A new global effort to control malaria

The time has come to resurrect a worldwide effort to control malaria, following decades of neglect during which the disease has resurged in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa and other endemic regions.     

Impact of Space Research on Science and Technology: Space techniques have provided new tools for science and applications

Science and technology are themselves a part of our modern culture. They contribute to the arts, furnish new media for human expression, provide better and new musical instruments and improved acoustics for enriched enjoyment of them, and give the artist new materials and techniques for his work. They enrich the humanities in furnishing man with a broader basis for understanding himself, his potentialities, and his place in nature. The historian has a better approach to his subject because of scientific methodology. The archeologist has a surer grasp on temporal relationships because of the tools that physics and chemistry give him for dating materials and identifying their sources. Slowly, an entire world absorbs the increased understanding of man and nature that science generates, and reflects that understanding in its literature, its social, political, and economic institutions, and its application to human daily living. Today, much of the world's population is aware of the world as a body of a solar system in a galaxy among millions of other galaxies. These people can conceive of man in a historical and cosmological perspective that did not exist in centuries past. As this understanding and these concepts spread to more and more of the world's people, it may be hoped that this common bond of understanding will not only give increased motivation to solve peaceably the problems that beset the world, but will also provide increased means for doing so.     

New prospects for epidemiologic investigations

Epidemiology has evolved from its historic origins as the study of major epidemics and vital statistics to a contemporary focus on the study of the distribution and determinants of health and disease in humans. This evolution reflects changes in the patterns of diseases and deaths that have occurred in our time and has placed new emphasis on preventing avoidable, premature deaths. Advances in clinical medicine, laboratory science, statistical and data handling methods, and in our basic understanding of the pathogenesis of disease have enabled epidemiologists to better examine causes of disease and to propose more effective strategies for prevention and control.     

基于ABAQUS的定向钻穿越钻具受力分析

定向钻导向孔钻进和扩孔过程中,钻杆经常由于疲劳损伤而断裂.在缺少相关规范要求的情况下,对于某超长距离定向钻穿越工程,运用大型有限元软件ABAQUS,建立了钻柱-孔洞全孔模型,综合考虑钻柱服役环境、岩土对钻柱的摩擦碰撞及泥浆的浮力等作用,分别对导向孔钻进、扩孔钻进两种工况下的受力情况进行了有限元分析,对钻杆寿命进行了安全性评价.模拟结果表明:超长定向钻导向孔钻进宜采用对穿;在导向及扩孔过程中,钻杆使用时间超过288 h后,宜更换钻杆.采取有限元法对钻杆受力进行分析,可以有效指导定向钻穿越施工.     

New tools. A new breed of high-tech detectives

Forensic scientists are equipping police investigators with powerful tools for collecting and analyzing evidence. But as detection techniques become increasingly sensitive, the problem of sifting the wheat from the chaff at a crime scene mushrooms, guaranteeing a role for the human investigator despite all the gadgetry. Moreover, some developments are also raising civil liberties concerns.     

甘蔗黑穗病流行学参数和病情指数调查与分析系统开发

根据甘蔗黑穗病流行学参数和病情指数调查与分析中遇到的困难,提出了利用条形码自动识别系统来管理调查过程中的数据,并利用专门开发的计算机分析系统来分析这些数据。调查系统主要包括用户登录界面、条码扫描界面、数据输入界面等三大部分;分析系统具有最短潜伏期(LP)、发病持续期(SSD)、最终累计茎感染率(ISmax)、最终累计丛感染率(IPmax)和病害进展曲线下面积(AUDPC)的计算和抗性等级自动划分等功能。实践表明,此系统有效的提高了工作效率,并有助于减少人工记录和分析过程中的失误率。     

Construction of synthetic immunogen: use of new T-helper epitope on malaria circumsporozoite protein

The circumsporozoite (CS) protein of Plasmodium falciparum is the focus of intense efforts to develop an antisporozoite malaria vaccine. Localization of sites for T-cell recognition on this molecule is critical for vaccine design. By using an algorithm designed to predict T-cell sites and a large panel of H-2 congenic mice, a major nonrepetitive T-cell site was located. When a synthetic peptide corresponding to this site was covalently linked to the major B-cell site on the molecule, an immunogen capable of eliciting a high-titer antibody response was formed. This peptide sequence could prime helper T cells for a secondary response to the intact CS protein. The new helper T-cell site is located outside the repetitive region of the CS protein and appears to be the immunodominant T site on the molecule. This approach should be useful in the rational design and construction of vaccines.     

Early thai bronze: analysis and new dates

Electron probe analysis of the earliest metal found at the northeastern Thailand site of Non Nok Tha indicates that it is a bronze containing 4 to 6 percent tin. Recent thermoluminescence dates substantiate the presence of a well-developed bronze technology prior to 2300 B.C. and suggest a date of about 2700 to 2500 B.C. for the first appearance of bronze at the site.     

AIDS in Africa: an epidemiologic paradigm

Cases of the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) have been reported in countries throughout the world. Initial surveillance studies in Central Africa suggest an annual incidence of AIDS of 550 to 1000 cases per million adults. The male to female ratio of cases is 1:1, with age- and sex-specific rates greater in females less than 30 years of age and greater in males over age 40. Clinically, AIDS in Africans is often characterized by a diarrhea-wasting syndrome, opportunistic infections, such as tuberculosis, cryptococcosis, and cryptosporidiosis, or disseminated Kaposi's sarcoma. From 1 to 18% of healthy blood donors and pregnant women and as many as 27 to 88% of female prostitutes have antibodies to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The present annual incidence of infection is approximately 0.75% among the general population of Central and East Africa. The disease is transmitted predominantly by heterosexual activity, parenteral exposure to blood transfusions and unsterilized needles, and perinatally from infected mothers to their newborns, and will continue to spread rapidly where economic and cultural factors favor these modes of transmission. Prevention and control of HIV infection through educational programs and blood bank screening should be an immediate public health priority for all African countries.     

New tools provide new insights in NMR studies of protein dynamics

There is growing evidence that structural flexibility plays a central role in the function of protein molecules. Many of the experimental data come from nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, a technique that allows internal motions to be probed with exquisite time and spatial resolution. Recent methodological advancements in NMR have extended our ability to characterize protein dynamics and promise to shed new light on the mechanisms by which these molecules function. Here, we present a brief overview of some of the new methods, together with applications that illustrate the level of detail at which protein motions can now be observed.     

Genetic analysis of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum

Malaria parasites are haploid for most of their life cycle, with zygote formation and meiosis occurring during the mosquito phase of development. The parasites can be analyzed genetically by transmitting mixtures of cloned parasites through mosquitoes to permit cross-fertilization of gametes to occur. A cross was made between two clones of Plasmodium falciparum differing in enzymes, drug sensitivity, antigens, and chromosome patterns. Parasites showing recombination between the parent clone markers were detected at a high frequency. Novel forms of certain chromosomes, detected by pulsed-field gradient gel electrophoresis, were produced readily, showing that extensive rearrangements occur in the parasite genome after cross-fertilization. Since patients are frequently infected with mixtures of genetically distinct parasites, mosquito transmission is likely to provide the principal mechanisms for generating parasites with novel genotypes.     

Proteosome-lipopeptide vaccines: enhancement of immunogenicity for malaria CS peptides

Proteosomes are hydrophobic, membranous, multimolecular preparations of meningococcal outer membrane proteins that are also B cell mitogens. These characteristics suggested that proteosomes may serve as carrier proteins and adjuvants to enhance peptide immunogenicity. Although high titers of malaria circumsporozoite (CS) antibodies protect against malaria, vaccines thus far tested in humans have been insufficiently immunogenic to be clinically useful. Here it is shown that synthetic CS peptides hydrophobically complexed to proteosomes by way of lauroyl-cysteine become highly immunogenic in mice without other adjuvants. The high titers of antibodies produced and the safety of proteosomes in humans suggest that this novel system is widely applicable for the development of peptide vaccines to protect against many diseases.