The Leeds Evaluation of Efficacy of Detoxification Study (LEEDS) prisons project pilot study: protocol for a randomised controlled trial comparing dihydrocodeine and buprenorphine for opiate detoxification

Background In the United Kingdom (UK), there is an extensive market for the class 'A' drug heroin. Many heroin users spend time in prison. People addicted to heroin often require prescribed medication when attempting to cease their drug use. The most commonly used detoxification agents in UK prisons are buprenorphine, dihydrocodeine and methadone. However, national guidelines do not state a detoxification drug of choice. Indeed, there is a paucity of research evaluating the most effective treatment for opiate detoxification in prisons. This study seeks to address the paucity by evaluating routinely used interventions amongst drug using prisoners within UK prisons. Methods/Design The Leeds Evaluation of Efficacy of Detoxification Study (LEEDS) Prisons Pilot Study will use randomised controlled trial methodology to compare the open use of buprenorphine and dihydrocodeine for opiate detoxification, given in the context of routine care, within HMP Leeds. Prisoners who are eligible and give informed consent will be entered into the trial. The primary outcome measure will be abstinence status at five days post detoxification, as determined by a urine test. Secondary outcomes during the detoxification and then at one, three and six months post detoxification will be recorded

Induction of protective immune responses against schistosomiasis using functionally active cysteine peptidases

Each year schistosomiasis afflicts up to 600 million people in 74 tropical and sub-tropical countries, predominantly in the developing world. Yet we depend on a single drug, praziquantel, for its treatment and control. There is no vaccine available but one is urgently needed especially since praziquantel-resistant parasites are likely to emerge at some time in the future. The disease is caused by several worm species of the genus Schistosoma. These express several classes of papain-like cysteine peptidases, cathepsins B and L, in various tissues but particularly in their gastrodermis where they employ them as digestive enzymes. We have shown that sub-cutaneous injection of recombinant and functionally active Schistosoma mansoni cathepsin B1 (SmCB1), or a cathepsin L from a related parasite Fasciola hepatica (FhCL1), elicits highly significant protection (up to 73%) against an experimental challenge worm infection in murine models of schistosomiasis. The immune modulating properties of this subcutaneous injection can boost protection levels (up to 83%) when combined with other S. mansoni vaccine candidates, glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (SG3PDH) and peroxiredoxin (PRX-MAP). Here, we discuss these data in the context of the parasite's biology and development, and provide putative mechanism by which the native-like cysteine peptidase induce protective immune responses. © 2014 El Ridi, Tallima, Dalton and Donnelly

Citron kinase is an essential effector of the Pbl-activated Rho signalling pathway in Drosophila melanogaster.

Copyright © 2004 The Company of Biologists LtdPebble (Pbl)-activated RhoA signalling is essential for cytokinesis in Drosophila melanogaster. Here we report that the Drosophila citron gene encodes an essential effector kinase of Pbl-RhoA signalling in vivo. Drosophila citron is expressed in proliferating tissues but is downregulated in differentiating tissues. We find that Citron can bind RhoA and that localisation of Citron to the contractile ring is dependent on the cytokinesis-specific Pbl-RhoA signalling. Phenotypic analysis of mutants showed that citron is required for cytokinesis in every tissue examined, with mutant cells exhibiting multinucleate and hyperploid phenotypes. Strong genetic interactions were observed between citron and pbl alleles and constructs. Vertebrate studies implicate at least two Rho effector kinases, Citron and Rok, in cytokinesis. By contrast, we failed to find evidence for a role for the Drosophila ortholog of Rok in cell division. We conclude that Citron plays an essential, non-redundant role in the Rho signalling pathway during Drosophila cytokinesis.Tetyana Shandala, Stephen L. Gregory, Hazel E. Dalton, Masha Smallhorn and Robert Sain

E-Payment Technology and Business Finance:A Randomized Controlled Trial with Mobile Money (revision of CentER DP 2019-032)

We conducted a randomized controlled trial with small and medium-sized enterprises in Kenya to estimate the causal impact of an e-payment technology on business finance. Using an encouragement design, we exogenously increased e-payment usage among a random subset of firms by relaxing adoption transaction costs and information barriers. Sixteen months after the intervention, we find that the e-payment technology increased access to mobile loans (in number of loans, as well as in the amount borrowed) by at least 50% (0.17 sd), likely due to the reduction of information asymmetries brought by an increase in digital transactions. We find no effect of the e-payment technology on sales and profits, but we do find a reduction of sales volatility and precautionary investment, especially for smaller firms. This suggests that mobile loans help smaller firms cope with short-term negative shocks. We provide a stylized model of business finance that rationalizes these findings

Transparency and Financial Inclusion:Experimental Evidence from Mobile Money (revision of CentER DP 2018-042)

Electronic payment instruments have the potential to spur the transparency of business transactions and thereby reduce information frictions. We design a field experiment to understand whether e-payments facilitate the financial inclusion of SMEs in developing world and to study adoption barriers. We encourage a random sample of Kenyan merchants to adopt a new mobile-money payment instrument and find that the decision to adopt is hampered by the combination of information, know-how and seemingly small transaction costs barriers. In addition, we nd that business owners who are more averse to transparency are more reluctant to adopt. Sixteen months after the intervention, we observe that treated firms have better access to finance in the form of mobile loans. The impact on financial access is more pronounced for smaller establishments, which also experience a considerable reduction in sales volatility. We conclude that e-payments can help un-collateralized firms become transparent and get financially integrated

A Flux-limited Sample of Bright Clusters of Galaxies from the Southern Part of the ROSAT All-Sky Survey: the Catalog and the LogN-LogS

We describe the selection of an X-ray flux-limited sample of bright clusters of galaxies in the southern hemisphere, based on the first analysis of the ROSAT All-Sky Survey data (RASS1). The sample is constructed starting from an identification of candidate clusters in RASS1, and their X-ray fluxes are remeasured using the Steepness Ratio Technique. This method is better suited than the RASS1 standard algorithm for measuring flux from extended sources. The final sample is count-rate-limited in the ROSAT hard band (0.5-2.0 keV), so that due to the distribution of NH, its effective flux limit varies between about 3-4 x 10**-12 ergs cm**-2 s**-1 over the selected area. This covers the Decl<2.5 deg part of the south Galactic cap region (b<-20 deg) - with the exclusion of patches of low RASS1 exposure time and of the Magellanic Clouds area - for a total of 8235 deg**2. 130 candidate sources fulfill our selection criteria for bonafide clusters of galaxies in this area. Of these, 101 are Abell/ACO clusters, while 29 do not have a counterpart in these catalogs. Of these clusters, 126 (97%) clusters have a redshift and for these we compute an X-ray luminosity. 20% of the cluster redshifts come from new observations, as part of the ESO Key Program REFLEX Cluster Survey that is under completion. Considering the intrinsic biases and incompletenesses introduced by the flux selection and source identification processes, we estimate the overall completeness to be better than 90%. The observed number count distribution, LogN-LogS, is well fitted by a power law with slope alpha = 1.34 +/- 0.15 and normalization A = 11.87 +/- 1.04 sr**-1 (10**-11 ergs cm**-2 s**-1)**alpha, in good agreement with other measurements.Comment: 27 pages, 8 figures and 3 tables included, LaTex, emulateapj.sty and epsf.sty, accepted for publication in ApJ: scheduled for the March 20, 1999, Vol.514. The cluster catalog is available at http://www.merate.mi.astro.it/~degrand

Brownian forces in sheared granular matter

We present results from a series of experiments on a granular medium sheared in a Couette geometry and show that their statistical properties can be computed in a quantitative way from the assumption that the resultant from the set of forces acting in the system performs a Brownian motion. The same assumption has been utilised, with success, to describe other phenomena, such as the Barkhausen effect in ferromagnets, and so the scheme suggests itself as a more general description of a wider class of driven instabilities.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures and 1 tabl

Superlattice Magnetophonon Resonances in Strongly Coupled InAs/GaSb Superlattices

We report an experimental study of miniband magnetoconduction in semiconducting InAs/GaSb superlattices. For samples with miniband widths below the longitudinal optical phonon energy we identify a new superlattice magnetophonon resonance (SLMPR) caused by resonant scattering of electrons across the mini-Brillouin zone. This new resonant feature arises directly from the drift velocity characteristics of the superlattice dispersion and total magnetic quantisation of the superlattice Landau level minibands.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.