Proline, a unique amino acid whose polymer, polyproline II helix, and its analogues are involved in many biological processes: a review.

Proline is a unique amino acid in that its side-chain is cyclised to the backbone, thus giving proline an exceptional rigidity and a considerably restricted conformational space. Polyproline forms two well-characterized helical structures: a left-handed polyproline helix (PPII) and a right-handed polyproline helix (PPI). Usually, sequences made only of prolyl residues are in PPII conformation, but even sequences not rich in proline but which are rich in glycine, lysine, glutamate, or aspartate have also a tendency to form PPII helices.

Recent developments in antimalarial drug discovery.

Although malaria remains a big burden to many countries that it threatens their socio-economic stability, particularly in the countries where malaria is endemic, there have been great efforts to eradicate this disease with both successes and failures. For example, there has been a great improvement in malaria prevention and treatment methods with a net reduction in infection and mortality rates. However, the disease remains a global threat in terms of the number of people affected because it is one of the infectious diseases that has the highest prevalence rate, especially in Africa where the deadly Plasmodium falciparum is still widely spread.

Knowledge construction in chemistry through web-based learning strategy: a synthesis of literature.

Smartphones and computer-based technology have revolutionized different development sectors including education. The current review describes the existing literature on Web-Based Learning WBL) as a novel methodology applied in teaching and learning, and its potential effectiveness in teaching and learning chemistry. Further, the study intends to reflect on how the WBL could be applied in the Rwandan context of teaching and learning chemistry as the country adopted the competency-based curriculum (CBC) in 2015.

Progress on the development of a metal salt-assisted ionization source for the mass spectrometric analysis of polymers.

The mass spectrometric analysis of polymers has been addressed as a challenging research topic due to poor ionization and complicated analysis using conventional mass spectrometry. The ionization source has demonstrated a promising future in rapid mass spectrometric analysis. Soft ionization techniques, such as electrospray ionization (ESI) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) are the most ionization sources appeared to be a powerful tools for polymer characterization when combined with MS.

Web-based discussions in teaching and learning: Secondary school teachers' and students' perception and potentiality to enhance students' performance in organic chemistry.

The current work explores the secondary school teachers' and students' perception on web-based discussions in teaching and learning and its potentiality to enhance students' performance in organic chemistry. A mixed approaches typically interviews and achievement tests were applied for collecting qualitative and quantitative data respectively for triangulation purpose. A total of 138 senior five students and 4 teachers were purposively selected from the two secondary schools at Kicukiro District in Kigali city, Rwanda.

A review of recent advances in anti-tubercular drug development.

Tuberculosis is a global threat but in particular affects people from developing countries. It is thought that nearly a third of the population of the world live with its causative bacteria in a dormant form. Although tuberculosis is a curable disease, the chances of cure become slim as the disease becomes multidrug-resistant and the situation gets even worse as the disease becomes extensively drug-resistant.