Recombinant snakebite antivenoms: A cost-competitive solution to a neglected tropical disease?

Snakebite envenoming is a major public health burden in tropical parts of the developing world. In sub-Saharan Africa, neglect has led to a scarcity of antivenoms threatening the lives and limbs of snakebite victims. Technological advances within antivenom are warranted, but should be evaluated not only on their possible therapeutic impact, but also on their cost-competitiveness. Recombinant antivenoms based on oligoclonal mixtures of human IgG antibodies produced by CHO cell cultivation may be the key to obtaining better snakebite envenoming therapies. Based on industry data, the cost of treatment for a snakebite envenoming with a recombinant antivenom is estimated to be in the range USD 60-250 for the Final Drug Product. One of the effective antivenoms (SAIMR Snake Polyvalent Antivenom from the South African Vaccine Producers) currently on the market has been reported to have a wholesale price of USD 640 per treatment for an average snakebite. Recombinant antivenoms may therefore in the future be a cost-competitive alternative to existing serum-based antivenoms

Self-assembly of the simple cubic lattice with an isotropic potential

Conventional wisdom presumes that low-coordinated crystal ground states require directional interactions. Using our recently introduced optimization procedure to achieve self-assembly of targeted structures (Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 228301 (2005), Phys. Rev. E 73, 011406 (2006)), we present an isotropic pair potential $V(r)$ for a three-dimensional many-particle system whose classical ground state is the low-coordinated simple cubic (SC) lattice. This result is part of an ongoing pursuit by the authors to develop analytical and computational tools to solve statistical-mechanical inverse problems for the purpose of achieving targeted self-assembly. The purpose of these methods is to design interparticle interactions that cause self-assembly of technologically important target structures for applications in photonics, catalysis, separation, sensors and electronics. We also show that standard approximate integral-equation theories of the liquid state that utilize pair correlation function information cannot be used in the reverse mode to predict the correct simple cubic potential. We report in passing optimized isotropic potentials that yield the body-centered cubic and simple hexagonal lattices, which provide other examples of non-close-packed structures that can be assembled using isotropic pair interactions.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in Physical Review

Financial Restructuring Driven by Single Presence Policy (Spp) (a Case Study Merger at PT. Bank Niaga Tbk and Lippo Bank Tbk)

The issuance of Single Ownership Policy stated in PBI No. 8/16//PBI/2006 has an implication on the controlling shareholders in more than one bank. The shareholders are given three choices to make adjustment of their structure of ownership in order to match it with the single ownership policy. One of the choices available is merger. At one side, merger can increase its capital and minimize the number of existing banks. On the order side, merger can also result in monopoly that inflicts loss to the fair business competition. The first objective of Financial Restructuring or Merger is to take measures that avert the impending insolvency and that ensure the sort-term survival of the business. This is the prerequisite for a sustainable restructuring process. The medium and long term goal of financial restructuring is reestablishment of a healthy and solid capital structure. In Bank Niaga and Lippo Bank merger process was driven by Single Presence Policy which normatively obligates the controlling share holders of a bank to consolidate its share possession by divesting their share, merging or even forming a holding company. One of the existing controlling share holder by far already got impacted by this policy is Khazanah National Berhad, a foreign investor from Malaysia, who used to control Bank Niaga and Lippo Bank. The SPP indicated its implementation in Indonesia, which foremost align with vision of Indonesian Banking Architecture which is to designate healthy, strong and dynamic national banking structure

Tunneling limit of heavy-fermion point contacts

We present results for a multichannel tunneling model that describes point-contact spectra between a metallic tip and a superconducting heavy-fermion system. We calculate tunneling spectra both in the normal and superconducting state. In point-contact and scanning tunneling spectroscopy many heavy-fermion materials, like CeCoIn5, exhibit an asymmetric differential conductance, dI/dV, combined with a strongly suppressed Andreev reflection signal in the superconducting state. For Andreev reflection to occur a junction has to be in the highly transparent limit. Here we focus on the opposite limit, namely that of low transparency leading to BCS-like dI/dV curves. We discuss the consequences of a multichannel tunneling model for CeCoIn5 assuming itinerant electron bands and localized f electrons.Comment: Contribution at SCES-201

PT-symmetry in honeycomb photonic lattices

We apply gain/loss to honeycomb photonic lattices and show that the dispersion relation is identical to tachyons - particles with imaginary mass that travel faster than the speed of light. This is accompanied by PT-symmetry breaking in this structure. We further show that the PT-symmetry can be restored by deforming the lattice

Systemic analysis of the response of Aspergillus niger to ambient pH

Systems modeling of Aspergillus niger under different pH conditions reveals novel pH-regulated metabolic genes and signaling genes in the pal/pacC pathway

Researching the Disruptive Nature of Open and Social Technologies: A Pragmatic Agenda

Researching the Disruptive Nature of Open and Social Technologies: A Pragmatic Agend