Countries and consortia in the African Institutions Initiative of The Wellcome Trust.

<p>(Redrawn from <a href="http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/news/2009/features/wtx055738.htm" target="_blank">http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/news/2009/features/wtx055738.htm</a>.)</p

African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control Trust Fund annual expenditure.

<p>Since the inception of APOC in 1995, expenditure has increased steadily until 2007, mainly with external donor support (listed in <a href="http://www.who.int/apoc/about/funding/en/index.html" target="_blank">http://www.who.int/apoc/about/funding/en/index.html</a>). The orange and dark turquoise portion of the bars represents investment in administration, and the grey and light turquoise portions indicate support for technical activities, operations research, and capacity building. External funding has decreased since 2007 and it is anticipated that from 2015 onwards the programme will be fully devolved to participating countries and their NGDOs. Recently, APOC's mandate has been extended to 2025.</p

Phylogenetic neighbour-joining tree showing the relationship of the sigma-class GSTs of <i>Onchocerca ochengi</i> to similar enzymes of nematodes, mammals and insects.

<p>Numbers shown alongside branches are bootstrap values of 1,000 replications. The key for protein sequence accession numbers and organisms displayed in the tree is as follows: <u>Nematodes</u>: Oo_GST_t09064, Oo_GST_t03844 and Oo_GST_t06414 glutathione transferase [<i>Onchocerca ochengi</i>]; Ov_GST_1b AAG44696.1 glutathione <i>S</i>-transferase Ia [<i>Onchocerca volvulus</i>]; Ov _GST_1a AAG44695.1 glutathione <i>S</i>-transferase Ia [<i>Onchocerca volvulus</i>]; Ll_GST XP_003139665.1 hypothetical protein LOAG_04080 [<i>Loa loa</i>]; Bm_GST_4 XP_001901855.1 glutathione <i>S</i>-transferase 4 [<i>Brugia malayi</i>]; As_GST_1 ERG83753.1 glutathione <i>S</i>-transferase 1 [<i>Ascaris suum</i>]; As_GST_4 ERG81431.1 glutathione s-transferase 4 [<i>Ascaris suum</i>]; Ce_GST-11 NP_508625.1 protein GST-11 [<i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i>]; Ce_GST-36 NP_509652.2 protein GST-36 [<i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i>]. <u>Mammals:</u> Hs_PGD NP_055300.1 hematopoietic prostaglandin D synthase [<i>Homo sapiens</i>]; Bt_PGD_x1 XP_002688181.1 PREDICTED: hematopoietic prostaglandin D synthase isoform X1 [<i>Bos taurus</i>]; Rt_PGD NP_113832.1 hematopoietic prostaglandin D synthase [<i>Rattus norvegicus</i>]; Mm_PGD NP_062328.3 hematopoietic prostaglandin D synthase [<i>Mus musculus</i>]. <u>Insects:</u> Md_GST_ NP_001273827.1 glutathione <i>S</i>-transferase [<i>Musca domestica</i>]; Dm_GST_s1 NP_725653.1 glutathione <i>S</i>-transferase S1, isoform A [<i>Drosophila melanogaster</i>]; Ph_GST XP_002426887.1 glutathione <i>S</i>-transferase, putative [<i>Pediculus humanus corporis</i>]; Tc_GST XP_970714.1 PREDICTED: glutathione <i>S</i>-transferase [<i>Tribolium castaneum</i>]. The GSTs from <i>O. volvulus</i> and their closest relative in <i>O. ochengi</i> are shown in bold.</p

Diagrammatic view of the similarity of <i>Onchocerca</i> sigma-class GST gene models for <i>O. volvulus</i> GSTs 1a and 1b and the homologous <i>O. ochengi</i> sigma-class GST t09064.

<p>Gene models were aligned over the full-length sequence (total distance, 3,870 bp). Numbers associated with gene model exons (<i>I–VII shaded blocks</i>) and introns (<i>1–8 non-shaded blocks</i>) display the number of base-pairs within those sections over which the alignment is spaced. The three major differences between the genes (all insertions in <i>O. volvulus GST1a</i> intron 3) are highlighted in the diagram.</p

Sensitivity of LAMP and PCR methods for the detection of <i>O. volvulus</i> using ten-fold serial dilutions of <i>O. volvulus</i> genomic DNA ranging from 0.001–1.0 ng.

<p>Detection of LAMP product using turbidity (<b>A</b>) or hydroxy napthol blue (<b>B</b>). PCR amplification of a ∼200 bp product using LAMP primers F3 and B3 was obtained when <i>O. volvulus</i> genomic DNA was used (<b>C</b>). Molecular weight marker (MW) is indicated.</p

A comparison of LAMP and PCR methods to detect varying amounts of genomic DNA isolated from pools of black flies using different methods.

<p>A comparison of LAMP and PCR methods to detect varying amounts of genomic DNA isolated from pools of black flies using different methods.</p

Alignment of partial gene sequences of glutathione <i>S</i>-transferases (GSTs) from <i>O. volvulus</i> (<i>OvGST1a</i>, <i>OvGST1b</i>) and <i>O. ochengi (OoGST1)</i> (A) and primer sets targeting <i>OvGST1a</i> (B).

<p>Primers are indicated by solid black arrows and dash arrows represent the binding regions of the loop forward (LFP) and loop back (LBP) primers respectively.</p

The effect of coverage and compliance on infection intensity after 15 years of ivermectin treatment.

<p>Intensity of infection is quantified as microfilarial load per mg of skin in those aged ≥20 years. The values presented correspond to one year after the 15^th treatment (for annual frequency, <a href="http://www.plosntds.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002169#pntd-0002169-g004" target="_blank">Fig. 4A</a>), or one year after the 30^th treatment (for biannual frequency, <a href="http://www.plosntds.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002169#pntd-0002169-g004" target="_blank">Fig. 4B</a>). Red and blue bars represent, respectively, a cumulative and a non-cumulative effect of ivermectin on microfilarial production by the female worm. Dotted bars: 0.1% systematic non-compliance; hashed bars: 2% systematic non-compliance; solid bars: 5% systematic non-compliance. Calibration of the model is as in <a href="http://www.plosntds.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002169#pntd-0002169-g002" target="_blank">Figure 2</a>. Note the different scale on the vertical axis between 4A and 4B.</p

Organization levels at which data on cost of ivermectin distribution were collected.

<p>Organization levels at which data on cost of ivermectin distribution were collected.</p

Economic costs at district, sub-district, and community levels disaggregated by resource type (excluding CDDs' time).

<p><i>Personnel</i> (dark blue); <i>Per Diems</i> (red); <i>Supplies and Equipment (Capital costs)</i> (green); <i>Supplies and Equipment (Recurrent costs)</i> (purple); <i>Transportation (Capital costs)</i> (turquoise blue); <i>Transportation (Recurrent costs)</i> (orange); <i>Overheads</i> (light blue). Definitions of different resource types are given in <a href="http://www.plosntds.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002452#pntd-0002452-box002" target="_blank">Box 2</a>. *Data from Kpandai district reflect a combination of annual and biannual treatments.</p