Addressing Barriers to the Development and Adoption of Rapid Diagnostic Tests in Global Health

Immunochromatographic rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) have demonstrated significant potential for use as point-of-care diagnostic tests in resource-limited settings. Most notably, RDTs for malaria have reached an unparalleled level of technological maturity and market penetration, and are now considered an important complement to standard microscopic methods of malaria diagnosis. However, the technical development of RDTs for other infectious diseases, and their uptake within the global health community as a core diagnostic modality, has been hindered by a number of extant challenges. These range from technical and biological issues, such as the need for better affinity agents and biomarkers of disease, to social, infrastructural, regulatory and economic barriers, which have all served to slow their adoption and diminish their impact. In order for the immunochromatographic RDT format to be successfully adapted to other disease targets, to see widespread distribution, and to improve clinical outcomes for patients on a global scale, these challenges must be identified and addressed, and the global health community must be engaged in championing the broader use of RDTs

Prospectus, February 22, 1978

IS ANNEXATION TO CHAMPAIGN INEVITABLE?; A real stew in Stu-Go; Letters to the editor: Laudations for lifespan workshop, More on saving PLATO; Parkland College News in Brief: Keep out of handicapped parking….Or else!; Black Woman\u27s workshop, Parkland serves unusual course; SSU rep. here Tues., Next CHI program: SIDS, Writers needed to publish, Long lifers 4th annual arts and crafts show; Speech team keeps on talking; Table tennis, anyone?: Parkland\u27s Phan takes second at U of I; Happy Birthington\u27s Washday, everyone!; MTD bus schedule changes affect Parkland commuters; Star-gazers glance back and foretell an icy future; Classifieds; Humane Society has no choice...: Unwanted, unloved...animals die by the thousands; March Madness just around the corner: Area roundballers down to the wire; Men\u27s team tops CIAC: Regular season over: 22-4!; IM basketball titles still up for grabs; Arkansas-Houston game is fooler; Women finish season with loss to Olney at sectional; Bouncing Bob Basketball Bonanzahttps://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1978/1024/thumbnail.jp

A decade in review after Idiopathic Scoliosis was first called a complex trait-A tribute to the late Dr. Yves Cotrel for his support in studies of etiology of scoliosis

Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS) is a prevalent and important spine disorder in the pediatric age group. An increased family tendency was observed for a long time, but the underlying genetic mechanism was uncertain. In 1999, Dr. Yves Cotrel founded the Cotrel Foundation in the Institut de France, which supported collaboration of international researchers to work together to better understand the etiology of AIS. This new concept of AIS as a complex trait evolved in this setting among researchers who joined the annual Cotrel meetings. It is now over a decade since the first proposal of the complex trait genetic model for AIS. Here, we review in detail the vast information about the genetic and environmental factors in AIS pathogenesis gathered to date. More importantly, new insights into AIS etiology were brought to us through new research data under the perspective of a complex trait. Hopefully, future research directions may lead to better management of AIS, which has a tremendous impact on affected adolescents in terms of both physical growth and psychological development

A decade in review after Idiopathic Scoliosis was first called a complex trait-A tribute to the late Dr. Yves Cotrel for his support in studies of etiology of scoliosis

Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS) is a prevalent and important spine disorder in the pediatric age group. An increased family tendency was observed for a long time, but the underlying genetic mechanism was uncertain. In 1999, Dr. Yves Cotrel founded the Cotrel Foundation in the Institut de France, which supported collaboration of international researchers to work together to better understand the etiology of AIS. This new concept of AIS as a complex trait evolved in this setting among researchers who joined the annual Cotrel meetings. It is now over a decade since the first proposal of the complex trait genetic model for AIS. Here, we review in detail the vast information about the genetic and environmental factors in AIS pathogenesis gathered to date. More importantly, new insights into AIS etiology were brought to us through new research data under the perspective of a complex trait. Hopefully, future research directions may lead to better management of AIS, which has a tremendous impact on affected adolescents in terms of both physical growth and psychological development

Increased Oxygen Recovery from Sabatier Systems Using Plasma Pyrolysis Technology and Metal Hydride Separation

State-of-the-art life support carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction technology is based on the Sabatier reaction where less than 50% of the oxygen required for the crew is recovered from metabolic CO2. The reaction produces water as the primary product and methane as a byproduct. Oxygen recovery is constrained by the limited availability of reactant hydrogen. This is further exacerbated when Sabatier methane (CH4) is vented as a waste product resulting in a continuous loss of reactant hydrogen. Post-processing methane with the Plasma Pyrolysis Assembly (PPA) to recover hydrogen has the potential to dramatically increase oxygen recovery and thus drastically reduce the logistical challenges associated with oxygen resupply. The PPA decomposes methane into predominantly hydrogen and acetylene. Due to the highly unstable nature of acetylene, a separation system is necessary to purify hydrogen before it is recycled back to the Sabatier reactor. Testing and evaluation of a full-scale Third Generation PPA is reported and investigations into metal hydride hydrogen separation technology is discussed

Popular attitudes to memory, the body, and social identity : the rise of external commemoration in Britain, Ireland, and New England

A comparative analysis of samples of external memorials from burial grounds in Britain, Ireland and New England reveals a widespread pattern of change in monument style and content, and exponential growth in the number of permanent memorials from the 18th century onwards. Although manifested in regionally distinctive styles on which most academic attention has so far been directed, the expansion reflects global changes in social relationships and concepts of memory and the body. An archaeological perspective reveals the importance of external memorials in articulating these changing attitudes in a world of increasing material consumption

Increased Oxygen Recovery from Sabatier Systems Using Plasma Pyrolysis Technology and Metal Hydride Separation

No abstract availabl

Amnion epithelial cell derived exosomes induce inflammatory changes in uterine cells

Fetal endocrine signals are generally considered to contribute to the timing of birth and the initiation of labor. Fetal tissues under oxidative stress release inflammatory mediators that lead to sterile inflammation within the maternal-fetal interface. Importantly, these inflammatory mediators are packaged into exosomes, bioactive cell-derived extra cellular vesicles that function as vectors and transport them from the fetal side to the uterine tissues where they deposit their cargo into target cells enhancing uterine inflammatory load. This exosome-mediated signaling is a novel mechanism for fetal-maternal communication.This report tested the hypothesis that oxidative stress can induce fetal amnion cells to produce exosomes, which function as a paracrine intermediary between the fetus and mother and biochemically signal readiness for parturition.Primary amnion epithelial cells (AEC) were grown in normal cell culture (control) or exposed to oxidative stress conditions (induced by cigarette smoke extract). Exosomes were isolated from cell supernatant by sequential ultracentrifugation. Exosomes were quantified and characterized based on size, shape, and biochemical markers. Myometrial, decidual and placental cells (BeWo) were treated with 2x10, 2x10 and 2x10 control or oxidative stress derived AEC exosomes for 24 hours. Entry of AEC exosomes into cells was confirmed by confocal microscopy of fluorescent-labelled exosomes. The effect of AEC exosomes on target cell inflammatory status was determined by measuring production of IL-6, IL-8, IL-1β, TNF-α and PGE by ELISA and inflammatory gene transcription factor (NF-κβ) activation status by immunoblotting for phosphorylated RelA/p65. Localization of NANOG in term human myometrium and decidua obtained from women before labor and during labor was performed using immunohistochemistry. Data were analyzed by Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test to compare effects of exosomes from control and oxidative stress -treated AEC cells on inflammatory status of target cells.AECs released ∼125 nm, cup shaped exosomes with ∼ 899 and 1211 exosomes released per cell from control and oxidative stress induced cells respectively. AEC exosomes were detected in each target cell type after treatment using confocal microscopy. Treatment with AEC exosomes increased secretion of IL-6, IL-8 and PGE and activation of NF-κβ (each