The Value Proposition of the Global Health Security Index

Infectious disease outbreaks pose major threats to human health and security. Countries with robust capacities for preventing, detecting and responding to outbreaks can avert many of the social, political, economic and health system costs of such crises. The Global Health Security Index (GHS Index)—the first comprehensive assessment and benchmarking of health security and related capabilities across 195 countries—recently found that no country is sufficiently prepared for epidemics or pandemics. The GHS Index can help health security stakeholders identify areas of weakness, as well as opportunities to collaborate across sectors, collectively strengthen health systems and achieve shared public health goals. Some scholars have recently offered constructive critiques of the GHS Index’s approach to scoring and ranking countries; its weighting of select indicators; its emphasis on transparency; its focus on biosecurity and biosafety capacities; and divergence between select country scores and corresponding COVID-19-associated caseloads, morbidity, and mortality. Here, we (1) describe the practical value of the GHS Index; (2) present potential use cases to help policymakers and practitioners maximise the utility of the tool; (3) discuss the importance of scoring and ranking; (4) describe the robust methodology underpinning country scores and ranks; (5) highlight the GHS Index’s emphasis on transparency and (6) articulate caveats for users wishing to use GHS Index data in health security research, policymaking and practice

Placental Pharmacology -- Implications for Therapy in Pregnancy

Medication use during pregnancy requires a balance between treating a condition in the mother, and minimizing potential risks in the fetus. In recent years, it has been estimated that between 50 and 70% of pregnant women in North America will take at least one prescription medication during their pregnancy. The decision to begin or continue treatment during pregnancy relies heavily on evaluating the risk-benefit ratio, and an important determinant in this risk assessment is estimating fetal drug exposure. The use of medications in pregnant women can be especially challenging, as there is very limited safety data in pregnancy. Recently, novel oral anticoagulants have been developed and approved for clinical use. However, the information regarding their fetal safety and placental transfer in humans is unknown. We used the ex vivo placenta perfusion model to investigate anticoagulant (dabigatran, rivaroxaban, apixaban) transfer across the human placenta. Rivaroxaban and apixaban rapidly crossed the term human placenta, while dabigatran crossed the placenta to a lesser extent. The placenta perfusion results were adjusted to account for protein binding and pH differences between the mother and fetus. We also developed a pharmacokinetic model that adequately described the transplacental transfer of anticoagulants by using data from our experiments. While the placenta perfusion model can be technically challenging, its results strongly correlate with in vivo placental transfer data. By evaluating the success rate of the perfusion model in our laboratory, we determined that establishing the fetal circulation is an important stage of the protocol. This information can be used to create a focused training program to help increase the overall success rate of this model and productivity of the lab. Drug use in pregnancy is multifactorial, and placental transfer data is important in assessing which drugs can be used to treat the mother while protecting the unborn.Ph.D

Enhanced Imaging And Accelerated Photothermalysis Of A549 Human Lung Cancer Cells By Gold Nanospheres

Background & aims: Gold nanoparticles are excellent photon-thermal energy converters. The purpose of this work was to investigate the influence of gold nanoparticles on the photothermalysis of A549 lung tumor cells. Materials & methods: A549 lung tumor cells were exposed to goat antihuman immunoglobulin (lg)G-conjugated gold nanospheres (40 nm) and were then imaged under a dark-field microscope. The live cells were then subjected to photoirradiation-using a 633-nm laser at different power levels. The viability of tumor cells under laser irradiation was monitored by confocal microscopy using a viability-assay kit. Results & discussion: The death rates of A549 lung tumor cells after gold nanoparticle exposure increased significantly under laser irradiation. The maximum initial cell death rate was observed at a laser power level of 3.75 mW, with the initial deactivation rate accelerated by a factor of 6.6 and a total loss of 92% of cell viability. Conclusion: This work demonstrated potential applications of gold nanospheres as both imaging probes and enhancing agents for photothermal therapy of cancer. © 2008 Future Medicine Ltd