Search

Background: Detection of drug-resistant tuberculosis is essential for the control of the disease but it is often hampered by the limitation of transport and storage of samples from remote locations to the reference laboratory. We performed a retrospective field study to evaluate the performance of four supports enabling the transport and storage of samples to be used for molecular detection of drug resistance using the GenoType MTBDRplus., Methods: Two hundred Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains were selected and spotted on slides, FTA cards, GenoCards, and in ethanol. GenoType MTBDRplus was subsequently performed with the DNA extracted from these supports. Sensitivity and specificity were calculated and compared to the results obtained by drug susceptibility testing., Results: For all supports, the overall sensitivity and specificity for detection of resistance to RIF was between 95% and 100%, and for INH between 95% and 98%., Conclusion: The four transport and storage supports showed a good sensitivity and specificity for the detection of resistance to RIF and INH in M. tuberculosis strains using the GenoType MTBDRplus. These supports can be maintained at room temperature and could represent an important alternative cost-effective method useful for rapid molecular detection of drug-resistant TB in low-resource settings.

With the development of modern waste management systems in Western Europe, a remarkable increase in the distances for waste transportation has been observed. The question thus arises whether recycling with longer transport distances is ecologically advantageous or whether disposal without recycling is to be preferred. This situation was analysed using selected product and waste streams. This included refrigerators, paper, polyethylene films and expanded polystyrene. For each of these streams, a life cycle analysis was conducted with an emphasis on waste transport. The system boundaries were set in terms of the generation of waste to recycling or landfilling. The comparison included several scenarios with recycling and different transport distances. Landfilling was used as the reference scenario. The results obtained demonstrated how transport distances influence the ecological benefit of recycling. In the case of expanded polystyrene, the ecological boundaries are reached in practical situations, while with other materials these boundaries are far from being attained. In these cases, more complex and elaborate collection schemes, such as kerbside collection, which is economically convenient and shows the highest collection rates, can also be recommended.

A survey of bitumen exposure was carried out during hot mix paving and asphalt mixing. Four methods of characterizing and quantifying bitumen fume in inhalable particles were used: gravimetric, infrared spectroscopy, gas chromatography, and total absorbance (of the particle filter surface). Dermal deposition of bitumen was assessed by determination of cyclohexanesoluble matter in the material collected by paper or cotton pads worn on the inside of a person's wrists. The researchers studied the correlation patterns between results of these methods using pairwise correlation coefficients and principal component analysis (for air concentrations only). For hot mix paving, within- and between-worker variance components were evaluated, adjusting for area paved. Collected fume was dark in color and mainly consisted of aliphatic hydrocarbons of less than 20 carbon atoms. Inconsistent correlation patterns between dermal deposition and air levels were observed. Quantification of organic matter using either infrared spectroscopy or gas chromatography appeared to be good methods for monitoring inhalable bitumen fume. Cotton pads seem to be more promising than paper pads for measuring dermal exposure during paving. Paving workers were uniformly exposed to bitumen fume. Assessment of the uniformity of dermal exposure depended on the type of pad used. Day-to-day variability and intensity of inhalable and dermal bitumen exposures depended on area paved. The small size of the study limits the potential application of the results to the asphalt industry in general. More research is needed to develop a valid and inexpensive method of assessing total bitumen exposure.

Abstract: The reuse and recycling of waste materials are now sincerely considered to be an integral part of solid waste management in many parts of the world. In this context, a vast number of options ranging from small scale decentralized to larger scale centralized plants have been adopted. This study aimed at investigating the waste reuse schemes in Khulna city located in the southern part of Bangladesh and ranked third largest city in the country. The shops for reusable material (SRM) were mostly situated around railway, waterway, and truck station markets which provided easy transportation to further locations. For the reuses of waste materials and products, a chain system was found to collect reusable wastes under a total number of 310 identified SRM with 859 persons directly or indirectly involved in the scheme. This was a decentralized waste management system with self sufficient (autonomous) management. According to mass balance, about 38.52tonsd−1 solid wastes were reused in Khulna city area, accounting for 7.65% of the total generated wastes. This study revealed that apparently a silent, systematic, smooth, and clean reuse chain has been established in Khulna city area under private initiatives, whose sustainability was confirmed over the years in the country without any official or formal funds. However, proper adjustment between the higher and lower chain in the materials flow path, as well as personal hygiene training for the workers, would further improve the achievements of the established reuse scheme. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper examines two hypotheses about the effects of UN sanctions on trade flows between land neighbours of the target country and the rest of the world. First, there have been claims that sanctions hurt neighbour countries by cutting off trading routes, increasing transportation costs and disrupting established trading ties. We would expect that a neighbour's trade with the rest of the world would fall, as a result. Second, there is extensive evidence that neighbours have been involved in smuggling. Consequently, neighbours should trade more with the rest of the world during UN trade embargoes, because now they also trade on behalf of the target. I employ the gravity model of international trade to show that, overall, a neighbour's trade with the rest of the world tends to fall during UN sanctions episodes. This confirms the first hypothesis above: on a net basis, land neighbours have been ‘innocent bystanders’ hit by UN sanctions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on controlled transport of reagents within paper devices using two dimensional (2D) paper networks. The geometry of the paper network and dissolvable barriers makes them able to transport multiple analytes and reagents. It states these paper-based lateral flow immunoassay strips analyse only a single analyte per strip but their utility can be increased using highly sensitive particle labels like quantum dots. It also offers information on an experiment and its result.

The article presents comments of the author on the transport White Paper. The British Deputy Prime Minister's proposals, as revealed in the July 1998 White Paper, fall far short of the rhetoric one recalls from the 1997 general election campaign, or even of the promises that followed it. The railways are not to be renationalized; the buses are not to be re-regulated and area-wide local authority franchising is not even mentioned. All the same, the politicians' urge to meddle runs throughout the document and the liberty of entrepreneurs to seek out and satisfy demand is still to be overseen by those whom scholar Deepak Lal calls the Platonic guardians. The search for a definitive meaning of the word integration is abandoned in favor of a list of four possible interpretations. There is to be a new Commission for Integrated Transport and there are to be local transport plans will be the key to the delivery of integrated transport locally. So the Commission and the local authorities will have to work out the meaning of the word for themselves. The White Paper is being followed by a collection of daughter papers which might, just possibly, throw more light on the question. A policy based upon an indeterminate concept such as this can hardly be expected to make things better for everyone.