MENINGITIS THREAT IN AFRICA SALVED BY VACCINE

MENINGITIS THREAT IN AFRICA SALVED BY VACCINE

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Gracious day to you fellow global citizens!

An alarming report by health experts concerns the 450 millions of Africans who are at risk of meningitis. While the ailment can be cured, response systems are insufficient to reach out to the very poor families who comprise the greater majority in the resource rich continent.

The good news that is now ‘knocking on heavens doors’ in Africa and developing countries is that a recently innovated vaccine is now out in the open for immediate usage. Not only does it cure the deadly disease, it can also prevent meningitis from taking place for the persons who immediately seek an intervention.

Eradicating meningitis via vaccination is valuable an intervention to me, as my own country used to be very poor whence my own relatives in the provinces died of the ailment. There were also moments in my past when I was on the verge of being hit by meningitis, as I keep on contracting inflammations of my sinus and throat—with infections that can lead to meningitis if not treated early.

Chad was employed as a test case for the new vaccine, with stunningly high success. For the details on the report, please refer to the enclosed  article below.

Source: http://www.scidev.net/global/health/news/meningitis-vaccine-cuts-cases-by-94-per-cent-in-chad.html

[Manila, 24 September 2013]

Meningitis vaccine cuts cases by 94 per cent in Chad

Albert González Farran/UNAMID

Speed read

·         The MenAfriVac vaccine helped cut cases by 94 per cent in the 2012 epidemic season

·         Results are based on analysis of 1.8 million vaccinations in Chad

·         The vaccine's roll out should continue, but also be monitored

A meningitis vaccine that has recently been rolled out in several African countries has reduced the incidence of the disease by 94 per cent in Chad after just a single dose per person, in what scientists say is a startling success for the new vaccine, called MenAfriVac.

And the presence of the bacteria responsible for the disease in people's throats — carriage prevalence — dropped by 98 per cent, according to the study published in The Lancet today.

The research, based on an analysis of data from 1.8 million vaccinations in Chad, revealed that there were no cases of serogroup A meningococcal meningitis, the most dangerous strain of the disease, following vaccination.

"This is one of the most dramatic outcomes from a public health intervention that I have seen," said lead author Brian Greenwood in a press release (12 September).

"There are now real prospects that the devastating effects of this infection in Africa can be prevented," said Greenwood, a professor of clinical tropical medicine at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom, which carried out the study together with the Centre de Support en Santé Internationale in Chad and other partners.

Deadly epidemics of meningitis A occur regularly in Sub-Saharan Africa's meningitis belt, a band of 21 countries stretching from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia in the east, where around 450 million people are at risk.

Group A meningococcus accounts for an estimated 80 to 85 per cent of all cases across the belt, with the most affected countries being Burkina Faso, Chad, Ethiopia and Niger. If untreated, the disease — which mainly affects infants, children and young adults — kills half of those infected.

“One of the most dramatic outcomes from a public health intervention that I have seen”

Brian Greenwood, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

In the new study, researchers compared the impact of Chad's 2011 vaccination programme on meningitis incidence and carriage in three vaccinated areas with the results from the unvaccinated areas over the same period.

When the 2012 epidemic seasons arrived, the incidence of meningitis of any type in the three vaccinated regions was 2.5 per 100,000 people, compared with 43.6 per 100,000 people in the unvaccinated areas.

And there were no meningitis A cases in the vaccinated regions, compared with 59 in the unvaccinated regions.

Carriage of the bacteria also dropped dramatically among vaccinated people, and even unvaccinated people — those too old or young to be vaccinated — showed no cases after their communities were vaccinated, suggesting that vaccination programmes substantially reduce carriage and transmission.

Although mass vaccination campaigns in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger had shown the vaccine to be safe and highly effective so far, "until now, it was not known definitively whether MenAfriVac had a major impact on the incidence of serogroup A epidemics and carriage", according to Greenwood.

The WHO says the vaccine has several advantages over existing vaccines, including: a higher and more long-lasting immune response; reducing the number of throat bacteria, and thus transmission; its expected long-term protection for those vaccinated, their family members and others who are exposed; and its lower than average price.

The findings support the case that vaccination programmes should continue across the African meningitis belt, according to Greenwood.

But he warns that continuing surveillance and further carriage studies in the belt will be needed to confirm the duration of protection provided by this vaccine.

"This is an extremely encouraging sign for those countries that are yet to introduce the vaccine," Jean-Marie Okwo-Bele, director of the WHO department of immunisation, vaccines and biologicals, said in a press release.

"We are not even half-way done with introducing this revolutionary new vaccine across the meningitis belt of Africa, yet we already have extraordinary results."

The vaccine was developed by the Meningitis Vaccine Project, a partnership between the WHO and PATH (Program for Appropriate Technology in Health), with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Link to paper abstract

References

The Lancet doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(13)61612-8 (2013)

WORMS CAN BE WIPED OUT BY GM BACTERIA

WORMS CAN BE WIPED OUT BY GM BACTERIA

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Worm parasitism, notably of the pinworm variety, infects over 2 billion children and pregnant mothers across the globe. That’s nearly 1 in every 3 Earthlings infested by the worm disease!

Sadly, many worms are now resistant to drugs. Reversing the process, with the object of eliminating worm parasitism in the long run, seems to find its salvation in the genetic modification of a certain bacterium. But while the new panacea awaits trial results on humans, many children and pregnant women will face the scourge of disabilities brought by worm parasitism.

The GM bacterium was already tested on hamsters in the laboratory. Gladly, the finds about the impact of the GM strain on the parasite-infested hamsters were positive and conclusive. The next stage—of testing the panacea on humans—is now in the works, which should cheer up many children and mothers.

The brightening reportage is shown below.

[Manila, 18 September 2013]

Source: http://www.scidev.net/global/medicine/news/gm-bacteria-could-help-mass-produce-hookworm-drugs.html

GM bacteria could help mass produce hookworm drugs

Speed read

·         GM bacteria similar to those used in food makes proteins against parasitic worms

·         The proteins are more effective in animal experiments than currently used drugs

·         The work has yet to reach the pre-clinical stage but plans are underway

[SÃO PAULO] Researchers have produced a protein that kills parasitic intestinal worms, by genetically engineering a bacterium similar to those used in probiotics — raising hopes of more effective and safer therapies for infections that affect up to two billion people worldwide.

“There is a growing number of drug resistant parasites.”

Rose Gomes Monnerat 

The protein, Cry5B, has previously been shown to kill parasitic worms. It is normally produced by Bacillus thuringiensis, a bacterium used as an insecticide and not considered safe for use in people.

Bacteria containing Cry5B could be an ideal drug against human parasites, researchers say, as they can be easily and cheaply produced in large quantities, as well as shipped and stored under adverse conditions.

The researchers inserted the protein-producing gene into another related bacterium, Bacillus subtilis — strains of which are commonly used in foods such as probiotic yoghurts.

They first showed that the modified strain successfully produces the protein, and then tested it for treating parasitic worms in hamsters.

When given in small doses to hamsters infected with hookworm, Ancylostoma ceylanicum — which is capable of infecting people, and is related to a major human parasite, A. duodenale — the protein reduced the parasite burden by 93 per cent.

The study reports that this is comparable or even more effective than currently approved drugs for treating hookworms, whipworms and large roundworms.

These parasitic worms "are the leading causes of disease burden and disability in children and pregnant women worldwide" and "infect mostly impoverished people in the developing world and contribute significantly to keeping these people trapped in poverty", the study says.

Rose Gomes Monnerat, a researcher at the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa), and a member of the study team, tells SciDev.Net: "Treatment of gut parasites has been done with highly toxic drugs so far."

"There is also a growing number of reports of drug resistant parasites. So it is important to have alternatives to their control," she adds.

Manoel Victor Franco Lemos, a biologist at São Paulo State University, Brazil, says: "Although the results have been achieved by using animal models of parasitic infections, the worm species used are quite close to those that cause the same infections in humans".

But he highlights the need for trials on humans.

Raffi Aroian, co-author and a biologist at the University of California, San Diego, says: "We are talking to knowledgeable people about how much pre-clinical testing would have to be done prior to human clinical trials".

One of the main challenges, Aroian adds, is that although the B. subtilis strain used is a model for food-safe bacteria and used in some probiotics, it is not a proven food-safe bacterium.

"Now we need to put the gene into a proven food-safe one," he says.

"Additionally, several toxicity tests must also be done until we can ensure its safety," says Monnerat.

The study will be published in the September issue of Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

Link to full article in Applied and Environmental Microbiology

References

Applied and Environmental Microbiology doi:10.1128/AEM.01854-13 (2013)

AID AGENCIES BETTER LOCALIZE THEIR PURCHASES OF MATERIALS

AID AGENCIES BETTER LOCALIZE THEIR PURCHASES OF MATERIALS

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

$69 Billion is spent each year by international aid agencies for procurements of needed materials from external markets. The total amount is over half of aid funding for developing countries.

The advisory from experts who know the development processes in Africa is this: aid agencies better source materials locally. The behavior will impact as sound social development practice. Besides, the materials sourced from local markets do reduce the cost of materials.

I still recall, in my studies on economic history, when aid agencies infused massive aid funds supposedly on Philippine agriculture in the late 40s through the 60s. PH during those days was predominantly agricultural, with farmers and fisherfolks comprising past 75% of the population. Studies showed that the aid agencies bought tractors, fertilizers and seedlings from International Harvester and outside sources. The tractors alone provided headaches for the end-users, as they are hardly practicable in terrains that are hardly fit for them.

Let it be stressed that procuring materials in external market bring along with them inefficiencies. Besides, there could be corruption in the procurement processes, as they could favor certain manufacturers or producers that result to padding of prices. In the end, a very small portion of the aid funds actually go directly to the target beneficiaries, thus defeating the purpose of the development endeavor.

Below is the insightful report about the subject matter.

[Manila, 12 September 2013]

Source: http://www.scidev.net/global/aid/news/aid-agencies-should-go-local-when-sourcing-materials.html

Aid agencies should 'go local' when sourcing materials

Speed read

·         Buying locally would slash costs, and identify locally appropriate solutions

·         20 per cent of aid purchases are still tied to firms in donor countries

·         Local social enterprise experts firms to carry out policy reviews

Aid agencies should source development products from local manufacturers to help them make the most of their budgets and improve their impact, a group of small businesses, service providers and manufacturers from Africa said this week.

Development agencies spend around US$69 billion each year on procuring goods and services from external providers — more than 50 per cent of total official development assistance — according to a press release by AidEx, a global humanitarian and development aid event held annually in Brussels. But 20 per cent of bilateral aid purchases are still tied to firms in donor countries, resulting in project expenses increasing by up to 40 per cent.

The group of businesses participating in the AidEx Developing World Supplier Zone — an area of 25 free stalls designed to help businesses from developing countries reach an international buying audience — is now urging aid agencies to carry out procurement policy reviews that would compare the cost, delivery time and social benefits of obtaining goods and services through local providers. They are also calling for the removal of conditions that tie donors to procurement in donor countries.

“Aid agencies' use of local suppliers is key to maximising business opportunities and upskilling communities.”

Ben Solanky

By using local businesses in Africa, aid agencies could lower transaction costs, shorten delivery times and improve the investment climate in the surrounding region, the press release said.

"It's vital for aid organisations to seriously consider locally developed solutions in their procurement, as these companies' offerings have already been tried and tested 'on the ground'," said Grant Gibbs, project manager at Hippo Water Roller, a water technology project in South Africa.

"Superimposing First World business models can underestimate differences in African infrastructure — particularly at the rural level — and lead to inefficiencies," Gibbs added.

Simon Lucas, CEO of Reltex Africa, a humanitarian relief materials supplier based in Kenya, said the benefits of the organisation's location in Mombasa, for example, are that it "can easily access raw materials and re-export finished goods through supply chain routes across East Africa."

"This," he said, "has led to reduced transportation times and decreased environmental impact for humanitarian aid deliveries.

"When looking at purchasing products from Africa, I urge procurement managers to look further than just the price and take into account the social benefits and economic input to the region."

Charles Mugasa, of Ugandan social enterprise start-up Chiabiz, said: "Aid agencies must prioritise local companies that have grassroots connections with the community if they are to realise their goals, otherwise the bureaucratic nature of governments can get in the way."

And Ben Solanky, director of Global Hand, a non-profit matching service for public-private partnerships, added: "Aid agencies' use of local suppliers is key to maximising business opportunities and upskilling communities.

Dialogue, openness and connectivity between for-profits and non-profits is crucial in Africa — to see the idea of 'doing well' become an economic reality."

DESERT’S GRACES: PLANTATIONS CAPTURE CARBON!

DESERT’S GRACES:  PLANTATIONS CAPTURE CARBON!

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Here’s another one for the good news, fellows! That desert plantations offer basic graces for whole nations.

According to a study published in the Earth System Dynamics, cultivating plants such as jathropa in deserts could absorb up to 25 tones of carbon dioxide annually. Desert plants also reduce desert temperature by a centigrade at least, and also induce rainfalls.

The advantage of desert-fit plants is that they don’t compete with other crops. It just needs some special technical expertise to plant them. In my own country [PH], desert-fit plants are among the top waves for renewable energy or RE sources, backed by policy environment that is among the world’s top as regards RE for power production.

Enclosed is the reportorial from the scidev.net about the intriguing find.

[Manila, 06 September 2013]

Source: http://www.scidev.net/global/desert-science/news/desert-plantations-could-help-capture-carbon.html

Desert plantations could help capture carbon

Speed read

·         Each hectare of the tree could absorb up to 25 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year

·         Jatropha needs little water but could be irrigated by desalination plants

·         Plantations can also cut average desert temperatures and boost rainfall

Planting trees in coastal deserts could capture carbon dioxide, reduce harsh desert temperatures, boost rainfall, revitalise soils and produce cheap biofuels, say scientists.

Large-scale plantations of the hardy jatropha tree, Jatropha curcas, could help sequester carbon dioxide through a process known as 'carbon farming', according to a study based on data gathered in Mexico and Oman that was published in Earth System Dynamics last month (31 July).

Each hectare of the tree could soak up 17-25 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, they say, at a cost of 42-63 euros (about US$56-84) per tonne of gas, the paper says. This makes the technique competitive with high-tech carbon capture and storage.

Klaus Becker, the study's lead author and director of carbon sequestration consultancy Atmosphere Protect, says that a jatropha plantation covering just three per cent of the Arabian Desert could absorb all the carbon dioxide produced by cars in Germany over two decades.

"Our models show that, because of plantations, average desert temperatures go down by 1.1 degree Celsius, which is a lot," Becker says. He adds that the plantations would also induce rainfall in desert areas.

Jatropha, which is a biofuel crop, needs little water, and coastal plantations would be irrigated through desalination, Becker says.

He also envisages a role for sewage in such large-scale plantations.

"There are billions and billions of litres of sewage that are discharged into the oceans every week, but instead we could send that water to the desert and plant trees," he says. "In this situation, you wouldn't need any expensive artificial nitrogen [to fertilise the trees]."

The team has also been working in Israel's Negev desert, where they planted 16 tree species, which, they say, is preferable to a jatropha monoculture. "A diversity of trees is good for the environment, good for investors and good for preventing diseases," says Becker.

At another of the team's carbon farms — a jatropha plantation in Madagascar — the organic matter content of degraded soil has risen from 0.2 per cent up to three per cent.

Local people now harvest beans planted between the trees, providing a vital source of protein and creating a symbiotic exchange of nitrogen — fixed from air by beans — and shade provided by the jatropha trees.

"Previously, no one had the idea of using uncultivated land to plant these kinds of leguminous beans because they would not grow there. But after four or five years of applying cultivation techniques, the soil quality increases dramatically," Becker says.

Alex Walker, a research assistant at the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London, United Kingdom, describes carbon farming as a "common-sense approach to rising carbon dioxide levels, with potentially positive biodiversity impacts".

He adds: "It will grow on non-arable land, and so not compete with food production, but it is more difficult to process and subject to varying yields and absorption volumes".

Egypt is pioneering an experiment in desert farming, using sewage water after basic treatment to produce wood, woody biomass and biofuel crops, such as casuarina, African mahogany, jojoba and neem, in addition to jatropha.

"In Egypt, there are 15,000 acres planted with trees of good quality but so far they have not been sold to create economic value," Hany El Kateb, a professor at the Technical University of Munich in Germany, tells SciDev.Net.

According to El Kateb, Egypt produces more than 6.3 billion cubic metres of sewage water a year, and 5.5 billion cubic metres of this would be sufficient to afforest more than 650,000 hectares of desert lands and store more than 25 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually in new forests.

El Kateb points out that Egypt has an advantage over European countries that are leaders in forestry, such as Germany, because the same trees grow more than 4.5 times faster in  Egypt where the sun shine most of the year.

But Mosaad Kotb Hassanein, director of the Central Laboratory for Agricultural Climate in Egypt, says: "One of the big challenges of planting forests in arid areas is the lack of experience, expertise and technical personnel involved in the establishment and management of forest plantations.

"The project in Egypt was lucky to have technical assistance and support establishing  a forest administration from the German Academic Exchange Service."

Additional reporting by Nehal Lasheen.

Link to full paper in Earth System Dynamics
 

References

Earth System Dynamics doi: 10.5194/esd-4-237-2013 (2013)

SECRETS OF SUCCESSFUL PRODUCT DESIGN: INFORMAL MARKETS

SECRETS OF SUCCESSFUL PRODUCT DESIGN: INFORMAL MARKETS

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Gracious day, fellow global citizens!

What makes a product design click in a certain market? As far as developing countries are concerned, the presence of informal markets matter most. This was the astounding finding of a study done in the M.I.T.

I do resonate with the study findings, being a development worker who knows the basic end-users in my country. Those families in the lower middle to lower income brackets comprise a very large portion of the population here, a fact that was highly recognized by big retailers and manufacturers who tailor fit their products for them.

For the product designers, better consult economists who are in the know about markets or end-users. The antiquated Say’s Law, which posits that “a supply creates its own demands,” was long debunked, with John Maynard Keynes providing the coup d’ grace to the demolition of the flawed doctrine.

The lesson forwarded is: don’t ever engineer products that require a lot of time and effort to educate the end-users. In developing countries, among informal markets, such a line of thought won’t work, as the end-users want a quick usage of the items without much ado about how to use them.

Below is the reportage about the revelatory development.

[Manila, 01 September 2013]

Source: http://www.scidev.net/global/enterprise/news/study-reveals-secrets-to-successful-product-design.html

Study reveals secrets to successful product design

Speed read

·         Sales hits such as a phone for rent were designed for micro-entrepreneurs

·         Design guidelines call for a focus on products' money-making ability

·         But a product's business model is also viewed as crucial

The secret to successful product design for developing countries is to tailor products for informal markets, a study has found.

Some of the best-selling products in emerging markets, such as solar lamps and a Nokia mobile phone, were specifically designed to help the owners of low-income businesses, known as micro-enterprises, make money, the study says.

These micro-enterprises are an untapped but potentially lucrative market and products tailor-made for them could make large profits for both local salesmen and multinational corporations.

The study authors, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States, are now planning a large-scale study to evaluate and refine a set of guidelines for those designing products for developing countries.

Design firms in more mature markets generally develop products for consumers or businesses, but not for the informal markets that are prevalent in developing countries, says Maria Yang, co-author of the paper published as part of the ASME international design conference this month (4-7 August).

The study cited mobile phone multinational Nokia as an exception.

In 2003, Nokia launched a phone that dominated sales in India and Sub-Saharan Africa. It was designed for the owners of small, phone-renting businesses, according to the study.

The Nokia 1100 was intended to be shared by many people and used in various environments. It had an easy-grip back for humid climates, a dust-resistant keyboard, an LED torch and several contact lists so users could share the phone and keep personal contact lists separate. Nokia also developed eRefills, a metering tool that displays the exact cost of each call. In addition, Nokia used a fleet of vans to reach rural customers for marketing and product servicing.

"The phones have been used by farmers, fishermen and other producers to check market prices. They have also been used as the basis for money transfers in communities without adequate access to financial services," Yang tells SciDev.Net.

Products designed for this sector not only benefit local entrepreneurs, but can help develop whole communities.

"The ability to communicate is critical to development at a basic level, particularly when some emerging markets lack the infrastructure to support other key types of communication such as landlines," says Yang.

The researchers highlighted solar lamps as another example of design success aimed at micro-enterprises.

Solar lamps enable micro-entrepreneurs to keep their businesses open at night. US firm Greenlight Planet has designed one that can also charge mobile phones. This lamp has sold particularly well because buyers can make money by charging phones for a fee.

But supplying emerging markets with solar lamps also benefits the entire community, driving the switch to solar lighting from expensive, potentially dangerous kerosene lighting.

Daniel Schnitzer, founder of the NGO EarthSpark International, which provides solar lamps to micro-entrepreneurs, believes that strong product design is not the only factor in ensuring sales success.

"Way too much effort is put into designing these products, rather than on coming up with the right business model and the right after-sales service model. That's really what makes these businesses successful," he says.

He adds that EarthSpark has spent much time and resources on designing education and training materials for the entrepreneurs to use themselves and to give to their customers. "I think this is an area where manufacturers have really fallen short," Schnitzer says.

But Yang disagrees. "Educating the user can take a long time, which can backfire," she says. "The best strategy is to come up with a novel product and business models that users can immediately grasp."

The paper offers some guidelines for future designers that focus on creating products that foster micro-enterprise. For example, it says that designers should think of their target users not only as consumers but also as micro-entrepreneurs, and be aware of their needs. It must be clear how the user can make money from the product, and the product should be upgradable so its performance capacity can grow with the business.

Another guideline calls on designers to consider multi-functionality, for example, the solar lamp's ability to charge phones was key to its success.

Link to the paper

References

Austin-Breneman, J. and Yang, M. Design for Micro-Enterprise: An Approach to Product Design for Emerging Markets (Proceedings of the ASME 2013 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, 4-7 August)

GOLD NANOPARTICLES IN SOLAR STERILISERS GOOD FOR FAR HINTERLANDS

GOLD NANOPARTICLES IN SOLAR STERILISERS GOOD FOR FAR HINTERLANDS

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Another brightening news for developing countries, more so the poorer communities in far flung areas, is the innovation of solar grid devices that can sterilize medical equipment and human waste. The solar device, developed by experts from the Rice University in the USA, can produce steam which precisely is what is needed for spot sterilization.

To add luster to the brightening news, the innovation uses nanoparticles from gold which in turn get attached to the solar panel grid. The nanoparticles produce steam, as per result of experiments, yet they don’t get consumed or destroyed and thus get to be re-used again.

The great news could surely warm up the faces of social development teams who do health missions in far hinterlands. More so for the medical professionals in the teams, who no longer need to worry about where and how to sterilize their equipment when they do tough missions in very poor communities in far hinterlands.

Below is the reportorial about the gladdening news.

[Manila, 26 August 2013]

Source: http://www.scidev.net/global/energy/news/off-grid-solar-sterilisers-could-aid-remote-areas.html

Off-grid solar sterilisers could aid remote areas

U.S. Air Force/Tech. Sgt. Bennie J. Davis III

Speed read

·         The off-grid devices create steam using sunshine, water and nanoparticles

·         Both prototypes passed a standard test for steam-based sterilisation systems

·         But questions remain about their cost and what support will be provided

[CAIRO] A solar-powered steriliser could provide remote areas in the developing world with a portable, off-grid solution for sanitising medical instruments and equipment, according to a study.

In remote, resource-poor locations, the lack of readily available sterilisation processes for medical or dental tools increases the risk of disease propagation.

Now, researchers from Rice University in the United States have developed two prototype sterilisation devices that harness the sun's power: one to sanitise medical equipment and the other to sterilise human waste without the need for an external electricity source. Their work was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences last month (8 July).

Both devices are modified versions of the steam-based autoclave systems used in modern medical facilities to eradicate infectious microorganisms from surfaces and liquids with a blast of high-pressure steam.

"Although steam-based sterilization is the primary method of choice for the processing of medical waste in the developed world, the large energy requirement for operation is the fundamental limitation for its adoption in developing countries, with limited or nonexistent access to sources of electricity sufficient to power such systems," the study says.

The new devices consist of a vessel containing water and gold nanoparticles that is placed in sunshine collected using a solar dish. The nanoparticles absorb the sunlight and this heat produces steam.

The process does not damage the nanoparticles, so they can be reused.

The systems maintain temperatures between 115 and 132 degrees Celsius for the time period sufficient to sterilise the contents of a 14.2 litre volume, which is in accordance with US Food and Drug Administration sterilisation guidelines.

Both devices passed the standard test of killing a reference strain of the heat-resistant bacteria Geobacillus stearothermophilus — used to check the performance of standard steam-based autoclave systems — in a sample over 30 minutes.

The researchers say their prototypes could be altered to provide steam for direct use in water purification, cooking, or electricity generation. However, they declined to comment on whether the devices have been field-tested, who will produce them and how they will be made available to developing countries.

Lead researcher Naomi Halas, professor of biomedical engineering at the university, tells SciDev.Net: "We would prefer not to answer questions regarding our technology. Any information not disclosed in our paper is not for public knowledge at the present time."

Tony Collins, managing director of UK-based autoclave manufacturer Priorclave, says that the devices could have a significant impact in developing countries, but also suggests a modification.

"Some consideration should be given to a method of ensuring the items to be sterilised stay at or above the required temperature for the required time without having to watch the process," he says.

Hilmi Salem, a research professor and director-general of the Applied Sciences and Engineering Research Centres at Palestine Technical University, says that the use of gold nanoparticles raises questions about cost and whether the devices will be affordable to poor communities.

"It remains to be seen whether the apparatus and technical support will be available to them under manageable and suitable terms," Salem adds.

> Link to the paper

HIGH SCIENCE RESEARCH = FASTER ECONOMIC GROWTH

HIGH SCIENCE RESEARCH = FASTER ECONOMIC GROWTH

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Venezuelan science experts are of the contention that basic science is directly correlated to economic development. Though not necessarily the cause of economic development, conducting high levels of basic science research shows a correlation to economic development.

I’ve always been an advocate of ‘physical economy’ paradigm of economic growth. The good news from Venezuela practically supports the contention of pro-physical economy who had tirelessly cogitated that shoring up recessionary economies should be done by prioritizing investments and expenditures in agriculture, manufacturing, infrastructure, transportation & communications, and science & technology.

The Venezuelan scientific report reveals that high investments in basic science shows a great deal of rationality among planners and decision-makers, which in turn yields good decisions that sustain economic development. The scientists went on to caution that skipping on basic science would do harm to a developing economy.

There just may be too few quarters in the world that would raise howls about such an argument, which is shown in the report below.

[Manila, 20 August 2013]

Source: http://www.scidev.net/global/r-d/news/basic-science-linked-to-faster-economic-growth.html

Basic science linked to faster economic growth

O. Usher (UCL Mathematical and Physical Sciences)

Speed read

·         Productivity in basic sciences correlates with economic growth, but does not directly cause it

·         Scientific productivity is a better wealth growth predictor than many other competitiveness indices

·         But benefits of investment in science should be weighed against investment in other development projects

Middle-income countries that focus on basic sciences, such as physics and chemistry, grow their economies faster than nations that invest in applied sciences, such as medicine or psychology, according to a paper by Venezuelan researchers.

They say that "investing in basic scientific research seem[s] to be the best way a middle-income country can foment fast economic growth", although they found no direct cause and effect between basic science and economic development.

Instead, they believe that investment in basic sciences — as indicated by the proportion of published articles in these fields — reveals a rational, decision-making atmosphere within a country and among its leaders, as well as promoting economic growth.

Klaus Jaffe, lead author of the paper and coordinator of the Centre for Strategic Studies of Simón Bolívar University in Venezuela, tells SciDev.Net that the correlation between scientific productivity and economic growth "has always been suspected, but there has been very little evidence that supports this idea.

"We had been observing that poor or middle-income countries were growing at a different pace than the developed ones and we wanted to know why."

The study, published in PLOS One last month (12 June), set out to investigate if some areas of science promote development more than others, and if applied sciences are better at advancing economic development than basic sciences.

The researchers examined the correlation between World Bank data on the growth of GDP (gross domestic product) per capita and the proportion of scientific publications in different scientific fields.

They found scientific productivity in basic science, including physics, chemistry and material sciences, correlated strongly with countries' economic growth over the following five years.
 

“The most important thing is to invest in basic sciences. Those who try to skip this step fail.”

Klaus Jaffe

And preferential investment in technology, without investment in basic sciences, achieved little economic development, the say. "Thus, technology without science is unlikely to be sustainable."

They also discovered that scientific productivity was a much better predictor of economic wealth and the Human Development Index — a composite of life expectancy, education and income indices used to rank countries' development — than other commonly used indices, such as indices of competitiveness or globalisation.

"The results of our paper demonstrate that the most important thing [for sustainable development] is to invest in basic sciences. Those who try to skip this step fail," says Jaffe.

Looking ahead, the ranking of scientific productivity in 2010 showed that countries with the greatest focus on physics were "among the fastest growing economies in 2012. Regrettably, no country from Africa or Latin America is on this list."

Jaffe says that "the situation is different in every nation. Most countries of Africa, for example, are trying to build the infrastructure they need to be able to do proper research. In addition, this competes with trying to find solutions to everyday problems to guarantee people's subsistence."

Douglas Gollin, professor of development economics at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom, says research is needed to analyse what type of investment brings the greatest benefits.

"You would want to compare the returns from basic science research with the returns from more applied research on agriculture or health," he says.

"You should also compare the returns with other investments in public goods: in infrastructure, primary healthcare, primary and secondary education and so on. Of all the things that the government can invest in, is this one that generates the greatest improvement in public welfare?"

Link to full study

References

PLOS One doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0066239 (2013)

RICE VARIETY FOR DROUGHT YIELDS 3.5 TIMES HIGHER

RICE VARIETY FOR DROUGHT YIELDS 3.5 TIMES HIGHER

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Gracious day to you, fellow global citizens!

A very gladdening news was recently released by the International Rice Research Institute (Laguna, Philippines) about a new rice varieties that will adapt to very dry & drought climate situation. The core variety being bred grows its roots downwards rather than sideways, thereby allowing the plant to take on more nutrients deeper down under.

What amazes an observer about the rice variety is that it even yields much higher during a drought situation than during normal climate. As per assessment by the IRRI, growing a lot of the same drought-prone rice varieties can be factor to keeping rice prices at affordable $300 per tonne across the world.

Below is an attachment of the reportage about the amazing rice variety.

[Manila, 15 August 2013]

Source: http://www.scidev.net/global/farming/news/rice-gene-digs-deep-to-triple-yields-in-drought.html

Rice gene digs deep to triple yields in drought

IRRI

Speed read

·         Severe drought can cause as much as 40 per cent yield loss

·         The gene causes the roots to grow further down towards water and nutrients

·         This produces grains during drought, raising hopes for better rice crops

A gene that gives rice plants deeper roots can triple yields during droughts, according to Japanese researchers writing in Nature Genetics this week (4 August).

Rice is a staple food for nearly half of the world's population, but is also particularly susceptible to drought owing to its shallow roots, researchers say.

“If rice adapts to or avoids drought conditions using deeper roots, it can get water and nutrients from the deep soil layers.”

Yusaku Uga

The new study shows that by pointing roots down instead of sideways, the Deeper Rooting 1 (DRO1) gene results in roots that are nearly twice as deep as those of standard rice varieties.

"If rice adapts to or avoids drought conditions using deeper roots, it can get water and nutrients from the deep soil layers," says the study's lead author Yusaku Uga, a researcher with Japan's National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences.

Uga and his team found that in moderate drought conditions, the yield of rice with DRO1 was double that of the shallow-rooted rice variety. Under severe drought conditions, this increased to 3.6 times greater.

"The most important point is that we had rice grains produced under drought conditions," says Uga. "When rice crops just tolerate drought, they cannot get water and nutrients, resulting in a kind of survival mode."

The DRO1 gene occurs naturally in more than 60 rice varieties. For the study, the research team crossbred a rice variety carrying DRO1 with a shallow-rooted variety and then bred the offspring together to produce a rice crop in which DRO1 was uniformly present.

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) estimates that an additional 8-10 million tonnes of rice will be needed each year to keep rice prices affordable at around US$300 per tonne. Finding a drought-resistant variety of rice may be key to attaining this goal, according to researchers.

"Drought is the most widespread and damaging of all environmental stresses," says Sophie Clayton, head of communications at IRRI. "In some states in India, severe drought can cause as much as 40 per cent yield loss [in rice crops]. Moreover, with the onset of climate change, droughts may become more frequent and more severe."

Link to full study in Nature Genetics

References

Nature Genetics doi:10.1038/ng.2725 (2013)

GRAVITY-POWERED LAMP BRIGHTENS HOMES

GRAVITY-POWERED LAMP BRIGHTENS HOMES

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

A very brightening innovation concerns the usage of gravity to power lamps. The innovation just came out of the lab tests and will be tested very soon in Asia and Africa.

Called the GravityLight, the innovation utilizes a specially designed LED lamp for the purpose. If found to be practicable in commercial usage, then the technology will redound to another milestone in the Renewable Energy field, the future implications of which could be staggering.

I am definitely supportive of such an innovation which borders what ‘macro-innovation’. The use of lamps date back to the mid-point of modern industry yet, circa 2 centuries ago, but the utilization of gravity for lighting up lamps is authentically new.

In the long run, the use of gravity to power machines and engines will be the forecast spin off from the GravityLight. To recall, the chemist turned scifi writer Isaac Asimov articulated on the practical usage of gravitic technology to run space ships (see his Empire vs Federation novels) which I find very sound enough.

The GravityLight report is shared below.

[Manila, 06 August 2013]

Source: http://www.scidev.net/global/technology/news/gravity-powered-lamp-to-enter-field-tests.html

Gravity-powered lamp to enter field tests

EEP Energy and Environment Partnership

Speed read

·         The lamp converts energy from a descending weight into light

·         Trials in Africa and Asia will test its performance in everyday use

·         A US$55,000 crowd-funding project for the lamps raised US$400,000

A cheap new light that could provide an alternative to kerosene and solar lamps in rural areas will enter field testing in Africa and Asia this year.

The device, a gravity-powered LED lamp called 'GravityLight', works by attaching a weighted bag below it from a cord. As the bag slowly descends, gears convert the weight into energy — providing users with up to 30 minutes of light, depending on the weight of the bag. There are also settings to provide brighter light for a shorter period.

Each device comes with an empty bag, which can be filled with up to 12 kilograms of material such as earth, rocks and sand. It needs no battery.

The idea behind GravityLight was to overcome the limitations of options such as solar lamps, which need sunlight and have a limited battery life, and kerosene lamps, which cause indoor pollution and are expensive to refuel, says co-designer Jim Reeves, associate director at Therefore Product Design in London.

After four years of development, the device is now ready for field testing.

Around 7,000 GravityLights are being manufactured, paid for by a 40-day crowd-funding project which raised around US$400,000 against a target of US$55,000.

One thousand lights will be sent predominantly to Asia and Africa for testing in the coming months. The remaining units will be distributed to those who helped crowd-fund the GravityLight trial.
"These contributors will also be feeding back on the performance of the product," Reeves tells SciDev.Net.

The field tests will examine the performance of the device over time — including the effects of varying weather conditions on its internal components — with help from local partners such as NGOs.

Once the tests have been conducted, production will be scaled-up early next year, says Reeves. Each device is expected to cost between US$5 and US$10.

“It doesn't have any pollution disadvantages.”

Mary Willcox

He is currently exploring two ways of approaching the market — manufacturing the devices centrally and distributing them globally, or manufacturing the components centrally and distributing them for local assembly, which would provide jobs.

He also plans to fine-tune the light for Western markets to help subsidise the main activity of the GravityLight project — to provide much larger quantities to developing countries.

Mary Willcox, principal energy consultant at Practical Action, a UK-based international development charity, says developing countries need a variety of lighting options and that GravityLight will make a huge contribution to this.

"It doesn't have any pollution disadvantages and given that it uses LED it should provide better lighting."

She adds that it is important to undertake field testing as, "that's the only way to understanding whether something is really robust in use".

22/07/13

Richa Malhotra

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DEVELOPMENT COSTS OUTWEIGH BENEFITS!

DEVELOPMENT COSTS OUTWEIGH BENEFITS!

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Gracious day, fellow global citizens!

Environmental economists have an alarming news to report to us all: development costs outweigh the benefits. The ‘benefit’ side of the equation comprise of both the people welfare (human ecology) and the natural ecology benefits.

While the GDP (gross domestic product) is still an acceptable measure of true growth, it has become anathema a yardstick to indicate the overall situation of social and ecological benefits. As an alternative, the experts are proposing a Growth Progress Indicator or GPI that could show better the results of development using a typical cost:benefit analysis.

The environmental economists found out that the GPI used to grow alongside the GDP but only until 1978, after which the gap widened. Such a gap is still widening, as indicated for instance by the gap between the rich and poor.

Incidentally, the alarming news came out at a time when the issue of equitable income distribution has been the most sonorous issue in my own country the Philippines. Accordingly, GDP has been growing at very high rates recently, yet jobs can’t be created enough aside from the observed developmental benefits accruing more to the already filthy rich magnates at the expense of poor families.

Below is the reportage about the highly intriguing phenomenon.

[Manila, 01 August 2013]

Source: http://www.scidev.net/global/enterprise/news/costs-of-economic-growth-have-outweighed-benefits.html

Costs of economic growth have ‘outweighed benefits’

Speed read

·         Despite rising GDP, a measure of global wellbeing has dropped since 1978

·         This is mainly due to falls in income equality and environmental degradation

·         Development policies should target economic welfare rather than production

[BUENOS AIRES] Development policies should urgently shift from trying to maximise production and consumption towards attempts to improve real welfare, which — unlike growth in GDP (gross domestic product) — has not improved since the late 1970s, according to a study.

The study, which examined 17 countries from 1950 to 2003, found that, although GDP has on average more than tripled in these countries, overall social wellbeing has decreased since 1978.

To reach this conclusion, researchers used the global 'Genuine Progress Indicator' (GPI). Among the things it considers are income distribution for each country, along with household and volunteer work (activities that enhance welfare but do not involve monetary transactions), and, for example, the cost of environmental degradation.
 

“GDP and GPI began to go in different directions when global per capita earnings hit this amount. After that, GDP kept growing, but GPI levelled off.”

Ida Kubiszewski

The countries for which GPI has been estimated comprise more than half the world's population, over five continents, as well as representing nearly 60 per cent of global GDP. They are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Chile, China, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Sweden, Thailand, United Kingdom, the United States and Vietnam.

"We got some pretty interesting results showing that global GPI per capita peaked in 1978. This means that, globally, the external costs of economic growth have outweighed the benefits since this year," Robert Costanza, professor of public policy at the Australian National University and co-author of the study, published in the latest issue of Ecological Economics, tells SciDev.Net.

The researchers also found that GPI does not increase once GDP per person reaches around US$6,500 a year.

Ida Kubiszewski, a senior lecturer at the Australian National University and the study leader, says: "GDP and GPI began to go in different directions when global per capita earnings hit this amount. After that, GDP kept growing, but GPI levelled off — or even decreased.

"This divergence occurs because the gains we have made over the past few decades are outweighed by the costs, most notably environmental degradation and [rise in] income equality."

Even though GDP was not designed to measure social or economic welfare, it is still the most commonly used indicator of a country's overall performance. In contrast, the study says that, "while GPI is not the perfect economic welfare indicator, it is a far better approximation than GDP".

The study also highlights the need to take a more considered approach to measuring success in societies, the authors say.

Walter Pengue, an ecological economics expert at the National University of General Sarmiento, Argentina, who was not involved in the study, says that "bringing together a lot of information which can be easily understood, not only by scientists but especially by decision-makers, is the main challenge" to building a unique indicator to assess development progress.

Pengue says that the study makes a valuable contribution as it evaluates GPI as an indicator that tries to integrate a number of issues that GDP does not capture.

Link to paper abstract 

References

Ecological Economics doi: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2013.04.019 (2013)