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

Improving the health and welfare of people who live in slums

In the first paper in this Series we assessed theoretical and empirical evidence and concluded that the health of people living in slums is a function not only of poverty but of intimately shared physical and social environments. In this paper we extend the theory of so-called neighbourhood effects. Slums offer high returns on investment because beneficial effects are shared across many people in densely populated neighbourhoods. Neighbourhood effects also help explain how and why the benefits of interventions vary between slum and non-slum spaces and between slums. We build on this spatial concept of slums to argue that, in all low-income and-middle-income countries, census tracts should henceforth be designated slum or non-slum both to inform local policy and as the basis for research surveys that build on censuses. We argue that slum health should be promoted as a topic of enquiry alongside poverty and health

The history, geography, and sociology of slums and the health problems of people who live in slums

Massive slums have become major features of cities in many low-income and middle-income countries. Here, in the first in a Series of two papers, we discuss why slums are unhealthy places with especially high risks of infection and injury. We show that children are especially vulnerable, and that the combination of malnutrition and recurrent diarrhoea leads to stunted growth and longer-term effects on cognitive development. We find that the scientific literature on slum health is underdeveloped in comparison to urban health, and poverty and health. This shortcoming is important because health is affected by factors arising from the shared physical and social environment, which have effects beyond those of poverty alone. In the second paper we will consider what can be done to improve health and make recommendations for the development of slum health as a field of study

4,5,6,7-Tetra­bromo-1,1,3-trimethyl-3-(2,3,4,5-tetra­bromo­phen­yl)indane

The title compound (OctaInd), C18H12Br8, is a commercial brominated flame retardant (BFR). In the mol­ecule, the five-membered ring has a slight envelope conformation, with a deviation of 0.317 (9) Å for the flap C atom from four essentially planar C atoms. The dihedral angle between the two benzene rings is 74.00 (16) Å

(1R,2R,5R,6S,9R,10S,13S,14S,18R)-1,6,7,8,9,14,15,16,17,17,18-Undeca­chloro­penta­cyclo­[12.2.1.16,9.02,13.05,10]octa­deca-7,15-diene

The title compound, C18H13Cl11, is an undecachlorinated commercial flame retardant. The asymmetric unit contains two independent half-mol­ecules. The complete mol­ecules are generated by crystallographic inversion symmetry, causing the terminal H atoms and one of the Cl atoms to be disordered equally over two sites in each mol­ecule. The central eight-membered rings are in chair-type conformations. In the crystal structure, there is a single weak inter­molecular C—H⋯Cl hydrogen bond

Developing a Business Incubator Model for an Entrepreneurial University: The Case of Bindura University of Science Education

This paper provides an overview of the development of a Business Incubator Model at Bindura University of Science Education (BUSE) and its role and effectiveness in supporting the development of new enterprises with high growth potential. Successful development of the BUSE Business Incubation Unit involves; development of entrepreneurship programmes and courses, having enterprise development in place of student industrial attachment, offering business and financial advisory services, mentorship programmes, entrepreneurial research output and networking with funding organisations. The prospective benefits for the development of the Business Incubation Unit are; transformation of BUSE from a „„traditional university‟‟ into an „„entrepreneurial university‟‟ thus achieving the BUSE 2014-2018 strategic plan objective of developing a fully-fledged entrepreneurship department. In addition, BUSE Business Incubation Unit will generate third stream revenue for the university, assist in the eradication of unemployment and poverty through the creation of successful and sustainable enterprises, increase government tax revenue, and thus promote the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim-ASSET) objectives

Susceptibility to collagen-induced arthritis is modulated by TGFβ responsiveness of T cells

The objective of our study was to determine the regulatory effects that endogenous transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) exerts on T cells in the pathogenesis of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA). CIA was induced in transgenic mice expressing a dominant negative TGFβ type II receptor in T cells under the control of the human CD2 promoter. Clinical and histological arthritis scores were determined and experiments on disease induction and the healing phase of disease were performed. The proliferation and cytokine production of draining lymph node cells in vitro were analyzed. Transgenic mice were more susceptible to induction of CIA. The overall incidence was higher in transgenic mice than in wild-type mice (57% vs 35%, P < 0.05). Affected transgenic animals displayed a significantly higher clinical (4.5 ± 0.6 vs 1.67 ± 0.19, P = 0.001) and histological arthritis score (8.01 ± 0.9 vs 4.06 ± 1.1, P < 0.05). Draining lymph node cells of transgenic mice secreted more tumor necrosis factor α and IFNγ and proliferated more vigorously in response to collagen type II and upon CD3/CD28 costimulation in vitro. Therefore, the regulation of T cells by endogenous TGFβ is important for the maintenance of joint integrity after arthritis induction. Defects in TGFβ-signalling as a susceptibility factor for rheumatoid arthritis may warrant further investigation

Understanding Biofilm-Phage Interactions in Cystic Fibrosis Patients Using Mathematical Frameworks

When planktonic bacteria adhere together to a surface, they begin to form biofilms, or communities of bacteria. Biofilm formation in a host can be extremely problematic if left untreated, especially since antibiotics can be ineffective in treating the bacteria. Certain lung diseases such as cystic fibrosis can cause the formation of biofilms in the lungs and can be fatal. With antibiotic-resistant bacteria, the use of phage therapy has been introduced as an alternative or an additive to the use of antibiotics in order to combat biofilm growth. Phage therapy utilizes phages, or viruses that attack bacteria, in order to penetrate and eradicate biofilms. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of phage therapy against biofilm bacteria, we adapt an ordinary differential equation model to describe the dynamics of phage-biofilm combat in the lungs. We then create our own phage-biofilm model with ordinary differential equations and stochastic modeling. Then, simulations of parameter alterations in both models are investigated to assess how they will affect the efficiency of phage therapy against bacteria. By increasing the phage mortality rate, the biofilm growth can be balanced and allow the biofilm to be more vulnerable to antibiotics. Thus, phage therapy is an effective aid in biofilm treatment

(E)-1,2-Bis(1-propyl-5,6-dimethyl-1H-benzimidazol-2-yl)ethene

In the title compound, C26H32N4, the essentially planar (r.m.s. deviations of 0.0053 and 0.0242 Å) benzimidazole fragments are trans with respect to a central ethene fragment, and are canted in opposite directions by 2.78 (6) and 5.87 (6)° with respect to the ethene plane, giving the mol­ecule a propeller conformation. The terminal ethyl fragments of the pendant n-propyl groups protrude to either side of the benzimidazole planes. Overall, the mol­ecule exhibits a pseudo-center of symmetry at the mid-point of the ethene fragment. Both π–π stacking and typical C—H⋯π inter­actions are notably absent, as are inter­molecular hydrogen bonds. When viewed along the a axis, the structure appears as criss-crossed layers of mol­ecules with the planar fragments separated along the c-cell direction by the protruding ethyl groups

(1R,2R,5R,6R,9S,10S,13S,14S)-1,6,7,8,9,14,15,16,17,17-Decachloro­penta­cyclo­[12.2.1.16,9.02,13.05,10]octa­deca-7,15-diene

The title compound, C18H14Cl10, is a decachlorinated commercial flame retardant. The structure determination confirms the relative stereochemistry. The central eight-membered ring is in a chair-type conformation. In the crystal structure, there are no significant inter­molecular inter­actions and mol­ecules are separated by normal van der Waals distances