Low Level of Transmitted HIV Drug Resistance at Two HIV Care Centres in Ghana: A Threshold Survey

Background: As access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) increases, the emergence and transmission of HIV drug resistant strains becomes a major problem. The World Health Organization (WHO) therefore recommends an initial minimum-resource method to signal when transmitted HIV drug resistance (HIVDR) requires action.Objective: This survey sought to generate information on the presence of HIV drug-resistant strains in the locality where Ghana’s ART for HIV was first introduced.Methods: The Ghana HIVDR threshold survey (TS) was conducted and analyzed according to WHO strategy for surveillance of HIVDR in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Sixty (60) plasma specimens were collected from 2007 to 2009 by an unlinked anonymous method from HIV seropositive pregnant women, aged between 15 to24 years, who were with their first pregnancy and ART naive. Genotyping was done as follows; Ribonucleic acid (RNA) was extracted from the samples and the protease (PR) and reverse transcriptase (RT) genes amplified and sequenced. The sequences were then analyzed for HIV drug resistance mutations using Stanford University HIV Drug Resistance Database.Results: Only two individuals were found with major HIVDR mutations: one each in the PR and RT genes. Thus the level of HIVDR in the study population in 2009 was classified as low (< 5%).Conclusion: As at February 2009, transmitted drug resistance was not a serious problem in the Eastern Region of Ghana. However, it is important to continue monitoring tHIVDR in order to understand the dynamics of the evolution of HIV drug resistance in the country

Public Participation in Scientific Research: a Framework for Deliberate Design

Members of the public participate in scientific research in many different contexts, stemming from traditions as varied as participatory action research and citizen science. Particularly in conservation and natural resource management contexts, where research often addresses complex social–ecological questions, the emphasis on and nature of this participation can significantly affect both the way that projects are designed and the outcomes that projects achieve. We review and integrate recent work in these and other fields, which has converged such that we propose the term public participation in scientific research (PPSR) to discuss initiatives from diverse fields and traditions. We describe three predominant models of PPSR and call upon case studies suggesting that—regardless of the research context—project outcomes are influenced by (1) the degree of public participation in the research process and (2) the quality of public participation as negotiated during project design. To illustrate relationships between the quality of participation and outcomes, we offer a framework that considers how scientific and public interests are negotiated for project design toward multiple, integrated goals. We suggest that this framework and models, used in tandem, can support deliberate design of PPSR efforts that will enhance their outcomes for scientific research, individual participants, and social–ecological systems

Cytokine Production but Lack of Proliferation in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells from Chronic Chagas' Disease Cardiomyopathy Patients in Response to T. cruzi Ribosomal P Proteins

Background:Trypanosoma cruzi ribosomal P proteins, P2β and P0, induce high levels of antibodies in patients with chronic Chagas' disease Cardiomyopathy (CCC). It is well known that these antibodies alter the beating rate of cardiomyocytes and provoke apoptosis by their interaction with β1-adrenergic and M2-muscarinic cardiac receptors. Based on these findings, we decided to study the cellular immune response to these proteins in CCC patients compared to non-infected individuals.Methodology/Principal findings:We evaluated proliferation, presence of surface activation markers and cytokine production in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) stimulated with P2β, the C-terminal portion of P0 (CP0) proteins and T. cruzi lysate from CCC patients predominantly infected with TcVI lineage. PBMC from CCC patients cultured with P2β or CP0 proteins, failed to proliferate and express CD25 and HLA-DR on T cell populations. However, multiplex cytokine assays showed that these antigens triggered higher secretion of IL-10, TNF-α and GM-CSF by PBMC as well as both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells subsets of CCC subjects. Upon T. cruzi lysate stimulation, PBMC from CCC patients not only proliferated but also became activated within the context of Th1 response. Interestingly, T. cruzi lysate was also able to induce the secretion of GM-CSF by CD4+ or CD8+ T cells.Conclusions/Significance:Our results showed that although the lack of PBMC proliferation in CCC patients in response to ribosomal P proteins, the detection of IL-10, TNF-α and GM-CSF suggests that specific T cells could have both immunoregulatory and pro-inflammatory potential, which might modulate the immune response in Chagas' disease. Furthermore, it was possible to demonstrate for the first time that GM-CSF was produced by PBMC of CCC patients in response not only to recombinant ribosomal P proteins but also to parasite lysate, suggesting the value of this cytokine to evaluate T cells responses in T. cruzi infection.Fil: Longhi, Silvia Andrea. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular "Dr. Héctor N. Torres"; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica; ArgentinaFil: Atienza, Augusto. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital General de Agudos "Ramos Mejía"; ArgentinaFil: Perez Prados, Graciela. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital General de Agudos "Juan A. Fernández"; ArgentinaFil: Buying, Alcinette. Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies; Estados UnidosFil: Balouz, Virginia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas. Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas; ArgentinaFil: Buscaglia, Carlos Andres. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas. Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas; ArgentinaFil: Santos, Radleigh. Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies; Estados UnidosFil: Tasso, Laura Mónica. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular "Dr. Héctor N. Torres"; ArgentinaFil: Bonato, Ricardo. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital General de Agudos "Ramos Mejía"; ArgentinaFil: Chiale, Pablo. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital General de Agudos "Ramos Mejía"; ArgentinaFil: Pinilla, Clemencia. Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies; Estados UnidosFil: Judkowski, Valeria A.. Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies; Estados UnidosFil: Gomez, Karina Andrea. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular "Dr. Héctor N. Torres"; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica; Argentin

'This is what democracy looks like' : New Labour's blind spot and peripheral vision

New Labour in government since 1997 has been roundly criticized for not possessing a clear, coherent and consistent democratic vision. The absence of such a grand vision has resulted, from this critical perspective, in an absence of 'joined-up' thinking about democracy in an evolving multi-level state. Tensions have been all too apparent between the government's desire to exert central direction - manifested in its most pathological form as 'control freakery' - and its democratising initiatives derived from 'third-way' obsessions with 'decentralising', 'empowering' and 'enabling'. The purpose of this article is to examine why New Labour displayed such apparently impaired democratic vision and why it appeared incapable of conceiving of democratic reform 'in the round'. This article seeks to explain these apparent paradoxes, however, through utilising the notion of 'macular degeneration'. In this analysis, the perceived democratic blind spot of New Labour at Westminster is connected to a democratic peripheral vision, which has envisaged innovative participatory and decentred initiatives in governance beyond Westminster

Erratum to: 36th International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine: Brussels, Belgium. 15-18 March 2016.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s13054-016-1208-6.]

SCUBA divers as oceanographic samplers: The potential of dive computers to augment aquatic temperature monitoring

Monitoring temperature of aquatic waters is of great importance, with modelled, satellite and in-situ data providing invaluable insights into long-term environmental change. However, there is often a lack of depth-resolved temperature measurements. Recreational dive computers routinely record temperature and depth, so could provide an alternate and highly novel source of oceanographic information to fill this data gap. In this study, a citizen science approach was used to obtain over 7,000 scuba diver temperature profiles. The accuracy, offset and lag of temperature records was assessed by comparing dive computers with scientific conductivity-temperature-depth instruments and existing surface temperature data. Our results show that, with processing, dive computers can provide a useful and novel tool with which to augment existing monitoring systems all over the globe, but especially in under-sampled or highly changeable coastal environments

Characterization of fetal microchimeric immune cells in mouse maternal hearts during physiologic and pathologic pregnancies

Introduction: During pregnancy, fetal cells can be incorporated into maternal tissues (fetal microchimerism), where they can persist postpartum. Whether these fetal cells are beneficial or detrimental to maternal health is unknown. This study aimed to characterize fetal microchimeric immune cells in the maternal heart during pregnancy and postpartum, and to identify differences in these fetal microchimeric subpopulations between normal and pregnancies complicated by spontaneous preterm induced by ascending infection.Methods: A Cre reporter mouse model, which when mated with wild-type C57BL/6J females resulted in cells and tissues of progeny expressing red fluorescent protein tandem dimer Tomato (mT+), was used to detect fetal microchimeric cells. On embryonic day (E)15, 104 colony-forming units (CFU) E. coli was administered intravaginally to mimic ascending infection, with delivery on or before E18.5 considered as preterm delivery. A subset of pregnant mice was sacrificed at E16 and postpartum day 28 to harvest maternal hearts. Heart tissues were processed for immunofluorescence microscopy and high-dimensional mass cytometry by time-of-flight (CyTOF) using an antibody panel of immune cell markers. Changes in cardiac physiologic parameters were measured up to 60 days postpartum via two-dimensional echocardiography.Results: Intravaginal E. coli administration resulted in preterm delivery of live pups in 70% of the cases. mT + expressing cells were detected in maternal uterus and heart, implying that fetal cells can migrate to different maternal compartments. During ascending infection, more fetal antigen-presenting cells (APCs) and less fetal hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and fetal double-positive (DP) thymocytes were observed in maternal hearts at E16 compared to normal pregnancy. These HSCs were cleared while DP thymocytes persisted 28 days postpartum following an ascending infection. No significant changes in cardiac physiologic parameters were observed postpartum except a trend in lowering the ejection fraction rate in preterm delivered mothers.Conclusion: Both normal pregnancy and ascending infection revealed distinct compositions of fetal microchimeric immune cells within the maternal heart, which could potentially influence the maternal cardiac microenvironment via (1) modulation of cardiac reverse modeling processes by fetal stem cells, and (2) differential responses to recognition of fetal APCs by maternal T cells