Energy Consumption Behavior and Attitudes towards Climate Change in Hashtgerd New Town : Results of a Qualitative Survey

Zugleich gedruckt erschienen im Universitätsverlag der Technischen Universität Berlin, 2013. - ISBN 978-3-7983-2536-4, ISSN 2196-517XThis study was prepared in the framework of the sub-project "Awareness Raising" of the Iranian-German research project "Young Cities – Developing Urban Energy Efficiency in the Tehran-Karaj Region", which is funded under the program "Future Megacities" by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), and focuses on the energy efficient development of New Towns in Iran, with emphasis on the New Town Hashtgerd. Since a considerable amount of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions is currently produced in cities, the consequences of climate change can only be reduced by significantly and sustainably changing the way we build, move and live in our cities. The aims of the sub-project "Awareness Raising" are to survey the attitudes of citizens in regard to environmental issues, climate change and energy consumption patterns, in order to develop awareness-raising measures for environmental and climate change issues and to sensitize the population of the New Town Hashtgerd to climate change, sustainable energy consumption and energy-efficient building. Furthermore, the aim is to obtain insight into the needs and suggestions of Hashtgerd residents and incorporate them into the work of the project. Therefore, an exploratory qualitative survey of citizens of the New Town Hashtgerd on energy consumption in the household and transport sector, and on information about and attitudes towards climate change was carried out. The survey was also used to find out more about the structural condition of the apartments and buildings and about needs and suggestions of the residents regarding traffic and transport and other infrastructure in Hashtgerd

Rubber vs. oil palm: an analysis of factors influencing smallholders' crop choice in Jambi, Indonesia

The rapid expansion of the oil palm area in many tropical countries has raised concerns about its negative impact on local communities, food security, and on the environment. While the expansion of oil palm in early stages was mainly driven by large private and public companies, it is expected that smallholders will outnumber large estates in the near future. For policy formulation it is hence important to better understand who these smallholders are and why they have started to cultivate oil palm. In this paper, we used a rich dataset collected in the province of Jambi, which is one of the most important production areas for oil palm, to analyse smallholders’ decision making by combining qualitative, quantitative, and experimental methods. We identified agricultural expertise, lacking flexibility in labour requirements, availability of seedlings, and investment costs as the major constraints for farmers to cultivate oil palm. Important reasons for oil palm cultivation are the higher returns to labour and the shorter immature phase of oil palm. We also showed that oil palm farmers are neither risk-averse nor risk-loving, rather, they appear to be risk-neutral

High-dimensional analysis of 16 SARS-CoV-2 vaccine combinations reveals lymphocyte signatures correlating with immunogenicity

The range of vaccines developed against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) provides a unique opportunity to study immunization across different platforms. In a single-center cohort, we analyzed the humoral and cellular immune compartments following five coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines spanning three technologies (adenoviral, mRNA and inactivated virus) administered in 16 combinations. For adenoviral and inactivated-virus vaccines, heterologous combinations were generally more immunogenic compared to homologous regimens. The mRNA vaccine as the second dose resulted in the strongest antibody response and induced the highest frequency of spike-binding memory B cells irrespective of the priming vaccine. Priming with the inactivated-virus vaccine increased the SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell response, whereas boosting did not. Distinct immune signatures were elicited by the different vaccine combinations, demonstrating that the immune response is shaped by the type of vaccines applied and the order in which they are delivered. These data provide a framework for improving future vaccine strategies against pathogens and cancer

Scaling a waterfall: a meta-ethnography of adolescent progression through the stages of HIV care in sub-Saharan Africa.

INTRODUCTION: Observational studies have shown considerable attrition among adolescents living with HIV across the "cascade" of HIV care in sub-Saharan Africa, leading to higher mortality rates compared to HIV-infected adults or children. We synthesized evidence from qualitative studies on factors that promote or undermine engagement with HIV services among adolescents living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa. METHODS: We systematically searched five databases for studies published between 2005 and 2016 that met pre-defined inclusion criteria. We used a meta-ethnographic approach to identify first, second and third order constructs from eligible studies, and applied a socio-ecological framework to situate our results across different levels of influence, and in relation to each stage of the HIV cascade. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: We identified 3089 citations, of which 24 articles were eligible for inclusion. Of these, 17 were from Southern Africa while 11 were from Eastern Africa. 6 explored issues related to HIV testing, 11 explored treatment adherence, and 7 covered multiple stages of the cascade. Twelve third-order constructs emerged to explain adolescents' engagement in HIV care. Stigma was the most salient factor impeding adolescents' interactions with HIV care over the past decade. Self-efficacy to adapt to life with HIV and support from family or social networks were critical enablers supporting uptake and retention in HIV care and treatment programmes. Provision of adolescent-friendly services and health systems issues, such as the availability of efficient, confidential and comfortable services, were also reported to drive sustained care engagement. Individual-level factors, including past illness experiences, identifying mechanisms to manage pill-taking in social situations, financial (in)stability and the presence/absence of future aspirations also shaped adolescents HIV care engagement. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents' initial and ongoing use of HIV care was frequently undermined by individual-level issues; although family, community and health systems factors played important roles. Interventions should prioritise addressing psychosocial issues among adolescents to promote individual-level engagement with HIV care, and ultimately reduce mortality. Further research should explore issues relating to care linkage and ART initiation in different settings, particularly as "test and treat" policies are scaled up

Large-scale manufacture and characterization of a lentiviral vector produced for clinical ex vivo gene therapy application

International audienceFrom the perspective of a pilot clinical gene therapy trial for Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome (WAS), we implemented a process to produce a lentiviral vector under good manufacturing practices (GMP). The process is based on the transient transfection of 293T cells in Cell Factory stacks, scaled up to harvest 50 liters of viral stock per batch, followed by purification of the vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein-pseudotyped particles through several membrane-based and chromatographic steps. The process leads to a 200-fold volume concentration and an approximately 3-log reduction in protein and DNA contaminants. An average yield of 13% of infectious particles was obtained in six full-scale preparations. The final product contained low levels of contaminants such as simian virus 40 large T antigen or E1A sequences originating from producer cells. Titers as high as 2 x 10(9) infectious particles per milliliter were obtained, generating up to 6 x 10(11) infectious particles per batch. The purified WAS vector was biologically active, efficiently expressing the genetic insert in WAS protein-deficient B cell lines and transducing CD34(+) cells. The vector introduced 0.3-1 vector copy per cell on average in CD34(+) cells when used at the concentration of 10(8) infectious particles per milliliter, which is comparable to preclinical preparations. There was no evidence of cellular toxicity. These results show the implementation of large-scale GMP production, purification, and control of advanced HIV-1-derived lentiviral technology. Results obtained with the WAS vector provide the initial manufacturing and quality control benchmarking that should be helpful to further development and clinical applications