High platelet content can increase storage lesion rates following Intercept pathogen inactivation primarily in platelet concentrates prepared by apheresis

Background: Pathogen inactivation methods for platelet concentrates are increasingly being used in blood banks worldwide. In vitro studies have demonstrated its effects on storage lesion, but little routine quality control data on blood banking outcomes have been reported. Materials and Methods: Swirling of distributed products was monitored before and after implementation of Intercept pathogen inactivation. Metabolic parameters pH, glucose and lactic acid were determined in a random cohort of expired pathogen-inactivated products. Storage lesion indicators in apheresis concentrates with premature low swirling were compared to concentrates with normal swirling. Results: During validation for implementing Intercept pathogen inactivation, pH and glucose levels decreased faster in apheresis platelet concentrates with high platelet content than with low platelet content or than in pathogen-inactivated pooled buffy coat-derived products. In routine products, glucose exhaustion was more often found in apheresis compared to buffy coat-derived platelet concentrates despite 3-7% more plasma carryover in the former. Annual incidence of premature low swirling increased significantly by 50% following implementation of pathogen inactivation implementation for apheresis but not for pooled buffy coat platelet concentrates. In addition, apheresis concentrates with premature low swirling had a significantly higher median platelet count (50 x 10(11)) than unaffected products (35 x 10(11)). Conclusion: The risk of increased storage lesion rates following Intercept pathogen inactivation is higher for apheresis than for buffy coat-derived platelet concentrates, especially when platelet contents are higher than 50 x 10(11)

Exploring park–people conflicts in Colombia through a social lens

Natural resource-related conflicts between local communities and nation states can be extremely destructive. Worldwide, interest is growing in gaining a better understanding of why and how these conflicts originate, particularly in protected areas inhabited by local communities. The literature on local attitudes towards and perceptions of park conservation and park–people conflicts is quite extensive. Studies have examined the socioeconomic and geographical determinants of attitudes to protected areas. However, the role of such determinants in the experience of park–people conflicts has received considerably less attention. Drawing on 601 interviews with people living in or near 15 Colombian national protected areas (NPAs), we examine the socioeconomic and geographical variables that are most influential in people’s experience of conflict related to restricted access to natural resources. We find that the experience of this type of conflict is largely explained by the NPA where a person resides, pursuit of productive activities within the NPA, previous employment in NPA administration, gender and ethnicity. We recommend implementing socially inclusive conservation strategies for conflict prevention and resolution in Colombia’s NPAs, whereby both women and men from different ethnic groups are engaged in design and implementation

Engineering Yarrowia lipolytica to Produce Glycoproteins Homogeneously Modified with the Universal Man3GlcNAc2 N-Glycan Core

Yarrowia lipolytica is a dimorphic yeast that efficiently secretes various heterologous proteins and is classified as “generally recognized as safe.” Therefore, it is an attractive protein production host. However, yeasts modify glycoproteins with non-human high mannose-type N-glycans. These structures reduce the protein half-life in vivo and can be immunogenic in man. Here, we describe how we genetically engineered N-glycan biosynthesis in Yarrowia lipolytica so that it produces Man3GlcNAc2 structures on its glycoproteins. We obtained unprecedented levels of homogeneity of this glycanstructure. This is the ideal starting point for building human-like sugars. Disruption of the ALG3 gene resulted in modification of proteins mainly with Man5GlcNAc2 and GlcMan5GlcNAc2 glycans, and to a lesser extent with Glc2Man5GlcNAc2 glycans. To avoid underoccupancy of glycosylation sites, we concomitantly overexpressed ALG6. We also explored several approaches to remove the terminal glucose residues, which hamper further humanization of N-glycosylation; overexpression of the heterodimeric Apergillus niger glucosidase II proved to be the most effective approach. Finally, we overexpressed an α-1,2-mannosidase to obtain Man3GlcNAc2 structures, which are substrates for the synthesis of complex-type glycans. The final Yarrowia lipolytica strain produces proteins glycosylated with the trimannosyl core N-glycan (Man3GlcNAc2), which is the common core of all complex-type N-glycans. All these glycans can be constructed on the obtained trimannosyl N-glycan using either in vivo or in vitro modification with the appropriate glycosyltransferases. The results demonstrate the high potential of Yarrowia lipolytica to be developed as an efficient expression system for the production of glycoproteins with humanized glycans

Understanding and Resolving Conflict Between Local Communities and Conservation Authorities in Colombia

Conflicts between indigenous and local communities, on the one hand, and national protected area administrations on the other are pervasive. A better understanding of these park-people conflicts would assist in suitable policy changes to constructively address them while concurrently pursuing conservation and livelihood goals. We interviewed 601 people living inside or along the borders of fifteen Colombian NPAs to identify five main categories of park-people conflicts. Based on interviews with 128 community leaders and 76 institutional-level respondents -mainly park officers- we discuss the five principal factors underlying the identified conflicts and present a conflict framework relating the dominant sources to the most prominent conflict manifestations. Finally, we detail five strategies toward conflict prevention. While simultaneous interventions at multiple levels would be ideal or preferred, our analysis suggests that the incidence of park-people conflicts in Colombia can be substantially lowered through (i) making the environmental legislative body more socially inclusive; and (ii) adequately empowering NPA administrations. We expect our findings to be valuable for managing conflict contexts in protected areas in other tropical countries. Further research is necessary to determine the most effective interventions for both conflict resolution and meeting conservation goal

Understanding and Resolving Conflict Between Local Communities and Conservation Authorities in Colombia

Conflicts between indigenous and local communities, on the one hand, and national protected area administrations on the other are pervasive. A better understanding of these park-people conflicts would assist in suitable policy changes to constructively address them while concurrently pursuing conservation and livelihood goals. We interviewed 601 people living inside or along the borders of fifteen Colombian NPAs to identify five main categories of park-people conflicts. Based on interviews with 128 community leaders and 76 institutional-level respondents -mainly park officers- we discuss the five principal factors underlying the identified conflicts and present a conflict framework relating the dominant sources to the most prominent conflict manifestations. Finally, we detail five strategies toward conflict prevention. While simultaneous interventions at multiple levels would be ideal or preferred, our analysis suggests that the incidence of park-people conflicts in Colombia can be substantially lowered through (i) making the environmental legislative body more socially inclusive; and (ii) adequately empowering NPA administrations. We expect our findings to be valuable for managing conflict contexts in protected areas in other tropical countries. Further research is necessary to determine the most effective interventions for both conflict resolution and meeting conservation goal

Tracer test modeling for characterizing heterogeneity and local-scale residence time distribution in an artificial recharge site

Artificial recharge of aquifers is a technique for improving water quality and increasing groundwater resources. Understanding the fate of a potential contaminant requires knowledge of the residence time distribution (RTD) of the recharged water in the aquifer beneath. A simple way to obtain the RTDs is to perform a tracer test. We performed a pulse injection tracer test in an artificial recharge system through an infiltration basin to obtain the breakthrough curves, which directly yield the RTDs. The RTDs turned out to be very broad and we used a numerical model to interpret them, to characterize heterogeneity, and to extend the model to other flow conditions. The model comprised nine layers at the site scaled to emulate the layering of aquifer deposits. Two types of hypotheses were considered: homogeneous (all flow and transport parameters identical for every layer) and heterogeneous (diverse parameters for each layer). The parameters were calibrated against the head and concentration data in both model types, which were validated quite satisfactorily against 1,1,2-Trichloroethane and electrical conductivity data collected over a long period of time with highly varying flow conditions. We found that the broad RTDs can be attributed to the complex flow structure generated under the basin due to three-dimensionality and time fluctuations (the homogeneous model produced broad RTDs) and the heterogeneity of the media (the heterogeneous model yielded much better fits). We conclude that heterogeneity must be acknowledged to properly assess mixing and broad RTDs, which are required to explain the water quality improvement of artificial recharge basins

Development of quality of care interventions for adult patients on home parenteral nutrition (HPN) with a benign underlying disease using a two-round Delphi approach

Item does not contain fulltextBACKGROUND & AIMS: HPN patients with benign diseases deserve professional care as they have to deal with complex techniques and risk potentially dangerous complications. The aim was to highlight main outcome quality indicators and to develop a set of key interventions to direct multidisciplinary teams in providing qualitative care. METHODS: A two-round Delphi approach was used to build consensus on the most important outcome indicators and on 59 interventions identified in existing guidelines on HPN. Comments and interventions newly identified in the first round were co-evaluated in the second round. RESULTS: 29 experts from 9 countries completed the two-round Delphi approach. The outcome indicators rated as the most important are 1) incidence of catheter-related infections, 2) incidence of readmission and quality of life (shared second place) and 3) incidence of dehydration. Sixty eight of a total of 89 interventions were considered as important for the quality of care, of which 46 are based on published guidelines and 22 were newly suggested by the Delphi panel. CONCLUSIONS: Using a two-round Delphi approach, consensus was reached for the majority of interventions concerning HPN patients with benign diseases. This set of 68 interventions could be of use as a starting point for quality-improvement programs