The impact of anthelmintic treatment intervention on malaria infection and anaemia in school and preschool children in Magu district, Tanzania: an open label randomised intervention trial.

BACKGROUND: Some studies have suggested that helminth infections increase the risk of malaria infection and are associated with increased number of malaria attacks and anaemia. Thus interventions to control helminth infections may have an impact on incidence of clinical malaria and anaemia. The current study assessed the impact of two anthelmintic treatment approaches on malaria infection and on anaemia in school and pre-school children in Magu district, Tanzania. METHODS: A total of 765 children were enrolled into a prospective randomized anthelmintic intervention trial following a baseline study of 1546 children. Enrolled children were randomized to receive either repeated treatment with praziquantel and albendazole four times a year (intervention group, 394 children) or single dose treatment with praziquantel and albendazole once a year (control group, 371 children). Follow up examinations were conducted at 12 and 24 months after baseline to assess the impact of the intervention. Stool and urine samples were collected and examined for schistosome and soil transmitted helminth infections. Blood samples were also collected and examined for malaria parasites and haemoglobin concentrations. Monitoring of clinical malaria attacks was performed at each school during the two years of the intervention. RESULTS: Out of 1546 children screened for P. falciparum, S. mansoni, S. haematobium, hookworm and T. Trichiura at baseline, 1079 (69.8%) were infected with at least one of the four parasites. There was no significant difference in malaria infection (prevalence, parasite density and frequency of malaria attacks) and in the prevalence of anaemia between the repeated and single dose anthelmintic treatment groups at 12 and 24 months follow up (p>0.05). However, overall, there was significant improvement in mean haemoglobin concentrations (p<0.001) from baseline levels of 122.0 g/L and 123.0 g/L to 136.0 g/L and 136.8 g/L for the repeated and single dose treatment groups, respectively, at 24 months follow-up which resulted in significant reduction in prevalence of anaemia. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that repeated anthelmintic treatment did not have an impact on malaria infection compared to single dose treatment. However, both treatment approaches had overall impact in terms of improvements of haemoglobin levels and hence reductions in prevalence of anaemia

Prospectus, September 16, 1986

https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1986/1021/thumbnail.jp

Final Protocol and Statistical Analysis Plan for the SNAP Trial - a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of nicotine replacement therapy in pregnancy

This NIHR HTA-funded smoking, nicotine and pregnancy (SNAP) trial investigated whether or not nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) is effective, cost-effective and safe when used for smoking cessation by pregnant women. We randomised 1050 women who were between 12 and 24 weeks pregnant as they attended hospital for ante-natal ultrasound scans. Women received either nicotine or placebo transdermal patches with behavioural support. The primary outcome measure was biochemically-validated, self-reported, prolonged and total abstinence from smoking between a quit date (defined before randomisation and set within 2 weeks of this) and delivery. At 6 months after childbirth self-reported maternal smoking status was ascertained and 2 years after childbirth, self-reported maternal smoking status and the behaviour, cognitive development and respiratory symptoms of children born in the trial were compared in both groups. This repository contains the final approved version of the protocol plus the statistical analysis plan (SAP) for both outcomes at delivery and following the 2 year follow up period after birth

Promoting self-facilitating feedback processes in coastal ecosystem engineers to increase restoration success:Testing engineering measures

Coastal ecosystem engineers often depend on self‐facilitating feedbacks to ameliorate environmental stress. This makes the restoration of such coastal ecosystem engineers difficult. We question if we can increase transplantation success in highly dynamic coastal areas by engineering measures that promote the development of self‐facilitating feedback processes.Intertidal blue mussels Mytilus edulis are a typical example of ecosystem engineers that are difficult to restore. A lack of self‐facilitating feedbacks at low densities limits establishment success when young mussels are transplanted on dynamic mudflats.In a large field experiment, we investigated the possibility of increasing transplantation success by stimulating the formation of an aggregated spatial configuration in mussels, thereby reducing hydrologically induced dislodgment and the risks of predation. For this, we applied engineering measures in the form of fences that trapped wave dislodged mussels.Mussel loss rates were significantly lower when mussels were placed between both artificial fences, and in high densities (4.2 kg/m2) compared with mussels placed in areas without fences and in low densities (2.1 kg/m2). The fences induced the formation of a banded pattern with high local mussel densities, which locally reduced predation.Synthesis and applications. Our results underline the importance of actively promoting the development of self‐facilitating processes, such as aggregation into patterns, in restoration projects of ecosystem engineers. In particular, the current study shows that engineering measures can help to initiate these kinds of self‐facilitating interactions, especially in highly dynamic areas

Prospectus, October 1, 1986

https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1986/1023/thumbnail.jp

Orexin receptors in GtoPdb v.2021.3

Orexin receptors (nomenclature as agreed by the NC-IUPHAR Subcommittee on Orexin receptors [42]) are activated by the endogenous polypeptides orexin-A and orexin-B (also known as hypocretin-1 and -2; 33 and 28 aa) derived from a common precursor, preproorexin or orexin precursor, by proteolytic cleavage and some typical peptide modifications [109]. Currently the only orexin receptor ligands in clinical use are suvorexant and lemborexant, which are used as hypnotics. Orexin receptor crystal structures have been solved [134, 133, 54, 117, 46]

Orexin receptors (version 2019.4) in the IUPHAR/BPS Guide to Pharmacology Database

Orexin receptors (nomenclature as agreed by the NC-IUPHAR Subcommittee on Orexin receptors [39]) are activated by the endogenous polypeptides orexin-A and orexin-B (also known as hypocretin-1 and -2; 33 and 28 aa) derived from a common precursor, preproorexin or orexin precursor, by proteolytic cleavage and some typical peptide modifications [102]. Currently the only orexin receptor ligand in clinical use is suvorexant, which is used as a hypnotic. Orexin receptor crystal structures have been solved [124, 123]

Protocol for the Smoking, Nicotine and Pregnancy (SNAP) trial: double-blind, placebo-randomised, controlled trial of nicotine replacement therapy in pregnancy

Background: Smoking in pregnancy remains a public health challenge. Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) is effective for smoking cessation in non-pregnant people, but because women metabolise nicotine and cotinine much faster in pregnancy, it is unclear whether this will be effective for smoking cessation in pregnancy. The NHS Health Technology Assessment Programme (HTA)-funded smoking, nicotine and pregnancy ( SNAP) trial will investigate whether or not nicotine replacement therapy ( NRT) is effective, cost-effective and safe when used for smoking cessation by pregnant women. Methods/Design: Over two years, in 5 trial centres, 1050 pregnant women who are between 12 and 24 weeks pregnant will be randomised as they attend hospital for ante-natal ultrasound scans. Women will receive either nicotine or placebo transdermal patches with behavioural support. The primary outcome measure is biochemically-validated, self-reported, prolonged and total abstinence from smoking between a quit date ( defined before randomisation and set within two weeks of this) and delivery. At six months after childbirth self-reported maternal smoking status will be ascertained and two years after childbirth, self-reported maternal smoking status and the behaviour, cognitive development and respiratory symptoms of children born in the trial will be compared in both groups. Discussion: This trial is designed to ascertain whether or not standard doses of NRT ( as transdermal patches) are effective and safe when used for smoking cessation during pregnancy

Recent Process and Equipment Improvements to Increase High Level Waste Throughput at the Defense Waste Processing Facility

The Savannah River Site's (SRS) Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) began stabilizing high level waste (HLW) in a glass matrix in 1996. Over the past few years, there have been several process and equipment improvements at the DWPF to increase the rate at which the high level waste can be stabilized. These improvements have either directly increased waste processing rates or have desensitized the process to upsets, thereby minimizing downtime and increasing production. Improvements due to optimization of waste throughput with increased HLW loading of the glass resulted in a 6% waste throughput increase based upon operational efficiencies. Improvements in canister production include the pour spout heated bellows liner (5%), glass surge (siphon) protection software (2%), melter feed pump software logic change to prevent spurious interlocks of the feed pump with subsequent dilution of feed stock (2%) and optimization of the steam atomized scrubber (SAS) operation to minimize downtime (3%) for a total increase in canister production of 12%. A number of process recovery efforts have allowed continued operation. These include the off gas system pluggage and restoration, slurry mix evaporator (SME) tank repair and replacement, remote cleaning of melter top head center nozzle, remote melter internal inspection, SAS pump J-Tube recovery, inadvertent pour scenario resolutions, dome heater transformer bus bar cooling water leak repair and new Infra-red camera for determination of glass height in the canister are discussed