Comparing research investment to United Kingdom institutions and published outputs for tuberculosis, HIV and malaria: A systematic analysis across 1997-2013

Background: The "Unfinished Agenda" of infectious diseases is of great importance to policymakers and research funding agencies that require ongoing research evidence on their effective management. Journal publications help effectively share and disseminate research results to inform policy and practice. We assess research investments to United Kingdom institutions in HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, and analyse these by numbers of publications and citations and by disease and type of science. Methods: Information on infection-related research investments awarded to United Kingdom institutions across 1997-2010 were sourced from funding agencies and individually categorised by disease and type of science. Publications were sourced from the Scopus database via keyword searches and filtered to include only publications relating to human disease and containing a United Kingdom-based first and/or last author. Data were matched by disease and type of science categories. Investment (United Kingdom pounds) and publications were compared to generate an 'investment per publication' metric; similarly, an 'investment per citation' metric was also developed as a measure of the usefulness of research. Results: Total research investment for all three diseases was £1.4 billion, and was greatest for HIV (£651.4 million), followed by malaria (£518.7 million) and tuberculosis (£239.1 million). There were 17,271 included publications, with 9,322 for HIV, 4,451 for malaria, and 3,498 for tuberculosis. HIV publications received the most citations (254,949), followed by malaria (148,559) and tuberculosis (100,244). According to UK pound per publication, tuberculosis (£50,691) appeared the most productive for investment, compared to HIV (£61,971) and malaria (£94,483). By type of science, public health research was most productive for HIV (£27,296) and tuberculosis (£22,273), while phase I-III trials were most productive for malaria (£60,491). According to UK pound per citation, tuberculosis (£1,797) was the most productive area for investment, compared to HIV (£2,265) and malaria (£2,834). Public health research was the most productive type of science for HIV (£2,265) and tuberculosis (£1,797), whereas phase I-III trials were most productive for malaria (£1,713). Conclusions: When comparing total publications and citations with research investment to United Kingdom institutions, tuberculosis research appears to perform best in terms of efficiency. There were more public health-related publications and citations for HIV and tuberculosis than other types of science. These findings demonstrate the diversity of research funding and outputs, and provide new evidence to inform research investment strategies for policymakers, funders, academic institutions, and healthcare organizations.Infectious Disease Research Networ

A framework for intelligent policy decision making based on a government data hub

Author ProofThe e-Oman Integration Platform is a data hub that enables data exchanges across government in response to transactions. With millions of transactions weekly, and thereby data exchanges, we propose to investigate the potential of gathering intelligence from these linked sources to help government officials make more informed decisions. A key feature of this data is the richness and accuracy, which increases the value of the learning outcome when augmented by other big and open data sources. We consider a high-level framework within a government context, taking into account issues related to the definition of public policies, data privacy, and the potential benefits to society. A preliminary, qualitative validation of the framework in the context of e-Oman is presented. This paper lays out foundational work into an ongoing research to implement government decision-making based on big data.“SmartEGOV: Harnessing EGOV for Smart Governance (Foundations, Methods, Tools)/NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000037”, supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (EFDR

An Overview to the Structure and Function of Nuclear Matrix

Although the genome is defined by its primary sequence, its functional properties, aredetermined by far more complex mechanisms and depend on multiple layers of nuclearorganization. The architecture of the nucleus includes two overlapping structures: the chromatinand a framework structure named the nuclear matrix. Ultra-structural studies revealthat the nuclear matrix is a network consisting of branched core filaments masked with alarge number of hnRNPs and regulatory proteins. This scaffold has been demonstrated tobe an active and dynamic structure, anchoring the nuclear processes such as replication,transcription and splicing making nuclear domains/foci. It is postulated that the nuclearmatrix serves as a dynamic support to bring together specific DNA sequences with factorsinvolved in the regulation of genome functions. In this review, we attempt to introduce thestructure and function of nuclear matrix as an active intra-nuclear factor, having a criticaldynamic role to organize different nuclear functions. Studying in vivo variations of this epigeneticparameter has been suggested to all investigators interested in the field of chromatinstructure and itsdynamics

IN VITRO STUDY OF GRISEOFULVIN RESISTANT ISOLATES OF PREVALENT DERMATOPHYTES IN ISFAHAN

Introduction. With report of cases of griseofulvin resistant dermatophytes, the use of new Antifungal drugs such as itraconazole, fluconazole and terbinafine is recommended which are more expensive or somehow rare in Iran. Therefore, study of griseofulvin sensitivity pattern of dermatophytes in Isfahan could lead to a more effective and less expensive treatment for ermatophytoses.
 Methods. Fifty isolates of the most prevalent dermatophytes in Isfahan were isolated from patients and then the standard homogenized suspensions from them were prepared for future inoculation. The minimum inhibitory concemtration (MIC) of Griseofulvin was determined by modified macrodiution method for each isolate and then results were compared and analysed with standard values of MICs of dermatophytes and the resistant species indentified.
 Results. All tested isolates (related to four species) had MIC mode of 0.25, 90% had 8 and 50% ranged . between <0.25-1 µ.mg/ml. From all isolates, 10% of them including three T.verrucosum, one M. canis and one T. mentagrophytes had MIC out of standardized range, therfore, they considered as griseofulvin resistant isolates.
 Discussion. Although MIC valuses of drug in vivo and in vitro are somewhat different but in vitro values could be used as additional parameters in treatment of dermatophytoses, in particular its recalcitrant types or in areas which the resistant species may have high prevalence. In general, the proper application of griseofulvin and knowledge of prevalent species of dermatophytes of region and their drug sensitivity pattern could reduce the use of expensive and rare antifungal drugs for treatment of dermatophytoses in Iran

Synergy of theophylline reduces necrotic effect of berberine, induces cell cycle arrest and PARP, HMGB1, Bcl-2 family mediated apoptosis in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells

Berberine, is a plant alkaloid, proved to have anticancer effect on various cancers. Theophylline (TH), a natural product, is widely used in the treatment of respiratory difficulties. The present study designed to elucidate the effects of theophylline and berberine combination on breast cancer cells cytotoxicity, gene expression and cell cycle. MTT assay revealed that berberine inhibited MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells viability in a time and dose dependent manner (IC50 of 100 μM) but theophylline had no considerably effect on the cells. Combined treatment of berberine and theophylline showed a synergistic anti-proliferation effect, IC50 of berberine reduced to 50 μM and the cells were arrested at G2/M phase. Combined treatment of Berberine and theophylline reduced extracellular level of HMGB1 and down regulated HMGB1 and MMP-9 mRNA expression. The results of flow cytometry using annexin/PI staining of the cells, HMGB1 release, and poly ADP ribose polymerase cleavage demonstrated that theophylline attenuated necrotic effect of berberine and increased the level of apoptotic cell death. Enhancement of Bax content detected by ELISA and upregulation of Bax mRNA expression, down-regulation of Bcl-2 expression and increase of anion superoxide production confirmed induction of apoptosis via intrinsic apoptotic pathway. Replacement of theophylline with exogenous cyclic AMP in combination treatment represented similar effect on berberine cytotoxicity. From the results it is concluded that synergistic anticancer effect of theophylline and berberine suggests that combination of these two drugs may be an effective therapeutic agent against breast cancer cell. © 2018 Elsevier Masson SA

ISOLATION AND DETECTION OF CRYPTOCOCCUS NEOFORMANS FROM PIGEON DROPPINGS: ISFAHAN AND IT"S SUBURBS PROVINCE PIGEON TOWERS

Introduction: Cryptococcus neoformans is an encapsulated yeast like and a principle cause of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised hosts, especially those with AIDS. At the persent, due to progressive increase in predisposing factors to cryptococcosis and proper therapy, identification of this fungus has become more important than before. The most important sources of infection are contaminated pigeon droppings and soil. Since there are many so called .Pigeon Tower" in Isfahan and it"s suburbs, we decided to isolate and identify C.neoformans from pigeon droppings collected in these towers. It is notable that these pigeon droppings are traditionally used as natural fertilizer.
 Methods: After preparing suspensions of droppings, we spread them onto the surface of Niger seed agar and L-DOPA containing media. The identification of isolates was established by ureas test, India ink preparation, subculturing on CMA + Tween 80 medium, growth 37°c and assimilation of carbohydrates and nitrate. GCP (Glycine- Cyclohexaamide - Phenol red) medium was used for distinguishing C.neoformans Var. neoformans from C. neoformans Var. gattii. The pathogenicity of the isolates was determined in mice by intracerebral inoculation.
 Results: c. neoformans was isolated from 11 of 136 samples (8.1 percent). All of them were identified as c. neoformans Var. neoformans. However, five of them (45.5 percent) caused disease in mice. There was no statistically significant relation between the pH of the pigeon dropping and the precence of C.neoformans.
 Discussion: According to the results, it seems that the actual prevalance of cryptococcosis should be more than the reported cases. Regarding the relative frequency of the yeast in "Pigeon Towers" in Esfahan, as it was shown in this study, clinicians should pay more attention to this organism and its disease, especially in patients with predisposing factors