Prioritizing investments in innovations to protect women from the leading causes of maternal death

PATH, an international nonprofit organization, assessed nearly 40 technologies for their potential to reduce maternal mortality from postpartum hemorrhage and preeclampsia and eclampsia in low-resource settings. The evaluation used a new Excel-based prioritization tool covering 22 criteria developed by PATH, the Maternal and Neonatal Directed Assessment of Technology (MANDATE) model, and consultations with experts. It identified five innovations with especially high potential: technologies to improve use of oxytocin, a uterine balloon tamponade, simplified dosing of magnesium sulfate, an improved proteinuria test, and better blood pressure measurement devices. Investments are needed to realize the potential of these technologies to reduce mortality

Extremely Weakly Interacting ΔSz = 0 and ΔSz = 1 Excitations and Evidence for Fractional Quantization in a Magnetization Plateau: CeSb

The plateau at 1/3 of the saturation magnetization Ms in the metamagnet CeSb is accompanied by a state of ferromagnetic layers of spins in an up-up-down sequence. We measured M and the specific heat C in the plateau, spin wave analyses of which reveal two distinct branches of excitations. Those with ΔSz=1 as measured by M, coexist with a much larger population of ΔSz=0 excitations measured by C but invisible to M. The large density of ΔSz=0 excitations, their energy gap, and their seeming lack of interaction with ΔSz=1 excitations suggest an analogy with astrophysical dark matter. Additionally, in the middle of the plateau three sharp jumps in M(H) are seen, the size of which, 0.15%Ms, is consistent with fractional quantization of magnetization per site in the down-spin layers

Isothermal Amplification Using a Chemical Heating Device for Point-of-Care Detection of HIV-1

Background: To date, the use of traditional nucleic acid amplification tests (NAAT) for detection of HIV-1 DNA or RNA has been restricted to laboratory settings due to time, equipment, and technical expertise requirements. The availability of a rapid NAAT with applicability for resource-limited or point-of-care (POC) settings would fill a great need in HIV diagnostics, allowing for timely diagnosis or confirmation of infection status, as well as facilitating the diagnosis of acute infection, screening and evaluation of infants born to HIV-infected mothers. Isothermal amplification methods, such as reversetranscription, loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP), exhibit characteristics that are ideal for POC settings, since they are typically quicker, easier to perform, and allow for integration into low-tech, portable heating devices. Methodology/Significant Findings: In this study, we evaluated the HIV-1 RT-LAMP assay using portable, non-instrumented nucleic acid amplification (NINA) heating devices that generate heat from the exothermic reaction of calcium oxide and water. The NINA heating devices exhibited stable temperatures throughout the amplification reaction and consistent amplification results between three separate devices and a thermalcycler. The performance of the NINA heaters was validated using whole blood specimens from HIV-1 infected patients. Conclusion: The RT-LAMP isothermal amplification method used in conjunction with a chemical heating device provides

A Simple, Inexpensive Device for Nucleic Acid Amplification without Electricity—Toward Instrument-Free Molecular Diagnostics in Low-Resource Settings

Molecular assays targeted to nucleic acid (NA) markers are becoming increasingly important to medical diagnostics. However, these are typically confined to wealthy, developed countries; or, to the national reference laboratories of developing-world countries. There are many infectious diseases that are endemic in low-resource settings (LRS) where the lack of simple, instrument-free, NA diagnostic tests is a critical barrier to timely treatment. One of the primary barriers to the practicality and availability of NA assays in LRS has been the complexity and power requirements of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) instrumentation (another is sample preparation).In this article, we investigate the hypothesis that an electricity-free heater based on exothermic chemical reactions and engineered phase change materials can successfully incubate isothermal NA amplification assays. We assess the heater's equivalence to commercially available PCR instruments through the characterization of the temperature profiles produced, and a minimal method comparison. Versions of the prototype for several different isothermal techniques are presented.We demonstrate that an electricity-free heater based on exothermic chemical reactions and engineered phase change materials can successfully incubate isothermal NA amplification assays, and that the results of those assays are not significantly different from ones incubated in parallel in commercially available PCR instruments. These results clearly suggest the potential of the non-instrumented nucleic acid amplification (NINA) heater for molecular diagnostics in LRS. When combined with other innovations in development that eliminate power requirements for sample preparation, cold reagent storage, and readout, the NINA heater will comprise part of a kit that should enable electricity-free NA testing for many important analytes

Design and characterization of molecular tools for a Synthetic Biology approach towards developing cyanobacterial biotechnology

Cyanobacteria are suitable for sustainable, solar-powered biotechnological applications. Synthetic biology connects biology with computational design and an engineering perspective, but requires efficient tools and information about the function of biological parts and systems. To enable the development of cyanobacterial Synthetic Biology, several molecular tools were developed and characterized: (i) a broad-host-range BioBrick shuttle vector, pPMQAK1, was constructed and confirmed to replicate in Escherichia coli and three different cyanobacterial strains. (ii) The fluorescent proteins Cerulean, GFPmut3B and EYFP have been demonstrated to work as reporter proteins in cyanobacteria, in spite of the strong background of photosynthetic pigments. (iii) Several promoters, like PrnpB and variants of PrbcL, and a version of the promoter Ptrc with two operators for enhanced repression, were developed and characterized in Synechocystis sp. strain PCC6803. (iv) It was shown that a system for targeted protein degradation, which is needed to enable dynamic expression studies, is working in Synechocystis sp. strain PCC6803. The pPMQAK1 shuttle vector allows the use of the growing numbers of BioBrick parts in many prokaryotes, and the other tools herein implemented facilitate the development of new parts and systems in cyanobacteria

On Hultman numbers

International audienceFinding a sequence of transpositions that transforms a given permutation into the identity permutation and is of the shortest possible length is an important problem in bioinformatics. Here, a transposition consists in exchanging two contiguous intervals of the permutation. Bafna and Pevzner introduced the cycle graph as a tool for working on this problem. In particular, they took advantage of the decomposition of the cycle graph into so-called alternating cycles. Later, Hultman raised the question of determining the number of permutations with a cycle graph containing a given quantity of alternating cycles. The resulting number is therefore similar to the Stirling number of the first kind. We provide an explicit formula for computing what we call the Hultman numbers, and give a few numerical values. We also derive formulae for related cases, as well as for a much more general problem. Finally, we indicate a counting result related to another operation on permutations called the "block-interchange"

Bedephiles and fans: a structuring love of the medium

La bédéphilie donne lieu à une concurrence entre de multiples acceptions, qui mettent l’accent sur des pratiques de lecture singulières - et amènent à s’interroger sur la différence entre fans et bédéphiles - ou encore sur de discours de légitimation. Cette introduction revient sur l’écart contemporain entre fans et bédéphiles, en examinant les présupposés culturels inclus dans les deux termes et en notant la proximité effective des pratiques qu’il recouvre. Le texte revient ensuite sur le phénomène historique de constitution de la bédéphilie en s’intéressant à l’écart entre une bédéphilie ordinaire, invisible, et celle qui s’est dotée d’institutions et de discours. Il s’agit enfin de montrer comment cette bédéphilie institutionnalisée a joué un rôle dans la constitution d’une mémoire et d’une histoire de la bande dessinée.Bedephilia is conceived and defined in several ways. The word may refer to a variety of practices associated with the reading of comics, suggesting a proximity between bedephiles and fans, or as a set of legitimizing discourse about the medium. This introduction first examines the way bedephiles and fans differ in contemporay French usages, by studying the various assumptions encapsulated in each term, and noting that the actual practices of bedephiles and fans are often very similar. The text then provides an overview of the history of bedephilia, paying attention to the way an institutionalized bedephilia has been commemorated and mythified, to the point of overshadowing an amorphous “everyday” bedephilia. The introduction concludes by examining the role bedephilia has played and continues to play in shaping the memory and the history of comics

Détermination au moyen de la méthode LCAO CUV de la position de la transition (

La position de la transition (1A1g → B2u) de quelques dérivés mono et dichlorés du benzène et du toluène est calculée au moyen de la méthode LCAO-CUV et les résultats obtenus sont en excellent accord avec les déterminations expérimentales (tout au moins pour les positions méta et para), la longueur d’onde correspondant à cette transition étant l’abscisse du maximum de l’enveloppe du système vibrationnel. L’effet bathochrome dû à la greffe simultanée d’atomes de chlore et de groupements méthyles est additif. Les dérivés orthodisubstitués font exception à cette règle et les résultats obtenus à leur sujet s’expliquent par le fait que les deux substituants ne sont plus alors dans le plan du cycle benzénique : cette non-planéité se traduit dans la pratique par un effet bathochrome expérimental inférieur à celui que le calcul permet de prévoir