Opportunities in the United States for Training in Biotechnology for Parasitic Disease Investigations

In the United States there are academic, governmental and industrial training opportunities in biotechnology that are applicable to the study of parasitic disease. Academic opportunities are the most plentiful. At least 130 universities in the Unites States have training programs in which current biotechnologies are being used to investigate parasites of economic or public health importance. Further, there are at least 70 centers of biotechnology in the United States. In these centers, many of which are located on university campuses, new biological techniques are being applied to both basic and applied research projects. The Unites States government administers more than 20 research programs that utilize current biotechnology to conduct parasitic disease research programs. These programs are conducted in or supported with resources of the following agencies: the Departments of Agriculture, Health and Human Services, Defense, and Interior, the Agency for International Development, the National Science Foun­dation, the National Academy of Sciences, and the Environmental Protection Agency. Commercial firms using biotechnological methods for production of biologicals and other reagents, provide an opportunity for on-the-job training and experience in the application of these new technologies to parasites diseases of major economic or public health importance

Current Technological Approaches to the Study of Trematodes

Advances in biology sciences over the past decade have provided additional technology for dealing with trematode parasitoses. Although trematode diseases of man and animals in Indonesia are essentially the same as they were ten years ago, scientific methods available to deal with them have improved significantly. One can now exploit the innate ability of cells to replicate and produce biological products upon demand, manipulate the genetic make up of an organism, biologically or synthetically manufacture peptides and rationally develop drugs that target idiosyncrasies of parasites at the cellular and molecular levels. Further, one can now manage and analyze massive amounts of biological data using desk top computers. These new biological techniques and the computing ability to interpret the data generated provide parasitologists in Indonesia and elsewhere with the ability to document the economic and public health impact of trematode parasitoses and to develop new strategies and reagents for diagnosing, treating, preventing and controlling the diseases they cause. In addition, biotechnology offers university scientists and their students with additional opportunities to investigate basic and esoteric aspects of host-parasite interrelationship that are such an intriguing aspect of biology

Precontrol Investigation of Schistosomiasis in Central Sulawesi

Pertama kali Oriental Schistosomiasis dilaporkan terdapat di Lembah Lindu, Sulawesi Tengah adalah pada tahun 1937. Studi tentang epidemiologi penyakit tsb. sampai perang dunia ke II menemukai bahwa selain orang, juga rusa dan anjing bertindak sebagai tuan rumah. Tetapi pada saat itu tuan rumah perantara belum diketemukan. Pada tahun 1971, lebih dari tiga puluh tahun sesudah penemuan Schistosoma japonicum di Lembah Lindu, penyelidikan tentang schistosomiasis di Sulawesi Tengah, dimulai kembali. Tuan rumah perantara dari penyakit tsb. pada saat ini diketemukan dan setelah diselidiki ternyata merupakan sub-species baru dari Oncomelania, yang disebut Oncomelania hupensi lindoensis. Sesudah penelitian tentang penyakit tsb. dan dengan diketemukannya tuan rumah perantarc nya, penelitian yang lebih mendalam tentang penyebaran schistosomiasis di Lembah Lindu dimulai untuk memungkinkan membuat rencana pemberantasan dikemudian hari. Karena schistosomiasi merupakan penyakit yang sangat komplex, dalam arti menyangkut penyebabnya, tuan rumah perantar dan banyaknya hewan2 mammalia yang dapat bertindak sebagai tuan rumah tetap, maka penyelidikan tentang ekologi penyakit tsb. perlu dilakukan. Didalam paper ini akan terlihat garisi besar dan penelitian yang sedang dilakukan di Sulawesi Tengah sebelum dilakukannya pemberantasan, antari lain Geographic distribution di Sulawesi, Mammalian host range, Prevalence rates and Intensif of infection in various mammalian host. Relative importance of mammalian reservoirs, Incidenc in humans and rats, Distribution of molluscan host, Prevalence rates in the molluscan host. Populatio densities of molluscan host, Foci of transmission, Daily and Seasonal periodicity of cercarial release and Socio-economic factors affecting transmission

Particle Dark Energy

We explore the physics of a gas of particles interacting with a condensate that spontaneously breaks Lorentz invariance. The equation of state of this gas varies from 1/3 to less than -1 and can lead to the observed cosmic acceleration. The particles are always stable. In our particular class of models these particles are fermions with a chiral coupling to the condensate. They may behave as relativistic matter at early times, produce a brief period where they dominate the expansion with w<0 today, and behave as matter at late time. There are no small parameters in our models, which generically lead to dark energy clustering and, depending on the choice of parameters, smoothing of small scale power.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures; minor update with added refs; version appearing in Phys. Rev.

Space Trajectory Error Analysis Program (STEAP) for halo orbit missions. Volume 2: Programmer's manual

The six month effort was responsible for the development, test, conversion, and documentation of computer software for the mission analysis of missions to halo orbits about libration points in the earth-sun system. The software consisting of two programs called NOMNAL and ERRAN is part of the Space Trajectories Error Analysis Programs. The program NOMNAL targets a transfer trajectory from earth on a given launch date to a specified halo orbit on a required arrival date. Either impulsive or finite thrust insertion maneuvers into halo orbit are permitted by the program. The transfer trajectory is consistent with a realistic launch profile input by the user. The second program ERRAN conducts error analyses of the targeted transfer trajectory. Measurements including range, doppler, star-planet angles, and apparent planet diameter are processed in a Kalman-Schmidt filter to determine the trajectory knowledge uncertainty

20 Years Of Progress In Schistosomiasis Research

Preliminary studies of schistosomiasis in Indonesia were made in the late 1930's and the early 1940's. The first human case of S. japonicum was discovered by Muller and Tesch from the Lindu valley of Central Sulawesi (Celebes). Early epidemiological studies prior to World War II demonstrated that, in addition to man, wild deer and domestic dogs served as reservoir hosts, "and subsequent microscopic examination of adult worms from these mammals confirmed them to be S. japonicum. Although extensive snail surveys were conducted at that time, the molluscan host was not found. The schistosomiasis problem in Lindu Valley virtually remained dormant until the 1970's. In the 1970's there was a resurgence of interest in the epidemiology of schistosomiasis in Indonesia. A new schistosomiasis area in the Napu valley was discovered. During this period, the intermediate host, Oncomelania hupensis was found in the Lake Lindu valley. This confirmed that the uisease situation in Indonesia was, in fact, a form of classical oriental schistosomiasis similar in its biology and transmission to that found in the Philippines, Japan, and China. The molluscan host of S. japonicum in the Lake Lindu Valley was subsequently described as a new species, O. h. iindoensis, and is most similar to O. h. quadrasi, the vector host in the Philippines. The disease occurs now only in two very isolated areas, the Lake Lindu valley and Napu valley in Central Sulawesi

Parasites Of Man In Serang, West Java

Survey penyakit menular didesa Cikurai dan Barengkok, Jawa Barat pada bulan Juni 1974 ini adalah merupakan salah satu dari serangkaian survey yang dilakukan oleh Direktorat Jenderal P3.M. Dep. Kes. dan US Namru-2 guna menentukan distribusi dan prevalensi penyakit terutama malaria, filariasis dan penyakit parasit Perut. Khususnya didaerah Cikurai dimana dilaporkan adanya Schistosoma in­cognitum secara hyperenzootik maka perlulah dilihat apakah parasit ini ditemukan pula diantara pend-duk setempat. Dari hasil survey didesa Cikurai dan Barengkok, Jawa Barat ini dilihat bahwa Plasmodium falciparum ditemukan pada 8 atau 3 persen dari sediaan darah 261 penduduk yang diperiksa dan tidak terlihat adanya microfilariae. Parasit Perut yang menonjol terlihat pada sediaan tinja dari 335 penduduk yang diperiksa adalah Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura dan cacing tambang masing-masing sebesar 89 persen, 87 persen dan 65 persen ; parasit lainnya adalah Entamoeba histolytica, Entamoeba hart manni, Entamoeba coli, Endolinuu nana, lodamoeba butschlii, Giardia lamblia, Chilomastvc mesnili, Enterobius vermicularis, dan Echinostoma sp. Tidak terlihat adanya Schistosoma incognitum pada sediaan tinja dari 335 penduduk yang diperiksa dikedua desa ini

Intestinal Parasites In Sembalun Lawang, Lombok

Survey tinja telah dilakukan diantara penduduk di Kampung Sembalun Lawang, Distrik Aikinal, Lombok Timur, pada bulan Agustus 1973 untuk mengetahui angka parasit usus dan demam keong di daerah tersebut. Dari 146 penduduk yang diperiksa tinjanya ditemukan 99 persen mengandung sekurang-kurangnya satu jenis parasit usus, 85 persen dengan dua jenis atau lebih dan 40 persen dengan tiga jenis atau lebih. Tidak ditemukan bibit penyakit demam keong diantara penduduk didaerah ini. Angka infeksi dari parasit usus tersebut masing-masing adalah Ascaris lumbricoides 96 persen, Trichuris trichiura 84 persen, cacing tambang 25 persen, Entamocba coli 18 persen, Enterobius vermicularis 10 persen, lodamoeba butsehlii 3 persen, Entamoeba histolytica 1 persen dan Giardia lamblia 1 persen. Pada umumnya tidak banyak perbedaan angka infeksi dari parasit usus ini diantara golongan umur dan kelamin kecuali untuk cacing tambang dimana infeksi pada golongan laki-laki lebih banyak dari pada golongan perempuan