110 research outputs found

    Stimulating Demand for Research Evidence: What Role for Capacity?building?

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    There has been a great deal of interest in recent years in supporting evidence?informed policymaking in developing countries. In particular, there have been efforts to build the capacity of researchers and research intermediaries to supply appropriately packaged research information (for example in the form of policy briefs) to policymakers. While supply of research information is important, it will only be used to inform policy if it is accessed, valued and understood by policymakers. In this article, we discuss our understanding of demand for research from policymakers; the capacities which underlie it; and how these might be supported

    Inhibitors of nicotinamide:N -methyltransferase designed to mimic the methylation reaction transition state

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    Nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT) is an enzyme that catalyses the methylation of nicotinamide to form N'-methylnicotinamide. Both NNMT and its methylated product have recently been linked to a variety of diseases, suggesting a role for the enzyme as a therapeutic target beyond its previously ascribed metabolic function in detoxification. We here describe the systematic development of NNMT inhibitors derived from the structures of the substrates involved in the methylation reaction. By covalently linking fragments of the NNMT substrates a diverse library of bisubstrate-like compounds was prepared. The ability of these compounds to inhibit NNMT was evaluated providing valuable insights into the structural tolerances of the enzyme active site. These studies led to the identification of new NNMT inhibitors that mimic the transition state of the methylation reaction and inhibit the enzyme with activity on par with established methyltransferase inhibitors

    A Dynamic Approach for the Generalised Beam Theory

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    This thesis investigates the behaviour of steel and composite members in the framework of the Generalised Beam Theory. The proposed GBT approach falls within a category of cross-sectional analyses available in the literature for which a suitable set of deformation modes, including conventional, extension and shear, is determined from dynamic analyses. In particular, the deformation modes are obtained from the free dynamics of a planar frame model representing the cross-section with its plate segments placed at their midlines. This model is applied to the linear-elastic analysis of stiffened and unstiffened thin-walled members. The GBT formulation is extended to study the linear-elastic partial interaction behaviour of two-layered composite beams (e.g. steel-concrete composite beams). The novelty of this approach is to account for the relative movement of the slab with respect to the steel joist during the determination of the cross-sectional deformation modes. Several numerical examples are presented to highlight the ability of the proposed approach to capture the partial interaction behaviour of composite members. The accuracy of the results are validated against those obtained from shell finite elements models developed in ABAQUS. The instability behaviour of thin-walled members is studied in the context of GBT. The member analysis is carried out in two stages, firstly a pre-buckling analysis is performed to determine the stress distribution in the pre-buckled configuration followed by a bifurcation analysis conducted to determine the buckling loads and modes. The composite beam formulation with partial interaction is extended to study the time-dependent behaviour of composite steel-concrete beams accounting for creep and shrinkage of the concrete. The time analysis, implemented using the Step-by-Step Method (SSM) with a new set of deformation modes calculated at each time step, is carried out to determine the short- and long-term response of the composite beams

    Optimising the delivery, accumulation and retention of mitochondrially targeted probes

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