Nutritional Status of Children in Displacement Camps in Sierra Leone

Civil wars have resulted in the displacement of millions of people worldwide and have forced many into temporary displacement camps. Sometimes, most are caught in prolonged and overcrowded refugee camps, which provide ideal grounds for the transmission of diseases, increased risk for acute respiratory infections, diarrhoeal diseases, and malnutrition. In this study, stunting, under nutrition, and wasting were measured among 454 children under the age of 10 years in four internally displaced persons (IDP) camps. Stunting was found to be the most common nutritional abnormality in all four IDP camps with the highest prevalence rate (29.3%) in the Trade Center Camp and lowest (14.2%) in the National Workshop Camp. This study indicates that forced internal displacement results in high prevalence of stunting, wasting and underweight among children.Key Words: Nutritional status, Children, Displacement, Sierra Leone

4-Bromo-N-(diisopropoxyphosphor­yl)benzamide

In the title compound, C13H19BrNO4P, the crystal structure is stabilized by inter­molecular N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds between the phosphoryl O atom and the amide N atom which link the mol­ecules into centrosymmetric dimers. These dimers are further packed into stacks along the c axis by inter­molecular C—H⋯O and C—H⋯π inter­actions

An instrument to determine the technological literacy levels of upper secondary school students

In this article, an instrument for assessing upper secondary school students’ levels of technological literacy is presented. The items making up the instrument emerged from a previous study that employed a phenomenographic research approach to explore students’ conceptions of technology in terms of their understanding of the nature of technology and their interaction with technological artefacts. The instrument was validated through administration to 1,245 students on completion of their 12 years of formal schooling. A factor analysis was conducted on the data and Cronbach alpha reliability coefficients determined. The results show that a five-dimension factor structure (namely, artefact, process, direction/instruction, tinkering, and engagement) strongly supported the dimensions as developed during the original phenomenographic study. The Cronbach alpha reliability co-efficient of each dimension was satisfactory. Based on these findings, the instrument has been shown to be valid and reliable and can be used with confidence

Safety and Immunogenicity of an HIV-1 Gag DNA Vaccine with or without IL-12 and/or IL-15 Plasmid Cytokine Adjuvant in Healthy, HIV-1 Uninfected Adults

DNA vaccines are a promising approach to vaccination since they circumvent the problem of vector-induced immunity. DNA plasmid cytokine adjuvants have been shown to augment immune responses in small animals and in macaques.We performed two first in human HIV vaccine trials in the US, Brazil and Thailand of an RNA-optimized truncated HIV-1 gag gene (p37) DNA derived from strain HXB2 administered either alone or in combination with dose-escalation of IL-12 or IL-15 plasmid cytokine adjuvants. Vaccinations with both the HIV immunogen and cytokine adjuvant were generally well-tolerated and no significant vaccine-related adverse events were identified. A small number of subjects developed asymptomatic low titer antibodies to IL-12 or IL-15. Cellular immunogenicity following 3 and 4 vaccinations was poor, with response rates to gag of 4.9%/8.7% among vaccinees receiving gag DNA alone, 0%/11.5% among those receiving gag DNA+IL-15, and no responders among those receiving DNA+high dose (1500 ug) IL-12 DNA. However, after three doses, 44.4% (4/9) of vaccinees receiving gag DNA and intermediate dose (500 ug) of IL-12 DNA demonstrated a detectable cellular immune response.This combination of HIV gag DNA with plasmid cytokine adjuvants was well tolerated. There were minimal responses to HIV gag DNA alone, and no apparent augmentation with either IL-12 or IL-15 plasmid cytokine adjuvants. Despite the promise of DNA vaccines, newer formulations or methods of delivery will be required to increase their immunogenicity.Clinicaltrials.gov NCT00115960 NCT00111605

Skin Electroporation: Effects on Transgene Expression, DNA Persistence and Local Tissue Environment

BACKGROUND: Electrical pulses have been used to enhance uptake of molecules into living cells for decades. This technique, often referred to as electroporation, has become an increasingly popular method to enhance in vivo DNA delivery for both gene therapy applications as well as for delivery of vaccines against both infectious diseases and cancer. In vivo electrovaccination (gene delivery followed by electroporation) is currently being investigated in several clinical trials, including DNA delivery to healthy volunteers. However, the mode of action at molecular level is not yet fully understood. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: This study investigates intradermal DNA electrovaccination in detail and describes the effects on expression of the vaccine antigen, plasmid persistence and the local tissue environment. Gene profiling of the vaccination site showed that the combination of DNA and electroporation induced a significant up-regulation of pro-inflammatory genes. In vivo imaging of luciferase activity after electrovaccination demonstrated a rapid onset (minutes) and a long duration (months) of transgene expression. However, when the more immunogenic prostate specific antigen (PSA) was co-administered, PSA-specific T cells were induced and concurrently the luciferase expression became undetectable. Electroporation did not affect the long-term persistence of the PSA-expressing plasmid. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: This study provides important insights to how DNA delivery by intradermal electrovaccination affects the local immunological responses of the skin, transgene expression and clearance of the plasmid. As the described vaccination approach is currently being evaluated in clinical trials, the data provided will be of high significance

Multivalent HA DNA Vaccination Protects against Highly Pathogenic H5N1 Avian Influenza Infection in Chickens and Mice

Sustained outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 in avian species increase the risk of reassortment and adaptation to humans. The ability to contain its spread in chickens would reduce this threat and help maintain the capacity for egg-based vaccine production. While vaccines offer the potential to control avian disease, a major concern of current vaccines is their potency and inability to protect against evolving avian influenza viruses.The ability of DNA vaccines encoding hemagglutinin (HA) proteins from different HPAI H5N1 serotypes was evaluated for its ability to elicit neutralizing antibodies and to protect against homologous and heterologous HPAI H5N1 strain challenge in mice and chickens after DNA immunization by needle and syringe or with a pressure injection device. These vaccines elicited antibodies that neutralized multiple strains of HPAI H5N1 when given in combinations containing up to 10 HAs. The response was dose-dependent, and breadth was determined by the choice of the influenza virus HA in the vaccine. Monovalent and trivalent HA vaccines were tested first in mice and conferred protection against lethal H5N1 A/Vietnam/1203/2004 challenge 68 weeks after vaccination. In chickens, protection was observed against heterologous strains of HPAI H5N1 after vaccination with a trivalent H5 serotype DNA vaccine with doses as low as 5 microg DNA given twice either by intramuscular needle injection or with a needle-free device.DNA vaccines offer a generic approach to influenza virus immunization applicable to multiple animal species. In addition, the ability to substitute plasmids encoding different strains enables rapid adaptation of the vaccine to newly evolving field isolates

UK manufacturer's quarterly sales Quarters one, two, three and four 1993 (provisional data)

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:6850.66722(1993) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Comparison of phosphorus-based extractants on manganese separation from citrate leach solutions for recycling of lithium-ion batteries

The performance requirements of modern lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) necessitate the use of a number of scarce and strategically sensitive metals such as lithium and cobalt. Recycling end-of-life LIBs reduces the demand on the primary sources of these metals and helps reduce the environmental impact of LIB waste. Citric acid has proven to be an effective environmentally friendly and sustainable lixiviant; however, the formation of metal citrate complexes complicates subsequent metal separation processes such as solvent extraction. This study enhances the understanding of LIB metal separation from citric acid media by comparing the metal separation performance of phosphorus-based liquid-liquid extractants from a citric acid leach. The optimum Mn(II) extraction pH decreases as the extractant’s phosphorus oxidation state increases from phosphinic to phosphonic to phosphoric, due to the oxygen atoms that surround the central phosphorus atom. The maximum Mn(II) separation with Cyanex 272, PC-88A, and D2EHPA was observed at pHs of 6, 3, and 3, respectively. D2EHPA further provided the best separation of Mn(II) over Al, Co, Li, and Ni with separation factors of 137, 191, 118, and 601, respectively. No research is currently available on the metal separation performance of phosphonic (PC-88A) or phosphinic (Cyanex 272) organic extractants from citric acid media.Significance: This study is the first to investigate the use of phosphonic and phosphinic extractants for metal separation from citric acid leach solutions, towards using citric acid as an environmentally friendly lixiviant. The phosphoric extractant, D2EHPA, enabled successful and sequential separation and extraction of aluminium, manganese and lithium, making the process technologically feasible and attractive

Competitive bulk liquid membrane transport and solvent extraction of some metal ions using RC(S)NHP(X)(OiPr)2 (X = O, S) as ionophores. Formation of the polynuclear complex of [Ag(NC-NP(S)(OiPr)2)] n

Competitive transport experiments involving metal ions from an aqueous source phase through a chloroform membrane into an aqueous receiving phase have been carried out using a series of N-(thio)phosphorylated (thio)amide and thiourea ligands as the ionophore present in the organic phase. The source phase contained equimolar concentrations of CoII, NiII, Cu II, ZnII, AgI, CdII and Pb II with the source and receiving phases being buffered at a number of different pHs. Solvent extraction properties of the ligands towards the same metal cations under the same experimental conditions as for the transport were also studied. All ligands demonstrated 100% extraction of AgI. Reaction of AgNO3 with the potassium salt of the N-thiophosphorylated thiourea NH2C(S)NHP(S)(OiPr)2 gave a new supramolecular AgI complex, [AgZ]n (Z = {NC-NP(S)(OiPr)2} -) that contains both tri- and tetracoordinated AgI. The novel polynuclear AgI complex [AgZ]n described and structurally characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction has no precedent. © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2009.Articl