Brain injury and infection: the burden in children

SPOTLIGHT
NEUROSCIENCE
UCT Dr Ursula
Rohlwink working in
the cutting-edge brain
monitoring research
facility at the Red
Cross War Memorial
Children’s Hospital.
Brain injury
and infection:
the burden in children
PHOTOGRAPH: SUPPLIED
Dr Ursula Rohlwink joined the
is director, showed that particular
supplements can help mitigate the
adverse effects of alcohol exposure for
babies whose mothers consumed large
amounts of alcohol while they were
pregnant. These babies grew better
and performed better cognitively if their
mothers took supplements of choline –
a nutrient found in many foods.
Both of these studies were made
possible by neuroimaging techniques.
“Neuroimaging allows us to
investigate relationships between
imaging measures, such as brain
volumes, with neuropsychological
performance, neurocognitive function,
socioeconomic measures, inflammatory
and genetic markers, microbiome
diversity, et cetera,” continues Meintjes.
“In the future, this will help us to
figure out the brain activity related to
specific diseases and disorders.”
University of Cape Town (UCT) Division
of Neurosurgery in 2009. Since then,
her work has focused on children with
traumatic brain injury and the neuroinfection tuberculous (TB) meningitis,
which comes about when the TB
bacterium infects the central nervous
system’s membranes. In 2018, she was
awarded one of the UCT Neuroscience
Institute’s first fellowships.
“Among African children, both
traumatic brain injury and TB meningitis
are associated with high rates of
death and illness,” Rohlwink explains.
“My work addresses these two major
burdens of disease on our continent.”
Although considerable research on
traumatic brain injury is being done
elsewhere, in Africa it remains a “silent
disease”, says Rohlwink. “And although
TB meningitis is the most fatal form of
TB, little research has concentrated on
the organ of injury, the brain.
“My work focuses on understanding
the mechanisms of brain injury which
are relevant to both of these conditions
– and other common brain diseases
– with the aim of identifying new and
improved treatment options.”
Rohlwink is based in the Paediatric
Neurosurgery Unit at the Red Cross War
Memorial Children’s Hospital headed
by UCT Professor Anthony Figaji. The
unit embraces the strategic advantages
of its South African context: high
numbers of patients and sophisticated
monitoring and laboratory techniques.
“This has enabled me to do research
on these diseases that, on one hand,
cannot easily be conducted elsewhere,
and on the other, is driven by its
relevance to patients,” she continues.
“The brain is the most vital organ for
a productive and full life. Ensuring the
health of the developing brain is crucial
to the future of individual children and
society.”
umthombo 15

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