Interview – Prof. Marilyn Naidoo

Abstract

you are a professor in Practical Theology in the School of Humanities at UNISA. You are an emerging scholar and researcher on theological education in South Africa. Thank you for giving Acta Theologica the opportunity to engage with you. Tell our readers something about your life and academic journey to UNISA. MN: I felt a call to Christian work in 1989. My undergraduate theology training was an exhilarating time of learning at the Evangelical Bible Seminary of South Africa in the early 1990s, at the time of the political transition in South Africa. As we experienced the country's upheaval, this became the material we wrestled with in the theological classroom. As a multicultural student body, we were living together and experiencing each other for the very first time and considering what the new South Africa could look like.

Fighting Antibiotic‐Resistant Bacteria: Promising Strategies Orchestrated by Molecularly Imprinted Polymers

“…We propose MIPs to fight this global problem. Presently, to reverse antibiotic resistance, the addition of resistance breakers such as β‐lactamase inhibitors to prevent antibiotic degradation, efflux pump inhibitors to prevent the antibiotic from being expelled by the efflux pump, and OM permeabilizers that destabilize the bacterial cell for antibiotic penetration, are being prescribed alongside with antibiotics [38b,c] . Since MIPs may be designed to function as potent enzyme inhibitors, [42] they could possibly act as inhibitors of efflux pumps and β‐lactamases.…”

“…are a group of MDR pathogens responsible for the majority of hospital‐acquired infections and considered as one of the biggest threats to health. But according to the World Health Organization (WHO), the most critical pathogens, for which the need for new therapies is the greatest, remain the Gram‐negative bacteria, specifically carbapenem‐resistant A. baumannii , P. aeruginosa , and members of the Enterobacteriaceae family which contain extended spectrum β‐lactamases [38b] . Carbapenems are members of the β‐lactam class of antibiotics similar to penicillin, and have been considered as last resort antibiotics in the treatment of MDR bacterial infections.…”

“…Acquired resistance occurs when an antibiotic‐sensitive microorganism becomes resistant through the acquisition of genes or as a result of mutation. Examples of acquired resistance mechanisms [38a–c] include 1) increased antibiotic efflux where efflux pumps remove the antibiotic from the bacterial cell, thereby lowering antibiotic concentration to sub‐therapeutic levels, 2) prevention or reduction of drug entry through the OM by the loss or mutations or expression of more selective porins, 3) antibiotic inactivation, for example, the production of β‐lactamase that deactivates β‐lactam antibiotics, 4) target site modification, for example, alteration/mutation of proteins essential for DNA replication processes (Figure 3 A). The problem is further aggravated by biofilms in which bacteria grow in an adhering mode, thereby displaying a higher resistance to antibiotics as compared to planktonic (suspended) bacteria.…”

“…Several strategies to overcome antibiotic resistance, most of them acting on their causes (Figure 3 A), have been recently reviewed [38b,c] . Basically, they comprise…”

Synthesis, characterization, biological evaluation, and computational study of benzimidazole hybrid thiosemicarbazide derivatives

“…[10] To combat antimicrobial resistance, the development of new molecules with exceptional antibacterial potency is critically needed. [11] Thiosemicarbazone derivatives, a vast class of thiourea derivatives, offer a wide range of biological actions and hence have attracted pharmacological interest. [12] During the latter two discards, they were tested for antioxidant, [13] anticonvulsant, [14] antifungal, [15] antibacterial, [16] anticancer, [17] antimalarial, [18] antiinflammatory, [19] antiprotozoan, [20] anti-tubercular, [21] monoamine oxidase inhibitory, [22] antiproliferative, [23] and antiviral [24] activities.…”