A Strategic Analysis of Vaccine Access for Developing Countries

Vaccination has been one of the major successes in global health, providing a costeffective method of reducing morbidity and mortality. However, middle- and low-income countries are often unable to access newer vaccines in a timely manner. This analysis outlines market-influenced solutions that address the inequity. First, the current state of the vaccine industry and the roles of manufacturers are examined, and then the impact of innovation on the industry is assessed. High-, middle- and low-income country markets are compared. Finally, an assessment is made of the models that increase vaccine access. The industry, innovation impact, market and access model analyses lead to a proposal of a complementary strategic plan for improved vaccine access for developing countries. This analysis defines the key success factors for future vaccine development and manufacturing that will equilibrate vaccine use across the globe

Relationship Between Neck Circumference and Cardiometabolic Parameters in HIV-Infected and non–HIV-Infected Adults

OBJECTIVE: Upper body fat is associated with increased cardiometabolic risk. More recently, neck circumference (NC) and/or neck fat have been associated with hyperlipidemia, impaired glucose homeostasis, and hypertension. The objective of this study was to determine whether this relationship is evident in HIV-infected individuals, who often exhibit changes in relative fat distribution, and to determine whether NC is independently associated with carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) in HIV and non–HIV-infected patients. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Body composition, including anthropometrics, visceral adipose tissue assessment by CT, and metabolic parameters, including lipids, cIMT, and oral glucose tolerance test, were measured in 174 men and women with HIV infection and 154 non–HIV-infected subjects. NC was measured in triplicate inferior to the laryngeal prominence. RESULTS: In univariate analysis, NC was significantly and positively related to blood pressure, hemoglobin A1c, glucose, and insulin and significantly and negatively related to HDL cholesterol in HIV-infected individuals and HIV-negative control subjects. NC was significantly associated with cIMT in univariate regression analysis among HIV-infected (r = 0.21, P = 0.006) and non–HIV-infected (r = 0.31, P = 0.0001) patients. This relationship remained significant among non–HIV-infected patients (R2 = 0.45, P < 0.001) but not HIV-infected patients in multivariate modeling controlling for age, sex, race, smoking hypertension, glucose, and lipids. CONCLUSIONS: Among both HIV and non–HIV-infected patients, increased NC is strongly associated with decreased HDL and impaired glucose homeostasis. Among non–HIV-infected subjects, NC also predicts increased cIMT when controlling for traditional risk factors

Elevated serum antibody responses to synthetic mycobacterial lipid antigens among UK farmers: an indication of exposure to environmental mycobacteria?

Background: mycobacterial cells contain complex mixtures of mycolic acid esters. These can be used as antigens recognised by antibodies in the serum of individuals with active tuberculosis, caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In high burden populations, a significant number of false positives are observed; possibly these antigens are also recognised by antibodies generated by other mycobacterial infections, particularly ubiquitous ‘environmental mycobacteria’. This suggests similar responses may be observed in a low burden TB population, particularly in groups regularly exposed to mycobacteria. Methods: ELISA using single synthetic trehalose mycolates corresponding to major classes in many mycobacteria was used to detect antibodies in serum of individuals with no known mycobacterial infection, comprising farmers, abattoir workers, and rural and urban populations. Results: serum from four Welsh or Scottish cohorts showed lower (with some antigens significantly lower) median responses than those reported for TB negatives from high-burden TB populations, and significantly lower responses than those with active TB. A small fraction, particularly older farmers, showed strong responses. A second study examined BCG vaccinated and non-vaccinated farmers and non-farmers. Farmers gave significantly higher median responses than non-farmers with three of five antigens, while there was no significant difference between vaccinated or non-vaccinated for either farmer or non-farmer groups. Conclusions: this initial study shows that serodiagnosis with mycobacterial lipid antigens can detect antibodies in a population sub-group that is significantly exposed to mycobacteria, in an assay that is not interfered with by vaccination. Given the links between mycobacterial exposure and a range of immune system diseases, further understanding such responses may provide a new opportunity for monitoring public health and directing treatment

Incorporating qualitative research methods into the monitoring and evaluation of neglected tropical disease programmes: a scoping literature review

This publication addresses the limited use of qualitative methods in neglected tropical disease (NTD) programmes. It describes a scoping literature review conducted to inform the development of a guide to inform the use of rapid qualitative assessments to strengthen NTD mass drug administration (MDA) programmes. The review assessed how qualitative methods are currently used by NTD programmes and identified qualitative approaches from other health and development programmes with the potential to strengthen the design of MDA interventions. Systematic review articles were reviewed and searched using key terms conducted on Google Scholar and PubMed. Results show that methods used by NTD programmes rely heavily on focus group discussions and in-depth interviews, often with time-consuming analysis and limited information on how results are applied. Results from other fields offered insight into a wider range of methods, including participatory approaches, and on how to increase programmatic uptake of findings. Recommendations on how to apply these findings to NTD control are made. The topic of human resources for qualitative investigations is explored and a guide to improve MDAs using qualitative methods is introduced. This guide has direct applicability across the spectrum of NTDs as well as other public health programmes

Computer software for business and specific purposes in wood industry

V 211 slovenskih mikro in majhnih lesnih podjetjih, katerih osnovna dejavnost (po SKD) zajema proizvodnjo pohištva za poslovne prostore, proizvodnjo kuhinjskega pohištva in proizvodnjo drugega pohištva, smo preučili razširjenost ter uporabo poslovnih in namenskih računalniških programov. Raziskava je temeljila na primerjalni analizi in oceni stanja programske opreme. Oceno stanja smo izvedli s pomočjo ankete, ki smo jo distribuirali prek različnih medijev. Odziv na anketo je bil v povprečju 23,7 %. Ocenimo lahko, da so računalniški programi v mikro in majhnih lesnih podjetjih na nekaterih področjih intenzivneje uporabljani kot na drugih. Ugotovili smo, da podjetja v večini uporabljajo pri poslovanju pisarniške programe, predvsem tiste podjetja Microsoft. Uporaba specializirane programske opreme je še precej omejena, saj jo pri poslovanju uporablja le 40 % preučevanih podjetij. Nekoliko bolj uporabljajo programsko opremo namenjeno konstruiranju (60 %).The range and usage of computer software for business and specific purposes were researched in 211 micro and minor wood firms, encompasing the production of office furniture, kitchen furniture and some other furniture as the basic activity, according to Statistical Classification Activities (SCA). The research was based on comparative analysis and software condition evaluation. Evaluation of the current situation was carried out by means of a questionnaire, distributed with the help of media. The response was as high as 23.7 %. It can be estimated that the computer software in these micro and minor wood firms is used more often in some areas than in others. It was found out that the firms use mainly office software- especially Microsoft ones. The usage of specialized software equipment is still quite limited in these firms. Only 40 % of the tested firms use is software for their business, meanwhile the equipment designed for construction is more frequently used (60 %)

Environmental noise reduces predation rate in an aquatic invertebrate

Noise is one of a wide range of disturbances associated with human activities that have been shown to have detrimental impacts on a wide range of species, from montane regions to the deep marine environment. Noise may also have community-level impacts via predator–prey interactions, thus jeopardising the stability of trophic networks. However, the impact of noise on freshwater ecosystems is largely unknown. Even more so is the case of insects, despite their crucial role in trophic networks. Here, we study the impact of underwater noise on the predatory functional response of damselfly larvae. We compared the feeding rates of larvae under anthropogenic noise, natural noise, and silent conditions. Our results suggest that underwater noise (pooling the effects of anthropogenic noise and natural noise) decreases the feeding rate of damselflies significantly compared to relatively silent conditions. In particular, natural noise increased the handling time significantly compared to the silent treatment, thus reducing the feeding rate. Unexpectedly, feeding rates under anthropogenic noise were not reduced significantly compared to silent conditions. This study suggests that noise per se may not necessarily have negative impacts on trophic interactions. Instead, the impact of noise on feeding rates may be explained by the presence of nonlinearities in acoustic signals, which may be more abundant in natural compared to anthropogenic noise. We conclude by highlighting the importance of studying a diversity of types of acoustic pollution, and encourage further work regarding trophic interactions with insects using a functional response approach

Environment and Rural Affairs Monitoring & Modelling Programme ERAMMP - Report-32: National Forest in Wales - Evidence Review

This review was commissioned by Welsh Government (WG) from the Environment and Rural Affairs Monitoring and Modelling Programme (ERAMMP) to provide key evidence of potential benefits and disbenefits of woodland creation, woodland expansion and managing undermanaged woodland, to provide an evidence base to inform the development of a National Forest for Wales. During the commissioning process, WG emphasised that the evidence provided must reflect the collective views of the community by reviewing the literature in an objective way highlighting where evidence is contradictory or weak. Within the time available, evidence of causality of impacts, the likely timescales and magnitude of these impacts should be also be presented, for both positive and negative impacts of woodland expansion and management of undermanaged woodlands. This Evidence Pack should also build on the evidence put forward in the ERAMMP Sustainable Farm Scheme (SFS) (https://erammp.wales/en/resources) which included a range of assessments of the value of intervention measures which promoted trees within a landscape setting for a range of environmental, economic and social outcomes. The required rapid production of the review in four months meant an expert approach of key evidence was expected rather than a systematic review. Key topics to cover were selected, in partnership with WG, focussing on issues that could fundamentally change decision-making going forward. The final agreed list was arranged under a series of high-level subject headings, and the individual reviews published as ERAMMP Reports 33 to 38 and include; Biodiversity; Managing Undermanaged Woodland; Future-proofing our Woodland; Climate Change Mitigation; Ecosystem Services, and Economics and Natural Capital Accounting. An Integrated Assessment was also commissioned to provide a synthesis of cross-cutting themes and dependencies between topics. These ERAMMP reports are all provided as Annexes to this report

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Multi-ancestry genome-wide association meta-analysis of Parkinson?s disease

Although over 90 independent risk variants have been identified for Parkinson’s disease using genome-wide association studies, most studies have been performed in just one population at a time. Here we performed a large-scale multi-ancestry meta-analysis of Parkinson’s disease with 49,049 cases, 18,785 proxy cases and 2,458,063 controls including individuals of European, East Asian, Latin American and African ancestry. In a meta-analysis, we identified 78 independent genome-wide significant loci, including 12 potentially novel loci (MTF2, PIK3CA, ADD1, SYBU, IRS2, USP8, PIGL, FASN, MYLK2, USP25, EP300 and PPP6R2) and fine-mapped 6 putative causal variants at 6 known PD loci. By combining our results with publicly available eQTL data, we identified 25 putative risk genes in these novel loci whose expression is associated with PD risk. This work lays the groundwork for future efforts aimed at identifying PD loci in non-European populations