Hepatitis B assays in serum, plasma and whole blood on filter paper

BACKGROUND: Screening and determining the immune status of individuals for hepatitis B is usually done by detecting hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and hepatitis B surface antigen-specific antibodies (HBsAb). In some countries with the highest viral burden, performing these assays is currently impractical. This paper explores the use of filter paper as a blood specimen transport medium. METHODS: Samples, chosen from routine clinical laboratory pool, were applied and dried onto filter paper. Eluates, from the paper samples, were analyzed as routine clinical specimens on ADVIA Centaur 5634® immunoassay analyzers using the standard HBsAg and HBsAb kits. Dried blood samples were subjected to a range of environmental conditions in order to assess stability. RESULTS: After drying and elution the assays showed linearity and precision comparable to clinical assays performed on fresh serum. Elutions at various times during a 149 day incubation period showed very little variability in the Index numbers. All analytes were temperature stable except for a decrease in the HBsAg signal at 42°C. CONCLUSIONS: Filter paper is an acceptable storage and transport medium for serum to be used in the detection of hepatitis B markers if atmospheric variability can be controlled. HBsAg, HBsAb and HBcAb are all stable for at least five months under storage conditions below room temperature. Drying specimens, particularly serum, on filter paper at remote locations, offers a reasonable solution to the problem of hepatitis surveillance in underdeveloped regions, although some attempt at temperature control might be desirable

Cryo-EM and the elucidation of new macromolecular structures: Random Conical Tilt revisited

Cryo-Electron Microscopy (cryo-EM) of macromolecular complexes is a fundamental structural biology technique which is expanding at a very fast pace. Key to its success in elucidating the three-dimensional structure of a macromolecular complex, especially of small and non-symmetric ones, is the ability to start from a low resolution map, which is subsequently refined with the actual images collected at the microscope. There are several methods to produce this first structure. Among them, Random Conical Tilt (RCT) plays a prominent role due to its unbiased nature (it can create an initial model based on experimental measurements). In this article, we revise the fundamental mathematical expressions supporting RCT, providing new expressions handling all key geometrical parameters without the need of intermediate operations, leading to improved automation and overall reliability, essential for the success of cryo-EM when analyzing new complexes. We show that the here proposed RCT workflow based on the new formulation performs very well in practical cases, requiring very few image pairs (as low as 13 image pairs in one of our examples) to obtain relevant 3D maps.We thank Dr. Llorca for his support during the acquisition of the C3b images and Dr. Shaikh for his support in the use of Spider for the RCT reconstructions. The authors would like to acknowledge economical support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through grants AIC-A-2011-0638 and BIO2013-44647-R, the Comunidad de Madrid through grant CAM (S2010/BMD-2305), as well as a postdoctoral Juan de la Cierva grant with reference JCI-2011-10185 to Javier Vargas. Vahid Abrishami is a holder of La Caixa scholarship and C.O.S. Sorzano is recipient of a Ramon y Cajal fellowship

Conscious mobility for urban spaces: case studies review and indicator framework design

A lack of data collection on conscious mobility behaviors has been identified in current sustainable and smart mobility planning, development and implementation strategies. This leads to technocentric solutions that do not place people and their behavior at the center of new mobility solutions in urban centers around the globe. This paper introduces the concept of conscious mobility to link techno-economic analyses with user awareness on the impact of their travel decisions on other people, local urban infrastructure and the environment through systematic big data collection. A preliminary conscious mobility indicator framework is presented to leverage behavioral considerations to enhance urban-community mobility systems. Key factors for conscious mobility analysis have been derived from five case studies. The sample offers regional diversity (i.e., local, regional and the global urban contexts), as well as different goals in the transformation of conventional urban transport systems, from improving public transport efficiency and equipment electrification to mitigate pollution and climate risks, to focusing on equity, access and people safety. The case studies selected provide useful metrics on the adoption of cleaner, smarter, safer and more autonomous mobility technologies, along with novel people-centric program designs to build an initial set of conscious mobility indicators frameworks. The parameters were applied to the city of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon in Mexico focusing on the needs of the communities that work, study and live around the local urban campus of the Tecnologico de Monterrey’s Distrito Tec. This case study, served as an example of how conscious mobility indicators could be applied and customized to a community and region of interest. This paper introduces the first application of the conscious mobility framework for urban communities’ mobility system analysis. This more holistic assessment approach includes dimensions such as society and culture, infrastructure and urban spaces, technology, government, normativity, economy and politics, and the environment. The expectation is that the conscious mobility framework of analysis will become a useful tool for smarter and sustainable urban and mobility problem solving and decision making to enhance the quality of life all living in urban communities

Impacto de la Cintura Hipertrigliceridémica en el Riesgo coronario

Introducción: La cintura hipertrigliceridémica (CHTG) es un indicador metabólico del riesgo coronario asociado a la obesidad visceral. Se determinó la relación entre esta variable y el riesgo coronario en la población en general.Métodos y Resultados: Se estudió un total de 545 pacientes, se determinó el riesgo coronario de forma cuantitativa: 11,50 para varones y 10,46 para mujeres; y en forma cualitativa (categorías de riesgo): 61% riesgo bajo, 10,24% moderado, 12,48% moderadamente elevado, 10,64% riesgo elevado y muy elevado 0,18%. Al comparar los pacientes con riesgo coronario no bajo y los demás pacientes, según la presencia de CHTG (3 definiciones) se obtuvo: según  el  National Cholesterol Education Program  una OR de 1.95 (IC 95%: 1.17-3.24), según la Federación internacional de Diabetes  una OR de 2,08 (IC 95%: 1.427-3.035) y según Gómez una OR de 2,01 (IC 95%: 1.361-2.976); todos con p<0,001. Cuando se aplicó la regresión logística a los componentes de CHTG por separado y el riesgo coronario se obtuvo para la cintura: 0.088 en hombres y - 0.035 en mujeres (p no significativa); para los triglicéridos: -0.074 para varones y  -0.016 para mujeres (p no significativa).  Además se encontró que por cada incremento de un centímetro en la cintura el riesgo se incrementa en 0,11 veces su valor previo.Conclusiones: La CHTG duplica la posibilidad de tener una categoría de riesgo alto en relación a los que no lo tienen, independientemente de su definición. La asociación de cintura y triglicéridos esta significativamente asociada a mayor riesgo coronario a diferencia de su predicción por separado.Sindrome X metabólico; Cintura hipertrigliceridémica; enfermedad coronaria

Hepatitis B surface antibodies seroprevalence among people born before and after implementation of universal HBV vaccination

Universal vaccination is the most effective strategy to control hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. In Argentina, vaccination against HBV was incorporated in year 2000 for newborns and in 2003 for 11 years old children. However, there is a paucity of data about protection levels against HBV infection. The aim of this work was to determine the prevalence of seroprotective anti-HBs antibodies (aHBs) in Argentina. Serum samples negative for HBsAg and anti-HBc from 132 children born after year 2000 and 762 blood donors, older than 18 years, from five centers across the country, were analyzed for aHBs. Titers ¡Ý10 mIU/mL were observed in 74/132 children (56.1%) and 336/762 (44.1%) in blood donors. The median age for blood donors was 33.9 (23¨C43); from them, 210 (27.6%) were born after 1992 and, therefore, were catch-up by vaccine implementation at 11 years old age. Donors born in 1992 or before showed a significantly lower frequency of protection (32.2%) compared to donors born after 1992 (75.2%), p < 0.0001. In addition, significant differences were observed in the status of seroprotection between different participating centers (p = 0.024). Implementation of HBV vaccine in 2000 and 2003 implied an overall increase of the aHBs seroprotective rates, with a particularly adequate response in children vaccinated at 11 years old age. The observed results suggest that population born in 1992 or before is currently the most susceptible. Consequently, it would be advisable to become aware of the risk of transmission in this age group and to stress this population vaccination campaigns.Fil: Di Lello, Federico Alejandro. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Departamento de Microbiología, Inmunología y Biotecnología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Blejer, Jorgelina L.. Fundación Hemocentro; ArgentinaFil: Alter, Adriana. Fundación Hemocentro; ArgentinaFil: Bartoli, Sonia. Centro Regional de Hemoterapia Jujuy; ArgentinaFil: Vargas, Fabiana Alejandra. Centro Regional de Hemoterapia de Mendoza; ArgentinaFil: Ruiz, Rosángela. Hospital Regional Rio Grande; ArgentinaFil: Galli, Claudio. Hospital Regional Rio Grande; ArgentinaFil: Blanco, Sebastian. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Medicina; Argentina. Fundación Banco Central de Sangre; ArgentinaFil: Gallego, Sandra Veronica. Fundación Banco Central de Sangre; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Medicina; ArgentinaFil: Fernández, Roberto. Fundación Hemocentro; ArgentinaFil: Martínez, Alfredo P.. Centro de Educación Médica e Investigaciones Clínicas "Norberto Quirno"; ArgentinaFil: Flichman, Diego Martin. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Retrovirus y Sida. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Retrovirus y Sida; Argentin

XTEND: Extending the depth of field in cryo soft X-ray tomography

We have developed a new data collection method and processing framework in full field cryo soft X-ray tomography to computationally extend the depth of field (DOF) of a Fresnel zone plate lens. Structural features of 3D-reconstructed eukaryotic cells that are affected by DOF artifacts in standard reconstruction are now recovered. This approach, based on focal series projections, is easily applicable with closed expressions to select specific data acquisition parameters.This work was partially supported by MINECO grants BFU2014-54181 to JLC and AIC-A-2011-0638, BIO2013-44647-R and BIO2016-76400-R to JMC, Madrid. Regional government grants S2013/MIT-2850 to JLC and S2010/BMD-2305 to JMC, National Science Foundation grant DMS-1114901 to GTH, the European Union through BioStruct-X Project 283570 and Horizon 2020 through grant iNEXT (INFRAIA-1-2014-2015, Proposal: 653706).S

Study of Mechanical, Thermal, and Microstructural Properties of Polypropylene/Ceramic Waste Composites

In this work, the effect of reinforcement of the iPP with ceramic waste (CW), and the use of maleic anhydride compatibilizing agent grafted with polyolefin elastomer (POE-g-MAH) are studied. The composites were fabricated by extrusion and injection processes, and their morphology and microstructure, as well as fracture surface and mechanical and thermal properties were analyzed. Characterization by polarized optical microscopy showed that the ceramic waste particles were well-dispersed into the iPP matrix without the presence of agglomerates. However, the POE-g-MAH did not show good compatibility when it was added to the iPP/CW composite. Hardness Rockwell R, tensile and flexural measurements showed that the hardness, Young´s modulus, and flexural modulus increased with the incorporation of CW and without the POE-g-MAH. The ductility of the composites was several decreased with the addition of CW. POE-g-MAH affected the hardness, ductility, strength tensile, Young´s modulus, flexural modulus, and interfacial interaction in the iPP/CW composite. Analysis by X-ray diffraction showed that the CW also acted as a nucleating agent, increasing the crystallization degree, and forming the β-phase. Analysis of the Fourier transformed infrared showed transmittance bands of the iPP, CW, POE-g-MAH and composites. The bands were similar and there were no major changes in characteristic bands of composites, but CW and POE-g-MAH produced changes in the shape and intensity of band peaks of the iPP matrix. The CW addition to the iPP matrix modified the thermal properties of pure iPP, such as the degree of crystallization and melting temperature in the iPP/CW composites. The incorporation of POE-g-MAH decreased the crystallization temperature and crystallinity degree in the iPP/CW composite

Achieving Health Equity Through Community Engagement in Translating Evidence to Policy: The San Francisco Health Improvement Partnership, 2010–2016

BACKGROUND: The San Francisco Health Improvement Partnership (SFHIP) promotes health equity by using a novel collective impact model that blends community engagement with evidence-to-policy translational science. The model involves diverse stakeholders, including ethnic-based community health equity coalitions, the local public health department, hospitals and health systems, a health sciences university, a school district, the faith community, and others sectors. COMMUNITY CONTEXT: We report on 3 SFHIP prevention initiatives: reducing consumption of sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs), regulating retail alcohol sales, and eliminating disparities in children’s oral health. METHODS: SFHIP is governed by a steering committee. Partnership working groups for each initiative collaborate to 1) develop and implement action plans emphasizing feasible, scalable, translational-science–informed interventions and 2) consider sustainability early in the planning process by including policy and structural interventions. OUTCOME: Through SFHIP’s efforts, San Francisco enacted ordinances regulating sale and advertising of SSBs and a ballot measure establishing a soda tax. Most San Francisco hospitals implemented or committed to implementing healthy-beverage policies that prohibited serving or selling SSBs. SFHIP helped prevent Starbucks and Taco Bell from receiving alcohol licenses in San Francisco and helped prevent state authorization of sale of powdered alcohol. SFHIP increased the number of primary care clinics providing fluoride varnish at routine well-child visits from 3 to 14 and acquired a state waiver to allow dental clinics to be paid for dental services delivered in schools. INTERPRETATION: The SFHIP model of collective impact emphasizing community engagement and policy change accomplished many of its intermediate goals to create an environment promoting health and health equity