World Antimalarial Resistance Network (WARN) III: Molecular Markers for Drug Resistant Malaria

Molecular markers for drug resistant malaria represent public health tools of great but mostly unrealized potential value. A key reason for the failure of molecular resistance markers to live up to their potential is that data on the their prevalence is scattered in disparate databases with no linkage to the clinical, in vitro and pharmacokinetic data that are needed to relate the genetic data to relevant phenotypes. The ongoing replacement of older monotherapies for malaria by new, more effective combination therapies presents an opportunity to create an open access database that brings together standardized data on molecular markers of drug resistant malaria from around the world. This paper presents a rationale for creating a global database of molecular markers for drug resistant malaria and for linking it to similar databases containing results from clinical trials of drug efficacy, in vitro studies of drug susceptibility, and pharmacokinetic studies of antimalarial drugs, in a World Antimalarial Resistance Network (WARN). This database will be a global resource, guiding the selection of first line drugs for treating uncomplicated malaria, for preventing malaria in travelers and for intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnant women, infants and other vulnerable groups. Perhaps most important, a global database for molecular markers of drug resistant malaria will accelerate the identification and validation of markers for resistance to artemisinin-based combination therapies and, thereby, potentially prolong the useful therapeutic lives of these important new drugs

World Antimalarial Resistance Network (WARN) III: Molecular markers for drug resistant malaria

Molecular markers for drug resistant malaria represent public health tools of great but mostly unrealized potential value. A key reason for the failure of molecular resistance markers to live up to their potential is that data on the their prevalence is scattered in disparate databases with no linkage to the clinical, in vitro and pharmacokinetic data that are needed to relate the genetic data to relevant phenotypes. The ongoing replacement of older monotherapies for malaria by new, more effective combination therapies presents an opportunity to create an open access database that brings together standardized data on molecular markers of drug resistant malaria from around the world. This paper presents a rationale for creating a global database of molecular markers for drug resistant malaria and for linking it to similar databases containing results from clinical trials of drug efficacy, in vitro studies of drug susceptibility, and pharmacokinetic studies of antimalarial drugs, in a World Antimalarial Resistance Network (WARN). This database will be a global resource, guiding the selection of first line drugs for treating uncomplicated malaria, for preventing malaria in travelers and for intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnant women, infants and other vulnerable groups. Perhaps most important, a global database for molecular markers of drug resistant malaria will accelerate the identification and validation of markers for resistance to artemisinin-based combination therapies and, thereby, potentially prolong the useful therapeutic lives of these important new drugs

Towards an Archaeology of the Welfare State in Britain, 1945–2009

In this paper I develop an argument for the specific contribution which archaeology might make to the study of the 'classic' welfare state in Britain (c. 1945–1975) and its aftermath (c. 1976 to present). This period saw massive state investment in infrastructure which transformed both the material and social worlds of its citizens, through new state policies, new networks of political and social control, the centralisation and nationalisation of a range of existing aspects of civilian life and the construction of housing on a monumental scale. While this is a topic which has been studied in detail by historians and sociologists, despite the massive investment in construction and the accompanying effects on the physical landscape of Britain, there has been relatively little work on the 'material worlds' of the welfare state. In developing this argument I focus particularly on public housing, an area which has been the subject of some previous archaeological comment and which provides a clear case study in the contribution which such an approach might make. State subsidised housing policy developed as a brave utopian socialist experiment during the interwar period in Britain, reaching its zenith in the mid-1970s, at which time the state supplied almost a third of the nation's housing. Public housing projects became an area of experimentation in the realisation of modernist ideals of high density private accommodation and in the use of new building technologies and materials. However, following the demise of the classic welfare state, for various reasons high density public housing has come to be viewed as part of a dystopian social cycle, the buildings and associated landscapes themselves becoming a symbol of poverty, substance abuse and violence. From an early history associated with slum clearance and the development of idealised homes for the nation's poor, many high rise/high density public housing developments from the classic welfare state are now more often viewed themselves as slums, their design and 'materiality' perceived as contributing to, or even creating, a series of social problems. I suggest, following earlier work by Miller (Man (New Series) 23(2):353–372, 1988), Buchli (The Archaeology of Socialism, Berg, New York, 1999) and Buchli and Lucas (Archaeologies of the contemporary past. Routledge, London, 2001) that an archaeological approach to the material world of public housing has the potential to reveal not only the ways in which changing state ideologies are expressed through their design, but also the ways in which individuals have (and continue to) engage with their spaces and material culture to manage the conditions of everyday life, and how such places exist within counter-discursive urban and suburban worlds. I also suggest that part of the role of an archaeology of the welfare state is to consider the circumstances under which the welfare state fails through a focus on the archaeology of poverty and homelessness

Multi-messenger observations of a binary neutron star merger

On 2017 August 17 a binary neutron star coalescence candidate (later designated GW170817) with merger time 12:41:04 UTC was observed through gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. The Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor independently detected a gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) with a time delay of ~1.7 s with respect to the merger time. From the gravitational-wave signal, the source was initially localized to a sky region of 31 deg2 at a luminosity distance of 40+8-8 Mpc and with component masses consistent with neutron stars. The component masses were later measured to be in the range 0.86 to 2.26 Mo. An extensive observing campaign was launched across the electromagnetic spectrum leading to the discovery of a bright optical transient (SSS17a, now with the IAU identification of AT 2017gfo) in NGC 4993 (at ~40 Mpc) less than 11 hours after the merger by the One- Meter, Two Hemisphere (1M2H) team using the 1 m Swope Telescope. The optical transient was independently detected by multiple teams within an hour. Subsequent observations targeted the object and its environment. Early ultraviolet observations revealed a blue transient that faded within 48 hours. Optical and infrared observations showed a redward evolution over ~10 days. Following early non-detections, X-ray and radio emission were discovered at the transient’s position ~9 and ~16 days, respectively, after the merger. Both the X-ray and radio emission likely arise from a physical process that is distinct from the one that generates the UV/optical/near-infrared emission. No ultra-high-energy gamma-rays and no neutrino candidates consistent with the source were found in follow-up searches. These observations support the hypothesis that GW170817 was produced by the merger of two neutron stars in NGC4993 followed by a short gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) and a kilonova/macronova powered by the radioactive decay of r-process nuclei synthesized in the ejecta

Multi-messenger Observations of a Binary Neutron Star Merger

On 2017 August 17 a binary neutron star coalescence candidate (later designated GW170817) with merger time 12:41:04 UTC was observed through gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. The Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor independently detected a gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) with a time delay of ∼ 1.7 {{s}} with respect to the merger time. From the gravitational-wave signal, the source was initially localized to a sky region of 31 deg2 at a luminosity distance of {40}-8+8 Mpc and with component masses consistent with neutron stars. The component masses were later measured to be in the range 0.86 to 2.26 {M}ȯ . An extensive observing campaign was launched across the electromagnetic spectrum leading to the discovery of a bright optical transient (SSS17a, now with the IAU identification of AT 2017gfo) in NGC 4993 (at ∼ 40 {{Mpc}}) less than 11 hours after the merger by the One-Meter, Two Hemisphere (1M2H) team using the 1 m Swope Telescope. The optical transient was independently detected by multiple teams within an hour. Subsequent observations targeted the object and its environment. Early ultraviolet observations revealed a blue transient that faded within 48 hours. Optical and infrared observations showed a redward evolution over ∼10 days. Following early non-detections, X-ray and radio emission were discovered at the transient’s position ∼ 9 and ∼ 16 days, respectively, after the merger. Both the X-ray and radio emission likely arise from a physical process that is distinct from the one that generates the UV/optical/near-infrared emission. No ultra-high-energy gamma-rays and no neutrino candidates consistent with the source were found in follow-up searches. These observations support the hypothesis that GW170817 was produced by the merger of two neutron stars in NGC 4993 followed by a short gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) and a kilonova/macronova powered by the radioactive decay of r-process nuclei synthesized in the ejecta.</p

World Antimalarial Resistance Network (WARN) III: molecular markers for drug resistant malaria.

Molecular markers for drug resistant malaria represent public health tools of great but mostly unrealized potential value. A key reason for the failure of molecular resistance markers to live up to their potential is that data on the their prevalence is scattered in disparate databases with no linkage to the clinical, in vitro and pharmacokinetic data that are needed to relate the genetic data to relevant phenotypes. The ongoing replacement of older monotherapies for malaria by new, more effective combination therapies presents an opportunity to create an open access database that brings together standardized data on molecular markers of drug resistant malaria from around the world. This paper presents a rationale for creating a global database of molecular markers for drug resistant malaria and for linking it to similar databases containing results from clinical trials of drug efficacy, in vitro studies of drug susceptibility, and pharmacokinetic studies of antimalarial drugs, in a World Antimalarial Resistance Network (WARN). This database will be a global resource, guiding the selection of first line drugs for treating uncomplicated malaria, for preventing malaria in travelers and for intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnant women, infants and other vulnerable groups. Perhaps most important, a global database for molecular markers of drug resistant malaria will accelerate the identification and validation of markers for resistance to artemisinin-based combination therapies and, thereby, potentially prolong the useful therapeutic lives of these important new drugs

World Antimalarial Resistance Network (WARN) III: Molecular markers for drug resistant malaria-0

<p><b>Copyright information:</b></p><p>Taken from "World Antimalarial Resistance Network (WARN) III: Molecular markers for drug resistant malaria"</p><p>http://www.biomedcentral.com/1475-2875/6/121</p><p>Malaria Journal 2007;6():121-121.</p><p>Published online 6 Sep 2007</p><p>PMCID:PMC2008207.</p><p></p>t four of the five sites where SP resistance was low or moderate, suggesting that this molecular marker could serve as a reliable surrogate for SP efficacy at these sites. Adapted from [12] with permission