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21 December 2020 | Story Andre Damons | Photo Supplied
The research team helps a giraffe to get up after they have finished collecting data.

Researchers from the University of the Free State (UFS) hope their research to investigate why some animals prefer or avoid some habitats, will also create awareness for the plight of giraffes which have lost more than 80% of some of their subspecies in East Africa and are facing extinction in the wild.

Dr Marietjie Schutte-Smith, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry, says the collaborative research being done in South Africa is very unique and could help save subspecies from the brink of extinction – as South Africa has managed to double its giraffe numbers whilst subspecies have declined tremendously.

Why some animals prefer or avoid some habitats

“By using modern analysis techniques and instruments (such as drones and GPS devices), it is possible to study complex environments on a spatial ecology scale and has created the opportunity to investigate why some animals prefer or avoid some habitats,” explains wildlife expert Dr Francois Deacon.

“This in turn opened the door to explore geographic, soil and nutritional qualities the giraffe might prefer or avoid. This is one of the main reasons we are exploring the different factors and driving forces behind a large herbivore’s habitat selection, well-being, body condition parameters and physiological adaptations,” Dr Deacon says.

Veld conditions, plant species composition, tree densities and other available resources such as production yield and water quality determine reproduction successes and how animals disperse, move and distribute over an area. Spatial and ecological distributions of giraffe specifically depend on habitat resources and qualities that in turn affect their complex behavioral tactics and survival.

Strange habits

The research was started back in 2010 by Dr Deacon and Prof Nico Smit from the Department of Animal, Wildlife and Grassland Sciences at the UFS with the pioneering of GPS devices to investigate giraffe spatial ecology and habitat use. The current study was initiated as to why the giraffe would utilise one area more than the other, even if the two habitats had the same tree species, says Dr Schutte-Smith.

Dr Deacon contacted Prof Hendrik Visser and Dr Schutte-Smith from the Department of Chemistry for a possible collaborative effort. Ms Jeaneme Kuhn started her MSc research degree on this project in January 2019 and completed her degree in August 2020 with distinction.

Dr Schutte-Smith says from research done at Rooipoort Nature Reserve it was found that a certain group of giraffes had the strange habit of only eating from specific trees, avoiding similar trees a few metres away. “We wanted to see if this behaviour was due to chemical influences, i.e. if there are specific minerals that are possibly in excess at some places which they avoid, especially since there are mines close by.”

Aim of the research

The main aim of this MSc Chemistry degree, according to Dr Schutte-Smith, is to validate an analytical method for testing leaves and soil samples, using IPC, to see if heavy metals (in excess) are present in the soil, leaves and water and whether this has an influence on the browsing pattern of the giraffes. “Then as secondary aims (for the collaborative effort) we would like to investigate if the giraffe can select one area above the other (core home ranges), to understand what the qualities are that they would select for in the preferred area and what the qualities they avoid are in the other. And lastly to understand what the minimum requirements are to keep the animals happy and healthy, but also to investigate how they search for these qualities,” says Dr Schutte-Smith.

Giraffe conservation

Besides creating awareness of the plight of giraffes, the researchers also aim to create a model for conservation via research and education to be used as an example for other countries. This model incorporates students, academia, professionals, sponsors and stakeholders that cover various topics relating to giraffe education, management and conservation.

They would also like to see the UFS as the institution that has contributed the most to giraffe conservation strategies in Africa by being the leading university in the collection and analysis of information about giraffes and their habitats, increasing conservation education awareness about giraffes and African biodiversity and to develop national and/or regional plans aimed at giraffe conservation.

The research team successfully applied for funding which they used for chemicals and solvents to perform testing as well as sampling.

News Archive

Research contributes to improving quality of life for cancer patients
2016-11-21

Description: Inorganic Chemistry supervisors  Tags: Inorganic Chemistry supervisors

Inorganic Chemistry supervisors in the Radiopharmacy
Laboratory during the preparation of a typical complex
mixture to see how fast it reacts. Here are, from the left,
front: Dr Marietjie Schutte-Smith, Dr Alice Brink
(both scholars from the UFS Prestige
Scholar Programme), and Dr Truidie Venter (all three
are Thuthuka-funded researchers).
Back: Prof André Roodt and Dr Johan Venter.
Photo: Supplied

Imagine that you have been diagnosed with bone cancer and only have six months to live. You are in a wheelchair because the pain in your legs is so immense that you can’t walk anymore – similar to a mechanism eating your bones from the inside.

You are lucky though, since you could be injected with a drug to control the pain so effective that you will be able to get out of the wheelchair within a day-and-a-half and be able to walk again. Real-life incidents like these provide intense job satisfaction to Prof André Roodt, Head of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of the Free State (UFS). The research, which is conducted by the Inorganic Group at the UFS, contributes greatly to the availability of pain therapy that does not involve drugs, but improves the quality of life for cancer patients.

The research conducted by the Inorganic Group under the leadership of Prof Roodt, plays a major role in the clever design of model medicines to better detect and treat cancer.

The Department of Chemistry is one of approximately 10 institutions worldwide that conducts research on chemical mechanisms to identify and control cancer. “The fact that we are able to cooperate with the Departments of Nuclear Medicine and Medical Physics at the UFS, the Animal Research Centre, and other collaborators in South Africa and abroad, but especially the methodology we utilise to conduct research (studying the chemical manner in which drugs are absorbed in cancer as well as the time involved), enhances the possibility of making a contribution to cancer research,” says Prof Roodt.

Technique to detect cancer spots on bone
According to the professor, there are various ways of detecting cancer in the body. Cancer can, inter alia, be identified by analysing blood, X-rays (external) or through an internal technique where the patient is injected with a radioactive isotope.

Prof Roodt explains: “The doctor suspects that the patient has bone cancer and injects the person with a drug consisting of an isotope (only emits X-rays and does no damage to tissue) that is connected to a phosphonate (similar to those used for osteoporosis). Once the drug is injected, the isotope (Technetium-99m) moves to the spot on the bone where the cancer is located. The gamma rays in the isotope illuminate the area and the doctor can see exactly where treatment should be applied. The Technetium-99m has the same intensity gamma rays as normal X-rays and therefore operates the same as an internal X-ray supply.” With this technique, the doctor can see where the cancer spots are within a few hours.

The same technique can be used to identify inactive parts of the brain in Alzheimer patients, as well as areas of the heart where there is no blood supply or where the heart muscle is dead.

Therapeutic irradiation of cancer
For the treatment of pain connected with cancer, the isotope Rhenium-186 is injected. Similar to the manner in which the Technetium-99m phosphonate compound is ingested into the body, the Rhenium-186 phosphonate travels to the cancer spots. Patients thus receive therapeutic irradiation – a technique known as palliative therapy, which is excellent for treating pain. A dosage of this therapy usually lasts for about two months.

The therapy is, however, patient specific. The dosages should correspond with the occurrence and size of cancer spots in the patient’s body. First, the location of the cancer will be determined by means of a technetium scan. After that, the size of the area where the cancer occurs has to be determined. The dosage for addressing total pain distribution will be calculated according to these results.

Technique to detect cancer spots on soft tissue
Another technique to detect cancer as spots on bone or in soft tissue and organs throughout the body is by utilising a different type of irradiation, a so-called PET isotope. The Fluor-18 isotope is currently used widely, and in Pretoria a machine called a cyclotron was produced by Dr Gerdus Kemp, who is a former PhD graduate from the Inorganic Research Group. The F-18 is then hidden within a glucose molecule and a patient will be injected with the drug after being tranquillised and after the metabolism has been lowered considerably. The glucose, which is the ‘food' that cancer needs to grow, will then travel directly to the cancer area and the specific area where the cancer is located will thus be traced and ‘illuminated’ by the Fluor-18, which emits its own 'X-rays'.

In the late 80s, Prof Roodt did his own postdoctoral study on this research in the US. He started collaborating with the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the UFS in the early 90s, when he initiated testing for this research.

Through their research of more than 15 years, the Inorganic Group in the Department of Chemistry has made a major contribution to cancer research. Research on mechanisms for the detection of cancer, by designing new clever chemical agents, and the chemical ways in which these agents are taken up in the body, especially contributes to the development in terms of cancer therapy and imaging, and has been used by a number of hospitals in South Africa.

The future holds great promise
Prof Roodt and his team are already working on a bilateral study between the UFS and Kenya. It involves the linking of radio isotopes, as mentioned above, to known natural products (such as rooibos tea), which possess anti-cancer qualities.

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