts in the movie, is pure speculation.
We know that many large sauropods were herbivorous behemoths, and much scientific research has gone into
reconstructing their posture and locomotory habits. It was fabulous to see the animated Apatosaurusmove on
the big screen as scientists theorise, which is a far cry from the tail-dragging dinosaurs of earlier movies.
My biggest disappointment in the movie was the lack of any feathered dinosaurs. For more than two decades
we've known that although some dinosaurs had typical scaly reptilian skin, many of them also had feathers.
The feathers of some dinosaurs are identical to those of modern birds (their descendants), while in others the
feathers appear to be prototypes of feathers or of some sort of feather-like structures.
Besides the CGI dinosaurs, it was great to see the marine reptile (a mosasaur) leaping out of the water
inJurassic World. These gigantic carnivorous sea reptiles are not dinosaurs, and they only arrived on the scene
in the Early Cretaceous. Some of the largest mosasaurs (like Mosasaurus hoffmanni) reached lengths of about
18m, but none are known to have reached the gigantic proportions of the movie's version! Though it is true
that, with enormous vicious teeth along the side of their jaws, and some in the roof of its mouth, mosasaurs
were the top aquatic predators of the time!
Jurassic World's flying terrors are also not dinosaurs. They are, however, based on real fossil creatures, called
pterosaurs, that were the first flying vertebrates that took to the air on membranous wings. Pterosaurs were
lightly-built animals (lighter than any comparably-sized bird), and they came in many different sizes. Some
were sparrow-sized; whereas others, like Quetzalcoatlus, were enormous, with wingspans of about 10-12 m.
Many pterosaurs show special adaptations for eating fish (piscivory) and insectivory, although there were a few
filter-feeders. It is highly unlikely that these delicate-boned animals would have been able to lift an adult human
off the ground (as in the movie)! I'm afraid the pterosaur attack is purely in the realm of fiction.
As in any good science fiction story, there are embedded elements of scientific fact in Jurassic World.(This was
also true of Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park, which Steven Spielberg turned into a blockbuster more than 20
years ago.) Jurassic World stretches the evidence of what we know of earth's prehistory into a fantasy that has
already entertained and delighted millions of people around the world.
I am a real palaeontologist, who studies dinosaurs; and although I think the story line of Jurassic Worldwas
terribly predictable, and that it could have portrayed more real science, I loved the CGI extinct animals. It is my
earnest hope that despite the embellishments, Jurassic World – like the original Jurassic Park – will inspire a
new generation of palaeontologists and dinosaur enthusiasts.
This opinion piece first appeared in the Daily Maverick.
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