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Announcements / Press Releases
EDCTP Newsletter, August 2008 [EDCTP] — (English)
Executive Director's Note, News about EDCTP Governance, News about Calls and Grants, Funded projects, Meetings and Visits, Events ...
End Malaria – Blue Ribbon Campaign Engages Families from Lesoma Village in Botswana [MFI] — (English)
Botswana and United States teachers and students are working together with the support of the American Embassy, the Ministry of Health, local government officials, and the Malaria Foundation International (MFI) to engage community leaders and families from the Lesoma Village, Chobe District of Botswana in today's global fight against malaria. A recent village campaign to End Malaria in this village and encourage international leadership among students to help fight the disease globally followed a Malaria Education Workshop held at the Gaborone Secondary School (GSS)....
Current Vacancies at Malaria Consortium [Malaria Consortium] — (English)
Uganda; Advocacy Manager, UK; Consultancy Work: Short-term...
Support to the National Malaria Programme, Nigeria: A DFID-Funded Project 2008-2012 [Malaria Consortium] — (English)
The aim of the project is to manage a package of support DFID is providing to the Government of Nigeria in support of the national effort to control malaria. The project also aims to strengthen the delivery of Nigeria's National Malaria Control effort through improving capacity at all levels and through provision of commodities for effective prevention and treatment of malaria...
Genzyme Corporation and MMV Announce New Collaboration with Advinus Therapeutics to Accelerate Discovery of Novel Therapies for Malaria [MMV Press Release] — (English)
Genzyme Corp., a global leader in biotechnology, and Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), a not-for-profit virtual research and development (R&D) organization dedicated to reducing the burden of malaria, announced today a new collaboration with India’s Advinus Therapeutics Ltd. The collaboration seeks to develop new, improved treatments for specific patient groups most at risk for malaria, an often fatal infectious disease of developing countries, particularly affecting pregnant women and infants...
ICMM publishes Guidance on HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria [ICMM Press Release] — (English)
ICMM’s Good Practice Guidance on HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria, which is aimed at managers and health practitioners, provides practical information for disease management...
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Articles requiring subscription
Structure of the DBL3x domain of pregnancy-associated malaria protein VAR2CSA complexed with chondroitin sulfate A [Nature Struct Mol Biol. 2008 Aug 24] — (English)
Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes bind to chondroitin sulfate A (CSA) in the placenta via the VAR2CSA protein, a member of the P. falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein-1 family, leading to life-threatening malaria in pregnant women with severe effects on their fetuses and newborns. Here we describe the structure of the CSA binding DBL3x domain, a Duffy binding-like (DBL) domain of VAR2CSA. By forming a complex of DBL3x with CSA oligosaccharides and determining its structure, we have identified the CSA binding site to be a cluster of conserved positively charged residues on subdomain 2 and subdomain 3. Mutation or chemical modification of lysine residues at the site markedly diminished CSA binding to DBL3x. The location of the CSA binding site is an important step forward in the molecular understanding of pregnancy-associated malaria and offers a new target for vaccine development...
Plasmodium falciparum and Helminth Coinfection in a Semiurban Population of Pregnant Women in Uganda [The Journal of Infectious Diseases 2008;198:920–927] — (English)
Hookworm–P. falciparum coinfection and M. perstans–P. falciparum coinfection among pregnant women in Entebbe is more common than would be expected by chance. Further studies are needed to elucidate the mechanism of this association. A helminth-induced increase in susceptibility to P. falciparum could have important consequences for pregnancy outcome and responses to P. falciparum infection in infancy...
Pregnancy-Associated Malaria Affects Toll-Like Receptor Ligand–Induced Cytokine Responses in Cord Blood [The Journal of Infectious Diseases 2008;198:928–936] — (English)
P. falciparum infection history during pregnancy appears to have a pronounced effect on neonatal innate immune responses. The observed effects may have profound implications for the outcome of newly encountered infections in early life...
Potential use of birthweight indicators in rural Tanzania for monitoring malaria control in pregnancy [Public Health, Volume 122, Issue 9, September 2008, Pages 923-932 ] — (English)
Birthweight indicators show that malaria control in pregnancy is poor in this population, deteriorates with distance of place of birth from the main hospital location, and is worst in adolescent primigravidae. Greater attention should be given to the use of birthweight indicators in rural areas of Tanzania for monitoring malaria control in pregnancy...
A study on pathogenicity and mosquito transmission success in the rodent malaria parasite Plasmodium chabaudi adami [International Journal for Parasitology, 2008 Aug 8] — (English)
We investigated the parasitology, pathogenicity (virulence) and infectivity to mosquitoes of blood infections in mice, of two strains, DS and DK, of the rodent malaria parasite Plasmodium chabaudi adami. Blood infections of DS were found to be highly pathogenic; the asexual parasites in these infections were fast-growing and showed no evidence of selectivity in their infection of host erythrocytes...
Microfluidic approaches to malaria pathogenesis [Cellular Microbiology, 27 Aug 2008] — (English)
Here we review the recent introduction of microfluidic technology to study malaria pathogenesis, including the fabrication processes. The devices are cheap, versatile, portable and require very small patient samples. With greater use in research laboratories and field sites, we eventually expect microfluidic methods to play important roles in malaria diagnosis, as well as prognosis...
Artemisinins: their growing importance in medicine [Trends Pharmacol Sci. 2008 Aug 25] — (English)
In this review, we discuss recent advances in defining the role of artemisinins in medicine, with particular focus on their controversial mechanisms of action. This safe and cheap drug class that saves lives at risk from malaria can also have important potential in oncology...
Sickle Cell Trait is Associated with a Delayed Onset of Malaria: Implications for Time-to-Event Analysis in Clinical Studies of Malaria [The Journal of Infectious Diseases 2008;198:000–000 ] — (English)
Given the delay in the time to first malaria episode associated with HbAS, it would be advisable for clinical trials and observational studies that use this end point to include Hb typing in the design of studies conducted in areas where HbAS is prevalent...
Human Genetics and Malaria: Relevance for the Design of Clinical Trials [The Journal of Infectious Diseases 2008;198:000–000] — (English)
Concern about genetic factors and study outcomes
should extend beyond vaccine
studies. Genetics can affect treatment
outcomes, as was demonstrated in a recent
study that showed sulfadoxinepyrimethamine
treatment to be approximately
half as likely to fail in children with
sickle cell trait, compared with children
who had normal hemoglobin. Adding
extensive genetic assessments to all
malaria treatment efficacy studies may be
impractical. Nonetheless, recent characterizations
of the impact of human genetics
on malaria outcomes, including the report
in this issue, remind us of the
powerful impact of falciparum malaria on
human evolution and therefore of the
need to consider human genetics as one
assesses malaria outcomes...
Computer-Aided Design and Synthesis of Nonpeptidic Plasmepsin II and IV Inhibitors [ChemMedChem. 2008 Aug 27] — (English)
Plasmepsins (Plm) II (EC number: 3.4.23.39) and IV (EC number: 3.4.23.B14) are aspartic proteases present in the food vacuole of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum and are involved in host hemoglobin degradation. Based on our established efficient synthetic sequence, a series of inhibitors for Plm II and IV has been synthesized bearing a 2,3,4,7-tetrahydro-1H-azepine scaffold as the core structural element...
Apoptosis of endothelial cells in bacterial sepsis and severe Plasmodium falciparum malaria: do we know enough to consider clinical trials? [Crit Care Med. 2008 Sep;36(9):2690-2] — (English)
By Mzayek F, Ylöstalo J, Krogstad DJ....
Recombinant scorpine: a multifunctional antimicrobial peptide with activity against different pathogens [Cell Mol Life Sci. 2008 Aug 23] — (English)
The recombinantly expressed scorpine (RScp) in Anopheles gambie cells showed antibacterial activity against Bacillus subtilis and Klebsiella pneumoniae, at 5 and 10 μM, respectively. It also produced 98% mortality in sexual stages of Plasmodium berghei at 15 μM and 100% reduction in Plasmodium falciparum parasitemia at 5 μM. RScp also inhibited virus dengue-2 replication in C6/36 mosquito cells...
Arginine, nitric oxide, carbon monoxide, and endothelial function in severe malaria [Curr Opin Infect Dis. 2008 Oct;21(5):468-75] — (English)
Replenishment of arginine and restoration of nitric oxide production in clinical malaria should diminish parasitized red blood cells adherence to endothelium and reduce the sequelae of these interactions (e.g. cerebral malaria). Arginine therapy given in addition to conventional antimalaria treatment may prove to be beneficial in severe malaria...
Imaging effector functions of human cytotoxic CD4(+) T cells specific for Plasmodium falciparum circumsporozoite protein [Int J Parasitol. 2008 Aug 6] — (English)
these findings suggest that CD4+ CTLs trigger target cell apoptosis via classical perforin/granzyme-mediated cytotoxicity, similar to CD8+ CTLs, and these multifunctional sporozoite- and peptide-induced CD4+ T cells have the potential to play a direct role as effector cells in targeting the exoerythrocytic forms within the liver...
Isolation and characterization of Plasmodium falciparum UAP56 homolog: Evidence for the coupling of RNA binding and splicing activity by site-directed mutations [Arch Biochem Biophys. 2008 Aug 9] — (English)
Using the parasite extract we report that PfU52 is involved in splicing reaction. Site-directed mutagenesis studies indicate that the conserved residues glycine 181, isoleucine 182 and arginine 206 are involved in RNA binding and this activity is required for the enzymatic activities of PfU52. PfU52 is expressed in all the intraerythrocytic developmental stages of the parasite. In the present study we have reported the detailed characterization of PfU52 from P. falciparum and these results advance the knowledge regarding the function of UAP56 in general...
Molecular markers of in vivo Plasmodium vivax resistance to amodiaquine plus sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine: mutations in pvdhfr and pvmdr1 [The Journal of Infectious Diseases 2008;198:409–417] — (English)
The present study identified a new molecular marker in pvmdr1 that is associated with the in vivo response to AQ+SP. We suggest suitable marker sets with which to monitor P. vivax resistance against AQ+SP in countries where these drugs are used...
Prepared in cooperation with European Commission HIV/AIDS in South Africa.
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