Approved Research This page provides a searchable list of all research protocols that have been reviewed and approved by the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology(UNCST).
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Name Title Nationality Approval Date Expiry Date Field of Science/Classification Trial Type Research Type  
Sabine Haller
ID:
Amikacin Exposure and Toxicity - Pharmacokinetic-Pharmacodynamic Analysis in Patients with Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis in Uganda: A Pilot Study
REFNo: HS402ES

To describe the pharmacokinetics of amikacin in patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.
To explore the relationship between exposure to amikacin and the toxicity of this drug using pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic modelling.

 Switzerland 2019-07-10 2022-07-10 Medical and Health Sciences Non-degree Award
STEPHEN LUTOTI
ID:
Anti-Proliferative Activity screening of bioactive compounds from medicinal plants traditionally used by Breast Cancer patients in Central Uganda
REFNo: HS405ES

The general objective of this study is to discover novel, potent anti-breast cancer compounds from plants used in traditional treatment of breast cancer by in Central Uganda.

Specific Objectives
This study is designed to address four specific objectives, namely:
i. To describe the beliefs and practices of breast cancer patients in Central Uganda towards use of herbal medicines.
ii. To document the medicinal plants used in traditional treatment of breast tumours in Central Uganda.
iii. To establish the anti-proliferative activity of extracts of selected medicinal plants identified from the ethnobotanical survey.

iv. To elucidate the bioactive compounds in the two most efficacious extracts against breast cancer.

Uganda 2019-07-10 2022-07-10 Medical and Health Sciences Degree Award
Elliot Howard-Spink Charles
ID:
Do cultural evolutionary processes shape the long-distance vocalisations of wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)?
REFNo: NS97ES

Overall Objective: To determine the extent to which populations of chimpanzees show differences in their long-distance communication behaviours, and what factors may drive differences in these behaviours between populations. I will do this by completing the following four sub-objectives. Objective 1 – Create an ethnography for behavioural features of chimpanzee pant-hoot displays. I intend to collect video and audio footage of the pant-hoot displays of chimpanzees in the Bugoma rainforest, which I can then compare to pre-existing video and audio footage of pant-hoots by chimpanzees in other populations across Africa. I will use collected data, and pre-existing data, to create an ethnography of pant-hoot displays in different chimpanzee populations (Whiten et al., 1999). Once a working ethnography of the behavioural features of these displays has been established, I will investigate the biological forces that may be driving inter-population variation in pant-hoot displays. Objective 2 – Determine the extent to which genetics determines the behavioural features of pant-hoot displays. I will do this by following a method outlined by Lycett et al, 2007, who investigated the genetic influences of chimpanzee tool use behaviours. The ethnography generated in objective 1 will be used to create a maximum-likelihood phylogenetic tree based on the traits of pant-hoot displays. This will then be compared with well-established genetic phylogenies of chimpanzee populations. Increasing similarities between these evolutionary trees would suggest that genetics is increasingly more likely in explaining behavioural differences in pant-hoot calls between chimpanzee populations. Objective 3 - Determine the extent to which environmental variables determine the behavioural features of pant-hoot displays. This will be done by creating mathematical models which try to explain variation in pant-hoot displays using physical and social environmental variables of the caller’s environment. Physical variables include weather patterns and vegetation density. Social variables include the immediate social party, caller identity, and caller status at the time of vocalization. These models will assess the variation in pant-hooting which can be explained by the caller’s environment, as well as the variation which remains unexplained. Objective 4 – Assess the likelihood of cultural evolutionary forces driving pant-hoot variation between chimpanzee populations. This will be done by method of exclusion. This would involve taking variation in pant-hooting behaviour which cannot be explained by genetics or the environment and discussing the likelihood of its formation due to vocal learning behaviours in chimpanzees. The existence of these behaviours in chimpanzee populations remains inconclusive, and this project aims to begin to elucidate the extent to which chimpanzees show cultural differences in their communicative behaviours. Lycett, S. J., Collard, M. and McGrew, W. C. (2007) ‘Phylogenetic analyses of behavior support existence of culture among wild chimpanzees’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104(45), pp. 17588–17592. Whiten, A. et al. (1999) ‘Cultures in chimpanzees’, Nature, 399(6737), pp. 682–685. doi: 10.1038/21415.
UK 2019-07-10 2022-07-10 Natural Sciences Degree Award
Johnblack Kabukye Kabaalu
ID: UNCST-2019-R001109
 Requirements for an Interactive Voice Response system for provision of cancer information to patients and general public in Uganda
REFNo: HS418ES

To co-create a program theory for development, implementation and evaluation of IVR system for provision of cancer information to patients and general public in Uganda
 Uganda 2019-07-10 2022-07-10 Medical and Health Sciences Degree Award
Stephen Asiimwe
ID: UNCST-2019-R000059
 Quality of Life and Aging with HIV in Rural Uganda
REFNo: HS419ES

Aim 1: Use qualitative methods to develop a conceptual framework explaining how HIV influences quality of life among older-aged people in Uganda.

We will conduct semi-structured interviews among 60 study participants stratified by sex and HIV serostatus to explore conceptualizations of and domains that meaningfully impact quality of life. We will use an inductive analytic approach to identify locally relevant domains that determine health and quality of life for older people in our study population. The over-arching goal of Aim 1 is to develop a conceptual framework and optimize selection of measures related to quality of life to be used in study Aims 2 and 3.

Aim 2: Compare trajectories of social, cognitive, and physical functioning, and global quality of life by HIV serostatus in Uganda.

We will use the Aim 1 findings to inform appropriate selection of measures. We will observe 600 participants annually for four years to collect outcome measures of physical, cognitive, and social functioning, and quality of life. We hypothesize that PLWH will exhibit steeper declines in physical, cognitive, and social functioning, and quality of life compared to HIV-negative individuals.

Aim 3: Identify intervention targets, and assess the acceptability and feasibility of promising interventions, to improve functioning and quality of life among older PLWH in Uganda.

We will fit mixed effects regression models with data from the Aim 2 cohort to identify determinants of quality of life among PLWH, including social (e.g. stigma, depression, familial deaths), biomedical (e.g. comorbidities, opportunistic infections), and HIV-specific factors (e.g. viral load, nadir CD4, sCD14). We hypothesize that HIV-associated stigma and familial deaths due to HIV will predict faster decline in functional domains and quality of life among older PLWH. We will supplement these analyses with participant and stakeholder workshops to assess the preliminary acceptability and feasibility of potential interventions to improve quality of life in this population.

Uganda 2019-07-10 2022-07-10 Medical and Health Sciences Non-degree Award
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