Publications by authors named "Samukelisiwe Ngcobo"

A significant number of the South African population still rely on traditional medicines (TM) as their primary healthcare due to their belief in their holistic healing and immune-boosting properties. However, little to no scientific data is available on the effects of most TM products on cytokine and cellular biomarkers of the immune response. Here, we evaluated the impact of traditional medicine [Product Nkabinde (PN)] in inducing cellular and cytokine biomarkers of inflammation in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from eight healthy volunteers.

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Previous studies have highlighted the role of pre-infection systemic inflammation on HIV acquisition risk, but the extent to which it predicts disease progression outcomes is less studied. Here we examined the relationship between pre-infection plasma cytokine expression and the rate of HIV disease progression in South African women who seroconverted during the CAPRISA 004 tenofovir gel trial. Bio-Plex 200 system was used to measure the expression of 47 cytokines/chemokines in 69 seroconvertors from the CAPRISA 004 trial.

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Urbanisation is rapidly transforming natural landscapes with consequences for biodiversity. Little is documented on the response of African wildlife to urbanisation. We reviewed case studies of vertebrate species' responses to urbanisation in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa to determine trends.

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