Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development as a Rural Development Strategy

Many social scientists believe that supporting entrepreneurship development within low-income communities is a viable development strategy to combat poverty. Some even suggest that if economic development is to be effective, new businesses in low income areas must be started through local initiatives, and that entrepreneurship is critical to the maintenance of a healthy economy. Underpinned by recent scholarship and grassroots movements that suggest that presence of smaller scale, locally-controlled enterprises can help determine whether communities prosper or decline, this paper explores the links between entrepreneurship and rural development. Using a theory of change framework (Oldsman and Hallberg 2002), the authors examine the USDA 1890 Entrepreneurial Outreach Initiative (USDA 2004) and its use as a local, community-based strategy to spur economic growth and development in rural communities across the South

Investigation of double beta decay with the NEMO-3 detector

The double beta decay experiment NEMO~3 has been taking data since February 2003. The aim of this experiment is to search for neutrinoless ($0\nu\beta\beta$) decay and investigate two neutrino double beta decay in seven different isotopically enriched samples ($^{100}$Mo, $^{82}$Se, $^{48}$Ca, $^{96}$Zr, $^{116}$Cd, $^{130}$Te and $^{150}$Nd). After analysis of the data corresponding to 3.75 y, no evidence for $0\nu\beta\beta$ decay in the $^{100}$Mo and $^{82}$Se samples was found. The half-life limits at the 90% C.L. are $1.1\cdot 10^{24}$ y and $3.6\cdot 10^{23}$ y, respectively. Additionally for $0\nu\beta\beta$ decay the following limits at the 90% C.L. were obtained, $> 1.3 \cdot 10^{22}$ y for $^{48}$Ca, $> 9.2 \cdot 10^{21}$ y for $^{96}$Zr and $> 1.8 \cdot 10^{22}$ y for $^{150}$Nd. The $2\nu\beta\beta$ decay half-life values were precisely measured for all investigated isotopes.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, 5 tables; talk at conference on "Fundamental Interactions Physics" (ITEP, Moscow, November 23-27, 2009

Recent advances in neutrinoless double beta decay search

Even after the discovery of neutrino flavour oscillations, based on data from atmospheric, solar, reactor, and accelerator experiments, many characteristics of the neutrino remain unknown. Only the neutrino square-mass differences and the mixing angle values have been estimated, while the value of each mass eigenstate still hasn't. Its nature (massive Majorana or Dirac particle) is still escaping. Neutrinoless double beta decay ($0\nu$-DBD) experimental discovery could be the ultimate answer to some delicate questions of elementary particle and nuclear physics. The Majorana description of neutrinos allows the $0\nu$-DBD process, and consequently either a mass value could be measured or the existence of physics beyond the standard should be confirmed without any doubt. As expected, the $0\nu$-DBD measurement is a very difficult field of application for experimentalists. In this paper, after a short summary of the latest results in neutrino physics, the experimental status, the R&D projects, and perspectives in $0\nu$-DBD sector are reviewed.Comment: 36 pages, 7 figures, To be publish in Czech Journal of Physic

Nanoparticle Orientation to Control RNA Loading and Ligand Display on Extracellular Vesicles for Cancer Regression

Nanotechnology offers many benefits, and here we report an advantage of applying RNA nanotechnology for directional control. The orientation of arrow-shaped RNA was altered to control ligand display on extracellular vesicle membranes for specific cell targeting, or to regulate intracellular trafficking of small interfering RNA (siRNA) or microRNA (miRNA). Placing membrane-anchoring cholesterol at the tail of the arrow results in display of RNA aptamer or folate on the outer surface of the extracellular vesicle. In contrast, placing the cholesterol at the arrowhead results in partial loading of RNA nanoparticles into the extracellular vesicles. Taking advantage of the RNA ligand for specific targeting and extracellular vesicles for efficient membrane fusion, the resulting ligand-displaying extracellular vesicles were capable of specific delivery of siRNA to cells, and efficiently blocked tumour growth in three cancer models. Extracellular vesicles displaying an aptamer that binds to prostate-specific membrane antigen, and loaded with survivin siRNA, inhibited prostate cancer xenograft. The same extracellular vesicle instead displaying epidermal growth-factor receptor aptamer inhibited orthotopic breast cancer models. Likewise, survivin siRNA-loaded and folate-displaying extracellular vesicles inhibited patient-derived colorectal cancer xenograft

A General RNA Motif for Cellular Transfection

We have developed a selection scheme to generate nucleic acid sequences that recognize and directly internalize into mammalian cells without the aid of conventional delivery methods. To demonstrate the generality of the technology, two independent selections with different starting pools were performed against distinct target cells. Each selection yielded a single highly functional sequence, both of which folded into a common core structure. This internalization signal can be adapted for use as a general purpose reagent for transfection into a wide variety of cell types including primary cells

An Estimate of the Incidence of Prostate Cancer in Africa: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Prostate cancer (PCa) is rated the second most common cancer and sixth leading cause of cancer deaths among men globally. Reports show that African men suffer disproportionately from PCa compared to men from other parts of the world. It is still quite difficult to accurately describe the burden of PCa in Africa due to poor cancer registration systems.We systematically reviewed the literature on prostate cancer in Africa and provided a continentwide incidence rate of PCa based on available data in the regio

The potential of antisense oligonucleotide therapies for inherited childhood lung diseases.

Antisense oligonucleotides are an emerging therapeutic option to treat diseases with known genetic origin. In the age of personalised medicines, antisense oligonucleotides can sometimes be designed to target and bypass or overcome a patient's genetic mutation, in particular those lesions that compromise normal pre-mRNA processing. Antisense oligonucleotides can alter gene expression through a variety of mechanisms as determined by the chemistry and antisense oligomer design. Through targeting the pre-mRNA, antisense oligonucleotides can alter splicing and induce a specific spliceoform or disrupt the reading frame, target an RNA transcript for degradation through RNaseH activation, block ribosome initiation of protein translation or disrupt miRNA function. The recent accelerated approval of eteplirsen (renamed Exondys 51™) by the Food and Drug Administration, for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and nusinersen, for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy, herald a new and exciting era in splice-switching antisense oligonucleotide applications to treat inherited diseases. This review considers the potential of antisense oligonucleotides to treat inherited lung diseases of childhood with a focus on cystic fibrosis and disorders of surfactant protein metabolism