Hulda Swai

The Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology | NMAIST · School of Life Sciences and Bioengineering (S-LSBE)

The aim of this study was to develop and characterize a delivery system for polyphenols from an extract of Carissa spinarum leaves, based on liposomes. Liposomes loaded with Carissa spinarum polyphenols (nanoliposomal CsP) were prepared by ethanol-solvent injection method and characterized in terms of zeta potential, size, and polydipersity index b...

In the present study, a chitosan (CS)-coated liposome (LipCsP-Chitosan) nanocarrier was fabricated for the delivery of Carissa spinarum (CsP) polyphenols to improve bioavailability and anti-pneumococcal potential against Klebsiella pneumoniae. LipCsP-Chitosan was synthesized by the ion gelation method and characterized by using a Malvern zetasizer...

Inorganic nanocarriers for a decade have increased interest in nanotechnology research platform as versatile drug delivery materials. The utility of the inorganic nanocarriers for delivery of therapeutic agents is attributed to their unique properties such as magnetic, photocatalytic nature and the ability to exhibit surface functionalization. Here...

The global evolutional changes towards the use of renewable energy source for transportation purposes is on the increase in an attempt to mitigate the environmental hazard and the proposed depletion of fossil fuel supply. Pyrolysis and Hydrothermal processes of biomass conversion into renewable biofuel resulted into the production of biocrude with...

Moringa oleifera leaf polyphenols (Mopp) were encapsulated with phytosomes to enhance their efficacy on 4T1 cancer cell lines. The Mopp were extracted via microwave-assisted extraction. Moringa oleifera polyphenol-loaded phytosomes (MoP) were prepared with the nanoprecipitation method and characterized using the dynamic light scattering and dialysi...

As the coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to pose a health and economic crisis worldwide, the quest for drugs and/or vaccines against the virus continues. The human transmembrane protease serine 2 (TMPRSS2) has attracted attention as a target for drug discovery, as inhibition of its catalytic reaction would result in the inactivat...

The search for therapeutic small molecules and vaccines for Covid-19 treatment is an urgent but evolving topic. The virus has claimed over 3,782,490 lives (as of 12 June 2021), with the figure expected to rise due to the high versatility of the SAR-CoV-2 variant. Therapeutic options based on SARS-CoV-2 inhibitor are essential. Withanolides have a l...

Natural products have served human life as medications for centuries. During the outbreak of COVID-19, a number of naturally derived compounds and extracts have been tested or used as potential remedies against COVID-19. Tetradenia riparia extract is one of the plant extracts that have been deployed and claimed to manage and control COVID-19 by som...

Solvents play an important role in host-guest intermolecular interactions. The kinetics and residence time of Toussaintine-A (TouA) unbinding from chitosan was investigated by means of well-tempered metadynamics and thermodynamic integration using two solvents, polar aprotic (DMSO), and polar protic (water). The kinetic rates were found to be stron...

The recent outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 is responsible for high morbidity and mortality rate across the globe. This requires an urgent identification of drugs and other interventions to overcome this pandemic. Computational drug repurposing represents an alternative approach to provide a more effective approach in search for COVID-19 drugs. Selected natu...

Objectives: Poor mental health remains a serious public concern worldwide. The most vulnerable individuals are children and adolescents in developing countries. Nutritional deficiency of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, particularly docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), have long been recognized as a major contributing factor f...

The effects of mixing sequence of starch–chitosan nanocomposite films on antimicrobial properties of vanillin, the release kinetics of vanillin, and physicomechanical changes of films have been reported. Four types of films were prepared based on the order of mixing. SC1: starch–glycerol–MMT–vanillin; SC2: starch–glycerol–chitosan–MMT–vanillin; SC3...

Molecular chaperone Heat Shock Protein 90 (Hsp90) represents an interesting chemotherapeutic target for cancer treatments as it plays a role in cancer proliferation. Thus, continued effort to identify novel inhibitors of this target is an important task. Drug design using computational approach has gained significant attention in recent years. This...

This paper presents a review of the current state of agricultural and rural development (ARD) system frameworks, focusing on their capabilities and limitations to support farming-as-a-business via benchmarking (FAABB). Presented and discussed include the state of system models in relation to five modelling views of the ARD systems, namely: (i) defi...

Contributions from various researchers and scholars have made major advances relevant to a wide range of mobile applications at various scales. Although current agricultural and rural development (ARD) systems have features that are needed for farming as a business (FAAB). It is established that all of them have limitations in realising benchmarkin...

Contributions from various researchers and scholars have made major advances relevant to a wide range of mobile applications at various scales. Although current agricultural and rural development (ARD) systems have features that are needed for farming as a business (FAAB). It is established that all of them have limitations in realising benchmarkin...

Mental health illness associated with poor nutrition is a serious public concern worldwide. The most at risk individuals are children and adolescents in the developing world. Deficiencies in omega-3 DHA fatty acids have long been recognized as a major contributing factor for mental health illnesses. Provision of products rich in omega-3 DHA could a...

Aiming to improve the treatment outcomes of current daily tuberculosis (TB) chemotherapy over several months, we investigated whether nanoencapsulation of existing drugs would allow decreasing the treatment frequency to weekly, thereby ultimately improving patient compliance. Nanoencapsulation of three first-line anti-TB drugs was achieved by a uni...

Nanoparticles (NPs) have gained importance in addressing drug delivery challenges across biological barriers. Here, we reformulated pentamidine, a drug used to treat Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT) in polymer based nanoparticles and liposomes and compared their capability to enhance pent-amidine penetration across blood brain barrier (BBB). Siz...

Aim: This study aimed to evaluate larvicidal activity of Hypoestes forskaolii R. Br root extract against 3rd instar Anopheles gambiae, Aedes aegypti, and Culex quinquefasciatus. Methods: A protocol developed by the World Health Organization was adopted, with minor modification using chloroform and methanol extracts with concentrations ranging from...

Clinical applications of many small molecules are limited due to poor solubility and lack of controlled release besides lack of other desirable properties. Experimental and computational studies have reported on the therapeutic potential of polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers as solubility enhancers in pre-clinical and clinical settings. Besides form...

Background The search for new antimalarial drugs has become progressively urgent due to plasmodial resistance to most of the commercially available antimalarial drugs. As part of this effort, the study evaluated the antimalarial activity of Cucumis metuliferus and Lippia kituiensis, which are traditionally used in Tanzania for the treatment of mala...

Background: In recent years, food packaging has focused on two scientific pillars; adopting the biodegradable packaging materials and development of antimicrobial packaging for extended shelf life, quality and safety of food products. The bioplastic materials provide a promising application in the packaging industry to substitute environmentally de...

Nichrous G Mlalila,1,2 Hulda Shaidi Swai,1 Askwar Hilonga,3 Dattatreya M Kadam2 1School of Life Sciences and Bioengineering, Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology, Arusha, Tanzania; 2ICAR-Central Institute of Post-Harvest Engineering and Technology (ICAR-CIPHET), Ludhiana, Punjab, India; 3Department of Materials Science and E...

The purpose of this work was to study the effect of various process and formulation parameters on size and shapes of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) based on surface plasmon resonance (SPR). AgNPs were prepared by chemical reduction using formaldehyde (HCHO) as reducing agent and capped by polyethylene glycol (PEG). Effect of several processing variab...

In recent decades, there is a global advancement in manufacturing industry due to increased applications of nanotechnology. Food industry also has been tremendously changing from passive packaging to innovative packaging, to cope with global trends, technological advancements, and consumer preferences. Active research is taking place in food indust...

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis, is characterized by the abundance of species specific, antigenic cell wall lipids called mycolic acids. These wax-like molecules all share an identical, amphiphilic mycolic motif, but have different functional groups in a long hydrophobic hydrocarbon mero-chain that divide them into t...

Unlabelled: Effective use of dihydroartemisinin (DHA) is limited by poor water-solubility, poor pharmacokinetic profile and unsatisfactory clinical outcome especially in monotherapy. To reduce such limitations, we reformulated DHA into solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) as a nanomedicine drug delivery system. DHA-SLNs were characterized for physical...

Nanomedicine is an emerging and rapidly evolving field and includes the use of nanoparticles for diagnosis and therapy of a variety of diseases, as well as in regenerative medicine. In this mini-review, leaders in the field from around the globe provide a personal perspective on the development of nanomedicine. The focus lies on the translation fro...

In recent years, many metallic nanoparticles have gained potential applications in various fields including in biological sciences, electronic systems, mechanics, and information technology, among others. To date, silver nanoparticles have drawn the attention of researchers because of their extensive applications as antimicrobial agents in health i...

The appearance of drug-resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb) poses a great challenge to the development of novel treatment programmes to combat tuberculosis. Since innovative nanotechnologies might alleviate the limitations of current therapies, we have designed a new nanoformulation for use as an anti-TB drug delivery system. It...

Tafenoquine (TQ), a new synthetic analog of primaquine, has relatively poor bioavailability and associated toxicity in glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD)-deficient individuals. A microemulsion formulation of TQ (MTQ) with sizes <20 nm improved the solubility of TQ and enhanced the oral bioavailability from 55% to 99% in healthy mice (area und...

In recent years, all-male cultures of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) have been the most preferred mode of production in aquaculture industry. All-male individuals achieve higher somatic growth rate and shut high energy losses associated with gonadal development and reproduction. The economic advantages of culturing all-male tilapia have led t...

There is significant interest in the application of nanoparticles to deliver immunostimulatory signals to cells. We hypothesized that curdlan (immune stimulating polymer) could be conjugated to PLGA and nanoparticles from this copolymer would possess immunostimulatory activity, be non-cytotoxic and function as an effective sustained drug release sy...

The goal of this study was to explore the effects of spray-drying on w/o/w double emulsions of methyltestosterone (MT) loaded in a stearic acid matrix. MT-loaded nanoparticles were formulated by a water-in-oil-in-water emulsion technique using 50, 75, and 100 mg of stearic acid, 2% and 3% w/v polyvinyl alcohol, 5% w/v lactose, and 0.2% w/v chitosan...

In this work supercritical assisted atomization (SAA) process was used for the co-precipitation of poly(d,l-lactide) (PDLLA) and rifampicin (RIF) as nanoparticles for sustained release applications. The effect of the variation of PDLLA/RIF ratio on co-precipitate characteristics was mainly investigated. The precipitated particles were analyzed in t...

Primaquine (PQ) is one of the most widely used antimalarial drugs and is the only available drug that combats the relapsing form of malaria. PQ use in higher doses is limited by severe tissue toxicity including hematological- and gastrointestinal-related side effects. Nanoformulation of drugs in an appropriate drug carrier system has been extensive...

Nanoparticles as drug delivery systems offer benefits such as protection of the encapsulated drug against degradation,site-specific targeting and prolonged blood circulation times. The aim of this study was to investigate nanoparticle uptake into Caco-2 cell monolayers, their co-localization within the lysosomal compartment and their cytotoxicity i...

Aim: To encapsulate efavirenz (EFV) within poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL) nanoparticles (NPs) and compare the oral pharmacokinetics with that of EFV-loaded micelles and pure EFV NPs. Materials & methods: EFV-loaded PCL NPs were produced by a double-emulsion/spray-drying method. Results: NPs displayed a hydrodynamic diameter of 200-250 nm. Th...

Current treatments available for human immunodeficiency virus, namely antiretrovirals, do not completely eradicate the virus from the body, leading to life-time commitment. Many antiretrovirals suffer drawbacks from toxicity and unpleasant side effects, causing patience non-compliance. To minimize challenges associated with the antiretrovirals, bio...

Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) ranks the second leading cause of death from an infectious disease worldwide. However, treatment of TB is affected by poor patient compliance due to the requirement for daily drug administration, for lengthy periods of time, often with severe drug-induced side effects. Nanomedicines have the potential to improve tre...

Poly-(DL-lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA) nanoparticles were prepared by a double emulsion solvent evaporation spray-drying technique and coated with polyethylene glycol (PEG 1% v/v). The PLGA nanoparticles had a small size (229±7.6 to 382±23.9nm), uniform size distribution and positive zeta potential (+12.45±4.53mV). In vitro/in vivo assays were pe...

Efavirenz (EFV) is one of the first-line antiretroviral drugs recommended by the World Health Organisation for treating HIV. It is a hydrophobic drug that suffers from low aqueous solubility (4 μg/mL), which leads to a limited oral absorption and low bioavailability. In order to improve its oral bioavailability, nano-sized polymeric delivery system...

Many drug delivery systems have indicated improvement in delivery of various drug molecules and among these biodegradable and biocompatible polymers such as poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) have been shown to enhance intracellular uptake of drug candidates when formulated as nanoparticles. PLGA nanoparticles were prepared by means of a double...

Current treatment of tuberculosis is inadequate due to lengthy treatment course and drug-related toxicity. To address these setbacks, we developed a nanotechnology drug delivery system that can be administered in a single dose that maintains an active level of drug for at least a week. Polymeric poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) nanoparticles of 200–30...

The use of current treatments for poverty-related diseases (PRDs) is compromised due to factors such as toxicity and poor solubility leading to lowered bioavailability and thus reduced efficacy. In addition, there is lack of activity from the pharmaceutical industry due to the difficulty in refinancing the high development costs. Hence, new approac...

The surface of nanoparticles is often functionalised with polymeric surfactants, in order to increase systemic circulation time. This has been investigated mainly for intravenously administered nanoparticles. This study aims to elucidate the effect of surface coating with various concentrations of polymeric surfactants (PEG and Pluronics F127) on t...

Rifampicin (RIF) is precipitated in the presence of inhalable lactose particles using a supercritical antisolvent-drug excipient mixing (SAS-DEM) technique to create RIF/lactose microparticle composites intended to improve the effectiveness of pulmonary tuberculosis treatments by increasing the respirable fraction of RIF. These RIF/lactose micropar...

Nanoparticulate drug delivery systems offer great promise in addressing challenges of drug toxicity, poor bioavailability and non-specificity for a number of drugs. Much progress has been reported for nano drug delivery systems for intravenous administration, however very little is known about the effects of orally administered nanoparticles. Furth...

Unlabelled: The remarkable physicochemical properties of particles in the nanometer range have been proven to address many challenges in the field of science. However, the possible toxic effects of these particles have raised some concerns. The aim of this article is to evaluate the effects of poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) nanoparticles in vit...

Antibodies to mycolic acid (MA) antigens can be detected as surrogate markers of active tuberculosis (TB) with evanescent field biosensors where the lipid antigens are encapsulated in liposomes. Standard immunoassay such as ELISA, where the lipid antigen is not encapsulated, but directly adsorbed to the well-bottoms of microtiter plates, does not y...

Treatment of respiratory diseases and infections has proved to be a challenging task, with the incidence of these ailments increasing worldwide. Nanotechnology‐based drug and gene delivery systems offer a possible solution to some of the shortfalls of the current treatment regimen. Nanobased drug delivery systems have revolutionised the field of ph...

An effective therapeutic regimen is available for the treatment of tuberculosis (TB), however in developing countries; patient non-compliance due to high dose frequency and the lengthy duration of treatment, presents a major challenge, thus resulting in treatment failure. To address this challenge, the project seeks to develop a nano-drug delivery...

Africa is presently at the precipice of a socioeconomic renaissance. However, diseases such as malaria, AIDS, and hypertension remain common and important health problems facing the continent. The recent Policy Forum by T. J. Tucker and M. W. Makgoba (“Public-private partnerships and scientific

Nanotechnology has gained ground in the twenty-first century and is rapidly growing due to the ability to manipulate and harness properties of assemblies that are at the nanosize scale of various biomolecules. In addition, nanotechnology allows scientists to alter the chemical, physical, and biological properties of these assemblies, allowing for t...

CSIR Research and Innovation Conference: 1st CSIR Biennial Conference, CSIR International Convention Centre Pretoria, 27-28 February 2006 In this study, isoniazid, one of the most potent anti-TB drugs, was successfully encapsulated in poly (D, L- lactide-co-glycolide) (PLG) and in alginate-chitosan polymeric systems using a double-emulsion method a...

Oral candidal infections are often persistent and intractable and thus the aim of this study was to develop a polymeric sustained release device to improve the topical treatment of these infections. A self curing system based on poly(ethyl methacrylate) and tetrahydrofurfuryl methacrylate (PEM/THFM) was used with chlorhexidine diacetate (CX) added...

Earlier research has described the water absorption behaviour, drug release and biological properties of a room temperature polymerizing system based on poly(ethyl methacrylate) (PEM) powder and tetrahydrofurfuryl methacrylate (THFM) monomer. This work has been extended, with respect to water sorption behaviour, by replacing the monomer to various...

Poly(tetrahydrofurfuryl methacrylate) possesses some unique characteristics with respect to its biocompatibility and behaviour in water. The water uptake is high (>70%) and very slow (over 3 yr), but the material remains rigid throughout the process. The mechanism behind the uptake is in two stages; an initial Fickian stage, then as the matrix appr...

A series of copolymers comprising ethyl methacrylate (EM) and tetrahydrofurfuryl methacrylate (THFMA) gelled with either THFMA monomer or hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) monomer have been developed. In this paper, we examine the water uptake characteristics of the polymer systems and address the possibility of increasing the hydrophilicity of the...

2006: NanoAfrica conference A nanometre (nm) is a unit of measurement equal to a billionth of a metre, tens of thousands of times smaller than the width of a human hair. The prefix “nano” comes from the Greek word meaning “dwarf”. A micrometre (μm) is a unit of length equal to one thousandth (10-3) of a millimetre or one millionth (10-6) of a metre...

Science real and relevant: 2nd CSIR Biennial Conference, CSIR International Convention Centre Pretoria, 17&18 November 2008 Current therapeutic management of tuberculosis is inadequate due to non-compliance, lengthy course of treatment and drug- related side effects. In order to address these setbacks, the authors are developing a nanotechnology dr...

Science Real and Relevant: 2nd CSIR Biennial Conference, CSIR International Convention Centre Pretoria, 17 & 18 November 2008 The objective of this project was to explore the encapsulation of mycolic acids into vehicles other than liposomes for delivery into macrophages and addressing the challenges of low solubility. As vehicles nanoparticles (NP)...

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of London, 2000.

CSIR 3rd Biennial Conference 2010. Science Real and Relevant. CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa, 30 August – 01 September 2010 It has been postulated that antituberculosis drugs encapsulated in polymeric nanoparticles are able to control the release of these drugs in vivo. These biodegradable polymers facilitate sustained...

CSIR 3rd Biennial Conference 2010. Science Real and Relevant. CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa, 30 August – 01 September 2010 Challenges in treatment of Tuberculosis (TB) include non-specific localisation of the drugs which results in too low concentrations of the drugs reaching the target site of infection, thus leading...