Independent Evaluation of the Water and Sanitation Hibah Program Indonesia

This evaluation assess the effectiveness of Indonesia's Water and Sanitation Hibah Program pilot and identifies lessons for applying this mechanism more broadly. The program, which operates by paying an agreed amount for verified household water or sanitation service connections installed by local water and sanitation utilities, takes advantage of excess capacity of water companies to bypass the need for infrastructure investment. It was evaluated through a document review, key informant interviews, a key stakeholder workshop, field work, and a beneficiary survey, along with quantitative data from existing sources

mPSQed: A Software for the Design of Multiplex Pyrosequencing Assays

Molecular-based diagnostic assays are the gold standard for infectious diseases today, since they allow a rapid and sensitive identification and typing of various pathogens. While PCR can be designed to be specific for a certain pathogen, a subsequent sequence analysis is frequently required for confirmation or typing. The design of appropriate PCR-based assays is a complex task, especially when conserved discriminating polymorphisms are rare or if the number of types which need to be differentiated is high. One extremely useful but underused method for this purpose is the multiplex pyrosequencing technique. Unfortunately there is no software available to aid researchers in designing multiplex pyrosequencing assays. Here, we present mPSQed (Multiplex PyroSeQuencing EDitor), a program targeted at closing this gap. We also present the design of an exemplarily theoretical assay for the differentiation of human adenovirus types A–F using two pyrosequencing primers on two distinct PCR products, designed quickly and easily using our software

Genes for the Major Structural Components of Thermotogales Species’ Togas Revealed by Proteomic and Evolutionary Analyses of OmpA and OmpB Homologs

The unifying structural characteristic of members of the bacterial order Thermotogales is their toga, an unusual cell envelope that includes a loose-fitting sheath around each cell. Only two toga-associated structural proteins have been purified and characterized in Thermotoga maritima: the anchor protein OmpA1 (or Ompα) and the porin OmpB (or Ompβ). The gene encoding OmpA1 (ompA1) was cloned and sequenced and later assigned to TM0477 in the genome sequence, but because no peptide sequence was available for OmpB, its gene (ompB) was not annotated. We identified six porin candidates in the genome sequence of T. maritima. Of these candidates, only one, encoded by TM0476, has all the characteristics reported for OmpB and characteristics expected of a porin including predominant β-sheet structure, a carboxy terminus porin anchoring motif, and a porin-specific amino acid composition. We highly enriched a toga fraction of cells for OmpB by sucrose gradient centrifugation and hydroxyapatite chromatography and analyzed it by LC/MS/MS. We found that the only porin candidate that it contained was the TM0476 product. This cell fraction also had β-sheet character as determined by circular dichroism, consistent with its enrichment for OmpB. We conclude that TM0476 encodes OmpB. A phylogenetic analysis of OmpB found orthologs encoded in syntenic locations in the genomes of all but two Thermotogales species. Those without orthologs have putative isofunctional genes in their place. Phylogenetic analyses of OmpA1 revealed that each species of the Thermotogales has one or two OmpA homologs. T. maritima has two OmpA homologs, encoded by ompA1 (TM0477) and ompA2 (TM1729), both of which were found in the toga protein-enriched cell extracts. These annotations of the genes encoding toga structural proteins will guide future examinations of the structure and function of this unusual lineage-defining cell sheath

Annual (2023) taxonomic update of RNA-directed RNA polymerase-encoding negative-sense RNA viruses (realm Riboviria: kingdom Orthornavirae: phylum Negarnaviricota)

55 Pág.In April 2023, following the annual International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) ratification vote on newly proposed taxa, the phylum Negarnaviricota was amended and emended. The phylum was expanded by one new family, 14 new genera, and 140 new species. Two genera and 538 species were renamed. One species was moved, and four were abolished. This article presents the updated taxonomy of Negarnaviricota as now accepted by the ICTV.This work was supported in part through the Laulima Government Solutions, LLC, prime contract with the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infec tious Diseases (NIAID) under Contract No. HHSN272201800013C. J.H.K. performed this work as an employee of Tunnell Government Services (TGS), a subcontractor of Laulima Government Solutions, LLC, under Contract No. HHSN272201800013C. U.J.B. was supported by the Division of Intramural Resarch, NIAID. This work was also funded in part by Contract No. HSHQDC15-C-00064 awarded by DHS S and T for the management and operation of The National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Centre, a federally funded research and development centre operated by the Battelle National Biodefense Institute (V.W.); and NIH contract HHSN272201000040I/HHSN27200004/D04 and grant R24AI120942 (N.V., R.B.T.). S.S. acknowl edges support from the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station (MAFES), USDA-ARS project 58-6066-9-033 and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Hatch Project, under Accession Number 1021494. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analysis, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. Department of the Army, the U.S. Department of Defence, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, including the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S and T), or of the institutions and companies affiliated with the authors. In no event shall any of these entities have any responsibility or liability for any use, misuse, inability to use, or reliance upon the information contained herein. The U.S. departments do not endorse any products or commercial services mentioned in this publication. The U.S. Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the U.S.Government retains a non-exclusive, paid up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for U.S. Government purposes.Peer reviewe

Papua New Guinea's intergovernmental financing reforms: an assessment

languishing for many years with th

Parting with the past: is Papua New Guinea poised to begin a new chapter towards development?

No abstract availabl

Stroma Involvement in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma: An Overview Focusing on Extracellular Matrix Proteins

Pancreatic cancer is the seventh leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide and is predicted to become second in 2030 in industrialized countries if no therapeutic progress is made. Among the different types of pancreatic cancers, Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is by far the most represented one with an occurrence of more than 90%. This specific cancer is a devastating malignancy with an extremely poor prognosis, as shown by the 5-years survival rate of 2–9%, ranking firmly last amongst all cancer sites in terms of prognostic outcomes for patients. Pancreatic tumors progress with few specific symptoms and are thus at an advanced stage at diagnosis in most patients. This malignancy is characterized by an extremely dense stroma deposition around lesions, accompanied by tissue hypovascularization and a profound immune suppression. Altogether, these combined features make access to cancer cells almost impossible for conventional chemotherapeutics and new immunotherapeutic agents, thus contributing to the fatal outcomes of the disease. Initially ignored, the Tumor MicroEnvironment (TME) is now the subject of intensive research related to PDAC treatment and could contain new therapeutic targets. In this review, we will summarize the current state of knowledge in the field by focusing on TME composition to understand how this specific compartment could influence tumor progression and resistance to therapies. Attention will be paid to Tenascin-C, a matrix glycoprotein commonly upregulated during cancer that participates to PDAC progression and thus contributes to poor prognosis.</jats:p

Stroma Involvement in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma: An Overview Focusing on Extracellular Matrix Proteins

International audiencePancreatic cancer is the seventh leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide and is predicted to become second in 2030 in industrialized countries if no therapeutic progress is made. Among the different types of pancreatic cancers, Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is by far the most represented one with an occurrence of more than 90%. This specific cancer is a devastating malignancy with an extremely poor prognosis, as shown by the 5-years survival rate of 2–9%, ranking firmly last amongst all cancer sites in terms of prognostic outcomes for patients. Pancreatic tumors progress with few specific symptoms and are thus at an advanced stage at diagnosis in most patients. This malignancy is characterized by an extremely dense stroma deposition around lesions, accompanied by tissue hypovascularization and a profound immune suppression. Altogether, these combined features make access to cancer cells almost impossible for conventional chemotherapeutics and new immunotherapeutic agents, thus contributing to the fatal outcomes of the disease. Initially ignored, the Tumor MicroEnvironment (TME) is now the subject of intensive research related to PDAC treatment and could contain new therapeutic targets. In this review, we will summarize the current state of knowledge in the field by focusing on TME composition to understand how this specific compartment could influence tumor progression and resistance to therapies. Attention will be paid to Tenascin-C, a matrix glycoprotein commonly upregulated during cancer that participates to PDAC progression and thus contributes to poor prognosis