Microbial Analysis of Biomedical Wastes From Selected Health Facilities in Parts of Edo South and Its Public Health Implication

This study, aimed at the microbial analysis of biomedical waste (BMW) was carried out using 100 samples of 10 different BMW collected in duplicates from 5 busy primary healthcare centers (PHCs).The research findings showed a high prevalence of E.coli (39%) and S.aureus (32%) which were both statistically significant at P≤0.05, while the least isolated organisms were K. pnuemoniae (10%) and B. subtilis (4%) and were statistically not significant at P≥0.05. Samples from dressings and beddings were found to contain the highest microbial loadof 25 and 13 respectively while the least number of isolates were from expired cytotoxic drugs (2) and lancets (1).The biochemical tests showed the presence of Gram positive and negative organisms with record of both aerobic and anaerobic isolates from the BMW. The investigation revealed that BMW contains mixed bacterial community with some being pathogenic and pose a public health hazard to both health workers and other community members, therefore adequate treatment measures should be given to all BMW before disposal

Radiation damage in lithium-containing solar cells Final report, 21 Jun. 1966 - 20 Mar. 1968

Interaction of lithium with defects induced in silicon solar cells by one MeV electron bombardmen

Lightweight genome viewer: portable software for browsing genomics data in its chromosomal context

Lightweight genome viewer (lwgv) is a web-based tool for visualization of sequence annotations in their chromosomal context. It performs most of the functions of larger genome browsers, while relying on standard flat-file formats and bypassing the database needs of most visualization tools. Visualization as an aide to discovery requires display of novel data in conjunction with static annotations in their chromosomal context. With database-based systems, displaying dynamic results requires temporary tables that need to be tracked for removal

Program transformations using temporal logic side conditions

This paper describes an approach to program optimisation based on transformations, where temporal logic is used to specify side conditions, and strategies are created which expand the repertoire of transformations and provide a suitable level of abstraction. We demonstrate the power of this approach by developing a set of optimisations using our transformation language and showing how the transformations can be converted into a form which makes it easier to apply them, while maintaining trust in the resulting optimising steps. The approach is illustrated through a transformational case study where we apply several optimisations to a small program

Module networks revisited: computational assessment and prioritization of model predictions

The solution of high-dimensional inference and prediction problems in computational biology is almost always a compromise between mathematical theory and practical constraints such as limited computational resources. As time progresses, computational power increases but well-established inference methods often remain locked in their initial suboptimal solution. We revisit the approach of Segal et al. (2003) to infer regulatory modules and their condition-specific regulators from gene expression data. In contrast to their direct optimization-based solution we use a more representative centroid-like solution extracted from an ensemble of possible statistical models to explain the data. The ensemble method automatically selects a subset of most informative genes and builds a quantitatively better model for them. Genes which cluster together in the majority of models produce functionally more coherent modules. Regulators which are consistently assigned to a module are more often supported by literature, but a single model always contains many regulator assignments not supported by the ensemble. Reliably detecting condition-specific or combinatorial regulation is particularly hard in a single optimum but can be achieved using ensemble averaging.Comment: 8 pages REVTeX, 6 figure

Slavonic Translations of Saint Basil’s Works

This feature "ЛѢТОПИСЬ" ('Chronicle') reports on recent events in the field of Early Slavic studies, e.g., celebrations, conferences, symposia, announcements of forthcoming colloquia, and past study groups, etc.On March 21-24 1981, in Birmingham, the Fifteenth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies held a conference on Byzantium and the Slavs. This announcement gives a summary of presentations by Faith C.M. Wigzell, Danica Petrović, Dimitrije Stefanović, William R. Veder, and Francis J. Thomson on the following topics: hagiographical writing among the Orthodox Slavs, the importance of the Chilendari Music Manuscripts for the history of Serbian church music, the melodic origin of a sticheron in honor of Prince Lazar, the imitation of Byzantine models in translations, and Slavonic translations of St. Basil's works

Limited antigenic diversity of Plasmodium falciparum apical membrane antigen 1 supports the development of effective multi-allele vaccines

BackgroundPolymorphism in antigens is a common mechanism for immune evasion used by many important pathogens, and presents major challenges in vaccine development. In malaria, many key immune targets and vaccine candidates show substantial polymorphism. However, knowledge on antigenic diversity of key antigens, the impact of polymorphism on potential vaccine escape, and how sequence polymorphism relates to antigenic differences is very limited, yet crucial for vaccine development. Plasmodium falciparum apical membrane antigen 1 (AMA1) is an important target of naturally-acquired antibodies in malaria immunity and a leading vaccine candidate. However, AMA1 has extensive allelic diversity with more than 60 polymorphic amino acid residues and more than 200 haplotypes in a single population. Therefore, AMA1 serves as an excellent model to assess antigenic diversity in malaria vaccine antigens and the feasibility of multi-allele vaccine approaches. While most previous research has focused on sequence diversity and antibody responses in laboratory animals, little has been done on the cross-reactivity of human antibodies.MethodsWe aimed to determine the extent of antigenic diversity of AMA1, defined by reactivity with human antibodies, and to aid the identification of specific alleles for potential inclusion in a multi-allele vaccine. We developed an approach using a multiple-antigen-competition enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to examine cross-reactivity of naturally-acquired antibodies in Papua New Guinea and Kenya, and related this to differences in AMA1 sequence.ResultsWe found that adults had greater cross-reactivity of antibodies than children, although the patterns of cross-reactivity to alleles were the same. Patterns of antibody cross-reactivity were very similar between populations (Papua New Guinea and Kenya), and over time. Further, our results show that antigenic diversity of AMA1 alleles is surprisingly restricted, despite extensive sequence polymorphism. Our findings suggest that a combination of three different alleles, if selected appropriately, may be sufficient to cover the majority of antigenic diversity in polymorphic AMA1 antigens. Antigenic properties were not strongly related to existing haplotype groupings based on sequence analysis.ConclusionsAntigenic diversity of AMA1 is limited and a vaccine including a small number of alleles might be sufficient for coverage against naturally-circulating strains, supporting a multi-allele approach for developing polymorphic antigens as malaria vaccines