HIDDEN HEALTH COSTS OF PESTICIDE USE IN ZIMBABWE'S SMALLHOLDER COTTON

Balancing the numerous benefits that may accrue from pesticide use on cotton, farmers face health hazards. Pesticide-induced acute symptoms significantly increased the cost of illness in a survey of 280 smallholder cotton growers in two districts of Zimbabwe. Cotton growers lost a mean of Z$180 in Sanyati and Z$316 per year in Chipinge on pesticide-related direct and indirect acute health effects. These values are equivalent to 45% and 83% of annual household pesticide expenditures in the two districts. The time spent recuperating from illnesses attributed to pesticides averaged 2 days in Sanyati and 4 days in Chipinge during the 1998/99 growing season. These pesticide health cost estimates represent lower bounds only; they omit chronic pesticide health effects as well as suffering and other non-monetary costs. Acute pesticide symptoms were determined in large part by pesticide use practices, notably the lack of protective clothing. Yet many smallholder farmers misunderstood pesticide health hazards, and so did little to protect themselves. Despite the use of simple color codes, 22% of smallholder cotton growers in Sanyati and 58% in Chipinge did not know how to order the four colored pesticide label triangles by toxicity. Better farmer education in exposure averting strategies is needed. Likewise, fuller accounting for hidden health costs in future would allow farmers to make more informed decisions about agricultural pest management.Crop Production/Industries, Health Economics and Policy,

Rab14 regulates the maturation of macrophage phagosomes containing the fungal pathogen Candida albicans and the outcome of the host-pathogen interaction

Date of Acceptance: 02/02/2015 Copyright © 2015, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Exploring Gender Differences in Colon Cancer Screening Knowledge and Health Beliefs among African Americans

poster abstractAfrican Americans are diagnosed with and die at higher rates from colorectal cancer (CRC) than any ethnic groups in the United States. Culturally appropriate, effective interventions are urgently needed to reduce these cancer disparities by increasing participation in CRC screening. Both men and women are at risk for CRC, but may have different perceptions of their personal risk for CRC, knowledge, and health beliefs about screening. The purpose of the study was to examine gender differences among 817 African American primary care patients who are overdue for CRC screening. A framework based on the Health Belief Model and the Transtheoretical Model was developed specifically for this study. Baseline data were analyzed from a randomized clinical trial comparing two interventions to promote screening. African American primary care patients (n=817) who were due for screening were recruited from 11 clinics. Telephone interviewers collected baseline data on demographic characteristics, CRC knowledge, CRC health beliefs (perceived risk, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, and self-efficacy). Comparisons between male and female participants were conducted using t-tests and chi-square. Significant differences were found between men and women on several health beliefs about CRC screening. Compared to women, men had higher perceived CRC risk scores (p=.001), higher colonoscopy benefits scores (p=.012), higher colonoscopy self-efficacy scores (p= .005), and higher FOBT self-efficacy scores (p=.000). Women had significantly higher colonoscopy barriers scores (p=.005) than men. No differences were observed between men and women on CRC knowledge scores (p=.829), FOBT benefits scores (p=.783), and FOBT barriers scores (p=.679). Results indicate there are differences between African American men and women in relation to specific CRC screening health beliefs. Knowledge of CRC screening is equally low for both groups. Health care providers should take note of this when providing recommendations for screening. In addition, these results can inform the development of effective strategies for tailoring interventions to increase CRC screening

SOCS3 is a modulator of human macrophage phagocytosis

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work was supported by Kidney Research UK (Grant Number RP1/2012). The authors thank the staff of the Aberdeen Microscopy and Histology Core Facility for advice and technical assistance. The authors acknowledge and are grateful to all volunteers for donating blood for macrophage and neutrophil isolation.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Designer requirements for visual capability loss simulator tools: Differences between design disciplines

There is a low uptake of inclusive design tools in industry, partly due to a poor fit between design tools and the thought and work processes of designers. Simulating visual capability losses is a technique with great potential in helping designers improve inclusivity and accessibility. However, we need to understand the needs of designers from different disciplines to improve the fit of these tools and their uptake in industry. This study aims to determine designers’ needs for vision loss simulators, and how this varies between disciplines. Interviews were carried out with 15 designers from five disciplines. The results suggest that one tool is not suitable for all. The graphic and web designers interviewed required a tool to aid communication with clients, hoever, the industrial and engineering designers required two tools, depending on the stage of the design process. To increase their uptake, simulator tools should be used in education.We would like to thank the EPSRC for funding this work, and Wolfson College Cambridge for their support.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07437-5_

Učinci oralnog davanja mononatrijeva glutamata na morfologiju jaja i rezervu spermija u nuzjajčanom repu mladih i odraslih štakora.

The effects of oral administration of varied doses of monosodium glutamate (MSG) on the morphology of the testes and cauda epididymal sperm reserves of rats were studied using 28 four-week old (young) male Sprague-Dawley rats and 28 twelve-week-old (adult) male Sprague-Dawley rats. Increasing doses (1 mg/g body mass, 2 mg/g body mass, and 4 mg/g body mass) of a 40% aqueous solution of monosodium glutamate were administered to the male Sprague-Dawley rats every 48 hours for 6 weeks, using a rat gavage needle. The results showed that age variation did not influence the effect of MSG on the parameters studied in male rats. There was a significant reduction in the cauda epididymal sperm reserves (P<0.05) and the serum testosterone levels (P<0.05) of the rats that received monosodium glutamate relative to the control rats. The histomorphology of the testes of the rats that were given monosodium glutamate did not differ from those of the rats in the control group. No overt pathological lesions were seen in the testicular sections. These observations suggest that monosodium glutamate may have adversely affected spermatogenesis by disrupting the hypothalamic-pituitarytestis regulatory axis, and not through any direct toxic effect on the testis.Učinci oralnog davanja različitih doza mononatrijeva glutamata na morfologiju jaja i rezervu spermija už nuzjajčanom repu bili su istraživani u pokusima na 28 štakora Sprague-Dawley u dobi od četiri tjedna (mladi) i na 28 štakora Sprague-Dawley u dobi od 12 tjedana (odrasli). Štakorima su bile primijenjene povećavajuće doze (1 mg/g tjelesne mase, 2 mg/g tjelesne mase i 4 mg/g tjelesne mase) 40% tne vodene otopine mononatrijeva glutamata svakih 48 sati kroz šest tjedana iglom prilagođenom za štakore. Rezultati su pokazali da razlika u dobi nije utjecala na učinak mononatrijeva glutamata na pretraživane pokazatelje. Ustanovljeno je značajno smanjenje rezervi spermija u nuzjajčanom repu (P<0,05) kao i razina serumskog testosterona (P<0,05) u štakora kojima je primijenjen mononatrijev glutamat u odnosu na kontrolnu skupinu. Histološki nalaz tkiva jaja štakora kojima je bio primijenjen mononatrijev glutamat nije se razlikovao od onog u štakora kontrolne skupine. Nisu bili uočeni patološki poremećaji u histološkim rezovima tkiva. Ovi nalazi upućuju na zaključak da mononatrijev glutamat može imati nepovoljan utjecaj na spermatogenezu prekidanjem regulacijske osi hipotalamus-hipofizatestis, a ne putem ikakvoga izravnoga toksičnoga učinka na testese

Antimicrobial activities of secondary metabolites of endophytic fungi isolated from Catharanthus roseus

Introduction: Recently, several endophytes have been shown to possess the potentials to synthesize novel bioactive compounds that have found use for drug discovery. We isolated endophytic fungi associated with Catharanthus roseus collected from the river banks of Amassoma in Southern Nigeria, and identified some of their bioactive secondary metabolites. Methods: The fungi were subjected to solid-state fermentation on rice medium and the metabolites were extracted using ethyl acetate. The fungal crude extracts were screened for antimicrobial activity and were also subjected to high-performance liquid chromatography-diode-array detection (HPLC-DAD) analysis for the identification of the bioactive compounds. Results: The fungal extracts showed both antibacterial and antifungal activities with minimum inhibitory concentrations ranging from 0.0625 to 1 mg/mL. The HPLC-DAD analysis of the extracts suggested the presence of citreoisocoumarin, citreoisocoumarinol, questinol, hydroxyemodin, acropyrone, methyl 2-(4-hydroxyphenyl) acetate, nigricinol, and cladosporin. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that endophytic fungi associated with C. roseus could be a promising source of novel bioactive compounds with pharmaceutical and industrial importance

A portable centrifugal analyser for liver function screening

Mortality rates of up to 50% have been reported after liver failure due to drug-induced hepatotoxicity and certain viral infections(Gao et al. 2008). These adverse conditions frequently affect HIV and tuberculosis patients on regular medication in resource-poor settings. Here, we report full integration of sample preparation with read-out of a 5-parameter liver assay panel (LAP) on a portable, easy-to-use, fast and cost- efficient centrifugal microfluidic analysis system (CMAS). Our unique, dissolvable-film based centrifugo- pneumatic valving was employed to provide sample-to-answer fashion automation for plasma extraction (from finger-prick of blood), metering and aliquoting into separate reaction chambers for parallelized colorimetric quantification during rotation. The entire LAP completes in less than 20 minutes while using only a tenth the reagent volumes when compared with standard hospital laboratory tests. Accuracy of in-situ liver function screening was validated by 96 separate tests with an average coefficient of variance (CV) of 7.9% compared to benchtop and hospital lab tests. Unpaired two sample statistical t-tests were used to compare the means of CMAS and benchtop reader, on one hand; and CMAS and hospital tests on the other. The results demonstrate no statistical difference between the respective means with 94% and 92% certainty of equivalence, respectively. The portable platform thus saves significant time, labour and costs compared to established technologies, and therefore comply with typical restrictions on lab infrastructure, maintenance, operator skill and costs prevalent in many field clinics of the developing world. It has been successfully deployed in a centralised lab in Nigeria

Epidermal Growth Factor–PEG Functionalized PAMAM-Pentaethylenehexamine Dendron for Targeted Gene Delivery Produced by Click Chemistry

Aim of this study was the site-specific conjugation of an epidermal growth factor (EGF)-polyethylene glycol (PEG) chain by click chemistry onto a poly(amido amine) (PAMAM) dendron, as a key step toward defined multifunctional carriers for targeted gene delivery. For this purpose, at first propargyl amine cored PAMAM dendrons with ester ends were synthesized. The chain terminal ester groups were then modified by oligoamines with different secondary amino densities. The oligoamine-modified PAMAM dendrons were well biocompatible, as demonstrated in cytotoxicity assays. Among the different oligoamine-modified dendrons, PAMAM-pentaethylenehexamine (PEHA) dendron polyplexes displayed the best gene transfer ability. Conjugation of PAMAM-PEHA dendron with PEG spacer was conducted via click reaction, which was performed before amidation with PEHA. The resultant PEG-PAMAM-PEHA copolymer was then coupled with EGF ligand. pDNA transfections in HuH-7 hepatocellular carcinoma cells showed a 10-fold higher efficiency with the polyplexes containing conjugated EGF as compared to the ligand-free ones, demonstrating the concept of ligand targeting. Overall gene transfer efficiencies, however, were moderate, suggesting that additional measures for overcoming subsequent intracellular bottlenecks in delivery have to be taken