A virus-like particle vaccine prevents equine encephalitis virus infection in nonhuman primates.

Western, Eastern, and Venezuelan equine encephalitis viruses (WEEV, EEEV, and VEEV, respectively) are important mosquito-borne agents that pose public health and bioterrorism threats. Despite considerable advances in understanding alphavirus replication, there are currently no available effective vaccines or antiviral treatments against these highly lethal pathogens. To develop a potential countermeasure for viral encephalitis, we generated a trivalent, or three-component, EEV vaccine composed of virus-like particles (VLPs).

Hindwings of insects as concept generator for hingeless foldable shading systems.

Hingeless shading systems inspired by nature are increasingly the focus of architectural research. In contrast to traditional systems, these compliant mechanisms can reduce the amount of maintenance-intensive parts and can easily be adapted to irregular, doubly curved, facade geometries. Previous mechanisms rely merely on the reversible material deformation of composite structures with almost homogeneous material properties.

Financing global health: mission unaccomplished.

Poor countries account for 56 percent of the global disease burden but less than 2 percent of global health spending. With the global commitment to the Millennium Development Goals in 2000, poverty and the deplorable health conditions of the world's poor have finally reached center stage in the international policy arena, and aid for health has greatly increased. This paper evaluates health financing in developing countries from global- and country-level perspectives and briefly describes the types of reforms needed in the global aid architecture to make effective use of this historic opportunity to improve the plight of the world's poor.

Health care financing and delivery in developing countries.

Developing countries account for 84 percent of world population and 93 percent of the worldwide burden of disease; however, they account for only 18 percent of global income and 11 percent of global health spending. Limited resources and administrative capacity coupled with strong underlying needs for services pose serious challenges to governments in the developing world. This paper analyzes health spending, health outcomes, and health delivery system characteristics for the six developing regions of the world as well as for low-, medium-, and high-income country groupings.