About the Authors

Hlengiwe Pretty Madlala

Affiliation School of Laboratory Medicine and Medical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa

Fanie Retief Van Heerden

Affiliation School of Chemistry and Physics, College of Science, Engineering and Agriculture, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa

Kanigula Mubagwa

Affiliation Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

Cephas Tagumirwa Musabayane

musabayanec@ukzn.ac.za

Affiliation School of Laboratory Medicine and Medical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa

Competing Interests

The authors declare that there is no interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research reported. Professor Cephas Musabayane is a PLOS ONE Editorial Board member who confirms that this does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials, as detailed online in the guide for authors.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: HPM FRVH KM CTM. Performed the experiments: HPM FRVH KM CTM. Analyzed the data: HPM FRVH KM CTM. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: FRVH KM CTM. Wrote the paper: HPM FRVH KM CTM.