Publications by authors named "B E de Villiers"
Article Synopsis
- White blood cells (WBCs) are essential for monitoring health and diagnosing diseases, but isolating them from blood is challenging due to their low concentration compared to red blood cells (RBCs).
- Researchers developed a cascaded inertial microfluidic chip that improves WBC separation purity by using two sinusoidal channels and embedded micro-obstacles to control flow rate during processing.
- The method significantly enhanced WBC purity, achieving a 307-fold increase in WBC concentration from diluted whole blood and a dramatic reduction in RBC presence, making it promising for clinical diagnostics.
Background: Men having sex with men (MSM) are at increased risk of acquiring sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including extra-urethral infections. This study aimed to provide information on the presence of genital and extra-genital non-viral STIs and associated risk factors among MSM in the Tshwane district of South Africa.
Method: Samples were collected from 200 MSM in the North-western area of Tshwane.
Cohort profile: biological pathways of risk and resilience in Syrian refugee children (BIOPATH).
Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol
April 2022
The BIOPATH cohort was established to explore the interplay of psychosocial and biological factors in the development of resilience and mental health problems in Syrian refugee children. Based in Lebanon, a middle-income country significantly impacted by the refugee crisis, it is the first such cohort of refugees in the Middle East. Families were recruited from informal tented settlements in the Beqaa region using purposive cluster sampling.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe protein kinase DYRK1A is involved in Alzheimer's disease, Down syndrome, diabetes, viral infections, and leukemia. Leucettines, a family of 2-aminoimidazolin-4-ones derived from the marine sponge alkaloid Leucettamine B, have been developed as pharmacological inhibitors of DYRKs (dual specificity, tyrosine phosphorylation regulated kinases) and CLKs (cdc2-like kinases). We report here on the synthesis and structure-activity relationship (SAR) of 68 Leucettines.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Isobutene is a valuable gas used as a fuel additive and a chemical building block, and researchers are developing a method to produce it from glucose instead of fossil fuels.
- The final step in the new production process involves an evolved enzyme called ferulic acid decarboxylase (Fdc), which facilitates the decarboxylation of 3-methylcrotonic acid.
- Through directed evolution, scientists increased the activity of Fdc variants by up to 80 times, and structural analyses showed that adaptations in the enzyme's binding pocket enhanced its selectivity for substrates.