Risk Factors for Human T Cell Lymphotropic Virus Type I among Injecting Drug Users in Northeast Brazil: Possibly Greater Efficiency of Male to Female Transmission

It was observed in the city of Salvador, State of Bahia, the highest seroprevalence of human T cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-I) infection in Brazil as demonstrated by national wide blood bank surveys. In this paper, we report results of an investigation of drug use and sexual behavior associated with HTLV-I infection among male and female injecting drug users (IDUs) in Salvador. A cross sectional study was conducted in the Historical District of Salvador from 1994-1996 (Projeto Brasil-Salvador) and 216 asymptomatic IDUs were selected using the snowball contact technique. Blood samples were collected for serological assays. Sera were screened for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1/2) and HTLV-I/II antibodies by ELISA and confirmed by Western blot. The overall prevalence of HTLV-I/II was 35.2% (76/216). The seroprevalence of HTLV-I, HTLV-II and HIV-1 was for males 22%, 11.3% and 44.1% and for females 46.2%, 10.3% and 74.4% respectively. HTLV-I was identified in 72.4% of HTLV positive IDUs. Variables which were significantly associated with HTLV-I infection among males included needle sharing practices, duration of injecting drug use, HIV-1 seropositivity and syphilis. Among women, duration of injecting drug use and syphilis were strongly associated with HTLV-I infection. Multivariate analysis did not change the direction of these associations. Sexual intercourse might play a more important role in HTLV-I infection among women than in men.

A New open economy macroeconomic model with endogenous portfolio diversification and firms entry

This paper provides a new benchmark for the analysis of the international diversi…cation puzzle in a tractable new open economy macroeconomic model. Building on Cole and Obstfeld (1991) and Heathcote and Perri (2009), this model speci…es an equilibrium model of perfect risk sharing in incomplete markets, with endogenous portfolios and number of varieties. Equity home bias may not be a puzzle but a perfectly optimal allocation for hedging risk. In contrast to previous work, the model shows that: (i) optimal international portfolio diversi…cation is driven by home bias in capital goods, independently of home bias in consumption, and by the share of income accruing to labour. The model explains reasonably well the recent patterns of portfolio allocations in developed economies; and (ii) optimal portfolio shares are independent of market dynamics.

Characterization of Trypanosoma rangeli Strains Isolated in Central and South America: an Overview

Trypanosoma rangeli is a hemoflagelate parasite that infects domestic and sylvatic animals, as well as man, in Central and South America. T. rangeli has an overlapping distribution with T. cruzi, the etiological agent of Chagas disease, sharing several animal reservoirs and triatomine vectors. We have isolated T. rangeli strains in the State of Santa Catarina, in southern Brazil, which dramatically increased the distribution area of this parasite. This brief review summarizes several studies comparing T. rangeli strains isolated in Santa Catarina with others isolated in Colombia, Honduras and Venezuela. The different methods used include indirect immunofluorescence and western blot assays, lectin agglutination, isoenzyme electrophoresis and random amplified polymorphic DNA analysis, triatomine susceptibility, in vitro cell infection assays, and mini-exon gene analysis.

Persistence of EBV Antigen-Specific CD8 T Cell Clonotypes during Homeostatic Immune Reconstitution in Cancer Patients.

Persistent viruses are kept in check by specific lymphocytes. The clonal T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire against Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), once established following primary infection, exhibits a robust stability over time. However, the determinants contributing to this long-term persistence are still poorly characterized. Taking advantage of an in vivo clinical setting where lymphocyte homeostasis was transiently perturbed, we studied EBV antigen-specific CD8 T cells before and after non-myeloablative lympho-depleting chemotherapy of melanoma patients. Despite more advanced T cell differentiation, patients T cells showed clonal composition comparable to healthy individuals, sharing a preference for TRBV20 and TRBV29 gene segment usage and several co-dominant public TCR clonotypes. Moreover, our data revealed the presence of relatively few dominant EBV antigen-specific T cell clonotypes, which mostly persisted following transient lympho-depletion (TLD) and lymphocyte recovery, likely related to absence of EBV reactivation and de novo T cell priming in these patients. Interestingly, persisting clonotypes frequently co-expressed memory/homing-associated genes (CD27, IL7R, EOMES, CD62L/SELL and CCR5) supporting the notion that they are particularly important for long-lasting CD8 T cell responses. Nevertheless, the clonal composition of EBV-specific CD8 T cells was preserved over time with the presence of the same dominant clonotypes after non-myeloablative chemotherapy. The observed clonotype persistence demonstrates high robustness of CD8 T cell homeostasis and reconstitution.

Les symbioses industrielles : une nouvelle stratégie pour l'amélioration de l'utilisation des ressources matérielles et énergétiques par les activités économiques

RésuméCette thèse traite d'un domaine d'application de l'écologie industrielle, les symbioses industrielles, comme stratégie d'amélioration de la consommation des ressources matérielles et énergétiques et de la gestion des déchets par les activités économiques. Les symbioses industrielles cherchent à créer de nouvelles collaborations directement entre les acteurs économiques d'un territoire dans le but d'échanger de l'information, des matières premières et des déchets, et d'intensifier les mutualisations de services et d'infrastructures possibles entre entreprises voisines. Ces quatre types de collaboration sont représentés schématiquement dans la figure ci-dessous.Dans ce travail, la détection et la mise en oeuvre de symbioses industrielles sont abordées sous plusieurs angles. Les recherches réalisées concernent le développement de procédures de mise en oeuvre s'adressant aux collectivités publiques, aux institutions académiques et aux bureaux de conseil dans le domaine de l'environnement. Les objectifs des procédures sont de créer une dynamique de collaboration et de confiance entre les acteurs économiques et l'administration publique d'un territoire afin de détecter des symbioses industrielles potentielles. Ces procédures requièrent la gestion de grandes quantités d'informations relatives aux flux de matière et d'énergie.Un travail de terrain, réalisé sur les territoires du canton de Genève et de Lausanne Région et utilisé comme études de cas, a permis de mettre en évidence un grand nombre de symbioses industrielles qui existent déjà en Suisse romande. Plusieurs dizaines d'exemples ont été identifiés principalement dans lesdomaines de la gestion de l'eau, de l'énergie, des produits chimiques et des matériaux de construction. La législation suisse autoriserait cependant la concrétisation de nombreuses autres opportunités. Dans cette recherche, celles-ci sont évaluées techniquement, légalement, économiquement et environnementalement. La création d'un référentiel d'évaluation des opportunités permet de déterminer quelles sont les symbioses industrielles techniquement réalisables et pertinentes dans le contexte suisse et dans quels cas celles-ci représenteraient une réelle plus-value par rapport à l'utilisation actuelle de la ressource et aux filières existantes de collecte et de valorisation des déchets.Finalement, un logiciel, SymbioGIS, destiné à soutenir la détection et l'évaluation de symbioses industrielles potentielles a été développé. Il s'agit d'une interface web accessible pour de nombreux utilisateurs, couplée à une interface de systèmes d'information géographique. En plus de la détection de symbioses industrielles, plusieurs fonctionnalités sont proposées pour faciliter la prise en compte des flux de matière et d'énergie dans les problématiques liées à l'aménagement du territoire et au positionnement des activités économiques.En conclusion, cette recherche met en évidence la nécessité de rapprocher les institutions publiques en charge de la protection de l'environnement, de la promotion économique et de l'aménagement du territoire pour favoriser l'essor des symbioses industrielles comme stratégie pour la gestion des ressources matérielles et énergétiques. Elle propose des pistes pour intensifier les collaborations entre ces domaines et accélérer le partage des connaissances liées aux flux de matière et d'énergie et à leur cheminement au sein des activités économiques afin de rendre le système industriel existant en Suisse romande viable à long terme. Parallèlement, elle étudie les possibilités de transposer ces considérations et les procédures et outils développés dans le contexte économique et social de la région Asie-Pacifique, où se trouvent aujourd'hui de nombreuses activités de production.SummaryIndustrial symbioses: A new strategy for improving how economic activities use material and energy resourcesThis thesis focuses on one application of industrial ecology, industrial symbioses, as a strategy for improving how economic activities consume material and energy resources. Industrial symbioses seek to create new collaborations among economic players with the goal of exchanging information, raw materials, and waste directly among area businesses, and to step up the potential pooling of services and infrastructure among neighboring companies.The identification and implementation of industrial symbioses are studied from several angles. The research first examines the development of implementation procedures for government bodies, academic institutions, and environmental consulting services. The purpose of the procedures is to create a dynamic of collaboration and trust between the economic players and the public officials in a region in order to identify potential industrial symbioses. The procedures necessitate managing large amounts of information about material and energy flows.Fieldwork conducted in the canton of Geneva and the Lausanne region, and used as case studies for the research, highlights a great number of industrial symbioses that already exist in French-speaking Switzerland. Several dozen examples are identified, primarily in the areas of water management, energy, chemical products, and building materials; however, Swiss law would permit many others. The research evaluates these opportunities from a technical, legal, economic, and environmental standpoint. By developing an assessment framework it is possible to determine which industrial symbioses are technically feasible and pertinent in Switzerland, and under what circumstances they would represent real added value compared to the current use of the resource and to existing systems for collecting and reusing waste.Lastly, SymbioGIS software was developed to help identify and assess potential industrial symbioses. The program's Web-based interface can be accessed by multiple users and is coupled with an interface that provides geographic information. In addition to identifying industrial symbioses, several program functionalities make it easier to consider material and energy flows with regard to local development issues and siting economic activities.In conclusion, the research highlights the need to bring together public institutions charged with protecting the environment, promoting economic activity, and overseeing development in order to foster the expansion of industrial symbioses as a strategy for managing material and energy resources. It proposes solutions for stepping up collaboration among these players and accelerating the sharing of knowledge about material and energy flows and their paths within economic activities with the goal of making theexisting industrial system in French-speaking Switzerland viable long-term. Also examined were thepossibilities of transposing these considerations and the study's findings about Switzerland to the economic and social context of the Asia-Pacific region, where much production is now located.

The mzTab Data Exchange Format: Communicating Mass-spectrometry-based Proteomics and Metabolomics Experimental Results to a Wider Audience.

The HUPO Proteomics Standards Initiative has developed several standardized data formats to facilitate data sharing in mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomics. These allow researchers to report their complete results in a unified way. However, at present, there is no format to describe the final qualitative and quantitative results for proteomics and metabolomics experiments in a simple tabular format. Many downstream analysis use cases are only concerned with the final results of an experiment and require an easily accessible format, compatible with tools such as Microsoft Excel or R. We developed the mzTab file format for MS-based proteomics and metabolomics results to meet this need. mzTab is intended as a lightweight supplement to the existing standard XML-based file formats (mzML, mzIdentML, mzQuantML), providing a comprehensive summary, similar in concept to the supplemental material of a scientific publication. mzTab files can contain protein, peptide, and small molecule identifications together with experimental metadata and basic quantitative information. The format is not intended to store the complete experimental evidence but provides mechanisms to report results at different levels of detail. These range from a simple summary of the final results to a representation of the results including the experimental design. This format is ideally suited to make MS-based proteomics and metabolomics results available to a wider biological community outside the field of MS. Several software tools for proteomics and metabolomics have already adapted the format as an output format. The comprehensive mzTab specification document and extensive additional documentation can be found online.

Food poverty in rural Northern Ireland

“Decent Food for All” (DFfA) was a three-year integrated, partnership-based programme committed to reducing food poverty and addressing inequalities in physical and financial access to safe healthy food in the Armagh and Dungannon area of Northern Ireland. DFfA is led by the Armagh and Dungannon Health Action Zone (ADHAZ) and involves the delivery of a range of programmes and workshops which provide practical community based focused help and advice on food issues and nutrition. A comprehensive research and evaluation programme entitled ‘All-island learning from the Decent Food for All programme’ runs throughout the lifetime of the programme, which ensures effective evaluation, and the sharing of best practices and experiences. The research and evaluation program is coordinated by the Institute of Public Health in Ireland (IPH) with cooperation from ADHAZ. Funding for the research is provided by the Food Safety Promotion Board. To take into account background changes not directly attributable to the DFfA Programme a matched comparison area was selected in the Newry/Mourne area of Co. Down. An accurate measure of the changes that have occurred over the period of the DFfA programme is required. Valid estimates of change are based on measures before and after the programme. Pre-test and post-test community surveys provide a wide range of measures. This fact-book highlights the findings from the pre-test community survey.The aims of the pre-test survey were to:- Provide pre-test measures of the Key Performance Indicators underpinning the Key Expected Outcomes of the DFfA programme;- Identify factors influencing these pre-test measures; and- Contribute to the development of the programmes in DFfA.

Facing the challenge: The impact of the recession and unemployment on men's health in Ireland

The economic recession with its accompanying rise in unemployment rates is linked to extremely adverse effects for men’s mental health. This research report Facing the Challenge – The Impact of the Recession and Unemployment on Men’s Health in Ireland identifies a strong expectation of increased mental health problems for men given the very strong correlation between unemployment and male mental ill health. The report is the result of a research and consultation process carried out, in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, by Nexus Research Co-operative on behalf of IPH. 93% of frontline organisations, North and South, in contact with unemployed men linked health challenges to unemployment and recession and all organisations surveyed noted adverse health challenges for men they work with. In addition to health challenges being higher for unemployed men, they were also very high for men who saw themselves as being threatened with unemployment. The organisations surveyed and the men who were interviewed identified the challenges to health as:•    High levels of stress or anxiety•    Dependency on or over-use of alcohol/other drugs•    Deterioration in physical health•    Development of conflict in family or close personal relationships•    Isolation (including sharing or communicating problems)•    A reluctance to approach services or seek help

IPH response to Social Investment Fund Consultation

The Social Investment Fund aims to reduce poverty, unemployment and physical deterioration in areas through area based interventions of significant scale which will be delivered in partnership with communities. The fund will encourage communities, statutory agencies, businesses and departments to work together in a coordinated way, reducing duplication, sharing best practice and enhancing provision for the benefits of those communities most in need. IPH calls for a consideration of health to be included in the Social Investment Fund.  Each of the four objectives of the programme will have the potential to positively impact on health by increasing education attainment and skill levels, tackling deprivation, increasing community support and enhancing the physical regeneration of communities.  IPH also call for greater clarification on the links with other area based partnerships.

IPH Response to OFMDFM Consultation ‘Everyone’s Involved’ - Sustainable Development Strategy Implementation Plan

The Institute of Public Health in Ireland (IPH) aims to improve health on the island of Ireland by working to combat health inequalities and influence public policies in favour of health.  IPH promotes cooperation between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in public health research, training and policy advice. Its key focus is on efforts to improve health equity. The work of IPH (www.publichealth.ie) includes health impact assessment, building and sharing evidence for public health development, developing Ireland and Northern Ireland’s population health observatory (INISPHO www.inispho.org ), and providing public health policy advice in areas such as health inequalities, obesity, fuel poverty and food poverty.   Health is influenced by a wide range of social determinants, including economic, environmental, social and biological factors. IPH has a key interest and significant experience in raising awareness and developing work to influence these wider social and environmental determinants in ways which improve health. Sustainable development and public health are inextricably linked, in ways which are described in section 3.  Sustainable development is essentially at the heart of healthy communities and individuals as well as a healthy environment and sustainable economic development   - all factors at the heart of public health.

IPH response to draft Sustainable Development Strategy 'Everyone's Involved'

The Institute of Public Health in Ireland (IPH) aims to improve health on the island of Ireland by working to combat health inequalities and influence public policies in favour of health.  IPH promotes cooperation between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in public health research, training and policy advice. Its key focus is on efforts to improve health equity. The work of IPH (www.publichealth.ie) includes health impact assessment, building and sharing evidence for public health development, developing Ireland and Northern Ireland’s population health observatory (INISPHO www.inispho.org ), and providing public health policy advice in areas such as health inequalities, obesity, fuel poverty and food poverty.   Health is influenced by a wide range of social determinants, including economic, environmental, social and biological factors. IPH has a key interest and significant experience in raising awareness and developing work to influence these wider social and environmental determinants in ways which improve health. Sustainable development and public health are inextricably linked, in ways which are described in section 3.  Sustainable development is essentially at the heart of healthy communities and individuals as well as a healthy environment and sustainable economic development   - all factors at the heart of public health.

IPH responds to EC Director-General for Health and Consumer Affairs consultation on EU action to reduce health inequalities

The aim of the consultation was to collect views on how the European Union can contribute to reducing health inequalities both within and between member states. The Institute of Public Health in Ireland (IPH) is an all-island body which aims to improve health in Ireland, by working to combat health inequalities and influence public policies in favour of health.  The Institute promotes co-operation between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in research, training, information and policy to contribute to policies which tackle inequalities in health. IPH acknowledges and appreciates the benefits of information sharing and joint action in relation to policy and practice between European countries and we are proud to have been the Irish/Northern Irish partner in several projects, most recently as Work Package Leader for DETERMINE, coordinated by EuroHealthNet and as collaborating partner for I2SARE, coordinated by Federation National des Observatories de Sante (FNORS).  Both projects are funded by the European Commission.

A simplified method for sample collection and DNA isolation for polymerase chain reaction detection of Trypanosoma rangeli and Trypanosoma cruzi in triatomine vectors

Due to the overlapping distribution of Trypanosoma rangeli and T. cruzi in Central and South America, sharing several reservoirs and triatomine vectors, we herein describe a simple method to collect triatomine feces and hemolymph in filter paper for further detection and specific characterization of these two trypanosomes. Experimentally infected triatomines feces and hemolymph were collected in filter paper and specific detection of T. rangeli or T. cruzi DNA by polymerase chain reaction was achieved. This simple DNA collection method allows sample collection in the field and further specific trypanosome detection and characterization in the laboratory.

Information Mobility: Information Dissemination in Mobile Networks

En el nostre projecte, considerem un escenari urbà o interurbà on persones amb dispositius mòbils (smartphones) o vehicles equipats amb interfícies de comunicació, estan interessats en compartir fitxers entre ells o descarregar-los al creuar Punts d’Accés (APs) propers a la carretera. Estudiem la possibilitat d’utilizar la cooperació en les trobades casuals entre nodes per augmentar la velocitat de descàrrega global. Amb aquest objectiu, plantejem algoritmes per a la selecció de quins paquets, per a quins destins i quins transportistes s’escullen en cada moment. Mitjançant extenses simulacions, mostrem com les cooperacions carry&forward dels nodes augmenten significativament la velocitat de descàrrega dels usuaris, i com aquest resultat es manté per a diversos patrons de mobilitat, col•locacions d'AP i càrregues de la xarxa. Per altra banda, aparells com els smartphones, on la targeta de WiFi està encesa contínuament, consumeixen l'energia de la bateria en poques hores. En molts escenaris, una targeta WiFi sempre activa és poc útil, perque sovint no hi ha necessitat de transmissió o recepció. Aquest fet es veu agreujat en les Delay Tolerant Networks (DTN), on els nodes intercanvien dades quan es creuen i en tenen l’oportunitat. Les tècniques de gestió de l’estalvi d’energia permeten extendre la duració de les bateries. El nostre projecte analitza els avantatges i inconvenients que apareixen quan els nodes apaguen períodicament la seva targeta wireless per a estalviar energia en escenaris DTN. Els nostres resultats mostren les condicions en que un node pot desconnectar la bateria sense afectar la probabilitat de contacte amb altres nodes, i les condicions en que aquesta disminueix. Per exemple, es demostra que la vida del node pot ser duplicada mantenint la probabilitat de contacte a 1. I que aquesta disminueix ràpidament en intentar augmentar més la vida útil.