An online operational rainfall-monitoring resource for epidemic malaria early warning systems in Africa

Periodic epidemics of malaria are a major public health problem for many sub-Saharan African countries. Populations in epidemic prone areas have a poorly developed immunity to malaria and the disease remains life threatening to all age groups. The impact of epidemics could be minimized by prediction and improved prevention through timely vector control and deployment of appropriate drugs. Malaria Early Warning Systems are advocated as a means of improving the opportunity for preparedness and timely response. Rainfall is one of the major factors triggering epidemics in warm semi-arid and desert-fringe areas. Explosive epidemics often occur in these regions after excessive rains and, where these follow periods of drought and poor food security, can be especially severe. Consequently, rainfall monitoring forms one of the essential elements for the development of integrated Malaria Early Warning Systems for sub-Saharan Africa, as outlined by the World Health Organization. The Roll Back Malaria Technical Resource Network on Prevention and Control of Epidemics recommended that a simple indicator of changes in epidemic risk in regions of marginal transmission, consisting primarily of rainfall anomaly maps, could provide immediate benefit to early warning efforts. In response to these recommendations, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network produced maps that combine information about dekadal rainfall anomalies, and epidemic malaria risk, available via their Africa Data Dissemination Service. These maps were later made available in a format that is directly compatible with HealthMapper, the mapping and surveillance software developed by the WHO's Communicable Disease Surveillance and Response Department. A new monitoring interface has recently been developed at the International Research Institute for Climate Prediction (IRI) that enables the user to gain a more contextual perspective of the current rainfall estimates by comparing them to previous seasons and climatological averages. These resources are available at no cost to the user and are updated on a routine basis

A novel Cre-enabled tetracycline-inducible transgenic system for tissue-specific cytokine expression in the zebrafish: CETI-PIC3

Maladaptive signaling by pro-inflammatory cytokines (PICs), such as TNFα, IL1β and IFNɣ, can activate downstream signaling cascades that are implicated in the development and progression of multiple inflammatory diseases. Despite playing critical roles in pathogenesis, the availability of in vivo models in which to model tissue-specific induction of PICs is limited. To bridge this gap, we have developed a novel multi-gene expression system dubbed Cre-enabled and tetracycline-inducible transgenic system for conditional, tissue-specific expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines (CETI-PIC3). This binary transgenic system permits the stoichiometric co-expression of proteins Tumor necrosis factor a (Tnfa), Interleukin-1 beta (Il1b) and Interferon gamma (Ifng1), and H2B-GFP fluorescent reporter in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, cytokine misexpression is enabled only in tissue domains that can be defined by Cre recombinase expression. We have validated this system in zebrafish using an insulin:cre line. In doubly transgenic fish, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction demonstrated increased expression levels of tnfa, il1b and ifng1 mRNA. Moreover, specific expression in pancreatic β cells was demonstrated by both Tnfa immunofluorescence and GFP fluorescence. Cytokine-overexpressing islets elicited specific responses: β cells exhibited increased expression of genes associated with reactive oxidative species-mediated stress and endoplasmic reticulum stress, surveilling and infiltrating macrophages were increased, and β cell death was promoted. This powerful and versatile model system can be used for modeling, analysis and therapy development of diseases with an underlying inflammatory etiology

Individual variation in hunger, energy intake and ghrelin responses to acute exercise

Purpose This study aimed to characterize the immediate and extended effect of acute exercise on hunger, energy intake, and circulating acylated ghrelin concentrations using a large data set of homogenous experimental trials and to describe the variation in responses between individuals. Methods Data from 17 of our group's experimental crossover trials were aggregated yielding a total sample of 192 young, healthy males. In these studies, single bouts of moderate to high-intensity aerobic exercise (69% ± 5% V˙O2 peak; mean ± SD) were completed with detailed participant assessments occurring during and for several hours postexercise. Mean hunger ratings were determined during (n = 178) and after (n = 118) exercise from visual analog scales completed at 30-min intervals, whereas ad libitum energy intake was measured within the first hour after exercise (n = 60) and at multiple meals (n = 128) during the remainder of trials. Venous concentrations of acylated ghrelin were determined at strategic time points during (n = 118) and after (n = 89) exercise. Results At group level, exercise transiently suppressed hunger (P < 0.010, Cohen's d = 0.77) but did not affect energy intake. Acylated ghrelin was suppressed during exercise (P < 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.10) and remained significantly lower than control (no exercise) afterward (P < 0.024, Cohen's d = 0.61). Between participants, there were notable differences in responses; however, a large proportion of this spread lay within the boundaries of normal variation associated with biological and technical assessment error. Conclusion In young men, acute exercise suppresses hunger and circulating acylated ghrelin concentrations with notable diversity between individuals. Care must be taken to distinguish true interindividual variation from random differences within normal limits

Obstetric Outcomes in Women with Rheumatic Disease and COVID-19 in the Context of Vaccination Status

OBJECTIVE: To describe obstetric outcomes based on COVID-19 vaccination status, in women with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs) who developed COVID-19 during pregnancy. METHODS: Data regarding pregnant women entered into the COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance registry from 24 March 2020-25 February 2022 were analysed. Obstetric outcomes were stratified by number of COVID-19 vaccine doses received prior to COVID-19 infection in pregnancy. Descriptive differences between groups were tested using the chi -square or Fisher's exact test. RESULTS: There were 73 pregnancies in 73 women with RMD and COVID-19. Overall, 24.7% (18) of pregnancies were ongoing, while of the 55 completed pregnancies 90.9% (50) of pregnancies resulted in livebirths. At the time of COVID-19 diagnosis, 60.3% (n = 44) of women were unvaccinated, 4.1% (n = 3) had received one vaccine dose while 35.6% (n = 26) had two or more doses. Although 83.6% (n = 61) of women required no treatment for COVID-19, 20.5% (n = 15) required hospital admission. COVID-19 resulted in delivery in 6.8% (n = 3) of unvaccinated women and 3.8% (n = 1) of fully vaccinated women. There was a greater number of preterm births (PTB) in unvaccinated women compared with fully vaccinated 29.5% (n = 13) vs 18.2%(n = 2). CONCLUSION: In this descriptive study, unvaccinated pregnant women with RMD and COVID-19 had a greater number of PTB compared with those fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Additionally, the need for COVID-19 pharmacological treatment was uncommon in pregnant women with RMD regardless of vaccination status. These results support active promotion of COVID-19 vaccination in women with RMD who are pregnant or planning a pregnancy

The role of fullerenes in the environmental stability of polymer:fullerene solar cells

Environmental stability is a common challenge for the commercialisation of low cost, encapsulation-free organic opto-electronic devices. Understanding the role of materials degradation is the key to address this challenge, but most such studies have been limited to conjugated polymers. Here we quantitatively study the role of the common fullerene derivative PCBM in limiting the stability of benchmark organic solar cells, showing that a minor fraction (<1%) of photo-oxidised PCBM, induced by short exposure to either solar or ambient laboratory lighting conditions in air, consistent with typical processing and operating conditions, is sufficient to compromise device performance severely. We identify the effects of photo-oxidation of PCBM on its chemical structure, and connect this to specific changes in its electronic structure, which significantly alter the electron transport and recombination kinetics. The effect of photo-oxidation on device current–voltage characteristics, electron mobility and density of states could all be explained with the same model of photoinduced defects acting as trap states. Our results demonstrate that the photochemical instability of PCBM and chemically similar fullerenes remains a barrier for the commercialisation of organic opto-electronic devices

Into the light: the emerging solidarity economy movement in the United States

En este trabajo se introduce y describe el sector de la economía solidaria en los Estados Unidos de Norteamérica. Luego de hacer una exposición con apoyo de datos empíricos sobre la importancia de organizaciones del sector en el conjunto de la economía norteamericana, se discuten argumentos dentro de polémicas centrales que recorren el movimiento, las cuales pueden ser estimuladas en este contexto de crisis capitalista. Se percibe que existe una tremenda riqueza de prácticas, políticas e instituciones sobre las cuales construir la economía solidaria avanzando hacia un mundo más justo y [email protected] this work it is introduced and described the solidarity economy sector in the United States of Northamerica. A description supported by empirical data about the sector is shown. After that, key points within the discussions inside the movement are pointed out. There is a huge wide variety of social practices and local institutions that must be taken into account to build up solidarity economy towards a fair and sustainable world

videos_raw_solid_0deg

Raw videos of crutching on level solid substrat