Publications by authors named "W H Van Zyl"
This study utilized a circular economy approach to convert unripe rice, a low-cost by-product of the rice milling industry, into biofuels using a biorefinery process. The recombinant yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae ER T12.7 strain was tested for its ability to produce ethanol from unripe rice.
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- Growing global concerns over water scarcity and climate change are increasing the importance of wastewater reclamation, as inadequately treated wastewater poses public health risks.
- A study conducted in South Africa assessed the viability of human noroviruses in wastewater, revealing significant concentrations in both raw sewage and final effluent without major differences between the two.
- Despite reductions in viable noroviruses after treatment, the remaining levels in final effluent are concerning due to noroviruses' high initial loads and low infectious doses, highlighting the need for improved wastewater treatment methods.
Article Synopsis
- Enteroviruses can lead to serious neurological illnesses like encephalitis and meningitis, with echovirus E4 and E9 recently detected in South Africa being linked to these conditions.
- The study aimed to analyze enterovirus strains found in cerebrospinal fluid from hospitalized patients, with samples collected from both private and public healthcare sectors over two and a half years (2019-2021).
- Results showed that 42% of the strains were successfully genotyped, with the majority belonging to Enterovirus B species, and echovirus E4 and E9 were the most commonly identified types, confirming their association with meningitis and encephalitis in South Africa.
Stem Cell Transplant in Immune-deficiency-associated Vaccine-derived Poliovirus.
Open Forum Infect Dis
February 2024
Patients with severe primary immunodeficiency are at risk for complications from live-attenuated vaccines. Here, we report a case of a vaccine-associated paralytic polio and Bacille Calmette-Guérin disease in a 6-month-old girl with severe combined immunodeficiency resulting from homozygous recombinant activating gene 1 deficiency. The patient was successfully treated with intravenous immunoglobulins and oral pocapavir for poliovirus, and antimycobacterial therapy for regional Bacille Calmette-Guérin disease, allowing stem cell transplant.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCollagen type I, the main component of the extracellular matrix in vertebrates, is widely used in tissue engineering applications. This is on account that collagen molecules can self-assemble under certain conditions into 3D fibrillar hydrogels. Although there is an extensive body of literature studying collagen self-assembly, there is a lack of systematic understanding on how different experimental factors, such as pH and temperature, and their cumulative effects guide the self-assembly process.
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