Use Of Promoters Research Articles

Effectiveness of household lockable pesticide storage to reduce pesticide self-poisoning in rural Asia: a community-based, cluster-randomised controlled trial

SummaryBackgroundAgricultural pesticide self-poisoning is a major public health problem in rural Asia. The use of safer household pesticide storage has been promoted to prevent deaths, but there is no evidence of effectiveness. We aimed to test the effectiveness of lockable household containers for prevention of pesticide self-poisoning.MethodsWe did a community-based, cluster-randomised controlled trial in a rural area of North Central Province, Sri Lanka. Clusters of households were randomly assigned (1:1), with a sequence computer-generated by a minimisation process, to intervention or usual practice (control) groups. Intervention households that had farmed or had used or stored pesticide in the preceding agricultural season were given a lockable storage container. Further promotion of use of the containers was restricted to community posters and 6-monthly reminders during routine community meetings. The primary outcome was incidence of pesticide self-poisoning in people aged 14 years or older during 3 years of follow-up. Identification of outcome events was done by staff who were unaware of group allocation. Analysis was by intention to treat. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT1146496.FindingsBetween Dec 31, 2010, and Feb 2, 2013, we randomly assigned 90 rural villages to the intervention group and 90 to the control group. 27 091 households (114 168 individuals) in the intervention group and 26 291 households (109 693 individuals) in the control group consented to participate. 20 457 household pesticide storage containers were distributed. In individuals aged 14 years or older, 611 cases of pesticide self-poisoning had occurred by 3 years in the intervention group compared with 641 cases in the control group; incidence of pesticide self-poisoning did not differ between groups (293·3 per 100 000 person-years of follow-up in the intervention group vs 318·0 per 100 000 in the control group; rate ratio [RR] 0·93, 95% CI 0·80–1·08; p=0·33). We found no evidence of switching from pesticide self-poisoning to other forms of self-harm, with no significant difference in the number of fatal (82 in the intervention group vs 67 in the control group; RR 1·22, 0·88–1·68]) or non-fatal (1135 vs 1153; RR 0·97, 0·86–1·08) self-harm events involving all methods.InterpretationWe found no evidence that means reduction through improved household pesticide storage reduces pesticide self-poisoning. Other approaches, particularly removal of highly hazardous pesticides from agricultural practice, are likely to be more effective for suicide prevention in rural Asia.FundingWellcome Trust, with additional support from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine, Chief Scientist Office of Scotland, University of Copenhagen, and NHMRC Australia.

Knowledge Level of Farmers Regarding Safety Issues of Pesticides

Pesticides are an important aspect of agricultural practice in both developed and developing countries. This paper focuses on the farmers knowledge of pesticides and patterns of safety measures followed. The study revealed that majority of farmers have poor knowledge of pesticide safety labels and wear no proper protective clothing during spraying. This indicates the need for promoting greater awareness among farmers about pesticides through health education programs and need for promotion of use of protective clothing and equipment suitable for the tropical climate

Relationship between Strategic Environmental Relations Practice and Organizational Performance of Companies Listed in Nairobi Securities Exchange

The general objective of this study was to assess the influence of strategic employee relations practice on organization performance of Nairobi Securities Exchange listed companies in Kenya. The study also sought to determine the moderating effect of organization size on the relationship between strategic employee practices and performance of the organizations. The study utilized a descriptive survey research design that incorporated quantitative and qualitative approaches. The target population for this study consisted all the 62 companies listed at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) as at December 2014 from which primary data was collected using questionnaires administered to human resource and finance managers alongside secondary data on performance collected using a data collection sheet. Descriptive statistics was used aided by Statistical Packages for Social Sciences version 24 to compute percentages of respondents’ answers. Also, analysis was conducted using quantitative approach. The study found out that strategic environmental relations practice influence positively organizational performance. The study therefore, recommends that organizational managers should incorporporate and initiate such programs that include; waste disposal initiatives, environmental cleaning programs, air pollution reduction activities, material recycling activities, tree planting activities, promotion of use of clean energy, water conservation and environmental rehabilitation and conservation.

Promoting usage of ICT in Open and Distance Education Programs

The idea of widening access to education, promoting independent and lifelong learning and adopting new methods to delivery of education is prominent in the goals of education in India. To facilitate human resource development in the country and widen access to education at all levels, the educational policy of the country has emphasized the promotion of use of ICT in its distance education programs. With the support of information and communication technology, thousands of people from remotest parts of countries have been able to access education through distance learning. The traditional method of education occurs in personal contact between the teacher and the learner in the classroom setting. This is anchored in the reality that teaching and learning take place at same time and same place. With the introduction of communication technology it has became clear that formal, informal or non-formal teaching and learning at the higher level could also be done via technology. This paper focuses on the concept of ICT and how it useful in open and distance learning and also discusses about various problems in usage of ICT in open and distance learning.

677. Evaluation of Tumor Specific Promoters for Use in Conditionally Replicating Adenovirus Mediated Virotherapy of Canine Lymphoma

Conditionally Replicating Adenoviruses (CRAds) are genetically modified therapeutic viruses that incorporates transcriptional targeting of replication to promote selective killing of tumor cells. Transcriptional targeting utilizes tissue/tumor-specific promoters driving the expression of genes in a tissue- or tumor-specific manner to allow replication of the virus in tumor cells while sparing normal cells. Selection of appropriate intermediate animal models is a basic-requirement for successful cancer virotherapy. The dog is an outstanding animal model of cancer and other complex human diseases. The outbred nature of the dog, the heterogeneity of their tumors, their genomic similarity to humans and similar disease causation, progression and pathology support the use of this animal model. Previous studies have shown high levels of expression of several promoters, including human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT), survivin, chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) and progression elevated gene 3 (PEG3) in a variety of human cancers and murine models. The exogenous promoter PEG3 from rats has not only shown tumor-specificity in the human model, but has also shown pan-tumor properties with active transcription occurring in almost all tumor cells. None of these promoters have been tested for their potential as a transcriptional targeting tool for canine cancers. Non-Hodgkin lymphoma accounts for 83% of all hematopoietic cancer and 6 % of all malignancies in the dog. Resistance to current treatments has emerged as a critical challenge for lymphoma treatment due to the presence of genetic diversity among tumor cells. These studies explore tumor-specific activity of these promoters with the goal of identifying a suitable canine lymphoma specific promoter to generate transcriptionally targeted CRAds facilitating viral replication in canine lymphoma, but not in normal cells. In this regard, a GFP reporter gene driven by the rat PEG3 promoter was evaluated for activity after transfection into canine lymphoma cells as well as normal canine cells. The activity of the endogenous canine promoters CXCR4, cTERT, and cSurvivin were examined using quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR. Results showed negligible expression differences between normal and lymphoma cells for cTERT and PEG3 whereas cSurvivin and cCXCR4 showed markedly higher expression in tumor cells when compared with most normal cells and tissues. However, cCXCR4 also showed a high level of expression in normal peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) cells. In contrast, cSurvivin showed increased expression in canine lymphoma cells, along with other canine tumors, with reduced expression in normal canine cells/tissues and canine PBMCs. These findings will be used to generate a canine lymphoma specific CRAd.

Induced gene expression in industrial Saccharomyces pastorianus var. carlsbergensis TUM 34/70: evaluation of temperature and ethanol inducible native promoters.

Induced gene expression is an important trait in yeast metabolic engineering, but current regulations prevent the use of conventional expression systems, such as galactose and copper, in food and beverage fermentations. This article examines the suitability of temperature-inducible native promoters for use in the industrial yeast strain Saccharomyces pastorianus var. carlsbergensis TUM 34/70 under brewing conditions. Ten different promoters were cloned and characterized under varying temperature shifts and ethanol concentrations using a green fluorescent protein reporter. The activities of these promoters varied depending upon the stress conditions applied. A temperature shift to 4°C led to the highest fold changes of PSSA3, PUBI4 and PHSP104 by 5.4, 4.5 and 5.0, respectively. Ethanol shock at 24°C showed marked, concentration-dependent induction of the promoters. Here, PHSP104 showed its highest induction at ethanol concentrations between 4% (v/v) and 6% (v/v). The highest fold changes of PSSA3 and PUBI4 were found at 10% (v/v) ethanol. In comparison, the ethanol shock at a typical fermentation temperature (12°C) leads to lower induction patterns of these promoters. Taken together, the data show that three promoters (PHSP104, PUBI4 and PSSA3) have high potential for targeted gene expression in self-cloning brewing yeast using temperature shifts.

大阪市「生きた建築ミュージアム事業」の取り組みについての報告

This paper describes the outline of ‘Living Architecture Museum Project’ by Osaka City. This project is aimed at generating and informing the urban attraction by regeneration and use of architecture in the city. It consists of 3 projects starting from 2013 for 3 years. (1) Selection: Osaka City selects 50 buildings as ‘Osaka Selection’ according to the own concept ‘Living Architecture’. (2) Regeneration: It subsidizes the restoration of the selection. (3) Promotion of Use: The Open House event which has been held in Europe is held in Osaka, and 55 buildings were opened and 77 programs were given in 2014.

A strong root-specific expression system for stable transgene expression in bread wheat.

A strong, stable and root-specific expression system was developed from a rice root-specific GLYCINE - RICH PROTEIN 7 promoter for use as an enabling technology for genetic manipulation of wheat root traits. Root systems play an important role in wheat productivity. Genetic manipulation of wheat root traits often requires a root-specific or root-predominant expression system as an essential enabling technology. In this study, we investigated promoters from rice root-specific or root-predominant expressed genes for development of a root expression system in bread wheat. Transient expression analysis using a GREEN FLUORESCENT PROTEIN (GFP) reporter gene driven by rice promoters identified six promoters that were strongly expressed in wheat roots. Extensive organ specificity analysis of three rice promoters in transgenic wheat revealed that the promoter of rice GLYCINE-RICH PROTEIN 7 (OsGRP7) gene conferred a root-specific expression pattern in wheat. Strong GFP fluorescence in the seminal and branch roots of wheat expressing GFP reporter driven by the OsGRP7 promoter was detected in epidermal, cortical and endodermal cells in mature parts of the root. The GFP reporter driven by the promoter of rice METALLOTHIONEIN-LIKE PROTEIN 1 (OsMTL1) gene was mainly expressed in the roots with essentially no expression in the leaf, stem or seed. However, it was also expressed in floral organs including glume, lemma, palea and awn. In contrast, strong expression of rice RCg2 promoter-driven GFP was found in many tissues. The GFP expression driven by these three rice promoters was stable in transgenic wheat plants through three generations (T1-T3) examined. These data suggest that the OsGRP7 promoter can provide a strong, stable and root-specific expression system for use as an enabling technology for genetic manipulation of wheat root traits.

Interventions to Improve Neonatal Health and Later Survival: An Overview of Systematic Reviews

BackgroundEvidence-based interventions and strategies are needed to improve child survival in countries with a high burden of neonatal and child mortality. An overview of systematic reviews can focus implementation on the most effective ways to increase child survival. MethodsIn this overview we included published Cochrane and other systematic reviews of experimental and observational studies on antenatal, childbirth, postnatal and child health interventions aiming to prevent perinatal/neonatal and child mortality using the WHO list of essential interventions. We assessed the methodological quality of the reviews using the AMSTAR criteria and assessed the quality of the outcomes using the GRADE approach. Based on the findings from GRADE criteria, interventions were summarized as effective, promising or ineffective. FindingsThe overview identified 148 Cochrane and other systematic reviews on 61 reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health interventions. Of these, only 57 reviews reported mortality outcomes. Using the GRADE approach, antenatal corticosteroids for preventing neonatal respiratory distress syndrome in preterm infants; early initiation of breastfeeding; hygienic cord care; kangaroo care for preterm infants; provision and promotion of use of insecticide treated bed nets (ITNs) for children; and vitamin A supplementation for infants from six months of age, were identified as clearly effective interventions for reducing neonatal, infant or child mortality. Antenatal care, tetanus immunization in pregnancy, prophylactic antimalarials during pregnancy, induction of labour for prolonged pregnancy, case management of neonatal sepsis, meningitis and pneumonia, prophylactic and therapeutic use of surfactant, continuous positive airway pressure for neonatal resuscitation, case management of childhood malaria and pneumonia, vitamin A as part of treatment for measles associated pneumonia for children above 6months, and home visits across the continuum of care, were identified as promising interventions for reducing neonatal, infant, child or perinatal mortality. InterpretationComprehensive adoption of the above six effective and 11 promising interventions can improve neonatal and child survival around the world. Choice of intervention and degree of implementation currently depends on resources available and policies in individual countries and geographical settings. FundingThis review was part of doctoral thesis which was funded by University of Adelaide, Australia.

Growth and Yield Responses of Soybean to Climate Change

In recent years, soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill] has emerged as a major rainy season cash crop in central India. In the present study, the changes in soybean scenario over a period from 2001 to 2013 of Indore district and Madhya Pradesh since 1980 with respect to area sown, production, and productivity are discussed, taking in consideration the changes in climatic variables like rainfall and temperature during the corresponding period. The data related to area, production, and yield of soybean from 2001 to 2013 of Indore district, Madhya Pradesh since 1980, and India were collected from published work. To observe yield changes across seasons, the means of the yield were plotted against the seasons. It was observed that in last 10 years, there is a shift in the peak rainfall from July to August, and the total rainfall during the peak month was reduced. The rainfall during the emergence and vegetative growth of the soybean crop has been reduced. However, the soybean productivity has increased with 21.6 and 13.9 kg/ha/year in Indore district and in Madhya Pradesh, respectively. Release of new cultivars and improvements in farming technology have contributed to this continuous increase in soybean yield. A few studies showed that potential adaptation options for sustained soybean productivity in India include adjustment in cropping calendar and crop rotation, development and promotion of use of high yielding varieties, and sustainable technological applications. Delayed sowing date for soybean crop at all locations in India should be most effective in mitigating the thermal effects of climate change.

Screening of a novel strong promoter by RNA sequencing and its application to H2 production in a hyperthermophilic archaeon.

A strong promoter increases transcription of the genes of interest and enhances the production of various valuable substances. For a hyperthermophilic archaeon Thermococcus onnurineus NA1, which can produce H2 from carbon monoxide oxidation, we searched for a novel endogenous strong promoter by transcriptome analysis using high-throughput RNA sequencing. Based on the relative transcript abundance, we selected one promoter to encode a hypothetical gene, of which homologs were found only in several Thermococcales strains. This promoter, P TN0510 , was introduced into the front of CO-responsible hydrogenase gene cluster encoding a carbon monoxide dehydrogenase (CODH), a hydrogenase, and a Na(+)/H(+) antiporter. In the resulting mutant strain, KS0510, transcription and translation level of the gene cluster increased by 4- to 14-folds and 1.5- to 1.9-folds, respectively, in comparison with those of the wild-type strain. Additionally, H2 production rate of KS0510 mutant was 4.8-fold higher than that of the wild-type strain. The P TN0510 was identified to be much stronger than the well-known two strong promoters, gdh and slp promoters from Thermococcus strains, through RT-qPCR and Western blotting analyses and kinetics of H2 production. In this study, we demonstrated that the RNA-seq approach is a good strategy to mine novel strong promoters of use to a Thermococcus strain when developed as a biotechnologically promising strain to produce valuable products such as enzymes and metabolites through metabolic engineering.

Engineered transcriptional systems for cyanobacterial biotechnology.

Cyanobacteria can function as solar-driven biofactories thanks to their ability to perform photosynthesis and the ease with which they are genetically modified. In this review, we discuss transcriptional parts and promoters available for engineering cyanobacteria. First, we go through special cyanobacterial characteristics that may impact engineering, including the unusual cyanobacterial RNA polymerase, sigma factors and promoter types, mRNA stability, circadian rhythm, and gene dosage effects. Then, we continue with discussing component characteristics that are desirable for synthetic biology approaches, including decoupling, modularity, and orthogonality. We then summarize and discuss the latest promoters for use in cyanobacteria regarding characteristics such as regulation, strength, and dynamic range and suggest potential uses. Finally, we provide an outlook and suggest future developments that would advance the field and accelerate the use of cyanobacteria for renewable biotechnology.

PClone: Synthetic Biology Tool Makes Promoter Research Accessible to Beginning Biology Students.

The Vision and Change report recommended genuine research experiences for undergraduate biology students. Authentic research improves science education, increases the number of scientifically literate citizens, and encourages students to pursue research. Synthetic biology is well suited for undergraduate research and is a growing area of science. We developed a laboratory module called pClone that empowers students to use advances in molecular cloning methods to discover new promoters for use by synthetic biologists. Our educational goals are consistent with Vision and Change and emphasize core concepts and competencies. pClone is a family of three plasmids that students use to clone a new transcriptional promoter or mutate a canonical promoter and measure promoter activity in Escherichia coli. We also developed the Registry of Functional Promoters, an open-access database of student promoter research results. Using pre- and posttests, we measured significant learning gains among students using pClone in introductory biology and genetics classes. Student posttest scores were significantly better than scores of students who did not use pClone. pClone is an easy and affordable mechanism for large-enrollment labs to meet the high standards of Vision and Change.

Towards making efficient use of household resources for appropriate prevention of malaria: investigating households’ ownership, use and expenditures on ITNs and other preventive tools in Southeast Nigeria

BackgroundMany households own, use and spend money on many malaria preventive tools, some of which are inappropriate and ineffective in preventing malaria. This is despite the promotion of use of effective preventive methods such as Insecticide treated nets (ITNs) and indoor residual house spraying (IRHS). The use of these ineffective methods imposes some economic burden on households with no resultant reduction in the risk of developing malaria. Hence, global and national targets in use of various effective malaria preventive toools are yet to be achieved in Nigeria. This paper presents new evidence on the differential use and expenditures on effective and non-effective malaria preventive methods in Nigeria.MethodsSemi-structured interviewer administered pre-tested questionnaire were used to collect data from 500 households from two communities in Enugu state, Nigeria. The two study communities were selected randomly while the households were selected systematically. Information was collected on demography, malaria status of children under 5 within the past month, types of malaria preventive tools used by households and how much was spent on these, the per capita household food expenditure and assets ownership of respondents to determine their socio-economic status.ResultsThere was high level of ownership of ITNs (73%) and utilization (71.2%), with 40% utilization by children under 5. There were also appreciable high levels of use of other malaria preventive tools such as window and door nets, indoor spray, aerosol spray and cleaning the environment. No significant inequity was found in ownership and utilization of ITNs and in use of other preventive methods across socioeconomic groups. However, households spent a lot of money on other preventive tools and average expenditures were between N0.83-N172 ($0.005-$1.2) The richest households spent the most on window and door nets (P = 0.04).ConclusionHigh levels of use and expenditure on ITNs and other malaria preventive tools exist. A programmatic challenge will involve designing ways and means of converting some of the inefficient and inappropriate expenditures on many ineffective malaria preventive tools to proven cost-effective methods such as ITNs and IRHS. This will help to achieve universal coverage with malaria preventive tools.

Health Utilization for Childhood Gastroenteritis in Southern India

To the Editor: Diarrheal disease causes 334,000 deaths in under-five children in India annually [1]. Although the use of oral and intravenous rehydration have substantially decreased diarrheal mortality [2], the fact that children still die of diarrhea indicate the need to understand the beliefs and practices of households regarding its cause and management. We conducted a 30-cluster survey [3], involving 210 households with under-five children in Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India, to document healthcare utilization for acute childhood diarrhea, using a protocol developed and field-tested by the World Health Organization (WHO) [4]. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board, and verbal consent obtained from all respondents. Knowledge about symptoms (90.9 %) and transmission (88.6 %) of diarrhea was high, although nearly all respondents still continued to hold traditional beliefs regarding its causation. Over 80 % were aware of oral rehydration solution (ORS), but despite the high awareness, only 16.7 % reported ORS use for diarrheal management, similar to the usage rates reported elsewhere in India [5]. Alarmingly, the majority of respondents (68.1 %) felt that antibiotics should be given during a diarrheal episode, with one-third expressing disappointment if no medications were prescribed. Most respondents (71.4 %) preferred private practitioners for management of childhood diarrhea; only 9.5 % preferred using government facilities. Perceived quality of care (99.5 %), friendly staff (91.4 %) and less waiting time (67.1 %) were considered important factors for utilization of a healthcare facility. Of the 210 households, 8.1 % had children with a diarrheal episode during the 2-wk recall period. A third of the children with diarrhea were taken to private practitioners, all of whom received antibiotics. This study highlights lacunae in knowledge and practices about childhood diarrhea in southern India. The challenge of reducing excessive antibiotic usage in an era of increasing resistance needs to be addressed, despite the expected difficulties of countering both demand from patients and promotion of use by doctors, pharmacists and manufacturers. A multi-pronged approach using appropriate communication tools for education of the community and local private practitioners regarding prevention and management of diarrheal diseases in children will be needed to reduce the disease burden and the inappropriate use of antibiotics.

Frontiers in the design and synthesis of advanced nanogels for nanomedicine

Nanogels have been well recognized as biocompatible nanomaterials for biomedical applications. Although synthesis of nanogels has been well established, challenges still exist for preparation of advanced nanogels with delicate structures and novel properties to fulfil their role in medical applications. Current research focuses on development of nanogels with multiple responsiveness and novel responsive mechanisms for nanogels to interact with biological microenvironments, development of versatile synthetic strategies for the preparation of multifunctional nanogels that can realize the multifold tasks required for nanogels to function as nanomedicine, and promotion of use of mild/biocompatible enzymatic reactions to potentially impart specificity and selectivity in nanogel synthesis. This mini-review highlights most recent work (mostly over the past two years) in the field of nanogels, and defines the frontiers in the design and synthesis of advanced nanogels for nanomedicine.

Alternatives to antibiotics as growth promoters for use in swine production: a review

In the past two decades, an intensive amount of research has been focused on the development of alternatives to antibiotics to maintain swine health and performance. The most widely researched alternatives include probiotics, prebiotics, acidifiers, plant extracts and neutraceuticals such as copper and zinc. Since these additives have been more than adequately covered in previous reviews, the focus of this review will be on less traditional alternatives. The potential of antimicrobial peptides, clay minerals, egg yolk antibodies, essential oils, eucalyptus oil-medium chain fatty acids, rare earth elements and recombinant enzymes are discussed. Based on a thorough review of the literature, it is evident that a long and growing list of compounds exist which have been tested for their ability to replace antibiotics as feed additives in diets fed to swine. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these compounds produce inconsistent results and rarely equal antibiotics in their effectiveness. Therefore, it would appear that research is still needed in this area and that the perfect alternative to antibiotics does not yet exist.

A Novel Naturally Occurring Tandem Promoter in Modified Vaccinia Virus Ankara Drives Very Early Gene Expression and Potent Immune Responses

Modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) has been shown to be suitable for the generation of experimental vaccines against cancer and infectious diseases, eliciting strong humoral and cellular immune responses. In viral vectored vaccines, strong recombinant antigen expression and timing of expression influence the quantity and quality of the immune response. Screening of synthetic and native poxvirus promoters for strong protein expression in vitro and potent immune responses in vivo led to the identification of the MVA13.5L promoter, a unique and novel naturally occurring tandem promoter in MVA composed of two 44 nucleotide long repeated motifs, each containing an early promoter element. The MVA13.5L gene is highly conserved across orthopoxviruses, yet its function is unknown. The unique structure of its promoter is not found for any other gene in the MVA genome and is also conserved in other orthopoxviruses. Comparison of the MVA13.5L promoter activity with synthetic poxviral promoters revealed that the MVA13.5L promoter produced higher levels of protein early during infection in HeLa cells and particularly in MDBK cells, a cell line in which MVA replication stops at an early stage before the expression of late genes. Finally, a recombinant antigen expressed under the control of this novel promoter induced high antibody titers and increased CD8 T cell responses in homologous prime-boost immunization compared to commonly used promoters. In particular, the recombinant antigen specific CD8 T cell responses dominated over the immunodominant B8R vector-specific responses after three vaccinations and even more during the memory phase. These results have identified the native MVA13.5L promoter as a new potent promoter for use in MVA vectored preventive and therapeutic vaccines.

Advisory committees in contract and grant‐funded evaluation projects

AbstractThis chapter describes the use of evaluation advisory committees in contract and grant‐funded evaluation projects. It defines what constitutes an evaluation advisory committee. It identifies five key functions of evaluation advisory committees: stakeholder engagement, maximizing external credibility, political conciliation, promotion of methodological integrity, and promotion of use. Typical features are explained: size, composition, meeting content, expectations for authority, and decision making. Whether to have an advisory committee is discussed. A range of examples—from fields of human services, public health, education, and others—illustrates the uses, functions, features, and compositional options of committees. ©Wiley Periodicals, Inc., and the American Evaluation Association.

Novel disease-specific promoters for use in gene therapy for Parkinson's disease

Gene therapy is a promising therapeutic tool for Parkinson's disease (PD), but there is a lack of evaluated cell specific promoters that are relevant for the disease. We have chosen PD relevant promoter candidates for gene therapy vectors based on either previous studies; Drd1a, Drd2 and pDyn, or from a microarray study on parkinsonian patients; ACE, DNAJC3, GALNS, MAP1a and RNF25. These candidates have been evaluated in rat striatum to determine their suitability for use in cell specific vectors. The promoters had a neuronal specificity of 91–100%. The efficiency of the promoters was variable, but RNF25, DNAJC3 and MAP1a were comparable to widely used ubiquitous promoters. MAP1a was also affected by dopamine depletion.