Evidence for the Contribution of the Hemozoin Synthesis Pathway of the Murine Plasmodium yoelii to the Resistance to Artemisinin-Related Drugs

Plasmodium falciparum malaria is a major global health problem, causing approximately 780,000 deaths each year. In response to the spreading of P. falciparum drug resistance, WHO recommended in 2001 to use artemisinin derivatives in combination with a partner drug (called ACT) as first-line treatment for uncomplicated falciparum malaria, and most malaria-endemic countries have since changed their treatment policies accordingly. Currently, ACT are often the last treatments that can effectively and rapidly cure P. falciparum infections permitting to significantly decrease the mortality and the morbidity due to malaria. However, alarming signs of emerging resistance to artemisinin derivatives along the Thai-Cambodian border are of major concern. Through long-term in vivo pressures, we have been able to select a murine malaria model resistant to artemisinins. We demonstrated that the resistance of Plasmodium to artemisinin-based compounds depends on alterations of heme metabolism and on a loss of hemozoin formation linked to the down-expression of the recently identified Heme Detoxification Protein (HDP). These artemisinins resistant strains could be able to detoxify the free heme by an alternative catabolism pathway involving glutathione (GSH)-mediation. Finally, we confirmed that artemisinins act also like quinolines against Plasmodium via hemozoin production inhibition. The work proposed here described the mechanism of action of this class of molecules and the resistance to artemisinins of this model. These results should help both to reinforce the artemisinins activity and avoid emergence and spread of endoperoxides resistance by focusing in adequate drug partners design. Such considerations appear crucial in the current context of early artemisinin resistance in Asia

Effectiveness of Justice-Based Measures in Managing Trust and Privacy Concerns on Social Networking Sites: Intercultural Perspective

The unprecedented success of social networking sites (SNSs) has been recently overshadowed by concerns about privacy risks. As SNS users grow weary of privacy breaches and thus develop distrust, they may restrict or even terminate their platform activities. In the long run, these developments endanger SNS platforms’ financial viability and undermine their ability to create individual and social value. By applying a justice perspective, this study aims to understand the means at the disposal of SNS providers to leverage the privacy concerns and trusting beliefs of their users—two important determinants of user participation on SNSs. Considering that SNSs have a global appeal, empirical tests assess the effectiveness of justice measures for three culturally distinct countries: Germany, Russia and Morocco. The results indicate that these measures are particularly suited to address trusting beliefs of SNS audience. Specifically, in all examined countries, procedural justice and the awareness dimension of informational justice improve perceptions of trust in the SNS provider. Privacy concerns, however, are not as easy to manage, because the impact of justice-based measures on privacy concerns is not universal. Beyond theoretical value, this research offers valuable practical insights into the use of justice-based measures to promote trust and mitigate privacy concerns in a cross-cultural setting

A Dialectical Methodology For Decision Support Systems Design

The multi-perspective decision-making paradigm is extended to include a dialectical process to assist in developing decision support systems (DSSs) in wicked situations with much conflict among stakeholder groups. A dialectical methodology is proposed and applied to a wicked decision problem, namely urban infrastructure management, in order to illustrate the model. The dialectical analysis highlights conflicts among stakeholders and helps to focus DSS design attention on areas that may be problematic during implementation

A framework of ICT exploitation for e-participation initiatives

10.1145/1409360.1409385Communications of the ACM5112128-132CACM

Biometric technologies at music festivals: An extended technology acceptance model

The purpose of this paper is to gain a better understanding of user acceptance of Biometric Technologies (BT) at outdoor music festivals in the United Kingdom. While research on such technologies, such as facial recognition is limited in the events context, they have already been deployed at music festivals to deal with issues of security, safety and crowd management. Using an extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), a self-administered questionnaire was completed by young adults in the United Kingdom who had previously been to a music festival. The study found factors such as privacy, reliability and accuracy did not have a significant impact on user acceptance. Other factors, such as trust, compatibility and convenience were found to have a significant positive impact on perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and attitude to use. As the findings indicate that accuracy and privacy do not impact BT acceptance, the paper explores how organizers can be transparent and accountable as to their intentions to use BT, so as to justify the usefulness of BT to attendees, artists, regulators and authorities