Ethical,legal and social aspects of the approach in Sudan

The global malaria situation, especially in Africa, and the problems frequently encountered in chemical control of vectors such as insecticide resistance, emphasize the urgency of research, development and implementation of new vector control technologies that are applicable at regional and local levels. The successful application of the sterile insect technique (SIT) for the control of the New World screwworm Cochliomyia hominivorax and several species of fruit flies has given impetus to the use of this method for suppression or elimination of malaria vectors in some areas of Africa including Northern State of Sudan. The research and development phase of the Northern State feasibility study has been started. Sudanese stakeholders are working side-by-side with the International Atomic Energy Agency in the activities of this important phase. Several ethical, legal and social issues associated with this approach arose during this phase of the project. They need to be seriously considered and handled with care. In this paper, these issues are described, and the current and proposed activities to overcome potential hurdles to ensure success of the project are listed.     

Nonglucosylated oligosaccharides are transferred to protein in MI8-5 Chinese hamster ovary cells

A CHO mutant MI8-5 was found to synthesize Man9-GlcNAc2-P-P-dolichol rather than Glc3Man9GlcNAc2-P-P-dolichol as the oligosaccharide-lipid intermediate in N-glycosylation of proteins. MI8-5 cells were incubated with labeled mevalonate, and the prenol was found to be dolichol. The mannose-labeled oligosaccharide released from oligosaccharide-lipid of MI8-5 cells was analyzed by HPLC and alpha-mannosidase treatment, and the data were consistent with a structure of Man9GlcNAc2. In addition, MI8-5 cells did not incorporate radioactivity into oligosaccharide- lipid during an incubation with tritiated galactose, again consistent with MI8-5 cells synthesizing an unglucosylated oligosaccharide-lipid. MI8-5 cells had parental levels of glucosylphosphoryldolichol synthase activity. However, in two different assays, MI8-5 cells lacked dolichol- P-Glc:Man9GlcNAc2-P-P-dolichol glucosyltransferase activity. MI8-5 cells were found to synthesize glucosylated oligosaccharide after they were transfected with Saccharomyces cerevisiae ALG 6, the gene for dolichol-P-Glc:Man9GlcNAc2-P-P-dolichol glucosyltransferase. MI8-5 cells were found to incorporate mannose into protein 2-fold slower than parental cells and to approximately a 2-fold lesser extent.      

Ecologists can enable communities to implement malaria vector control in Africa

Background

Malaria imposes significant costs on households and the poor are disproportionately affected. However, cost data are often from quantitative surveys with a fixed recall period. They do not capture costs that unfold slowly over time, or seasonal variations. Few studies investigate the different pathways through which malaria contributes towards poverty. In this paper, a framework indicating the complex links between malaria, poverty and vulnerability at the household level is developed and applied using data from rural Kenya.

Methods

Cross-sectional surveys in a wet and dry season provide data on treatment-seeking, cost-burdens and coping strategies (n = 294 and n = 285 households respectively). 15 case study households purposively selected from the survey and followed for one year provide in-depth qualitative information on the links between malaria, vulnerability and poverty.

Results

Mean direct cost burdens were 7.1% and 5.9% of total household expenditure in the wet and dry seasons respectively. Case study data revealed no clear relationship between cost burdens and vulnerability status at the end of the year. Most important was household vulnerability status at the outset. Households reporting major malaria episodes and other shocks prior to the study descended further into poverty over the year. Wealthier households were better able to cope.

Conclusion

The impacts of malaria on household economic status unfold slowly over time. Coping strategies adopted can have negative implications, influencing household ability to withstand malaria and other contingencies in future. To protect the poor and vulnerable, malaria control policies need to be integrated into development and poverty reduction programmes.     

FIGENIX: Intelligent automation of genomic annotation: expertise integration in a new software platform

Background  

Two of the main objectives of the genomic and post-genomic era are to structurally and functionally annotate genomes which consists of detecting genes' position and structure, and inferring their function (as well as of other features of genomes). Structural and functional annotation both require the complex chaining of numerous different software, algorithms and methods under the supervision of a biologist. The automation of these pipelines is necessary to manage huge amounts of data released by sequencing projects. Several pipelines already automate some of these complex chaining but still necessitate an important contribution of biologists for supervising and controlling the results at various steps.     

Field site selection: getting it right first time around

The selection of suitable field sites for integrated control of Anopheles mosquitoes using the sterile insect technique (SIT) requires consideration of the full gamut of factors facing most proposed control strategies, but four criteria identify an ideal site: 1) a single malaria vector, 2) an unstructured, relatively low density target population, 3) isolation of the target population and 4) actual or potential malaria incidence. Such a site can exist in a diverse range of situations or can be created. Two contrasting SIT field sites are examined here: the desert-flanked Dongola Reach of the Nile River in Northern State, Sudan, where malaria is endemic, and the island of La Reunion, where autochthonous malaria is rare but risk is persistent. The single malaria-transmitting vector at both sites is Anopheles arabiensis. In Sudan, the target area is a narrow 500 km corridor stretching from the rocky terrain at the Fourth Cataract - just above the new Merowe Dam, to the northernmost edge of the species range, close to Egypt. Vector distribution and temporal changes in density depend on the Nile level, ambient temperature and human activities. On La Reunion, the An. arabiensis population is coastal, limited and divided into three areas by altitude and exposure to the trade winds on the east coast. Mosquito vectors for other diseases are an issue at both sites, but of primary importance on La Reunion due to the recent chikungunya epidemic. The similarities and differences between these two sites in terms of suitability are discussed in the context of area-wide integrated vector management incorporating the SIT.     

Host-specific cues cause differential attractiveness of Kenyan men to the African malaria vector Anopheles gambiae

Background  

Many studies have suggested that variability in the attractiveness of humans to host-seeking mosquitoes is caused by differences in the make-up of body emanations, and olfactory signals in particular. Most investigations have either been laboratory-based, utilising odour obtained from sections of the body, or have been done in the field with sampling methods that do not discriminate between visual, physical and chemical cues of the host. Accordingly, evidence for differential attractiveness based on body emanations remains sparse in spite of the far-reaching epidemiological implications of this phenomenon.     

Phylogeny of the genus trichoderma based on sequence analysis of the internal transcribed spacer region 1 of the rDNA cluster

Sequences of the internal transcribed spacer region 1 (ITS1) of the ribosomal DNA were used to determine the phylogenetic relationships of species of Trichoderma sect. Pachybasium. To this end, 85 strains-including all the available ex-type strains-were analyzed. Parsimony analysis demonstrated that the section is nonmonophyletic, distributing the 85 strains among three main groups that were supported by bootstrap values. Group A comprises two clades (A1 and A2), with A1 including T. polysporum, T. piluliferum, and T. minutisporum, while A2 included T. hamatum, T. pubescens, and T. strigosum in addition to species previously included in sect. Trichoderma (i.e., T. viride, T. atroviride, and T. koningii). The ex-type strain of T. fasciculatum formed a separate branch basal to clade A. Clade B contained the sect. Pachybasium members T. harzianum, T. fertile, T. croceum, T. longipile, T. strictipile, T. tomentosum, T. oblongisporum, T. flavofuscum, T. spirale, and the anamorphs of Hypocrea semiorbis and H. cf. gelatinosa. Sequence differences among clades A1, A2, and B were in the same order of magnitude as between each of them and T. longibrachiatum, which was used as an outgroup in these analyses. Sequence differences within clades A1, A2, and B were considerably smaller: in some cases (i.e., T. virens and T. flavofuscum; T. strictipile and H. cf. gelatinosa), the ITS1-sequences were identical, suggesting conspecifity. In other cases (e.g., T. crassum and T. longipile; T. harzianum, T. inhamatum, T. croceum, T. fertile, and H. semiorbis; T. hamatum and T. pubescens; and T. viride, T. atroviride, and T. koningii) differences were in the range of 1-3 nt only, suggesting a very close phylogenetic relationship. The sequence of a previously described aggressive mushroom competitor group of T. harzianum strains (Th2) was strikingly different from that of the ex-type strain of T. harzianum and closely related species and is likely to be a separate species. Copyright 1998 Academic Press.     

The small-subunit ribosomal RNA gene sequences from the hypotrichous ciliates Oxytricha nova and Stylonychia pustulata

We have determined the complete nucleotide sequence of the small- subunit ribosomal RNA genes for the ciliate protozoans Stylonychia pustulata and Oxytricha nova. The sequences are homologous and sufficiently similar that these organisms must be closely related. In a phylogeny inferred from comparisons of several eukaryotic small-subunit ribosomal RNAs, the divergence of the ciliates from the eukaryotic line of descent is seen to coincide with the radiation of the plants, the animals, and the fungi. This radiation is preceded by the divergence of the slime mold, Dictyostelium discoideum.      

Free brownian motion of individual lipid molecules in biomembranes

The mobility of phospolipids in free-standing and supported membranes was investigated on the level of individual molecules. For the analysis of trajectories a new statistical treatment was developed that permitted us to clearly distinguish different types of diffusional motion. A freely diffusing subfraction of lipids within supported membranes was identified. Its mobility was characterized by a mean lateral diffusion constant of D(supp) = 4.6 &mgr;m(2)/s. In comparison, the mobility of lipids embedded in "free-standing" planar membranes yielded an increase in the mean diffusion constant by a factor of 4.5, D(free) = 20.6 &mgr;m(2)/s. This increase is attributed to the ultrathin (</=1 nm) lubricating water layer between membranes and glass support.     

Adverse environmental conditions influence age-related innate immune responsiveness

Background-  

The innate immune system plays an important role in the recognition and induction of protective responses against infectious pathogens, whilst there is increasing evidence for a role in mediating chronic inflammatory diseases at older age. Despite indications that environmental conditions can influence the senescence process of the adaptive immune system, it is not known whether the same holds true for the innate immune system. Therefore we studied whether age-related innate immune responses are similar or differ between populations living under very diverse environmental conditions.