Addressing the challenges of implementing evidence-based prioritisation in global health.

Global health requires evidence-based approaches to improve health and decrease inequalities. In a roundtable discussion between health practitioners, funders, academics and policy-makers, we recognised key areas for improvement to deliver better-informed, sustainable and equitable global health practices. These focus on considering information-sharing mechanisms and developing evidence-based frameworks that take an adaptive function-based approach, grounded in the ability to perform and respond to prioritised needs.

Social and Political Dimensions of Disseminating Research Findings on Emerging Zoonotic Viruses: Our Experience in Sierra Leone.

Disseminating research findings on emerging zoonotic viruses is a complex and sensitive process, particularly in contexts with histories of outbreaks. It requires an operational framework that considers the social and political context of stakeholders aiming to empower people to protect their health, while also supporting government leaders to advance global health security.

Achieving Health Security and Threat Reduction through Sharing Sequence Data.

With the rapid development and broad applications of next-generation sequencing platforms and bioinformatic analytical tools, genomics has become a popular area for biosurveillance and international scientific collaboration. Governments from countries including the United States (US), Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom have leveraged these advancements to support international cooperative programs that aim to reduce biological threats and build scientific capacity worldwide. A recent conference panel addressed the impacts of the enhancement of genomic sequencing capabilities through three major US bioengagement programs on international scientific engagement and biosecurity risk reduction.

Effects of Introducing Xpert MTB/RIF on Diagnosis and Treatment of Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis Patients in Indonesia: A Pre-Post Intervention Study.

Background: In March 2012, the Xpert MTB/RIF assay (Xpert) was introduced in three provincial public hospitals in Indonesia as a novel diagnostic to detect tuberculosis and rifampicin resistance among high risk individuals.

Objective: This study assessed the effects of using Xpert in place of conventional solid and liquid culture and drug-susceptibility testing on case detection rates, treatment initiation rates, and health system delays among drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) patients.

Methods: Cohort data on registration, test results and treatment initiation were collected from routine presumptive patient registers one year before and one year after Xpert was introduced.

The East Jakarta Project: surveillance for highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) and seasonal influenza viruses in patients seeking care for respiratory disease, Jakarta, Indonesia, October 2011-September 2012.

Indonesia has reported the most human infections with highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5N1) virus worldwide. We implemented enhanced surveillance in four outpatient clinics and six hospitals for HPAI H5N1 and seasonal influenza viruses in East Jakarta district to assess the public health impact of influenza in Indonesia. Epidemiological and clinical data were collected from outpatients with influenza-like illness (ILI) and hospitalized patients with severe acute respiratory infection (SARI); respiratory specimens were obtained for influenza testing by real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction.

The GC content of LSU rRNA evolves across topological and functional regions of the ribosome in all three domains of life.

Large-subunit rRNA is the ribozyme that catalyzes protein synthesis by translation, and many of its features vary along a deep-to-superficial gradient. By measuring the G+C proportions in this rRNA in all three domains of life (60 bacteria, 379 eukaryote, and 23 archaean sequences), we tested whether the proportion of GC nucleotides varies along this in-out gradient. The rRNA regions used were several zones identified by Bokov and Steinberg (2009) as being arranged from deep to superficial within the LSU.

Infant color preference for red is not selectively context specific.

It has been proposed that human infants, like nonhuman primates, respond favorably to red in hospitable contexts, yet unfavorably in hostile contexts (Maier, Barchfeld, Elliot, & Pekrun, 2009). Here, we replicate and extend the study (Maier et al., 2009) whose findings have been used to support this hypothesis.

Interaction of rice and human SRP19 polypeptides with signal recognition particle RNA.

The signal recognition particle (SRP) controls the transport of secretory proteins into and across lipid bilayers. SRP-like ribonucleoprotein complexes exist in all organisms, including plants. We characterized the rice SRP RNA and its primary RNA binding protein, SRP19.

Identification of an RNA-binding-loop in the N-terminal region of signal-recognition-particle protein SRP19.

Protein SRP19 is a 144-amino-acid polypeptide that associates intimately with the signal-recognition particle RNA (SRP RNA) and serves as an important structural and functional component of the SRP. We investigated the structure and RNA-binding activity of the human SRP19 protein by the use of comparative sequence analysis, high-stringency structure prediction, proteolytic susceptibility, and site-directed mutagenesis. SRP19 was found to consist of two distinct regions (called N-terminal and C-terminal regions) that are separated by a boundary of approximately 12-15 amino acid residues.

Binding site of the M-domain of human protein SRP54 determined by systematic site-directed mutagenesis of signal recognition particle RNA.

The interaction of protein SRP54M from the human signal recognition particle with SRP RNA was studied by systematic site-directed mutagenesis of the RNA molecule. Protein binding sites were identified by the analysis of mutations that removed individual SRP RNA helices or disrupted helical sections in the large SRP domain. The strongest effects on the binding activity of a purified polypeptide that corresponds to the methionine-rich domain of SRP54 (SRP54M) were caused by changes in helix 8 of the SRP RNA.

Systematic site-directed mutagenesis of protein SRP19. Identification of the residues essential for binding to signal recognition particle RNA.

Protein SRP19 is an important structural and functional constituent of the signal recognition particle (SRP) and belongs to a group of RNA binding proteins that specifically recognize certain tetranucleotide loops. Systematic site-directed mutagenesis was used to identify the amino acid residues in human SRP19 essential for interaction with SRP RNA. In our studies, three different groups of mutants were constructed, and each group covered essentially the entire sequence of the SRP19 protein in a consecutive nonoverlapping fashion.

Up-regulation of neutral endopeptidase (CALLA) in human neutrophils by granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor.

Neutral endopeptidase 24.11 (NEP/CALLA/CD10), an enzyme expressed on early lymphoid progenitors, neutrophils, and various other cell types, inactivates many biologically active peptides, including the bacterial chemotactic peptide N-formylmethionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (fMLP). Inhibition of CD10/NEP on the surface of human neutrophils (PMNs) in vitro inhibits migration toward this chemotaxin, suggesting that enzymatic inactivation by NEP regulates the neutrophil response to fMLP.