Evaluation of Urine CCA Assays for Detection of Schistosoma mansoni Infection in Western Kenya

Although accurate assessment of the prevalence of Schistosoma mansoni is important for the design and evaluation of control programs, the most widely used tools for diagnosis are limited by suboptimal sensitivity, slow turn-around-time, or inability to distinguish current from former infections. Recently, two tests that detect circulating cathodic antigen (CCA) in urine of patients with schistosomiasis became commercially available. As part of a larger study on schistosomiasis prevalence in young children, we evaluated the performance and diagnostic accuracy of these tests—the carbon test strip designed for use in the laboratory and the cassette format test intended for field use. In comparison to 6 Kato-Katz exams, the carbon and cassette CCA tests had sensitivities of 88.4% and 94.2% and specificities of 70.9% and 59.4%, respectively. However, because of the known limitations of the Kato-Katz assay, we also utilized latent class analysis (LCA) incorporating the CCA, Kato-Katz, and schistosome-specific antibody results to determine their sensitivities and specificities. The laboratory-based CCA test had a sensitivity of 91.7% and a specificity of 89.4% by LCA while the cassette test had a sensitivity of 96.3% and a specificity of 74.7%. The intensity of the reaction in both urine CCA tests reflected stool egg burden and their performance was not affected by the presence of soil transmitted helminth infections. Our results suggest that urine-based assays for CCA may be valuable in screening for S. mansoni infections

Changes to the law on consent in South Africa: implications for school-based adolescent sexual and reproductive health research

BACKGROUND:The National Health Act, No 61, 2003 in South Africa is the first effort made by the government to protect health-related research participants under law. Implemented on March 1, 2012, the law mandates active consent from a parent or legal guardian for all research conducted with research participants under the age of 18 years. This paper focuses on the Act's implications for school-based adolescent sexual and reproductive health research.DISCUSSION:Although well intentioned, the added legal protections in the National Health Act may have the unintended consequence of reducing participation rates in school-based adolescent sexual and reproductive health research, thereby excluding the most at-risk students. The Act may also compromise adolescents' right to dignity and privacy, especially considering the personal nature of research on sex and sexuality. Devolved, discretionary decision-making, which empowers local human research ethics committees to permit a wider range of protective measures, including passive consent, independent adolescent consent or community consultation ought to be considered. The continued and direct involvement of young people in their sexual and reproductive health and well-being is an important principle to uphold.SUMMARY:This paper calls for a re-examination of section 71's ethical guidelines relating to informed consent in the National Health Act, No 61, 2003 in South Africa in order to better serve the interests of South African adolescents in sexual and reproductive health research

The Susceptibility of Trypanosomatid Pathogens to PI3/mTOR Kinase Inhibitors Affords a New Opportunity for Drug Repurposing

In our study we describe the potency of established phosphoinositide-3-kinase (PI3K) and mammalian Target of Rapamycin (mTOR) kinase inhibitors against three trypanosomatid parasites: Trypanosoma brucei, T. cruzi, and Leishmania sp., which are the causative agents for African sleeping sickness, Chagas disease, and leishmaniases, respectively. We noted that these parasites and humans express similar kinase enzymes. Since these similar human targets have been pursued by the drug industry for many years in the discovery of cellular growth and proliferation inhibitors, compounds developed as human anti-cancer agents should also have effect on inhibiting growth and proliferation of the parasites. With that in mind, we selected eight established PI3K and mTOR inhibitors for profiling against these pathogens. Among these inhibitors is an advanced clinical candidate against cancer, NVP-BEZ235, which we demonstrate to be a highly potent trypanocide in parasite cultures, and in a mouse model of T. brucei infection. Additionally, we describe observations of these inhibitors' effects on parasite growth and other cellular characteristics

Hydrodynamic slip can align thin nanoplatelets in shear flow

The large-scale processing of nanomaterials such as graphene and MoS2 relies on understanding the flow behaviour of nanometrically-thin platelets suspended in liquids. Here we show, by combining non-equilibrium molecular dynamics and continuum simulations, that rigid nanoplatelets can attain a stable orientation for sufficiently strong flows. Such a stable orientation is in contradiction with the rotational motion predicted by classical colloidal hydrodynamics. This surprising effect is due to hydrodynamic slip at the liquid-solid interface and occurs when the slip length is larger than the platelet thickness; a slip length of a few nanometers may be sufficient to observe alignment. The predictions we developed by examining pure and surface-modified graphene is applicable to different solvent/2D material combinations. The emergence of a fixed orientation in a direction nearly parallel to the flow implies a slip-dependent change in several macroscopic transport properties, with potential impact on applications ranging from functional inks to nanocomposites.Energy Technolog

Year in review in Intensive Care Medicine 2010: I. Acute renal failure, outcome, risk assessment and ICU performance, sepsis, neuro intensive care and experimentals

SCOPUS: re.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Primjena i kompozicija individualiziranih zaštitnih elemenata linijske grafike u projektiranju novčanica

Proces stvaranja novčanica je dugotrajan i složen, što rezultira kompleksnim rješenjima koja predstavljaju pravo remek djelo grafike. Novčanice su prožete brojnim detaljima i prenose različite informacije koje se analiziraju u teorijskom dijelu rada. Prvotno se postavljaju kriteriji po kojima se izrađuje detaljna analiza velikog broja zaštitnih i konceptualnih elemenata na primjerima novčanica. Time je prikazan okvirni povijesni pregled razvoja novčanica i utjecaji kojima je bio izložen. Analizira se međuovisnost dizajna o sigurnosnim značajkama, te se ispituje razina informiranosti javnosti o zaštitama na novčanicama. Zaključuje se koje metode zaštite su najučinkovitije, te kako šira javnost najčešće provjerava autentičnost novčanica. U eksperimentalnom dijelu rada se na temelju donesenih zaključaka iz teorijskog dijela izrađuje prototip novčanice koja je u najvećoj mjeri prožeta individualiziranim PostScript programskim rješenjima elemenata linijske grafike (rozete, mikrotekst, zaštitne linije, brojevi apoena), a od ostalih zaštita modeliran je individualizirani raster transformacijom matematičkog izraza u PostScript programski kod. Sve ostale zaštite tipične za novčanice simulirane su alatima za rastersku i vektorsku grafiku. U radu se ispituje utjecaj kompozicije zaštitnih elemenata na prepoznavanje autentičnosti novčanica, te efikasnost samih individualiziranih programskih rješenja